Starring:
Date: July 24, 2013
Summary:
Katsurou and Satomi embark on a mission to return a large sum of money to its rightful owner. In the process they run into a few obstacles that turns this simple mission into something much more.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Collecting a Debt"
Land of Waterfall
Satomi is waiting by the gates, or more accurately, she's napping by the gates on her regular tree stump. Behind her is a broadly built man waiting impatiently with his arms crossed. "When will he be here!?" He asks…. Satomi opens one eye and yawns yet again. "HE'LL BE THERE…" She snaps at him before closing her eyes again, seemingly shifting between the half concious-half asleep state the Nara is so well versed with.
They're waiting on Katsurou to arrive, who hasn't seen his team leader in a month. Sure she sent letters, a gift and several missions. But that doesn't acquaint to actually being there. On the flipside, Satomi hasn't had any firsthand updates on her team either, so she was curious to see howmuch they have grown. More importantly, how Katsurou has developed. She still needed to make the call on giving him his headband, and inside, it's killing her a little bit.
So she put that off for now and waits for his arrival. The man behind her seems quite nervous about the whole ordeal. The client no doubt. "So when he is here?" He asks again. This time Satomi doesn't respond and just enjoys the bright winter sun.
Katsurou had cut his training short when he recieved the message that Satomi's requested his presence at the village gates. After a shower and a quick change of clothes, the Shirayuki makes his way towards the gates. He walks at his usual casual pace while enjoying the warmth of the sun beating down on his face…or at least the part that isnt covered by his mask. "It is good to see that you made it back alive, Satomi-sama." Katsurou's soft voice speaks out as he makes his way towards the pair. He eyes the bigger man that stood behind the Nara. "Who is your date?" He asks still studying the man.
Satomi looks at Katsurou and has trouble suspressing a smile. Satomi-sama. That's more like it! She feels a little proud. When he mentions the date she chuckles. "This is the client, you might know him. He's an international sportsman…" She mentions. "His name is Bo.." She pats the closest of a man on his shoulder before stealing a look at Katsurou. "And Bo has a problem don't you Bo?" Satomi muses. As if speaking to a small child. The man nods as if almost ashamed. "I… I gamble.." He says. Satomi nods and takes over. "He gambles, but not the kind where he gets in bad debts.." She shakes her head. "No he gambles on his own sports perfomance. His brother does the money work… or did." She looks at Katsurou. "His brother is nowhere to be found. Bo thinks his brother left with all the money, betrayed him." She looks at Katsurou. Yes, she picked this mission for a reason. Now, here's to hoping she won't have to kill him after some abreaction. "It's a C-rank mission but it could turn B or A rank really quickly, you up for it?" She asks while getting on her feet. The snow crunching softly under her fleeting step.
Katsurou hmms as he gets the mission brief from his team leader. His attention goes from Bo to Satomi. "So. We track down his brother. Retrieve the money that is rightfully Bo's…well in a sense." He adds. "More than likely that will take some…physical persuasion; and all the while we keep under the radar of Kirigakure hunter nin? I suppose." The Shirayuki says with a shrug of his shoulders. "When do we set out?"
Good, calm and proffesional. Satomi smiles at Katsurou. "It'ssss not quite as simple. But yes, that's the dumbed down version." She looks at Bo. "Now listen Bo, we travel faster without you." She nods into town. "You can get a house there until we're back is that okay?" The man nods slowly and begins walking. "Now look, he thinks his brother turned on him. If he has the money, the mission is to kill him and dispose of the body." Satomi seems awefully calm about this. "Lets go…" And with those words she jumps up and begins walking towards the land of waterfall. That's quite a travel.
So, after travelling for two days, idle chatter, camping out and relying on Shinobi supplies they finally arrive in the land of waterfalls. "Good, now remember. This country has its own Shinobi. Lets not try to act hostile to anyone. Avoid trouble." She nods at Katsurou and is about to walk on when she suddenly stops. "Great… Company." She muses, three shadows suddenly fly past, but disappear again into the canopy. Satomi holds up her palm to instruct Katsurou to hold position, while she braces.
Katsurou wasn't sure about /killing/ someone but he would deal with that when the time came. He set out along side his team leader to travel the lands for the next few days. The Shirayuki felt lucky considering there has been no conflict thus far in the trip at least…until Satomi had spotted something. "Great…Company." Were the words she had spoke that filled Katsurou with panic. The Shirayuki's "Fight or Flight" urge kicks in as his nerves begin to build up. However, on the outside he seems as cool as a cucumber. His eyes scan the direction of where he thought the shadows had went into hiding. The deep blue iris of his eyes begin to change into a bright blue. His blonde hair fades in color and his skin grows even more pale than usual. Also, one might feel his skin to be cold to the touch if they managed to get so close.
"Don't…" Satomi only manages to his when noticing the chakra behind her flare up! Now he dun it! The three shadows suddenly pop up. Satomi is holding a kunai. A kunai is thrown towards Katsurou but it's deflected by Satomi's kunai to fly the other way. "Hold it, we mean no harm!" Satomi says, showing her palms, looking straight ahead. She's open and exposed now. And she can't see Katsurou! Here is to hoping he can keep his head cool. "We are Konoha Shinobi, here persuing a criminal." Satomi says firmly while her eyes dart left and then right. She has no clue where these guys are.
"Then leave, you have no business here, SPIES!" Says one voice. A shadow suddenly springs up and ends up between Satomi and Katsurou, with his back turned towards him, pressing a kunai into Satomi's neck very slowly. "Hello lil' dove.." Says the guy wearing blue. He looks about thirty and by the way he holds himself, chuunin-ish. Two kids, thirteen and eighteen respectively show up from the canopy, both holding kunai aimed at Katsurou.
"I'll give you two one chance to leave, or I'll have to kill you." He says while his face moves close to Satomi's neck. His tongue sloooowwllyyyy sticks out. About to pass her skin.
Suddenly he just stops moving, freezing in places inches away from her. The kids can't see, but Satomi made handseals. The man is struck by her shadow imitation. "What the!?" He says. "Katsurou, water prison the genin!" She orders. Not budging. The genin seem caught by suprise and Katsurou gets a chance at first strike!
