Ao hangs back outside the entryway as Kakashi tucks the blond Uzumaki away to sleep in a proper bed, she didn't want to tail the man as no shinobi appreciated that. It helped that she needed to disintegrate her boots in a subtle way that wouldn't dirty Tsunami's home. The crutches forgotten by the ailing man are placed inside while she fiddles with her seals.
As Ao aged she stopped relying on protective material as her own sealing and justu compensated for bulky outerwear. She didn't have to steal armor like she had to when she was a child, or cloth as a teenager. Money talks, once she amassed enough credit she didn't have to steal at all. Her shoes had been the thing to suffer the most wear and she Hated those ninja open toed sandals so she concentrated most of her shifting in her calves on a whim. She could create keratin scales while shifted as a hawk so manipulating that genome alongside her secondary water element to enhance flexibility of the strangled vision of a boot she had in her mind's eye should be possible. Theoretically at least. 17 year-old Ao was hyper focused not to suffer another soggy toe situation because shinobi here liked the style, the focus paying off with misshapen leather booties. Further experimentation showed shoving in another chakra element helped balance the structure, earth making sense to anchor it.
This was all well and good for running around in the wild as Ao was want to do, but entering homes meant she had to destroy the entire thing as it was situated through her skin. Rubbing a fire chakra charged finger in the hollow behind her knee, a tiny diamond seal hidden in the diamond of muscle flares to life before dispelling the jutsu. Water and stone crumbles to dust from the charge of opposing nature chakra, keratin wicking away to reveal fishnet stockings. Wiggling her toes at the sudden breeze she repeats the process to the other leg, stepping in after shaking the remains off before stepping in fully.
It's a rustic home, weathered from its close proximity to the ocean air but looking to be in good shape. Lovingly cared for as can be seen in the patches of discolored paint, the only indicator there was upkeep in the past. A fair hand at chores marked these spaces and knowing the home she was standing in, it wasn't Tazuna, the drunk. She picks up the opposing grain of the ceiling's older foundation, a seamless patch job that must have occurred due to water damage.
'Kaiza must have been some man…' Ao's eyes harden when she settles into a chair in the kitchen, her cursory look around not taking long and only made to satisfy a curiosity that would never die. She hadn't seen everything in this world yet and she knew it would differ in person as everything had been in this setting. If not because a manga isn't going to get all the details correct but also from her own meddling.
Idle tapping fingers halt when the silver-haired Jounin returns, Ao's face resting on her palm tilts up at the stir of movement in the sliding doorway. Her form is slumped over the table in a casual show of a lack of decorum, hoping that pretenses would help this talk. She wouldn't do similar with Zabuza because the missing-nin couldn't allow an inch of trust to occur, for friend or foe. Kakashi had some humanity behind that flint gray eye so playing up this leniency could help? Or make him stupidly paranoid but she was leaning on the former with her previous encounter with the man giving her more faith than what her old life showed her on a screen.
Yeah, no bonding occurred during the fight but you could learn a lot from a person while they fought. Kakashi chose to trust her, protected her from a goon who was resistant to the lull of her sleep beetle powder and raised a hand to her turned back. Turning a club brawl into a hectic dance of keep-away, Kakashi 'helped' his fellows in a clumsy cover as he kept Ao under his range of sight. A coordinated effort of shifting the angry tide of bodies amongst the panicked innocents as the shinobi in disguise pushed themselves out of the building, to safety. Kakashi split from her without a plan then, leading some of their pursuers away from Ao and their target strapped to her back. It had been such a whirlwind that Ao couldn't help but nod at the henge'd shinobi toward her next location as she took off, not wanting the opportunity gifted to her to go unnoticed or wasted. It had just been her luck that it was the infamous Copy-Cat ninja who followed after. The target hadn't been shinobi so a full body scroll wasn't needed to bring back evidence of success by either of them so the surprise was genuine on the boy's face when Ao chose to split their target fairly. The surprise turned to horror, Hatake covering it with his mask once realizing he had forgotten it in his run over, when Ao pointed to what her client asked in memory of this mission. An amicable, if odd encounter.
Kakashi doesn't sit at once, instead looking down his masked nose at Ao's continued lazy lounging on the tabletop. Flapping a sarcastic hand toward the chair opposite her at the grandstanding has Hatake pause, probably overthinking how to Not listen to her suggestion, before settling stiffly in the wooden chair. God she wanted to laugh so loud but the night was pressing in its silence on Wave and she didn't need baby ninjas interfering with a straightforward talk. She does laugh behind her hand at the Uchiha grunt he directs at her, rolling her eyes at the familiar noise.
