Unleash

[Kao]

The sky above Iwagakure was a deep ashen grey as bloated clouds slowly rolled in from the west. A rare rainstorm was imminent, and from his perch near the top of the Jousai headquarters Akari Kotaru watched the small dots of villagers below scurry about as they hurried to finish their errands before the rain began. He stood on his office balcony, his arms folded across his chest as the wind whipped his dark cloak behind him. The bannin had taken time for himself for several months and had admittedly shirked his duty as head of Iwagakure's black ops division. Now that his personal life had settled down, it was time to address the village's missing nin problem.

When he realized just how many Iwagakure rogues were roaming about, he seethed. Most of them were relatively weak, so the chore of taking them down would go to shinobi of lower ranks. As he waited for the young genin he had hand chosen for this mission, the names of several missing nin churned in his mind. The names weren't people anymore; they were just units in a cold, endless rotation. No sentiment, just sequence. One name out. One name in. Loud, grinding, and without pause.

A knock at the door briefly pulled him out of his own head. "Lord Akari, sir. They've arrived." The bannin didn't turn to look at his secretary, instead giving a dismissive wave as he continued to gaze at the village below.

[Trusted Grader]

Swinging through the streets of Iwagakure, the young hero fought both the cold winds and the pounding rain in order to cross the lonesome path that would eventually lead to Akari's office. Tokato had been called for a mission, one before his big Chuunin exam, which truly excited the boy, especially Otsukoki, who had been watching the boys progression. She had lent her full power to the boy, and left him to master his chakra control in order to not overextend himself, it was a double edged sword, on the one hand Tokato got the reigns to build his strength and lay out the laws of Order as Otsukoki saw fit, but on the other, the long spring trap had been set and the game of survival was now being put to the test.

Tokato stopped swinging as he flipped through the air and landed on the ground in front of Kotaru's office, Are you sure about this? Kotaru isn't exactly known for- Tokato chuckled as he removed his mask, he placed it inside his jacket as he stepped inside. I am unsure what this means, but if he has called for me then I have to respond. The young superheroes sense of duty had amplified ever since he had bonded with Order, at first the influence got him doubting Iwagakure, until Otsukoki switched her game up and began pulling Tokato closer to the government as she needed him to gain their trust.

Right... But do you have what it takes? The genma didn't question the boy's capabilities, but rather if he had the mental fortitude to get through whatever mission Kotaru was setting up. Of course I do. Tokato chuckled as he greeted the Akari's assistant, Otsukoki finished her last train of thought as the boy waited further instructions. My, my, you have grown. Tokato smiled and looked around the rather dull hall he was led through and thought that he would've personally tried for something more lavish, but that was just his style.

"Ryuusei, Tokato at your service."

[Texas]

The blue hair flowed as Murasaki ran through the streets of iwa. He didn’t want to be late, and he for sure wanted to be first. Well…. The more he thought about it as he ran towards the meeting location, he just didn’t want to be last. The contracted military shinobi almost made it to the facility, his face was emotionless while the village was somewhat silent.

When he basically got there, Murasaki got distracted by a figure web slinging high over him. Was that tomato? Murasaki knew he would be part of a team, but didn’t expect this guy. Hopefully he wasn’t another eccentric type like the last time he participated with.

The shinobi reluctantly made his way up and spoke to what appeared to be a receptionist. The shinobi showed Murasaki the way to Kotaru’s office. Murasaki had learned about the brother of the Kage in the village academy, but learned significantly more while learning under his military contract. When the shinobi walked in, he saw tomato. That pain must have had already beaten him here using those cursed webs! Every fiber in this angsty child was held back from rolling his eyes. He walked up next to him and bowed with respect before announcing his presence. Murasaki felt like he was more of a background character, so he would be surprised if these two didn’t really know him.”Good Evening Lord Kotaru Akari, my name is Murasaki. I’m at your service.”

To Murasaki, he took his contract very seriously. Once a slave, the young lad wishes to prove his worth and be some kind of asset for when his contract is up. Getting the opportunity to work with another team, is a great way to establish a report with other genin in the village.

[Drak]

Now safe from the rain that had threatened him all the way from the Fukusha compound, Hanzou pushed down the collar of his jacket and plucked his hat off his head.

