Karumo sat on a bench in a circular room around him, a single door on the opposite side of him. The beige walls were uniform and without flaw, the floor was a clean marble as well to match nicely with the walls. In the center of the room was a circular pool of water with a waterfall running down to replenish the water flowing in it. From that pool of water sat many stones of varying shapes and colors, sizes of all kinds and in the center was another platform with a raised pedestal at the center of that. On top of said pedestal sat a seemingly ordinary stone perfectly in the center of it.

Karumo sat there on one of the benches, the cigar he brought with his was burning a hole in his jacket pocket. The black jacket was closed and buttoned up except the top button, matching his black pants and black shoes all the same. His hands fumbled around the small book he had brought with him to pass time, waiting for his new squad to arrive and meet him here at the Tsuchikage's stone. He sent a letter out that morning giving them instruction to meet him there at 1300 hours, though leaving no trace of whom he was and the smallest hint at what they would be doing. His letter read as such,

Guest,

You are instructed to meet at the Stone of the Tsuchikage today at 1:00 pm, bring all of your ninja tools and equipment along with you. You will be filled in further when you arrive, prepare to be gone from the village for up to two days.

Vague in appeal and not much more to it, the two days bit was mostly to cause a bit of anxiety in their mind. Though, they could be gone overnight depending on how they handled things and progressed, if at all. He had some confidence though, both of the people he had selected to test were older, closer to his age than the normal genin, which means he expected a certain level of maturity and ability along with them, even if they still carried the rank of genin.

He would patiently wait for both of them to arrive, offering nothing more for whomever to take a seat next to him until the next person arrived. Silently reading away until they both were there. Once that was done, he would stand up and offer the other person his seat as he would stand up and close his book, offering an ecstatic "Welcome!" with a smile, book still in hand. As he would be preparing to put the two of them to the test in ways that they wouldn't be completely prepared for.

[461 words]

[OOC: Alright, we'll set the posting order to be Me-> Akimi-> Mahi if that's alright? Otherwise sorry for the incredibly short intro post, distracted by my movie right now! xD]

The guards did a complete pat down on Mahikari before they would allow him into Iwagakure. It was treatment like this which had ultimately made the Karasu bitter, causing them to retreat into those old abandoned mine shafts. It was completely different treatment as to what the small line of people in front of him had gone through to enter. Some of those people looked even more horrible...without masks. In order to avoid more odd stares, Mahi placed his mask away but kept on his cloak. As he walked through crowds on the streets he would hear them fall silent moments after passing him, the cold air often came as a complete surprise to some people.

It was when he arrived at the administrative building to make his bold request that he realized how bad a simple task like this could potentially be. He slouched against the chair in the lobby as he waited to be called up to make his request. When it finally happened he stood with a tinge of aggressive motion as he asked the woman for an audience with the Tsuchikage.

The woman laughed at him when he asked told him he needed to sign up for some sort of squad.  

"I'm sorry sir, direct audience with the Tsuchikage is not something that can just be requested and granted. If this is some sort of prank I suggest you  leave here at once. This building is for serious matters of the village. If you aren't joking, i will say you can get a shot at meeting him by applying for a squad, and as a genin in our databases, you'd have some kind of a chance of Karumo that way."
——————

That was how Mahikari found himself receiving a letter at his temporary hotel address, informing him of a meeting with his new squad. The grizzled old mercenary would stumble out of bed around 9:00 am, his head felt slightly heavy from his night of sampling the towns night life. The cranky old inn-keeper had waited until today to knock at the door and hand him such an important letter, rather than handing it in before Mahikari has went out and drank himself silly.

No matter. He would be able to disguise his hangover without fail to the degree that those of the squad would have no idea he had one. He showered thoroughly and gave himself a shave, leaving only a slight gray stubble across his chin and neck area. He gathered all he had, which unfortunately was not a whole lot. The man's home and primary possessions were there, so he would stuck two days away from the village, just perhaps not very comfortably. That was fine, as Mahikari was suited for the rough life.

