Chiura Residence: 17:00 - Friday - Graduation Day | Same Day

Team 8 openly stares at their drooling Sensei who stands in front of an apartment door. Shikon, idly aware of the gazes, wipes the drool from his mouth and coughs. Then he proceeds to knock on the door like a civilized person in the common age. Inside, all four people here shuffling of feet.

"Coming!" Hitomi says.

Shikon stands tall and regal, hoping beyond hope that Hitomi does not tell his Genin about his rather eccentric entry style. The door opens with a smiling Hitomi, whose facial expression sinks when she realizes it's Shikon, who hasn't crushed her door frame.

"Oh my Kami, is something wrong? You normally kick my door down to get inside." Hitomi questions, absentmindedly looking at the Genin to his right. Realization dawns upon her as a teasing smile take place on her features. "Oh."

Shikon almost facepalms. "I've never kicked your door down." He defends himself.

"Pfft!" Hitomi counters. "Sure, you've never once done that!"

"It was twice you are right." Daishin appears on the low rooftop behind Shikon with his Genin team in tow.

All three Genin startle at the sudden appearance of Daishin, and then their faces brighten when they see their friends from the academy.

"You two are not helping my case." Shikon replies. "I've only ever broken the hinges off. It's never fallen down." He supplies more information and crosses his arms with an audible huff.

"Semantics." Daishin smiles slyly as he looks over his friends team.

Hitomi giggles and leans on the doorframe. "So, these are your two new Genin teams, eh?"

"Yes ma'am!" Shikon replies. "And I have to say, I'm impressed with them. Though, that is to say they still have a lot to work on."

"Nope, just some random kids I found..." Daishin answers with his signature sass before looking to his Genin. "Introduce yourselves."

"Oh!" Shikon smacks himself in the face. "We never got introduced." He turns back to his team, then back to a quizzical Daishin. "Of course, your Genin can go first."

"You are an idiot, Shikon." Daishin sighs deeply, feeling sorry for his friends Genin.

The boy with straight black hair and tied in a ponytail answers first. "I'm Nara Shikamaru."

The larger boy answers next, already eating a bag of chips he got from Kami knows where. "I'm Akimichi Choji, so you have food?"

"I'm Yamanaka Ino, nice to meet you." For the first time Ino shows a shred of respect for her elder, which was not her Sensei.

"Daishin is the best shinobi I know, you all have a great Sensei." Shikon gives Daishin's team a thumbs up, then turns around. "I'm Sano Shikon, Jonin of Konoha and user of the Eight Gates. Great to meet all of ya." He says, patting Kiba and Shino on the shoulders as he says it.

"My n-name is H-Hinata Hyuga." Hinata bows respectfully toward Hitomi, and then to Daishin, who bows as well as he can in return from his crouched position.

"I am Aburame Shino." The buzzy Genin supplies, mirroring Hinata's movements.

"My name is Inuzuka Kiba!" The excited one puts forth, and then points to the puppy on his head. "This is my partner, Akamaru!"

Hitomi bows to the group. "It's lovely to meet you all." Then she looks pointedly at both Jonin. "Now, why are you here?"

Shikon and Daishin exchange a look. "You tell her." They say in unison.

Shikon rubs his head and frowns childishly. "I did last time."

"And?" The sass is strong in his tone and evident in the raising of his eyebrow. "You're the idiot who got us banned." Daishin counters swiftly.

"Hey, that ain't fair. You reciprocated." Shikon returns.

Daishin is mildly impressed by the vocabulary used. "You forced my hand you dunce." Daishin argues with some degree of tact, unlike the grown man beside him who in turn pouts at him with a whine.

Shikon glares at him. "But you forced mine first."

"Last time I checked, I did not say come and fight m-" Daishin tries to explain before being cut off.

"Enough!" Hitomi declares. "You two are bickering like children in front of your Genin, do you have no shame?"

"What's shame?" Shikon asks.