Katsurou's eyes widen when he feels the presence of another erect in between him and Satomi. A bead of sweat rolls down the side of his face as he does his best to control his own heart beat. Suddenly he hears Satomi's orders to contain the other genin. Something must've happened, but the Shirayuki wasnt about to waste a second thinking about it. He quickly performs a series of hand seals and one by one a clone of himself steps out from his original form. The clones take off running side by side towards the tree that the genin were currently in. With ease the clones run up the tree and make their way tot he top. Each one having to perform a little hand to hand combat before finally manipulating their way around the genin in order to both perform the Water Prison technique on each one. Meanwhile, the original Katsurou leaps away from the two chuunin but keeps his focus on the genin.
Satomi looks over her shoulder and notices he succesfully did what Satomi asked. "Listen, threatening colleagues and sexually harassing them isn't going to get us anywhere.." Satomi then turns around which means she's behind the chuunin and he's looking at Katsurou… "Little dove.." She whispers. "Now, we're here to persue a criminal, we're going to find him, and we're going to leave." She slowly brings her right hand to her throat so the man's own kunai does the same, now he's sweating! She meanwhile gets a chance to let her chakra loose. "Now, here's how we'll play this game." Satomi muses. "I'm going to let you all live and go home in peace to tell your Kage, that we mean no harm. That you spoke to us and everything went exactly as planned." She glances at him and smiles.
"And how can you check?" The man asks, almost regretting he asked. He should, he asked a chess player if she's sure if she check-mated him. "Quite simple, we keep one of the genin. First you leave, as a reward we'll let one genin go. The eldest." She looks at Katsurou. "He'll join you at a spot of your choosing. Then you go home, inform the Kage. You bring a letter with his seal of approval, which approves our presence here." She pauses. "You'll get your genin in exchange for the letter." Man she's cold! Cold as ice one might say….
Satomi grins. "Or you don't, and you can report on how you lost one or two genin to Konoha nin, Konoha will deny said accusations and suggest it must have been two people from another village henged as us, which makes you an incompetent man, who lost two of his genin… genin he should have taken care off, hmm?" She smirks. The man is really sweating now. Katsurou can see his face, and he's nearly crying from all the pressure. Seems like he does care for his genin. "Don't worry guys, I'll get us out of this.." The man says while Satomi releases her bind. The man slowly moves his body to check. Then he nods. "I'll do as you ask." He whimpers. "We meet by the third fall." He says to the oldest genin, before jumping and sprinting away.
Satomi waits in dead silence for five minutes. "Release the eldest." She says. While preparing some zipcuffs from her backpack. She didn't check if Katsurou was okay with this, it was the best course of action according to her.
Katsurou listens to Satomi as she deals with the Chuunin. Even though his attention was more so on the genin up above in the tree, he still kept a good eye on the Chuunin from the corner of his eyes. Inwardly, he snarled at the Chuunin who was beginning to crack under the pressure. What a weak shinobi. It was almost pathetic. The Shirayuki suddenly becomes aware of his thoughts and is surprised by his own way of thinking toward the Chuunin. What has gotten into him? He decides to just brush it off and chalk it up to growing up with Kirigakure roots.
Katsurou does as he is told and with a hand seal being brought up to his chest, he deactivates the ice clone who held the eldest in the water prison technique. Shards of ice fall to the ground along with the water from the water prison technique hitting the ground with a splash. He stands ready for the next course of instructions.
Satomi sighs and finally relaxes now the man is gone and his genin follows. "Good thing we were not forced to hurt them. They mean well, well the older guy was a bit of a creep. But hey…" She shrugs. "Come on.." She walks up to the guy in the water prison and after some manouvering she ties his hands behind his back. "Katsurou, you mind watching him while we walk to the biggest town in the country? Lots of gamblers out there." She notes, trailing ahead. Eyes peeled obviously. She sighs calmly. "Here's to hoping this doesn't turn into a diplomatic mess." Satomi whispers while looking over her shoulder. "Hey kid, listen here's the deal. We're not going to hurt you if you comply. Try to be a hero and you die. Am I understood?" She asks. The young frightened boys must have pissed himself because he reeks!
Once Satomi had the genin detained, Katsurou deactivates his second ice clone. He gives a nod towards Satomi as she asks him to keep an eye on the genin. He starts out behind the detained genin but there is a foul stench coming from in front of him. He then quickly makes his way to walk along side of him instead of behind. As they walk Katsurou keeps to his usual quiet and reserved self. He chooses not to revert to his normal form just yet as he was still on high alert of any trouble that could jump out from the shadows.
Satomi takes a deep breath and seems to calm down. No one seems to bat an eyelash at the captured nin. Ninja can handle their own business. Satomi was more concerned about his possible allies. Lets just hope none cross their path for now! Now they're walking into town things seem a lot more familiar. Just a busy town, with the exception of shady sake dens being everywhere. And people are even better on the streets! Addiction much? "Woah…" Satomi says for a moment inaudbly. Before turning towards Katsurou. "I'll watch him, you go out and check out the sports den. I think they wouldn't be so receiving to women.." She was probably right. It was crowded with Yakuza. "And turn your octorok hair off its scaring people!" She pushes the boy onto a bench and stands in front of him while letting Katsurou explore the nearby sportsbars on his own. "Ask around for Bo's brother. His name is Zuko."
Katsurou stares at Satomi a few moments as she tells him to "turn his hair off". When it seems as though he is going to protest, his hair returns to his natural blonde, his eyes return to its usual deep blue, and his skin returns to normal. "Very well." He finally says as he turns to make his way into the nearby sportsbar. Once he enters, he takes a moment to scan the bar to become aware of his surroundings.
Satomi is fine with detaining that twerp, Katsurou however could be challenged. The bar is packing! And people are pushing and pulling and all doing things that would normally classify them as hostiles. Generally being agressive and loud while bets fly left and right. Followed by occasional punches. Mens men…. Sort of. "Hey kid, lowest rates in town, fifty two fourty eight split, I know all the rigged games in town kid… hey watcha say!?" Meanwhile someone reaches into his kunai pouch in the hope to snatch a couple of coins. And he has to duck to dodge a bottle flying through the air.