Upon arrival to the meeting location, the first thing to grab Mahi's attention would be how clean the place was. It was a very extravagant looking little facility. As the door shut behind him he noticed the dark haired man before him, reading a book. He quickly introduced himself to the man, pulling the Karasu mask from his face as he did, and lowering his hood from his head.

"My name is Mahikari. I have come here to meet for the purposes of a squad. I'm hoping I've come to the correct location."

He spoke warmly and concisely, a very big polar considering he has filled the room with an uncomfortable coldness the moment. He would await a response before taking a seat next to the man before him.

WC: 603

The first of the group to arrive was Mahikari, a member of the Karasu clan and their isolationist group. It was a little surprising to meet one, and he carried the stench of death about him, just like Nanashi did, but his was more natural. As if ingrained into his very being, a gristled face and solid build about himself and dark hair to go along with it, Karumo listened briefly but didn't raise his eyes from his book as he introduced himself. With a small exhale from his nose, rather exaggerated and dramatic, he would nod lightly and speak up, his attention unwavering from his book, "Yeah, this is the place, take a seat..." he would over a bit quietly, his voice hardly at a conversational level, and yet, every word would be clearly audible over the quite sound of the water babbling downward into the display.

Karumo would slid over a bit to make some more room on the bench meant for two and continued on reading, one leg folded over the other now, and his body angled so that Mahikari wouldn't be able to see anything of what he was reading. A small pause, Karumo wouldn't make any noise or do anything that unique, just calmly reading, he wouldn't waste time introducing himself yet either. Part of him hoped that Mahikari might mistake him for a teammate rather than the sensei, he wondered if he recognized him as the Tsuchikage at all as well. Certainly if he did, he would show more of it, right?

A short moment passed, not much time to the two of them giving the quickly approaching meeting time they had set. The silence Karumo was trying to preserve would be broken by a soft knock at the door of the chamber and followed by a woman's entrance. The dark haired woman entered, Karumo's eyes rolled up briefly to take note of her arrival, lingering for a moment as he took in her clothing of choice. His eyebrow furled a second in confusion as he wondered, his letter said to bring their ninja gear? The tight dress and heels certainly wouldn't make things easier, but he wouldn't doubt her beauty anymore than any other man would. He went back to his book briefly as she approached and introduced herself, he closed his book, leaving his finger to hold his place and stood up, waving with his hand towards the spot where he sat. "I did, take a seat if you don't mind..." he would speak a bit louder this time, ignoring any reaction either of them might have had.

Once they were both sitting he would give them his welcoming speech, and ignoring the introductions for the moment, "Welcome!" he would give with a smile as intended. "I'm glad you both could join me here. If you don't know me, my name is Karumo Sekuro, also the current Tsuchikage of Iwagakure no Sato. From now on, for however long a time this lasts, we're gonna be forming a new squad together amongst ourselves and potentially one other if someone else worth arrives... I chose you two given your age and skill sets primarily, you're both a bit older than the typical genin. Not that it's a problem but I won't be treating you like normal genin, you both have special skills and touted kekkai genkai will go a long way in our squad..." he continued on with his short rant.

"At the very least, I hope you weren't planning to idly waste your time on small missions and such. On this squad, we're going to develop very quickly and I'm going to expect a lot of each of you..." he spoke and let his eyes roll over each of them. Checking their reactions and seeing how they were following along, assuming neither one of them were ready to interrupt just yet, he would continue on, "So, how about you introduce yourselves and tell us a bit about yourself as well." he would lead off and wait for them to lead the way, whichever one of them would like to start it off he would be fine with. Standing at the ready, holding his book to his side with his finger still holding the page while he waited, for their responses, questions, or whatever reaction they would have to everything.


[744 words, 1205 words total]

The man on the bench beside him hadn't said much of anything, in fact, he didn't even raise his eyes from his book as Mahi took a seat at his side. Funny, the way all of this was panning out so far was not what Mahikari had expected. He had never had to opportunity to be on, or even be offered a spot in a squad, not while sealed away in the mountain the entire latter half of his life. He sat beside the reading man, and was content with remaining idle and waiting. He has nothing to distract himself at the time so he checked his equipment over, raising a kunai and tracing his finger along the edges to ensure it was up to standard. Then he repeated that on each of his senbon. His launcher, Kaliyah, had been left back at the hotel, as he had managed to forget it. It would be interesting to see how things would go without his beloved senbon shooter to demonstrate his potency.

