Starring:
Kuoroke, Rikuto, Koemi, Hiroto, Arika, Fujiko, Zankaru
Date: November 2, 2015
Summary:
Kuoroke brings out a number of genin to see how they’re doing in their training.
"Team Against Team: The Test to Take Down Kuoroke"
Land of Wind - Ruins of San-Sara Daruta
Kuoroke has asked some of the village's members, Fujiko, Koemi, Arika, Hiroto and Rikuto, to meet him in the ruins of San Sara Daruta. He's arrived earlier, scouting the area in detail, and as the hour of their meeting approaches, he ensures these people can find him by taking up a position on top of one of the surviving buildings at the edge of the city. He's asked them to arrive at 4PM, which means that even though the sun has already started to set, the sand is still scorchingly hot and the air weighs heavy on anyone out in the desert.
It wouldn't be the four hours past noon that sand rapidly begins to kick up in two distinct plumes. The sound of metal on mostly oiled metal could be heard grinding rapidly though as it nears the ruins, the sound starts to die down. Rikuto moves his hands to a braided rope cord and pulls onto it hard, wrapping it around the mast connected to a odd looking cart that only held room for one, maybe two people at most. "There we are, just need to.. slow down a little more." After securing the cord down near the base of the mast, the young man turns a rutter to the side forcefully and causes the cart to turn at an angle until it complete a curve, killing a lot of his momentum until it comes to a stop.
Koemi walks across the sands to the ruins with her cloak wrapped around her snugly and her head hung low. She had managed to memorize the path well enough from a map at the village, and set out plenty early. She would have to compensate for her walking and the slower pace she had been taking. The burns on her were healing fairly well, but there was still pain to deal with after each draining and airing. She breathes out a quiet breath and pauses to take a long swig from her water skin labelled for drinking. After a sigh of relief, she levels the side of her hand flat against her brow to get a better look in the distance. There she could see the shape of the buildings and the faint outline of Kuoroke in the distance. She frowns in concern to herself and wraps her cloak around herself tighter.
She wished Rikuto had travelled with her now. He just had a way of distinguishing each person, even if he wasn't anywhere near them. For all Koemi knew right now, that could have been a bandit waiting to strike. As the thought of Rikuto, crosses her mind she straightens up and turns her head when she hears the familiar sound of Rikuto's unique cart. Seeing that he at least feels that it's safe, she continues on until she arrives wherever Rikuto has chosen to gather. There is a brief nod in greeting and a smile, before she looks up the side of the building at Kuoroke, "Good afternoon Kuoroke-san."
Hiroto knew the desert pretty well, so it wasn't to hard for him to find his way through it. He was moving pretty slowly mostly because he didn't want to wear himself out by running through the desert. Also he didn't want to stumble across anyone that felt the need to attack him without knowing they were there first. Tenshi helped with that by keeping an eye out from above, but once he saw the gathering of the others he flew in quickly causing Hiroto to move a little quicker himself before arriving there. "Hello." Along with the greeting he waved to everyone already gathered here.
Arika got the message and decided to get a small nap in before this mission. So when 2pm rolled around, the girl just made her way out towards the ruins of San Sara Daruta. "Hmmm… I think it said around here…" she says to herself. ~You should know this…~ "I know I should, but…" She huffs a bit, looking around a bit more. Oh, look! There's a Kuroki! The girl disappears with a burst of wind and proceeds to (attempt to) pounce the former councilman. "Kuo-kun!" she says cheerfully as she (tries to) latch onto his back. She peeks over at the others that arrived and waves to both Rikuto and Koemi with a grin. "Ooh! Hiro-kun, too!~" ~And his blasted bird…~ She frowns a second, then says, "Ne, Hiro-kun! D'you know why we're all here? I forget what the note said.." Oops.
Fujiko wasn't the last to enter, for prudence is necessary in a shinobi's life-style. She was not there before, or after 4 p.m., she was there as soon as the sun reached that specific point. She was not alone either. She brought along a member of her still unofficial team at the moment, Zankaru. They were likely endurance training before, given the sheen of sweat that makes the jackal glow under the bright yet setting sun. "You are a prayer, holding me together. As migration sweeps down with it's wings and takes you, I'll wait my turn. When eventually I arrive, will it be lonelier?" She recites as she takes deep breaths, reaching for water upon a flask and swigging the last drops down. "Zankaru, this was the arrival place that I was told. I am sure our time-honored Kuoroke will not mind his cousin attending." She says with a small smile, as she gathers her hair in her hand, attempting to put said hair into a tail to keep it out of her eyes. She then sees if she can spot the others from her perch nearby.
