[Yutakako Keiko]

I Will Always Be
My Own Kind of Different

They had to have been following her for a surprisingly long time… The songs had practically become familiar to her but why had they waited so long? Day after day songs seemed to have lingered yet… did nothing. Aggression and malice only recently surfaced and right near one of her favorite places to be. It wasn’t far outside Iwagakure, right where it all started. The place in the mountains just outside the village and her clan compound where she gathered her thoughts and communed with nature… her place of solace when she was young and wanting. She had met Lord Ryū there and if any place was considered her ‘center’ or ‘home’ it was there.

A there she was running from right then. It wasn’t like Keiko to rush from a situation or run from a fight, she was a forward person. But the thought of some battle ending in her most cherished place being levelled sickened her. Anger flowed through her veins at the thought. A place she held dear and cherished wouldn’t be turned to rubble due to something mysterious and stupid. So after that first attack had been launched, the girl was off. The form of the Sage Apprentice descending the mountains and flying from Iwagakure. There was no reason to get anyone else involved. No reason to delay. She’d get far enough away and let them have it for dare threatening what was precious to her.

Fire burned in her veins and a desire to cast all her might and energy into a whirlwind of death and fire. Not yet though, the calm of nature whispered to the young girl. Not yet. She just had to go a little farther. Deeper into Tsuchi she’d go but perhaps out of some form of comfort, towards that of Bonchi. The trip to actual Bonchi no Kuni and Takigakure was long and not even her goal, but no less her path had veered that way. Mountainous and treacherous terrain of the land with spikes of stone that climbed high and valleys that dug deep. Her steps colliding with rock as she’d dart across those crevices of the earth.

---

Mission

SPOILER: Click to show

Keiko is known to frequently travel around the shinobi lands. Sensors monitoring her from afar have detected possible shinobi threat(s) targeting Keiko based on further word of mouth evidence. A request of aid is sent to Takigakure due to unknown threat levels. Chosen is the second Sage Apprentice, Akio, and Kunikunosaku, their mission is to ensure the safety of Keiko and aid in eliminating any threats.

Mikatakujira Kunikunosaku Takahashi Akio Mika

Yutakako Keiko

MADE BY VEL OF GS

[Mikatakujira Kunikunosaku]

Takahashi Akio Mika Yutakako Keiko

Read notes

We're no hero inside, we're the monster you need.

It wasn't odd for the Kunoichi to be out of her home, usually she was near the black pit or off in some cavern. But no, today, she was literally outside her home, meditating on the roof. It was the only way she could actually rest and let her chakra return to normal levels. She was at the peak of exhaustion fighting Toru once again. She never felt so weak and that hatred just fueled her state to peak disappointment. She was still gathering herself after such a problematic ordeal days after when a mission scroll found its way to her, the delivery via a messenger bird dropping it on her rather than a relative handing it to her conveyed a sense of importance to the Kunoichi. Reading its contents, she now learned why it was so important, it dealt with a sage apprentice, and she and her first mission companion, Akio, the second apprentice, were assigned to this.

What was concerning to the Mikatakujira was the fact all three of them are considered to be under Ryū's watch list. Kunikunosaku had more of a different reason than she thought the apprentices were under, yet it was very peculiar. Kunikunosaku pushed the mission scroll against her leg before the black tendrils pulled it into the sentient container. Well, Akio, I hope you're already heading to the village gates cause I am definitely not going to wait long. Kunikunosaku thought as she dashed over buildings and other obstacles much faster than their rate. There was honestly no time to waste, but she needed Akio to help find Keiko.

Upon coming to the village gates, she didn't really scan around for him that much. Pausing only to make sure he was near. Hopefully, he was near or already rushing. "Guess we're working together again. Tell me you know a way to find Keiko, I'm guessing if her assigned watchers sent this, we better hurry the hell up."

