[Uchiha Miroru]

Uchiha Miroru

Konohagakure No Sato

Genin

Yamamoto Shosuke   | 353 | notes

SPOILER: Click to show

Mission Link

Even being at the exams wasn't an excuse to be completely idle. It wasn't a problem to get sent to get sent back to Hi no Kuni to get some work done- even if it DID mean heading overland all the way back, with one of Azarea's village escorts in tow to keep watch over both of them. On the contrary, Miroru relished the chance to get out there and stretch her legs. It was even familiar territory- the same waters where she'd fought pirates before a couple times, in fact, more than once, and come out on top. Things weren't too different this time...

Except for her partner.

Of all the possibilities to get paired up with, she found a familiar name staring at her from the assignment scroll. Yamamoto Shosuke.

And to her, the name still conjured that look of absolute disgust and disdain.

She wasn't without sympathy. She understood his view. Understood better now than before, even, how that interaction had to have appeared to everyone else. And while it didn't change her conviction that it was the best possible resolution, it still grated that the best possible was as rotten as it had turned out.

And she took it upon herself to make up for it as best she could.

By the time appointed to meet up on the docks, Miroru had collected a pair of bento boxes and was waiting at the location specified, chewing her lip nervously, unsure just how much distaste for her would seep past his professionalism. She didn't expect a free lunch to make up for it. But maybe it'd be a start.

You're a bigger idiot than I thought if you think he has any reason to forgive you.

I still have to try. It's not wasted effort. 

It is and you know it, ant. You shouldn't be coddling your enemy's egos. It's weakness incarnate.

They're not my enemies. And neither is he.

She stared at the water, frowning angrily at nothing as she argued with the Old Fox inside her. Probably not the best look for her approaching... acquaintance.

"Just don't give up on me! We can figure this out!"

Template by: Monkey

MISSIONS
D - 0 | C - 4c/7i | B - 0 | A - 0 | S - 0

[Yamamoto Shosuke]

Ever since he was young, Sho had been a workaholic - Any time that he had been frustrated, or angry, or upset, he had redoubled himself and committed himself to a worthy cause. All of those emotions that would otherwise go on to torment and upset him would be channeled into productivity. It was how he had become a talented medic at such a young age and how he had been admitted into the Chuunin exams within the first year of being an active Shinobi.

Right now was definitely one of those moments. Sho wasn't the type of person who was used to feeling too many negative emotions, or at least understanding them as negative. But ever since that fight with Shigure, it had been hard to stop feeling them. Frustration, irritation, a deep sense of anger at the situation he had been thrust into. This all-encompassing feeling of this all being some cruel cosmic joke.

He had been forced to take the path of a doctor instead of following the role of a Shinobi after the academy. For the last five years, he had spent more time soaked in blood and surrounded with corpses than any but the most cursed and vile Shinobi, and when he had finally been permitted to choose his path again he had chosen to become a Shinobi, only to be forced to make an impossible decision: Betray his friend and let the world see him for who he was, or be loyal and look like an idiot on an international level.

And, of course, being the idiot he was, he had chosen the latter and now he knew just what was going to face him when he returned to Kumogakure. Not only would this look bad in the eyes of the Kage and probably jeopardize his ability to get promoted, but it would also make the clan election all the more difficult to win.

He wanted to redeem himself in some way, to show he was more capable than he had looked, to be able to prove it hadn't been some attempt at concealing cowardice behind "dignity" and "loyalty", so he had agreed to take on a mission instead. But when he had been assigned a mission, he had then been told who he was working with.

Which led him to being here and now.

Sho arrived at the docks at exactly the time that he was due to arrive. His outfit was much the same as it was during the exam - The white lab coat of a doctor, the headband of Kumogakure wrapped around his upper arm, the same glasses and same underclothes.

In fact, if Miroru was observant, she would be able to see that it wasn't just similar, it was the exact same clothes. It looked like he hadn't changed since he had walked away from the staging grounds.

"..." The silence that hung over the docks was almost physical, you could cut it with a knife (or, more accurately, a scalpel). He stared at the girl in front of him who was obviously having some sort of internal conversation with herself, though he had no idea to how much that was true.

He had no idea she was a Jinchuuriki, the villages tried their best to keep the identity of said hosts a secret, so as far as he was concerned it might as well have been a regular moment of introspection.

It was hard to hold it against the kid - She didn't understand the situation she had put him into, she was too young to really get the specifics of the situation. Hell, she didn't know the internal world of politics in Kumogakure so even if she was older she wouldn't understand the nuance of what she had caused.

Still, he walked past her, stepping from the wooden planks of the docks onto the old ship that would serve as their ferry to this little duty of theirs.

"Come on - If you don't get on, they'll leave you behind."