Katsurou ducks under a bottle being flung in his direction. What a pretty rowdy place. As he ducks though he sees someone reaching into his kunai pouch. The Shirayuki reaches out in attempt to grab the man's wrist. If he manages to catch him, he will focus his ice chakra to give the man a little freezer burn…nothing too extreme. He raises back up and turns his attention back to the bookey who was originally offering him deals on a game. His hand still grabbing tightly around the man's wrist if he had managed to grab it in the first place. "Yes. I would like to take you up on your offer. But first, I am looking for a…Zuko?"
The bookie smirks and shakes his head. "Zukkooo zukooooo.." He blinks on Katsurou. If he looks behind him he can see people better on the fact of him getting or not getting a location! Woah, that was fast! Satomi meanwhile tries looking at the bar and shakes her head. "So what's your name kid?" She asks. The bookie meanwhile taps his chin. "Ah, Zuko! I might know a Zuko, but my memory's a bit cloudy.." He holds out his right hand and opens up his palm. "I might need - something - to remember!"
Katsurou looks down at the bookie's open hand then looks back up at the bookie. "Oh, I apologize. Where are my manners?" The Shirayuki reaches into his his vest then places his hand on top of the bookies as if he was dropping something into it. Instead, he grabs hold of the bookie's open hand and focuses his ice jutsu in an attempt to freeze it or at the very least give it a frost burn.
"Ack-let go of me!" Says the man he's still holding on to with clenched jaws. His hand carrying several frostburns now. The bookie did notice but doesn't mind it much. Smirking now Katsurou seems to be ready to pay up for Zuko's whereabouts! One second is all Katsurou needs and the man's hand freezes over slightly. "AHHHHHHHH!" He says while pulling his arm back. Grabbing his wrist and looking at his hands. "What…. i-"
Suddenly a bouncer twice the size of Katsurou reaches him from behind. Trying to grab him in the neck and simply lift him up. Aiming a punch at his spleen to make matters worse. "No touching the bookies." He also adds if he can talk by that point.
With the bouncer being twice his size, he wasnt keen on this whole "sneaking" thing. As the large man reaches out for him, Katsurou twists his body to the side to avoid his large hand. As he moves, he lets go of the would-be thief and weaves together a series of hand seals. Just as the bouncer rears his hand back, a mixture of liquid from everyone's mugs make its way toward the Shirayuki. It quickly takes form of a solid vertical stream which dances about Katsurou like a ribbon in the wind. The bouncer throws the punch and the liquid ribbon deflects it, which allows Katsurou time to slide in between the legs of the bouncer, attempt to kick the back of his knee to bring him down at his level, then reach over his head to grab hold of his nostrils and pull them up towards the top of his head. "I do not wish to hurt anyone. I am only looking for someone. However, if you would like to test me I will not hold back." He says as his eyes begin to turn into a bright blue but does not allow his body to complete the full transformation.
Katsurou notices his movement is a little minimized due to the crowded bar, but all in all he managed to hold his own just fine, and now he's holding a bouncer on his knees. Two more bouncers come up and people are already streaming out of the bar. "Okay okay stop, I'm Zuko!" Says the bookie who's hand Katsurou froze up! Only, when Katsurou's eyes turn blue he turns pale. "ONI!" He screams before pushing everyone and everything aside as he sprints to the door as soon as he can. Making several obstacles for Katsurou to avoid while rushing for the door. Those eyes scared him for sure! "Oh Ganon, now I did it… my guilt manifested into a redeading Oni! ZOLA!" He whispers to himself with teary eyes in pure fear while rushing for the door. "I should have told him.." He hisses.
Katsurou sighs as everything was about to come to a peaceful conclusion but suddenly went chaotic. Releasing the bouncer from his grasps, the Shirayuki give chase to Zuko. He manages to dodge the fallen table but what he wasn't anticipating was just how crowded the bar became with everyone panicing. Finally, making his way out of the crowd after being bumped and shoved from side to side he comes to the front door where Zuko had previously exited. He frowns at the side of a chair blocking the front door, but quickly forms a series of hand seals. The wind picks up inside the bar as if it was becoming its own wind tunnel. Then with a thrust of his hands he blasts the chair along with the front door open and off its henges.
Katsurou takes off running into the streets and immediately see Zuko sprinting away. Speed was not the Shirayuki's forte but what he lacked in that area he made up for with ninjutsu. Figuring if he could just take Zuko off his feet, he would be given the chance to catch him so he began forming another series of hand seals. Once the technique was completed a medium size globe of water from a nearby well forms in between his hands. A moment later tiny droplets of water begin shooting out of it all in effort of hitting the man from the waist down.
Satomi's eyes widen as she sees the ruckus… "Great, so much for subtlety… Maybe I should teach him lesson one in the Shinobi booklet again…" She tells the waterfall ninja. ~Maybe they do things differently in Kiri…~ She chuckles to herself, wincing as Zuko faceplants, bleeding slighly but mostly scratched up. He turns around and holds up his hands. "MERCY ONI, PLEASE I BEG YOU! YOU DON"T UNDERSTAND!" He seems genuinly scared. Satomi decides to let Katsurou handle it for now. The people from the bar move outside to watch the confrontation. Some are betting on it! Keese this town….
Katsurou's eyes turn back to normal as he approaches the fallen Zuko. "Calm down now. You are acting pathetic. I am not the one you need to worry about. On your feet now." He says offering a hand to the mark to help him back up on his feet. "Let us go back and talk to my friends." He says motioning towards Satomi. If Zuko does not resist he would walk along side him back towards Satomi. "No funny business, ok?"
Satomi awaits patiently as Katsurou arrives with a shook up, but slightly calmed down Zuko. "I see you have found the lost brother.." She says. Zuko is wearing a (torn up) gray suit, with a tasteless purple tie. "You…. you're not an Oni?" He says with trembling lips. Oh great, his brother must have hired Shinobi! Stupid idiot…. Unlike his brother this guy looks like a real sleazebag, lanky thin, a face that just screams 'deku scrub' and a horrible taste for clothing. Satomi sighs when they arrive. "So, broke up half a bar, but we found him…"
She glances around town and looks at the genin. "You hungry?" She asks the boy… "If you promise to behave, I'm buying you something to eat. Sounds fair?" She asks. The genin nods slowly. Satomi walks off to a nearby stand to get dumplings. Returning moments later.
