Team #4 - Stormy Reunion

The young Jounin had been standing in the rain for some time. It wasn't a real storm yet so it wasn't too uncomfortable. The tree and his wide conical shaped hat provided enough shelter from the falling droplets.
He hoped this composition would work out better he had expected falling out because of the delinquent or perhaps the sheltered noble kid, not the Sarutobi heir that everyone took pride in. She was still too young for the real world it seemed. Aw just as well. Young people died young anyway. It was a miracle he and his "old" comrades were still alive after all they had been through and the last 2 years seemed almost too easy compared to his first 3 years of being a Genin through Special Jounin with all the political nonsense and the....other stuff. Ryochoku had been somewhat distant from his team emotionally and converationally, this would have to be worked upon. Kiryuu on the other hand was on the opposite side of the scale. He had to get them more towards the neutral zone. Perhaps both of their character flaws could be used to lessen the other.

Now he had to have an Haruno as a student. Well as long as she wasn't a pain in the ass like Aporro, Shineri...or a certain aruno. The last one was alright and had become a trusted friend, but the other one were brats.
He went back to cutting the wooden figure he had been working on with a kunai. As long as it kept dry under his conical hat which was large enough. All he had to do was wait in the training field until his students showed up at which point he would put the wood carving away.

"Wake up, you useless piece of shit. It's almost time for your test. And make sure you pass it this time or I will send you to hospital in your next sparring session. I am dead serious about that so don't fuck around this time!" Ryochoku was positive that no one would enjoy getting woken up with such message but he was. Not because of the content of the message but he knew he was out of "training hell". After three months of nightmarish training, getting insulted at the beginning of the day was so easy to take. Of course, he still had to worry about the hospital part. He knew his brother wasn't joking at all as he once almost broke his arm in a sparring fight -- his brother could broke it easily but enjoyed seeing someone suffer, yeah, he's sadistic like that, even to his own clansmen.

The raining weather did put a dent on his jovial mood. For someone that was born with the ability to control water, he was a hater of rain. Of course, if he was in a battle, he'd take that weather as it helped him but on general, he was not a fan of getting wet. Rain, to him, was similar to showering for a long time and he didn't like that at all. The constant stream of water hitting his body was simply annoying. While he was hoping the weather to cleared out, he knew it wouldn't, at least based on what the weather reporter said yesterday.

The breakfast was lovely, alone time with his mother was always the best. There was a third plate on the table alongside an empty seat. His brother didn't get breakfast at home, as expected anyway, and his sole reason of waking him up was that he enjoyed insulting his fellow brother. Tough love, if someone would call it "love". He knew his brother has none for him and vice versa. He never understood why his mother would still make breakfast for the non-attendants but she always do. To him, it's just waste of food. The only few that would stay for breakfast was his father and his younger siblings and all of them were on missions elsewhere. Fuck, just how useless could he be? Even a 11 years old girl was so much better than him in pretty much everything.

His mother saw through it easily, asked what's on his mind but Ryochoku avoided it all throughout the breakfast and went out on his way. Ryochoku usually shared with his mother - she was the only person he really opened all up on and who else could he share things with? - but he didn't want to look so weak in front of her. He didn't want her to share his sadness, not at all.

Deja vu, he was the first one to arrive, much like it was three months ago and once again, he leaned himself toward one of the tree, not one that could block the rain either. He was already wet on his way here and covers from the rain was pretty optional.

Michiko walked through the rain. It wasn't too bad, but her hair was still soaked, her loose fitting camopants were soaked, but her upper body was dry, covered by her dark red coat. Underneath her coat she only wore a black top, because if she wore a vest as well and she was going to do rigorous activities, she'd soon start to feel like a little heater.

She was well on time when she entered the training field she was supposed to meet up with her teammates and sensei. Her hand touched the headband hanging around her neck like a necklace. The first part of the genin exam had gone surprisingly well, considering she didn't know that many jutsu. She already wore a headband to keep her hair out of her face, which was the reason she didn't wear her forehead protector around her forehead.