668 words |Uchiha Miroru

SPOILER: Click to show

C-rank Mission 2/15
Jutsus Used: None

[Uchiha Miroru]

Uchiha Miroru

Konohagakure No Sato

Genin

Yamamoto Shosuke | 422 | notes

Miroru sighed as he walked past her. That tension was fucking palpable. Palpable and liable to give her palpitations. It was pretty awful. But she understood. Or at least she thought she did. And after that mess-

"Come on - If you don't get on, they'll leave you behind."

"Ah! Coming! Right away!" She squawked, startled, grabbing the lunches and hurrying up onto the ship after him.

---

Their presence here wasn't unusual. There had been a lot of assignments to this particular duty lately due to the intensity of the frequency of the attacks by the piracy crews in the area. The crew wasn't particularly surprised to have shinobi aboard, though it was pretty clear that having a visible medic and a... well, she was pretty skinny, so thirteen or not, it was hard not to think of her as a kid. This was their protection? Shosuke was sure to get more than a few glimpses of the crew's uncertainty of the quality of their protection as they boarded.

Miroru, for her part, tucked their lunches against the base of one of the masts, and hurried around the ship, staying out of everyone's way and acquainting herself with the layout of the deck first thing. It was notably a tactical overview- she wasn't gawking over the edge or anything predictable like that, just scurrying about, counting paces, getting a mental map of their likely battlefield before it was going to be necessary. As for Shosuke... he kept catching movement out of the corner of his eyes. Something pale white and tiny. Never there when he looked back. Something to write off the first couple of times... but it kept happening.

"Okay, so the main deck is so many paces long, Shosuke-senpai, and this many across. The foredeck's a little more than a third of that, cuz it's shorter and tapers like a triangle, and the aft's about half even," she shared as she came back, counting on her fingers. "Super basic info, but I saw you know Body Flicker, and it's important to gauge distances ahead of time to avoid launching yourself overboard, and I'd rather tell you something you already know than not mention something I could share. Better I look silly than let someone down, right?" She asked, trying to make neutral conversation.

"Just don't give up on me! We can figure this out!"

Template by: Monkey

MISSIONS
D - 0 | C - 4c/7i | B - 0 | A - 0 | S - 0

[Yamamoto Shosuke]

Piracy was far from a weird concept for someone from the Land of Lightning. If the country was any smaller, it would almost certainly be considered little more than a particularly rocky peninsula, surrounded on almost all sides by the sea as it was. So much of the land's trade was executed by sea that piracy was an almost endemic issue, something that couldn't be ignored and yet no matter how much one tried to treat it it seemed unstoppable, like the flow of water from a dam.

Even so, Shosuke wasn't used to travelling via the sea. He didn't have what sailors would call his "sea legs". He wasn't prone to seasickness either, but the slipperiness and unsureness of his feet made something as simple as standing around and walking from place to place a high risk activity. For now, it was just a good thing that they hadn't left the dock yet, even if they were preparing to set sail.

Given this, he decided the best thing to do was to stand around and wait where he wasn't getting under people's feet. However, doing so netted him a surprise benefit that he hadn't really considered before - Being able to look at Miroru.

This was the first time really that he had seen her in a natural environment. Or, well, perhaps not natural, she seemed about as new to this as he was, but it was seeing genuine reactions and how she acted. Not having to put up a brave face for the tournament.

As far as he could understand, Shosuke watched her scurry around the deck like a tiny fox, getting underneath people's feet and mapping out the entire place in her head. It was almost cute, in a precocious little kid way. He merely took a mental note of it from scanning his head to-and-fro across the deck but it seemed she had to be there to understand it.

Though, it was a little hard to pay complete attention to her antics when he felt something out of the corner of his eye. Perhaps a normal man would ignore it, but Shosuke was a doctor. Noticing small things was a part of his day-to-day job because it could often give away clues as to a patients condition or just how far gone they actually were with an infection.


Just because he could acknowledge it, however, didn't mean that he understood what it was.

It was small and white, but that was about the gist he could get of it. Whenever he tried to get a closer look, it seemed to vanish.

Frustrating.

His attention was snapped away from trying to work out what the little white puffball was by the sudden words of Miroru. Well, that seemed to come out of nowhere...

"Are you okay?" It was a weird question to ask, especially considering their relationship up to this point, but he genuinely could not make heads or tails of her.

The words she said, it was like she was nervous, trying to keep her mind distracted and away from the task at hand, but her tone implied anything but. She almost seemed enthusiastic about math, as weird as that sounded.

Of course, Sho enjoyed maths, but he was a nerd. He was a scholar, that was where he shone. This girl was... well, a child if nothing else. 

If anything, the question seemed less like an actual welfare check and more asking what she was doing, clearly confused by what she was talking about. 

"What's with calling me senpai, anyhow? I get I'm older than you but Senpai implies I'm your senior in an organization or something. We don't work for the same village, and I'm pretty sure we've never met before the other day. Aren't you acting a bit familiar?"

