[Murahira Hana]

Hana Murahira Do your best until you know better once you know better, then do better

in life, honor - in death, glory Hana's new team was known as the team of losers, or team of failures. Essentially, they were people that no one had any expectations of anymore. For Hana, that didn't really click. She knew she had skill and talent, and knew that her potential was great and yet unrealized. She was confident she was on this team for a reason, and Hana was fairly certain it was to make them less of a failure than they already were. With that in mind, she and one of her new teammates, Akamine Yoko, had agreed to do a little training together. At this point in time, they were not very familiar with each other, and their skills remained mostly a mystery. Hana was aware that Yoko was a puppeteer who focused on using just her single puppet, but beyond that she knew little about how she actually conducted herself in battle. Yoko likely knew little more about Hana than she was fairly diverse in her skill set, and believed to be rather capable. To ensure that they had the opportunity to get to understand each other, Hana had recommended they meet up at the training ground and spend a little time figuring out how they worked. Hana had become the type to do most everything on her own, and generally refused to work with anyone else, especially those that she didn't feel were competent. This would be part of figuring out of Yoko was someone who could be relied on to take care of their self, or if Hana would still have to carry the burden on her own. The young Murahira had prepared herself, geared up, and made her way to the training ground a good deal of time ahead of their scheduled meeting. Once at the training ground, she had set about warming up. Stretching, doing a few minor exercises, and then sat down to wait for Yoko's arrival. It wouldn't be long, she figured...

TITLE: Puppets Aren't Shields TAGS: Akamine Yoko WORDS: 324 [1/8 Posts]

[Akamine Yoko]

How had Yoko ended up in this situation again? Something about training will totally make you stronger?

She wasn't entirely sure herself.

Team Saitei, ironically Genin Team Number 1, had seen a lot of changes recently. In addition to their new team leader, Eri, another girl had also joined the team. Someone who given her reputation Yoko was surprised to see anywhere near her on the ladder. Murahira Hana was a name Yoko had definitely heard before, but it had taken her a solid minute to remember just who she was. She was said to be very capable and versatile, unlike someone like Yoko herself who very clearly had a single specialty. Hana also wasn't a genin fresh out of the academy, she had been around for a bit, likely on another team too. All of these traits sounded like a recipe for success, so Yoko wasn't entirely sure why Hana was even here on Team Saitei in the first place. Did they think her skill would somehow rub off on her and Kohana? Maybe it was some kind of punishment Hana had to bear? She didn't know why, but she intended to find out at some point. Not that she had time to really think it over, since this amazing fox girl who was versatile and capable? Yeah, Yoko had agreed to train against her. Alone. What had she been thinking?

It didn't come naturally to her, but Yoko tried to put an optimistic spin on it. Maybe this could be a good way to measure her own strengths against a capable opponent. As much as she liked training with Kohana, the two girls knew each other so well that they had practically seen each other's techniques many times over. There were no surprises left. This day with Hana could turn into something different and who knew, maybe Hana would turn out to be pretty cool as well.

Yoko would show up a couple minutes after the agreed time, wearing her usual red shawl with the hood pulled over her face. Under it she was wearing generic training clothes, something she could comfortably move and sweat in, since Hana wasn't likely to be an easy opponent. Resting in his backpack mode on her back was Wanimon, Yoko's first and only puppet who could be seen on her at all times. Even on off-days when she was just hanging out around the village you could be sure Yoko would still be carrying Wanimon around.

''Murahira-chan, what's up.'' She raised one hand in a casual wave as she spotted the fox girl, casually walking up to her as she wondered what would be the most appropriate thing to call her. Murahira sounded too formal, but then again this girl was from a big clan so maybe she was one of those types who preferred formalities.