"Okay, so speak up.." She says, handing everyone a stick of dumplings. "Where is the money, lie and we'll know." She bluffs but usually that's enough. The man shakes his head. "What money!?" He bites his lip. "There - is - no money!" He adds. "Yes there is, your brother could proof exactly howmuch as well. Nearly one and a half million Ryo. What did you do with it Zuko?" She stares at the man. "My brother… kept count? The man can barely count!" Zuko rolls his eyes for a moment and then blinks. Seems like he's a mathematician himself. "It's actually one point four and something, but wow…" He taps his chin. "Or it was.." Then he falls silent eating some dumplings.
"Wait, so you're saying you spend it all?!" Satomi continues. The man shakes his head and looks at Katsurou. "Look, if I had over a million Ryo do you think I would work in this bombchuhole?" He sighs. "Bo was supposed to lose his last match. We were betting all our cash on it. I needed him to have an opponent who knew, so I made this deal with some Yakuza fellars. Who put in a guy of about his level so the ratio's were high, but nothing suspicious happends." Zuko sighs. "At the last minute Bo tells me to change the bets to him! That he changed his mind and was going to win! He isn't the one who had to deal with the goriyaing mafia!" Zuko pouts his lips. "So I did changed the bets to Bo. And he did win, which put us at one point four million Ryo." Zuko pauses. "The mafia lost over four million on that little stunt." He points at himself. "And who did they blame!?"
"So, I did what I could to save my skin. I gave them all our money. And now I'm working for them, every penny I make gets payed up the line. But I can never repay this debt! First of all, they're charging a massive interest! Secondly, there's just no way of making millions as a bookie. And if I leave this town, they'll kill me!"
Satomi hmms and sighs, sitting down next to the waterfall ninja while slowly eating the dumpling. That did change mission parameters. He did - not - betray his brother. She looks at Katsurou. "What do you think? The client wants his money back. This guy is in a clinch. We could kill two birds with one stone, those Yakuza won't stop unless you make it profitable for them to stop, or rather, make them lose a lot of money for not stopping." She sighs. "Or we could leave this town, tell Bo his money is gone because he decided to play foul. Even though he didn't actually do it.." She rubs the bridge of her nose. "Then there's this problem.." She points at the waterfall nin. "The longer we stay, the bigger the chance that they amass a posse to arrest us.. or worse."
Katsurou already had a solution before he was even passed the mic to speak. He looks over at Zuko and in his usual soft voice he says, "Put us in a fight. Judging on the level of talent in this village though…I would assume that it would be harder for either one of use to lose a match than to win it." The Shirayuki looks to Satomi now. "We hide the fact that we are shinobi and we are in desperate need of money, willing to do anything." He looks back at the bookie. "Everyone will bet on the town favorite which will increase the margin, correct?"
The wheels are also turning in Satomi's brain. Katsurou is making a really risky play here! She looks at Zuko to see what he says. "I-I what no that's crazy!" Zuko looks left then right. "The towns favourite would give you a… twenty to one margin!" He says… his eyes brighten up a bit. "This could actually work.." But then he tones down again. "If you make it a tag fight the margin is one to twenty, since she's a woman.." He points at Satomi. Satomi doesn't take offense and knows the bias around these parts. "In our favour then, can you get two hundred thousand Ryo?" She asks. Zuko nods "Yes but it wouldn't matter!" The waterfall genin nods.
"You stand no chance, the town favourite is one of ours. Or ex-shinobi.." He pauses. "Taijutsu expert, no poeing way you're beating him. Especially in a tag team." Satomi ponders for a moment. "Jounin?" She asks. The kid nods. "Ex-jounin…" He adds. Satomi estimates that wouldn't do his skills any good. This was a really risky play. "And don't even think about taking the fight to the mafia.." Zuko says. "Having them is actually profitable if you know what you're doing. Waterfall condones the criminals in their lands in return for a hefty cut on the profits. No way they'll let you break up that margin unschaved." Satomi sighs. This is starting to sound like one of their only possible plays. And risky as darknut. "You sure you want to do this Katsurou-san…?"
Katsurou nods to Satomi when he is asked if he is sure about this plan. "And when this plan succeedes, and we break you from the mafia's grasps." He says looking towards Zuko. "That will be a favor you will pay us back for down the road." Networking. Everyone should have one! The Shirayuki looks back to Satomi. "We have found Zuko, I do not think we will be needing his assistance any further. Do you not think?" He says nodding towards the Waterfall nin.
Satomi nods. "I'm keeping him as collat for wh-.." Speak of the devil. That dirty chuunin shows up holding a scroll by the gates. "I just followed a trail of destruction.." He says, before throwing the scroll Satomi's way. Who nods. "We have permission to stay in these lands for two days." She looks at Katsurou while in a blur the genin's hands are untied. He rushes at the chuunin. "Did they hurt you?" He asks, the boy still eating his dumpling. Obviously these captors were quite friendly. "No.." He murmurs with a full mouth. Satomi seems okay now she got a note of approval from the Kage himself. That should do it. "I want the fight going down tonight." Satomi tells Zuko. Who nods frantically. "You got it!" He rushes off to another bar to get things settled.
"I don't think this will be an easy fight Katsurou. Even with us both combined. We're fighting Shinobi.." She sighs and looks at a motel. "Come on, lets grab a few hours of sleep before the fight.." She walks at the motel, and once arrives she orders a room for two, they only have one with one king size bed. She takes it and heads upstairs in the knowledge of Katsurou behaving. Besides, they slept side by side on a bedroll. This was just to get some proper sleep before the fight!
"No fight is an easy fight." Katsurou simply says as he watches the reunion of the native nin. He follows Satomi as they reach a nearby motel. The sleeping arrangement didnt bother him considering he had to bunk up with people like this before. Just…in sleeping rolls and not so much a semi comfy bed. Once inside, the Shirayuki took no time in removing various pieces of armor and his outter layer of clothing. Was was left was his spandex sleeveless shirt and sleeping shorts. He crawls onto the bed but leaves the covers for Satomi to get under.
