It had all seemed so simple…

Stretching as he stepped out into the cool morning air of Kirigakure no Sato. His plans had changed yet again, and so once more the young Hattori found himself walking toward the administration building of the Village Hidden in the Mists. Despite his original intention for travelling to the Land of Water being locating and questioning a mysterious man, Tano Koyanagi, who claimed to know a great deal about Nayoko’s family, Nayoko had found himself doing many other tasks while he was here. He had taken on a number of missions, as a way to strengthen the relationship between Konoha and Kiri that was already very strong, while also maintaining the cover for why he and his companion, Shimada, had traveled this far in the first place. The Kiri-Konoha ninja exchange program had been the perfect excuse for the duo to travel to the allied nation, and completing missions for the village was all part of the original plan anyway.

What had not been part of the plan was making many new friends. Sure, Nayoko was happy to meet new people and to discover all he could about Kirigakure no Sato, but at the same time he knew that he had a job to do, and right now he wasn’t doing what that job entailed because of the connections he had made. The entire debacle surrounding Burittsu and how he had attacked himself and Teru had put a great deal of stress on Nayoko, especially after having to rush Teru to the hospital and lie to the staff there about how she was injured. He felt awful doing it, but judging by how the Yuki and the Uchiha had interacted, he assumed that Teru did not want to give up Burittsu, so Nayoko respected that. The entire exchange had left Nayoko confused, questioning Burittsu’s motives, and the motives of others that ran off like he did. His thoughts even wandered to Mitsuo Sarutobi, a man that he respected a great deal, but had also left Konoha behind as a criminal. During the brief time that the young Hattori had interacted with the head of the Sarutobi clan, he had made it clear to him that the Sword Saint held nothing but love for the Village Hidden in the Leaves. And yet, he had walked away from it…twice in fact.

It had all been a great deal for Nayoko to process. The betrayal of a comrade, the meaning of leaving a village, was it all as grand as Nayoko had thought before? Or was it simply a part of life? Was it simply something that happened every day, but that not everybody got to see. These thoughts and more had kept Nayoko from begin as focused as he knew he would need to be when he was finally going to go to the Swamp of Sorrow and confront Tano Koyanagi. So for now, he had decided that until his mind was clearer he would take on more missions for the village in hopes of allowing his thoughts to settle over the time it would take to do so. And thus, Nayoko found himself standing outside of the administration building once more.

As he stepped up to the desk where he saw the receptionist that he had spoken to a great deal now, he smiled asking what missions were available that day. “Oh, we actually have something special in mind for you, as part of the Kiri-Konoha exchange program! Are you interesting in participating?” Nayoko raised an eyebrow, intrigued by what the special mission could be. Nodding his agreement, Nayoko watched as the young woman stood and led him to a nearby room. Stepping in, he was greeted by three shinobi, wearing Kirigakure flak jackets and outfitted with tantos and even a katana in one of their cases. Two of them were male, probably around sixteen or seventeen years old, whereas the remaining one was female, and probably around fifteen years old. She was the one with the katana strapped to her back. “These are some of the village chuunin. We’ve been hoping to give them some combat experience, along with some experience working under a leader, and with a Konoha ninja, seeing as you guys are our allies.” Nayoko nodded his approval. He always hoped to have his own squad in Konoha someday, so this would be perfect practice. “That sounds like a great idea to me. I assume we’ll be taking on a B-Rank mission then?” The woman nodded, handing him a scroll detailing the mission. There were more smugglers moving through the forests just outside of the village. It would be their job to kill them and take whatever contraband they were moving. It was a mission that the young Hattori was very familiar with, so he knew they would be able to take care of it.

Dismissing the receptionist, Nayoko introduced himself to the three chuunin, after which they introduced themselves as well, also making clear to him that they were all volunteers for the mission, and that there would be no resistance due to him being from Konoha. Nayoko smiled and nodded to them, turning around and leading them outside of the building. “I’m glad to hear it guys. After all, if we resist each other, then we will all be in danger. Remember that. There is a chain of command for a reason, so even if you don’t agree with all of the orders you’re given you’re to follow them. Otherwise you put more than just yourself at risk. Now, let’s get moving” He gave them a quick thumbs up before taking off toward the gates of the village in hopes of reaching the woods before the smugglers got too close to the village proper.

