Scroll 16: BaRoKenDo, Skiminachi & Birds

Shozaku knocked, a few minutes later, on Tsunade's door and entered the office and they started talking. The folder he had contained information on a lot of things; information on the various ninja, villages and techniques; as well as something that could be potentially important was a large list of Recipes from Skiminachi. He gave out things such as candy and gum freely. The cook-nin had lived a very…long life and knew how to make almost everything any large village did.

All of it was basically a swap in agreement to have somebody travel with the Wheel-Nin that would be leaving the village. The plan was to go around to the various villages and gather information, to give them the same folder Shozaku was giving Tsunade now, and eventually form a bigger alliance between the villages and the soon-to-be reborn Wheel village for when Jack returned. This meeting would take a chunk of time.

XXX

Trydna saw Yukari leave her house and remembered that she was a nice and pretty person. So he decided to follow her path along the rooftops for now. He also noticed that his younger, and much larger, brother was also in the same area. He hoped Yukari didn't get too close as Baro didn't take too kindly to people he didn't know well.

Yukari had left her place in a rush, after dressing in her normal ninja outfit; a stocking net body suit and navy-blue shirt and pants after. She left them there because she did, indeed, trust them. After all, Gambler-san and Cook-san had been quite the package of surprises for her and it was refreshing. Much like Naruto had been in his genin days, back before the Fourth died. Now she was a chuunin, having been dubbed as one after surviving Itachi's Mangekyou Sharingan and passing a test that the Hokage gave her.

Now her senseis, Kakashi and Otou, had seen her to be a mirror-ed image of Naruto, although nowhere near as chakra-filled as the Kyuubi-container. Kakashi had started in on her nine days after Naruto left with Jiraiya-sama, seeing that she was built from the same cloth as Naruto, only without a true or proper Bijuu inside her.

True, she had traces of cursed blood, as it was secreted in the Hokage's files, but that was what set her apart from both the Rookie Nine of Naruto's age-group and Naruto himself. A good three months ago, Kakashi had started her on an Element-chakra training program in which he planned to use on Naruto when he returned.

Having used the chakra-special paper, Kakashi had pinned down that she was an Earth-based type with a hint of Wind. That in itself was unusually, for a Shinobi to start out with two chakras, but she didn't care: having two meant she'd be twice as strong and ready for when Naruto when he returned.

So Kakashi opted to test his new wind-based training idea on her two days before. However, they had been called upon to bust up the Sneeze-Nin Village before she could start anything. It had been four days since then. Now she needed to work on her wind chakra today; see if she could go anywhere with it.

The rules were basic: to try and cut a leaf in half using wind chakra. The trick was; Kakashi wanted her to do it with her two other clones; testing a theory he had thought out to use on Naruto. It was a clever idea too, as Kakashi-sensei had explained that if a shadow clone does the same thing the ninja does, not only will the experience be gained by the real her, it would cut down on the time she needed to train with wind-chakra.

The downside was; if the idea worked, then not only would Naruto be able to use it; it would put him years ahead of her once again. Yukari didn't quite mind that she was a test subject. No, she wouldn't ever be as strong or saturated with chakra like Naruto, but she would refine her own abilities.

So that was her aim today; to get more hours in with her two other Kage Bunshin; a training that would take a normal jounin years to get; she had only tried it once, so it stood she had three hours done already…from just having a go for three minutes.

Yukari had made it to the clearing and was now warming up. The terrain around here was slightly hilly, like a teenager had come through with a bulldozer. She had done it while practicing her earth style. So far it was mediocre; not considered an outright threat, but by using the smaller earth-style jutsus and her brain; it had worked for her so far.

Now she had pulled out a ratty looking maple leaf and performed her Kage Bunshin jutsu. The two of them sat there next to her; leaves in their palms as the held quiet, concentrated stances. However, due to her depleted chakra reserves, her two clones only lasted a minute before they vanished. The kunoichi sighed in frustration, but didn't move and meditated instead.

Yukari's meditation might be interrupted by the sound of heavy footsteps approaching. They weren't coming up to her just yet but they were close, as though a very large creature was coming.