Murahira Hana

[Murahira Hana]

Hana Murahira Do your best until you know better once you know better, then do better

in life, honor - in death, glory On a normal day, it'd not have been impossible for Hana to pick Yoko out without seeing her, merely by listening to the way she moved. However, the young Murahira was still unfamiliar with her teammate, so she didn't stand out any - but Hana didn't know how true it was that Yoko had little in the way of presence. When Yoko called out, Hana got to her feet and held up a hand in greeting. "Akamine-san, thank you for joining me." Once on her feet again, Hana adjusted her sash and settled her sword into place. She'd likely need it for their training. It was just a practice blade, not a sharp-edge version she'd use in actual combat. Less-prone to injury, and she also didn't have to worry about maintaining it as much as she did for her primary weapon. "So, we're going to do a little practice bout," Hana started, and then took a peek at Wanimon that Yoko was carrying around. "I have not worked with a puppeteer before, so it will be a good experience for me." The foxy lass swished her tail as if flicking dust off of if and wandered a few steps away to put a little space between the two of them and any major impediments such as the log-bench she had been sitting on before. "It will also be useful for us to see what we're capable of," Hana pulled her sword a centimeter or two from its scabbard to make sure it was loose and ready for use. "We can talk later. I'm ready when you are." Hana lowered herself somewhat and adopted a basic fighting stance that gave her access to movement in all directions, but also prepared her to draw her sword as needed.

TITLE: Puppets Aren't Shields TAGS: Akamine Yoko WORDS: 294 [2/8 Posts]

[Akamine Yoko]

''Happy to be here.'' Yoko replied with the sort of lack of enthusiasm you would expect from the low energy puppeteer. It wasn't that she hated being there or anything, this was just who she was and how she spoke most of the time. When Hana adjusted her sash Yoko glanced down at the sword by her side. If the sword was to be used like a regular sword then Yoko would probably have to expect that the fox girl was going to be charging at her. What a pain, she had secretly been hoping Hana was the cautious type and would stay at a range. Nothing was more scary than an opponent barreling towards you.

Yoko's eyebrows went up when Hana mentioned that she hadn't worked with a puppeteer before. ''Is that so? I've heard stories about you, I thought someone of your renown had seen everything under the sun.'' She was about to pull out Wanimon, when she realized that rumors and stories weren't always positive, as was the case with the rumors that floated around about Yoko herself. ''I should mention the stories I heard were all good. 'Murahira-san is very capable and strong for a genin', stuff like that.''

With a flick of her fingers, Yoko tugged on the chakra strings she had already attached to Wanimon ahead of time, unfurling the puppet from his smaller backpack mode into his proper, puppet fighting form. His right arm sported a big claw for grabbing and scratching at opponents, occasionally Yoko could use it as a shield as well to deflect stray kunai, but that feature was more luck-based than anything. The left arm was a long wooden sheathe, which was hiding a blade under it, wooden too of course, for the sake of the training exercise. Much like Hana, Yoko wasn't out to maim anyone today.

Straight to business this one. Yoko kind of liked that, less talking more fighting. They could always talk after they had evaluated each other's ability.

''I agree,'' Yoko replied with her resting grump face, her eyes growing slightly more intense with focus that could be misconstrued as anger, as she suddenly made Wanimon spring into action, ''Here I come, Murahira-chan.''

Going for a pretty straight forward attack, Yoko sent Wanimon directly at Hana with his claw raised, obviously in an attempt to grab her. However, the attack was so simple that Yoko's original intention was just to see how fast this fox girl could really move.

Murahira Hana

[Murahira Hana]

Hana Murahira Do your best until you know better once you know better, then do better

