[Team 11] [Yaseyama] Prelude : Ensa no Sato

[HotelBravo]

It was finally time for the team to meet and head out on their first assignment. First, however, they would need to briefed on what that assignment was. Asuka was of the mindset that she didn’t need to test the team’s talents and skills. They were genin, they would obviously not be up to par regardless of how talented they were for a genin. She wouldn’t test them either, they had earned their positions by virtue of having graduated from the academy. Instead she was going to put them to the test in a different way - in a live mission. This wouldn’t be chasing cats or gardening. An actual mission. Scrolls were delivered to the residences of each of the members of the team with the team's orders.

“Kumogakure Genin Team 11, You are hereby ordered to meet in briefing room 7 at the mission office at 7 P.M. Kumogakure time. Bring your traveling gear, and combat gear and prepare for a pre-mission inspection. You will be reporting to Ishiguro Asuka, Jounin. It is so Ordered. “

Asuka had made sure to take meticulous steps in preparation for this meeting. She had spent part of her day gathering maps of the area, making copies of those maps as well as other materials identifying potential threats, terrain hazards, dangerous plants, and dangerous creatures that may be in the area. She organized all of the information into several manilla folders for the team.

Briefing Room 7 was on the first floor of the mission office. It had previously been used for some other purpose, Asuka didn’t follow the history, but this meant the room was a bit cramped for its purpose. It was ultimately fine because the room was going to be used for only a small team. The room had no windows with which one might spy into it. A small table sat in the center accompanied by four chairs. On top of the table was a projector pointed towards a bare wall. On the opposite wall were portraits of the current chain of command, ending with the office in charge of the Mission office. Asuka laid the folders on the table, one for each member of the team. With a flick the projector glowed to life and a square of light was drawn on the wall through the beam filtering past the lens of the projector. She loaded in her slides, tested them, then reset everything and placed a cover over the face of the projector to hide the projection until she was ready to begin the presentation.

Now she would have to wait for her wayward charges to arrive.

[Bexhex]

Amaki stumbled and crashed to the floor, sending her bag careening across the apartment, knocking over her coat rack. "Ouch" she moaned as she rolled to her knees gripping the back of her head. She looked over at the idle clock on the wall it was 6:30pm and she felt a wave of anxiety overcome her. "You are hereby ordered to meet in briefing room 7 at the mission office at 7 P.M," the words on the mission scroll delivered earlier rang in her head. "I'm gunna be late!!!" Amaki whined as as she picked up the contents of her bag, it was filled with clothes for several days, a culmination of travel gear, and things pertinent to a potential mission. It was her first mission, she was excited, not only to be taking another step closer to her goals, but also to meet her teammates. She wondered what kind of interesting people they would be. She quickly zipped up the bag and rose to her feet. Picking up the coat rack, she took the time to put on the one lonely coat she had, putting her arms through the mismatched sleeves, one torn the other dangling off her hand, obviously a bit oversized. She then ran to the counter in the kitchen pulling a bag of gently wrapped sweet rolls from her favorite shop. Placing one firmly into her mouth she lifted the bag counted out 6 rolls and happily noded before running towards the door, she was all set. Lifting her kanabo and swinging it over her shoulder, the heavy hunk of iron resting off her shoulder, she ran through the door and out of her building.

The distance to the mission office where she was supposed to meet was a sizeable distance, if she made a quick headline for it, she may get there in time. She looked out over the city, it was 6:45 she had fifteen minutes to get there. "Adversity brings strength I suppose," she laughed anxiously, mocking the old saying. Then she barrelled down the streets of Kumo, vaulting down sets of balconies, and sliding across railings, attempting to shimmy past the few crowded areas in the streets.

Out of breath and pastry still in her mouth she stopped in front of the mission office, attempting to catch her breath. The evening twilight casting a shadow out over her, and she found herself to suddenly be nervous in its presence. This was it, her team was inside those doors, comrades whom she would bond with in the next few missions people who would be like a family. She picked herself up, rummaged through her bag and tried to find the scroll that said the room she should report to. She fumbled around, and after panic had overcome her remembered she had thrown the scroll into her back pocket. Letting out a sigh of relief as she pulled it out she read again "report to room 7". She gingerly smiled and proceeded through the doors of the mission office.