Zankaru was indeed out with Fujiko on the sands before then, pushing her and himself to have more endurance, the training important to make sure that he could keep going when the going got rough. While Fujiko was walking, Zankaru was on those skates, a slow ride that left him without a trail to follow, to make Fujiko look to be alone. He was watching the surroundings, glancing to Fujiko at her comment with a nod. "I believe my cuz tends to enjoy having additional resources. If this is a training exercise then it fits what we were doing anyways."
Kuoroke watches everyone gather from his makeshift podium- and then receives the full weight of a little girl slamming into him like a pneumatically-launched canonball. The Kuroki braces a bit, but allows her to stick to him, for now. "Welcome, everyone. I… see you've brought an extra member of today's exercise. Very well. This will be a team exercise. Zankaru, Fujiko, you'll be team number one. Hiroto, Rikuto and Koemi, you're team two, and Arika will be playing the role of team number three." He pulls out three envelopes, hands on to Arika over his shoulder, and then descends to give two more to Zankaru and Koemi. "Team one will stay here. Team two and three, disperse through the village, read your instructions, and follow them. Team one, after the others have left, read you own instructions and act accordingly." Having handed these out, he waits for Arika to leave his back and then proceeds into the darkness of the building.
Canting his head off to one side, Rikuto look up towards Kuoroke when he approaches the group though an arched brow stays raised even after the man begins to disappear once again. Lifting a hand, he motions for the other two to follow him but without a word he begins to travel through the ruins. From how he didn't look around yet began to make turns through the ruins it was clear he either was familiar with the cite or simply didn't care for the direction he was heading. It wouldn't be until the trio was out of sight of the jounin he would speak up softly, "Now.. Koemi-san, why don't you read that for us. Passing it around is going to slow us down."
Koemi would greet the others with a warm smile as they arrive and wave at Arika in return. She listens to Kuoroke's explanation and frowns thoughtfully to herself. So far it all seemed very peculiar to her. Was there a reason that it was not kept even? She shrugs off the thought and accepts the envelope offered to her. "Yes kuoroke-san." She turns to look between Rikuto and Hiroto to see which way they would like to go, and sees that Rikuto woul like to take the lead. She would follow after him without giving anyone except for Hiroto a second glance to see if he was keeping up. Once they've stopped, she take a moment to absently pull up her sleeves and check over her bandages. "Hm? Oh! Right, of course." She clears her throat and starts to open the letter.
"Team two's assignment is to safely kidnap Kuroki Kuoroke.." Her lips dip down into a small frown at this. "In this, you can consider him a civilian and not a trained shinobi. There is no time limit on this assignment, but events may arise that make it impossible to accomplish." She looks up from the letter and looks between Rikuto and Hiroto to get their thoughts on it. "I…guess the other teams may have been given tasks to make this more difficult…or to compete with us. Well…between you two it should be easy enough to find him…and see competition but…how are we going to…capture him?"
Hiroto was about to reply to Arika about him not knowing much himself. Although right as he went to speak Kuoroke spoke up instead to tell us things himself. Of course it wasn't sure yet except for them being split into teams. He looks at Rikuto and Koemi for a moment before they start moving along, and he would start following as well. The whole time he stays quiet at least during the reading of the letter while he thinks about the whole thing. "The best I can do for capturing is sticking him into a wall." Expecting that to sound like actually stabbing him he quickly adds to that by pulling out one of his forked arrows. "The most it would do is slightly cut him while it sticks into the surface behind him." He then frowns behind his mask as he thinks about trying to make those netted arrows.
Arika hears the listing of teams and pouts. "How come I'm all alone?" she whines, but she accepts the letter, tucking it into her pocket. ~Well, apparently someone thinks you're strong. I can't wait to see them be wrong~ Arika scowls a bit, but climbs off Kuo and gives a small salute. "Hai, Kuo-kun!" Then she disappears with a burst of wind, making her way to a spot further from the area. This exercise shouldn't be too hard, right..?