“Fukusha Hanzou,” he introduced himself to one of the receptionists in the lobby, handing him the summons he had received with one hand while smoothing his hair back with the other. The receptionist handed Hanzou off to an attendant who ushered him through an inconspicuous, though clearly very reinforced door, and down a hall where he was in turn handed off to a guard. Hanzou dug his hands into his pockets and made as much of a silent show as he could of being unimpressed by his surroundings.

“Here,” the guard finally said, walking over to a pair of double doors where a few other shinobi waited.

“Tsk,” Hanzou clicked his tongue and wrinkled his nose as if faced by a particularly strong and unpleasant smell. Murasaki. They had been deployed together before, during the Spirit Outbreak. “You again.”

As they were ushered into the office in order, Hanzou’s eyes briefly went wide. He had not expected to be handed a mission directly from someone so high up.

“Akari-sama,” he said, bowing to Koataru even as his hands stayed in his pockets by habit. “I’m Fukusha Hanzou.”

[Shinoskay]

The young Kamizuru was less concerned about time, he had set out earlier but walked his way to the office. Earlier in the morning, Shinoskay had been informed of a mission supporting someone else in hunting a missing nin. Perhaps this was because of his previous reporting with missing nin, being support suited him quite nicely so he had no complaints. Being that they would be leaving the village for this missing nin, he opted to don the outfit he used previously during the covert convoy mission he took across the snow. No village or clan symbol was visible, the young shinobi was covered head to toe in bundled layers and topped with his usual bamboo hat. His head largely wrapped in medical bandaging up to just over the nose and below the eyes.

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Though he didn't have any village symbol visible, while his convoy trip he did not have it on him anywhere, he did keep his headband tucked away in some of the clothe folds about his torso.

While the young Iwa shinobi did not see Tokato or Murasaki pass his slower pase, he did get a hint of the electromagnetic 'aura' of the genma nin passing him and he arrived at the office doors shortly after they had. Casually walking his way through the entrance to reception, he wordlessly offered the mission scroll to the receptionist he then nodded and equally wordlessly directed him towards Akari Kotaru's current location. Re-stowing the scroll, he then made way up to the small assembly for briefing.

Walking in behind the other two, his nerves striking for a moment, the kamizuru took step into the line up without giving a word to the other tree. They just waited with his eyes focused on the Operative before them.

[Kao]

When all four genin gathered Kotaru turned slowly, piercing each of them with his steely gaze. His eyes settled on Tokato first, and he contemplated for what had to be the hundreth time whether or not it was a good idea to let loose a young jinchuuriki. In correspondence with the village's top jinchuuriki handler, he had expressed concern that deploying the genin was premature. To his surprise, the handler had vouched for Tokato and had no reservations about allowing him to hunt so long as he had teammates. The Tsuchikage was also comfortable with the idea, so Kotaru reluctantly yielded and filed his skepticism away for another time. The other three he regarded only briefly, already satisfied that they were adequate for the job.

"Let's get straight to the point," he began as he walked past them to leave the balcony. Once in his office he gestured at four folders, each containing the profiles of rouges Fukusha Aizen, Enkouten Ko, Enkouten Maketa, and Shoshiki Reikara. "Everything you need to know about the subjects is in those files. As far as their whereabouts you'll have to gather that information yourself." The bannin sat down in his chair, one elbow settling on the armrest. He brought up a loose, curled first and rested his head against it. "Teams of two would be best, but I don't care how the four of you decide to go after the targets. Just don't get yourselves killed." With his last statement Kotaru's intense gaze landed on Tokato once more.

"Any questions?"

[Trusted Grader]

Tokato was taken back by Kotaru's aura, but before he could continue to admire the legendary Bannin of Iwagakure, his eyes wandered from the mans back to at Murasaki, a genin he had seen around, especially as Weaver-Man, albeit he was unsure if had seen him swing about. There are a lot of windows out there... Tokato grinned as he nodded at the genin, once the second one entered he would do the same. This one was a total stranger to Tokato, which made sense, considering Iwagakure was massive, especially now since the expansion.

Fukusha, huh? Don't they have like... Special eyes? Tokato was generally thinking for himself but Otsukoki couldn't help but to interfere. Shōgō-zumi, the copying eye. Tokato rubbed his hairless chin, his eyes took in the Fukusha as his intrigue grew. Can he copy our jutsu? A valid question, considering that Otsukoki was supposed to be special after all, Highly doubtful, but still, keep an eye on him. I can sense a strong a strong character in this one. The Genma knew better than to pass judgement too early, luckily their mental conversation was cut short as Shinoskay made his entrance, his new bee comrade, together they had all been called to the Akari's office, to perform an important duty, else they would've never had the opportunity to meet the man himself.