Satomi knew rest was important so this was a sacrifice she was willing to make! She heads upstairs and slips off her shirt which leaves her in a sportsbra/shirt that hugs her body tightly, and exposes much of her abdomen. But clearly she isn't shy, plus she's living together with her boyfriend. She slips under the covers and eases into the bed, turning so her back is facing Katsurou. "Three hours, I asked them to wake us up." She then closes her eyes after yawning. And she's gone. A little Nara finess.
After three hours Katsurou gets woken up by a fully clothed Satomi. She already made a trip a little earlier and left him to sleep in a bit. "Come on, our fight is in about an hour." She notes. It seems she cancelled the wakeup call or something since the lobby never knocked on the door. She leans against the door and waits on Katsurou to get dressed before opening it and walking outside with him. Man this town reeks. "It's over by that building.." A big dome a bit further into town decorates it as its biggest building. It's also the place where horses race, fights are organised and occasional team sports are played. Satomi begins walking towards it. "I asked around a bit about our opponents. He's a taijutsu expert, but he'll send in his second first." She explains.
"He wants to see our abilities, his second uses ninjutsu." She looks at Katsurou. "I'll let you face him, and then take on the big stuff by myself. Hopefully you'll make it without being too fatigued, so if I need to switch out, you can take over to deal the finishing blow. You can switch at any time during the fight, but they haven't ever done it. Also, everything goes. I had Zuko prepare several jugs of water near the ring… You have three liters, give or take."
The three hours of sleep goes by quick before he is waken up by his team leader, Satomi. He sits up in bed and rubs his tired eyes. His first thought was how much he hated how much sleep he doesnt get when on missions. Gathering his belongings, he dresses himself then heads out the door.
As they made their way to the building where the fight was being held, Katsurou scans his surroundings thoroughly. It may have not seemed like it but he as listening to Satomi's every word as she briefed him on their up coming fight. "That is more than I will need." He says in his own way of giving approval to the jugs of water. "Just give me the signal once all bets are stopped. If I am to begin the fight, I will need to sell the idea that we are the weaker team of the two."
"The margin stays the same as the moment you place the bet. Our bet goes in, after one minute. So all you need to do is nothing during the first minute." She smiles and pats Katsurou on the shoulder as they move into the dome, and into the fighters quarters. "Everything goes, and you lose by tapping our, knocking out or dying." She gives him a serious glare.
"Don't do the third." She then winks at him and slaps him on the butt as she makes him walk to the ring. It's more like a football field. Plenty of space to fight. And there's a huge crowd! There must be thousands of people watching. Satomi considers this and the hunter nin, but dismisses the idea. No way they could have tracked them here. And this is good, this should make them head for the land of waterfalls by the time Satomi and Katsurou return.
A guy, about twentytwo years old wearing blue and black robes waits on the other side of the field. "You know the rules right?" A ref asks. "Ladies and gentleman. The fight of the month, our foreign challengers team ZUKOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…" Satomi rolls her eyes. Not cool Zuko. "And their opponents. Team firefall!" Firefall? Satomi grins. Water versus fire, Katsurou had the advantage!
"Combatants, begin!" The ref quickly retreats while Katsurou's opponent clearly focusses his chakra. Suddenly his arms shoot up and two bolts of fire flare into the air which sends the crowd into a frenzy. A regular thing apperently.
Katsurou frowns at Satomi as she pats him on the rears while on his way out to the battlefield. He measures the audience capacity. His first thought also was the chances of hunter nin coming out to claim his life. However, he couldn't be bothered by that thought right now. He had to keep his attention focused on the task at hand right now. As the flame thrower makes a show, Katsurou seems unimpressed and allows his chakra flow to heighten. He then looks over to try and spot Satomi in the crowd.
Satomi is sitting next to Zuko, right where Katsurou entered. D'aww, it was cute, as if he checked for someone he wanted to be there in the crowd. Satomi however soon looks away into the crowd. Checking for any foul play. Money begins flowing left and right. Official bets, unofficial bets and everything in between. And on everything, ranging from first blow to the actual fight. The longer it takes, the more the margins even out to reflect reality. So Satomi makes the big bet with Zuko right away through official channels.
The flame user rushes foreward and doesn't sweat it. He launches two distant punches at Katsurou after making a set of seals. From his fists two fist shaped fireballs rush at Katsurou. While the flame user runs in half a circle around him. He was poking at Katsurou! Satomi winces… so it has begun! Satomi goes back to checking the crowd for hunter nin.
Katsurou looks back at this opponent and watches him advance in anticipation. The the fire user makes the first attacks, the Shirayuki manages to roll out of the way of the first fireball but finds himself in the center of the second. He is hit dead on and lets out a cry as his skin is burned. His clothing was even singed and torn at some points now. Katsurou winces as he bounces around the fire user in an attempt to dodge him altogether. He is sure from an audience point of few he is looking very inexperienced in this fight.
They dangle around eachother for a bit, the fire user was feeling Katsurou out! A minute has paused and the bet was in. "NOW!" Satomi yells out of the top of her lungs. TO notify Katsurou that he can go all out. That burn looked painful! And she was dying to see that he had to take that blow for the sake of their bet! Now its in, he can go all out! And he better, because his opponent isn't bad at all! Satomi takes a deep breath and relaxes now. Katsurou should be okay. And luckily she managed to distract the fire user enough for him not to trow any attacks! He realizes this however and tries to obscure Katsurou's view by opening his mouth an emitting a thick dark cloud. Staying hidden inside, or trying to at least!
Katsurou straightens up after hearing Satomi's signal that there were no more bets to be made. However, just as he was about to attack the fire user obscured the battlefield with a dark cloud of smoke. The Shirayuki furrows his brows in thought. His eyes then grow bright blue, his hair fades in color, and his skin grows more pale. He had taken on the Shirayuki Infusion transformation in order to help him prepare for the next wave of attacks from the fire user.