The halls were desolate, which was not surprising for the time day they were supposed to meet. It was nice to see it so calm, most of the doors were closed except for a few offices here and there, but before long she came to a dark wooden door inscribed on it Room 7 in silver lettering. She took a large bite of the sweet roll and opened the door casually, she hoped in her head that it was her team on the otherside. Stepping through the threshold she was met by a woman dressed in formal attire, or at least to Amaki it was formal, and a "hime style" haircut. Her gaze had been fixed on amaki, the blue eyes of the woman in front of her felt calculating maybe a hint of cold, like this woman was observing her every move, picking her apart and sizing her up. Amaki stared for a brief moment mouth still stuffed with a sweet roll before it hit her, this was her leader, a Jounin, someone she should show respect to. Her eyes went wide with panic and the sweet roll dropped from her mouth as she quickly swallowed her recent bite. "Senkuma Amaki, rank genin, reporting to room 7 for team 11 ma'am" she said strongly, trying to make up for her disrespectful demeanor. She made the gesture for a kumo styled salute. She hoped she didn't just get off on the wrong foot of this woman

[Jin the Sugar Glider]

It was mission time. It was time to meet a team. It was both something Shizune had looked forward to since her return to service after her last mission, and also something that she had had nightmares about over the past few months. This was a sign that the village was ready to see if she truly could maintain herself on a mission again, but it was also potentially her last mission if she proved to be incapable of service. Not to mention the anxiety of new teammates, and a new mentor, felt like a rock weighing down the girl's chest and stomach. The mission... The girl thought to herself quietly. Focus on the mission and nothing else will matter.

She repeated these words to herself, like a mantra almost, the phrase repeating in her mind as she walked the streets of Kumo. She ducked through allies and hopped along rooftops to clear the village's crowds and bystanders. Her gear stuck rigidly to her body as she moved, secured by several straps to prevent dangling and unnecessary noise. Her Wakizashi sat along her outer thighs, her shuriken sat in their holsters, and her miscellaneous gear all sat within a pouch tied around her waist. Her clothing, a mixture of blacks and reds, clung tightly to her form, with the exception of a flowing red scarf that trailed about 6 inches behind her as she moved. And adorning her face was a black and gold Kitsune mask - Shizune's "formal" mission mask.

Arriving at the mission office, Shizune made quick work of navigating the halls to find room seven. She would introduce herself with purpose and strength, she wouldn't betray herself to the anxiety and fear she was feeling... Or at least that's what she thought. As she entered the room though, the Ishiguro that was to be their mentor was clearly a detail oriented, by the books shinobi. The spread of folders and the prepared projector all pointed towards her being an exemplary shinobi, though perhaps a bit strict as well. And then there was Amaki - The young girl that Shizune had been bumping into lately. "...Amaki?" Shizune spoke with quiet disbelief, her breathy voice trembling slightly.

But she quickly snapped out of it again, her head visibly shaking back and forth as if to center herself, before she looked at Asuka and gave a small bow. "Jinrai, Shizune. Reporting for duty, Asuka-senpai." She spoke with a callous conviction, mustering her courage to act the way she felt she should on a mission. Then, if nothing else was to be said yet, she'd go take a seat next to Amaki and wait for the remainder of their team to appear.

[Hayate]

Like many of the other Genin who were not from the nations capitol, Chihiro was staying in a dormitory south of the academy just outside Akino's peak. She had orders to meet at 7PM at the Missions Office, which was on the ground floor of the same building to which the Raikage and current Emperor sat. By 6:20PM she was still laying in her bed reading her favourite book; The Morals of a Commander at War. It was a philosophical and historical deep dive into the tough decisions leaders had made that delivered the world as she knew it in it's current form. It sparked the ambitions she had herself to be a leader someday... to become the Empress of the Lightning Empire. Putting her book down to check the time her stomach grumbled, her hand gently comforting her stomach to no avail.

Given the mission office was about a fifteen minute jog from her dormitory it gave her roughly 20 minutes to get some food and still leave a 10 minute buffer to ensure she made it to the appropriate meeting place on time. Given it was the ground floor too, it would be an even quicker entry. Confident she had the time to get some grub she grabbed her gear, suited up, and locked her door. It wouldn't be long until she found herself seated at one of her favourite restaurants.