He stood at attention as Kotaru began to speak, his voice resonated with the boy, nearly causing him to flashback to when his brother had infused the Genma into his gullet, his head began to spin, yet his exterior remained calm. Once Akari finished his speech, he would ask if anyone had any questions, Tokato was quick to raise his hand as he looked at the four spread. "Do we get to pick which one we hunt? If so, dibs on first pick!"

[Texas]

A cold chill gently tickled Murasaki’s shoulders and traveled through the entirety of his back. An evil, no… an imbecile was approaching. This cold chill of someone who was dead on the inside with a personality of a wall flower, walked in and made a tsch sound. Murasaki tried to ignore his rival, however it took every fiber in his being not to react at the putrid face of his Hanzou. The last time they interacted, him and his team fumbled around into success. What a pain, was this how little they thought of Murasaki? Was he that low on the totem pole?

The child came back to reality when a ronin looking man walked into the room too. With no introduction or acknowledgement of the others from this mystery person forced Murasaki to focus on the Bannin in front of him. What a motley crew, their happiness caused Murasaki true pain on the inside. At least Hanzou had the decency of a respectful introduction like Murasaki. Ew, was that acknowledgment?

The blue haired shinobi watched as Kota displayed the folders while disclosing why they were called in. How exciting! Although Murasaki hid his emotions from his face, deep down inside he was extremely pumped to hunt down traitors of the village. With all of the names laid out on the folders, he was double excited that they were all members of a clan. These people were born into luxury compared to him and they still had the gall to cry from their ivory tower and leave. This would not end up being a mission for Murasaki, this would be a hobby.

The boy would keep his hands to his side and look the Bannin’s disgustingly perfect and symmetrical face, ignoring his beautifully lofty blue haired, followed by staring right into his gorgeous Seafoam green eyes. Did he have a crush? He would simply say ”no questions sir”

[Drak]

Hanzou suppressed a chuckle as he watched Murasaki unsubtly ogle Kotaru. I know what I get with Murasaki. Deep purple eyes left Murasaki and drifted over the other two: Tokato, apparently, and someone dressed as a samurai who had entered without so much as an introduction. Pretentious guy over here.

He let Tokato speak, calling dibs on the Fukusha. Then Murasaki spoke, though he said little.

“It’d make sense to have me hunt the Fukusha, but-” something caught in his throat. “Any of them would be fine” was what he wanted to say, but something about hunting the Enkouten felt wrong. It was far from far-fetched that even some far off butterfly’s flapping could have changed Nikkou’s course enough to place her file on that table. Not only did he have little desire to do a favor to a clan that looked down on him and had so mistreated his little sweetheart, but something deep inside him couldn’t help but sympathize with them.

“Any of them would be fine,” he finally got out, clearing his throat to try and pass off his pause as something else. “If not the Fukusha maybe the Shoshiki.”

[Shinoskay]

Listening, watching, Saying nothing, The young kamizuru felt the electricity of charged and erratic electromagnetics from the other two, though they were dwarfed compared to the almost alien 'Aura' of Tokato. Ever the fascination to the bee keeper, the familiar insectile magnetics were always pleasing to feel. He was uneasy about that there were 4 files and 4 genin, but the banin before them had mentioned there WOULD be teams? regardless, though, he would be sure to do all that he could to accomplish the task being set before him.

'As far as their whereabouts you'll have to gather that information yourself' This part, however, made him the most curious. Suddenly, in his mind, this became more a test, a competition, then actually a mission. They needed to find their target first before they could even take it down? And they were being separated? Suddenly, the urge to win begun to swell inside him... he needed to make the village, his clan, proud. they needed to see he was worthy of them.

He would be sure Tokato would succeed over the other two.

Speaking of, the Bannin glanced at the Genma jin when they asked 'Any questions'. He gave a glance at 'Weaver-man', the first time he gave those gathered any expressed attention, and would try to take in his team mates face and expression to try and gauge why that question was directed at them specifically.

