[Plotboard] Stone Turns

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Niro
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[Plotboard] Stone Turns

Post by Niro » Tue Oct 15, 2019 11:45 pm

[Stone Turns to Bedrock] Akari, Tatsuo was usually up at a significantly early time when it came to Initiation days for his Jousai recruits. He'd be inspecting every inch of Headquarters and whipping the men into formal shape to make a good impression on the new recruits normally but today was a bit different than their usual recruitment classes. The recruit formally joining them today was one who was already working them in an unofficial sense as a genin and the young man was already considered a member by the village roster after his promotion to Chuunin.

Pulling himself together and into a professional look, Tatsuo was just waiting for Iwamaru to knock on his office door to begin their day. There were some reports on his desk: some low priority bandit clan ignoring the rules and guidelines the village gave for collection and treatment of slaves, a spirit causing trouble for some miners down in the Catacombs, and a civil disturbance in the village. One of these would become Iwamaru's actual Initiation, it was just the difficulty of deciding which that now haunted Tatsuo...
#MakeIwaGreatAgain
NameVillageRankTeam
Tatsuo [color=#940839][b]IwaTsuchikageTeam 18 Jousai
Kinomichi [color=limegreen][b]IwaBanninJousai
Kotetsu [color=slategray][b]IwaGeninTeam 7
Ashura [color=coral][b]SunaGenin
Sai [color=#FF14A1][b]Kiri - MND-Rank
Yamato [color=#C71585][b]KiriA-Rank

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[Plotboard] Stone Turns

Post by ShinobiTruth » Wed Oct 16, 2019 2:03 am

As was his custom, Iwamaru was up early in the morning. He found that starting the day on his terms was a good way to work out any nervous energy he might have in him. And considering what was ahead of him today, he had plenty to spare. Today was the culmination of many months of work literally punching boulders off of cliffs (okay, maybe not that literally), something he was easily just as excited for as he was his chuunin exam and maybe even more. He'd finally received his official orders to report to Tatsuo's office for enlistment into Jousai. He knew that Tatsuo was likely to be rather calm about the whole affair, as he was not so strict and militant as to place undue pressure on any aspirant applicants such as himself. This was fine by Iwamaru. He was putting enough pressure on himself as is.

Iwamaru was firmly of the opinion that if you had an appointment at two o'clock, you were late as of 1:50. As such, after a light breakfast, a morning workout, and a shower, Iwamaru was out the door, dressed in his normal mission garb. He had thought of wearing his flak jacket, but he'd decided against it for now. He'd not yet taken the opportunity to sit down and analyze how the garment might aid him in future missions. For now, the equipment in his waist pack and sword would be enough to carry him through. The sun had not yet crested the horizon when Iwamaru arrived at the now all too familiar headquarters, Ichi once again directing him through the doors.

Iwamaru found himself somewhat relieved that, other than appearing particularly tidy today, the initiation of recruits seemed to be an otherwise informal affair, none of the experienced members letting on to the very specific instructions they'd received from Tatsuo himself. Instead, they directed the newly appointed chuunin towards Tatsuo's office, and after attending briefly to his attire, making sure it was still in good order, he knocked on the door.

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[Plotboard] Stone Turns

Post by Niro » Thu Oct 17, 2019 8:03 pm

Tstsuo waited patiently for Iwamaru to arrive. He was able to quickly get some boring paperwork filled out and filed away in its correct spot for the stingy Village bureaucrats to deal with before a sharp knock on his office door drew his attention back to the current moment.

"It's open come in." The esteemed Bannin called out just loud enough for Iwamaru to hear through the thick wood. Tatsuo stood from his chair and walked to the front of the desk before sticking out a hand for the newly-promoted Chuunin to shake.

"I'd offer you a seat but we won't be here any longer than necessary." Tatsuo admitted to Iwamaru. "If this was a recruitment class, we'd have a whole day long shindig. Well, this will still take all day but it's going to be a lot more fun. Promise." He winked before walking out of the room and gestured for Iwamaru to follow.