The girl eventually gets to a spot that seems devoid of people and unravels her instructions, blinking. "Eh? Huh….." She grumbles and shakes her head, tucking it into her pocket. "Hmm…" is all she says, the girl thinking a few minutes. Then she nods and makes a handseal. The girl would turn into a snake and start to slither back to the area Kuoroke was at. A few pure-black scorpions would skitter before her as look-out.
That's it? "That is all the orders say? Well, if all it says…" She asks as she passes it back to the other Kuroki. "It looks like your cousin is in a bit of 'theoretical' trouble." She would chuckle. If her ears could flick, they most likely would if she heard Koemi tell her own team's part. If Kuoroke is setting team against team, she is sad to inform him that they are absolutely screwed. She knows Rikuto's techniques well enough. Enough that she has plenty to fear from it. She would lean over and whisper in Zankaru's ears. "I hope your genjutsu ability is strong, because in order for us to be remotely successful, we will likely have to learn quickly how to resist it… I assume we're going to be 'protecting' Kuoroke as the other teams work about stealing him from us. I guess he's just going to stand there and let it all happen."
Zankaru went over the orders with Fujiko and frowned slightly. "Seems so. But, it is what it is. We do what we need to." Looking around, he'd frown. "The first thing we have to do.. is find him. He did just walk off without us." Looking to Fujiko, he'd shrug. "Otherwise, we do what we can to defend him. That's the task. We'll get it done. We have each other to help out with genjutsu, afterall." Moving forward, the skates would be removed as he'd look for Kuoroke and start looking for where the others might be coming from to sort out how to stop them.
Inside the building, Kuoroke has constructed a semblance of a normal interior with scavenged objects. He's got a partially-whole desk, a chair with, for some reason, signs of water damage and a kunai driven through one of the legs to keep it in place, a rectangular block of stone covered in some rags for a cot in the corner, and so on and so forth. Kuoroke lies back on the bed, exhales, focusing some chakra and activating some of his tattoos, and awaits his doom, whatever that might be.
COMBAT: Kuoroke focuses 4032 stamina to turn it into 5000 usable chakra!
RP: Kuoroke transforms into TATTOO-FIGHTER.
RPCOMBAT: Rikuto defends against with a CHAKRA-SENSING-TECHNIQUE…34
COMBAT: Rikuto focuses 2914 stamina to turn it into 4000 usable chakra!
Placing his hands together after listening to Koemi, Rikuto closes his eyes as a low tone hum vibrates in his throat. Moving two fingers away a few moments later, he motions with two fingers and softly says, "I can feel him, he's stationary in that direction but.. he's planning something." Turning around a little more, the young man shifts a dark brown eye towards Koemi and then to Hiroto and says, "I have a feeling this is a trial of some sort.. likely team building. If he's the target, then we can move directly as long as we get there before the others."
Turning around fully, a light smile crosses his lips as he looks at the young woman. "He's holding back, a civilian you said, right? That means he won't be fighting us for real, even your needles would be a good intimidation method." Turning towards the young Hayato, he would nod twice. "If you can, rig up a bola or just prepare for something else fresh, we'll need to tie him up. I doubt he would permit me to invade his mind for the next hour. As for myself.. If there's a wall in the way, I'll blow it up. I have more tricks than just pleasing music." The hum that had caught his tone once before catches again, projecting his amused and good mood. Wasting little time after the thought, he would wait for others to give objections though otherwise he would begin to lead them tot he source of the chakra he felt.
Koemi looks between Hiroto and Rikuto quietly before chewing on the inside of her cheek. She watches the direction Rikuto gestures off to and nods. At the mention of her needles, she looks down to her purple-tinted waterskin. "I suppose…still, if we are treating him like a true civilian, I would be…very cautious about exposing them to any of the poison at all. Even if it only stayed a mild irritant like it did with you. We will see though…I will not let you two go unhelped, even if it means playing things by ear. If nothing else I can treat him while we are securing him…or after the exercise is over." She breathes in deeply once to steady herself just before she follows after Rikuto as he leads the way.
COMBAT: Koemi focuses 2934 stamina to turn it into 3000 usable chakra!
RP: Hiroto transforms into TENSHI.