[Kao]

"Yes, you can pick which target you want to hurt first. Again, it's up to the four of you to organize yourselves. I won't hold your hands through this. Consider this an audition or test. Failure is unacceptable, remember that." The bannin was growing bored with the meeting. He wasn't accustomed to even speaking to genin, let alone handing out assignments and being anything remotely similar to a guiding hand.

"Bring back the bodies if you can. Otherwise, incinerate them completely. If none of you have any other questions then get out." He stood and waved them off, heading back to the balcony behind him. Kotaru would remain there until the four young shinobi left. He sincerely hoped they succeeded. Finding capable hunters at their stage of development was a difficult task. If they proved themselves, the Akari had plans for each of them that could lead them all to greatness.

[Trusted Grader]

Tokato nodded, he was satisfied that they were allowed to pick and choose whoever they wanted to hunt, that was great news as it meant that they could finally perhaps make sure that the genin came back in one piece as Kotaru hadn´t mentioned that they had been sentenced to death. Besides, he had stories that the Bannin Shoshiki, Amaya had been a D-Rank missing nin in the past and had done great work re-earning the respect of the village, so perhaps these kids could be afforded the same opportunity.

"I´ll deal with Fukusha, Aizen and Enkouten, Maketa... I´ll start with the Fukusha."

Tokato saluted the Akari, but dropped his hand once he heard him say burn the bodies, he was about to ask questions but ignored it for now. Tokato wouldn´t kill his targets, no, he would just restrain them and bring them back to Iwa in one piece as he still believed that the kids could be saved, perhaps working as a hunter nin had corrupted Kotaru to the point of not giving children second chances, but Order Genma refused to allow the boy to even think of slaughtering them. You bring them back alive Tokato, show Kotaru that there´s still innocence in this world, that there´s still order.

Tokato looked down, how was he supposed to show a man like that anything? The only thing he could do now was try his best to save them and then justify it to the Akari, whether he liked it or not. Tokato turned around and left the room in disbelief, was he truly going to be able to save them or was this just some childhood fantasy that the Genma liked to press on? Internally he was conflicted, but on the outside he appeared calm and collected, I have to find the information of their whereabouts first, then I´ll try my best.

[Texas]

The young boy held all of his excitement in. He wanted to hunt all of these clan members. No mercy, no survivors. To be born into regal families and still have the gall to leave the village.... well this just fueled Murasaki's hatred for clans even further. Maybe he will bring all of them into a colosseum and deliver the heads to Kotaru, he probably liked that kind of stuff allegedly. "Yes Sir, heads will roll" Murasaki would turn around and "accidentally" try to step on Hanzou's foot on the way out.

Regardless of if he missed or not, Murasaki would hope that Hanzou would be close enough to ask him a question as they left the Bannin's office. If Hanzou was close he would whisper, "Hey, everything aside. Did you find the silent ronin a little odd?" Well if Hanzou didn't get close enough then Murasaki would simple walk out of the office and start heading home.

Upon his way home, the young boy would finally stop fighting his smile and allow his straight face to crack. This was the best day of his life and it wasn't even close. Time to go on a hunting spree. Upon arriving home, there was already a letter waiting for him. It gave out a couple targets and his teammate. That excitement turned to utter disappointment as it read: Fukusha, Hanzou. Murasaki would tighten his grip scrunching the letter a bit. "Mother F---".

[Drak]

“Yes sir,” Hanzou bowed again. The whole situation was odd: the suddenness with which they had been summoned, the motley crew of shinobi called to hunt a smattering of low-ranking missing-nin, and most of all the height of command this came from. For a second, he looked like he would say something more, maybe ask a question. With a swallow and a deep breath, he suppressed that look. From the look on Kotaru’s face, the “get out” was infinitely more important than the “any other questions.”

Did something happen? Hanzou thought as he turned to leave. Or is something going to? Low ranking hunts are a common mission for people on the cusp of chuunin, but for all of these to come at once…

Hanzou’s train of thought was interrupted by Murasaki’s question.

“Super odd,” Hanzou muttered back. He left “Still better teamed up with him than you” unsaid.

By the time he returned home to his private little corner of the Fukusha compound, a letter had arrived for him. It was on fine paper, and bore a seal he had seen dozens of times that day already: that of the Jousai. His mind was already on the prestige, advancement, and payout he would get upon completion of this mission. His spirits sank when he saw a certain name after “Teammates:”

“Son of a-”