Starring:
Date: August 20, 2015
Summary:
Hanami and Kyoko have to work together to find a group of shinobi hiding amongst villagers!
"Hanami's Sensor Training: Distinguish the Flames"
Border Village Land of Lightning
A mission had come forth to both Konoha and Kumo, as the village it came from was /right/ into the two villages. The request was simple: they had problems detecting some people who weren't supposed to be in the village, so they needed someone to come help that could, hopefully, differentiate something about the people! Since all the good sensors were already working…they got Kyoko and Hanami >.> Of course Hige is ever so gracious in this instance and takes the two of them to the village since he's in Kumo anyways! Kyoko is just led there by Chuunin A and left with Hige.
"Alright kids," Hige says a bit dryly. "You've got your work cut out for you. Konsho and I have to take care of something else in the village so you're on your own. Know what you're looking for?"
Kyoko eyes Hige. It was bad enough that Hige was ditching her, but he was leaving her with some foreign shinobi?! "No, I don't know what we're looking for. People that don't belong to the village is hardly useful information," the girl says crossly. She had on long sleeves, pants, and a hood that covered her head. A high collar covered the lower half of her face, and dark goggles obscured her eyes. Occasionally, an insect would crawl across her face. Ew. "What kind of people don't belong here?"
Hanami was a bit surprised to be asked to go on this mission. Since she wasn't even a real trained sensor-nin yet. But apparently there was no one left anyways, so maybe it made sense after all! As she follows Hige to meet up with the Konoha-nin she was going to work with she asks, "Uh, not entirely sure. My understanding is that yeah, we're seeking out people who don't belong? But I imagine there's no real physical descriptions to go off of or else we wouldn't be there. So what are we looking for in terms of their chakra?" To Kyoko she gives a friendly smile, though it's her first time working with one of the Aburame. Should be interesting. At least as a sensor-nin this girl might be able to help her out and give her some advice or something, it had been hard doing her sensor training. "By the way hey there, my name is Shinatobe Hanami. Nice to be working with you."
"Well Hanami, your first tip is to not let Kyoko bully you around. She's got a big mouth, but don't be afraid of her." Yep, have to take care of first things first! "Secondly, they're saying that shinobi are acting like villagers around here. Some are even apparently wandering around henge'd. Obviously this could be bad news," and probably explains part of what Hige will be doing himself. "They want you guys to find those with the stronger signatures, weed out the ones that are regular villagers and village animals, and then mark down what they look like and where they go to. Got it?"
"Aburame Kyoko," the girl replies curtly. "Let's just get this mission over with. And why the heck would ninja be posing as villagers, anyway? That's stupid." The girl shoots Hige a glare for his little 'warning', but doesn't say anything. "We'll find them," she adds, giving an assured nod. "It'll be easy as pie. And there's no Dai for me to be blinded by."
Hanami gives a little chuckle and nod to Hige before nodding to Kyoko after her introduction. Well, should be interesting then. "Why else would ninja disguise themselves as villagers, infiltration. Spying out enemy territory, plotting some scheme, etc etc. Rather clear. But yeah, don't worry I'm sure we'll have this wrapped up before too long. And who or what is Dai? Though guess it doesn't really matter," she tilts her head at Kyoko as she asks, but then just shrugs, "Oh and Hige. We don't have a narrower area to search do we? Just the whole village?"
"The whole village. Wouldn't want to make it too easy on you, would we?" Hige teases before flexing his chakra for Kyoko's benefit. He knows what she's talking about and, while his isn't nearly as strong as the others, it's plenty strong enough in it's own right. He gives a small salute before he says, "See you guys in a bit." And then…the Inuzuka duo are gone, leaving the two girls to get to work on the village.
"The Hokage. He's as bright as a flare and it's /constantly/ going. If I didn't take pills, I wouldn't be able to get a decent night's rest. Not that I do. I have to get up at dawn everyday…" Mutter mutter. The young Aburame glares again at Hige. "You didn't have to do that," she scowls to the Jounin, waving him off dismissively before looking to Hanami. "Wanna split the town or go together?"
Hanami sighs and shakes her head at Hige, but more exasperated than actually upset, recognizing the tease. It takes her a moment or two though for the talk about the chakra to click, "Oh, right. I read about that, with sensor-nin. Being alert to chakra all around you at all times. Whether by natural talent or training. Sorry to hear that, it'd be hard. Hopefully you'll be able to hone your skill enough to block it out or at least lessen it without pills." She shakes her head and looks out, "Hmm, well I'd like to say lets split up to cover more ground faster. But while I'm training my sensor abilities I haven't honed them that well. I think I'd like your help to at least get a better idea how to pick out the ones we're searching for. If you can help me out that is. And then we can split. You okay with that?" She looks at the girl, earnest in her request for help though at the same time she's confident she'll get it and will be able to get the job done without much trouble.