"I guess we'll go over this second level first since we're here. It contains the offices for each division head and Organization leader. We also store our gathered info on this level in several rooms." Tatsuo explained as the duo walked around with him pointing out important offices to remember and doors to be wary of lest he set off their trap fuuinjutsu.
#MakeIwaGreatAgain
NameVillageRankTeam
Tatsuo [color=#940839][b]IwaTsuchikageTeam 18 Jousai
Kinomichi [color=limegreen][b]IwaBanninJousai
Kotetsu [color=slategray][b]IwaGeninTeam 7
Ashura [color=coral][b]SunaGenin
Sai [color=#FF14A1][b]Kiri - MND-Rank
Yamato [color=#C71585][b]KiriA-Rank

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[Plotboard] Stone Turns

Post by ShinobiTruth » Thu Oct 17, 2019 8:52 pm

Iwamaru quickly entered, not aware that his initiation was likely a much-desired respite for Tatsuo and instead thinking he needed to be punctual and brief in order to not waste the Bannin's time. Reaching out and returning the handshake, Iwamaru offered his customary slight nod. "Understood, Tatsuo-san," he replied. It felt strange for Iwamaru to use such a relaxed honorific with someone as lauded as Tatsuo, practically the Kage-elect if rumors around the village were to be trusted, but he did so specifically at the man's behest. He wasn't a fan of excessive formalities, and it was a preference that Iwamaru would honor. Keeping pace with the Bannin, Iwamaru left the office just as quickly as he'd entered, his eagle-like eyes quickly taking note of all of the rooms of import that Tatsuo was pointing out to him. Iwamaru made extra certain to give a solid berth to the rooms where information was kept, knowing without Tatsuo telling him that they likely had automated defensive measures in place for those doors.

There was one thing that Iwamaru found curious, however, so if Tatsuo had been hoping for a silent partner, he'd have to take that disappointment like a champ. "You mean to say that Jousai headquarters also serves as base of operations for other village organizations? Like it's one massive conglomerate with various departments instead of each organization being distinct? Or are you referring to subgroups within Jousai itself? Isn't having a large amount of administrative personnel centralized in a single location dangerous?" he asked as Tatsuo began to point out some of the other division and Organization leaders all sharing the same office space in close proximity.

It may have been a stupid question, but Iwamaru was thinking about what might happen in the case of an attack on the village. Not that such a thing was likely to happen, but it didn't hurt to at least consider the possibility and be ready for it.

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[Plotboard] Stone Turns

Post by Niro » Wed Oct 23, 2019 7:33 pm

Thank everything that Iwamaru actually had questions and cared about what he would be doing in the future. Nothing was worse than having to drag someone through something by their ears especially when it was something you cared about.

"No. It holds a certain amount of divisions which each of us leads. By us I mean Mitsuo and myself. We all have our own hierarchies within the divisions but I serve as overall Organization leader as well. The Ninomaru specialize in the outer defenses: the Wall, information networks, etcetera. The Honmaru specialize in the inner defenses: managing the Catacombs, patrolling the village for anything out of the ordinary, bodyguarding VIPs, etcetera. There's more but your cleatance at the moment isn't high enough." Tatsuo explained to his junior, making sure to go over some of the duties of each division. "If someone is ballsy enough to attack a building with three Bannin plus who knows what else? Not including the other three Bannin plus the Kage roaming the village? We'd either be laughing at them or dead."
#MakeIwaGreatAgain
NameVillageRankTeam
Tatsuo [color=#940839][b]IwaTsuchikageTeam 18 Jousai
Kinomichi [color=limegreen][b]IwaBanninJousai
Kotetsu [color=slategray][b]IwaGeninTeam 7
Ashura [color=coral][b]SunaGenin
Sai [color=#FF14A1][b]Kiri - MND-Rank
Yamato [color=#C71585][b]KiriA-Rank

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[Plotboard] Stone Turns

Post by ShinobiTruth » Wed Oct 23, 2019 7:57 pm

Iwamaru nodded. That should have been obvious, even to the newly appointed chuunin. He'd likely go asking the heads of those departments about what opportunities he might be able to pursue with his skillset in their particular divisions. "I take it that our first task isn't here in the offices, though I'm curious to see what other departments or functions are tended to in this area. Where's our first destination after the quick tour, Tatsuo-san?"