"Mabo-dofu please!" she gently asked the waitress as she received her cup of cold oolong tea. She sipped at as the waiter nodded and disappeared behind a counter. The place didn't look particularly busy, but it wasn't exactly empty either. Chihiro took a deep breath as she internally counted...

---

It was about 15 minutes later that the tantalizing aroma of spices blessed her nose. It wasn't quite as delicious as the mabodofu of Soul Country but it had become a staple food for her during her stay int he capitol. The only issue was she only had roughly ten minutes to enjoy this spicey delight of meat, tofu, vegetables, and rice. Digging into her dish with no restraint she gulped it down as her face turned more and more red from the spice. Her tongue burning she must of drank half the pitcher of oolong tea before she stood up, pushed in her chair, and dashed to the entrance to pay her bill.

Emptying out her coin purse in the process she exchanged gentle bows before she was off to the streets, dashing between the roof top. Whenever the gap became too big she'd make a shadow clone sword to jump off of, the sword disappearing with the form of her kick.

I've only got ten minutes to make a fifteen minute dash...

She'd need to make a little shortcut.- before she could finish that thought she heard someone scream. A block away there was an awful thick smoke exiting a small little wooden house, the flickering orange lights telling her all she needed to know. Citizens were running a bucket brigade but it seemed the fire brigade hadn't yet arrived.

"My baby!!! a woman screeched. Chihiro's heart sank. She looked at her watch, then back to the scene before rushing off to the building.

---

At 7:10PM Chihiro would enter the mission office, ten minutes late, her hair a little singed and stinking of smoke.

"Sooooo first impressssiooons aren't always the most important right?" she said as she bowed to her teammates... not exactly apologizing but showing some remorse for being late. Her eyes locked onto Asuka as she gagged mentally. She still couldn't believed this prude was her teacher. What was she here to teach them, spreadsheets?

After a sufficient amount of bowing she'd take her seat.

[HotelBravo]

"Senkuma Amaki, rank genin, reporting to room 7 for team 11 ma'am" The First in the room was the girl Amaki. She was thin, but she held herself well. The Iron Kanabo seemed a bit off on such a slender build, but then Shinobi were known to be deceptively strong. It was an interesting choice of a weapon. The Solid Iron would be good for Jikiton style jutsu in the future, she would need to make sure the girl was picking it up if she wasn’t already. She was a curious one with an eyepatch at such a young age. It seemed that she had seen her fair share of trauma. It was a shame, but that was what the sacrificial class of civilian, the shinobi, were for. To suffer for the happiness of the general populace. Asuka accepted Amaki’s salute and returned one of her own before gesturing to one of the chairs in the room. ”Take a seat.” She would instruct, and provide little else in the way of words.

The next in the room would be Shizune. She was shorter than Amaki, and perhaps one would find her attractive were it not for the things that she was hiding. Shizune’s scars didn’t frighten Asuka, but it did bring her to thinking about the history of these young women. What torture this girl must have experienced to become maimed so? So far, that was two of the three that had experienced some kind of damage. Asuka did place high value on making an effort to one’s appearance, so how would she behave in this girl’s shoes? Shizune put an effort to cover herself and her many scars. This included wearing a mask to hide the scars on her face."...Amaki?" the girl Shizune started when she entered the room. In half a heart beat she snapped to attention and gave a polite bow. "Jinrai, Shizune. Reporting for duty, Asuka-senpai." As the Jinrai completed her bow, Asuka had returned a bow of her own, as was only polite.

Now where was the third one?

Asuka checked for time and saw that it was already 7 p.m. It was time to begin the briefing. ”Lets begin. My name is Ishiguro, Asuka, Jounin. Lets set some expectations : First, while I out rank you, I will be taking on the role of an advisor to this team, and will accept orders from this team’s leader. As we don’t already have a team leader decided, lets start there. As the two members representing the team please decided which one of you will be acting as team leader.”