in life, honor - in death, glory "I've encountered others who use puppets," Hana admitted. "I've never had one on my team before, though." She surmised that it would be a different experience. Puppeteers, after all, fought by using a puppet proxy. That was the part that made Hana particularly curious. Because they spent little time engaging personally, how weak and defenseless would Yoko be if her puppet was unable to assist? "I guess we'll see if I live up to them or not," Hana stated with a wry smirk. Before the puppet even appeared from within it's little container, Hana had an idea that it was coming. Her ears picked up on not only the physical sounds it made, but those of the chakra strings that Yoko was using to control it.  Hana placed one hand on the hilt of her sword while the other reached into the pouch on her lower back and wrapped her fingers around a tiny metal cube, not much larger than a typical gaming die. As Wanimon made its approach, she tossed it in the air in front of her, and put her hands together in a simple seal.  The metal cube, previously so tiny, rapidly expanded into a much larger, single meter cubed object, which she promptly kicked at the puppet. The cube had very little weight to it, so it fired forward without much issue and quickly reached a high speed. However, Hana wasn't done with it. Her fingers danced into another seal pattern and the cube's weight became significantly greater just before it would impact Wanimon. A creative trick, but effective. The combination of great weight and great expansion techniques had served Hana well over the years. Fortunately, even if she lost sight of her target behind the cube, her keen ears would give her some idea of what was going on, or where it might be going.  If it impacted Wanimon, she'd get an idea of the strength it possessed, as well as how durable it was. If not, then it was quicker than her cube, and that could be promising. Hana, however, didn't wait around. She began moving forward behind her projectile. Techniques Used: Ōkina Kakuchō [Great Expansion] Senkin [Great Weight]

TITLE: Puppets Aren't Shields TAGS: Akamine Yoko WORDS: 356 [3/8 Posts]

[Akamine Yoko]

Huh, made sense that she had encountered puppeteers before. Knowing she had never had one on her team was strangely reassuring, meant she couldn't as easily compare Yoko with older puppeteer teammates who were arguably better than her.

Yoko squinted as Hana appeared to throw something... Metallic? No... What was it? It was too small and oddly shaped to be a kunai or a shuriken. Maybe she had some hidden weapon up her sleeve? Either way, Yoko's gut reaction was to immediately halt Wanimon's advance and yank him hard to the right, to make sure he'd swerve around whatever it was. Better to be safe than sorry when you know you are outmatched. Thankfully, Yoko's cowardly nature had paid off as moments later the cube GREW to an insane degree and even though Yoko's reactions had been fast, the cube still clipped Wanimon's shoulder, just barely though.

That got him out of the way, but now she had another problem.

The cube was coming for her.

No even worse... Where did Hana go?

She had been so preoccupied with this odd choice of weapon that she hadn't even seen where she had gone. Way to prove you're a capable shinobi, Yoko. Following Wanimon, the blonde girl ran to the side of the cube, thankfully she had more time to react than Wanimon had. Then, since she couldn't see where Hana was due to the blind angle on the cube, she instead recalled Wanimon by dragging him back towards her. If Hana jumped out of the ground or something at least she'd have her puppet to defend her.

Or so was the original plan.

As Yoko dashed to the side of the cube she saw just a bit of Hana from behind the cube. Using her own weapon as cover was a seriously scary tactic, maybe Yoko learn to do something like that one day. Either way, right as she had recalled Wanimon over to her, she immediately send him back towards Hana again, this time charging in from the side. She was fast, but if Yoko could just manage to grabble her with Wanimon's claw everything would work out right, right?

Murahira Hana

[Murahira Hana]

Hana Murahira Do your best until you know better once you know better, then do better