"Who knew the Copy-Cat Nin and the Demon of the Mist would share such opposition to help," Ao quipped, smiling meanly at the steel pushing Kakashi's mulish slump into one of avid attention. "Don't worry, I'm not with Gato. Just went to Zabuza and his charge to tell him he shouldn't continue his mission with the sleazeball."
Hatake nods, relaxing an inch so he doesn't look so constipated. Instead turning pensive, if exhausted, but Ao was chalking that up to Zabuza and not an indication of his attitude currently.
"What could you possibly have to add for this mission, Sakakibara? Are you backup that Konohagakure sprung for?" Kakashi doubted this even as he posed the question to the blue haired woman, the amount of times the village had encountered her was sparse. It would be a surprise if that suddenly changed and even more so if the successful shinobi village was hiring outside help.
"I have talents!" Ao mock gasps in irritation, just because she wasn't remembered for flashy things the ninja world forgot her. That she capitalized on that fact had no room in this conversation… "No, I don't have a contract with Konohagakure. No contract at the moment with anyone. I'm free-agent flying Ao!"
"Somehow that doesn't reassure me of your activities," Kakashi sighs out at Ao's puffing, rolling his shoulders to crack it against the chair's back. He was wiped and the thought of having another shinobi of Jounin level accompanying him was certainly tempting as he had three Genin rattling around for his attention. "So the goodness of your heart is what I'm supposed to believe in?"
"Rounin's honor," Ao promises, crossing an X over her chest. "It'll be like old times, two goals coinciding together and watching each other's back."
The fight in the silver haired man whooshes out of him loudly while he exhales sharply, head dropping in finality. Drama king. This was why Ao kept her nose out of shinobi matters outside of missions, talking to ninja when you were a stranger was like pulling teeth for a shot of decent company. Her Cackle were a different matter since there weren't many of them she considered close to her. Beseeching wet gray eye met confused red, wondering if she should tell Kakashi to go to bed if he was having mood swings, only for her free hand to be manhandled forward in his tight grip.
"You watch the brats tomorrow then!" The jolly statement made her splutter, Kakashi shaking her hand up and down in mimicry of compromise. The man only stopped when she nodded, stupefied. Wow.
"I'm not opposed to overseeing your Genin team but the cheer you feel at ditching them…it shouldn't be that intense," Ao's remark falls on deaf ears as Kakashi rises from his seat. The continued conversation being the only indicator to follow the other through the screen door to the side.
"You wouldn't be saying that with chakra exhaustion…" Is the only answer Kakashi offers.
Ao hums softly in assent at that in the short walk in the hallway, stopping in front of a closed door. She raises light eyebrows at Hatake, wondering if he left his team asleep or if they awoke in the middle of their talk. Because there was a definite energy spike in two of the signatures in the closed room when their feet came closer. Naruto was still out cold then. Blank gray peers back and she won't let her face twitch, will not let him win if he was going to be irritating at every opportunity. He doesn't break eye contact, nor blink, as his hand reaches to turn the doorknob. If the man wasn't already bedridden she would have sent him to the hospital just for being so obnoxious. Being the bigger person Ao breaks eye contact to slide in the gap he barely allowed when opening the door, the door closing on their heels as Hatake walked alongside her. She understands that an unknown being shown his young team's sleeping area was shinobi no-no rule Numero Uno but Kakashi seemed to be taking that as a challenge to be even more overprotective. If she wasn't the one being shoved under Hatake's armpit she would have found the positioning funny.
"Am I allowed to walk into the room without your hovering now?" Ao challenges, slipping away from the taller man. Rude. Kakashi makes a squawking noise at the hand gesture the blue haired woman throws at him. "Can you introduce me to your cute little Genin now?"
That gets Kakashi's attention back to the room around them, his surprise evident that the other Genin would be bothered awake by his disappearance, but there they were, sitting closer together than he'd seen them since he was made their Jounin instructor. Whatever they were whispering about stopping but neither choosing to venture back to their separate futons. Maybe the day left them more rattled than the kids wanted to let on to their bedridden Jounin. He motions the teens closer and they scramble up from the futons, no further excuse needed to sate their curiosity. At least Naruto had the decency to stay asleep.
"These are my for-some-reason awake Genin, Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha. The one you so helpfully retrieved from who knows in the forest, is Naruto Uzumaki."