The village itself isn't exactly large. It likely only has a few hundred people within it and even less animals, so all in all figuring out normies from shinobi shouldn't be /too/ long of a task. Not that it'll be easy or anything, but obviously you won't be doing it all freakin day! The houses aren't all that large either and are rather well built, giving perhaps a good location to try and spot people from, as well as follow them.
Kyoko glances to Hanami and frowns. "Why the heck did you get sent if you barely know what to - Okay, then…" She sighs and rubs her head a bit. "Alright… What can you tell so far through whatever you know?" the girl asks, closing her eyes to see if there are any blinding spots in the immediate vicinity of the village entryway.
Hanami frowns right back at Kyoko but doesn't answer the first part. Instead she turns toward the village, concentrating on extending her senses. "I've worked at telling chakra strength, at least in regard to what you'd expect from a normal villager with little chakra and a shinobi who's chakra would most likely be higher. I just haven't worked on fine tuning it yet, to better disguish targets. But it's fine, I'll learn." With that she turns her focus back to her senses to try as well and tell if there're any strong signatures amidst the more mundane folk.
The first sweep of the chakra sensors would be able to almost immediately pick up what the 'norm' for a villager would be. Everyone close to them shows the same miniscule amounts of chakra flowing inside them, the kind that all living things have. Nothing is truly outstanding at the moment and in the end it should prove an excellent baseline for the two to work with!
Kyoko frowns. "These are all matches. Candles. Hardly worth mentioning. But I guess we're good here." She looks to Hanami. "What do you see the fires as? The chakra, I mean. Are they bright lights or are they something else?" Kyoko was still working on figuring out the minute details herself, but knowing how another sensor, one who isn't born, sees chakra could be interesting.
Hanami nods at Kyoko's assessment of the area. The signatures she was getting were pretty weak. It takes her a moment to respond to her question as she was observing the area, "Hmm, more like swirls of wind? Most villagers are generally a whisper, while shinobi tend to be a denser swirl of energy. But then it may just be because of my wind affinity and working to use my wind sense with my chakra sense," she shrugs.
It doesn't look like you two have even started to move yet! But too bad! Further into the village are many more villagers and the occasional animal; cat, dog, bird, horse, ass, water buffalo, whatever. It's further along that Kyoko would sense first someone that harbored more chakra than the others, while Hanami wouldn't be able to see it right away without getting a bit closer.
"Weird," Kyoko states flatly. "Well, do you see any gales, then? I think we should move a bit further in and start to the far west, working our way east. Then we'll find our targets." She gives an assured nod, casting her senses out carefully as she starts moving. "Hmm…" she murmurs as she nears the more crowded areas. "Found someone. A torch instead of a candle. Over there," she says, pointing.
Hanami shakes her head, "No…not yet." She hrms and goes along, "Sounds like a good plan. As she casts out her senses again while on the move she pauses to glance in the direction you pointed, nodding, "Ah, I see. Nice one."
With the first discovery the two would only need to note their description as well as where they were headed. However once they struck gold they seemed to have found the main damn vein! As they near the first person more flare up, two more humanoids and then a nice little kitty cat who, upon careful observation, doesn't act like a kitty cat at all!
Kyoko makes sure to note the other two humanoids, leaving Hanami to record the cat. "Jeez, they're all clustered here," she mutters to Hanami. "Did Hige tell us how many we needed to find, even? How about we stick around here to make sure we've got everything. Then we'll go to the next section." She actually sounds friendly! … Well, she doesn't sound like she wants to bite off Hanami's head, at least. Progress!
Hanami smiles and nods as she notes the cat. Sheesh, a cat? "You're right, so many are here. And no, I regret not thinking to ask him though," Shaking her head she continues looking about, "And good idea, with so many around we don't want to get cocky thinking we're done before moving on." It was nice to know the girl wasn't as snappy as before too.
Besides the ones noted thus far it seems that it's all there is in this location. And luckily enough those four also converged on the same building! That has to mean something right? Well for now that information is had and noted, so on to the next! To infinity and beyond!
Kyoko hmms and says, "Remember that building." Then she points. "You used to this? We can probably split up now. You go that way, I'll go the other way," she suggests… Well, her tone doesn't say that it's a suggestion… More like an order. But hey, there's no mean tone to it!