From within his tree-covered spy-spot, Trydna sighed; he knew this moment had been coming since some time last night. He only hoped this did not scare off or change the young kunoichi's attitude towards his youngest sibling.

The red-eyed kunoichi obviously felt the tremors; she'd be dead not to. She opened those kekkai genkai eyes of hers and peered around. They fell upon the moving mass of Barokendo and that caused her to gasp as he jaw dropped. The male was just so extremely large that she couldn't help but jump up in her place and bring a kunai to bear in front of her. However, she didn't attack; regardless of being overwhelmed sensory-wise.

"What in the name of the Hokage ARE YOU!" She'd sound off; her mouth still gaping wide in slight intimidation and awe.

"Why is it that they always bring forth the name of their leaders? You say in the name as though they have some higher power, when they are just as easily crushed as many others are." The large Barokendo sounded angry, and the look in his eyes was a cold stare, as though he was pissed off at Yukari for something.

Barokendo was indeed a massive man, but that was the least intimidating thing about him. His entire body was covered in a thick, black material that dropped to the ground and piled there, covering his feet. The only interruption in the cloth was a hole for his head - a head which, like Sheena's, was covered in a large spiked helmet except the spikes were all around, not just on top. The helmet looked like it was, sickeningly enough, welded on.

All throughout the black-coat, tips of spikes could be seen. The man carried himself with power, as though every step was a challenge to anybody that would take it, and he looked around at things as though there was a decision on if it would still stand when he looked away. This was a man that instinctually expected to have his orders obeyed and a man that never lost in a fight.

"Only my father could truly tell anyone what I am. But what I am doesn't matter to you, only who. And right now, I am a very concerned older brother." He stopped speaking there and paused his stride; wondering what Yukari's reaction would be so far.

Her mouth would curl into a snicker as he spoke his words. Belittling the Hokage like that would have set Naruto-chan off in an instant, but not Yukari. Instead she found the fact that this overly large ninja male had a sardonic sense of humor that appealed her very core. A snort escaped her lips as she lowered her kunai and un-tensed her body.

"Would -snort- you rather I invoke the name of some other person...or perhaps a thing!" The red-eyes gleamed in mirth as she truly looked at him. He hardly looked concerned; more like out to destroy the very thing that would invoke a feeling of concern.

The titan would nod when she snorted at him. "I want you to understand the only reason you're not a stain beneath my feet is the same reason for my concern. My little sister Sheena seems to have taken a liking to you, which has not happened in a few years. It would end badly if you were to use that against me, or to hurt her in any way. And promise or not, if you laugh at me again, there will be consequences. And I say this only for your benefit, but make sure she is never alone with a man, or that they don't look too closely at her." With that, he turned around and started walking away. Unless she pursued him or said something, he was going to leave his statement at that.

Yukari would promptly shut her mouth and nod respectfully. Putting away her kunai, she pursed her lips and smiled. Some ninja might decide to follow the tough nut in order to crack it; but she opted for another route.

"Ok, I'll make sure of that, mister-large-Nin! She's sure lucky to have a brother like you to watch out for her!" The Akashingan user smirked again as she exhaled her nervousness and squatted down to pick up her ratty leaf. "I guess I'll forgo to ask you out for sake later on, big guy." She muttered loud enough into the wind so that the breeze carried it to his ears. "Sheena is in the Kenkon district, by the way, which is to your left."

He just continued walking, if he heard her he gave no indication. Skiminachi came up from the opposite direction, the one that Yukari had come from, shaking his head when he saw Barokendo walking off. Trydna just sort of walked into view from the other side of the clearing, looking lost but angling in a general direction towards Yukari. Skiminachi spoke, voice momentarily full of regret.

"That one is always so angry. Though I am glad he has something to anchor him. If it were not so, many would be troubled. On lighter tones…" he smiled and brightened up, turning towards Yukari. "Your house is back to normal. I even fixed it up a bit for you, as thanks for letting us use it this morning. So is...this your training grounds?" He asked, looking around.

"Ah yes, thanks. Anger and happiness are two sides of the same coin. I can only imagine that a few friends of mine would love to flip that said coin." Yukari spoke maturely before straightening up to lock eyes with the slightly, only by a fraction, smaller man Skiminachi.