The fire user then rushes out from his cloud of smoke! A big flame surrounding his arm, which he uses to try and strike at Katsurou's jaw, followed by a straight kick at Katsurou's stomach, again with fire empowering the kick! "You're mine.." He says, Satomi stands up and grabs her chin. This wasn't some playground spar and that move is dangerous! Katsurou better be prepared! Satomi seems nervous and that makes Zuko nervous. "Is he going to make it!?" He asks…. Satomi nods. "He'll make it.."
Katsurou flips backwards, only for an ice clone of his former self to stand there to take the fire empowered strikes from the fire user. Just as the ice shatters from the second strike, Katsurou was already working on his next technique. The wind picks up around him and with a thrust of his palms, a blast of wind shoots forth in an attempt to knock the fire user off his feet. Again, he thrusts his hands forward a second time just for good measure.
The fire user blinks as he hit something made of… ice!? When he sees Katsurou prepare his counter attacks a set of four clones surround him and walk around in confusing patterns! No matter, Katsurou's wind cuts through them easily and reach their target, the first one makes him stumble, the second one sends him skitting over the grass! "YES!" Satomi stands up and cheers Katsurou on! But his opponent gets back on his feet, running his arm past his bleeding mouth. Seems like he bit his lip! The crowd goes nuts! WHO IS THIS GUY!?
No matter, Katsurou's opponent suddenly engulfs himself in a small layer of fire! A fire clone pops out from the flames that leave a burning trail, rushing at Katsurou to try and explode in his face! The clone is followed by another fist shaped fireball. Then the fire user leans down to catch his breath.
Katsurou watches as the fire charged figure comes running at him. He has an idea in mind but what he wasnt anticipating was the clone exploding upon impact. The Shirayuki goes tumbling backwards and stops to a skid. Luckily the distance had bought him enough time to react to the fireball heading his way. Weaving together a series of hand seals, Katsurou channels the nearby water in the surrounding jugs to come to his aid. The fireball is deflected easily by his dancing water ribbons and now it was his turn to go on the offensive. After a series of hand seals the water comes together in the palm of his hands into a medium sized globe of water. Like a machine gun, the globe of water sprays tiny droplets of water at the fire user at rapid speed.
Water bullets? Oh dodongo… why does my opponent have to be a water user! Katsurou's opponent begins popping our clones like a madman. His teammate is facepalming. Katsurou's opponent is shook up, bleeding and thorougly winded. So he tries the same trick out of panick more than anything else. Hiding behind his clones, trying to divert Katsurou's fire to the wrong versions of himself. When the bullets stop and he's bleeding even more he pauses for a moment. Then, he brightens up.
He was faking the panick! A shuriken flies past Katsurou, and he pulls while ninja wire he pre-prepared suddenly all come on on Katsurou! "Gotcha!" He says, before breathing in deeply, followed by a huge fireball heading Katsurou's way!
Katsurou back flips over the shuriken in order to dodge it. What everyone doesnt see is that as does this he performs the necessary hand seals to replace himself with an ice clone. The shuriken is pulled back just as the great fireball connects with the clone of Katsurou. At first it would seem as though he was caught in it as a large explosion would occur. But as the smoke settles they would see…nothing. Meanwhile, some of the audience would see the Shirayuki behind the fire user attempting to engulf him with his Water Prison technique. "I am afraid it is you that I have got."
The fire user blinks rapidly. "I got him! I WON!" … NO you haven't idiot… Is what his team mate thinks. When the water prison begins to form he tries to quickly make the seals for a fire clone to push Katsurou away. He didn't make it in time and whatever fire started was quickly doused by the water. "Uh oh.." He tries using sheer force to break out of the bars, screaming out like a caged animal. "HELP! Tag me out…. PLEASE…. Tadao.." Tadao must be his partner, but the moblin seems to enjoy this. "Shouldn't have gotten got.." He simply says sitting back down. "Finish it Katsurou!" Satomi hisses between her teeth. "Come on!"
Katsurou leaps up to kick the fire user dead center in his chest. This would cause his opponent to fly a few yards out from the globe water. Right after the Shirayuki delivers the kick, he is already working on a series of hand seals. Just as the fire user gets back to his feet he would be met with a clone of Katsurou who wastes no time in attempting an uppercut. Katsurou then performs another hand seal so that if the uppercut was successful, the second clone would form out of the first, leap into the air after the fire user, and send him back to the ground with a hammer blow to his opponents chest.
Katsurou's combination sends him flying, only to be caught by an ice clone! Poor thing, he's near death and can barely move. Shooting fire while trying to dodge the next clone, at no avail. He is stumbling before dropping on the floor. Bleeding so much he's about to die without medical care. Not even having the strength to tap out…. "Knockout!" The ref calls. Satomi sighs and relieve. She gets up and heads for the battlefield. Patting Katsurou on the shoulder. "Alright, switch me out. This guy is no joke, and you're wounded. Get some medical care. I got this.." She winks at Katsurou and pushing him towards her seat while getting ready on the battlefield. She's met by a twentyeight year old man. Not particularly big, but when he throws off his shirt. Phew, dat 8 pack! Satomi grins and shakes her head. "If you're trying to impress me to death you're not doing a great job." She taunts.
Katsurou stands tall over his defeated foe. His body is bruised and fatigued as he studies his beaten foe in a daze. That was as close to death as he had ever brought anyone. In fact, it was difficult for him to even tell if the other guy was still alive or not. What is this wild streak that has gotten in the Shirayuki lately? His daze is disrupted by Satomi's pat on his shoulder. He gives her a nod then makes his way to get looked at by medical officials.
"Aww, shucks Darlin'. I'm really gonna hate making that beautiful face of yours bruised and beatened." And with that said, the ex-Jounin makes so fast it seems as though he teleports right in front of Satomi. He sends a forceful knee into her gut and follows it up with sounding headbutt to her forehead.
Satomi however was a Nara luckily for her. And the girl he's been speaking to was merely a clone. "Lookit, you can try as hard as you like. But now you're just making this pathetic." Satomi explains behind the first Satomi he tried attacking. Now his next attack befalls the next Satomi. Suprise suprise, another clone!
Satomi is in fact standing in the shadows of the corner of the battlefield, lifting her right arm.