A knock at the door disturbed the peace, and in walked a dark haired woman with her hair curled, a tight, red mini-dress hugged her body in a particularly distracting fashion. She also wore heels, which clicked with each step she made in the direction of the two sitting men. Her opening comment was interesting. A cheeky "You called?" followed behind her name. "Cinderella."

As difficult as it was, Mahi managed to drag his eyes away from her. His mind was honestly racing too much at this point to properly hit on or flirt with a woman, even one as stunning as she had been. She addressed the man beside Mahi as if he were the one who sent the letters. This made him wonder if this girl knew something he didn't know. Before he had much time to ponder it, the man began an introductory speech.

Mahi's eyes peeled open wide as he heard the words leave the man's mouth. "the current Tsuchikage of Iwagakure no sati." Mahikari has been sitting alone next to the man he most needed to consult, and had not known it. Let alone the fact that he had walked in non-chalantly and hadn't even made a respectable impression. Everything seemed to be fucked, at least in his eyes at this point. He wouldn't be able to even fully demonstrate his abilities to Karumo without Kaliyah, his senbon launcher.

As the speech came to a close, it was left on the table that one of the two genin made his or her own little introduction. Mahikari stood, pulling his hood off and taking a good solid look at both of the people before him. His grey eyes just ever so slightly brushes passed them both as he began to speak.

"My name is Mahikari. I hail from the mountain to the south of Iwagakure. Former proud home of the Karasu clan, now just a crime haven. I am an assassin. A thief. A mercenary. I have been all my life, for one must do what is necessary to survive when faced with adversity. I am 21 years old, with the skill set of a genin because I spent 11 years of my life down in that hell-hole. This is the first time I've seen the village in the same number of years. I deal in offensive medical techniques primarily, and as an aside I prefer ranged options, such as weaponry. I utilize the Doton and Katon elemental natures."

He finished his to the point, quick witted introduction and nodded at his audience before taking his seat once more. He had offered a little more knowledge than he his father would've recommended, but if he was going to be in a squad, surely they'd have learned it eventually.

He awaited the girls introduction.

Post: 651
Total: 1254

Mahikari was the first one to speak up during all of this, taking the initiative upon himself, maybe to relieve a bit of eagerness even though his body language and demeanor didn't show like that of the normal giddy genin. Standing up and pulling his hood back to speak, a Karasu member focusing in stealth and assasination but some medical to go along with it. Maybe a bit spread out, but his clan was known for being potently dangerous, it might take a bit of directing, but focusing him into a skill set could turn him into quite the dangerous shinobi... Karumo's thoughts subsided though, the future would be left to the future and he would take them as they come, for the time being. Karumo would turn his attention to the next of their squad members, his arms folded in front of him as he listened patiently.

Cinderella had far less to add about herself, leaving it to a more vague generalization that her skills lay in the 'subtle kunoichi arts' but Karumo would save any questioning of that for a later time, leaving that detail as obvious as it might be. What interested him more, was her lava style, making her one of the Kanetsu, and an avid fire user himself, Karumo would welcome the similarity. It meant that there was something more he could pass onto the both of them at the same time.

Karumo nodded along and uncrossed his arms, sliding his book into his pouch, located behind his back on his belt-line to his right side. Then with a short exhale he began, "You know my name, as far as skills, I specialize in a wide range of ninjutsu, mostly Katon and then some sealing arts as well. I'm sure we'll all find out more about each other as time progresses." he added and let his eyes wander over each of them and their potential reactions, whatever they would be if any before he continued on.