RPCOMBAT: Hiroto defends against with a HAYATO-SENSES…30
Hiroto quickly calls Tenshi to come, and sit on his head. Better to stay close for now, and that way they could also be quiet when communicating with their bird calls. They looked on ahead of course they could see good, but not where Kuoroke was from here. Luckily it seemed Rikuto could sense him, and he begins following the others to where the chakra was found. "You think the others will be obstacles? Either trying to kidnap him themselves, or they could just be there to stop us at all from getting him?"
COMBAT: Hiroto focuses 1776 stamina to turn it into 1500 usable chakra!
COMBAT: Arika focuses 5852 stamina to turn it into 9000 usable chakra!
COMBAT: Arika attacks target 1 with SHADOW-CLONE-STEALTH with a roll of: 49
RPCOMBAT: Arika defends against with a INK-SCOUT-I…34
Arika-snake gets closer to her target, and the girl makes sure that all her bases are covered. Gotta find that Kuo! Good thing she can travel pretty smoothly as a snake, and can even travel underground! There's an Arika-clone too, wandering about as a sort of distraction for the other teams as well as a scout.
RPCOMBAT: Kuoroke defends against with a SENIORITY…62
Lying on his cot, Kuoroke patiently waits for others to make their moves. He wonders how this will play out. Arika would probably be the strongest person in the teamup, but neither of the other team, five people in total, would want her to succeed. And so, she may be balanced by potential allies of opportunity.
"Well, shall we try shock and awe or should we try something more sneakily?" Bringing his finger together, Rikuto begins to chuckle faintly but soon the man's chest swells and his fingers begin to twist together to form a set of three seals. Moving his fingers under his bottom lip he soon exhales for times rapidly, with each breath a flame orb escapes them and scatters in the wind. "They will have to think about where they are moving. Even if the assault is very much a lie." Keeping his hands held together, Rikuto begins to pick up his pace to a jog with the others behind them. Which his seal, he claps his hands together, forcing the spheres to lower down and explode violently into the ground and some of the ruined buildings. "Boom."
COMBAT: Rikuto attacks target 1 with EXPLOSION with a roll of: 37
COMBAT: Rikuto attacks target 2 with EXPLOSION with a roll of: 31
COMBAT: Rikuto attacks target 3 with EXPLOSION with a roll of: 30
"Well we shouldn't make it -too- obvious…Though I am not one for stealth, I'm not one for grand entrances…" Koemi tries to tell Rikuto as she follows after him. She watches as the three orbs of flame start to drift away from them and grimaces from the sounds of destruction nearby. "I cannot argue with that…though you should really be more careful about what you are destroying. Remember, whole lives were once lived in these buildings…so they should be treated with…some respect. Even -if- everything has already been ruined and rifled through." She can't help but reach up and adjust some bandaging around her collar bone as she continues to run behind Rikuto.
Hiroto continues following as well slightly suprised by the explosions. "Yeah, and we don't really want to kill anyone, so we could be a little careful." He does stop talking after that though, and continues to follow their lead even more. He didn't want to bother people with ideas. And he didn't really mind taking orders from the others as much. Just in case he would pull the bow off his back, and put a forked arrow in place.
The explosion in Arika's direction caused the snake-Ari to have to twist and turn, even breaking her hands free of the henge for a moment so she can set a rock down to take other damages. But regardless, the girl would continue on until she reached Kuo. She didn't see him yet… Hmm… Maybe inside that little house? Her ink scouts were telling her such!
RPCOMBAT: Arika defends against with a INK-SCOUT-I…50
Fujiko hadn't moved much, relying on Zankaru's firm decision to scout around the perimeter as she moved within the alleys of the old. The jackal tried to stay out of sight, until the buildings that flanked her while she was in the alley caused her to make sudden maneuvers. Before the building had collapsed upon her, she had rolled out into the open. She's still not so confident about being alone, and her hands strays to a rather special scrolls covered by the cloth that hides her array of them. She hadn't a real clue where Kuoroke was, so she does have to rely on very basic senses. <* You should go for it. Screw the rules! The quicker everyone knows, the quicker you die and I get a do-over! *> "You always come out and speak when I'm having a terrible time, don't you?"