His words were distant, probative, but there was one thing that they were not and that was hostile. With each passing second, it seemed to become more and more obvious that he knew absolutely nothing about this girl, other than that she cost him his chance to shine in front of the village system.

He seemed curious about her, as much as he would deny it if probed. Just who was this girl?

676 words | Uchiha Miroru

SPOILER: Click to show

C-rank Mission 4/15
Jutsus Used: None

[Uchiha Miroru]

Uchiha Miroru

Konohagakure No Sato

Genin

Yamamoto Shosuke | 325 | notes

"Are you okay?"

Not the question Miroru expected, and she took a moment to answer- too long, as he started into the rest of his questions. She looked elsewhere, and for a moment, he caught sight of that white blur- an ANBU mask, of all things, on a fox the size of a squirrel. The fox was perched on the aft deck, and had looked back towards the two before returning its attention to the waters behind them. Then it turned back and it was just that much harder to see, its ruddy fur disappearing against the wood of the ship.

"Too familiar... I suppose so. I apologize, Yamamoto-san. I'm- trying to find the right way to approach you. I went with Senpai to try to- show respect, and try to communicate that I didn't take advantage of you on purpose." Her eyes fall. "Our match didn't end the way I meant it to. I'd meant to put you in a position where forfeiting was the logical move for you- but it was meant to let you demonstrate awareness of and respect for village resources, or at worst a determination to fight through awful circumstances." She glances off to the side. "I wish I hadn't mentioned Azarea-chan. I wasn't trying to leverage that connection to get out of the fight, and it left you looking...

Disgusted."

She moves to the mast and fetches one of the bento boxes to bring back to him and offer it. "It's not much, and I don't consider it part of trying to complete my promise to provide something of value, but I got you lunch. I didn't know if you were used to the sea, so the flavors aren't super strong, just in case you got queasy."

"Just don't give up on me! We can figure this out!"

Template by: Monkey

MISSIONS
D - 0 | C - 4c/7i | B - 0 | A - 0 | S - 0

[Yamamoto Shosuke]

Finally, the annoying little critter that had been avoiding his gaze until now stopped for long enough for him to get a good look at it. As he did so, he noticed that it was a little fox with a white porcelain mask on. No, not just any porcelain mask. An ANBU mask. He had to assume it was a pet of some variety, though that still begged the question of how it had gotten that mask.

Those masks were an omen of death and secrecy, they belonged to the secret corps of villages dedicated to assassination and secret missions that even the rest of the village couldn't know about. That wasn't just something that someone would randomly stumble upon. Even Shosuke didn't think that he could have acquired such a thing, and yet here an animal was wearing it. That was unnerving, and just opened up so many more questions about it.

Was it Miroru's? If so, did that mean...

Wait, Azarea had mentioned off-hand once during one of their missions that she had been (or perhaps still was) an assassin. Was she part of ANBU? Was that her mask? He had no idea, but that didn't stop the questions from coming like a flood.

---

"Take advantage of me?" He finally said, turning away from the little critter, his face clearly confused as he looked at her. He wasn't entirely sure what she had just said, but as she explained he just stood there listening to her as he pieced it together.

".... You really don't understand anything, huh? I'm starting to think that's a running pattern with you."

He sighed, moving over to the side of the ship and resting his back against it. As he did so, he began to speak, clearly and slowly, as if he was a professor giving a lecture.

"There is no way you would have known about Azarea before you told me. You weren't to know that she matters to me as much as she does, so I'm not mad at you about that.

I AM a little annoyed that you spoke such a big game about diplomacy and having a solution that let both of us win, only to let me take the fall and look like a fool in front of my entire village. But that's nothing to do with Azarea, or about you invoking her image like some sort of protector goddess."

At this point, the ship began to violently judder as the sails unfurled and they began to pull away from the dock properly, moving away from the harbour and out to open sea. It would still take quite some time before they were clear and into the open ocean, but Sho could already feel the very ground underneath him kick up a fuss.

"You're a good kid. The fact that you even CONSIDERED thinking about a non-violent solution is something most Shinobi, especially most your age, wouldn't have even considered. Plus, as much as I think you underestimated me, you genuinely seemed to be worried about hurting someone else. That shows you've got a good heart. But you still fucked me over, that's inarguable."

The girl brought forth a bento box, bringing it over to him. He paused for a second, looking down at it, before taking it with as much grace and thanks as he could manage in his condition. She really did seem to be a good girl... He supposed he owed her an explanation.

"Look... Your big sis, Azarea? She took me on my first mission as a Shinobi, she walked me through the steps, she helped me save good people. But do you know when she did that?" he asked, pausing just for a moment for added dramatic effect.