"Is that the new import from Suna I heard rumors of?" Daishin wonders aloud with his finger on his chin.

Hitomi slumps in defeat. "You're both morons. I'm guessing you want food, as you two always do."

"Well they did say you'd cook us pot roast, so yeah." Choji throws both his Sensei and Shikon under the carriage.

"Oho, did they now? After missing Pot Roast Day yesterday?" Hitomi taps her foot idly.

"Well you did ban us so what did you expect?" Daishin voices, feigning hurt.

"You two show up anyway. I'm really surprised you didn't." She returns.

Shikon bows in a ninety degree angle. "I was out on a mission!"

"And I only got back like... three hours ago." Daishin mentions, pointing to the blood and dirt still on his outfit.

"Go change, I have the pot roast refrigerated. You two are still banned from eating it, but I have no qualms about serving your teams." Hitomi answered, letting the Genin inside. Surprisingly, the fat one darted inside the fastest.

"Oh come on, all I did was scare the living shit out of what's his name and nearly crater the civilian district, it wasn't that bad." Daishin tries to form an argument but fails to see its flaws.

Shikon nods sagely. "He only did what he thought was right. Of course, I went to fight him to stop him. He was making quite a racket on those trees."

"Oh put a sock in it. Neither of you can come in, I'll feed your teams and send them off when they're done. Go eat some ramen or something." With those words, she gives them one final stern look, and shuts the door in their faces.

"Oh great, see what you did!?" Shikon declares exasperatedly, unknowingly making Hitomi chuckle as he was heard through the door.

"Oh fuck you, this is your fault to start with." Daishin points out while leaping from the roof to the ground and out of the hearing range of Hitomi's apartment door.

"I'm not the one who can't accept a Chunin as her boyfriend!" Shikon yells at him, beginning to walk to the nearest ramen stand.

Daishin follows suit, still wanting to argue. "Well did you see him? Shikamaru could beat him in a fight, or anything really, that Chunin was honestly a waste of a ninja."

"He's a medic-nin! Our teammate is a medic-nin!" Shikon tries to argue.

"My point still stands, Hitomi is not a pushover and deserves someone better. Now let's get some damn food, I haven't eaten since I left." Daishin comments, hearing his stomach grumble, it's demands heard to those around.

Both Jonin grumble in silence as they walk, idly aware of the other coming up with more arguments. As they walk down a street in central Konoha, a few civilians pass by them, and all of them seem to skirt around. Eventually Shikon notices the scowl he has plastered on his face and changes it to a more stoic one, and the civilians stop avoiding them. They come upon a ramen stand marked 'Ichiraku', and dive under the flaps and take their seats.

"What'll ya have?" The portly proprietor asks them.

Shikon looks at the menu behind the man. "A large pork ramen bowl."

"Same as him." Daishin simply points to Shikon.

"Coming right up!" Then he turns around and begins working.

Shikon sighs and leans on the counter. "So how's your team looking? What are you thinking for a specialization?"

"Information retrieval or something along those lines. I doubt they'd do to well in a straight up fight, not yet at least." Daishin quickly answers the question with a near practised ease.

"Anyone in particular looking like a future sannin?" Shikon asks, curious about his friends team.

"Shikamaru." Daishin notes immediately.

Shikon nods. "I can see it. Nara's always have that potential. Just from that brief moment I met him I felt like he could understand every move I could make. It's a shame they're so lazy."

"Not for long, if I have anything to say about it." Daishin jokes as he tries to lighten the tense mood.

A smile makes its way onto Shikon's face. "And the other two?"

"Have their strong points and what they need to work on, what about your team?" Daishin shifts the questioning from his team to Shikon's.

