man, I'm really starting to hate college, it always puts the whammy on any fun.
Anywho, here's yet another installment of...Hokage no Isan! Can Iruka survive having these guys in his class?!
Academy life; introductions and first impressions.
"Sorry about that!" Recca said, grinning from ear to ear; "We were late so we made a dash for it, until 'someone' tripped over his own two feet."
"Eat my balls Hanabishi." Domon growled, earning a smack to the head from Fuko, causing Recca to snicker.
"Anyway, my names Hanabishi Recca!" he grinned, "I love everything there is about ninjas!"
Iruka snorted, shaking his head dismissively.
'Well he certainly came to the right place…'
Fuko posed cutely, a finger poised at her lip as she winked at the classroom.
"I'm Kirisawa Fuko," she greeted, "Be gentle with me okay?"
A couple of guys blushed at the girl's words, which of course was Fuko's intention.
Domon grinned and pointed at himself with his thumb, unintentionally, (Yeah right) looming behind his beloved Fuko.
"I'm Ishijima Domon! Don't nobody mess with Fuko while I'm here!"
People sweatdropped as they looked up at the mass of muscle, several unconciously sharing the same thought:
'This guy's a teenager?!'
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In the wake of the giant's loud declaration, Yanagi smiled cutely and bowed at the waist, placing her hands on her knees in introduction.
"I'm Sakoshita Yanagi…Hajime-mashta!"
Tokiya frowned at the number of heart shaped eyes leveled at the girl and stepped in front of her.
"Mikagami Tokiya," he said as an introduction, before leveling his coldest look at the males, "Touch her and die."
He smirked as the looks of ardour gave way to looks of fear, nothing having ever stood up to ione of his patented glares.
It would have been all the more effective if Recca exploding at him hadn't ruined the mood.
"THAT'S MY LINE MIKAGAMI!" the teen yelled, only to be ignored, "HEY! I'M TALKING TO YOU PRETTY BOY!"
"Hn? Is the monkey upset?" Tokiya mocked offhandedly, enticing yet another outraged explosion.
"I'LL KILL YOU!!"
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As the gang either egged the two on or attempted to calm them, Iruka's vein was dancing a samba on his forehead, when he finally snapped.
'Teacher technique: Giant evil head no jutsu!'
"URUSEI! BAKAYARO!"
The classroom had grown quiet, the assorted teens, and Iruka's students, huddled in a corner, chibified.
'Kowaii…seriously Kowaii…' ran through the collective minds of Iruka's traumatized students, those with weak bladders effectively relieving themselves at the sight.
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After they managed to recover, the class got back to the lesson at hand.
Recca and Domon were seated near the back, next to the blonde from the ramen stand, who introduced himself, quite loudly, as Uzumaki Naruto. Fuko ended up next to Saicho, who was trying to speak with a white-eyed young girl who was flushing.
Yanagi ended up with a blonde girl with blue eyes named Ino, who promptly began a one sided conversation, with Yanagi stuttering to get a word in edgewise.
Mikagami sat next to a raven-haired youth who scowled at everyone, he ignored the boy mostly, but he could sense the aura of death around him.
'The posture…the look in his eyes…' he snorted delicately, 'another who lost something precious…I suppose I can relate.'
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Iruka started the class off by talking about the history of the village, starting off with the great shinobi wars, and the two brothers of the leaf.
"Shodai sama, the first hokage, was a gifted man who raised this village with his own two hands."
He smiled at the students, watching as they leaned forward in eagerness, before pointing towards the Hokage monumet, visible from the window.
"Legends say he caused the mountain to rise to guard the village's back, whether that is true or not is speculative," the chunin held up a finger, "however, his ability to perform Mokuton jutsu is what founded the hidden leaf village."
He winked at his students conspiratorially, a sneaky little glint in his usually cheerful eyes.
"The forest that surrounds the village on all sides?" he prompted, "Shodai-sama raised that himself in one night."