Hanami nods, eyeing the building trying to memorize the location, stuff around it, etc etc. At Kyoko's 'suggestion' she just smirks a bit, not really rebuffed by her attitude, she was getting use to the girl. "No problem, was about to suggest the same thing. It's getting easier, thanks to you. See you later then!" With a smile and a wave she sets off in the direction she was asked to go, keeping her senses alert as she makes her way through the village trying to be casual and wandering.
As the two split off they wouldn't find stronger readings in such high numbers again. Kyoko would come upon another person with higher chakra than those around him while Hanami would come across something that was a bit strange. A horse and a rider seemed to share a high chakra signature. Either that or one or the other had the high chakra signature while the other was just…normal.
Kyoko takes note of this new person and she moves on, still hunting for those people who were as bright as torches. Dang it, why the heck were there so many? She scowls a bit, Kikaichu flitting out from her clothes as they seek to follow Hanami.
Hanami slows down, keeping an eye on the 'horse & rider'. How odd. She considers the 'pair' to be one person henging, but then again maybe it's just one or the other? While keeping them in sight she focuses her senses on them, and also expels a little chakra into the air to see what might turn up with a little 'mundane' senses.
Despite Kyoko extending her senses out further there doesn't seem to be anymore nearby her current area, leaving her just seeing a lot of dim bulbs, perhaps in more than one sense. A dog picks up on her scent and starts barking loudly in her direction, running along the street to follow her as it barks!
The air currents would tell Hanami that they are indeed two different entities, not one connected by a henge. Upon looking even closer and focusing she would be able to tell that…it's actually the horse! Either it's a henge'd shinobi or there's something very wrong with that horse right there!
Kyoko peers at the barking dog and hones in on it for a second. "Back off, runt," she mutters. "I'll have my bugs eat you alive if you don't get out of here." She waits to see what it does by moving on for a bit… Dang it… THIS is why she hates dogs, and through that extension, Inuzuka.
Hanami nods to herself, well at least one part of the mystery was solved. But then again, the high chakra level in the horse did pose a curiosity. "Guess I should just make a note like all the others but…hmm. Smells like a horse, looks like a horse…" she says to herself quietly then does make a note of the pair as she considers fetching Kyoko and getting her opinion. Most likely the other girl will just nip her curiosity about the horse in the bud and they can move on. Better than alerting the pair unnecessarily. With that and a general eye to where the pair are going she backs off to seek out Kyoko.
The dog doesn't stop and just keeps barking at Kyoko, drawing attention to the dog and by extension to what the dog is barking at. If Kyoko doesn't hide or something she's going to have a /lot/ of curious eyes on her.
Kyoko glares at the dog and … starts running! She doesn't stop until she's out of plain sight from a majority of people, and likely the dog is still following -.- Sigh. As soon as she's out of sight, though, a few of her kikaichu crawl out and start flying over to the nuisance to start biting it. She /did/ warn the stupid lab!
As Hanami was trying to hunt down Kyoko she hears barking. Lots of barking. Hmm…she moves toward the barking part intuition probably mostly curiosity. What if it happened to be the dog had found one of the targets? Good idea to investigate. Right… So off she goes after the sound, senses alert in that direction to see what she can pick up.
The dog whimpers when it starts getting bitten by things it can't even really see! It yelps and turns tail, running away with said tail between it's legs. At least it's not barking at her anymore! However the dog did manage to garner some likely unwanted attention as a stronger chakra signature is coming right for Kyoko, jumping along nearby rooftops…
Kyoko gives a satisfied nod, then flinches when something seems to flare up in her 'vision'. "Really?" she huffs, turning goggled eyes up to the rooftops as she seeks out this individual that's quickly becoming a pain. "I /so/ don't want to deal with a headache right now…"
Hanami was making her with some haste toward the barking, even after it seemed to stop she still figured she was close enough to find it. Also, there was a high chakra signature that…hmm was sort of familiar… But then before she could work it out a strong signature started moving across the rooftops towards the other one. Huh, interesting. So Hanami picks up her pace, trying to get there in case there was trouble. Also staying on alert to any other possible people joining in.
That bigger chakra signature lands on the building next to the one Kyoko is on. He looks gruff with unkempt facial hair and clothing that's dirty and patched. The man points at Kyoko when he lands. "I don't know who you are, but you better leave now! We don't like people snoopin' around our town!"
Kyoko squints a bit at the man and says, "'Our' town? You and who else? You don't look like the freaking mayor, so you can hardly tell me what to do. In fact, you look like a hobo! I'm not taking orders from a dirty Hobo, so you can just get out of here and leave me alone." The Aburame tsks lightly, a few bugs secretly making their way towards the man while she turns her back on him. Smart? No, but her insects were tapped into her brain and letting her know what all is going on…
Hanami comes onto the scene carefully, catching most of the man's words on the wind. So, he's supposedly a person in power here and wants Kyoko out? Maybe those shinobi they were after had somehow taken over the town. Might explain why so many of them were around here… She shakes her head and tries to stay quiet for now. She might not know Kyoko but the girl seems like she knows what she's doing, so she isn't going to be worried the girl can't handle herself. Lets see if the man gets aggressive. Or if he has friends close by.
