Chapter 4
Jutsu/Magic: Jutsu
Normal Speech: "Yo."
Demon/Monster Speech: "Yo."
Thoughts: 'Yo'
Hashirama walked back and forth in front of the Aerodrome, drawing some curious looks from passersby. This was not the real him, of course: it was one of the four Moku Bunshins that he had sent out to comb the city. The wooden clone had asked everyone in the vicinity about where the clans were, only to receive some very obvious and/or useless information.
This fruitless search actually angered the clone and he decided to drop the henge in front of everybody, earning some shocked looks in the process. Naturally, that had immediately gone against what his boss had told him, but the clone decided to try a radical new idea. By dropping its disguise, the clone 'showed off' its considerable talents and drew the attentions of the Imperial soldiers as well as talent scouts.
It would then use the attention to glean information about clan activity. It was a brilliantly simple plan, though the original would not be happy about having some of his skills revealed to all. The clone (let's call him Ichi) considered the price to be worth it when he asked a scruffy-looking man about the clans. "Yeah, I've heard o' one, name's Clan Centurion or somethin' like that. They's supposed to be in the North End, I think. You are lookin' to join 'em?"
The clone nodded in the affirmative and vanished in a swirl of leaves, surprising the gathered crowd as they had not expected that sort of abrupt ending. Several members of the crowd whispered to one another that perhaps he was some sort of sorcerer; that was surprisingly close to the truth.
Meanwhile, Ichi went to a secluded portion of the Southern Plaza and fused himself permanently with one of the palms, passing on the information he had learned to the original as well as dispelling the other clones.
(Muthru Bazaar)
Synneva walked along the stone steps leading down to the Bazaar; she had been following the fluctuations of power in the city and one signature had led her to this place. She was still unused to seeing such a lively scene; she had only recently left her home in the Wood. Even so, she was still rather sensitive to slight changes in nature.
This made it easy for her to track the strange power that seemed to be in multiple places at once. She raised one silver eyebrow when the signatures suddenly disappeared; it was as though they had vanished into thin air. "Hm, that is strange. The power I had been tracking has vanished. Where could it have gone?"
The young woman (hard to tell with viera) walked absentmindedly along the stone pavement when she suddenly tripped and fell over. She picked herself up gracefully (is there any other way for a viera to do things?) and found that her foot had been caught in the roots of an oddly-placed tree that was growing randomly at the bottom of the stairs.
She briefly wondered how no one would notice such a thing; after all, the tree was of medium height and thus very noticeable, especially since it seemed so out of place. She got her answer when a passerby tripped over the same roots and said, "Huh? I don't remember this tree being here the other day…maybe I just never noticed it…" The man then picked himself up, albeit with much less grace, and gave it no more thought as he continued on his way.
Putting her hand to her chin, she walked around the base of the tree. It was unlike any other tree she had encountered in the city thus far: it was shorter, but the trunk was far sturdier and the leaves afforded a great deal more shade. It reminded her of the huge oaks back in her old home, though shorter and smaller. She reached out and delicately touched the trunk.
Instantly she was flooded by strange images: a black-haired man in bizarre armor giving someone orders, a fearsome monster with nine tails, a redheaded woman with writing on her stomach, a white-haired man who could manipulate water, and another black-haired man with strange red eyes. She rapidly pulled her hand back, her long nails scratching the bark slightly. "What…was that? That was unlike anything I have seen before. This tree is truly strange…"
She reached out with the sixth sense that all viera had: that of spiritual awareness. With it, she found that the oak was pulsing with a powerful, almost godly, life force; it was almost equal to that of the Wood itself! It seemed as though it was imposing its will to live upon the unrelenting stone of its surroundings. But that was impossible. The Wood was nowhere near the area, so how did this tree possess so much strength?
Synneva put her hand to her chin in thought. 'This tree possesses the same power that the mother Wood has. It matches that of the one I have been tracking. Perhaps she has sent out an emissary into the outside world? No, that is quite unlikely…but it is the only plausible solution. I shall continue to seek out this power. Perhaps it will yield some answers.' With those thoughts in mind, she gently touched the tree one last time and walked up a flight of stairs towards the North End.
(North End)
Perched atop the balcony of a high apartment building (the place had not tenants as of yet), Hashirama scanned his surroundings for any sign of clan activity; he was also waiting for word from his clones. He got his wish when he suddenly received the memories of each clone. Ni, San, and Shi had no new information, though their memories revealed many details about life in the city. Unfortunately that information, though interesting, was of little value to his search.
Then the memories of Ichi came flooding in. "Okay, so they are definitely in this area; at least that narrows down my search. It is time to get a move on." With that, he jumped down in a very dramatic manner, earning curious looks and cheers from the passersby. He bowed to them quickly and ran off to find his objective.
He did not use all of the speed at his disposal, but he kept up a very respectable pace, at least for a ninja. The ordinary people merely saw him as a red-and-black blur. He passed by a group of Imperials who were engaged in a training exercise, marching together in formation; he briefly thought about how much they reminded him of the samurai from Tetsu No Kuni (Iron Country).