A figure became visible as she walked farther onto the training field. Well, if that isn't... A feline grin crept up her face. Tenshu Ryochoku. This is going to be so much fun. She was pretty sure he wasn't thrilled to have her as a teammate, but she didn't share his sentiment. She wouldn't immediately start where they'd left off during that faithful fancy dinner some time ago, but she sure was looking forward to the interactions they'd have. For now, she didn't dislike him.

"Hello Ryochoku-san!" she called out when she neared him. She couldn't find his forehead protector around his forehead either. Instead, she found it at a rather odd place, around his lower leg on his left. "Odd place," she pointed towards his headband. "Why there?"

Only now she paid attention to the figure sitting in the tree up above. It was a man and he wore a hat to protect him from the rain. She debated saying hi and introducing herself, but figured he already knew who she was anyway. She gave a short wave in greeting and looked around, wondering when the last person would arrive.

He laid restless upon the mattress all throughout the night, incapable of surmounting through the buzzing of his lingering thoughts; an endless stream of questions, and he, without answers. The shifting figures concealing themselves within the veil of the darkness, as well as the dull throbbing sensation engulfing his entire body made the act of sleeping all the more an impossible feat. As dawn approached, he had found no further need in continuing his plight and thus proceeded to roll unto his feet; groaning all the meanwhile as he sunk his head once he was off of his back. The gloom and the rain hitting against the window made him all-the-more unmotivated to attend the promised meeting that day... though he knew better than to ignore the first meeting for squad four; he wanted to avoid as many problems as possible. With a sigh, he lazily lifted himself off of the bunk and proceeded to get clothed, whilst debating whether to go eat breakfast or brush his teeth; he chose to skip such bothersome morning rituals, promising himself that he would perform them at a later point during the day. His normal attire would not shield him much from the rain, though the hood should provide enough cover as to not get too annoyed by the pelting rain; and thus proceeded to leave his apartment flat once he strapped the headband unto his left arm, and made sure that he did not forget anything important. Once he had made sure that he locked the door behind him, he proceeded to go down the metallic stairway unto the ground floor toward the training fields where the meeting would be held. He had taken the long way around in an effort of avoiding any confrontation from citizens and thus would arrive between five and ten minutes late from the promised time.

He felt out of breath as he trudged through the damp earth, though persevered nonetheless as he distracted himself with questions about whom the squad would be comprised of. He would find an answer if he merely kept walking forward, though whether he would be pleased or not would remain a mystery until that point. He sincerely hoped he would not be stuck with the Hatake, or any of the younger students... he had never been all that good with kids, they were just too eccentric for his tastes. Once a few minutes passed, he had seen two lone figures obscured by the gloom of the raining morning over a distance and thus approached silently; or as silently as he could anyway. Upon getting closer, he had managed to identify the one facing toward him, Tenshu Ryochoku. That was good news, no Hatake, and no little tykes. Except for the one looking around. Well, you win some and lose some. Whether seen or not, he approached the two in a calm manner whilst lazily slouching toward them. He gave Ryochoku a short and curt nod as he kept his distance away from the other two, revealing a flushed face and a rough voice. "... and 'ere I thought the Sarutobi would be 'ere." Not that he was looking forward to having her around, but small talk was small talk. He, unlike Ryochoku, stood taking the brunt of the rain only shielded by the fur-collared hood of his black leather jacket. "... and our sitter is where?" He spoke only to Ryochoku as if the girl was not there, though knew that he should expect a reaction from her from ignoring her.

It didn't take long for her second teammate to arrive. Because she'd been looking around, she'd seen him approach. She almost laughed out loud when she recognized him, but schooled her face into a grin. "Hi Lurch! Fancy seeing you here." Her words fell on deaf ears though, he didn't respond in the slightest. Well, he did say something, but it didn't feel like it was directed towards her. "... and 'ere I thought the Sarutobi would be 'ere."