"There's something else I want to add here and then I'll take any questions if you have them. Tomorrow, we're going to meet for a short training exercise before we get into missions and such. Meet at 6:00am on field 42 of the Fissure Training Grounds. Bring all of your ninja tools, weapons, and anything else you can think of. And probably.. a day's worth of food and supplies for yourself? We'll see how it goes first." he led on vaguely as he tapped his chin at the end to think on things before returning his attention back to them.

"Any questions?" Now would be their chance to agree, disagree, ask questions, or leave right now if they so wanted to. But Karumo would never tell them that was an option, nor would he let them walk away easily.


[481 words, 1686 words total]

The girl was a lava user. That was extremely frightening as well as brilliant. What better way to end someone than to leave behind no trace at all of who they were.

Mahikari couldn't hold back the grin which broke through his formerly serious face as Karumo stated that they would all find out more about each other as time went on. It was simply a bit funny to him, to see himself now a member of a squad in Iwagakure. He wouldn't have even previously imagined them allowing him inside the gates willingly. He wondered to himself how well they checked people out before they threw them onto a squad, up close and personal with the Kage himself. They knew only that Mahikari had lived here up until 10, then his records should have gone blank. Now they'd know he was 21. And yet, they questioned him none, and placed him into the Tsuchikage's personal squad.

After the his new sensei finished his speech and gave them instructions as to the next meeting. 6:00 am the next day, short training exercise, days worth of supplies. These quick mental notes all locked into place and then Mahikari took advantage of the Kage granting them the opportunity to ask any questions.

"With all due respect, Karumo sensei, I think a discussion on your personal security needs to be had with those charged with it. I come from a mountain of murderous criminals. The scum of the earth live inside that wretched place. I entered the village and signed up for this squad, a 21 year old man who simply vanished from here at the age of 10, based on the records you'd have. I have no doubts you are a man very capable of handling yourself. And I'm sure competent people are among your ranks of Anbu. But what if I were here to assassinate you? I could've had my chakra suppressed. Signed that paper, and taken any amount of opportunity to end your life. This region needs a leader such as yourself right now more than ever. You need to be protected. I can tell you now that people exist who can do exactly what I've just told you. Fortunately, I truly am as docile as what was assumed. Please heed my advice."

It was a relatively intense tone with which he expressed himself to the powerful man before him, not paying much attention to the girl still in the room.

WC: 422
Total WC: 1676

Karumo gave his bit for a question, crossing his arms across his chest and letting his purple eyes run over each of them. He watched each of them, Cinderella declining to add anything and staying silent at his bit for more questions, or more perhaps leaving it open for the moment as Mahikari spoke up and began his short rant. Karumo turned his attention fully to him, letting his purple eyes run over every detail and heading each word as he spoke.

A severe concern for his own safety, Karumo tried to hold back breaking a smile as he spoke, letting the very edge of his mouth curve just a little as he listened, ending in a slight smirk. He uncrossed his arms and rubbed the side of his neck, as he listened in to his concerns and ultimate bit to heed his advice. Karumo chuckled a bit immediately afterwards and let it quickly devolve into a laugh. A slight hope that he wasn't patronizing his question or aiming to ostracize him for being concerned or anything like that. It was good for him to be concerned and such, just Karumo found it funny for him to comment on such so easily. Bringing his laugh to a slow halt, he gathered himself and took a heavy exhale to calm himself before speaking,

"You're concerned about my safety? That's a fun little tidbit after all and appreciate it at the very least..." he paused briefly and let his thoughts gather for a short moment, assuming that none of them would intervene in his thoughts. "You mention wanting to kill me, but if you had, you would have recognized me beforehand, when we sat next to each other you would have been more obvious about it. Small fidgeting and movements, things of that manner, or you would have kept closer eye on what I was doing all the same." he gave a clever smile as he paused when spoke, it may have been a bit much but he was certainly feeling all the bit more clever right now.