in life, honor - in death, glory Hana's position was given up when Yoko repositioned to the side. However, she wasn't concealed the best to begin with. The cube was fairly large, but not big enough to entirely cover Hana from view unless she ducked down while moving as she had. However, now that she was spotted, and closer to her target, it was time to proceed with her plan. The cube shrunk and dropped to the ground as it returned to its normal size. Hana could recover it later - for now it was sufficient that it had done its job. Yoko hadn't wanted to commit her puppet to fighting the cube, which to Hana indicated she wasn't willing to test it's strength in that manner. That worked perfectly. As she readjusted her course to pursue Yoko, the puppet came in at her from the side. It posed a minor thread, but had to be deal with or she couldn't get at Yoko. Taking out Yoko took out Wanimon, or so Hana's puppeteering knowledge indicated. She rolled another one of the metallic die in her fingers, and as Wanimon approached, Hana flicked it towards the puppet. Hana had no intention of activating her jutsu this time, but now Yoko knew that Hana could make that tiny cube into a much larger projectile. Hana was gambling that she'd chicken out on having Wanimon confront the cube and change Wanimon's trajectory, thereby giving Hana easier access to the puppeteer. With the cube away, Hana reached behind her and plucked a quartet of kunai from her pouch, one of which had a gray tag hanging from the handle. Once they were in hand, she jumped into the air and flipped (a bold choice considering her outfit) and flung the projectiles towards Yoko.  With the kunai away, Hana performed a single handseal and activated the gray tag which erupted into a cloud of smoke an obscured Yoko's view - but she had likely already seen the best part by then. Unlike Yoko, who would be unable to see Hana, Hana was not impeded as much. The strings she used to control Wanimon hummed for her ears and led her right back to where Yoko was at. So she dashed towards her at full speed. fingers blurring in a flurry of motion as she prepared one of the other techniques she knew. From inside the smoke, she activated a capture fuuinjutsu that could seal movement, and might very well lock Yoko down and make it very easy for Hana to finish their little bout. Technique(s) Used: Kinbaku [Bind Tightly]

TITLE: Puppets Aren't Shields TAGS: Akamine Yoko WORDS: 425 Words [4/8 Posts]

[Akamine Yoko]

Oh my god who in the hell was Murahira Hana? Maybe a Jounin in disguise? Just when Yoko thought she got the jump on her, Hana flicked another cube towards Wanimon. Yoko saw this and immediately halted and changed his trajectory, thinking she was going to make the cube big again. Naturally, this played right into Hana's hand and from there Yoko's situation could only be described as spiraling further out of control. Was that a fucking kunai coming her way? For a split second the blonde haired grump thought Hana was legit aiming to kill her, but no it wasn't a direct murder by kunai, just the indirect murder by passive smoke intake. If Yoko got sick from inhaling this smoke cloud she was definitely blaming this crazy fox girl.

With her eyes watering from the smoke she looked around frantically, couldn't see a damn thing, but at least she could recall Wanimon to her right? It seemed like just about the only choice she could do. Her mind was racing to find an answer that could put her ahead of Hana, anything that could flip the situation to her advantage. A puppetry jutsu? But which one? Usually a good puppeteer wouldn't even allow the enemy to cover them in smoke to begin with.

In her state of absolute panic, Yoko resolved to have Wanimon flail around her wildly, but before she could even give the order, she felt something bind around her feet tightly. Looking over she saw Hana and the second she tried to run nothing happened, it was only once she looked down at the seal that she connected the dots. ''..What the hell?'' She was out of breath and she had barely even moved... She could even feel the sweat running down her face. Was this how every genin fought?

''You're fast.'' Yoko admitted with a bit of a pout as she looked away. She knew she was going to get her ass kicked, but she didn't know the gap between their abilities were this big. ''You got me. I guess.'' She let go of her chakra strings and crossed her arms. ''How'd you do all that?''

Murahira Hana

[Murahira Hana]

Hana Murahira Do your best until you know better once you know better, then do better

in life, honor - in death, glory With Yoko's admission of defeat, Hana released her fuuinjutsu technique and let her go. It had worked out well for Hana, but she couldn't say that everything would always go so smoothly. She turned and began collecting her thrown projectiles. "Practice, I guess?" Hana stated without confidence. She plucked the kunai from the ground where they had landed and returned them to her pouch. "But I took advantage of a couple of things," Hana peeked back at Yoko before wandering after her cubes. "You saw that I could manipulate the size and weight of these cubes..." She picked one up and looked it over. It had several symbols etched onto it that allowed her to active those techniques. They were a bit of a pain to make so she preferred to not lose them. "Once you saw that, I could force you to react by showing the same set up. So, when I threw that second cube I was pretty confident you'd figure I was doing the same thing again," Hana explained. "Even if you didn't, I could have adjusted to compensate by actually using the technique." "After that, I knew you'd have to take a moment to figure out what was going on, so I took advantage of that hesitation," Hana pocketed the last cube and turned back to Yoko. "I do not need to see to know where my opponents are, so blinding you was the obvious choice. I wasn't sure I could catch you with my trap or not, but it worked out." "So, that's how I did it - or at least what I did," Hana admitted. "You have to pay attention to yourself and your puppet, so if I force you to deal with both then you're at a bigger disadvantage. I'm sure you'll be able to work through that in the future with enough practice, but that'd be tough to do, so I can respect it."