Throughout the trip, the chuunin were mostly quiet, though they did ask a few questions about his own home, and if he was a member of some famous clan like the Senju. He hated to disappoint them, but he was honest with his comments, telling them that he was a member of a wide spread clan and that he had no special dojutsu or advanced release to speak of. They weren’t too upset about it, but even so, Nayoko apologized for not being some legendary ninja for them to look up to. It was not long into their journey before the four shinobi were moving from treetop to treetop in search of the smugglers. Nayoko knew almost exactly where they would be thanks to his former comrade Burittsu showing him in the past. Finally, after running for around fifteen minutes, Nayoko raised his hand to stop them. They all perched in a tree as the young Hattori glanced out to the campfire he could see burning not too far off. He turned back to the trio of chuunin that were with him, a serious look on his face now. “One of you tell me how many of them there are.” Without a word, one of the young men nodded and jumped to a nearby tree, trying to get a better perspective. Nayoko could already pick out eight distinct humanoids in the area, so he had already begun to plan their attack. Returning to the tree, the chuunin reported the same information, to which Nayoko nodded. “Alright, good work. Here’s the plan…”

Moving from tree to tree as stealthily as possible, the four shinobi slowly made their way toward the camp, spreading out as Nayoko had instructed. The goal of the plan was too allow the younger ninja take out as many as they would with support from Nayoko where needed, so Nayoko made sure to stay higher in the trees, making sure that he had a vantage point on the entire situation. Once the three chuunin were in position, he watched with pride as they all gave the signal that they had discussed, and dropped down on their respective targets to take them out. Though as soon as they did so, Nayoko knew that something was very wrong. The girl and one of the boys were able to drop their targets with ease, but as the second boy dropped, the smuggler below him spun with insane reflexes, smashing his heel into the boy’s chest and sending him flying back into a nearby tree. The other two gasped as the man turned to face them.

But Nayoko was already in the air at that point. Landing between the man and his would-be victims, the young Hattori threw up his arms to block the oncoming charge, then followed up with a sweeping kick of his own, dropping the man onto his back and allowing Nayoko to stomp on his throat, crushing his wind pipe. As he coughed through his last breaths, Nayoko turned to see the other five men all removing the cloaks that they had been wearing and pulling out finely crafted katanas. Looks like Burittsu used this spot one too many times. They were prepared. Nayoko called out to the chuunin behind him. “You two, grab your injured friend and get to the trees. Send up a flare. We’re gonna need some backup…”

With that the five men jumped into action, showing Nayoko just how outmatched he was. One on one, maybe even two on one, he knew he could take any one of these guys. But the five of them together were pushing his limits, and even as fast as he was, he could not block every sword swing that came his way. There were cuts opening up all over his body as the blades sliced into his flesh even as he fought back. He managed to injure a couple of them, and eventually when he decided to sacrifice his flank, he managed to grab one and fill them with a thousand flying water needles of death. With one down, he knew he was still outmatched, but things were looking up.

Then he saw the red flare go up from the woods, an so did the assailants. With them distracted, Nayoko jumped back and formed a rapid series of hand seals, gathering an immense amount of suiton chakra in the palm of his hand before blasting forward a tearing torrent jutsu. He managed to his one of the thugs squarely, crushing his internal organs and taking him out of the fight for sure. As the other three turned back to attack him, Nayoko smirked. “Looks like things are looking up for me boys,” he said, coughing up a slight amount of blood.

WC:1777

Chakra:

The battle between Nayoko and the last three men continued after that brief moment when the chi-flare was let loose into the sky. He knew that there would be reinforcements soon, but despite that knowledge, a pang of doubt had made its way into Nayoko’s mind. He was being injured more and more by the second, with each cut made by the blades going deeper and causing him to slow down, despite his need to go on. Luckily, his skill in Taijutsu was allowing him to continue the fight for this long, and though it was mere minute before the intervention, to Nayoko it felt like an eternity. Pressing onward with the fight, Nayoko managed to cause a break in the battle for a moment, releasing a stream of air from his mouth and flying five metres away from the group of attackers before jumping back another fifteen in order to ensure at least some kind of pause in the combat. Nayoko and the three men were all breathing heavily, trying to catch their breath before the inevitable return to battle. It was then that the young Hattori heard a sound. It was the sound of rushing wind that caused him to glance up just in time to see a blur that arced in front of him and slammed into the ground.

The force of whatever had landed before Nayoko was so incredible that dirt and debris had flown up all around the area, forcing the special jounin to cover his face to prevent the dust from blinding him. When he finally moved his arm from his face, he could still see a cloud before him, and below that cloud of swirling dust was a crater that had been formed by the impact. Squinting into the haze Nayoko could make out a silhouette of something – no, someone rising up from a kneeling position, and Nayoko’s eyes only widened. Who in the world could have made such an impact? Who the hell did they send to my rescue? Just as the thoughts passed through his mind, there was a flicker of light from inside the cloud that was nearly instantaneously followed up by a shock wave of air, dispersing the dust cloud and revealing with clarity who had arrived. Taking one step forward, Nayoko’s eyes widened once again, as he knew that he was staring at the back of none other than the Mizukage herself, Solstice Ayakashi.