The chuunin most certainly wanted to continue seeing what else was in the headquarters, but he had to admit that he was a bit more curious about where this "fun" to be had was... and more importantly, what Tatsuo constituted as "fun". He was hoping that this wasn't about to be like Mariko-sensei, whose "fun" was in reality "sadism". How many different types of training had she put him through that had brought her hours of comic relief while he'd had to struggle through it all? He was fortunate he'd finally been promoted. Had he been under charge any longer, he probably would have ended up doing strength training by wrestling rabid hippos or some nonsense like that. Then again, there was no telling exactly what hellish training Tatsuo had been through either.

It was probably best that he temper his expectations.
Last edited by ShinobiTruth on Wed Oct 23, 2019 10:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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[Plotboard] Stone Turns

Post by Niro » Wed Oct 23, 2019 8:47 pm

A sadistic smile threatened to nearly completely split Tatsuo's visage. Sometimes being patient was for the best, he hoped Iwamaru would take learning that lesson the heart with today. It would be something invaluable to the boy for years to come.

"You shouldn't be so quick, you'll be wanting out of there quickly if you're anything like the other recruits. We have one more thing to go over before we dive into our activity for the day. Come." Tatsuo beckoned Iwamaru to follow him as he ascended the stone spiral staircase once again. The duo would climb three more floors before the stairs ended at the top level.

"These last three levels consist of living quarters for those who decide to move in. Each apartment is divided into four bedrooms, two on each side, two bathrooms, one on each side, a living area, and a full kitchen. The cost is taken care of by our mission profits." Tatsuo explained to Iwamaru before once again descending to the training cavern and sublevels of the headquarters.

"Obviously you've seen down here a bit but it's time we started our adventure for the day." He went on, a tinge of excitement lacing his voice as he stepped from the stairs to the cavern floor and began to make way down the hallway lit with only torches. They walked for several minutes before the hallway gave way to a large circular room. Two guards holding spears stood on either end of the room. If Iwamaru looked closely, he would notice the tell-tale black ink and kanji of fuuinjutsu scrawled across the entire outer edge of the room.

"Are you ready?"
#MakeIwaGreatAgain
NameVillageRankTeam
Tatsuo [color=#940839][b]IwaTsuchikageTeam 18 Jousai
Kinomichi [color=limegreen][b]IwaBanninJousai
Kotetsu [color=slategray][b]IwaGeninTeam 7
Ashura [color=coral][b]SunaGenin
Sai [color=#FF14A1][b]Kiri - MND-Rank
Yamato [color=#C71585][b]KiriA-Rank

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[Plotboard] Stone Turns

Post by ShinobiTruth » Wed Oct 23, 2019 8:57 pm

Uh oh.

Iwamaru had never seen Tatsuo smile like that, but heaven save his soul, he clearly just bit off more than he could chew.

As they descended down the various levels, Iwamaru's hairs began to stand on end. His danger sense was kicking in and, as they continued descending, he would feel his instincts telling him that he drew closer and closer to things that would likely cause him great discomfort in the form of pain and threat of untimely death. Sure enough, they eventually quit descending and walked down a considerably long hallway. Devoid of the advanced light provided by technology, these hallways were lit old-school, resin-coated torches burning away to illuminate the way. As soon as he saw the markings of fuuinjutsu and the two guards on either side of the room, he knew he was about to enter... something. He didn't know what, but something was clearly about to happen. Drawing his sword, Iwamaru put himself at the ready. Rolling his shoulders, and cracking his neck. "If you have to ask, I've already failed you, Tatsuo-san. A shinobi should always be ready," he exhaled, steeling his nerves and trying to give himself into the joy that came with the adrenaline.