"Right…. on target." She aims and fires five bullets from her arm, then her shadows mesh with those around her and she becomes visible as the shadow stretches in attempt to capture her opponent in place. While five new bullets make their way to his chest to send him flying. Satomi her keen eyes studied the battlefield. Open, not much room for ruses. But she had a plan or two. And she wasn't even fighting on full power yet!
The Ex-Jounin takes off running at the girl once he sees her location. He leaps through the air in an attempt to dodge each earth bullet that was fired at him. He even manages to leap to the side to by pass the shadow imitation technique. "Nice trick, now let me show you mine." Again he blurs out of sight and reappears in front of the Nara girl. He throws a kick at her but creates an after image as he does. The problem was, it was just a decoy. Almost like a genjutsu technique. This was all in attempt to feign an attack to find an opening for the real attack which was another swift knee to her kidneys from behind.
Satomi smirks. It was a nice move and he did a good job at revealing his technique. But Satomi was just playing the waiting game. He was exhausting himself, now it's her turn to show some of her 'real' tricks! "Only a donkey bumps his head twice in the same place." Satomi says while sitting on the edge of the stands. One leg gently swaying. "But don't worry about me I'm fine over here, she however, is a stalfos!" She points behind Tadao, where another Satomi is standing, ready to engage in some taijutsu with the guy! Meanwhile Satomi uses the distraction to make shadows from all around collapse on the guy. Trying to bind him in place!
Satomi's opponent was caught off guard as the clone approached and began wailing into him. His body bounces left and right as the earth clone puts some taijutsu work in on him. He does manage to roll out of the way of the shadow bindings though. Once he is stable again he rears back his fist in which begings to be covered in a bright green aura. Soon markings in the same bright green hue develop along his arm and he attempts to send a devastating punch at the earth clone's chest.
Satomi sighs and figured she might as well end it here. She didn't like showing all her cards. And this was definetly one of her trumps. Her hands move rapidly. Suddenly the shadows around her explode! Literally, the whole arena darkens except for a small circle around her target. Expanding greatly, slowly thumping with Satomi's heartbeat. "Shadow form; shadow synthesis." Satomi whispers while closing her eyes. "SHADOW SEWING!" She completes a set of seals and makes giant spikes made of shadow, threads of shadow spearheaded by nails rush towards her opponent right in center stage with nowhere to go.
"Goodbye.." She says. Yep, she's strong… Katsurou now gets a glimps of Satomi's true power. Luckily he doesn't get to see her - real - trump card yet, but this is one of her higher moves! "If you die, I'm sorry.." She says. Those spokes create physical wounds, she has seen them turn someone into practically one big hole before. Additional, it binds him in place!
The shadows strike home, the man being impaled all over his body, then from the ground up one drives him into the air so he's bleeding and suspended. Satomi is still sitting there casually. The crowd is completely silent. Awed! Satomi wasn't done however, one spike slips up forming a sharp edge at Tadao's throat. "Do you, my good friend, give up?" Satomi asks. Glancing at the guy praised so much around these parts. Completely under her control. He can barely move. "N…no.." He spurts out. Everyone thought Satomi would replace his throat with a hole.
Instead, the shadow turns into a hand which clasps tightly around the man's throat. Satomi looks is sweating, her fingerst tremble. Her opponent is strong, but not strong enough. The hand clutches harder, and harder. When suddenly he shudders, his face bloats up. And then, he loses conciousness! "KNOCKOUT!" The ref shouts. And Satomi relaxes her seals, which causes the bleeding sack of a body to drop lifelessly on the ground. She knew he was still alive, but barely. Zuko was on his feet! Rushing to the boot to get his bag of slightly over four million ryo. Four to pay off the mob, slightly more to pay off Konoha.
Satomi sighs and gets down on the ground. Zuko however suddenly begins sprinting again! Satomi grins. "Remember me leaving early?" She says to Katsurou when grabbing his shoulder to make sure he doesn't follow. "I made us some friends." Two Yakuza fellars block Zuko's way by the door, holding up their hands. Satomi smirks and chuckles while leaning on Katsurou's shoulder. "Good job, and good plan." She gets greeted by a man who must be less than five feet tall. Puny tiny man with a mustach. "Thank you, for your business transaction." He says. Handing Satomi a yellow envelope. "Konoha's cut." She says. Putting her arm around Katsurou while heading out of the dome, offering Zuko to travel with them.
Two days later they find themselves at the gates of Konoha. Bo is waiting! And instead of being angry with his brother he's happy he's still alive! "I don't care about the money Nee-san!" He says. Hugging his brother. The lanky man nearly gets crushed but smiles softly. "I missed you too, big bro.." They hug, and Satomi passes Konoha's cut to the gate guard who processes it. "Is it ready?" She asks the Hyuuga by the gates who smiles and nods. "The messenger bird arrived three days ago, it's done." Satomi leaves the two brothers behind and nudges Katsurou to follow her to the zen gardens. "Come on, I want to show you something." She leads him onto the gardens and sits down on a big slab of a stone. "Sit down." She tells him.
Katsurou watches as the two brothers reunite once again. He is reminded of him and Aoi's relationship. No matter the bad that occured between them, they were always there to welcome the other back into their company. He had to see her soon… It was at that point he is nudged and his thoughts were disrupted by Satomi. He gives a nod and follows his team leader towards the gardens. Once he was told to sit down, he takes a seat on the opposite side of the stone. "Thank you." He says softly before Satomi has the chance to even reveal why she had brought him to the gardens in the first place.
"Thank me for what?" Satomi says with a smug grin. Reaching behind the stone slab. She then sits back down, not having grabbed anything. "Let me ask you something, are you enjoying yourself in Konoha?" She then pauses and waits for him to answer. "Would you go as far as to call the people living here your comrads?" She pauses again. "Do you like it in my team?" She continues. "Lastly, are you willing to betray Kiri's military secrets to us, and I mean everything? Everything - except - Shirayuki secrets." Satomi smiles. "I pulled some strings, I know betraying your family is a step too far. They were willing to agree, with one exception." She looks at Katsurou. "In the event that we are at war, and we require information about the Shirayuki, you could be obligated to give that. Including that of your close family. We will however make full effort to preserve their life if possible." Satomi pauses. "In the event of us defending even, not attacking. That's the best I could do for you."