TEMPbyAi ♥

SPOILER: Click to show

SA(S) USED:
Jiongu | Earth Grudge Fear

After having to recycle the roots that ended up killing the previous Apprentice just to transfer Jiongu to Kunikunosaku, the mass of black roots recollects most of its abilities from the Apprentice previous while forming new ones with its new master/host, Kunikunosaku. As far as the roots are concerned, like any organism, it desires to feed and survive, all else is not required, nor necessary to function. As for the Symbiotic Relationship benefits Kunikunosaku can control the thread-like roots however she wishes. The thread are quite versatile, acting much like surgical threads they can be used to sew up wounds stretch, or harden for attacks akin to squid tentacles, as well as being equally flexible and significantly dexterous. In time, Kunikunosaku will learn that as long as they keep a heart attached to at least some of the roots making up her body at all times, she is functionally immortal, only dying once all the threads are completely removed from any living hearts, and is unable to be poisoned. Because all of her vital organs and their corresponding systems are gone, Kunikunosaku has no need to breathe, eat, or sleep. The roots are sufficiently maintained by storing hearts that are pumping and living, in turn drawing sustenance from them. These roots also allow Kunikunosaku to utilize the inherent nature of any hearts she adds to their body, allowing them to perform jutsu of that element as if it was their natural affinity.

Symbiotic Relationship: Mutualism

After gaining knowledge on how Jiongu behaves and acts, Kunikunosaku developed a strong bond with the Jiongu entity. Accepting both live in her now; that both are what makes up Kunikunosaku. As a result of this understanding and bond, Jiongu aids her in combat - despite being a small boost. When conditions are met, Jiongu can provide an aided strength boost to Kunikunosaku during combat. It is still relative to her natural strength at the time. While this has no speed benefits, this boost of strength can put her up to par with the max strength of her peers at the same rank level. As she matures and gains new skills and new statuses. So too does her strength grow.

Symbiotic Bond: Strong Mind, Strong Body
As Kunikunosaku developed a stronger relationship with Jiongu, the creature bestowed Kunikunosaku an additional gift. That which is bestowed grants her the body as strong as her will. As long as she has the will to fight and keep pushing forward, Kunikunosaku has attained a sense of a strong body. She can still feel all the pain she receives, however, her will will push through it; literally making her body push through the pain and maintain functionality despite the egregious wounds she may receive. Overwhelming pain at one time or other will breaking input can debilitate the girl's will-driven tolerance to falter to the degree of an average shinobi, opening her up to common pain. It is this will that allows her to force the tendrils/roots/threads to repair themselves from injury or stitch back together. This will increases with her skill as she becomes more confident and driven to satiate both her needs and Jiongu's.

Power of a God:
After a great time learning how to control Jiongu, Kunikunosaku has learned to store chakra in each of her threads so long as they continue to be attached to at least one of her hearts. This extra storage capacity allows the girl to amass greater amounts of chakra within herself, expanding her reserves beyond that of the normal shinobi her rank. As with many other abilities, this ability continues to grow as the girl does through the ranks and years.

Cursed Master:

As a reward for attaining a greater deal of control over her symbiotic relationship with Jiongu, Kunikunosaku acquired the keys to the gate of mastering her abilities. This new boon allows Kunikunosaku to double the impact of her EGF ninjutsu. In addition, a passive boon is the ability to completely negate Jiongu's manipulation to consume more hearts. These boons together allow Kuni to further manipulate Jiongu against its basic natures, improving her unique utilization. While still young and unrefined, the ability is expected to grow as their bond deepens to even further levels.

JUTSU(S) USED:
N/A
EQUIPMENT USED:
01 | Ikari to Hisan (Continuous)

[Takahashi Akio]

While Akio had relaxed his sage training after his breakthrough with Keiko, he still meditated on the natural energies of the world every day; and luckily for her he had decided to be lazy and do his daily meditation near the gate of the village instead of his favorite spot miles away where Keiko had originally tutored him. The boy could feel the buzzing energy of nature all around him; and while that was a huge step for him, he couldn't interpret the energies well enough to realize a bird had dropped a mission scroll just above him. Without any warning the scroll slammed into the top of his head, and although it wasn't super heavy it was weighted enough to leave a bit of a bump under his hair.