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Recca's eyes were bulging out of their sockets at this revelation.
"Man, Mokuren's got nothing on this guy!" he whispered to Domon, who nodded in amazement, whilst down in the front row, Mikagami frowned, intrigued at the revelation.
'Could this world posses madogu as well?' the swordsman wondered, 'Or is it a different form of magic?'
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As if reading his mind, Mokagami's questions would be answered in the next lesson: basic Ninjutsu.
Recca was literally bouncing off the walls when Iruka used Henge to transform into the Hokage and back, before freaking as Iruka promptly asked the class to line up to perform the jutsu themselves.
Most of the class managed to pull it off, but a few only ended up making fools of themselves. The Hokage team was at first stumped by the concept of chakra, until Mikagami made the realization that it was no different than the power they felt whenever using their madogu.
It took them a few moments of practice between watching the other members of the class, but they managed to replicate the feeling to the extent they felt confident enough to perform the technique.
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Domon did fairly well for a beginner, managing to change into a decent replication, except for a few problems; Iruka had to suppress a chuckle at the sight of a six-foot, Mohawk-sporting version of sandaime with a nose-ring, telling Domon to keep practicing, but he'd done really well for a first-timer.
Fuko did well, actually making a perfect physical copy, save for the fact the henge was still wearing her clothes, causing the poor teacher to retch and shudder at the sight of his venerable leader in a kunoichi outfit, knowing he'd be seeking the aid of a memory-supression jutsu before the day was out.
Recca, of course, pulled the technique off perfectly, except for the tekko on his arm and the bandage on his cheek. The boy promptly began taunting his classmates, who proceeded to kick the crap out of him in retaliation, causing Iruka to supress a chuckle.
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Unfortunately, poor Yanagi failed dismally, having never had any form of training; the best she managed was changing her clothes to the Hokage's robes.
Iruka smiled and patted the saddened girl on the head reassuringly, prompting her to look up at his caring face.
"It's okay;" he assured her, "you don't have to master it on the first try."
Yanagi smiled at the teacher's words and walked back to her seat, still wearing the faux Hokage robes, causing her to trip over the hem with her usual lack of grace. Startled by the girl's sudden fall, Iruka moved to catch her concern showing in his eyes, only for Recca to get there first.
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Diving forwards and skidding his face across the floor in the process, Recca managed to catch the startled girl on his back, liting his bleeding face up in concern.
"Daijoubu-da, Hime?!" he grunted, feeling his back creak in discomfort, not entirely from his sudden actions.
'Did she put on weight?' he thought treacherously, knowing better than to question the girl out loud. Yanagi flushed, getting off her protector quickly and bowing shyly.
"A-arigato, Recca-kun."
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Iruka sighed, shaking his head at the boy's antics, secretly commiting that scene to memory.
"Hanabishi, you better get that face looked at," he muttered good naturedly, pointing to the door, before turning to the class and nodding, "Mikagami, you're next."
Tokiya snorted as the injured teen left to see the nurse, before performing the technique perfectly, having the most precise control over his energies. Iruka nodded and marked him off, nodding as Recca shuffled back in, holding his back slightly.
"Finally, Naruto." Iruka looked up at the blonde in trepidation, "Perform the henge no jutsu."
Naruto grinned evilly at the chunin and made a seal.
There was a poof of smoke and when it cleared a busty blonde girl was winking at the hapless sensei, her…extremities hidden behind convenient smoke trails as she cooed sweetly.
Iruka went shooting backwards, courtesy of a massive nosebleed, and he wasn't the only one.
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Recca lay twitching on the ground, caught completely off guard by the sheer audacity of the blonde's technique. Mikagami's face lost it's composed look and he turned redder than a sun burnt tomato.
Domon was, surprisingly, still standing, though the flush on his face showed he wasn't completely unaffected by the blonde's antics.