"Well. I have a lot of work, to put it lightly." Shikon sighs and idly wishes for some manner of stress reliever. "The Inuzuka duo is headstrong, much like his entire clan. It's possible to mold him into a blitz striker, but I can't see him becoming a Kage. Hinata seems adept enough at the Gentle Fist, but has a lot to work on. Including her shyness, it will eventually be her undoing. Now Shino, heh, he's a smart one. I think he'll be the natural leader for the team, I just struggle to find a way he'll benefit the team in skirmishes instead of drawn out combat."

"That forwardness will be your undoing Shikon, even with me, but I see what you mean."

Shikon shrugs. "You're trustworthy. I have no issues telling you about them, hell you were our teams strategist. I was kinda hoping you had some pointers for me."

"Here you two sirs go." The Ramen stand proprietor sets two gigantic bowls of ramen in front of both shinobi. "Tell me if you need anything else."

Both immediately, eagerly dig into their meal and talk between bites.

"Still relying on me are you." Daishin turns to his friend and winks. "For now do what you think is right, and I'll let you know if you're doing it wrong."

Shikon smiles at past memories. "Alright, I have an idea of what I need to do. So, how many missions do you think we get off while we're training the Genin?"

"Well, our focus is training them now so it depends on how much we annoy Hokage-sama while we train them." Daishin admits with a laugh.

"Hmm…" Shikon forces a load of pork into his gullet. "I hope not too many, I've been worked to the bone these past few years. Solo missions are painful."

"You've been worked to the bone? I've been on double duty most of the time and you say you've been worked to the bone?" Daishin turns his head and glares at his friend.

Shikon shrugs. "You're better at your job than I am. Just kinda supposed it was easier for ya."

"Fuck you." Daishin bluntly says, turning back to his ramen.

"I was being serious." Shikon retorts shovelling the ramen into his mouth. "Man this ramen is good!"

"Nope, fuck you." Daishin simply returns again, ignoring his friend.

"Fine. I'm the better shinobi. You happy?" Shikon counters, now slurping the broth.

"I'll stick with my previous answer." Daishin says mirroring Shikon.

The two slam their bowls of ramen on the counter simultaneously. "Another!" They call out.


Training Ground 8: 08:05 - Monday | Three Days Later

Shikon saunters onto the training field with his hands in his pockets and a pep in his step, whistling a tune he's sure none of the Genin would know. All three of them have begun their morning stretches, idly watching their Sensei approach. Shikon stops in front of all three yet none of them stop their morning training.

"Morning kiddos." Shikon greets, waving his right hand jovially.

Kiba's face turns into a scowl. "We're not kids. We're shinobi."

"Yes, yes. You're shinobi. You're also kids." Shikon retorts before scratching the side of his head. "So were going to do some more physical training. Today's training menu consists of-"

"Sensei, we all would like to learn something other than physical training." Shino brings up while stretching his limbs.

Shikon looks at Shino, then Kiba and Hinata respectively and they both nod in agreement. "Well, I suppose we could incorporate some thinking exercises."

Kiba groans. "We want to learn jutsu, Sensei."

"Aha." Shikon again runs his eyes over the other Genin who agree. "Well, the issue with that, is your bodies. You don't have the physical capabilities to learn some of the more advanced jutsu. I would recommend sticking with your family hiden for now. We'll get there soon enough, but first you need to strengthen the skills you have, not add to your arsenal."

"We're ready, Sensei. We've been ready for days! The Academy taught us the physical training necessary, we can learn some things!" Kiba exclaims, with a loud yip from Akamaru.

'Headstrong Genin, reminds me of my own team. I wonder what Daishin would do?' Shikon idly muses. "How about this, then. We'll do some d-ranks, and I'll incorporate training into them."

"Missions?" Kiba asks excitedly. "Really?"

The other Genin seem equally as excited, in their own reserved type of way. "Yes, missions. Let's go see the mission desk, maybe the Hokage is there today."

They eagerly fall into step behind Shikon, each fantasizing about their first mission.