Nayoko managed to realize that his jaw was hanging open for a moment and slammed it shut before the Misukage tilted her head back slightly to look at Nayoko. She was a sight to behold. She was decked out in her full battle attire, wearing armour over nearly every inch of her body while also carrying a plethora of weapons that were so powerful that Nayoko could not even fathom wielding them personally. Standing there in tat moment, Nayoko knew that even if an army arrived, he would be walking home victorious today. "Are you all right?" Ayakashi asked, her voice stoic and metallic through the intimidating and incredibly crafted mask that she wore on her face. Before he could respond, the young Hattori found himself flanked by two of the Kirigakure Hunter ninja, each of them preparing to heal his wounds with specialized medical ninjutsu. Seeing that, and feeling his flesh knitting itself back together at the behest of the jutsu being used, he glanced up to face the Mizukage and nodded with a stony expression on his face. “I am now Lady Mizukage, and I thank you for your timely arrival.”

Glancing around the battlefield, Nayoko could see eight other hunter ninja had arrived, ten in total. Two more of them were healing up the chuunin that had joined Nayoko on the mission, and within moments, the trio were back onto their feet and stepping up to join in the battle. Nayoko nodded, they were brave, that was for sure. Or perhaps they did not have to be, considering that the most powerful woman in the ninja world had just stepped into the fight, and she was on their side. Before Nayoko could manage to take in what else had transpired, he watched as one of the hunter ninja bowed before Ayakashi, and began to give a report. As it turned out, there were more men that would be arriving shortly. Rewrapping his hand wraps, Nayoko stepped up to be only five or so feet behind the Mizukage, Her chakra was raiding out from her, and the cold sensation gave him chills as well as courage. It reminded him of Burittsu, who had turned on him so recently using his icy chakra to attack Nayoko. But at the same time, this chakra was no where the same level as that young rogue’s. The power of the Mizukage could be felt even at this distance, and it was that immense power that gave Nayoko the courage he needed. He was going to say something to her, something about how he was ready to assist with the fight or that he could still stand, but as he looked up, he realized that would be expected of him regardless. Spinning around so that he could have a view of the entirely of the battlefield, Nayoko counted twenty more armed bandits stepping out of the forest, each with a murderous intent in their eyes.

Before anything else could happen, the Konoha ninja heard the voice of the Mizukage once again, resounding around them with a cold tone that gave Nayoko a slight feeling of unease. "Look what the cat dragged in, well, at least now we can take all the trash out at once, I do so hate long drawn out jobs." She let out a sinister chuckle after that, which caused Nayoko to think back to the reputation that the Village Hidden in the Mists held. Perhaps they are more than just rumours, the young man thought to himself, gritting his teeth and preparing for battle.

And just like that, the fight began. The twenty criminals charged forward, unaware of that they were getting into. With a smirk, Nayoko attuned himself with the air around him, causing it to whip up into a small torrent that cascaded over his body and removed any air resistance from his movements. Glancing over at the chuunin that had joined him on the initial mission, he let out a should. “The mission’s not over yet, and it’s still ours! We’ve got the five on at your six o’clock, Lady Mizukage.” And with that, he launched himself forward, back into the fray. With his wounds healed and him vigour renewed, Nayoko fought like he was fresh out of the gates. Wasting no time he released his Leaf Strong Whirlwind technique onto the man that was now in front of him, spinning into a back kick that unleashed a powerful whirlwind in a one meter radius around in. Though the force of the wind was powerful enough to hurt the man that he connected with, the blow itself was what made this attack so dangerous. The young Hattori could feel the man’s ribs fracture as he landed the kick, which then sent the man flying backwards twenty metres into a nearby tree, his head smashing against it with incredible force. There was a satisfying crunch as the man went limp, most likely unconscious and soon to be dead from the fragments of bone that had most likely ended up in his brain.

Spinning towards the chuunin that were under his charge, he could see that they were working with one of the hunter ninja to take out two of the men that Nayoko had claimed, leaving two more to be dealt with by Nayoko himself, or so he thought. Spinning once again to face the other assailants, he found one of them to be missing something very important; namely, his head. It laid severed on the now blood stained ground next to the body that it used to be attached to, a hunter ninja jumping away to deal with another threat. That left one for Nayoko. Smirking, he knew exactly what he would do to deal with him. The thug, a woman with a longsword in her hand, was already charging toward Nayoko, her sword drawn and ready to do its work. Nayoko merely stood, waiting for her to get close enough before he lauched into another technique of his village, the Leaf Great Whirlwind. The series of four kicks, starting low and ending high, launched the woman higher into the air with each blow until Nayoko found himself floating in the air next to her, delivering a slam to her chest with his heel. But instead of allowing her to crash into the ground, Nayoko quickly conjured a Water Whip in his hand, launching it forward and latching onto her before yanking on it and pulling her back towards him in the air. With a cry of battle, Nayoko slammed his extended fist into her stomach as the water from his jutsu dispersed, launching her once again into the ground, and causing enough damage to take her out of the fight.