TITLE: Puppets Aren't Shields TAGS: @fanthes WORDS: 321 Words [5/8 Posts]

[Akamine Yoko]

Yoko scowled at Hana, letting out a little sigh of relief when the fuuinjutsu was released. What a pain in the ass technique, her feet were probably going to be sore later. ''Huh?? Practice? No way, that's too boring of an answer, you totally have natural talent.'' Yoko grumbled, a bit disappointed by her answer. If practice was all it took surely Yoko herself would be stronger too, right? There's no way this was just practice, Hana was totally getting a boost from being a Murahira or something like that, she was just being modest. ''Yeah, that surprised me.'' She replied in regards to the cube manipulation.

''That's a reasonable deduction I guess.'' She put her hands on her hips and cocked her head to one side, mild curiosity lighting up her otherwise grumpy disposition. ''Are you sure you're a genin? That's some totally overkill strategy to come up with so quickly.'' She kind of envied that. Maybe Yoko could learn to be stronger by spending time with this Murahira girl too? It was hopeful thinking, but she had to admit it would be pretty sweet if she could pull moves like that herself just... Like a puppeteer version of what she was doing. ''Sure did work out didn't it.'' She started picking up her own puppet, folding him together into his backpack mode so he would be easier to carry around.

''I suppose that's true. Well, I appreciate that you aren't one of those people who flat out hate puppeteers or look down on us.'' It wasn't the sentiment of every ninja, but she had definitely gotten shit for it before. Stuff like not being as athletic as others, or not doing as much physical training in general. She had been called a puppet nerd more times than she could count. ''So, what comes next? Did you even get anything out of this?'' Yoko had learned plenty, but what about Hana?

Murahira Hana

[Murahira Hana]

Hana Murahira Do your best until you know better once you know better, then do better

in life, honor - in death, glory "Perhaps I have some natural talent," Hana admitted. "But if that was all it took to be skilled, then I would not have to practice between ten and fourteen hours a day." How convenient it would be to just be strong and skilled. Even Hana could appreciate that sentiment, and could understand, at least a little, why Yoko felt that way. She'd likely be told she was a failure, and because of that, all she had done up until that point was clearly a waste. Others that had not been deemed a failure like her would have had some advantage. Natural talent would be the most likely candidate. But Hana had worked hard, and yet she was also on the same team. So it was clearly not natural talent that made her into what she was, or she would not be considered a failure, too. "What are you doing?" Hana inquired when she spotted Yoko putting her puppet away. "I did not think we were finished. If that is all the training you are willing to do, then you will not improve." It may have sounded a bit harsh, but it was true - at least as far as Hana was concerned. If they didn't work harder, together, their team would always be a team of failures and embarrassments. "I have nothing against puppeteers, but if a little set back like that is enough to demoralize you into quitting, then we need to figure something out, because that won't do us any good if something bad happens on a mission." Hana shouldered burdens. It was what she did. She would take on any foes on behalf of her team so that they did not have to, but if her teammates couldn't even put up a fight and gave up at the first sign of failure, it just made it that much harder to protect them. "We need to go again."