COMBAT: Fujiko attacks target 1 with STEALTH with a roll of: 12
RPCOMBAT: Fujiko defends against with a PERCEPTION…18
RPCOMBAT: Rikuto defends against with a CHAKRA-SENSING-TECHNIQUE…46
"Respect? To buildings?" Blinking several times leaves the young man paused and standing still for a moment before shrugging his shoulders. "Fine fine.. Minimal damage until we get to the building. Once we get to the building, then we'll do another sweep.. if we get a funny feeling of being watched, we'll bypass it and go directly into the building, not through the entrance." Lowering his head, Rikuto once again begins to focus and bring his fingers to twist into the sign of the dragon and lifts his chin. Separating his hands, he uses them one at a time, pointing out the other targets. "Fujiko-san is close to Kuoroke-san, she feels odd, likely preparing something.. Over there, there's.. two Arichan-s. She's using one of her clones, it feels odd, so does she.. both of them are planning things.. We have to hurry, I think this is a race to capture him!" With that, the young man begins to race forward, not bothering to look around much at all. "If you see someone else, take the shot. I don't care if it's a good one, make them wary."
RPCOMBAT: Koemi defends against with a PERCEPTION…12
"Well yes…what you destroy could be where a person lived their whole life. Babies could have been born there, someone could have gotten married there…there is a lot of history that could be saved in ruins." Koemi lectures Rikuto at the sound of his confusion. She can't help but grin a little as she unintentionally picks on the young man, but her mind is focused once more as he starts to list off the targets. She frowns an looks in the directions he points. She didn't have the luxury of seeing through walls, so much of the explanation is lost on her. "I kind of recognized where we came from, from here…I will try to close in on where we started quietly. Please catch up as you two are able. I'll try to make some sort of signal if I get in trouble." She then starts to run away from Rikuto and Hiroto both to head back to the building they started from.
She ducks down low in the shadow of a neighboring structure and watches Fujiko from afar. She could try to confront the woman and catch her off guard, or she could try to circle around, find a gap, and evade her line of sight entirely. She preferred the second one because it essentially eliminated the need for unnecessary conflict, and even if she was spotted she could try to initiate a confrontation anyway. Koemi attempts to give Fujiko and the building she guards a wide birth in an attempt to find a back window or crack into the building.
RPCOMBAT: Hiroto defends against with a HAYATO-SENSES…52
Hiroto follows along as Rikuto gets lectured. He doesn't pay to much attention before she talks of splitting off. He doesn't feel he has a reason to disagree, so he just watches her leave before continuin on their path. Eventually he came to a point where Tenshi noticed everyone within sight. So quickly and quietly Hiroto would move along trying to stay hidden until they know they have to fight. Might as well stay in an advantageous position.
COMBAT: Arika defends against STEALTH(15) attack from Koemi with a PERCEPTION…21
COMBAT: Arika defends against STEALTH(27) attack from Hiroto with a INK-SCOUT-I…38
COMBAT: Rikuto failed to interrupt attack number 3: WIND-SLICE from Arika against Kuoroke with a roll of 25 vs 50.
Arika drops the henge after slithering through the window. I mean, sure that she could see various people as they drew close… that's why she had to strike now! The girl already has chakra gathered in her fingertips, so she throws an invisible blade of pure wind at Kuo, keeping it to a non-vital area because, while normally she would aim for something a bit more delicate, she didn't really want to kill the councilman!
COMBAT: Fujiko defends against STEALTH(13) attack from Koemi with a PERCEPTION…19
COMBAT: Fujiko defends against STEALTH(23) attack from Hiroto with a PERCEPTION…24
COMBAT: Hiroto failed to interrupt attack number 3: WIND-SLICE from Arika against Kuoroke with a roll of 40 vs 50.
Fujiko at the very least sees Koemi and Hiroto as they approach the building. She would make them aware she was right there. She raises a finger and waggles it slowly before placing a handseal together. "I'm not even going to try and stop Rikuto, but you two? You're both terrible at sneaking." She says as she drops down to one knee and places her hands upon the ground. "Spirits forbid, Arika is probably already killed him."
COMBAT: Fujiko focuses 1326 stamina to turn it into 1500 usable chakra!
COMBAT: Kuoroke defends against STEALTH(16) attack from Koemi with a SENIORITY…73
COMBAT: Kuoroke defends against STEALTH(20) attack from Hiroto with a SENIORITY…55
COMBAT: Kuoroke defends against WIND-SLICE(50) attack from Arika with a SENIORITY…58
COMBAT: Kuoroke takes 898 partial damage.