"Yes it is; Kakashi-sensei and I use this since team 7 is currently on their own quests." She meant Naruto, Sakura and lastly, Sasuke. Her thoughts quickly raced around that name; since she was inexplicably linked with the Uchiha brat. And that link was none other than interaction. But she shook her thoughts away and looked forlornly at the tattered leaf in her head. "Since it reminds me I've got a long ways to go in training my body to keep up with the elite of my friends. I'm just about out of chakra I set aside for training use. I've got nothing to use currently so I don't know why I'm still here."

Crimson eyes turned upward as she smiled. "Well I suppose I could still pester you Wheel Nin today, that is if that juggernaut that just passed by doesn't kill me for doing so." Here, she would cant her head to the side and smile at the large cook. "Do you cook for him too?"

"No, he could only kill you for harming his sister or talking down to him. I cook for everyone, though he doesn't eat often. None of the Darkness ninja do, the children are worse about it. Sometimes I can only get Sheena to eat if I promise her candy afterward. And do not worry about him, he does not like new people, and feels that anything he hasn't met is a threat. If you are around him more often he'll most likely become used to your presence. That or if Sheena continues to speak highly of you, he'll lighten up a bit." He cracked his knuckles, his hands showing calluses from long hours of cooking and dealing with fire.

"If you are in need of chakra, I can help with that. Training, I can help with that too; or cooking, anything really. I may not be the best fighter but I am good at most everything else. What would you like my assistance with?"

Yukari nodded in understanding. It figures that someone from the Darkness Nin would not exactly have a sunny personality; which brought her to her next train of thought. The three new types on nin she had met in the past handful of days. "Twisted, Darkness and Wheel Nin. Something I've never heard of before come rolling in, throwing their parties. Just where and how did the Darkness Nin split and join the Wheel Nin. If ninja around here did that, they'd be hunted down as Missing Nin. Jamaru-sensei, er, ex-sensei, was a spy for the Sound Nin; trying to sell my kekkai genkai to them." She frowned at the memories of the cold-hearted jounin that she had ended up with. "Let's say he's no longer among the living." the kunoichi smiled at the Cook-nin and crinkled her eyes. "You? Do the Wheel nin have genin teams?"

He nodded, reached around his back and lifted a large plate of armor and pulled out a folding table. He stepped back, giving some space between the two of them, and set it down. He reached under a rather dome-like plate and pulled out two small tea cups, set them on the table, and filled them with water after a few quick hand-signs. Putting tea in them, he did another hand-sign and heated them up, stirring them with one particularly burnt finger. This didn't take too long, as it looked like something he was practiced at doing. After it, he sat down, took a cup of tea, and pushed one towards Yukari.

"Ahhh…how did it all start; or rather, how did the three villages come to clash. It would be about two years ago, when Kentarou was just starting to get the Wheel Village up and running, and had just settled on a location with a small group of us."

"Back then, he only had Shozaku, Joma, Yamira, and me; as far as jounin are concerned. By this time he had already found Wydra, and a few of the other unicycle-riding-nin you saw today. If you look closely, you might think Wydra and Sheena could be sisters, were it not for their very different upbringings. Trydna thought so, when he was out on a mission to gather intel. on Kentarou. He thought that putting Sheena in Kentarou's care would be a better alternative than leaving her with her father. He thought this so much so, it brought a momentary…calmness in his broken mind. Joma believed his family could do better, that his siblings could live a life outside of such cruelty; that his sister could stop undergoing the type of training their father was so fond of. So, he concentrated to keep his mind at ease, and followed Wydra back."

"Shozaku spotted him, though Wydra, being a rookie ninja had no idea she was being followed. Shozaku could see she was, though. He can anything he so wishes, really: the truth of things, the truth through things." He paused for a moment to let that sink in to Yukari's mind. "After a bit of confusion; Kentarou realized Trydna wished to talk. He could not spare much time then, but over the following months they slowly came to an agreement. Trydna would help them with information, tactics, and anything they wanted against the Darkness ninja, so long as they would keep his sister Sheena safe. It took Trydna quite some time to convince his father that Sheena was old enough or good enough for a mission and to send her out. But the moment she was outside of the village, Trydna whisked her away. It took another month for him to convince her that they were good people, and that she should stay with them rather than go home. And so, things were at peace for about…a week."