"Yes, i have enjoyed my time in Konoha so far. It took me some time to get used to and I am still not fully comfortable just yet, but it is getting better. Comrads? I could consider them allies, yes." Katsurou says as he lowers his mask from his face. "Do I like your team? I suppose. But I feel I am on completely different levels with the genin." The Shirayuki would sigh before answering the next question, but does not seem to hesitate all that much. "I will play my part in insuring the safety of this village. Even if it means giving up information about Kirigakure. However, when it comes to my clan? Well I feel that that will be a bridge we will cross when we get there."
Katsurou's eyes study the girl. "Lastly, I was thanking you for the Konohagakure headband you are about to present to me. It only makes sense to allow me to participate in the Chuunin exams in order to watch out for your other students, no?" He asks with a smirk.
Satomi smiles and shakes her head. "You're sharp I give you that." She admits. When mentioning he's on completely different levels Satomi shakes her head. "You're wrong actually, Nori and Atsui are about your level. I know one more person who's of your level, that would be Fudo. Who I had in my team before." She sighs. "I tried, with him I tried for months." She continues, while looking at the floor. "I tried helping him, taking care of him…. Whatever was neccasery." She shakes her head. "He wouldn't have it, power is all he craves.
Plus, he's a bit of a lone wolf. So if he's not interested in my help… I switched it out for those who are willing to work in a team." She smiles. "Trust me, when Nori or Atsui go all out, they are easily on your level." She glances about. "You're a bit older though, so with that I understand." And then she nods. "I think you're ready for the position of Chuunin." She looks at Katsurou. "Who knows, maybe just like your headband, the Hokage will ask me to be the judge of that. I heard my jounin promotion is coming up. So it's exciting times for all of us." She then bites her lip and grins.
"I'm going to give you this.." She lifts up the Konoha headband. "Not, so you can participate with the exams." She shakes her head. "That's not what this headband represents and means." She pauses. "This is my sign of trust in you, this is the villages sign of trust in you." She holds the metal in her hand, the fabric slowly floats in the breeze. "If a land of fire citizen, or god forbid, a villager here is ever in mortal danger, seeing you … and that headband - is - a sign of hope. No, not just hope. Of saving." She pauses. "You know that when those bearing headbands arrive, that you are rescued." She pauses.
"That is what the headband means." She stops in her tracks. "It means we trust you, and that you trust us." She looks at his reaction, this was all part of earning the headband. One step in the wrong direction and Satomi would reconsider at the very least. She's still quite weary of Katsurou. It's her job to be. "I'll remain your mentor after I give you this. Even if you choose to operate under another team. Any changes get run by me before going to the upper administration. Not because we don't trust you, but because others might need some time adjusting to the idea, this way, it comes from me… not you. And so we can bypass that a bit." She smiles.
"That said, you're free to take up residence anywhere in the village unguarded. Enjoy our liberaries and studying facilities at their full leasure. Learn the village jutsu, and access wherever you gain permission of accessing, even if its restricted." She pauses. "You have just about the same freedom as I now.." She then passes him the headband. "How do you feel?"
"Fudo? Uchiha Fudo? I have met him before. We sparred just before your return to village actually. It was quite a battle. He is an impressive opponent but in the end it was I he surrendered to." Katsurou says as he measures the extent of damage of his attire for the first time. "He seems like an alright guy. We at least share the same mindset of pushing ourselves during training." It was then he looks up to see the headband being handed to him. He gladly takes it and listens closely to what Satomi had to say about his official position in the Konoha ranks. "It feels nice to be welcomed into the ranks of Konoha. I look forward to further helping the village and one day even having a team of my own to mentor."
Satomi smiles and nods. "I heard, but he didn't even use all three tomoes. So don't get ahead of yourself." She chuckles. "That said, I was quite proud when I heard. So good job!" She smiles and relaxes. "I can see you mentoring your own team one day, maybe under a construction I used in the beginning. Where a jounin mentored me, I was in his team. While I also mentored my own team. He helped me help them." She shakes her head. "But lets worry about that when we get there, the chuunin exams are coming up and I still want to train all three of you. Remember, everyone is holding back, in the end the exams means you'll face your comrads. So don't dellusion yourself. There will definetly be people you can lose to." She chuckles. "But I do think you'll be one of the best present."
Katsurou just nods to his team leader. Inside he didn't feel like she was really acknowledging his abilities and was favoring everyone but him. However, on the outside no one would be able to tell he was bothered by anything. He did well to uphold his quiet and reserved demeanor. "We will just have to see then." He says in response to her thoughts of being one of the best present.
"I also brought you this." She reaches behind the stone slab now. A small red velvet box is in her right hand. "I wanted to give you a gift for eh… you know, being one of us." She smiles. "But I could not figure out something you might like." She chuckles. "And I have grown fond of you, you're a good friend, a great student and a magnificent addition to my team. Skillfull and definetly ready for your next step." She pauses. "The stone in here is called amnrite. It's the Nara family stone and mostly used for marriage or from mother to son or something." She hands the pitch black stone (No wonder it's a jewel associated with the Nara) "If you look closely at it, you see some black smoke moving around." She then moves her hair aside, showing a metal chain, at the end of the chain is a stone similar to the small jewel Katsurou is handed (it's the shape of a cylinder which becomes smaller at the top and bottom). "These two stones are carved from the same jewel, as long as a source of chakra is attached to it, both stones glow with the purple smoke." She smiles.
"So as long as you wear it, I can see by my stone that you're alive." She then points at her own. "And as long as I wear mine, you can see if I'm alive." She smiles at Katsurou, hoping he's happy with the small piece of (admittedly really good looking) jewelry. "I mean if you don't like necklaces then don't wear it, or change it into whatever you want. I just thought I should give you a little something as a graduation gift.." She then picks it up and leans in, carefully putting it around his neck. It's small enough to easily hide underneath his shirt. "There, looks amazing on you!" She says while leaning in and giving Katsurou a tight hug! "Welcome to the village, comrad." She winks at Katsurou, before dashing and then disappearing.