Training Ground 24: 08:10 - Monday | Same Day

Daishin is sitting on a branch on one of the many trees still standing in the training ground, deep in his thoughts about how to proceed with training his team. Each require a different yet similar training routine just to get them to a standard baseline from which to improve. Shikamaru is ready for further training but his innate need to complain and moan is setting him back. Ino is, well Ino, and that alone is a cause for concern and a great deal of effort. Choji is the only one Daishin believes to be straight forward in how to proceed, but food will remain a hinderance.

His eyes open as his Genin start to amass in front of the tree, each looking at him with a mix of emotions. "You're late." Daishin voices, looking from one of the Genin to the next. "Ten laps around the field."

The three Genin sigh but none choose to argue and make their way to the border of the field and start the first of the ten laps. It takes around twenty minutes for the three to complete the laps, striding back to the same place in front of the tree Daishin is sitting on to see what the plan for the day is.

"So, Sensei, what are we doing today?" Shikamaru asks Daishin while scratching the back of his head.

"You and Choji will be sparring while Ino and I meditate." He returns without moving a single muscle.

Shikamaru nods and looks to Choji. "What a drag, we best get to it then."

Both of the males both saunter a ways away from the tree, still in sight but far enough away that they don't have to worry about anyone interrupting them. Ino looks to her sensai with interest yet tries to hide it behind stoic features.

"Ino, come and sit with me up here." Daishin orders while closing his eyes.

The young Yamanaka looks at her sensei before doing as he asked and jumping to the tree branch. "What type of meditation?"

"Spiritual meditation, focus on your Yin chakra, the very same chakra you use in your hiden." Daishin explains simply, entering into his thoughts.

Ino sits down on the branch, making it sway slightly. "Okay, but why? I know how to use my family's hiden."

"Must I explain it again? Or was it so easy to forget how I was able to bypass your jutsu?" Daishin states with a moderate amount of sass.

Ino clicks her tongue and assumes a meditative position. "What am I looking for then?" She asks in an annoyed tone.

"Use your chakra but do not do so without taking in how it feels and how it acts. Think of it as a muscle, the more you use it the stronger it will eventually get, yet remember strengthening it is not the same as learning to control it." Daishin lectures Ino as if it was second nature to him.

Ino nods in understanding, and within moments falls into a trance.


Random Road in Konoha: 17:30 - Monday | Same Day

"So how was your first d-rank?" Shikon asks from a rooftop as the trio of Genin walk dejectedly along the route back to Training Ground 8.

Kiba and Hinata jump in surprise. "You ditched us!" Kiba accuses.

Shikon feigns a heartache. "Oh, I would never! You wound me, young Inuzuka! I just watched from a distance." Shikon grins widely at the last sentence.

Kiba growls. "You're a terrible Sensei."

Shikon shrugs. "Your opinion will change. So, you'll be doing a single d-rank every day, six days a week, and the day you are not, you will be focusing heavily on physical training." He jumps down from the roof. "You have the rest of the day off."

Kiba nearly slumps to the ground. "Thank Kami! I thought I was going to die if I had to do anymore!"

Shikon chuckles lightly. "It's a right of passage, so to speak. You'll get used to them."

"I don't want to get used to them! That sounds like hell!" Kiba exclaims, and Shino rests an assuring hand on his teammates shoulder.

"You're not alone, Kiba-kun." Shino says in his unique way, with Hinata nodding with fervor.

"Go home, get some sleep. You have more d-ranks to worry about tomorrow." Shikon promises. 'I have a certain Shimura to find.'


Training Ground 24: 17:35 - Monday | Same Day

Shikon body flickers into Daishin's favorite training ground to behold a sight of nostalgia. Daishin sits in a tree with one of his Genin, meditating peacefully on a branch that sways slightly in the wind, while in the background his other two Genin are beating the other to shreds with different Jutsu. His mind replaces every person present with his old team, Daishin becoming their old Sensei. He rubs his eyes and looks up at the branch specifically.