With one hand rubbing his head, he used his other hand to slowly unfurl the scroll and read the contents inside, still wincing at the slight pain on his noggin. Usually a scroll delivered by bird meant that the mission was pretty important, and as he skimmed the words on the page he was left with a sinking feeling in his chest as he realized the nature of the mission. Keiko was being targeted by some unknown individuals, and he was being tasked with heading out to make sure she returned safely. Akio quickly climbed to his feet and wiped the grass off his ass and took note of the individual that would be joining him on this mission: Kunikunosaku.

If he had been given a choice he probably would have preferred to handle the task alone rather than with the aid of Kuni; sure she was effective as a shinobi, but she seemed to have no qualms with killing for even the most minor of reasons. There was something unsettling about her; regardless, given the nature of the mission it would be impossible to ask for a different partner, they would need to head out immediately. Rather than wait for the weird tendril girl to arrive, since he was pretty confident she wouldn't have any means to track Keiko, Akio would bite his thumb and make a few hand signs before summoning Koza: a small lizard with a super effective sense of smell that would easily be able to guide them to Keiko.

At almost the exact moment of being summoned, the small green lizard instinctively skittered up the young sages leg and onto his shoulder to avoid the monster that had just arrived just a few meters away; Akio on the other hand would raise his gaze to meet the eyes of Kuni and give her a forced smile before running up to the gate, "It seems like it, it's good to work with you again. Don't worry this little fella will be able to get us there no problem." The young sage would give the small lizard a few scritches before giving the necessary details, "Keiko is in a bit of trouble, so if you could point us in the right direction and make sure we don't get ambushed I'd owe you the world lil buddy."

Without much fanfare Koza would climb up onto Akio's head and start pulling his hair in the direction that Keiko was located, and he'd take a moment to look back to Kuni, "Stay attentive. Koza should be able to guide us to Keiko and alert us of an ambush, but if these people can track Keiko it's likely they'll know we're coming from a mile away." He'd pause and take a deep breath to center himself before adding, "Alright, Lets go." Akio would rush off in the direction Koza was directing him to go, but he'd intentionally be moving a bit below his max speed so that Kuni could keep up.

While moving the small lizard would alert him of any ambush or enemy shinobi approaching by patting his head, otherwise he was pretty determined in catching up to where Keiko was. She could definitely handle herself in a fight, but he wouldn't have received a mission scroll in the first place if it was a problem that she could handle by herself.

Yutakako Keiko  Mikatakujira Kunikunosaku  Mika

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Kuchiyose no Jutsu [Summoning Technique]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Very Low - Very High depending on summon.
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu [General]
ELEMENT: None
HANDSEALS: 5
DESCRIPTION:

One of the most common and beneficial techniques in the known shinobi world. Simply drawing blood and releasing a mass of chakra from one's extended hand is capable of calling an animal or otherwise to one's location. As a Space-Time Ninjutsu, this technique is capable of instantly displacing an intended summon from wherever they may be to the requested location, though there are obstacles that can prevent this. To use this jutsu, one must first make a contract with whatever they are summoning, living creature or not. Both the size and the stamina of what a shinobi calls upon increases the demand of chakra they must spend to perform the jutsu.

Name: [Koza]
Element: N/A.
Type: Lizard
Rank: C
Appearance: [X]
Koza is small, green lizard with brown-like tones & black scales on it's backside. He's incredibly small, but also decently long. Having a height of less than two inches, and a length of 24.

Personality:

Cool, calm, and collected mute. Koza does not talk, and simply listens. You'll never see a change of expression on him, and he's dutiful to a fault. He's more than willing to die in the line of duty, and albeit he shows no reaction, he's highly fiery when it comes to performing tasks.

Abilities:

[Tracker]: Koza has an intense sense of smell. This is his greatest and most emphasized capability. He can use his olfactory sense to smell the directional position of an individual for [100 Kilometers]. With this, he can also alert his summoning of his general location.



[Travel Speeds]: Koza can travel quickly, beyond quickly, rivaling elite speeds, and can maintain that for long period of time. However, much of this is useless due to his lack of defensive and offensive capabilities, but he's a tracker through and through.