---

Asuka would let Amaki and Shizune communicate and determine who they wanted to be the team leader among themselves and would only chime in if there were any questions for the girls. About ten minutes into deliberations, the door opened and Chihiro wandered in. Given that she was giving herself the role of advisor, Asuka said nothing about the girl's tardiness. That would be for the team leader to deal with.

"Sooooo first impressssiooons aren't always the most important right?" She bowed to her team mates while Asuka quietly wondered if this girl was even capable of spreading sheets on her own bed? Making one’s bed was the foundation of the day. The scent of smoke was heavy on Chihiro. Asuka wasn’t ignorant of what this meant - the girl had likely participated in fighting a fire. ”Gang Hua-Sama.” Asuka acknowledged with a polite bow. ”We have a number of topics to go over in preparation for our mission. We were just talking about deciding on a Team Leader. As I’ve stated to the other’s, I will only be acting as an advisor to this team. It will be up to one of you to lead it.”

[Bexhex]

There was a brief silence as the two met eye to eye, Amaki could felt a wave of anxiety wash over her body as the Jounin looked assessed her, examining her appearance and demeanor. These few moments felt as if they would last an eternity until the woman's lips parted to speak to Amaki, she felt her stomach lurch, fearful of being told to turn the other way and leave. When her stomach felt it could rise no further, the woman broke the silence, ”Take a seat.” gesturing to the empty chairs nearby. Amaki let out a loud sigh and found herself chuckling in relief. "Yes ma'am" Amaki said with a large grin on her face. She walked over towards the set of empty chairs unstrapping her kanabo leaning it against the table. She pulled out a second sweet roll, of course after picking up the first she had dropped while in shock, and took a large gluttonous bite. She still felt anxious but the delicious pastry would settle her for the moment. When she heard the familiar voice of Shizune come through the threshold, Amaki....?. Almost choking on her recent bite of food, at the realization that Shizune was on the same team. She looked up to see the masked girl standing there, before seeing the shift from the shy girl she had met in an outcropped cave some time before. She was guarded and holding herself confidently before this woman, and she could feel and aura of...perhaps determination, as she reported to the woman. When Shizune turned towards Amaki, she just lightly tapped the seat next to her, mouth too full to speak.

Amaki felt calm with her new friednd sitting here with her, it made her feel comfort in knowing at least someone who was on her team. I wonder who the last member is, its exciting to see who would next walk through the door Amaki thought to herself. She wanted to speak with Shizune and talk casually about her day, but she felt it was not appropriate, and she should wait until her senior had taken the first step. Together the three waited, and the last member still did not come through the door, Amaki was no room to judge she was not very punctual herself, infact, making it as she did was a miracle in itself. As the clock ticked towards 7pm, the woman spoke up and introduced herself. ”Lets begin. My name is Ishiguro, Asuka, Jounin. Lets set some expectations : First, while I out rank you, I will be taking on the role of an advisor to this team, and will accept orders from this team’s leader. As we don’t already have a team leader decided, lets start there. As the two members representing the team please decided which one of you will be acting as team leader.” she said. Looking looking towards Shizune, Amaki pictured which of them would be better for being the leader. Amaki knew she could make quick decisions, that was a strong suit of hers but, she was rash to free spirited. The leader needs to be capable of assessment, Amaki laughed, since when was she capable of assessing anything she just wanted to see the world to experience all the things she could before...her mind trailed off before snapping back. She looked to Shizune, "It's definitely not a good idea for me to take the lead, could you picture me giving orders...," Amaki let out a strained laugh. She waited to hear out Shizune and the jounin Asuka to answer, before the door pushed open again.

The room was filled with a smokey scent as Amaki turned to see, standing one small step into the room, a fair skinned girl, with singed hair that was a cute strawberry blonde, she causally spoke before Asuka, "Sooooo first impressssiooons aren't always the most important right?", Amaki chuckled a bit as she heard that, in truth she admired that sort of casual demeanor. The addition of this girl made her feel alot more comfortable than she had first felt. Amaki grinned, she was at home here, these were her comrades, Asuka senpai seemed rigid, but her response towards the girl made Amaki feel even more assured she could relax here. She quickly perked up in her chair leaning over the table and said to the smokey smelling woman, "Hiya, it's nice to meet you, I'm Senkuma Amaki, you can call me Ina," suddenly her face went red, she was so excited to meet this woman she forgot to be curteous towards Asuka. She quickly turned towards the Jounin, It's a pleasure to meet you as well Asuka-senpai" Amaki rubbing the back of her head awkwardly. "I guess we have business to discuss, sooooo, who wants to be leader?" Amaki said smiling before sitting down and taking another large bite of the sweet roll. She gestured towards Shizune one of her extra rolls in the bag, the earlier anxiety seemingly gone replaced by the high-spirited girl she was known to be.