"Then the father, Jack, realized something was wrong. Two of his children were missing, his oldest and his second youngest. So he sent his second oldest, the behemoth you just recently met, to fetch them. This time it was Joma that felt him coming, he warned Kentarou and Kentarou evacuated the village in time. Kentarou stayed behind to fight, while Trydna and Sheena stood nearby so Barokendo could see they were safe and not being forced against their will to stay. That…that was a fight everyone felt for quite some distance. It was one of the few times I've seen Kentarou knocked off his cycle in battle, though he's jumped off himself many times. Eventually, Kentarou subdued Baro enough to talk. In the end, it was Sheena, crying for what was to be only the second time in her life, pleading with him to let them stay. He still doesn't like most of us. Sometime soon after, James showed up. But that is a story for another time, as I have been talking for far too long on that subject. Ah, I almost forgot, you wanted to know if we had teams like your village, correct?"

Yukari smiled to herself as she took the offered cup of tea, sitting herself on a nearby stump while she listened to the Cook's story.

"Wow, that sounds as exciting as the founding Konohagakure." the crimson-eyed ninja played her role as an active listener, nodding at parts in Skiminachi's story. She was fascinated by the idea of rotten, no good-in-morals Darkness Nin. Then, as a pure-bred dog raced by their training grounds barking its tan, furry head off at something; Yukari finished her tea and smiled.

"It would be normal for villages to have a system of ranks. Hokage, ANBU, jounin, chuunin, genin and academ student. But it sounds like it wasn't that way in your case."

After that being said, Yukari could blush as she processed the information about Shozaku. It couldn't be helped that she had a thing for strong jounin-level nins, as, during her younger days, she was known as a flirt. But since she had matured in the past sixteen months, she had since given up flirting with the males that had been - still known - as the Rookie Nine. Naruto, Shino, Kiba, Chouji and even Lee-kun had dated her – and she; them.

Since Naruto had left with Jiraiya to train, Yukari had thrown off her childish, early teen habits and was now focusing on getting stronger and carving out her own niche by testing out what she was good at. Time had shown that she was very clever in using her hair as weapons of battle; often having to report new jutsus she had created to the Hokage so they could be written down in the Uzaruki archives.

"So the Darkness-Nin are still pissed at you for usurping their power and two of their members?"

"No. we don't know what happened six months ago, but I'll skip a large part of the story here. Our old village is…gone. It wasn't destroyed; we just haven't been unable to find it. The place where it once was, no longer is. The leaders of the Darkness and Twisted villages came, putting aside their differences, to destroy us; or more specifically, to destroy Kentarou. It's a mystery how one his age became so powerful. Kentarou-sama had all of us evacuate the village, keeping Shozaku and Wydra just long enough to perform a strange kind of jutsu on them. Nobody knows what it means, but they each have a third of a wheel tattooed onto their back. After they left, the only person that felt anything was Joma. He can sense when large amounts of chakra are being used, and he passed out from it. When we went back, the village, the land, even the very air that used to be there was gone, as though a god had ripped out that part of existence and sewn what was around it shut. That was six months ago, and we haven't been able to figure out what happened since. Most of our time was spent finding the kids. Now that we have, we're going to spread the word against the evil-villages and try to figure out just what Kentarou did."

"As for ranks and teams?" He smiled. "You would be correct in saying our village is unlike others. Since we are not large enough to form teams, we assign as many people to a purpose as are needed, assuming they have the proper skills. The only actual team is the four unicycle-riding nin, and now I guess the mini-nin team. The only two people that don't listen, or can choose not to in my case, are myself and Barokendo. Until I went out on missions to contact other villages for Kentarou, I had no knowledge of how most of this continent worked. I don't think he knew that…" Skiminachi laughed a most santa-like laugh. It was the kind of sound that when anybody that heard it would have a better day, a brighter smile, a quicker step. "Did you have anything else planned in your day or was talking to an old cook like me was all you had planned?"