"Six months ago. I graduated from the Academy nearly five years ago, but six months ago was my first actual mission for the village. Before that? I had walked away from the path of the ninja to become a regular village doctor.

I'm sure you know this if Azarea's your sister, but Kumogakure's had a terrible time of it in the recent decades. Plagues, sicknesses, injuries, bandits, not to mention underinvestment in our medical trade by the Daimyo. So the moment I graduated from the Academy, I chose to step away for the life of being a doctor. And though I feel I made the right decision, a lot of my classmates at the time? They thought I was a coward, afraid to get hurt.

I walked away from what they dedicated their lives to, and every time someone in my village died on a mission or in the hospital suite? It was just another reminder that they were sacrificing everything when I was hiding behind the walls of the hospital."

He sighed, his eyes looking away from her own. It wasn't as if he wanted to die in the service of the village, he didn't want to die at all. But he wanted to stop other people from dying, to keep people safe. In a way, that was what most doctors wanted, somewhere in their core.

"About six months ago, I was given a choice by my Elder - Continue to serve as a nameless, thankless doctor or join the village's ranks as a Shinobi and actually save people. Not just treat them after they were already injured but stop them getting injured in the first place.

But now, because they paired me with my senior's little sister? My village just saw me walk away for the second time.

They gave me a chance to redeem myself, to prove I was serious about this. To show the entire world that I was standing by my convictions. But now... If they even let me remain a Shinobi after this, I'll be surprised."

954 words | Uchiha Miroru

SPOILER: Click to show

C-rank Mission 6/15
Jutsus Used: None

[Uchiha Miroru]

Uchiha Miroru

Konohagakure No Sato

Genin

Yamamoto Shosuke | 473 | notes

The little fox would stay a mystery for now. He couldn't know about the Bakenokawa, after all. Who knows how he'd react to finding out Miroru's favorite little friends were a hive mind of tiny, ANBU-masked chakra-ghosts?

---

"Well... that's fair," Miroru admitted glumly. "I want to protest, cuz there's stuff I do understand, some more than I should, but in a lot of things... you're right. I'm still new to this. I graduated from the Academy... um... actually, right about the same time you went on your first mission." She moved over towards him, but still a good arms length and change away, facing out at the water. "You're right to be annoyed. My- math, I guess, didn't take any of that stuff you just mentioned into account. I didn't know you had extra reasons not to walk away, reasons that would look like more of the same. I saw it without context, and was like "sure, sometimes mission parameters change and there's just no way to complete them as assigned, and then your mission becomes making as much headway as possible while retaining as many village resources as possible before making a clean getaway." And I thought if I could manufacture that scenario, that you and your leaders would see that the best course of action was to cut losses."

She looks over at Shosuke, her expression still glum with understanding. "I understand why that logic doesn't hold up in your circumstance. And I might have underestimated you, yeah. I can't say for sure, because I only know what I can do, not the full story about what you can do. I, personally, think I had a pretty solid line on a win, but I'm only mentioning that so you know I really thought that between the endings -I- saw of you making a calculated sacrifice to surrender, versus an attempt to continue that would end the same way but with extra injuries... but yeah. It did... screw you over," she said, balking away from the harsh word without contesting its appropriateness.

"I hope... what your village takes from it is your ability to weigh the value of the medical skills and shinobi training you've already absorbed and taking appropriate steps to ensure both can be put to use later. From what you said, that seems unlikely, but... at the very least, I'll try to give you a little showcase of what I wasn't doing, so you can at least attest that surrender was a logistically -defensible- decision." She nods firmly. "It's a very different story when you're talking about engaging allied shinobi versus live fire against career thieves and killers."

"Just don't give up on me! We can figure this out!"

Template by: Monkey

MISSIONS
D - 0 | C - 4c/7i | B - 0 | A - 0 | S - 0

[Yamamoto Shosuke]

So, she was about as new to this as he was? He had to admit that he was seriously impressed about the sheer amount she was capable of. He had a few gimmicks here and there, but she had seemed to have more of a variety of tricks than he did. To learn all that much in six months at her age, he was almost a little jealous.

"Well, if you've been doing this for about six months the same as I have, I'm pretty sure even if we were more well-acquainted Senpai wouldn't be the right term. Just call me Sho, alright?"

An olive branch - Despite it all, it seemed Sho was struggling to bring himself to actually dislike the kid. As said, she was a good kid and she had had good intentions, at least as far as he could tell. She had made a real dog's breakfast out of his whole situation, but it was hard to hold it against her. The pensive, serious look on his face was far from sweet or nice but it was also a far reach from the disgust and anger he had shown to her at the end of their "match".

"In the real world? Yeah, there's many reasons why surrendering might be smart. There's a whole plethora of reasons to not go and die unnecessarily, or to make sacrifices for the sort of a larger goal. But not in the Exams.