Fuko was laughing her ass of at the sight of Recca on the floor, while Saicho turned his head to the side, embarrassed. Yanagi was also red faced from embarrassment, though she spared a worried look at Recca as he continued to spasm as a result of the blonde's jutsu.
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Naruto changed back after a few seconds and laughed at his victims, holding his stomach as he effectively doubled over.
"I call that one, Oiroke no jutsu!" the blonde cackled, bowing at his audience, before Iruka, who now had tissues stuck up his nostrils, rammed his fist into Naruto's head.
"BAKAYARO!" the chunin roared, pulling off his 'giant evil head' jutsu, "DON'T GO AROUND INVENTING STUPID TECHNIQUES!"
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During lunch, the team sat together, not wanting to draw attention to themselves.
Fuko was making lewd jokes at how easily Recca had, 'succumbed to temptation', starting a brief fistfight that ended in the two lying on the floor, exhausted.
"Hey…how come Domon wasn't affected?" Recca asked, eyeing the giant suspiciously. Domon blinked, and then shrugged confusedly.
"Dunno…it sort of reminded me of the fight with Aki at the Urabatosatsujin," he muttered, "I knew it was an illusion, so the technique didn't really bother me."
Mikagami snorted, looking up at the giant appraisingly, something he very rarely did.
"It would seem that simple illusions no longer affect you." he deduced, wincing as he noticed Recca's smirk, as the enjutsu-shi nudged him in the ribs in a provocative manner.
"Look whose trying to be cool Mr. 'beetroot face.'" Recca taunted, "I saw how you reacted to Naruto's jutsu!"
"Like the floor kissing monkey has any right to say anything." Tokiya retorted frostily, prompting yet another erruption from the hot headed teen.
"WHO YOU CALLLING A MONKEY?!?!"
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Domon and Fuko sighed as the two got into another argument, which Recca lost, badly.
"Man," Fuko muttered, cleaning out her ear dissinterestedly, "when's he gonna learn, you just can't beat Tokiya in a verbal argument."
Domon nodded, not evening knowing how to PRONOUNCE some of the words Tokiya used when he got snippy, let alone use them against the swordsman.
At that moment, the giant spotted Naruto sitting off by himself, looking down at his feet in a sad manner.
"Isn't that Uzumaki?" He asked, earning the attention of the group, Fuko raising an eyebrow, interest shining in her eyes at the sight of the blonde troublemaker.
"Why's he sitting there by himself?" she wondered, "Doesn't strike me as the loner type…"
As the group watched, a ball landed near the swings, causing the blonde to look up.
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Naruto stood up and picked the ball up, smiling up at the figure that came towards him.
"This your ball?" he asked hopefully, "Mind if I-?"
The older boy's fist collided with the blonde's cheek, causing him to fall on his backside.
"Who said you could touch my ball Uzumaki?" he growled, cracking his knuckles, as a group of guys jogged over, grinning as soon as his buddies had lined up behind him. "Probably tryin' ta steal it weren't ya?!" he demanded, knowing this wasn't the case at all.
Before Naruto could answer back the youth began kicking him, his teammates quickly joining in.
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Mikagami winced at the sight, disgusted at what he weas seeing.
'Common thugs," He muttered, 'it would seem they appear everywhere…like cockroaches.'
He blinked as a sudden chill passed over him, looking over his shoulder in time to see the looks on Recca, Domon, and especially Fuko's faces, before raising an eyebrow.
'This isn't going to be pretty.' The swordsman predicted, watching dissinterestedly as the trio stalked forwards.
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"Heh, look at the brat, he's all dirtied up." One of the bully's teammates crowed, nudging Naruto with his toe, "Think we should wash him off?"
He reached down to undo his zipper, just as he noticed the looks of horror on his teammates faces.
"What's wrong with you guys?" he growled, "Its just Uzumaki!"