[Jin the Sugar Glider]

Shizune was admittedly caught off guard by the presence of her friend, but at the same time, took a bit of comfort in Amaki's presence. Sitting next to her while their sensei, Asuka, gave them the run down of how this team would function, she watched silently from behind her mask their advisor asked who would be their leader. Amaki gave her answer, which Shizune puzzled on for a moment. She certainly wasn't a very decisive girl, but she imagined that Amaki would still be capable of giving orders in a situation where that was required of her. That being said, if she wasn't comfortable being a leader, Shizune could understand that... the fear of failing not only yourself, but your friends with poor decision making was no doubt overwhelming. Shizune wondered then, for a moment, how her leader must have felt when he and Shizune were captured by Kiri...

And would Shizune be comfortable being in his shoes? How must he have felt, seeing firsthand the price of his failures?

"I... I'm better when given direction, or left to my own devices. But, I'm no good as a leader..." Shizune meekly spoke the words, her hands coming together in front of her as she poked her index fingers together. As silly as it seemed, the latecomer of the group may be the best option for leadership. "Would you like to take the reins, miss...?" Shizune would leave the floor open for Chihiro to respond, as it seemed she would end up tailor made for the position.

[Hayate]

After having taken her seat, Chihiro would have bobbed her head gently to the others introductions, and upon exchanging her own and the necessary amount of pleasantries find herself awaiting Asuka's explanation. With a strange sense of apathy towards their "new" sensei, Chihiro let out a sigh, unsurprised at the typical, bureaucratic attitude Asuka had. She'd had the pleasure of running into the woman a few days prior... and she detested the idea of working for this woman, yet at the same time was excited.

Rolling her eyes at the thought of outsourcing the job of leadership to some genin and giving therself the title of advisor... as if she wasn't responsible for all their lives out in the field, Chihiro chuckled slightly, only to find that once her waning focus returned the other two had seemingly landed on her being the leader.

This, by all means, was an excellent chance for her career and life long goal of becoming the leader of Lighting Empire... or at least the Soul Territory. People loved a war hero. A scrappy squad lead who worked their way up... but also something about having just physically walked into leadership without earning it irked her.

She paused.

"I would love to accept, but I think leadership needs to be earned..." she said in a low-timbre voice. "If I can prove I am worthy of it, then I'll take the role... but only then..." she said trailing off.

[HotelBravo]

"It's definitely not a good idea for me to take the lead, could you picture me giving orders...," The Senkuma girl gave out what Asuka perceived to be a very nervous laugh. Despite the nervous laugh. Asuka didn’t answer the rhetorical question, perceiving it as rhetorical, but internally she knew that any of these three had the qualities for leadership. They simply had yet to develop the skills, which was in part what this was for. Asuka could very will picture Ina as the leader of the genin team.

"I... I'm better when given direction, or left to my own devices. But, I'm no good as a leader..." Shizune responded. Mask aside, those few words were all Asuka needed to undress her self esteem. Yes, this one had seem struggle and though she had survived she had been conquered by it. It stung Asuka to consider the very idea. She did so enjoy conflict, but to see someone shrink back from the thing that she loved? It wasn’t exactly a slap in the face, but she did think about how to best help this girl. If there was someone who needed the experience of leadership the most it was her. "Would you like to take the reins, miss...?" She was fast to hand off the responsibility to another. Unfortunate.

Chihiro, Asuka already knew, was something of the ambitious type. She weighed the girl with her eyes as she considered the offer from her teammates of leading the team. "I would love to accept, but I think leadership needs to be earned..." Chihiro Answered. "If I can prove I am worthy of it, then I'll take the role... but only then..."