With that, Nayoko landed and turned back to his chuunin, who had managed to take out the other two bandits without issue. Giving hem a nod, he spun around to survey the rest of the battlefield and see what else needed to be done. He was ready for more if he needed to be, though he doubted that the Mizukage would need any assistance, let alone from him.

WC:1609+1777=3386

Chakra: 125/250:

The scene would be one of brutality.

As the two sides rushed one another, Ayakashi could not find herself moving, she had gazed upon her targets, in her open palms she had to come to the decision of which of her many weapons would be the tool of destruction in this particular instance. In some ways, she had thought of unsheathing 'her' blade, the deadly changeling... A blade so insidious, it had the ability to transform itself from one weapon to another as time called for it, though its most prolific state was of that of the keen long-bow it could become, which Ayakashi had used in the past to take apart her opponents blow by blow. However, in this case she didn't feel like it was appropriate to wield that weapon in particular. Changeling, for all its boons, was not a weapon that was widely seen or known, the weapon had little legend or legacy, it was Ayakashi's crowning achievement, but it was not the weapon that would strike fear in the hearts of these brigands... but what was, was the buzzing blue blade that was already in her hand.

'All knew and feared the grass cutting sword.'

Looking to the group of men that were directly in front of her, Ayakashi would take her initial first step, and the mercenaries began to buckle in the response to that, but with courage in their hearts, the five of them who had separated themselves from the greater group to deal with her, were attempting to rally their spirits. they thought that together they would be able to take her on, each of them, in their prime, had the potential of a weaker jounin, making them more than a challenge for the likes of most hunter ninja, even if they did not have chakra flowing through their veins as a weapon to use against the ninja before them. Each of them had an assortment of weapons, but what was in common was that while several had off-handed daggers or a shield... almost all five of Aya's opponents were swordsmen, save for the one who seemed to wield a crossbow, hanging back from the others, yet even she had a sword sheathed at her side.

'And so Ayakashi took another step forward.'

Looking to the men, she wondered who was going to make the first move, the battle waging around them, breaking for them as even the Hunter ninja knew not to get in the way of the Mizukage when it came to combat. Finally, it was the crossbowman who would have the gall to begin the fight, having already leveled her bow at Ayakashi, she would twitch her finger tightly on the trigger and release what appeared to be an explosive bolt at Ayakashi. Dartinf forward, but angling her chest sideways she would reach out with her bare hand, snatching the arrow from flight by the long wooden shaft, spinning with her force and throwing it in the middle of the five people in front of her like a kunai. The explosion would go off, the men were quick, able to evade to the sides before Ayakashi would descend upon them while the group of them were divided. Her blue sword of kusanagi slicing through the shadows like a blade of ephemeral light penetrating the darkness.

Approaching the first of her victims, the man would raise a parrying dagger to Ayakashi's first horizontal strike, yet the fine chakra blade of Kusanagi sliced through the dagger like butter, the red hot steel severing and flying off over Ayakashi's shoulder as the biting blade of her weapon, severed the mans' arm at the elbow as he let out a sharp cry. Stepping past him, Ayakashi would spin, crouching down, reversing her weapon into an ice-pick grip, allowing it to glide through the mans' knees. Raising from the earth like a phoenix and finishing her spin, Ayakashi would unleash a devastating kick to the mans' torso, connecting as she would hear the bones within his body shatter and physically compound fracture through his skin as he would be send soaring through the ground to crash into one of the other swordsmen, temporarily immobilizing him as the other three would descend upon her.

With the wide pearly grin of a great white shark, Ayakashi would parry the first of the blows that came her way with the side of her blade, flicking it around into a standard grip again as she did so due to her superior strength she was able to force the blade of her opponent to the left, using it to block the over-head strike of the next blade. As they would recoil, the third strike would come for her side in the form of a thrust, aiming to take advantage of Ayakshi being in the midst of combat. Gripping the blade with her gauntlet and taking a step back, Ayakashi would pull on the blade itself, with another spin, unsetting the swords-person's footing and tugging them through the lines of battle between her and her opponents before tossing them to the ground. The man who attacked second would be the first to recover, bringing his blade down on an angle for Ayakashi's shoulder while the other would attempt a deft thrust for her ribs. Stepping in and under the arm of the downward cleave, Ayakashi would find herself in a perfect position to unleash all hell being out of the range of both attacks within a single evasive action.

'From here it was all over.'

Ayakashi would step into the mans' guard with a staunch head-butt giving her the space she needed to wield her sword in between them. the thrust blade now to her side had turned to face her with a horizontal slash as another Crossbow bolt had been knocked and was ready to fire. Stepping around to the outside of her head-butt victim, she would place him between herself and the other swordsman as the bolt from the crossbow would fly. Aya would with a hard flick of her wrist slam the neck of the arrow down, forcing it to the ground as her new-found low stance would flow effortlessly into a single upward strike. The victim of her head-butt having barely the time to recover as her blade would enter at the small of his back, and exit out his collar-bone in a visceral display of power. yet no blood fell, instead, the wedding band attached to the hilt of the blade left a glass like finish on either side of the corpse, as if two glass panes had bisected him like a doctors' diagram.