Kuoroke, from his cot, observes the area through the window. It may restrict his field of vision, but he's experienced enough to extrapolate movements and predict patterns. And then, Arika appears. He expected her to appear, but he somehow expected more of the others to already be here at the point of her attack. They make a valiant dash, but Arika's gust of wind strikes him in the chest, drawing blood. Kuoroke winces and nods to her. However, the others appear to not yet be done and, giving Arika a quick motion to wait, the Kuroki observes how teams one and two interact.
'Tsk' as he suddenly feels a shift. Looking off and up to the side slightly, Rikuto watches as Arika shifts states and starts to weave a blade of air. Bringing his hands too slowly he is left just waiting for the attack strike to hit its mark. Raising a hand, Rikuto motions for the pair behind him to pause and he falls to his knees. "Both of you.. this song will not hurt you, nor will it slow you.. you both need to find anyone you can.. bind them, bind their fingers in odd ways if you can't bind them fully." As he speaks, he pulls a scroll from his satchel and unrolls it across his lap.
All three targets specialize in ninjutsu.. if they cannot form seals, their capability dwindles into near nothingness." Closing his eyes, he presses his hands along the scroll before lifting upwards. "Release!" At the command, the ink on the scroll explodes into a puff of white smoke and a long board appears across Rikuto's lap. Not waiting for long, his fingers curl like claws, his nails already sharp and filed to a point, allowing him to rake across the tense cords. "Hurry.. This should only hold them for a short time.." Focusing onto a single pluck, the young man soon continues the sound into a rapidly forming melancholy tune. Those trapped within the illusion would begin to continue watching the scene unfold even though it had yet to..
Each time Fujiko would move to protect Kuoroke, the strikes would graze her skin, leaving her bloody and tattered yet it would cost her ward his life accidentally.
Each time Arika would make a move to bring the tall man to his knees, Koemi would manage to defend him with a whip of water as Hiroto fires arrow after arrow, each one making its mark deep within her chest.
The perfect plan would come to naught. Each time Kuoroke would move to break up the chaotic fight, he would grasp one member, and accidentally their wounds would become worse, an arrow striking not an arm, but a lung. A air sickle not cutting a chest but blinding a medic, a ball of flame not only singes but destroys the very walls, causing the building to fall in upon them..
Within every vision.. there was no right way, only hopelessness stretched out minute after minute, for what seems an hour..
RP: Rikuto transforms into PENTA-CORD-MELODY.
COMBAT: Koemi defends against SUDDEN-EARTH-COLUMN(32) attack from Fujiko with a WATER-RIBBONS…27
COMBAT: Koemi loses the roll and sustains 237 damage.
Koemi would pause just long enough to listen to Rikuto in passing. She seems confused, but she would have continued on her way anyway. 'Ok so there is a sign that I am waiting for…just need to focus and wait for it'. Returning to when she was attempting to sneak around Fujiko, she tries to jump up and cut the impending column out from beneath her with some fast spinning ribbons of water that come out from her skin. Unfortunately, the water is unable to build up a fast enough current to come anywhere close to cutting out the stone and she ends up getting hit and knocked back from it. She rubs at her stomach and tries to chuckle quietly. Afterall, this was only a training exercise. "That may be true, but the same goes for you Fujiko. I saw you quite easily myself." She stands up onto her feet and looks around her. She had to wait on Rikuto's plan perhaps…at least from here she could stay and help deal with Fujiko when the time arose.
COMBAT: Hiroto defends against SUDDEN-EARTH-COLUMN(26) attack from Fujiko with a INTUITIVE-DODGE…30
Hiroto heard what Rikuto had said, but he didn't have a very easy way to bind fingers. Either way he would be thinking about that as a bunch of land rises out from underneath him. Luckily he reacts in a way to avoid the earth pretty easily before he runs over to in between Arika and Kuoroke. He raises an arrow, but doesn't fire yet. He has it ready to hopefully hit Arika attaching her to the wall, and just in case fighting happens he has blunt arrows ready.