Sakura is quicker to approach, the youngest Uchiha hanging back as much as possible to observe. Ao didn't know if they heard anything or were woken by Kakashi putting Naruto to bed so the attempt at information gathering was cute. The red haired teen's eyes danced over the older woman, fascinated by the oddities she was picking up. A vibrancy in cyan spiked hair haloed to frame a tan face, longer strands pulled back to her nape in a ponytail that reached the woman's hip. And if her many bored summer's with Ino-pig watching nature on the Yamanaka's compound wraparound porch imprinted on her mind one thing (other than how disgusting mosquitos were during that time) is that reptiles had the same skin texture that masked the woman's upper part of her face.
Sasuke doesn't care about the fangs, the woman's hair or sense of dress. He's honed in on red eyes and the chakra that fills the air the closer the two Genin walk to the door. Red eyes weren't common but he knew she wasn't Uchiha when the moonlight made clear she had slit pupils, not tomoe ringed. The energy wasn't uncomfortable but a current that overlapped the air subtly. Like there was something bigger in the room that he couldn't see but it wasn't entirely conscious, but very much There. Slouching in his sleep clothes next to a nervous Sakura, he glares demanding at the strange shinobi as if that would unearth whatever he was thinking about with his sheer tenacity.
It takes all of Ao's concentration not to coo at the kid ninja in front of her, they were round cheeked and rumpled, dressed casually from their usual uniforms. She couldn't explain the out of character behavior as 'you guys were a part of my childhood and seeing baby versions in hi-def is like seeing baby animals to the ninth degree'. So she focused on being casually off putting, she was good at that.
"Ao Sakakibara," Ao says, tilting her head to the side and giving a kitsune smile at the children. "I'll be joining you on your mission and your Jounin instructor has asked me to teach you while he rests."
Ao was taking a lot of liberties with Kakashi's allowance of her presence and she could feel his eye stabbing her in her smiling face, agreeing with her assessment but having no way to dispute her. Shouldn't let her talk then! Take the initiative, mutt! The talk of teaching has both teenagers looking at her with rapt attention and she smiles brightly back. She's done the teaching thing before, what's three more to butter up a future connection.
"Before you talk Sakakibara's ear off about whatever, save it for tomorrow morning. Light's out, that is an order," Kakashi grunts tiredly, heading off any possible babble when his brain was already turning into pudding and unwilling to follow along. Everyone was fine. The strange shinobi wasn't to be trusted with his life or his team's lives entirely, but he knew from his gut feeling that if he didn't close his eyes and stop thinking he was going to black out. Hopefully never to wake up again but knowing his luck he'd be forced to consciousness again. So, regular sleeping.
"Aye, Aye, Pack Alpha," the strange woman snipes, looking at the teenagers conspiratorially. "Bet old man Copy-Cat barely shows you the cooler moves. Sleeps in trees like his Cat namesake letting you figure it out, what odd canine behavior." Her words make the kids' eyes widen, the snort their Jounin makes at her remark while he falls on the furthest futon, wrapping the blanket around him like a sad cocoon making them stare more.
"Will neither confirm nor deny," Kakashi half sitting snipes back before flopping down bodily on his futon.
Ao sighs at the dismissal, Hatake was a piece of work but at least he was funny. She walks over to an empty corner of the sparse guest room, the area barely having enough space now with the inclusion of another body but with some maneuvering around of Team Seven's bags with Sasuke of all helpers easing the awkwardness as they organized some space. The Uchiha silently settled back on his futon in between Naruto and Sakura, black eyes locked on her movements when finished. With enough space for her jutsu beside Sakura, Ao sits down, curling her lip back as if snarling, not minding the attention of the two Genin as she went through familiar hand motions. Swiping a thumb to the exposed fang has it tearing up with blood and she presses the healing finger on the high part of her temporal bone behind her left ear. Fancy seals for a hammer space for general storage needs was sealwork she worked hard to perfect, pulling out her traveling pack in a puff of violet smoke.
Now Ao knows Kakashi was about to pass out on his feet if the smoke didn't make his hypersensitive nose twitch, snorting at the lack of reaction from the snoring body. At least the jolted look Sakura is gaping at the side of head was to be expected, Ao pushes a single finger to her lips in wry amusement.
'Later.'