Routing the upward momentum of the blade she would bring it back down on that victim again, quartering him to bring her blade back down to stance and dropping the corpse to the earth. Stepping over it with an insanely quick leaping blow, the final of the three standing swordsmen would rush Aya with a head-high strike of his long blade, swiping it at cheek height in a clear-cut way to finish everything in one blow. Had the strike flanked her, it would have been an issue even to Aya, but, looking straight at him, Ayakashi would quickly side-step forward and to the swordsmans' right. Her sword in her own right hand and with a single swipe, using her opponents airborne momentum and moving in time with the intended arc of his blade, she would draw the grass cutting sword through his mid-section to unite in front of her with her left hand.

'Three to go'

Unclipping the wedding band from the hilt of her blade, Ayakashi would turn to the crossbow-woman as she had loaded yet another bolt. The battle having moved so quickly the opponent she had pulled and the other she had crashed her first corpse into had only just now recovered and moved in on the Mizukage like piranhas having scented blood. The crossbow-woman was waiting for an opportune shot... the swordsman, one with a shield were waiting for Ayakashi to move. It was a stand-off... and it was going to end in a single explosive combat. Waiting for a few scarce moments, Ayakashi would devise her plan, although it held risk, she thought she may enjoy the onslaught.

It would be the shield-man who would attack first, a smart move indeed as he would charge with his shorter blade. Ayakashi again would step in to his offense, keeping him between her and the woman with the crossbow. He would chop for Ayakashi with the blade, keeping the shield at his chest height and primed for defence as the final opponent would rush Ayakashi from behind. Hard-blocking and locking blades with Ayakashi's parrying dagger she would have to angle this just right as she would turn into the mans' open guard. Grabbing his chest and kicking for his shin as she would execute a perfect over the shoulder throw to hurl him into her rear attacker. This act alone, with him held above her head was the perfect shot for the marks-woman who fired her bolt on a path to intercept. Yet Ayakashi was crafty, her positioning intended as she would throw the momentum of her throw into dropping to the ground with yet another spinning flourish, using the momentum and hurling her dagger in reverse grip for the snipers' chest, connecting perfectly as now Aya was free to finish her spin and plunge her blade through the final two simultaneously.

"Not bad... " Ayakashi would taunt the dead men and women, Dragging her blade up through their bellies for a moment before pulling it out and with a single sweep removing their heads from their bodies, blood now pooling from them in shallow shoals as the battle around her had likely come to its head... It was a good fight, but only a taste of what the Mizukage had to deal with later. Walking over to the sniper as she lay gasping for breath, the knife having clearly punctured a lung. Ayakashi would rip the dagger from her breast as the speed of the blood flow into her lungs would allow her to dry drown all the faster. Turning back to the battle, Ayakashi would watch the last of it, hoping to admire the konoha ninja and his team, and the hunter ninja that aided them in the skirmish.

If Nayoko had been able to bare witness to the slaughter that had occurred behind him, he would have been left in even greater awe of the woman he was now watching. He had finished with most of his fighting just in time to watch the Mizukage make her left few moves. First she sent a charging enemy flying overhead and crashing into a second one, before deftly dodging the crossbow bolt of a woman at some distance and executing her with a thrown blade of her own. Blinking at the sheer prowess of the woman before him, he continued to just stare at her as she executed the last two of her foes in one fell slash of her blade. She then quietly stepped over to the woman who had previously wielding a crossbow to remove the blade from her chest before turning back to the rest of the battle, which was wrapping up quiet nicely.

Deciding to ensure the safety of his squad first, he turned just in time to see the last thug in Nayoko’s line of sight baring down on the chuunin that had been previously injured. He had held his own fairly well until that moment, but now it looked like the bandit was about to deliver a pretty series injury to the boy, perhaps even a fatal one. Without hesitating, Nayoko dashed forward, pushing himself to go as fast as possibly and arrive just in time. As he rushed forward, the world seemed to slow down as the criminal parried the chuunin’s tanto from his grasp and pulled back, reading to deliver a stab through his chest. “Oh no you don’t!” Nayoko shouted as he smashed into the chuunin, sending him flying out of harm’s way, and leaving Nayoko in the path of the blade.

Everything seemed to slow down even further for Nayoko. He knew that the blade before him could do some serious damage, especially with where it was aimed. But at the same time, the young Hattori knew there was one escape left; one that he had not been forced to use yet in his time as a shinobi. But now it was time for his clan’s will to shine through. A shout leapt unbidden from his lips as the sword drove into him, but as it connected, Nayoko forced his chakra to the surface of his skin, hardening it to the point where nothing could penetrate it for just that moment. And so the man’s thrust came to an abrupt end, with Nayoko standing before him at his full height, and the man’s razer sharp katana only about a quarter of an inch into his skin. “What the he-“ Nayoko did not give the man a chance to finish, bracing the tip of the blade that was still embedded in his chest against his left hand, and striking is right forearm into the center of the blade, snapping it in half.