COMBAT: Arika defends against DESPAIR(41) attack from Rikuto with a GENJUTSU-KAI…38
COMBAT: Kuoroke defends against DESPAIR(53) attack from Rikuto with a TATTOO-CHAKRA-PURGE…64
Arika actually doesn't intend to hurt Kuo more. She did her job. Now she just had to wait. So Rikuto's genjutsu affects here but she's not entirely sure what she's supposed to be despairing about…
Kuoroke watches the combat continue, before standing up and calling out, "A trained shinobi had the opportunity to attack me. Under any realistic circumstances, I would be dead, meaning that team three is the one which is successful. Congratulations, Arika. We will debrief and discuss your respective strategies later. For now, everyone get in here. We'll take a brief break and head back home. Consider carefully how you would report on what transpired were it an actual situation."
Kuoroke has called some of the members of yesterday's exercise to the Dome for debriefing, deciding to handle them in smaller groups. He has reserved a meeting room, and set it up with little cards that allocate place for the three different teams. He stands near the circular table, waiting for his students to arrive.
With a slightly bowed head, Rikuto would enter the room, his left hand buried in his hair as he scratches at the back of his head. Lowering his hand after entering, it disappears in his cloak as he starts to look around the room until his eyes settle onto Kuoroke. "You called for me sir?" is asked, though he would be the only member of 'team 2' to arrive for the time being.
Arika is here! The girl skitters into the meeting room with some lunch in her hands that she's just finishing up. "Hi, Kuo-kun! Hi, Rikkun!" she says cheerfully before biting into the final morsel of food. Munch munch.
The first member of the first team, Fujiko, would enter though not completely. Rather, she would lean against the doorframe and wait for the member whom was a part of that activity. Zankaru, having scouted the perimeter as she attempted to lock down the house Kuoroke was in. "Jurojin, Fujiko. Present."
Zankaru would walk in shortly after Fujiko leaned at the door, passing her carefully for him to glance at the others, then Kuoroke. Shaking his head slightly, he'd walk over to where the card for team 1 was at, pulling out a chair to offer to Fujiko if she wanted it, before taking his own seat.
Kuoroke nods and waits for everyone to be seated. "Welcome, everyone. I wanted to discuss yesterday's event in a bit more detail. So, first of all, I'd like everyone here to describe how they would report on the exercise if it were a real missions where the mark had, indeed, been assassinated by a competing team?" With this, he motions towards team Arika.
Shifting slightly as he takes his seat, trying to get comfortable, Rikuto shrugs his shoulders faintly and says, "Mission failure. Other parties were detected and were faster than the team. By the time the team was moving into range to begin a strike, the target was executed. After such a point, we delayed the assassin, but the damage was done.." A faint grumble, rumbles in his throat as his gaze shifts towards Arika for a paused moment before shifting back towards Kuoroke. "..so we retreated. The end really."
Fujiko hadn't even know Arika was aft to killing Kuoroke. That, and she turned into a snake. Only Kumo-alt is allowed to do that! "Agreed, the same as Rikuto had said. The enemy's forces were too superior, causing success to be minimal." She sort of spat the last word out.
Arika umms and tilts her head a bit. "I won? I dunno… I thought it was good. Fer me." She grins, glancing over to Rikuto. "Rikkun could've stopped me. But he didn't. I didn't meet with any resistance at all."
Zankaru would listen to the others, before giving a small shrug. "We tried to secure the perimeter. I was seeking contact with the hostiles when it occurred. It's unfortuante I was not able to find them, it is a personal failure that I will have to deal with." He'd glance between Arika and Rikuto. "Most likely we should have tried to work together then and dealt with each other after stopping Arika."
Kuoroke stands at the head of the table and looks from one of them to the other. "Alright. Now let's look at what you -didn't- tell me. All of you referred to opposing parties, except Arika, she didn't do as much. One of you mentioned, offhand, the name of one of these parties. It's useful to know that you failed, or, respectively, succeeded, but that's not even the main reason why you submit the report. Now, I know what Arika and Fujiko and the others look like, and it's probably we have their identities on file, so their names would've been quite sufficient in this context, but a physical description is also, usually, an improvement to a good report." He instructs them. "Next, a word on timestamps. Knowing how late it was, at least approximately, helps as well. It helps us map the movements of those you encounter, from which we can infer the urgency of this assignment for them, their general speed -and from this, have one estimate for their capability in general-, and their likely whereabouts in the near future."
Kuoroke pauses. "Apart from this, reports are filed so you, and we, can learn from past experience. Admittedly, you were faced with overwhelming odds, and perhaps you did not have the possibility of success. However, that does not immediately mean that every decision you made was the right one. Discussing your actual course of reasoning as well as the circumstances that lead to these decisions is a keystone to our improving as shinobi." Another look is cast around the table. "Is there anything -else- any of you think should be added to your reports?"