Folding her shed skin garments and packing them in her bag Ao yawns. Exhaustion comes quickly after rolling out her own futon, nuzzling under the furred blanket she favored; muscles relaxing after being active the entirety of that day. Sakura and Sasuke settle back in their futons, though if they stayed up later to talk she had no clue and didn't mind if they did. Gossip kept kids healthy, discussing things together and who was she to get in the way of that? She had no idea Sasuke would Bother chatting with Haruno but that change might do more with her than she'd like to admit. Pushing that last thought aside Ao let's her mind go blank.
It does not stay blank when Ao feels a finger dig into her cheek, ripping her abruptly from her slumber. Red eyes snap open and narrow at the digit coming very close to her eyes after pulling away from her cheek. Angry slits rise up the tan finger and she has to breathe through her nose to Not bite the offending hand. Credit to Naruto for running at her waking but she was deducting points for the high squeal he made when he ran and she gave him an unimpressed stare at the noise.
Naruto had been curious at the rando' sleeping in their room at Tazuna's, well he had been confused at first waking up in a room in the first place. He had been so sure he had passed out in the forest training? So waking up to the sun in his face and a blanket tucking him into his futon was weird. Nice, but not what he had been expecting after his night of intense training. His teammates' futons were empty, Kakashi's too! The only other person there had been someone Naruto had never met before and he hadn't thought further past seeing who they could be up close. If that meant hovering over them while they slept well he couldn't help that the stranger was asleep when he wasn't! It let him have idle time to look, the lady covered in a thin dark brown fur blanket. Blue hair wasn't something he saw in Konohagakure a lot (this mission exposing him to new things he guessed). He bet the mask of raised skin, colored like a snake's and rounded in places, wasn't seen around a lot either and it made Naruto's hand twitch wondering if they were really scales.
Teenagers were so funny, Ao muses as she rolls her eyes at the suspicious looks the Uzumaki was shooting at her from the safety of the room's corner. A quick glance around from her laying position Ao notices it was only the two of them, the sounds of life stirring around them making her ears quirk to attention. Early morning then. Ignoring the spying Naruto was being overly obvious in, she allowed herself the time to relish in the half asleep sensation. Wasn't often she didn't feel like she had to be on task because her time was focused on making it to this point in canon or feeling unsafe enough to Let Go. Naruto could run wild with whatever he was speculating, she was focused on getting the hair tie out from under her neck that had turned murderously itchy at her nape. Mood killer. Sitting up quickly from the unpleasant sensation has Naruto springing back in alarm, he had made it from Kakashi's far futon by the window to Sakura's in the time she was absently staring at the ceiling. Chuckling silently at the impressive leap back to the corner she yanks the hair tie she slept in out of her hair in a smooth motion. Aggressively shaking out her hair, scratching her fingers through blue locks for a minute before uttering a satisfied sigh at the finger combing.
"Naruto Uzumaki, please don't wake me up like that again," are the gravely words Ao says to the bright eyed protagonist she had come all this way to protect and the red face he sports is the cherry on top of this funny ordeal. Not an impressive statement under her birdsnest of a mess, but pulling it back into a bun puts it to right and she was still kinda asleep. She needed an hour to function and this wasn't her typical wake-up call.
"WHO ARE YOU?!" The flushed blond shouts, stepping closer despite the admonishment. He would blame poor impulse control and having to wait for the lady to wake up to ask her to her face if she had scales for why Naruto's hand strayed closer. A tentative finger creeped inch by inch to dare answer his hard hitting question. Not soft like scales! There had been little pressure giving away under his finger but that might have been from his too quick poke. Two more prods had him nodding that the mask was more like raised bone, sticking his tongue out between his teeth during his mulling he took notice of the stranger's twin fangs. Naruto had sharp canines but she got an extra pair?! Poking at tan cheek had him seeing they are longer than his own from the gum but that's before glowing red stared into his soul scaring him shitless.
Ao let's the shouting from the blond roll over her, he was the type to jump to aggression when thinking he had been caught doing something bad. He was just lucky she wasn't a violent shinobi despite how annoying being woken like that was. Being curious wasn't a crime but she was going to make him understand boundaries because he was going to end up in too many fights if he continued to ignore them.
"Guess no one caught you up?" At her question Naruto sharply shakes his head, his shoulders easing at the light tone Ao spoke to him with. It was nicer than what he thought he was going to receive after poking her awake and it had him walking closer, at least to his own futon.
"Ao Sakakibara, happy to meetcha. I'm a rounin, kinda like a mercenary shinobi. Someone who doesn't really have a village but didn't desert so you don't have to worry, I'm not a missing-nin." Naruto nods along to Ao's explanation, squinting fox-like at her. A smile quirks her lips at the way it made his fox whiskers scrunch forward as if they were helping him concentrate. She was going to squish his cheeks by the days end, so help her.