Asuka took a deep breath.

”I think the three of you have some sort of misunderstanding. This isn’t about who is the best leader, or who should be the leader, or who has earned the right to be the leader. Leadership is a skill, so all three of your objections are rejected. You are all being too polite about this. This exercise is about developing said skill. Since we failed to reach an accord I will exercise my authority and appoint Jinrai-san as the team’s leader.`` The Masked Girl needed to grow more than the rest of the team, and while Chihiro was doubtless a natural leader, the humility would do her well. The hesitation on Chihiro’s part had been unexpected certainly - she was someone who seemed like she would have been the first to accept such a position. What was it that held her back? She was a girl with many depths.

All three had suffered so much already and they hadn’t even begun their careers in full.

Asuka took a folder and handed it to Shizune.

”Jinrai-san, these are the dossiers on your team. You will need to assign roles to each of your team members; the roles are Support Specialist, Tactical Specialist, and Primary Combat Specialist. Support Specialize provides field first aid, providing intelligence, and disrupting the enemy. A Tactical Specialist creates strategies, gathers information, and provides tactical advantages. A Primary Combat Specialist engages the enemy head on and provides the main offensive power and utilizes techniques that suit aggressive combat. While you consider whom you wish to hold what role, I think we can start the briefing.”

[Bexhex]

"Oh Shizune you'll make a great lead.." Amaki's words were cut off as she fell to the floor. She had gone to pat the girl on the back, but remembering a previous encounter she tried to stop it, ending in her hitting the floor with the large oversized iron kanabo hitting the floor in a loud thud next to her.

Amaki, quickly perked her head back up pullin herself back onto the chair. She rubbed the back of her head and chuckled nervously, " I'm sorry, congratulations Shizune," then turning towards Asuka "apologies Asuka-senpai," . Amaki felt horribly embarrassed, she had been on edge through this whole ordeal. Maybe it was the cramped room, or how dark it was but it made her feel uneasy like a child in a dark room. She sat rigidly attempting to be on her best behavior, listening intently for both the objective and her role in this squad. Hoping maybe this feeling of unease would fade away.

[Hayate]

Chihiro would nod to the group. The title of leader didn't mean much to her, so she didn't have much to disagree with. Besides, she didn't want to put herself in that spotlight anyways.

"I'd like to serve as the Tactical Specialist. I specialize in absolute field domination." she said with a grin. "My symphony of steel makes the battlefield a death trap." Chihiro said as she popped a massive grin, ear to ear. She put her hands up, crossed, fingers wiggling as she laughed.

Buwahahahahahahahaha.

Chihiro specialized in magnetism and a type of shadow clone jutsu that focused on cloning items. She could cover a field in duplicates of her weapons then throw them about in a flurry of attacks via magnetism. She didn't really explain this to the others though.... which probably was important for someone who wanted to be a tactician.

"I could be the muscle too, actually. Or the support. As long as my blades are on the field I can do anything." she grinned.

[HotelBravo]

Asuka nodded to Amaki. Don’t worry about it Senkuma-san. She answered. While the mission was always foremost on her mind, a good leader used the carrot as well as the rod. Not that she had much opportunity to use either of them yet. These three had a completely different start than Asuka had. Where she was had been privately tutored by her father and had skipped being a genin entirely, they had to go through this stage. She didn’t know what was the proper way to run a genin team, never having been in one herself, but she did know what it was like to have a father. She would strive to be everything her father had taught her to be, and to teach these young ones the same thing that her father had taught her. To be better than her. She could see the bright lights of the future in their eyes, and it was her dearest wish that they would never lose them. She would be a Father to these ones. Hm. She was a woman though? Mother then.

A knock came to the door and Asuka held up a hand to pause the briefing. ”Enter.” A small squirrelly administrator entered the room and approached Asuka. He held up his hand to cover his mouth and leaned towards her - this was for her ear only.

”M’am, A second shinobi has hit the tower.” His voice sounded about as she had expected, nasally and knowledgeable. She nodded and dismissed him.

”Jinrai-san please go over the details of the mission with your team. I have a matter that requires immediate attention. I will return post haste.” Asuka stormed off the administrator shortly after to leave the genin to prepare for the mission.