Glancing to the side, Rikuto turns to the side he looks to Arika. "Some.. Some time after four in the evening. I would of focused keeping that one suppressed and brought back to the village, so minimal descriptions of her her looks. How fast she was.. is, is not known, nor her limits or if she was very strong or weak. What Fujiko or Zankaru look like is unknown, I never saw either." Closing his eyes, the young man shifts his head lightly from side to side as he thought. "Reasoning was simple, and direct.. approach target at the best pace of the slowest genin in the team, then move into strike range. Is that needed as well?"
Arika says, "I didn't really know what to expect, except guards. So I prolly could have scoped out the situation better, but I was worried something bad'd happen." She shrugs a bit, not sure what to add. She was also busy licking her fingers from her earlier meal…
"A believe another suitable thing to add to the reports is the amount of collateral damage caused by allies and enemies." Fujiko merely says. Though, taking count of what the village is responsible to pay for might not be the easiest thing to put on a report… Fujiko reaches a hand up to her neck and scratches it. "I didn't think I needed to know these things, but… I see the logic."
Zankaru would muse before giving a small nod. "Maybe amount of forces contacted and interacted with. I feel what you stated should cover most situations. Potentially confirm skills used to be able to properly handle and counter in future interactions?"
Kuoroke nods at Zankaru. "Very good idea!" He nods. "I was hoping for that one. Skills used by the opposition is a valuable detail. Any observed interaction between other people, also, may be useful. For instance, as given, your reports mostly did not reveal to me that there were, in fact, three teams. If team two had mentioned Fujiko's words, that would've become far more apparent. Had, for example, Arika been bearing the Kumogakure forehead protector and team one been dressed in Kirigakuran uniforms, we may have mistakenly concluded from team 2's account that Kirigakure and Kumogakure were cooperating on this - an interesting evolution."
The Jounin direct his attention to Rikuto. "It -is- useful. Especially since you knew, a priori, that there -were- two other groups with an interesting your mark, although you didn't know what manner of interest. A direct approach did not involve trying to assess these other parties' interest in the event."
He gives Arika a small nod. "Fair enough, you hurried, and in your situation that was the best choice of strategy. The matter, here, is how you report on it. This kind of reasoning and decision process should be part of the final report. As for you," It's Fujiko's turn, now, "It may be useful in some contexts to know this. It may tell us how much the ninja, and possibly their superiors, values the wholeness of the surrounding buildings, and it may provide another hint at just how strong they are. I wouldn't consider it a -vital- aspect, however. Still, a good idea. Why would you think it's a valuable addition to a report, though?"
Furling his brow, Rikuto looks back towards Kuoroke questioningly. "You already knew there were two other groups at the least.. you assigned it that way. I didn't think a mission briefing should be in the debriefing.. I'll make sure that any records before the mission are written on at the beginning of the debriefing report then." Shifting back and into the chair, it looked as if he was going to say something else, but then the young man's jaw tenses and doesn't relax, simply staying closed to silence himself.
Fujiko would close her eyes and sigh. "In the event that we as shinobi distrupt civilian prosperity, we have a duty to recompense them. The desert is a hard enough place to live in, destroying someone's livelihood as a result of our activity should be properly compensated. As long as they are a loyal citizen of Sunagakure. We are not conquerors of our own people, we are military designed to protect the interests of the Daimyo. The livelihood of his people is of prime concern to the Daimyo, for they are the ones that pay taxes." She would nod her head. "That is my non-tactical reasoning. You have covered the tactical reasoning already."
Zankaru would listen to the others quietly, trying to wrap his head around the information going on between them. He'd give a small nod to Kuoroke at his words. "That's a good point.." Glancing to Fujiko, he smiled slightly. "Also valid. We are here for them, not to lord over them, but to be their defense against what the world may bring. Definitely something to keep in mind, whenever possible, and dealing with other forces, I feel."
"Very good. A fair point, which is why I specifically selected an area with no valuable civilian structures." Kuoroke responds. "Keep in mind for the future: not the mission's success is vital. The who, the when, the why, and the how are equally important when you report on these. Thank you all for coming. I may have a followup to see if you improve. All dismissed."