Skiminachi sat there in the sunlight, looking to the world like he was twenty-six; when in truth, he was twice that age. The cook wore his age well for somebody who had been through so much. He stopped his chuckling as a golden wheel zeroed in on the pair.

Yukari had been deep in thought after hearing the Kentarou and his jutsu that had placed a tattoo on two people. "That sounds an awfully a lot like what the Yondaime did to seal the…rather large mass of chakra that was visited upon Konoha fifteen years ago."

Having caught herself about to say 'Kyuubi' Yukari quickly replaced her words with others. The punishment she'd get if she broke the law to outsiders would be most unpleasant. "Er, a sealing jutsu was used; and it sounds a lot like what you just told me."

Yukari blushed at being called stingy, yet the rules she played by weren't hers. Following the golden wheel with her crimson eyes, she delicately replaced the cup onto the table and gave a smile towards the cook. "I am unable to talk as freely as I wish to, but I see you have business to attend to…"

Here, a yellow and black finch twittered and landed on her head. This bird signified that she was needed ASAP, in the Village Rookery – the place where the messenger birds were based. "As it seems I have my own to look towards. I hope you can find the location in which you need to be at without my help?" She waited a few seconds for an answer.

"Indeed. Shozaku either requires my assistance in the meeting, with something else, or have other important information for me. If you ever see one of these wheels, it is a message from us. Kentarou only trained a few how to send them. Shozaku is the only person that doesn't ride a unicycle that Kentarou trained to use it. Either way, I bid you good luck in your next adventures."

With his parting message, the massive cook-nin stood up, folded the hot-table, storing it in his armor, turned and walked off. Trydna was still right there, as he had been; still leaning against the trees near Yukari, staring off into space and lost in thought.

XXX

While digesting the information on the Wheel Nin, Yukari quickly made her way to the Konoha Rookery; as per instructions via yellow finch. As much as her clan was dwindling to only a scant handful of ten members - some not having the kekkai genkai - the Uzarukis had played a vital part of avian communication during the Kyuubi incident fifteen years back. Now in the footsteps of her once populous clan, Yukari was in charge of a few, hand-bred aerial raptors that trafficked in confidential information. She also had a menagerie of other birds to take care of; such as the yellow finch that had been used to summon her.

When the Uzarukis came to reside permanently in Konoha during the Leaf Village's birth-years, they had brought their Bird-based contracts with them. Their specialty of using the Bird-clan earned them the right to become one of the major twenty-five clans that sat on the village council. With their innovative ideas on how to train fighter birds to carry and deliver message proved to be a great way to contribute to the well-being of the Fire Nation. With considerable planning, the Uzaruki Clan quickly became the leading clan that dealt in aerial communication.

Breeding and teaching birds became the pride of the Uzarukis, and every clan-child that was born to become a ninja, spent at least a year in the Bird-Unit – learning and grooming specially bred hawks to deliver messages – coded and otherwise – to Konohagakure from all over the Fire continent. The success of this training program was put in jeopardy when the Uzarukis began to die out (much like the Uzumaki Clan, of which were close friends with the Uzarukis.) So it was vitally important for the remaining Uzarukis to train other ninja outside their clan on how to care for the messenger raptors. The clan contracts still held with the Bird-clans, but on a severely lesser degree.

It was her father, Hibachi Uzaruki; that had ordered her to spend her eighth year dedicated solely to the Bird Unit training program. She had learned much and even had the honor of raising her own messenger eagle: Hari. The normal-sized hawk was hatched from the brood that was bred solely for Uzaruki use. Being a chick from her dearly departed sister's eagle, Sora, Yukari had used her eighth year learning how to calm, feed, groom, and hunt Hari. It was a hard task for a girl her age to manage not only her personal bird, but hundreds of others now in use by other ninjas.

Yukari had been immaturely employed when Lady-Tsunade became Hokage; and used many resources in the rebuilding of Konoha since its devastation by Orochimaru's hand. Those resources included the avian message center. Yukari had to be trained on how to handle top-class information and coded missives: folding, handling and viewing. She was not cleared to lay eyes on many of the messages and thus it was tricky to handle when she was needed to remove the thin, tiny tubes from off the birds' legs and hand them other to those who were cleared to view the script.