He stopped at the top of a flight of stairs that led downwards into some sort of stone courtyard connected to a wide pathway. There was a large gate shutting off a large part of the path; the information his clones had gathered informed him that this was the way to the Royal Palace, which was currently in use as the Imperial consul's home.
He sat down briefly to catch his breath; his search had gone on for thirty minutes. At least he had a lead now; that was better than nothing, he supposed. He turned around to look at the people walking around in their own little worlds; they reminded him of the people back in Konoha. There was a brief moment of hilarity when a pair of Imperial soldiers chased a rotund, feathered ball that turned out to be some sort of bird.
After resting for a brief five minutes (the man is a trained shinobi; he knows how to make the best of his time), he got up and resumed his search, this time at a fast walk as opposed to a straight-up run. As he walked, he heard one of the bangaa folks talking rather loudly to his friend. Okay, they were actually just whispering; he pushed some chakra to his ears to hear what they were talking about. "Hey, how'd your hunt go?"
"Bah, blasted thing avoided me again. I'm thinkin' of asking Clan Centurio for help. There's no way I'm gonna be able to capture that stupid thing on my own."
"You sure about that? The clanners are a mean bunch."
"Yeah, but there's no one better at huntin' things. I just can't believe how well they hid themselves. I mean, the only way to tell they're even there is by the blasted sign right in front of their clan house. It's ridiculous! And the doorman is so surly 'e might as well be guardin' treasure or something!"
The Mokuton user quickly cut off the chakra to his ears. He had struck gold! Now all he had to do was look for a large building with a suspicious sign in front of it. He grinned as he remembered passing a building exactly like that one just a few minutes ago. He doubled back and quickly found his destination. Unfortunately, there was an obstacle in his way.
He could see several Imperial soldiers harassing a tall, dark-skinned woman with what appeared to be rabbit ears on the top of her head. She resembled a Kumo native, except for the fact that she sported silver hair as opposed to the customary blonde of those people. Oh, and also the ears. "What is the meaning of this? Why are all of you harassing this poor woman?"
The soldiers as well as the woman in question turned to look at him. One Imperial spoke up in a gruff voice, "Get lost will you? We're in the middle of something rather important here!" The other soldiers grunted their approval. "This lady here was lonely so we thought we'd show her a good time!"
"And as I have told all of you before, I appreciate the offer but I must decline. However, none of you seem to understand that," the woman responded. "And yet you would not desist."
"We're just trying to be friendly to you folks! It's not our fault that you hicks would refuse such an offer!"
"Your offer is friendly at first glance, but it is easy to discern your true motives. You intend to take advantage of this woman. I apologize but, I cannot allow you to proceed," Hashirama stated, putting himself between the woman and the armored men. "Now I will ask you to please leave her be. You will gain nothing from annoying her."
"Then we'll arrest you lot for disturbin' the peace! Johnson, apprehend them!" The soldier in question grabbed the woman's wrists and made to cuff them, but was knocked back by a glowing yellow fist connecting with his temples. The blow was strong enough to dent the man's helmet and knock him out completely.
"I believe I asked you to leave the lady alone. You should have been smart enough to comply. Now you made me resort to violence," the Senju said, his fist glowing faintly as he drew it back. "Now one last time: Please leave this woman alone, or I shall do much worse to you than what I did to this poor fellow," he stated, pointing to the knocked-out man.
After seeing what the red-armored man had done to one of their best, the soldiers grabbed their unconscious comrade and beat a hasty retreat. The woman then turned towards the wood user. "Thank you for your assistance. Those men would have not left me alone had you not intervened. My name is Krjs. What is yours?"
"I am Hashirama Senju. I was merely looking for certain building that my friend Darius told me about when I saw them harassing you. I am happy to help anytime," the man said, smiling.
"Darius told you to look for a building? As in, that belonging to a clan?" she asked, getting a nod of confirmation in return. "Then Tomaj must have approved of you as well. I know the place you are looking for. Come with me, I shall take you there."
He nodded and followed the viera, eager but at the same time uncertain of what was going to happen.
(Clan Centurio Headquarters)
Montblanc paced back and forth atop the high balcony that looked over the large foyer in the clan house. The moogle, like all others of his kind, was short, standing at only about three feet, nine inches tall. He wore a green long-sleeved coat with gold trim and white ruffles on the collar and cuffs, giving him a noble appearance; this was complimented by a pair of brown leather pants and short leather boots. His hair was a golden blonde in color and went well with his tawny fur and dark amethyst eyes.
His whiskers twitched and his wings fluttered as he was nervously awaiting the return of one of his finest huntresses; Ma'kenroh repeatedly told him that she would be fine, but he just couldn't help himself. After what happened to him in the past, he would be damned before he allowed himself to lose another comrade.
"Where is she? It's not like her to be late, kupo!"
The wise old nu mou merely shook his head. "For the umpteenth time Montblanc, she's going to be here. You have NOTHING to worry about; she can take care of herself."