A split second later he felt the sheer killing intent that was oozing from behind him, before a hand clamped down on his head in a vice grip.
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Domon loomed over the bully, his face shadowed and solemn, like a statue of some immovable deity.
"Hey what the hell? Lemme go!" the bully screamed, twisting round to get out of the giant's grip; he may as well have tried to lift the monument with his toes.
Domon stood still for a moment, before raising his head, an insane light showing in his eyes, grinning maniacally at his captive, who could only be considered fortunate in that he couldn't see waht was coming.
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The bully's friends turned and ran as the screaming started, only to be nailed to the floor by their shoes, courtesy of several picks hurled by Fuko. The Wind user smiled sweetly at them, looking cute and dangerous at the same time as she leapt out of the tree she'd been hiding in.
"You boy's weren't doing what we think you were doing...were you?" she asked coyly, touching her lower lip with one of her picks. Before they could answer she kneed one so hard in the balls they started to bleed, roundhouse kicking another in the side of the head.
Recca sucker punched one as he tried sneaking up on her, before hurling one of his gunpowder balls at another as he tried to escape.
The leader managed to break free and attempted to make a dash for it, until Domon used his captive teammate as a shot put, bringing the creep down in a tangle of limbs.
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Tying the group together with a hose, the trio loomed over them menacingly.
"Scumbags," Domon growled, cracking his knuckles audibly, "Picking on a kid half their size…"
A vein was pulsing on the Giants forehead, showing his agitation; his eyes beady and animalistic, which only added to the raw terror running through the thugs' minds.
Recca twitched in barely restrained fury, his right arm becoming hazy as he attempted to keep his inner flame from blazing out.
"And on top of that, they were gonna pee on him." He growled, eyes narrowing.
Fuko played with her picks, smiling at their captives in an oddl catlike manner.
"What should we do with them?" she purred, almost seductively, "Cut off their dicks?"
Her teammates grinned maliciously at the idea, causing the bullies to whimper and cross their legs in a futile attempt to protect their 'package', until Recca cut Fuko off with a sigh.
"No…" he muttered, shaking his head, causing the bullies looked up in hope, which plummeted, as the look on the flame user's face grew sadistic, oddly reminiscent of Kurei.
"I got a much better idea…" Recca sneered.
The sound of screaming and pounding meat soon graced the air in a melodious symphony worthy of Morino Ibiki.
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Naruto woke up to find he was lying on a bench, surrounded by concerned faces. This was a new experience for the blonde, being quite used to waking up in the gutter covered in piss and God only knows what else.
"He's coming round." A girl's voice said, causing him to look up.
'That new girl…Yanagi-san?' he thought in confusion, before a rumbling voice, not anyway feminie, brought him back to his senses.
"You okay Uzumaki?"
The blonde looked up to find the concerned faces of Recca, Fuko and Domon gazing down at him in concern, Tokiya was off to the side, not seemingly interested in his welfare, but close enough to hear what was being said.
"Recca? Fuko? Domon?" he wondered, looking around at the group in confusion, "What happened?"
Recca frowned, shaking his head in disgust.
"Some guys started using you as a football." The Enjutsu-shi replied, before smirking, "But we showed 'em a thing or too."
Naruto blinked and looked around, still as confused as before as he saw the empty field.
"Ano…where are they?" he asked, prompting Fuko to grin and ruffle the blonde's hair playfully.
"Relax," the Fuujin mistress coaxed, "we warned them that if they ever showed their faces near you again…"
She trailed off, smiling at the blonde sweetly, though it still caused him to shiver.
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Imagine the shock on Mizuki's face when he found several seniors lying in a crater, buck-naked and looking like they'd lost a fight with a bijuu. The words, 'Asshole', 'Dickless' and 'Coward' were tattooed on their bodies in permanent marker, and there was a pile of burning clothes in the middle of the crater.
It didn't help that they seemed to be in a rather…intimate position either.