"Daishin, there's a report for you." Shikon yells just loud enough for the man to hear in his meditative state.

"Bring it here." Daishin simply outstretches his arm and makes little effort to move.

Shikon scratches his head. "That's going to be difficult, it's not written down."

Daishin opens his eyes and looks at Shikon. "Don't tell me it's those assholes again."

Shikon gives a small, almost imperceptible nod. "It is."

Daishin sighs, standing and dropping down from the tree. "Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, training is over for today, go home."

Ino's eyes shoot open. "Why? I feel like I almost have something."

"Good thing you can do this at home isn't it?" Daishin sasses his young Genin.

"Oh." Ino returns intelligently, with a snicker from the now within earshot Shikamaru.

Shikon watches with Daishin as the Genin group together and leave, talking about the days training. "The Hokage sent an ANBU earlier to you, but reported that you were entranced in training. I was told to give it to you instead, as it isn't that time sensitive."

"If it's not time sensitive then why did the Hokage send it to me and not a full time ANBU-nin?" Daishin queries placing a finger on his chin.

"It's not that time sensitive. The mission is in a week from today. One of the teams you coordinated with in the Land of Grass reported a spike of chakra from within the village. They found a small lab filled with bodies, but they weren't regular human bodies. They were grown artificially. Only one member survived escape, and he reports a 'new breed' of Shinobi coming from that lab. Kusa is to meet with Iwa in one week on a diplomatic mission, meaning the Kusakage's building will up it's security, likely meaning the lab will have less. The Hokage wants you to infiltrate and destroy all documents pertaining to this 'new breed'." Shikon recites from memory, struggling to think if he left anything out. "Oh, and you'll be in the Peace talks as well. The Hokage believes that's the easiest way for you to infiltrate the village during the talks."

Daishin lets out a heavy sigh. "I swear Hokage-sama forgets how hated I am by those two villages. Nevertheless I'll prepare immediately."

Shikon pats his friend on the shoulder. "I'm sure you'll do fine. I wouldn't have picked any other Shinobi in the Hokage's position."

"I would have, anyone less hated than me would of been perfect, but I will do as he orders. Did he say what is to happen to team 10 in my absence?" Daishin admits, only just realising that his team would have no sensei while he is gone.

Shikon shrugs. "He said you'd do whatever you thought was best. You could leave them here with me or Hitomi, or you can take them with you on a pseudo c-rank."

Daishin looks to Shikon and nods. "The latter will do."

"Interesting choice. I hope you know what you're doing." Shikon states simply.

"Oh, now you choose to question my plans." Daishin slyly smiles at his friend.

"I trust you, but really? Genin on an S-Rank?" Shikon immediately supplies.

"If it were any other Genin I'd agree with you, but they need to be apart of this as much as I do." Daishin explains with a sense of mystery.

Shikon thinks for a moment before drawing a blank. "Enlighten me."

"The mission entails the disposal of information, a key part of their future, while also exposing them to a political situation and how to use it to their advantage." Daishin simply comments, never once sounding as if he may be wrong.

"I suppose. Like I said I trust you. If you want, I can come as well." Shikon offers, albeit half-heartedly as Daishin rarely accepts his help.

"No, your team needs you here, I doubt they'll improve much when you only send them on D-ranks." Daishin elucidates.

"How'd you know I sent them on a d-rank today?" Shikon asks, bewildered.

"I didn't, but you did just confirm it." Daishin sasses with a grin.

Shikon nearly smacks himself. "See this is why you're the information guy."

"Yet, I could still beat you into the ground, but we don't talk about that do we." Daishin jokes with a quick wink.

"I will readily admit that, when pigs fucking fly." Shikon disagrees. "I remember our fight ending in a tie."

"I seem to recall you conceding that fight and even without that I believe I have still won more of our bouts." Daishin points out as he begins to leave the training ground.

"Semantics." Shikon supplies, watching his former teammate leave. 'I really do hope it goes well.'