Naruto and a few of her other friends laughed in good faith when she said she handled something that could burn her: namely peeking at the curious messages that she handed over to her higher-ups. It wasn't that she minded walking on such thin ice, but being new to the intricacies of not looking at something; when her second nature ordered her to view the whole, hidden and underneath picture of the ninja world.

When she entered the Rookery, she saw that her brother, Kensuke and his personal eagle Torikaze weren't on duty. He and Torikaze were most likely running drills to and from Konoha to Sunagakure.

So, she made her way past the low tables and benched that the De-coding nin used – keeping her red eyes up and forward and away from the few unrolled messages on the tables – and to the balcony perch-post that her Hari was perched on. The two male shinobi that stood beside Hari must have been new to the Unit, as their foreign close proximity upset her golden-black eagle.

Yukari sighed as she slipped on the nearby leather glove and brace, and then offered her protectedly covered arm to Hari. In seeing this, the golden-black Hari alighted on her arm and cooed as she rewarded him and removed the missive from the tiny tube-carrier on his left leg. Handing the rolled scroll to the specialty nin on duty, Yukari smiled in happiness to find that broad-traveling Naruto was indeed was using her birds to communication back home.

The white-haired sannin and the Hokage talked her into allowing Jiraiya and Naruto to use Hari and a temporary, three-year contract while they traveled and trained. With the use of a messenger raptor, the traveling sannin could write coded reports and other important information he deemed fit to share. Yukari was hesitant to allow such a renowned pervert to use her bird, but when Naruto threw his two cents in, she caved and readily agreed.

It had been the deciding factor when Naruto mentioned that he could stay in touch with his friends if there was a faster way than Mail-Carrier Service. Yukari told him that Uzaruki raptors were not only fast and extremely trust-worthy; any attempt of outside interception would send the bird into a frenzy against the carried message and either eat it or destroy it.

To date, Yukari had only known of three such incidents that resulted in the messenger bird returning with a halved message tube – and signs of battle. One of the myths went that the first Uzaruki Lady Yumiko and her eagle Kaze had to be taken off the active list because Kaze had returned to the Rookery with only one leg: it had severed its other leg and ate it along with the message.

If anyone within the Rookery had sensitive enough hearing, he or she would hear the pitter-patter of tiny cloth feet as a teddy bear the size of a small-child's palm made its way up the window. It climbed over the edge and looked around. Then, noticing Yukari, it crouched and jumped onto her shoulder. If it landed un-hassled; it would begin tugging at Yukari's shirt towards the window. If a decoding nin noticed that there was a teddy-bear on Yukari's shoulder, he would have to look twice, as the kunoichi was moving busily and lost in thought.

XXX

"Thank you for your co-operation so far, Tsunade-sama. I will look over the information and match those you said would be a guide to the best groups possible. If you need to get a hold of me anytime soon; I've given you the methods and you know where our camp is. Skiminachi has something he would like to talk to you about, so I leave it here." A few seconds would pass before those within the same building as the Hokage's voice was heard:

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN OLD PEOPLE?" Screaming was heard, which was followed by Shozaku hauling ass outside, and towards the city gates. Shozaku stopped mid-point away from the Hokage's office and now calmly walked out of the city towards the camp; uninterrupted.

XXX

Yukari's eyes followed her eagle Hari's cocked head to the tiny teddy. She smirked as she placed the noble bird on his rest perch and removed her leather arm-brace. She allowed the tiny teddy to point the direction of where he wanted her to go. Then, allowing a gentle-placed hair curl to secure the plushie, she leapt out the window just in time to hear the Hokage's furious screaming. The red-eyed kunoichi smirked wickedly as she viewed Shozaku exiting the building in haste.

What waited for her below was the genin-style team formed from the opposing villages. Wydra was balanced on her unicycle-d waving excitedly. Sheena was looking down at the ground, and Gilligan was just staring with those puppy eyes that never seemed to go away. The teddy vanished from Yukari's hair and reappeared, as a normal sized doll once more, strapped to Gilligan's hip. Wydra wheeled and would move to try and intercept Yukari before she landed.