The Exams are just supposed to be a test of what you're capable of, and surrendering in those only shows weakness and fragility. You need to go into it with a willingness to do whatever it takes to win, that's what they're looking for.

That's why they're going to be so disgusted with me. In any other situation, punching your friend's little sister in the face is a social faux pas to say the least. But in the exams, you're just any other person.

Honestly, it might even make more sense if we were to be sealed by genjutsu so we didn't know who we were fighting until we already won. That would at least stop situations like ours from happening again."

He shook his head, long waves of brown hair falling down around his head like an upturned mop.

"You still don't get it - It's not about whether I could have beaten you or if I would have lost to you. It's not the ending that matters in the exams, it's the journey to getting there.

Even if you had won? As long as I showed my strength and went down fighting, that wouldn't have mattered. Instead, I surrendered. For a good reason, I feel, but as said reasons don't matter in the Exams. But now we're at risk of becoming circular."

Sighing, he stood up, brushing himself off as he tried to get a steady foothold on the now actively quaking decks of the ship.

"Let's leave it at that. Nothing more's gonna be gained by discussing it - I'm gonna get punished either way, and you're already through to the next round. For now, we've got an actual mission we need to prioritise.

I'm going to go scout out below decks to see what sort of quarters we're liable to get into a fight in. You keep an eye on everything up here, alright? Call me if something starts to go wrong."

With that, he moved down the steps of the ship and slipped down into the undertow, disappearing into the blackness of the interior of the ship.

591 words | Uchiha Miroru

SPOILER: Click to show

C-Rank Mission 8/15
Jutsus Used: None

[Uchiha Miroru]

Uchiha Miroru

Konohagakure No Sato

Genin

Yamamoto Shosuke | 422 | notes

"Okay. Sho, then. You can call me Miroru, I don't mind," the petite redhead offered in return.

"We can drop it, but- just... one point. Maybe you didn't watch the match between ATagi and Hotarubi, but- Hotarubi took off both his arms. BIT them off. And hurled them after the rest of him into the candidate box. You can try to rationalize the exams as a safe space for competition... but it was never safe." Her tone was flat, unhappy, not trying to "win" so much as make sure he had all the information she did. "They're supposed to be, yeah, but they aren't. I was, myself, counseled to take the chance to eliminate possible enemies if they seem like they might be troublesome in the future. I'm sure others got the same advice. I can't change how anyone else is going to think about it- but those fights needed to be approached with all the considerations one would approach any other fight with anyone but trusted, close allies. And if you're judged off the assumption that nothing bad would have happened to you if you had kept fighting... ask Azarea-chan, okay? She can give you a little more information than I can give you here."

She blinked and smiled, nodding. "That would have been a very fair way to ensure problems like that never arose. It'd ensure nobody pulls punches for a friend or ally, and gets to show their strongest side. I wonder why they don't do that..."

Miroru did listen as he explained again that it's more about the fact he didn't go to his limits and go down fighting, frowning a little at the idea that his injury and loss would be considered more honorable than a loss that didn't tax village resources. But she respected his request to leave the conversation there and move on to priorities. She nodded and gave a thumbs up. "Me and my friends will keep our eyes topdeck while you look below! I'll send one down to fetch you if something's spotted, don't worry!" A second small fox with an identical white fox mask stepped out from behind her. The original was still on the rear deck, and the new one looked at him a moment before scampering for the front of the ship, leaving Miroru to watch the sides.

"Just don't give up on me! We can figure this out!"

Template by: Monkey

MISSIONS
D - 0 | C - 4c/7i | B - 0 | A - 0 | S - 0

[Yamamoto Shosuke]

He could call her Miroru? He was already going to call her Miroru, was she mocking him? Weird child.

Still, to the other point, what was it with this girl and somehow miraculously inciting people he cared about to make points? She could see from the way that his body language seemed to shift uncomfortably that inciting Atagi's name was not the most comfortable topic for him. A mistake she had now made twice. Still, when he looked back at her, his face was one of placidity, tranquil like the twilight sea.

"You're not wrong about that - The exams can be brutal, violent, even sadistic. But that's the intervillage system. Some of those people you fight are going to grow up to be your enemies, and if there is ever a fourth Shinobi War? They might try to kill you again. That said," he paused, making sure to meet her eyes for this next part, as if making sure to emphasise it.

", do you really think Atagi would have survived having both of his arms ripped off if it had happened in the field? Hell, if it had happened five minutes outside of the village's gates he would have been as good as dead.

In that way, the exams are safer than most people realise. Because you're right, at least to a certain degree - Shinobi are a village's greatest resource."

With that, Sho stepped into the undertow of the ship. Immediately, he could tell there was only one floor to this place, the ship being far too small to support anything more.

It was a little cramped, even just standing in the gangway he felt as if he was liable to cause an obstruction if anyone needed anything. That said, it was surprisingly well lit down here, the benefits of having electrical lighting rather than having to rely on candles.