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Yanagi smiled as she helped Naruto sit up, she'd healed most of the bruises while he'd been unconscious, but couldn't help worrying about the boy, seeing as he'd been a lot thinner than she'd thought he'd be under that orange jumpsuit.
"Naruto-san," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Daijoubu-deska?"
Naruto flushed and nodded, unused to attention from a member of the opposite gender that didn't include screeching or pummeling.
"H-hai…arigatou…" he stammered, earning a grunt from Domon, as he clenched a fist in front of his face.
"Worthless punks," the giant growled, "anyone tries that again, you just let us know, ya hear?"
Naruto blinked up at the giant, then nodded in confirmation as Recca grinned and held up the ball the punks had been using, twirling it on his finger.
"Care for a game?"
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It was the best lunch break Naruto ever had.
Recca managed to convince Saicho to play as referee and decided on girls versus boys match. Fuko had raised hell saying it wasn't fair, since even with Ganko the boy's outnumbered the girls. Recca countered by saying they could have Tokiya, since he looked girly enough to pass as one, Mikagami had scowled at the shinobi, but got his revenge by scoring the first goal.
Naruto got on pretty well with Koganei, despite the younger boy's age, the two proving to be a pretty effective tag team.
Domon put up a decent defense, his massive size proving an asset that Recca took well into account. That is until Koganei made a comment about the giant being fat, which resulted in him chasing the nimble thirteen year old around the makeshift pitch.
When the bell rang for class to resume, the grin on Naruto's face seemed ready to split it in two.
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"Remember class, the graduation exam is only a few months away." Iruka lectured sternly, "I suggest you all buckle down as much as you can and start revising your notes and techniques, that goes double for you Naruto!"
He yelled the last part at the blonde who was busy laughing at the antics of Domon and Recca as they tried to scribble on each other's faces whilst holding each other off.
"Hai sensei!" Naruto yelled, saluting cheekily, "I'll graduate this year for sure! Then it's only a matter of time before I become Hokage!"
Recca raised an eyebrow, and grinned, pointing at himself.
"Not if I get there first!" he countered boastfully, causing an argument to break out between the blonde and himself.
Domon sighed, rubbing his head in exasperation.
"Hanabishi…stop teasing him." He muttered, looking somber. Recca raised an eyebrow at how unnaturally serious Domon looked, before the Giant's face split into a grin.
"He's too short to be Hokage!"
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Mikagami rolled his eyes as the trio got into a half-hearted fight, causing Iruka to yell at them for seemed to be the umpteenth time that day.
"Bakas."
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As the students filed out, Iruka asked the new arrivals to wait behind for a few minutes.
"Here are the scrolls containing all the materials required for this year's written exam." He explained, placing several scrolls on the table, looking serious. "Normally I wouldn't do this but you ARE late starters, so you'll need all the help you can get."
Recca grinned and grabbed a scroll, saluting the chunin with it in a cheeky manner.
"Arigatou sensei!" he chirped, making for the door, "C'mon Hime!"
Yanagi bowed to the chunin and made her way after her protector/love interest, followed by their friends.
Iruka sighed as he watched them leave the school grounds and sat down to enjoy his coffee. Scant seconds later, the Hokage entered, looking interested.
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"Well, what did you think of them?" the elder asked, making a gestured to keep the chunin from getting out of his seat. Iruka smiled, grateful to not have to stand up, setting his coffee mug down carefully as he pondered his response.
"To be honest, I was quite surprised," he admitted, "they mastered basic chakra manipulation pretty easily for people who have never been shinobi before…plus their chakra capacities are petty amazing."
Sarutobi raised an eyebrow, intrigued somewhat by this one statement.
"How so?" he prompted, hoping the chunin would elaborate more, which Iruka was all to happy to do after a moments contemplation.
"Recca-kun and Domon-kun's chakra levels are, if I may hazard a guess, in the high Chunin, low Jounin class." The instructor explained, causing the Hokage's eyebrow to rise in interest, "But they lack refinement, they wasted too much during the henge."