TITLE: Puppets Aren't Shields TAGS: Akamine Yoko WORDS: 319 Words [6/8 Posts]

[Akamine Yoko]

Yoko's draw could have dropped then and there. ''Ten to fourteen hours? How are you still alive?'' She WAS alive right? Nothing had really seemed off about Hana, except how awful she was at teamwork. Then again, if Yoko was as skilled and independent as her she would totally just throw caution to the wind and charge ahead of everyone else too. She raised a curious eyebrow at the fox girl as she was getting ready to leave, was it not... Were they not done already? ''What do you mean, we just fought. One round, you totally destroyed me.'' She looked a little upset when Hana hit her with the ugly truth. ''Maybe, but...'' How dare she, Yoko was tired, her feet were still sore from the last match and she just wanted to go home, lay on her bed and eat sweets until she fell asleep. Why did they have to go again? Not like she had any chance of besting Hana in a second round anyway.

''Fine, whatever. I'll go again.'' It wasn't enough to demoralize her! Yoko was just tired and wanted to go home and didn't want to fight, that was totally different! Using the chakra strings she attached to Wanimon she unfolded him again to get him ready for their second round. ''Same setup as before?'' Yoko couldn't sound more annoyed, but she was willing to go through with it. Not like she wasn't used to consecutive losses. Maybe it would be easier to get to know Hana if she took pity on Yoko and just bullied her like the other genin. Since there was no point in keeping it hidden, Yoko unsheathed Wanimon's right arm, revealing the wooden blade arm. Now that she knew Hana was as fast as a fox too she might as well put all her cards on the table, she was going to need them.

Murahira Hana

[Murahira Hana]

Hana Murahira Do your best until you know better once you know better, then do better

in life, honor - in death, glory "It is difficult," Hana admitted. "But not impossible to do. But it is part of why I am improving regularly, rather than staying the same." Hana stretched her arms a bit while Yoko questioned her about whether or not she was serious about going again. Hana was dead serious. Just once was not enough for anyone. If that was all they allowed themselves, then improvement would take forever. "I may have won this one, and I may win many more, but the objective should be to get you to the point where my victory is not certain, or better yet, to where you can actually win." For Yoko, it may have been a goal far too lofty, but Hana certainly seemed serious about it. There was nothing in the way she held herself or spoke that indicated she was anything less than serious. She fully believed that they could make Yoko stronger with enough work. "You might get tired. You might get sore. You might even get injured," Hana began and placed her hands upon her hips. "But if you do not push yourself beyond these things, then you cannot overcome them. If you cannot overcome them, then even the minor inconveniences will be enough to stop you." While Yoko readied herself and revealed Wanimon's sword arm, Hana prepared herself as well. She had not intended to use her sword, even the dulled one she brought for training, but with that revelation things changed. She popped the seal on the sword and its scabbard, preparing it to be drawn if necessary. "If we are ready, it is time to begin." Hana kicked things off by reaching to her lower back and plucking forth a trio of kunai which she fired towards Yoko.

TITLE: Puppets aren't Shields TAGS: Akamine Yoko WORDS: 292 Words [7/8 Posts]

[Murahira Hana]

Hana Murahira Do your best until you know better once you know better, then do better

in life, honor - in death, glory Hana and Yoko battled again. As before, it was a resounding loss for Yoko. Despite the defeat, and despite feeling the woes associated with being outclassed, Hana did her best to console her teammate. She was often blunt and a bit crass, but she wasn't heartless. She understood, or at least tried to empathize, with Yoko.  It was not that Yoko was weak, nor that she was a failure, nor was it that Hana was just gifted to that degree. It was that there was a gulf between their experience.  For every hour Yoko put towards being a shinobi, Hana put in four or five. For every mission Yoko took, Hana did several. She was a fanatic, she pushed herself over the edge of what a normal shinobi would, and it was difficult for anyone to keep up with her like that. Yoko was not like her. She could not handle it, or at least didn't believe she could. She wouldn't try, no matter what Hana did or insisted.  But she did put forth a little more effort. Hana convinced her to go for several more rounds, and though Yoko never won, Hana did congratulate her in the end, because there were marked improvements.  But... in the end, would it be enough to inspire Yoko? It may have been the last time they'd train together. If only Hana had known...

TITLE: Puppets Aren't Shields TAGS: N/A WORDS: 230 Words [8/8 Posts - Complete]