Michiko's grin disappeared, replaced with a curious frown. What Sarutobi? It occurred to her that must have been one of his previous teammates. Oh yeah, from last time he became a genin... and failed. Which meant the Sarutobi had failed too, but she hadn't heard of a Sarutobi attending school the last couple of months, not in the advanced class and definitely not in hers. She would have known if that were the case.

"Our sensei is up above," she answered the question that came next. She didn't dare call the man their babysitter, that would have been really disrespectful and if her mom found out... Nope, nope, nope. She eyed Lurch that towered over her, even though he kept his distance. Ryochoku was tall as well. And her sensei appeared to be tall too. I feel so tiny, she lamented in her mind. She was small, that was a given, but she would have liked it if one of her teammates was... well, not huge. She would quite literally be looking up at them the entire time. "Though I get you're not used to looking up at people, no wonder you didn't see him," she remarked.

"Do all of the students in the academy neglect to greet their sensei these days?" Came from under the hood en high collar above. The man put the wood carving in his pocket and jumped down. Ryochoku and Kiryuu would recognize him as Sendo, the Jounin that had tested them previously.


He was considerably tall for his age which by the sound of his voice could not be past his mid twenties, however even he came up slightly short next to Kiryuu's towering height.
In a relaxed tone of voice he spoke "I'm normally not the person that starts shouting and demanding for respect. However, for as long as you're wearing these." and he pushed up his hat to reveal his forehead protector.
"You're representing our village in everything you do, and in that, lack of manners simply will not do. Now since I'm being watched as well I require 20 push up from each of you."

Albeit he had never been the sort of individual whom abhorred moments stuck within silence... to have his question fall upon deaf ears had been a completely different thing; and as a result, he became progressively agitated toward Ryochoku who more-or-less ignored him. He sighed in an effort of dissipating the sudden rise of emotions, as previously mentioned, he would rather avoid causing senseless problems for himself. It came as a surprise that to him that the Haruno have given an answer on the whereabouts of their supervisor, and her unnecessary remark had managed to cause an amused smirk to reveal itself upon his face. "Ya didn't seem much of a jokester, Chibi." Although he had a sore throat that day, he appreciated having been answered that he could not help but give some form of reply; no matter how poor of a reply it was. A familiar voice rained down upon them, and the shadowy figure jumped and stood before them all. He remembered whom it was. He also remembered how he lost in an instant. Their Jounin scorned them over their lack of respect, to which Kiryuu noticed that they were told to be respectful to all, and not just to those who out-rank them in the hierarchy of the village. Guess he isn't a self-pretentious prick... or at the very least he does not seem as if he is. As punishment for their insolence, they were all ordered to perform twenty push-ups. If it were not for current circumstances, he would be defiant of doing as he was told. He gave an extraordinarily short laugh before speaking.

" 'Pears like Chibi's got the right idea with the collar get-up, seein' we're all pretty much dogs of the village now... but 'stead of waitin' for two-three minutes for those two to finish up their push-ups, how 'bout I just do sixty of 'em? It'll be quicker, and I'm sure they'll feel just darn awful 'bout it." With that, he returned the favor; provided that Sendo went for it. The two did not exactly seem as if they had much strength, hell, he wondered whether they were even capable of doing a single push-up. He should be able to do sixty of them in about thirty-seconds, even if he was currently weak due to sickness.

If Sendo agrees with the terms, Kiryuu would get unto his hands and perform the necessary amount of push-ups. If Sendo did not agree, he would sigh and proceed to do just as many as he offered to perform.

[Roll for Strength/Stamina/Whatever if needed, if it's important enough to affect rolls, Kiryuu is currently sick with the cold.]