Iruka frowned in thought, touching the bridge on his nose as he tried to recall the rest of the group's performance.
"Fuko-chan's chakra is about mid-chunin level, but her control is much better than either Recca or Domon, so she balances out." he frowned in thought, nodding as he continued, "Mikagami is definitely a high chunin in regards to chakra capacity and control, he didn't even blink when I asked him to perform the bunshin jutsu, the same goes for Saicho-kun, though his heart condition has me worried."
He sighed, looking down at his coffee in concern.
"Yanagi-san is the only one at the genin level, which leads me to believe that, unlike her friends, she has had no prior combat experience."
The Hokage nodded, having been told as much earlier by Kagero.
"What would you recommend then?" he asked, causing Iruka to frown, an idea ticking away at the back of the scared chunin's head.
"I know it's a bit early to be passing judgment," he prompted, "but maybe she'd be better suited as a medical ninja?"
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Sarutobi grinned around hsi pipe, knowing full well about Yanagi's miraculous healing gift.
"I'm sure we could…find a way…" he said knowingly, causing Iruka to blink in confusion. Turning on his heel and walking to the door, Sarutobi looked over his shoulder expectantly.
"Anything else?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as Iruka paused, before smiling warmly.
"They defended Naruto in the playground," the scarred chunin added, "no-one has ever done that for him."
He smiled at the elder, nodding approvingly.
"They may be outsiders, and a little…unorthodox…" he winced at the memory of their punishment of the bullies, "but I believe they're good people, and will prove an asset to the leaf."
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The Sandaime smiled around his pipe and walked out the classroom door, waving in a dismissive manner as Iruka made to fget out of his chair.
"I'll see myself out," he assured the chunin, "good day, Iruka-kun."
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Recca gazed at the scrolls before him in growing worry; there was no way they'd manage to memorize all this in a couple of months!
"My brain hurts…" Domon said, setting down the scroll he was looking at, eyes bulged and bloodshot after reading only a few lines.
Fuko moaned and slumped over, looking exhausted after trying to understand a complex genjutsu list.
"This isn't good…" she moaned, shaking her hewad dully. Yanagi, ever the optimist, tried to cheer them up, though she felt just the same as her friends.
"Ano…it isn't so bad…" she said perkily, inwardly wincing at the aura of gloom that covered her normally cheerful friends.
"Yanagi is right." Kagero agreed, entering with a fresh tray of snacks, "All you need is to organize yourselves, make a schedule."
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Recca shook his head at this statement, before blinking, looking at Tokiya interestedly.
"Wait a minute, hey Tokiya isn't studying your specialty?"
The swordsman frowned, not liking where this was going, or that look in his rival's eye.
"What of it?" he asked, just as Fuko blinked, catching onto the enjutsu-shi's idea.
"Yeah! Good plan Recca!" she cheered, lifting raising her airms in the air.
"I don't get it…" Domon muttered, tilting his head in confusion, prompting Recca to grin, pointing at the annoyed swordsman in his excitement.
"It's simple! Tokiya manages the schedule and leads the study sessions!"
Recca looked at the swordsman and nodded approvingly. "Didn't the teach say you could get into Tokyo U. back home?" he asked, looking a little put out at his one time rival's academic prowess.
Tokiya shrugged, not normally one to brag but he did pride himself on his study habits.
"Perhaps," he conceded, "I still don't see why I should tutor you all."
"I didn't say tutor Jack-ass!" Recca yelled, spiking, "I just said organize the study session!"
Tokiya smirked, enjoying the effect this had on the enjutsu-shi.
"And why should I do that?" he mocked, "Its not as if your simian brain could retain anything."
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Recca was about to blow a fuse when Yanagi cut in, placing a hand on the swordsman's shoulder.