Konoha's North Gate: 12:30 - Tuesday | Eight Days Later

Daishin stares at the dirt road stretched before him, idly aware of three approaching Genin behind him. He turns toward them to see a very unpacked group of Genin. Instantly he looks to Shikamaru, who he knows is smarter than to leave without supplies, and gazes at each Genin's backpack. 'They must be carrying storage scrolls, their families are rich enough.' He thinks to himself.

Once in earshot, Ino speaks up. "So what mission are going on? You never give us an explanation, Sensei."

"A long one, and in enemy territory no less." Daishin explains before turning back around to face out of the village.

"That's great and all, Sensei, but that doesn't tell us anything." Ino retorts, with a mildly annoyed tone.

"Didn't it? Huh, I must be getting old, I could of swore it was enough." Daishin places his finger onto his chin and looks to the sky.

"Sensei…" Ino growls with a shaking fist.

"We going to supervise a peace deal between the village of Iwagakure and Kusagakure." Daishin finally details the mission.

"Is that all?" Shikamaru asks, a glint of interest in his eye that belies his slumped and uninterested body language.

Daishin turns his head to look at the Nara. "Would I leave anything out?"

Shikamaru shrugs. "If it's too troublesome, I bet you would, Sensei."

"Ha, all you need to know is that I am not well liked by either village." With that Daishin sets off on the long journey.

All Genin take after him, keeping up with his pace for the most part. As time moves on, Daishin starts to get faster and faster, slipping into his old routine for missions. Daishin sets a pace that the Genin can barely keep, and run themselves ragged as they do so. The scenery flashes by quickly, hopping from one tree branch to the other, and the sunlight flashing their eyes through the canopy of the leaves.

The whole day is spent running, and by the end of the day, the Genin nearly pass out from sheer physical exhaustion. Daishin considers them for a moment, barely feeling any strain on his body at all, and remembers the days when he was that weak. He shudders at the thought, proud of his hard earned power over the years, and beginning to think he's going to like teaching his team. The night is spent letting the Genin sleep and recover while Daishin sits in a nearby tree, keeping vigil over the makeshift camp. Once all the Genin are awake and fed, they set off for Kusa again.

Daishin keeps the same pace as the first day, pushing his team's limits but also helping them improve themselves without them realising it. Trees and grass planes whizz by the team as they leap from tree to tree, never staying in one place for longer than a moment. Before they knew it, nightfall had arrived and the Genin were again ready to pass out, yet they had come further this time, if only by a couple of miles.

The last leg of the trip to Kusa is taken just as quickly as the first two, but with a small amount of conversing among the Genin. They had gotten slightly used to the pace and were able to talk to one another without falling behind. Shikamaru however used this time to ask very minor question about the political climate of Kusa and why Konoha has been sent to oversee the peace talks to begin with. With one last push they all land at the outskirts of Kusagakure, a relatively small village compared to Konoha, but riddled with tall buildings that seem to scrape the sky.

They walk up to the gates, and are stopped by a large group of Kusa Chunin each with varying degrees of anger on their faces. "What brings a Konoha-nin to Kusa? We weren't told Konoha's Tempest would be gracing us with his presence."

"I'm here for the peace talks with Iwagakure." Daishin informs the Chunin, which seems to be ignoring his every word.

"I haven't heard anything, have you guys?" The man turns to look at his entourage of shinobi, who all shake their heads no. "So it seems we have some trespassers then. You know what we do to trespassers, don't you, Konoha?"

"And I'm sure you know what happened when you last attempted it, don't you?" Daishin returns the threat.

"Yes, you made quite a ruckus last time, didn't you? Seems you're a bit outnumbered here, and with three Genin." The man laughs loudly. "You don't stand a chance. Get him!"

Daishin draws his sword, instantly putting the blade at the Chunins neck faster than the blink of an eye, yet before he would follow up on the threat his eyes gave, a Jonin body flickered next to the Chunin. "Hold on there, we don't want any trouble. The Kusakage said we should be expecting you."