There was a harsh ringing in the air as the blade snapped, and before the bandit could react to the action, Nayoko removed the broken end of the blade from his chest and sank it into the enemy’s throat, killing him instantly. As the man crumpled before him, Nayoko dropped the piece of metal on to the ground next to the corpse. “Nobody messes with my squad, and nobody pierces the Heart of Iron.” With that, he glanced back around at the group, taking in his surroundings. It looked as though the group of ninja had taken out all of the mercenaries for now, which meant it was time to that the Mizukage personally. Stepping forward, he gave a bow to the legendary Butterfly Sage before addressing her directly. “Lady Mizukage, thank you for arriving when you did. It looks like the intel on the mission we got was not as…” his voice trailed off as he glanced around at the piles of bodies around them, “…not as up to date as we expected. Had you and your Hunter Ninja not arrived, I worry as to what might have happened.”

Standing in her presence, Nayoko could feel the chill in the air radiating from her nature chakra, the Sage Mode of the Demon Ice Witch ever present in the air. She was immensely powerful; more so than Nayoko ever thought to be a possibility. But in that moment, he knew that the strength of legends was achievable, for there was living proof of it before him. He wanted to reach those heights too. Glancing back at his chuunin that he had been charge with, he watched as they were patched up for a second time, and as he saw that, he knew that he should have been able to do more. Had he been stronger, then perhaps those young ninja would not have felt pain to the degree that they had to today. He could not help but shake his head slightly at his own inadequacies. If he could not even stop some bandits from harming these chuunin, how could he hope to fight the man that he had come to the Land of Water to confront, Tano Koyanagi? Worse still, how could he hope to protect Shimada from him if he tried to hurt her. No, he needed to be stronger, and as he lifted his eyes from the ground that he had been string at for a moment, he saw the answer to how he could gain the power that he needed.

“Lady Mizukage,” he addressed her once again. “I would like to request an audience with you as soon as possible, to discuss this misstep on my part and how these chuunin performed and would have performed in the expected situation. Given the circumstances, I think they should be commended for their work, and that will be a hard thing to show in the report for this mission. But if I could meet with you personally I think I could give a more detailed account of what occurred here from out perspective.”

It was not a complete lie, as he would be happy to debrief Ayakashi, but he also had another request in mind; one that was far more personal. He wished to be trained in senjutsu under the Butterfly Sage herself. With the request hanging in the air, he stepped back and clasped his hands behind his back, preparing for an answer from the strongest ninja he had ever met, and ever would meet as far as he knew.

WC:1092+3386=4478

Chakra: 100/250:

The silence as the battle ebbed was deafening.

Aya couldn't help but feel strange, she hadn't just beaten multiple people, she had completely destroyed them, but the feeling wasn't enough, a hand moved to her forehead as she struggled against the adrenaline, the feeling of power seemed to have gone to her head... It felt like there was a voice deep within her chanting to tear the corpses apart as the dying ninja paid witness to their folley, she knew that she could, she was strong enough, she felt like she wanted to. But it wasn't true. The ground at her feet was awash with rolling shoals of blood from the mercenaries who had attempted to reinforce their kin. By the law of the land, their crimes were worthy of a swift death sentence, but, normally Ayakashi was more tactical, not thrusting herself into the heat of the battle. Normally she would have targeted them with her bow if she felt like she was able to do so and still get away with it, but, this was something different altogether.

'This was a mirthful yet malevolent rage made manifest.'

Panting a moment before taking a deep breath, it seemed that the combat had ended everywhere else, looking to the Konoha ninja, Ayakashi smiled, glad that he seemed to be fine and even more-so that his group of chuunin also seemed to be fine, this mission was well over their rank, and should have been taken by Village Jonin or ANBU black ops at the very least. Ayakashi had a close relationship with the hunter ninja of the country, as much as they were the foreign legion of the nation, their attitude seemed to sync with her more and more in recent days. Ayakashi would turn to meet the boy as he would ask her a couple of questions. Ayakashi would listen at the first before adding in at the idea that intel seemed to be off. "Yes, there was an investigation on the nearby mercenaries, but the connection between them and the smuggling was not yet made. I'm just glad everyone here is safe now."

Looking to the others, it would seem there were a couple who were wounded, one or two were wounded rather badly, but it seemed that chakra in the fight for the most part had been the deciding factor in the fight. However, these mercenaries were far more dangerous than others that Ayakashi had-had to deal with. She had dealt with what seemed to be the leaders of the group, but even so, they would have happily as a group stood up to Kirigakure's stronger Jounin. She imagined that even Nozomi would have had to be smart with attacking this particular group with her squad. Whatever the case, it seemed the special Jounin had a couple more things that needed to get out in the open... there needed to be a report, but it seemed that the young Jounin wanted to do the report in person, to this Ayakashi agreed and would ask him that he come to the Aisu compound tomorrow at sunrise.