The next violent thing he saw moving toward him was getting cleaved in half.

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[Plotboard] Stone Turns

Post by Niro » Wed Oct 23, 2019 9:53 pm

Tatsuo grinned as Iwamaru drew his blade.

"I appreciate the enthusiasm but we've got a bit to go. Boys, hit it." Tatsuo snapped and two guards began to channel chakra into the fuuinjutsu. The groom glowed a blue the color of chakra for a moment before the entire room began to descend downwards.

It didn't take too long but the ride down was longer than the entirety of their time in the headquarters. Their destination was deeper in the earth than even the lowest point of the village. Finally the stone elevator ground to a stop and revealed to them a dark, poorly lit area.

The air was damp, musky, and brimming with the ambient chakra that had been released by the unsealing of the spirit colony. Even non-Sensors would be able to feel it. Standing torches, crates of supplies, and tents were scattered about as he took a hard left after stepping off the platform. Tatsuo motioned for him to follow as he walked three dozen meters before stopping as the torch light fell to almost nil.

Tatsuo held his arm out to prevent Iwamaru from walking further and motioned him using his head to look down.

A black abyss for as far as one could see.

He began flying through a lengthy set of hand seals before visibly charging Raiton chakra. He extended his palm out and down as a massive column of lightning was fired off. It traveled... and traveled... and traveled before finally running out of chakra rather than impacting something. Maybe that would give him an idea.

"Welcome to the Catacombs."
SpoilerShow
[Raiton • Flying Dragon-Striking Heaven-Shaking Thunderous Bombardment]
A-ranked Raiton Jutsu
This technique visibly charges electricity for a single moment after the user performs their hand seals. Once this moment is over, it fires a massive column of lightning in a single direction, forming a cylinder with a 30m radius that extends up to 70m from the user's position. This cylinder travels at a speed of 30 and erupts on contact with the power of 7 explosive tags, spreading the raiton shocking effect throughout the area that it covers.
#MakeIwaGreatAgain
NameVillageRankTeam
Tatsuo [color=#940839][b]IwaTsuchikageTeam 18 Jousai
Kinomichi [color=limegreen][b]IwaBanninJousai
Kotetsu [color=slategray][b]IwaGeninTeam 7
Ashura [color=coral][b]SunaGenin
Sai [color=#FF14A1][b]Kiri - MND-Rank
Yamato [color=#C71585][b]KiriA-Rank

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[Plotboard] Stone Turns

Post by ShinobiTruth » Wed Oct 23, 2019 10:08 pm

Iwamaru's eyes flashed with confusion before he felt the entire room move downward. Flushing a little bit with embarrassment, he let the sword drop, but still kept it in hand.

As Iwamaru took a step out of the fuuinjutsu-lined area, the sudden chill hit him. This wasn't the damp air of the cavern making him a little cold. No, this chill was otherworldly, invasive in its nature, trying to seep into his skin and bones. The mere sensation gave him goosebumps all along his skin. Following Tatsuo's lead, he walked further down, seeing the plethora of supplies, tents, and other village paraphernalia lining the area. Finally, Tatsuo came to a stop in front of an area where darkness seemed to swallow everything, even light. Per Tatsuo's instructions, he peered over into the maw.

Had Tatsuo not told him any better, he'd have thought he was staring at the mouth of the Grave itself. The pure bad joo-joo wafting up from the massive pit was enough to make his pupils dilate and nearly caused him to break out into a cold sweat, managing to calm himself down to a noticeable shiver. The demonstration of the jutsu-that-was-too-long-to-pronounce-but-would-easily-one-shot-him-anyway literally fizzling out of existence as it traveled down certainly didn't help matters. "So... This is it," he said quietly. "How do we contain whatever's in there? The spirits wouldn't care about something as physical as heights, right?"