All in all, it seemed... well, perhaps comfortable was the wrong term for it, but he could see people spending their time off-shift down here. There were stations for people to eat, as well as what seemed like makeshift cots in the back for people to get some shuteye.

Still, it might as well have all been one big room, meaning that the crewmen above decks had to eat, sleep and bathe (or what passed for bathing) all in eyesight of one another.

He could only imagine how mind-numbing all of this must be when at sea for months at a time.

412 words | Uchiha Miroru

SPOILER: Click to show

C-Rank Mission 10/15
Jutsus Used: None

[Uchiha Miroru]

Uchiha Miroru

Konohagakure No Sato

Genin

Yamamoto Shosuke | 296 | notes

She WAS a weird child. She was entirely off-kilter and out of her element, used to dealing with people in her village and basically nobody else. Or at least nobody else she much cared about, aside from Azarea-chan! She gave him her attention as he spoke, and her eyes widened a touch at his very reasonable point about Atagi, rubbing her chin as she considered that. He was right- did that mean the truth was maybe in the middle somewhere? He was right that the exams were still safer than true live fire, she had to admit, and she nodded, ceding the point to him before he headed down into the belly of the ship.

---

"Miroru-chan, we have incoming."

The voice came from one of the small foxes, the one from the rear, leaving Miroru immediately looking forward, well aware the linked foxes would send the one not with eyes on the threat to report to her. Sure enough, there were fast-moving craft approaching. Small ones, moving far faster than sails would allow. Suiton users, then, at least one per boat. She counted four.

"INCOMING!" The crew shouted, already alerted by the fox at the prow, scrambling to prepare for combat as the little fox shot down the stairs into the hold to find Shosuke and ensure he knew as well. Miroru held her position, studying the small, swift crafts and thinking of the best way to respond. They still had several minutes before the distance was closed, but the window to prepare was closing, and quickly. She and Shosuke would need to plan quickly.

"Just don't give up on me! We can figure this out!"

Template by: Monkey

MISSIONS
D - 0 | C - 4c/7i | B - 0 | A - 0 | S - 0

[Yamamoto Shosuke]

Though Sho would never admit it himself, that was one of the reasons why he was considered so valuable by many of his Village members - beyond simply being a doctor and a skilled Shinobi in his own right, there was something about the way that his brain worked that allowed him to see things from a unique perspective.

It was the same reason he had been able to work out part of the puzzle for the second round so quickly, his brain was just tilted differently from other people's in a way that could often come up with unique perspectives.

Still, that didn't really matter here and now. Here and now, having better social skills would have been significantly more useful than his own skewed view of the world.

Hearing the call of incoming, Sho all but span on his heel, moving through the hall of the undertow until he was at the stairwell. It seemed a few other people who had been below decks were also pushing to get out all at the same time but Sho, being smaller and nimbler than most of them, managed to slip past rapidly until he was up by Miroru. Then, slipping past her, he moved until he was standing at top deck, able to get a good view of the situation.

Four ships, each of them incoming. They were moving rapidly, suggesting that they had at least one member of their crew who could manipulate chakra. Either Suiton or Futon as the ships were each equipped with a sail and mast suggesting that they were able to sail for quite a distance from whatever counted as their homebase.

It made sense - If they were attacking out here, they were probably able to travel the coastline rather than being localized in one small area.

Just as she had seen in the exams, Sho wove a quick couple of hand-signs before a prismatic barrier formed its way around the ship, creating a perfect wall of energy. Situated just around the ship as it was, sealed to the sides of the vessel, it was moving along with them, allowing it to remain surprisingly mobile when normally it would be locked in one place by the nature of the technique.

"Alright! All non-essential personnel, move below decks and keep your heads down. We want minimal collateral damage here!

Anyone who cannot leave their station, make sure you have a weapon and some mean of defending yourself when they try and board.

There's no point trying to avoid them boarding at this point, they're moving faster than we can hope to match. We need to meet them on our terms, so be ready."

As much as Shosuke might be presenting the veneer of someone who knew what he was doing, anyone who could see beneath the surface could see that he was like a child wearing their parents' clothes. He was so obviously copying the body language and tactics of those who had gone before him that it was clear to see.

Even still, there was something in him that mirrored her big sister. It was obvious for the first time that he wasn't just paying lip service to her being important to him but he was actually following in her footsteps.