The moogle huffed impatiently. "I know kupo but, I just can't help it! It's all just too much. I'm already thirty-four years old, kupo. I'm not a young guy anymore…"
Montblanc was cut off by the large door at the entrance opening with a loud groan. Krjs stepped through the door; she looked a little worse for wear but was otherwise fine. She stepped into the building in the casual manner she was accustomed to, with a strange man in tow.
He ran up to the viera woman and hugged her tightly. "Krjs! I'm so glad you're safe, kupo! I was so worried about you! What took you so long, kupo?"
Krjs chuckled heartily. "Relax, boss. While I am flattered by your concern, there is no need to worry. I can take care of myself."
"I know kupo. But I can't help but to worry; I thought something untoward had happened to you and-who's this?" he inquired, pointing to the shinobi standing behind her.
"This is Hashirama. He assisted me in driving off some troublesome individuals. He also wishes to join our clan," she said.
"He does? Well, we don't let just anyone into out clan, kupo. You've got to prove yourself to us first," said the moogle, scanning the wood user with a critical eye. "He looks like an experienced warrior, but I haven't seen him fight, so I can't be sure."
"I assure you, I am possessed of large amount of battlefield experience. I have fought in a war before, against powerful individuals no less. Darius can vouch for me; I have saved his life on multiple occasions." That statement shocked the other clan members.
Montblanc raised a blonde eyebrow. "You carry yourself like a true warrior, but I don't mean to offend you, kupo, but that seems unlikely, though I don't doubt your toughness. Darius is one of our best hunters, kupo. He's been fighting monsters for years."
"It's true, boss. He's saved me exactly forty-seven times. In fact, I've seen him fight and I can safely say that he's one of the strongest fighters I've ever seen. I think he's from the Far East," stated Darius, walking through the large doorway. "Tomaj also owes me fifty gil."
The moogle raised both eyebrows this time and then smiled widely. "Really, kupo? That's really cool! I've always wanted an Easterner to join our clan! Welcome to Clan Centurio!" At this, the other clanners erupted in cheers, except Krjs who merely smirked, and Monid who simply scoffed.
Montblanc's voice then cut into the uproar. "Now, kupo, what's your specialty? Everyone in the clan has something that they specialize in. for example, Krjs here is great at tracking down marks and eliminating them, and Tomaj serves as our talent scout. What can you do kupo?"
The Senju crossed his arms in thought. 'Hm, what do I tell him? As a shinobi, I'm capable of doing stealth and assassination missions with ease, but I am also handy in straight-up combat. Not to mention that I can track foes with the best of them and I've even got some medical experience…I know what to tell him now.'
"I am a ninja. Tracking foes is something I've been able to do since I was young, and as Darius can attest, I am quite handy in combat as well. I also have basic medical knowledge and I excel at infiltration. Stealth is also among my list of talents. You have not made a mistake by allowing me to join," finished the shinobi.
The blonde smiled. "I hope so kupo. I hope so. Now, I've been informed that there's been a small outbreak of Sleipnir in the area just outside of the city, out in the Westersand. I'm gonna send you out to take care of them, kupo. If you're really as strong as Darius here claims, you shouldn't have any problems handling them by yourself."
Hashirama nodded. "Hai." He turned around and left the building. He hoped that this assignment was just the thing he needed to prove himself to the others. After that, he could ask them about ways to get back home. After all, if they had the ability to teleport, why would interdimensional travel be out of their reach?
Back in the clan house, Ma'kenroh turned to his longtime friend. "Are you certain that it was a good idea to allow him to join us? All you have to go on is Darius's word; as trustworthy as he is, he tends to exaggerate things."
Montblanc shook his head. "He does, but I didn't detect any of that when he spoke, kupo. The new guy appears to be really strong; Monid, Bansat and Krjs need the competition. And besides, you said the same thing when I hired that boy Vaan and his companions; the way they handled the Cluckatrice and the Rocktoise was quite impressive."
The nu mou sighed in defeat. "I suppose you're right. That boy and his group did turn out great. Perhaps the new fellow will turn out fine as well."
The moogle's response was a devilish grin. "Of course he will. I've got a great eye for talent after all."
Ma'kenroh chuckled. "Yes you do. And your recruitment methods are a little…unique. Remember how you tried to get that hunter Cheney to join? If I remember correctly, that plan involved a Snake Shield, some ice cream, an alchemist's cauldron, and Ride of the Valkyries." When he finished, he let out low, rumbling laughter.
The moogle snorted. "It went about as well as your plan to get Eldena. Elda's Cup was a good idea, but unfortunately the cooked rabbit and snake skin weren't." The two continued on and on, just regaling each other with humorous stories.
Neither the clanners nor the black-haired shinobi notice the young viera quietly stalking the area.
A/N: Sorry for the lack of Konoha action this chapter, but I needed to set up some important plot in Ivalice. Next chapter, there's a hunt, and Konoha has a new (acting) Hokage! Unknownbyself, away! *sinks into the ground*