'after that point, Ayakashi would speak to a few of the ANBU before promptly vanishing.'

Several of the ANBU would whisper about how Aya had fought, having not seen her like that before, but in the end they put it down to the fact that Chuunin were in danger, and the protective almost matriarchal passion that that would have summoned with that. A thought that under normal circumstances would have been apt.

---

The Next Day

Ayakashi would be out the back of her house before the crack of dawn training, her mother had set up several steel idols in her slightly expansive yard. Changeling in her hand she would switch the weapon from form to form and go through her rounds while maintaining her sage mode 'body.' Rather than the blue lines and symbols that would have been seen on the battle-field the other day, this time they were fire-colours as Ayakashi would be moving at optimal capacity over the duration of the technique. She would be wearing the shroud of the Mizukage with the hood down, the two hilts hidden under her mask at her hip and the quiver and fuuma shiriken folded up underneath it horizontally across her back. The shoud of the mizukage was clipped by a gold chain across her neck and left open as she wore little more than bandages across her upper torso and black gi with her armoured boots. Her hands, as always, covered in the platinum cases of her mothers work and a needle hitten within their folds.

Strike by strike she would move like lightning, delivering kicks in rapid succession under the arm of a steel idol before moving to the crook of its leg, recoiling her leg at the knee before bringing it around and up for axe-heel kick to the shoulder. Using the force to backflip, draw an arrow and fire it from changeling's bow, burying the arrow in its chest as she would turn to another, sweeping up dust as she hit the ground and span with her leg outstretched, firing another arrow through the dust as she changed the bow's form to that of a staff. Simply retracting the string with its clip and flourishing the weapon around her in a defensive spin before leveling it at a target and continuing her forms with quick deft finesse and intense strength. Pushing herself harder and harder before switching weapons and attacking even harder, The bo staff would eject a blade to become a glaive, then a scythe, then glaive again before becoming a sword. Harder and harder, faster and faster until...

'there was a harrowing crash'

A final strike would launch one of the braced riveted idols tumbling across the yard in a warped heap of scrap. Sweat beading down Ayakashi's form as she'd been up to this for a while in the morning. Her Tiger laying calmly not too far from her and basking in the warmth of the out-door power station. Taking a drink from a canteen Ayakashi would look to the crack of the sun, remembering that someone was meant to be here soon...

Nayoko could only stand at some semblance of attention waiting for the Mizukage to address his concerns. She had already agreed with his tactical comments, which was even more surprising when she added on a comment about how she was happy for everyone’s well-being. A moment earlier, he had watched this woman obliterate a number of men and women from existence without even a slight hint of remorse, and now she was stating that she was glad that all of her people were alive. It seems like she takes her position very seriously. Seriously enough, in fact, that she came to our rescue in person. It impressed Nayoko, to meet a leader that was so present in the lives of her villagers like that. He had personally never spoken with the Hokage of his home in Konohagakure no Sato, though after this encounter he made a mental note to try to meet with him someday soon.

As she glanced around her hunter ninja, Nayoko waited patiently until she finally turned back to the twenty two year old and addressed him directly. She agreed to his request for a personal audience and asked Nayoko to meet her at the Aisu compound the following day. He nodded his agreement and watched as the Mizukage then spoke privately with some of the hunter ninja before vanishing, from sight, perhaps using the Body Flicker Technique to make her way back to the administration building of Kirigakure no Sato. Blinking in surprise, he looked around at some of the hunter ninja, almost all of whom were having private conversations with one another. Eventually, one of them stepped over to Nayoko. “I haven’t seen the Mizukage fight like that ever before. Count yourself lucky to have seen it and survived.”

Nayoko was unsure of how to respond, so he merely nodded without a word before stepping away from the strangers and over to the three chuunin of his temporary squad. Smiling, he squatted down tot hat he would be at eye level with them, as they were all seated while being tended to by some of the hunter ninja. “Hey guys, I just wanted to make sure that you all know how well you did today. We were thrown into the fire and we had no idea of knowing this would happen. And yet, here we all are, alive and well because you all kept your cool and were able to get off that flare while also protecting one another. I wish that I had been able to get this sort of experience when I was a chuunin as well.” Standing back up, he gestured to one of the hunter ninja. “Will you be able to make sure they get treated and back to the village? I’d like to begin with my report if at all possible.” The man simply nodded, releasing Nayoko from his duty as a squad leader. With one last farewell to the chuunin and the other hunter ninja that were still around, Nayoko used the Body Flicker Technique to head back to the Village Hidden in the Mists proper, and to begin writing his report.