"What's a ronon doing in Wave?" Naruto asks, opening one eye from his squinting as if that would help his thought process.
"That's rounin, stupid." A cold voice slices through the lax atmosphere, Naruto spinning around to snarl on instinct at the voice in the open doorway. Or maybe it had been the insult the blond reacted to, could be both for all Ao knew. It didn't take much for the two of them to devolve into petty arguing, something she knew from the series, but seeing it in real time was overwhelming to experience. Why were they manhandling each other so early in the morning? Hormones?
Oh god Ao had to monitor these two…no wonder Kakashi had been so gungho about shoving his teenage responsibilities onto her, what a tool. She could feel herself dying on the inside listening to this bickering. Deciding she wouldn't let it spill out more than it was warranted from today on, she coughed loudly to stop them, hoping it would catch their attention. It did not… Eyes glazing over at the nonsense she looked to the open window in abject hope deciding she'd change after breakfast. Maybe after a swim to clean herself… That had to have been what the Uchiha came to their shared quarters to tell them both about as they hadn't been quiet, talking right upon waking. It wasn't Sasuke's fault he couldn't let a challenge lie when Naruto was always offering a fight. It was like catnip to him. With that muddled plan she was out the window and wall walking on the outside of Tsunami's house before the two boys spared her another glance, maybe to rope her into their argument but No. Not today.
Walking to the front of the house, Ao taps on a window seeing Sakura sitting alone in the dining area, most likely unused to helping a client in their home by her lonesome. Shinobi window hopping was fun but annoying to everyone else, doubly so when you were around a stove or handling sharp things so she avoided Tsunami's kitchen while she worked. The pink girl jumps at the noise before rushing to the window, opening it wide enough for Ao to fold down onto the thin window pane.
"Yo!" The older woman greets, giving a peace sign with the hand not holding the glass for balance. "Where's Hatake?"
"Said something about 'getting lost on the road of life'?" Sakura supplies, shrugging at the face Ao makes. "I think he's on a walk because he's only been gone 20 minutes."
"And he didn't even bother talking to Naruto before he went on this spirit quest? Of course. Give that man an inch and he'll take every mile you're worth, remember that Sakura," Ao dictates half seriously to the younger girl. Already she was commiserating with the Genin, being Hatake's first team due to his personal issues aside, he better put in an effort after Wave. It would do them all good. She tries not to giggle at the serious nod the shorter kunoichi gives her but returns it back before stepping more solidly on the floor, cracking her back with a twist of her arms upward and spine turning her around at the motion.
"Are you the shinobi Hatake spoke about that would be helping my father?" A timid voice calls from the other room, a young woman with long brunette hair tied back entering the door frame to peek into the dining area as she packs a rice ball tightly in a motion born of repeated muscle memory.
"That would be me, yes, Ao Sakakibara," Ao answers before bowing from her stomach to Tsunami. "Sorry for dropping by unannounced in the night, my contacts had me away from what I projected my initial arrival time would be. Thank you for the room while I help Tazuna complete his bridge, please let me know if I can supply any food as I know the situation here in Wave."
Straightening from the bow has Ao meeting not just Tsunami and Sakura's appraising eyes, but the two arguing knuckle-heads had stopped long enough to arrive in the dining area to ogle at her more formal introduction. Hey, she knew how to act in front of a client! Being formal was even easier at times since it was like a script to follow, she only broke it when she didn't think it catered to her or worse was actively hindering her. Polite character was different from having to be forced to show respectful sub-service to someone who thought she was little more than chump change for a stupid vendetta. Most civilians never went to that extent so she was fine giving everyone the same level of decent politeness.
"T-thank you for the offer, I might take you up on it for lunch but breakfast is almost finished so you don't have to worry about that," Tsunami says warmly and face flushing, patting the rice some more before turning back to the kitchen.
"What contacts?" A flat voice questions from the sliding side door.
"You wouldn't know them," Ao replies flatly back, amused at the question and how easy it was to lie through her teeth. "I gave them some help to help Us deal with the Gato problem, that's all you Genin need to know of my grand master plan."
"So you're on our mission? How's that happen if I've never seen you in Konohagakure?!" Naruto demands, cheeks puffing as he stomps over to a chair. His yelling at odds with his relaxed nature around the stranger so willing was he to get closer, as opposed to Sasuke who kept to his feet along with Sakura.