The man folds his arms over his chest, anger flaring in his eyes at Kyoko's smart flare words. The amount of chakra he has is probably a bad sign for two but as it turns out they don't really have to worry about it. Another signature appears in a sudden flash and the man drops to the ground, Hige standing behind him with a cheeky grin. "I think we might have overstayed our welcome. Whatever you got is going to have to do. Let's go." He motions for them to follow before he makes his way towards the edge of the town, Konsho having appeared to take up the rear guard and make sure no one tries to follow them out…
"I could have taken him!" Kyoko protests, but she falls in step behind Hige. Grumble grumble. "Nice work, I guess. We found a lot of them." She hands her list over to the Jounin if he'll take it, adding, "And the only issue was some…" She forces herself not to curse the dog because Hige's an Inuzuka… "Yappy dog that wouldn't quit barking at me. Annoying thing…" Just like all the Inuzuka! Dogs are such a pain!
Hanami drops her attempt to keep hidden when Hige appears. Hmm, wonder if there's more to this than it seems. She comes out and quickly follows Hige, handing over her own list as they move if he'll take it but lets Kyoko have her say. Plus, it was amusing. Despite her attitude she was finding herself warming to the girl some, at least she was finding her amusing. Then again, Kyoko would probably hate her if she met her wolf… After Kyoko was done though she speaks up, "Things were quieter for me. The only thing of note was a horse with high chakra. I mean it was probably just someone henging but I couldn't confirm that. I was heading to find Kyoko to get her opinion when that scruffy man confronted her. Hige, what's up with the town?"
Hige takes the lists as they go, leading the group out of town to where the Chuunin had dropped off Kyoko. He was supposed to be back to pick her up at a designated time, which was close, but for now they were alone. Hige looks over the lists and hmms softly before looking up at the other two, giving them another fang toothed smile. "Well like you probably guessed there's a high number of shinobi there. It's suspected that some foreign shinobi might be meeting here and planning not happy things." HE doesn't go into great depth, but he gives them the information they probably already guessed…
Kyoko tsks lightly. "So, are we going to be part of the cleanup crew, too? Or did we do our job and that's it?" she asks, crossing her arms over her chest. She didn't really want to find out that they were useless beyond just seeking these guys out, but … Well, she /did/ just graduate. The odds of her going on anything exciting was slim to none.
Hanami has a similar feeling to Kyoko. She wasn't thrilled with just spotting potential foes and leaving it at that for someone else to do the real work. But she'd try to handle it well if that was the case, there were a lot of them. To Hige she just nods, "Was starting to wonder about that. So using the village for cover to conduct their meetings. Not bad. What about the dirty guy who confronted Kyoko? Take it he's a part of this?"
"I don't know the answer to that Kyoko. I'm just here for this too, and only cause I happened to already be in Kumo. Which we need to get back to…" Hige sniffs the air and nods, "Ahh, good timing." A mediocre chakra signature starts approaching from some trees, appearing shortly thereafter is the Chuunin to take Kyoko home. Hige glances to Hanami at her question and shrugs. "He's involved apparently, and the way he was trying to disguise himself…well, it just leaves more questions. If you two want to attempt to help out I suggest making the request to your administrations. Maybe they'll let you." But for now, the current mission was done. "Have a safe trip back Kyoko." The Chuunin would go to escort Kyoko back before Hige turns to Hanami and nods. "And back to your home we go!"
Kyoko sighs and nods. "Get back home already, Hige. It's boring without you, and Zori's being a pain in the butt for Tats." She gives a (slightly mocking) salute to the jounin before turning to the Chuunin. "Let's go, already. I gotta ask some special permissions." The Chuunin sighs a bit at the attitude that Kyoko is giving. And this is why not many people in the Leaf want to babysit her! But the pair would start heading back regardless of his feelings. "Don't die, Hanami," she calls behind her.
Hanami sighs, "Yeah, guess that make sense. I'll remember to talk to Michiko about it, no doubt she has all the inside information." When Kyoko starts to leave and calls back at her Hanami just laughs a little, "Really sweet of you to say Kyoko. Don't die yourself!" With that she nods to Hige and sets off for home, "Off we go then. At least it was a learning experience, gotta refine my abilites a little more which is good."