565 words | Uchiha Miroru

SPOILER: Click to show

C-Rank Mission 12/15

Jutsus Used
NAME: Kekkai: Kabe (Barrier: Wall)
RANK: D
TECH TYPE: Universal | Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: None
CHAKRA USAGE:Very low - Very High depending on size of wall/ Very Low to maintain
DESCRIPTION: The user creates a solid wall like barrier that appears almost instantly anywhere within a 15ft radius. The wall itself is highly durable and requires D ranked jutsu power to shatter anything lower would simply be ineffective against the wall if not outright break after coming in contact with it, with weapons would need to be empowered with chakra to do any damage though that are not are ineffective with projectiles harmless clattering down to the ground. The wall can be sprung up in a moments notice and the shape and size of it varies depending on the users preference and chakra use (anywhere between 5ft and 15ft tall). As many walls can be made as the user wishes to make (or have the chakra to make) however the plus side is that once the walls are created they take no chakra to maintain. Requires three hand seals.

[Uchiha Miroru]

Uchiha Miroru

Konohagakure No Sato

Genin

Yamamoto Shosuke | 456 | notes

Shosuke took the lead in directing the preparations for boarding, and Miroru paused at echoes of familiarity. She knew those tones and postures, after all, and when he paused between orders, she spoke simply to him. "You're doing well.

Azarea-chan will be proud."

That was it. That said, she scampered up the rigging into the crows nest, out of sight and above the barrier, eyeing the fast-moving craft coming in. They were spread out, so they weren't vulnerable to being wiped out all at once. Smart- and as maneuverable as they were, she couldn't really spread her focus much and expect results.

So, tucked out of sight of anyone she expected to survive this conflict, she reached inside herself and released just the tiniest touch of the Fox's power.

Oho. Looking to make a good impression, are we~? Well.

I suppose your reputation is mine, after all.

Go on, then, child. Show me what you can do.

Miroru formed a single hand seal- Snake- as golden chakra washed over her body, and Raiton rushed into her throat. Bracing a foot against the rail of the crow's nest, Miroru reared her head back- and released the overcharged beam of lightning in a furious ray of gold lancing down towards the rear-most boat. Halfway to the target, the ray divided, multiplying into a hail of deadly lightning arrows- and in a heartbeat, the rear craft simply vanished. Nobody left screaming in the water, no sinking hunk of wood- just smoke, steam, and a scattered rain of debris.

Predictably, the other craft immediately shifted their course to be less predictable, and Miroru released her cloak, descending only once she looked entirely normal again. "It's too predictable to use more than once at this range, but we've only got three boats now. Things are a bit more on our side, I'd say!" Miroru chirped cheerfully as she returned to the deck. "How much of a beating can our barrier take, Sho? I can get us some additional allies, though it takes a bit more time to call a fox than some clones. What'll work best with your tactics? I'll follow your lead!" They had a moment to plan- but not much more than that, with the distance to the ship closing rapidly!

SPOILER: Click to show

Used a Gian (False Darkness) boosted by her basic Kyuubi cloak to double its power, and used the jutsu's ability to multiply to spread it out and wipe out one of the incoming craft. The other three will arrive momentarily!

"Just don't give up on me! We can figure this out!"

Template by: Monkey

MISSIONS
D - 0 | C - 4c/7i | B - 0 | A - 0 | S - 0

[Yamamoto Shosuke]

... Sho really wasn't sure how he was supposed to take that.

It wasn't so much that Shosuke was unable to take compliments - He knew he was good at what he did and he was a quick-learner so there were many things about him that earned compliments, not to toot his own horn, but coming from Miroru...

Maybe it was the fact that she was so much younger than him or maybe it was the fact that even in her compliments Miroru seemed to rely on other people to make her points. It wasn't that she thought he was doing well, it was that Azarea would be proud.

Was this woman afraid to have her own opinion without invoking other people?

"Uh... sure. Thanks, 'roru." Sho said, his tone clearly distracted. However, it was also clear that despite being given "permission" to call her by her full name he had just gone ahead and used a nickname.

It was a habit that he had picked up from working on the wards where he needed to make nice with patients as soon as possible. That said, whether it was appropriate here or not was unclear.

Either way, it was obvious that there were more important things to worry about than nicknames and the appropriateness thereof.

---

As Miroru shot up the central mast of the ship, she would quickly find Sho coming up quickly after her. However, where she stopped to throw her lightning jutsu, he instead turned the other way, his eyes scanning the local environment as if taking a moment to do the mental maths.

Finally, seemingly finding the answer acceptable, without waiting for Miroru to be done with her own work, he disappeared with a burst of speed.

When Sho reappeared, he was tucking and rolling to deflect the damage from the jump from ship-to-ship, landing in the middle of one of the three remaining ships. Before he had even stood back up, his arms began to grow strange green vines, wrapping around his skin and forming an enormous pair of gauntlets.

Jutting out from these gauntlets, vines seemed to shoot out across the deck, grabbing and throwing people harmlessly into the ocean and away from the ship itself.

It seemed almost like a massacre, enormous tentacles shooting out from the teen's jutsu and throwing people around like a mirror image of the ancient kraken myths, quickly clearing the ship.

"I think we have this in hand, no need for fancy tactics. That shield won't last long - Kill anyone who gets onto our vessel and destroy one more ship each, I think that's easy enough to understand, yeah?

In the meantime, do what you can to prevent it from being broken. Our guys might have weapons, but they're not a match for an actual Shinobi. Or really anyone capable of throwing jutsu around..."

Before Sho had even finished talking, his eyes shot up into the sky at the sudden darkness caused by a cloud that had not been there earlier. From the depths of the black cloud, violent winds and rain shot down, blanketing the area.

In all likelihood, this was a pretty low-scaled Suiton jutsu but it was serving its purpose - Dampening communications and making raiton jutsu dangerous to throw around needlessly.

One body was much like another when lightning was being thrown around, after all.

566 words | Uchiha Miroru

SPOILER: Click to show

Jutsus Used
NAME: Kinobori no Waza [Act of Tree Climbing]
RANK: D
CHAKRA USAGE: Very Low [Continuous]
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu [General]
ELEMENT: None
DESCRIPTION: An advanced genin level technique, it serves as a means to both enhance chakra control when mastered as well as a means to change one's advantages on the battlefield. By applying chakra to the soles of the feet, the shinobi gains the ability to walk and stand on vertical surfaces or even upside down.

NAME: Shunshin no Jutsu [Body Flicker Technique]
RANK: D
CHAKRA USAGE: Low
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu [General]
ELEMENT: None
HANDSEALS: 1
DESCRIPTION: By invigorating one's entire body with chakra, a shinobi can seemingly disappear and reappear in another location faster than most people can see. Often times one's movements are disguised with the use of an extra element, be it a smoke bomb, leaves, water, sand, etc. in order to hide the user's trajectory from those with skilled eyes. Though it mimics teleportation, it is important to remember this jutsu merely boosts the agility of its user. As useful as this technique is, it can only be used 4 times in a battle thread, compounding in exertion and difficulty each time. with any more usages beyond that result in muscle tears in the legs from overexertion. The hand seal for this technique must be held until the shinobi reaches their destination, making it impossible to utilize other techniques regardless of any preparation.

NAME: Mokuton: Budōnoki no Te [Wood Release: Vine Hands]
RANK: B
CHAKRA USAGE: Medium [Low Continuous Drain]
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: Mokuton
HANDSEALS: 6
DESCRIPTION: By using kneading the chakra, the user is able to transform his tissues into vine-like constructs. Then, by activating the vines, stimulating them to grow rapidly, they lengthen at high speed ending in hands composed by durable vines that can be manipulated as if they were composed of actual digits, with this the user is able to use the wine-arms like whips or by even grasp objects with finesses as well swing themselves from above the ground. If the technique receives damage at the base of the technique below the elbow, the damage is transferred to the user.

[Uchiha Miroru]

Uchiha Miroru

Konohagakure No Sato

Genin

Yamamoto Shosuke | 370 | notes

"You're welcome!" Sho was a bit off target, though his conclusion was a reasonable one. It wasn't that Miroru needed others to make her points, she just knew that Sho didn't think much of her opinion, so she made a point that still expressed it, but hopefully in a way he could receive it. Whether it WORKED was another matter entirely! And if the use of the abbreviation bothered her, she didn't show it at all as they scrambled up the mast!

Miroru saved the brief flare of chakra for the moment when Shosuke turned away to look the other way, ensuring that she didn't expose more than she needed to as she wiped out the first boat. Then it was back to the deck- and Shosuke showed off dramatically, leaping to another ship and sprouting what seemed like dozens of- vines? vine tentacles? Vinetacles?- from ferny gauntlets, defending the deck quite effectively by hurling their foes back into the water!

"Gotcha!" Miroru shouted from their own deck. "You've got that one handled, so I'll hit the other and thin them out before they even get on board! Like you said, let's make sure nobody's doing damage at the water line!" Miroru called over, pausing as the rain started, muttering a neutered curse to herself. She didn't want to risk unintended electrocutious, so she had to handle this some other way.

And she had just the trick, thanks to Shosuke's inspiration.

Miroru scrambled up a rope and hurled herself over the barrier, dropping over its edge into the water as her hands blurred through seals in instants. She hit the water and plunged beneath the surface- and did not come back up.

Moments later, though, massive tentacles rose from the water and gripped the side of one of the boats, dragging it downwards hard as Miroru- or rather, the giant squid she'd become, swam its nearly 2000 pound weight downwards, hauling on the boat with its powerful tentacles to capsize it entirely before grabbing the pirates and dragging them down with her.

Simple... but effective.

SPOILER: Click to show

True Transformation technique to become a 30' long giant squid!

"Just don't give up on me! We can figure this out!"

Template by: Monkey

MISSIONS
D - 0 | C - 4c/7i | B - 0 | A - 0 | S - 0