"Yes and no, I do have an interest in what's happening in Wave," Ao shrugs, closing the window before leaning on it. "I don't live in a major village."
"Why is Gato so important?" Sakura asks, thinking about the only connection two different people could have to be in Wave. Ao mentioned helping to get rid of Gato and Sakura understood Gato to be ruining the economy to the point people were starving in such an area after only a year. They were by the water and no one was allowed to fill empty bellies and it confused Sakura to see.
"Why indeed. He's not overly special besides his wealth and the backhanded dealings that have allowed him to stay so monumentally successful," Ao says cryptically, inwardly cheering that Sakura caught onto the target at least. "Heading Gato off while he tries to gain more power in Wave is the opportune time to stop him from taking more in his selfishness against the innocent people of Wave."
"Just beat the guy up! Bop him so much so bad, he won't try any backhanders and leaves everyone alone!" Naruto laments, slapping open palms on the wooden table. The crude comment has his teammates scowling at the blond but Ao nods along despite the other teens disapproval.
"But then another asshole follows in his place, Naruto, he made a company where it was good for bad men to keep cheating others. It's easy money and no one wants to give up anything easy," Ao remarks, hoping to clear up the murkiness of the issue before Naruto's teammates jumped down his throat. The compromises life had in the world were confusing to a kid, not making sense and feeling all too unfair. It didn't stop it from occurring and that was the tragedy of it that a child could see the wrong of what grown men like that did.
"And you think you're going to stop Gato?"
This question she does answer from the petulant Uchiha. "It'll be a group effort getting rid of Gato from Wave. Not any one person is able to do what many have been struggling with for years." This doesn't satisfy Sasuke who stares holes into the older shinobi, it was a roundabout answer.
"Could you teach us that jutsu you did last night?" Sakura pipes up, finally sitting down next to Naruto. Apparently Ao passed whatever assessment the pink haired girl had running behind her large forehead, at least she wasn't deemed as too threatening to pry for her secrets. At the mention of teaching Naruto perks up, looking at Ao with round awe filled eyes. Kids…
"I'll tell you guys about seals and anything else you have of interest in shinobi arts, I've traveled a lot and have seen a lot of interesting jutsu. That doesn't mean you'll be able to scream lightning just because I've seen that before, baby steps in what I'll teach you," Ao tsks at the glee on both boys' faces when hearing about scream lightning jutsu.
Ao joked that Kakashi didn't want to show them cool jutsu last night but she remembered now why young shinobi weren't told some things. At least the new jutsu talk has Sasuke sitting next to his teammates brainstorming what the strange shinobi had seen and where. It was cute how they were collaborating their separate knowledge to make absurd jutsu. She almost didn't have the heart to tell them she was bullshitting a jutsu to sound impressive, not that she would have explained something as frightening as 'scream lighting'. The thought of Naruto somehow learning such a jutsu had her shuddering. Deciding to leave them to their own devices, Ao skipped to the kitchen to check on Tsunami. Seeing the young mother balancing two large plates decked in smaller plates in both hands had her grabbing one to which Tsunami nodded to her thankfully for.
Setting the table was a quick affair and Ao takes the time alongside Tsunami to discuss any food she could supplement during her stay. Any protein is welcomed and Ao thinks to catch something larger alongside any fish she planned on catching in training later with the Genin. Ao had noticed the food had been portioned in a way to give everyone enough without giving away that the meal was being spread thin, so the rounin decides to give Tsunami some sacks of rice and dried herbs from her storage hammerspace.
'If I had woken earlier I would have done so before breakfast but whatever,' Ao thinks to herself while she washes up in the sink before breakfast. Being ambushed by a hyperactive teen would do that.
The violet smoke of the jutsu spills from the kitchen, pulling the chattering teen's away from the table to poke into what caused it. Ao only glances at the three before hefting the bags to an appropriate place of Tsunami's choosing, following the older woman's confused finger as she puts away the dirty pans to soak.
"You really don't have to go to the trouble, you being here to protect my father is more than enough when I'm sure he didn't hire you to begin with," Tsunami frets, looking through the herbs despite her words. Ao wouldn't begrudge her this curiosity, they were gathered from across the elemental nations.
"As a group effort to drive out Gato that means eating well, being from Wave that includes you and your family," Ao waves aside Tsunami words, cracking her hands and closing the topic before loping to the dining table past the three Genin. She was hungry.