---

Nayoko had woken up as soon as the sun had peeked out over the horizon. In anticipation for what the day might hold. He had finished preparing his written report regarding the precise turn of events that had led to the call for reinforcements the night before. But he had also prepared what he would say to the Mizukage after presented his summary of the events. He would request her help in becoming the ninja that he needed to be, and that meant asking her to train him in one of the most renowned and difficult specializations that a shinobi could learn: Senjutsu. Needless to say, Nayoko was excited at the prospect of learning such a powerful branch of shinobi arts, but if he was honest with himself, he was not sure that he was up to the task. It would be difficult, that much was certain; but Nayoko had never been one to back away from a challenge. In fact, he usually welcomed them. And so despite the uncertainty, Nayoko made threw on his blue jacked and tucked his silver Hattori clan symbol into his shirt, readying himself for what was to come.

It did not take long for the young Hattori to locate the Aisu compound inside of Kirigakure no Sato, and before too long, he was admitted inside to where he was told the Mizukage was located. Even as he approached, he could hear the sounds of training coming from an undetermined distance in front of him. There were quiet grunts form a woman who was clearly working very heard, as they were drowned out by the crashes of weapons against metal that nearly shook the area around him. Moving faster now, he hoped to catch a glimpse of the Mizukage in action once again. As he moved through the compound, he could hear the sounds getting louder and louder, a testament to him travelling in the right direction, though just before he rounded the corner that would lead to the Mizukage’s house, he heard an incredible crash, far louder than any he had been hearing up until that point.

Rounding the corner, he saw quite the scene presented before him. Laying in a pile of scrap across the yard before him was the warped and ruined remains of a steel training dummy. Directly across from it, stood a woman whose body was glowing with fire coloured lines and symbols, standing slightly taller than Nayoko and with long, beautiful crystal blue hair that cascaded down her back. The Mizukage stood before the young Hattori once again, though this time with a canteen in her hand from which she was taking a drink. Not too far from her, a large, white tiger laid in wait, basking in the outside air. Shaking his head for a moment, Nayoko ventured a step forward.

“Good morning, Lady Mizukage. I’m Nayoko Nozara of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. I requested this audience with you yesterday after our run in with those mercenaries? I have my report here and ready for you, though I do have another request of you, if you have time, of course.”

[Exit Thread]

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Ayakashi finished her drink with a gasp.

As Nayoko introduced himself once again, she would call him over to stand with her, Ayakashi wasn't quite done with her morning training, so, she thought she could at the very least go through with some of the Konoha ninja's forms and give him a little bit of tutelege while he was here. She could tell by the tone of his body that he had undergone some form of formal training that was out of the norm for another ninja, be it tai or buki-jutsu, the man who stood before her was a martial artist. Some people just had that glow about them. Ignoring his initial question for the moment, she would look to him and adopt her basic fighting stance, opening her palms and putting her right foot in front of her left and leaning forward slightly to put her weight on her front foot aggressively. Each of her hands would extend with curled wrists in front of her, one in front of the other in the same pattern as her legs her hands loose before tightening and straightening into fists and lowering her stance slightly. In a single act, showing the evolution between open palm techniques like Juuken, and her close-fisted tai-chi, God-fist.

"I assume you spar, lets go a few rounds while we talk, ready yourself. But don't worry, I just want to go through technique, nothing fancy or rough." Ayakashi would smile, waiting for him to get into stance as she would nod and await a nod or bow in response, should he bow, Ayakashi in turn would bow her head, not wanting to quite break stance before combat. "So, you wanted to make a report in person, I'm listening." She finished speaking and just as she would finish her statement, as her low stance coiled like a spring, Ayakashi would compound her body-weight into a single strike for the center of her opponent's chest. Though, as she had said, she was holding back, deciding only to attack her opponent with strength and speed equivelant to that of A-0, so that he could still get a feel of being against someone a bit stronger and faster, but not be overwhelmed by a Kage he could not possibly react to.

Ayas right fist would launch for his chest as just before she would reach him, Ayakashi's left foot that would have launched forward would have touched the ground moments before she was in range of the blow, allowing her knee to buckle and Gravity to follow through with her action, it would become quickly apparent that the punch was a feint as her body would drop rapidly, her right leg, now behind her, with the anticlockwise spin force of her attempted punch and spring would route into the force of her low spinning kick that would be thrown for her opponent's left calf. Should Ayakashi miss or land the blow regardless, she would follow through. Planting her right leg to one side, a hand bracing her body against the ground as her left leg coiled to her chest, pushing up in a straight through kick for his upper body like a gymnast, hoping to hit him center chest to intercept his fall should he have been tripped, or just his lower stomach.

Should aya miss this kick however, she would grip the ground and use the upwards momentum to somersault backwards to avoid counter-attack, landing on her feet and raising in stance yet again.