Karumo continued on his rant, "You see, I am not the Tsuchikage because of great physical prowess, or my jutsu being more powerful or even the Dojutsu that I wield either. It is my own mental and intellectual prowess that lets me succeed... and that is something that my enemies can rarely, if ever, compete against. Now, not to end my bragging, you act as if my life were worth anymore than anyone else' here or any other villagers when it's not." he paused, his smirk faded as he began to speak normally, in a more commanding tone, still at a conversational volume, rather than the one he'd held previously. "The Tsuchikage, as I've taken the position and see its goal held out, is not in fact the title of the strongest person in the village. It isn't my goal to stand watch at all times of the day and protect the village... that is every ninjas job, not mine exclusively. We all fight to protect and save the bedrock of which we call home. No!" his eyes wandered down to the floor below him as he continued on, "My job is to become part of the foundation to raise the village and help it flourish, I lead in title alone. I would be honored for someone to die in my place saving me from some will to be assassin, but I would never allow them to do so, my life before theirs. I would never ask someone to be on the lookout for me and not themselves, it is the other way around, my life before theirs. In some sense though, it might be worth saying that my life is worth less than everyone else' as I aim to teach and make them stronger than I am, and am willing to die at any time to keep all of them safe. For whatever any of that is worth..." he paused in silent reflection for a moment, the sound of the exhale of his breath through his nose would be heard afterwards.

"Anyways, you like the council of elders, don't take kindly to my request to have the guards watching me sent to other areas of the village, I'm sure there are ANBU around where needed and in the shadows, I've no qualms with knowing that I certainly am not the strongest person in the world to exist. I'm probably hardly a jounin in some other villages even... those militaristic ones and such. But they lack our Will of Stone, like that stone symbolizes," Karumo tilted his head to the rock on the pedestal behind him, the lone stone that symbolized, no different from any of the others in the pool around them.

"This monument isn't made great by the fact that there is a single stone at the top of it, but rather by the fact that removal of that single stone doesn't break it. Able to be replaced by any of the many stones in the pool below it at any time. That stone holds no significance on its own, but it is my job to make sure all the other stones shine enough that they could display at the top of the monument..." he gave with a smile, assuming that answered his question or subsided his worries for the time being he would leave it at that for the time being.

---

If that was everything, Karumo would give a sigh and re-iterate everything he could, "Alright, if that's it for questions and concerns then I'll see you all tomorrow at 6:00 then, remember your gear and be ready. Your dismissed..." he would leave off and stand to wait for them to also taking their leave, lingering behind for a moment to answer anything they might have to add if needed. Otherwise, he would soon begin to make his way out along with them, in preparation for tomorrow and whatever else the evening might bring.


[1020 words, 2706 words total]

Mahikari exhaled, not with relief but with a mental exhaustion. The only relief in that breath was that he saw a negative side of attempting to be the good guy. And now he had absolved himself of any guilt if the unprotected Kage and now, sensei Karumo were struck down by an assassin. He has done all he could do, and he was tired. All of this was a lot for a seasoned criminal. He wasn't a good guy. He was a bad one.

Without another word, Mahikari would tip his head in acceptance of the conditions of the next day's meeting, and he would begin toward the door.

[exit thread]
WC: 111
Total WC: 1787

Reaction time: E--> D-2 = 1475 WC
Strength: E-->E-2 =225 WC
Speed: E-->E-1 =75 WC

Leftover: 12

It, all in all, was a short and fairly tranquil meeting throughout for the time being. Karumo finished his rant and looked over the each of them, seeing both acceptance and... was it apathy towards the subject? Regardless, he left it at that for the time being, giving them each a chance to offer any more questions or concerns if they would have it. Each of them briefly mused over everything, if they had any further thoughts, they knew their orders and to be prepared for tomorrow, there really wasn't more he could add onto that. And furthermore, neither of them seemed too keen on wanting to share about themselves, more so focusing on Karumo or not adding anything at all in the slightest.

With everything set in motion for the time being, Karumo would stand still and watch the both of them exit, lingering around to exit behind them. Soon enough they would have the rest of the day to prepare mentally, relax a bit perhaps, Karumo knew he would. Then to tomorrow's adventure and onto forming and inaugurating his squad, along with a little test of their abilities inherently all the same.


[196 words, 2902 words total]
[Exit Thread]

Training: