[Suzuki Taru]

New lands! How exciting. An explorer at heart and a lover of Mizu no Kuni to the core, Taru was always thrilled to learn about new territory. Stepping forward into the unknown was a joy of hers. One with more consideration for others might call it a guilty pleasure, but Taru certainly didn't feel guilty about it. Despite whatever dangers were there, she wanted to face them, and greet them with open arms.

It seemed many people of the nation felt the same. The second there was land to explore, people wanted to make their way and settle in, forging new lives in strange environments.

Taru was lucky enough to be assigned to escort them on their journey. With strange new places came strange new animals, and she was tasked with keeping those animals away from the builders and soon-to-be residents of the archipelagos.

They had to sail a short ways from the mainland before they would arrive along the small islands. The ship was a bustle with activity and excitement, people preparing to dock and transport materials.

She wasn't alone on this mission, though. With new establishments off the edge of the mainland like this, pirates were always a concern, and though she was a decent fighter, she probably couldn't take a whole ship alone! Another had been assigned alongside her, a man she hadn't worked with before.

He had wild hair and striking eyes and the demeanor of a wanderer.

Springing across the deck of the ship, Taru slid up next to him with a bright grin.

"Hi. You probably saw on the mission papers, but I'm Suzuki Taru. Have you ever been out to fringe islands like this before? I've been on the water, but never any any archipelagos. I wonder if we'll encounter any Sazae Oni in the tide pools? Places that haven't been occupied for a long time tend to develop more yokai since the animals live longer."

It was clear from her introduction that she had a lot of energy. ...And that she might keep babbling if not interrupted.

[Deleted]

Ah, travelling on the open seas once again. It was an experience that Mori had had multiple times over his life, but hadn't had the chance to experience in the last two years since returning to Kirigakure. Beforehand, during his pilgrimage, Mori had spent weeks at a time at sea, moving from island to island to island, fixing problems and training under different people who could aid in his path towards greater strength. 

It seemed that his strength wasn't required today, however, as he was essentially serving as the protector of a young girl. A Genin, barely old enough to attend the Chuunin Exams, yet someone who apparently had unique enough skills that she was wanted by the village for her talents. 

Honestly, it was a little refreshing. There was probably no need for overwhelming violence today, instead he could simply play the role of a mentor and friend and not have to worry about anything else. Even his weapons were tucked away, every single one of them in their sheaths. He still wore them on his back in their basket, but that was more out of a sense of attachment to them rather than any actual need. 

The girl skipped across the deck to him, her naivety and innocence radiating off of her like the light from a candle. Still, it was cute, in a little sister kind of way. He stood there silently for a few moments as he let her tire herself out, but when it quickly became apparent that there was no limits to her energy, he simply let out a playful chuckle. 

"You talk a lot for someone in our line of work." 

Though the words might have come off as insulting, there was something about them that made it seem more like it was a passive observation. 

"But, I suppose I shouldn't be too rough on someone your age. We've all been there, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I'm Sagami Mori, though you can just call me Mori, or Mo, or whatever you prefer. No need to be formal~" His hand reached out without thinking, moving into the girl's hair and giving it an affectionate ruffle. Good thing her hair was already messy or he might be mussing it up. 

"As to your question: Yes. I've been here many times, in fact. Though, not to this particular island. I spent most of my time in the waters of our homeland to the east, where there are far more eels and sharks than Sazae Oni." Sazae Oni... he would not have imagined this girl would have known of such a thing. After all, considering the myth centred on emasculation and the removal of testicles, it didn't seem likely that a parent would teach their children such things. 

SPOILER: Click to show

C-rank Mission: 2/15
Jutsu used: None

[Suzuki Taru]

She did talk a lot for someone in their line of work! She'd noticed that, too. A lot of shinobi tended to be more quiet and contemplative, preferring to assess the environment around them internally rather than sharing their thoughts and analysis until it was completely necessary. Taru preferred to be interconnected. If she had thoughts, she would share them every time it was appropriate.

Even if Mori had meant it as an insult it was unlikely she would've taken it as one, so it was lucky he meant it in a friendly way! She beamed as he ruffled her hair.

"Ooh, I haven't seen many sharks myself, but I've read a lot about them at the library," she said. There it became clear where she probably got a lot of her mythological information - she spent hours on hours outside of work reading about Mizu no Kuni, the local wildlife, and national myths. "And Sazae Oni grow from shellfish that live a long time, so in the areas we occupy, they've probably mostly been fished up for food and their shells before they could get to the proper age, so we wouldn't see many of them. I wonder if this area has so few pirates because of trouble from obake..."

Should they warn the people moving in about the possibility? Maybe once the building started properly she'd regale them with tales of the turban snail.

"We shouldn't have any trouble, though. I can deal with yokai. If we see any strange animals or spirits, leave them to me. Oh! What kind of things do you do, Mori?"

Soon, the boat reached the shore of the archipelago. The ship became even more abuzz with noise as the tradespeople began to work on getting their supplies off the ship, rigging up pulleys and such. 

Pretty automatically, Taru moved to help, though she still looked at Mori, expectant for conversation. At least she had a good enough work ethic to aid the civilians with getting their carts down and ready to go. Despite her youth, it was clear she'd been on ships like this quite a few times, too.

[Deleted]

"Yeah, that's about what I figured. You see," he said crouching down, making himself closer to her height. ", the really cool thing about sharks is that they're really big and friendly. But that's the problem, they're so big so they need to be out in the open ocean. The area around Kirigakure is really shallow, so you need to go to the more distant islands in order to meet them. But when you do, they're super friendly!"

He spoke with a sort of enthusiasm that was undeniable and genuine. His eyes seemed to sparkle with the way that he spoke, and he seemed genuinely enthused with the topic at hand. 

"The other problem about sharks is? They're dumb as a brick. So, they see a shadow above them that looks conveniently like a seal or some of its other typical food? They bite into it, trying to investigate it. That's why there's about ten shark attacks a year. But people really drum it out of proportion - I mean, more people die every year in toilet based incidents than die to shark attacks, but you don't hear people calling to hunt toilets now do you?" 

Even when she moved the topic away from monsters and onto nautological yokai, Mori listened intently as she ranted about the likely reasons why there were no demons in the water of Kirigakure. When he was a younger man, he might have dismissed the girl as speaking absolute nonsense or prattling on about things that didn't matter, but he had learned better. After all, five years ago, he would have dismissed Sage Animals as a load of old hooey, and he had learned very well that they properly existed. 

If a talking tiger could exist, why couldn't an oyster? And so what if they were so obsessed with testicles, everyone had an unhealthy interest or two. Such was the way of life. 

However, as Taru asked the obvious question finally, Mori simply smiled pleasantly and lifted his haori, revealing the long sheath of Kusanagi, the special sword that he had been granted by the Mizukage. 

"I'm the eighth member of the seven swordsmen of the mist!" he said, beaming far too proudly for such a nonsensical sentence. "See, this sword is a gift from the Mizukage, something only the most worthy are allowed to wield. Though I'm not an official member of the seven, you could call me their understudy. First to be called up should something happen to the main cast." 

The way that he spoke about being given the gift from the Mizukage, there was something undeniably proud of that statement and patriotic about working for the village. Even if some people would laugh at such a declaration, it was something that he wanted to shout from the rooftops. Besides, if he became famous enough, he might supplant one of the current seven... maybe...

"So, tell me Taru - You're a very special young woman, aren't you? I was asked to come here specifically to keep you safe. You must have some real worthwhile talents; what do you do to handle "spirits and animals"? Are you some sort of genjutsu specialist?"

SPOILER: Click to show

C-rank Mission: 4/15
Jutsu Used: None

[Suzuki Taru]

Mori seemed to have a great appreciation for sharks, which is something Taru appreciated in turn. She loved them, too! She would love to get a chance to swim with some of them. Unlike many other people, she didn't tend to be frightened of them, especially for the reasons Mori outlined. They were, like most other animals, not outright malicious. Even compared to a lot of land animals, they really didn't want trouble with humans. They only hurt humans by happenstance!

Though she did wonder how a toilet hunt would go... A lot of injuries in bathrooms were probably the result of mischievous spirits, really, but she doubted a hunt would really help with those either.

She couldn't contemplate the nonsense logistics of such a hunt for long, as Mori had unveiled his sword! The eight member of the seven swordsman... Such a thing wasn't possible, technically speaking, but she saw no reason to doubt the spirit of it. Seven and eight were both lucky numbers, so perhaps there was even a certain logic to it? She made a note to ask Toru about it later, since it didn't seem like the kind of thing he would do, but she also knew little of his business at this junction.

"I see, I see! Eight represents recurrence and opening of possibilities, so playing a flexible role as the eighth member, that makes sense," she speculated, untying a rope to help lower a cart to the ground. The weight seemed rather heavy, but Taru wasn't strained at all, nor did she get pulled from her place. It seemed her diminutive size might be deceiving - she was a lot stronger than she looked!

"I do some genjutsu, but I split my focus between all the arts. I'm just a good animal tamer. I grew up in Kashiwa and survived weeks in Kuro Matsubayashi alone, where I learned the way of the nature spirits." Kuro Matsubayashi had a grave reputation in Mizu no Kuni. A forest of death, people who entered were often said to lose their sanity, or meet a worse fate in the jaws of the animals within. The stewards of Kuwana did their best to keep anyone from entering.

"There was a mission, eh, two years ago now, where this giant bear was causing havoc in a small village, and mauling people. When we arrived I walked the bear right out of the village, so I've been being sent on these kinds of missions since then."

She hopped down from the ship to join the civilians below, ready to start leading them on their trek.

[Deleted]

Of course, if Taru was a more logical, level-headed person, she would probably call out the fact that nobody ever spoke about an eighth member of the Swordsmen, that there was a reason for the number seven, and that Mori could get in trouble for claiming what he claimed. Nonetheless, as far as he concerned, he was being 100% truthful. The Mizukage had granted him the sword, just as he had the other seven, and the only difference that Mori saw in his eyes was that he wasn't recognized by the village for wielding it. 

Perhaps because, originally, Kusanagi wasn't from made in Kirigakure.

The other seven blades were all created for the village during the Bloody Mist period of history, making them treasured national artefacts. Kusanagi outdated all of them and its origins were unclear in the mists of history, so whilst it was older and just as venerable it lacked the same deep cultural connection for the village. 

Regardless, Taru continued on the conversation, and Mori had to admit that he was caught off-guard. This child had been born in that forest? It was a death trap. Of course, Mori had no question that he would survive in such a place, but he was a fully grown man with a talent few possessed. For a child to do so... it seemed laughable. Yet, she didn't seem to be lying either. 

"So... You were born in the forest? What led you to joining Kirigakure?" he asked, his tone not accusatory or harsh but seemingly genuinely curious. "I mean, I'm obviously not suggesting you should have stayed in the forest until you died. You can go anywhere and do anything, but you were born outside of the village system. You could have gone anywhere, done anything. What made you choose to become a ninja?"

There was a genuine kindness, a compassion in his voice that made it clear that despite only just meeting the girl he was worried about her. But such was his nature - He was a swordsman, he cut down his enemies without blinking and had been accused of a great deal of monstrous deeds. Yet, whether or not said accusations were true, it didn't stop him worrying about people. 

As Taru hopped the side of the ship, Mori followed her, hopping down and landing on the docks below with a satisfying thud. His hands slipped into his pocket, causing the tails of his haori to flap behind him like some sort of cape as he walked towards the building site. 

"If we're lucky, we won't be dealing with a bear or anything quite so savage. Still, if you are indeed that capable with animals, I'm sure you'll prove a great asset to the village. You're already earning recognition~"

SPOILER: Click to show

C-Rank Mission: 6/15

[Suzuki Taru]

Miori inquired what had caused her to decide to become a shinobi. It was an interesting question, one which gave her pause if only because she never really had decided it. It was just the path her life had taken. She had been sent here by her parents, and she had never seen any reason not to do it.

"After I survived the forest and came home, I had a lot of chakra," she explained, making a big circular motion with her arms, as though to mime her chakra supply being a big well. "My parents were forest shaman and had a lot of regard for the spirits, but they weren't shinobi, and didn't know anything at all about controlling chakra. I kept breaking things and causing trouble with it. They asked the shinobi stationed in the village to take me to Kirigakure and enroll me in the academy, so I could learn how to manage my chakra."

After that point, it had been a foregone conclusion. If you went to the academy, you became a shinobi. Point A to point B, and Taru had never questioned it.

"I like sticking with it because I love Mizu no Kuni, so getting to explore it and fight to defend it is a great job for me. I'm also friends with the Mizukage, so I wouldn't really want to go home now."

The trek to the building location started, and as they moved across the craggy rock of the archipelago, Taru's demeanor shifted slightly - instead of looking at Miori while talking, she kept her eyes on the path ahead of them, stalking almost like a big cat herself as she looked for danger.

"Ah, on a little island like this there wouldn't be any bears. There might be big lizards, though. I've read about those - they can be quite dangerous and can even kill horses, so we'll need to convince those away without getting bitten if we see any."

[Deleted]

Strangely, despite the fact that Mori was heavily religious, he had never believed in the concept of destiny or predestination. Though he believed the heavens had a plan for humanity, it was executed through human actors who had the choice of living up to or failing at the roles they were given to play. Thus, the idea of something having their future decided for them and just happening seemed a little odd to his conceptualization of the world. 

"I know that feeling - My dad was a blacksmith and my mom a painter, neither of them were in this line of work either. It's so easy to forget with people like the Yuki and the Kagura in the village that these jobs are just that - they're jobs, they're a line of work. Some clans get stuck doing it forever and serving the village in an unbroken line from father to son, but its always an option. 

If you wanted to stop tomorrow and go do something else, you could. Not me so much because I'm..." he paused for a moment, turning around to show her the Tiger sigil emblazed on the back of his haori, before turning around and pointing to the sword. "... pretty deep in debt to people who's expectations I need to live up to. But you could do whatever you wanted to with your life." 

The pair continued on their path towards the building site that they were being paid to look after, but it almost seemed like that had become a secondary concern at this point. Mori was listening enraptured to what Taru was saying. It was as she mentioned that she was friends with the Mizukage that he had to admit that he was genuinely proud. It didn't sound like she was bragging, but to be friends with someone at that level of power was something incredible in of itself.

Albeit, the Mizukage was a very young man but he was impressive nonetheless and it was good that he had friends around his age. Mori was very loyal to the man, after all he had given him the sword and allowed him to protect the village, but there was a difference between attendant and friend, a line he had as of yet failed to cross. 

"Wait... do you mean that the lizards are poisonous enough to bring a horse down and are the size of a regular lizard, or are we speaking more of a komodo style thing here. How big we talking?"

SPOILER: Click to show

C-Rank Mission: 6/15

[Suzuki Taru]

Could she stop? Maybe in the very literal sense she could at any moment she wanted. Just walk off into the sunset and choose a different life. More realistically, just deserting the military like that wasn't so easy - retirement was granted more than it was taken. And, more spiritually than that, she wasn't certain she had a choice. This career was a calling to her!

Mori turned around and showed off the tiger emblem on the back of his haori. Taru's eyes lit up and she leaned in closer for a second to inspect it. It wasn't at all like the Koketsu emblem, though it was the first thing she thought of regardless.

"Are you a member of the Koketsu clan? Do you have pet tigers? I've met a few Koketsu. My last sensei was a Koketsu. Oh! And I met Koketsu Hizuki at the training grounds. His tigers were named Shirakawa and Noichigo. Do you know them? We talked together about ghosts."

She loved the tigers of Mizu no Kuni, though rarely got to see them! It'd be exciting if she met yet another member of the tiger familiar clan.

"Ah, the lizards - I'm glad you've heard of the komodo! They're like that. Big and fast. Some of them like to live on islands like this. They bask out in the sun, so flat terrain like this that carts can easily roll on make hot-spots for accidentally running into them -"

Her sentence cut short as she spotted one such lizard at the far end of the path they tread. A large lizard, lying down in the sun, well camouflaged but definitely there once the eyes fixed on its position. She pointed, hopping.

"Like that! Right there! Hi, everyone, stop your carts," she called, jogging to the front of the pack.

[Deleted]

The Kotetsu clan, huh? He was vaguely aware of them, though he had never paid the largest amount of attention to the major clans in the village. One should be recognized as their own person rather than just an extension of their clan. As such, he tried to avoid paying too much attention to the politics - Or, at least, that was what he would say if pressed. Realistically, he just didn't care and didn't wanna spend the mental energy it would require to remember them. Even he only remembered the Yuki and the Kaguya cos he had friends from those families. 

"Didn't I just get done telling you that I come from a family without any legacy?" he said, teasing playfully. "No, I'm not a Kotetsu. I'm a Sagami, though I can guarantee you won't have heard of my folks. My tigers are more..." he paused for a moment, wondering about how he was going to phrase it. 

"... Tell you what, I'll just show you." 

Without even a moment's hesitation, his thumb shot forwards, sliding across the razor-sharp tip of his jietai ring, cutting the very tip open and allowing it to bleed. Wiping the drop of blood on his palm, he took a moment to slap it down on the ground, a runic-seeming script spiraling out from the place where he dropped his palm.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A cloud of dust shot up, obscuring the area, before a strange sight stood in front of Taru. What stood in front of her seemed to be a bleached tiger, their enormous body covered in bright red stripes rather than the usual black. Her eyes radiated with a golden light as she looked first at her partner of some years then at the young-seeming kirinin. 

"Mori," her voice was older, doting, yet also reproachful and clearly not particularly pleased. ", what have I said about only calling me when you actually need me? I don't see any emergencies going on, and the cubs are being particularly demanding today..."

"Sorry, Auntie 'Jima, the kid wanted to know more about the whole Sage arrangement. Plus, I was wondering if you'd do me a favour and track down the animals we're looking to drive away from the building site. Even if Taru deals with them herself, it'd still be a good idea to know where they are..."

For her part, Nijima simply shot Taru a look, as if asking her permission to follow through with her companions' request. Which, in retrospect, it would probably have been smarter for Mori to get before using the chakra to summon her. 

SPOILER: Click to show

C-Rank Mission: 8/15

Jutsu Used
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.

Summon: Nijima

[Suzuki Taru]

Oh! Right! He had said he came from a family with no legacy. She supposed she thought of the Koketsu differently from clans like the Yuki and the Kagura. They had no power to their bloodlines and were more protectors than they were warriors. They were more of a loose collection of families than a concrete lineage. A lot of them eschewed the shinobi lifestyle, though she wasn't familiar enough with their philosophy to really know why.

Before Taru could explain, Mori continued to discuss that his tigers were slightly different, then drew his blade to slice his own thumb! Taru looked on with excitement. Then, something appeared in a puff of smoke!

An albino tiger? No, it was more than that. She had brilliant red stripes and striking golden eyes - this was clearly a powerful spirit of some kind. Like Byakko - yet her head didn't proclaim her the king of beasts.

"Hello!" She greeted, clearly ecstatic, giving the tiger a little bow. "It's nice to meet you. I wonder which of the seven mansions of the west you're associated with? Are you really 500 years old? Do white tigers really only appear when the nation's leader rules with absolute virtue?" If that was true, she'd have to tell Toru! Oh, wait, she was getting too excited. "I would be happy to work with you. If you help me sniff out the lizards, I can urge them away from the main path. Just be careful around them - though you might be used to working with dragons..."

[Deleted]

For a moment, Nijima just stood there, staring at Taru as if she was waiting for her permission, before her whiskered face turned back to Mori. In that moment, Mori could read her face, and felt a slight embarrassment heat up his cheeks like the flames he was so used to working with. The face that they made could be summed up in one word, with expletive optional - really? 

Unlike Mori who was endlessly open-minded, Nijima had lived a long, successful life as den-mother for a bunch of cubs. She may not be as tactically gifted as some of the elders of the village, but she was definitely more experienced than most. She had heard people talk about such things and had never seen an inch, an iota, of proof of any of them. Not to mention this overgrown child was speaking about things like imagined royalty that just set the hackles on her neck on end. 

Even still, she was a mother at heart and didn't quite have the stomach to tell this girl straight out how delusional she was, how dragons weren't a thing, about how the closest thing tigers had to royalty was the elders of the village. It felt like crushing a child's dreams. 

"Oh, sweetie... No. I'm not associated with any western mansions, and I'm certainly not 500. Though, between us ladies, you should probably think before asking a woman's age next time, especially when your guess is so high~ Though, I guess our Head Elder does have a bit of a relationship with the office of the Kage, that's the closest connection to rulers we have." 

Her voice was soft and sweet, trying to let her down gently rather than just crush her underfoot. Even so, she paced towards Taru, lowering her head softly as if wordlessly encouraging Taru to clamber up on her back, a rare gift that she didn't usually give to strangers. It was the highest of honors to be allowed such things, but it seemed like she had sensed the same thing Mori had about this girl - a childish innocence, in the best sort of way. 

And, well, when had she ever been able to refuse a child anything? 

"You ladies go deal with the lizards. I'll see if I can't have a word with the foreman or anyone who's already at the building site to make sure to give it a wide berth until you're convinced everything's fine." 

SPOILER: Click to show

C-Rank Mission: 10/15

[Suzuki Taru]

So she wasn't a tiger of the constellations or related to the king of beasts at all. That was almost disappointing, but she didn't let it dampen her spirits too much. It just meant that Nijima was someone else interesting to learn about, and Byakko was still out there somewhere.

"Sorry, I'll try to speak more carefully," Taru apologized, with a hum. She didn't think Nijima would care about something like age, but maybe it was a sensitive topic even to tigers? Taru had never understood the trouble around age, personally - everyone knew that as you grew older, you also grew wiser and stronger. All the most spiritually powerful animals were the ones that had lived a really long time.

She gingerly climbed onto Nijima's back when offered and then looked over her shoulder at Mori and nodded, holding up her arm in a wave.

"Okay! We'll try to make quick work, it shouldn't take too long as long as we're careful." She wanted to ask Nijima more questions, but decided to focus on the task at hand for now - she needed to be a serious shinobi for the moment and put the mission and the safety of these civilians over her own personal curiosity.

Looking back to the tiger, she said,

"If we stick to the sunny areas along the path we can probably sniff them out pretty easily. At this time of day, a lot of lizards like to sun."