"Good, then I'll leave this pack of fools to you." Daishin sheaths his blade and pushes past the Jonin in one swift motion, with the Genin close behind him, somewhat terrified of the situation that just played out.

The Jonin eyes the Chunin and tells one of them something, who takes off toward the Kage's building. The rest seem to be being berated by the Jonin. They walk to the Kusakage's manor, passing the various stalls and shops that Kusa has to offer, from ninja tools to poisons to local delicacies. Choji and Ino fall slightly behind Daishin and Shikamaru as they take every opportunity to look at the stalls, but make sure to stay close enough to their sensei so if anything goes wrong he can protect them.

The Kusakage's residence is a large tower like building in the center of the village, with the villages symbol adorndered on each side of the tower. Daishin and his team walk up to the entrance only to be stopped by a pair of Jonin, each looking at him with the same amount of disdain as the Chunin.

"Our Kage may be letting you in our village for these talks, but just know we're all watching you. Now come on." The Jonin on the left pushes a door open and walks inside the building.

'For now you are.' Daishin inwardly comments to himself as he leads his team into the building.

They quickly navigate the halls and are ushered into the Kage's chambers by his servants. "Ah, Konoha's Tempest. Or better known as Shimura Daishin. Welcome to Kusa, I hope your entry wasn't too difficult."

The Kusakage is around middle aged if his hair colour and skin creases are anything to go by, yet even with that he radiates strength. His attire mirrors the Hokage's ceremonial attire, but with a change of colour from the Land of Fire's red to the Land of Grass' green. His face was rugged and worn, a sign of many years of service and many battle fought, and it bore a great deal of pride for his village.

"No more difficult than the last few times, Kusakage." Daishin answers, keeping his senses alert at all times.

The Kusakage considers him. "Fair enough. We have a wonderful hotel chosen for you. I urge you to stay to your room during the nights. Don't worry, the Iwagakure delegation is on a seperate floor, so you likely will not run into each other before the talks."

"That is most gracious of you, Kusakage, and may I ask when you intend to host the talks so I may plan to see the sights with my team." Daishin begins to plan his movements, and strategy for the upcoming mission.

He nods. "The talks will be held in two days, I will send an ANBU for you to be escorted the day of."

Daishin looks to his team and then the Kusakage and bows. "Thank you, we will take our leave if you permit."

"Go right ahead. Jozou-san here will take you to your room." The Kusakage points to the Jonin who led them to him.

Daishin and his team bow as the Jonin escorts them out and towards the hotel district.


Chiura Residence: 14:35 - Tuesday | Same Day

"So he took his team with him." Shikon finishes explaining Daishin's mission to their old teammate.

Hitomi's left eye begins to twitch, and Shikon feels killing intent from her for the first time in years. "Daishin took his Genin team with him on an s-rank mission where his job is to destroy one of Kusa's most important scientific discoveries."

Shikon, immediately enjoying his decision to tell Hitomi, replies. "Yes, yes indeed he did."

"That fucking moron!" Hitomi rages, slamming her fists down onto the nearby table, shattering it to bits.

Shikon gulps, realising his current situation as life-threatening. "Now, now, Hitomi. Let's have faith in hi-"

"Have faith? Have fucking faith?" She roars, her eyes locked onto Shikons. "Dear fucking Kami! You two are nothing but trouble, I swear it on my life!"

Shikon takes a few steps back from the natural will to live and survive he was given when he was born. "It's going to be fine! I promise!"

Hitomi glares at her other teammate before taking a deep breath and calming down. "You're right. It'll be fine. It'll all be fine when he returns. I'll make sure it's fine." She begins to giggle, then cackle, and sooner rather than later her laughing turns to hysteria.

Shikon body flickers out of Hitomi's apartment faster than the Fourth Hokage's Hiraishin.