"Ano…sempai," she asked, "won't you consider it?"
Tokiya looked at the girl and his face softened.
"…I won't be an easy leader."
Yanagi's expression cheered up as Recca, Fuko and Domon high-fived.
"In fact," the swordsman added, "now's a good a time as any, let's start reviewing the first scroll."
The trio face-faulted, causing a startled Yanagi to gaze at them in wonder and Kagero to sigh at their antics.
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Kurei sat on a carved wooden throne, reading from a report scroll.
Since their arrival two days ago, the Uruha had set up camp in a mountainous region a days run from the crash site. Gashakura had tunneled into the side using his Magagumo, and Mokuren had managed to use his plants to hide the entryway from the outside.
Their new headquarters consisted of several large natural caverns within the mountain, which were modified thanks to the combined effort of the Uruha and his own flames melting anything that hindered them. Genjuro had discovered a breed of Fungi that gave off an eerie amount of light. Working with Mokuren they developed a newer species that could emit the same amount of light as a light bulb, and the plant man had them distributed throughout the caverns.
As it were, the Uruha were making modifications everywhere. Gashakura had intercepted a shipment of steel to somewhere called wave country and had set about reinforcing the chambers with the metal. Neon and her sisters were constantly trying to find tools and materials to 'brighten up' the base, mostly things stolen from passing merchants.
While not exactly the luxury of one of Kouran's mansions, the base was their new home.
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Ouka's eldest son looked up as Raiha entered his chamber, pushing the cloth door aside.
"Your report?" he asked, causing the ninja to bow respectfully.
"Kurei-sama, I have discovered that we are on the border between a place called Konohagakure and an island nation called Kirigakure, both places are ninja villages." He paused to let this sink in, "However, Konoha is further from us, and more heavily guarded."
Raiha looked his master in the eye, nodding once.
"I also understand that Kirigakure is still recovering from a coup, and their strongest warriors are currently outlaws." he explained, phoping that Kurei would consider the matter before making his decision.
Kurei merely closed his eyes in thought for a few moments and then nodded, looking at Raiha commandingly.
"Gather the Juushinshu in the main chamber."
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As Raiha left, Kurei looked over at the sleeping form of his mother and sighed, shaking his head sadly as he turned to his desk, face impassive.
"Forgive me, Hahaue," he begged, standing and picking up the new mask that lay at his desk, a pale expresionless one that bore a single outline of an eye. The enjutsu-shi smirked at how it seemed to reprimand him with it's lifeless stare.
"This is the only way I know how to act..."
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Zabuza was reaching for his sake bottle when a crack developed in the side, causing Haku to beam at him.
"That doesn't look good." the masked youth joked as Zabuza frowned, tossing the empty thing at the corpse of one of their pursuers.
"Let's keep moving." The mist swordsman muttered, heading back to report to the Mizukage about the success of their mission.
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Kurei nodded at the assembled Juushinshu, mask firmly in place, reflecting the errie light of the caves.
"Uruha," he called out "prepare yourselves for battle…our target is the capital of Kirigakure no Sato."
He gestured with his right hand, his masked gaze landing upon the ones he sought.
"Raiha, Mokuren and Genjuro," he called out, "you will accompany me."
Kurei eyed the massive Gashakura and nodded, pointing at him commandingly.
"You and Neon shall be in charge until my return." he ordered, "Protect this base until further orders arrive."
The two figures nodded, arms across their chests.
"Hai, Kurei-sama!"
Kurei nodded and turned to the exit, his chosen warriors lining up behind him. Mokuren was snickeriung in a diusgusted manner, clenching his new arm in sadistic glee.
"This is gonna be sweeeeet!"
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DUN-DUN-DAAAAAAA!
Kurei has made his moive! How will this affect the shinobi nations?
Will this have anything to do with Konoha?! And will Recca reign in his urge to smack Tokiya long enougn to pass the exams?!
Tune in next time to find out!