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[Plotboard] Stone Turns

Post by Niro » Thu Oct 24, 2019 12:39 am

"You punch 'em. Especially the Grand-level ones, like Genma. Those you gotta hit really, really hard." Tatsuo replied quite bluntly to his compatriot. A look of utter seriousness graced his face, like the sentence made complete and total sense. Punching a spirit? What? Most people couldn't fathom suppressing or killing something similar in power to a Genma through sheer might but Tatsuo was part of a select few who could and did in his service to his village. "These spirits were released by some assholes messing with an ancient Fuuinjutsu deep in the Catacombs. It released all the spirits down here but the giant wild life is just a side effect of being below a village full of chakra wielders; bastards mutated. The majority of the spirits down here are...okay. They don't like to be bothered but Kotaru, Mitsuo, and myself were able to establish a fragile alliance with 'em by killing that fuckin' Leviathan." A dark, intense look overcame Tatsuo's face at the word 'Leviathan.' His violet eyes seemed to glow in the low light with his rage, his lips in a snarl.

"It was a trap that was released alongside the spirits. It was a gigantic worm, easily a mile long, that patrolled the depths of the Catacombs. Large enough to swallow a battalion of shinobi whole from below. Mitsuo, Kotaru, and I were the team that killed it. Thought we got it, we were wrong. It got me, almost. It swallowed me whole and luckily I had my full set of armaments out. I was able to cut myself out of the stomach and but it began to flex its muscles as I moved within it. I luckily made it to its heart and was able to eat my way out. Never tasted somethin' as disgustin' as worm heart, muscle, and skin." The look on his face eased up, the raised lip dropping and his eyes somewhat softening. "Mitsuo and I were flirtin' with Mistress Death after the fight but the spirits found us and healed us as best they could while hailing aid from Iwa. There's been a peace between us ever since although there are rogue spirits of all levels hiding in the farthest corners.

"We've theorized there's seals down there keeping them in place and once destroyed, the spirits'll go back to their realm. Problem is, they're so deep no one has found 'em yet. This place will make or break you, do you think you're ready for the first hardship any shinobi'll encounter in this Hellscape?"
#MakeIwaGreatAgain
NameVillageRankTeam
Tatsuo [color=#940839][b]IwaTsuchikageTeam 18 Jousai
Kinomichi [color=limegreen][b]IwaBanninJousai
Kotetsu [color=slategray][b]IwaGeninTeam 7
Ashura [color=coral][b]SunaGenin
Sai [color=#FF14A1][b]Kiri - MND-Rank
Yamato [color=#C71585][b]KiriA-Rank

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[Plotboard] Stone Turns

Post by ShinobiTruth » Thu Oct 24, 2019 1:00 am

...Punching it. That was not the response that Iwamaru was expecting. There was clearly context that Iwamaru was missing, but he wasn't going to focus on it, because Tatsuo didn't bring it up, so he probably didn't need to know it right now. Instead, what he was paying attention to was the story about how the spirits were apparently sentient, which simply added an entire new layer to the level of intrigue and suspense. Then that was nearly tripled by the fact that Tatsuo and other Bannin wound up killing something he seemed to call "the Leviathan?" Yeah, that totally didn't seem out of his league at all.

It wasn't until Tatsuo described the great efforts he and his team had gone through to slay the massive beast, noting that they almost died in the process, that Iwamaru finally, truly understood. The amount of respect he would always need to have for this place was cemented into his mind. Down here lie spirits that rivaled the very superweapons they wielded above. Down here rest entities, creatures, that could overrun them, if given the chance. And down here were allies, though not visible to his eyes, that needed their help to finally go home. He would help uncover who was responsible for this, and he would make them face justice for the loss and pain caused on both sides. His eyes focused and steeled. "You need only give the word, sir," he stated, the same grim determination he was known for among his seniors now directed to the unknown beneath his feet.

He stood before the next phase in his career as a shinobi, and he was ready to embrace it.

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