The replacement for the annoying little girl was...yet another annoying little girl. Fate sure loved to torture him as it kept put people that he hate(d) around hum. Ironically, the girl was getting both boys that she wasn't that fond of(based on the dinner conversation) so...good job, fate. Ryochoku really hoped the girl would be much easier to deal with although history was leaning toward the other side. At the very least, this one seemed quieter than that specific "one girl show" and Haruno was always useful as a teammate because they kept people alive and Ryo's goal was to stay alive. He wasn't sure how good was the girl in healing though. He could easily get the information from his computer but all his free time nowadays were used for resting from the hellish training sessions and it has been some time before he tried to dig up information from the network. It's also why he didn't know who his teammates were until now, which can also be checked up there.

The girl started with a question about his headband position. It was a good question actually, Ryochoku did expect to be asked about this. The actual reason, that he wasn't planning to tell the girl at all, was that he has never liked the title of "shinobi" and to show off to everybody else that he was one was a huge no-no. He understood that other shinobi wore it proudly but to him, blek. The only reason he was wearing it was because the rule said so; otherwise, he would just shove it into his wardrobe and never take it out, ever. His leg was the most secretive position, half-covered by his kimono most of the time, it was hard for others to make up whether it was just a normal knee band or the signet of shinobi and that suit him well. That and he believed this bullshit occupation was beneath him so he wore it on his leg. It's part of his passive-aggressive nature."I personally think it's stupid to show everybody else who you are, especially on a mission. You never know who will be your enemy and the less information you give the world, the better. Isn't shinobi by nature, stealthy?"

While he didn't tell the girl his actual (primary) reason, he didn't lie. He thought what he said and he felt the shinobi nations, as a whole, are freaking idiots for implementing this headband system. There are so much better and more secretive ways to identify allies, like some sort of signal, catchphrase, password and even subtle signs. Headband was suspect to forgery and thievery, it's easy to impersonate a shinobi from another nation. Wearing them on the open was pretty stupid as well, it's like an assassin that just show off his knife outside his coat before heading into the palace for an assassination. Ryochoku believed in the stealthy side of shinobi and his "never let people know the true you" philosophy only solidified his view on this subject.

Kiryuu was there as well, he kind of expected that. There's a chance that he might be sent to another team but when he saw who his sensei was, he kind of knew the team was going to be similar to last time. Ryochoku merely gave the huge man a nod of his own, knowing very well that the red-haired giant could care less about social interaction of any kind.

Ryochoku didn't like the instruction given by his sensei at all although he understood where he was coming from. He has no intention to go back to the academy again so he has to do what his sensei said, especially when they were being watched here. "With all due respect sir, I don't want to interrupt what you have been doing there. It's the reason I didn't greet you just yet." Darn, why was he being a dick again? "Nonetheless, 20 push ups it is."

Ryochoku brought himself into the push up stance and started working on them. He was thankful that physical drill was in his training routine and 20 push ups should be okay for him at this time. He still wasn't very good in terms of physical condition and capabilities but he was well-drilled in the recent months. But...before he was going for the first one, Kiryuu said he would just do all 60 of them. As heroic or show-offish - seriously, why is everyone in his team a showoff in some way? - as it could be, he doubted the sensei would take that offer. He waited for further instruction in the same stance.

Michiko nodded at Ryochoku's response to her question. "I suppose that's one way of looking at it." However, she'd rather immediately be recognized as an ally by people from her village, and wearing a headband somewhere hard to see was kind of suspicious... It gave off a sign that said 'I'm with those people, but I don't really want to associate with them'. She, on the other hand, would wear her headband proudly. Around her neck. Like a dog, as Lurchso kindly pointed out later.

"Ya didn't seem much of a jokester, Chibi." So Lurch decided to give her a nickname as well. She inwardly smiled. It could have been way worse than chibi. "Oh, I'm super funny," she joked. Well, she thought she was funny. Not all the time, but sometimes. Though other people might not share my my sense of humor. Oh well, not my problem. "And I like Chibi. Small and cute. Very appropriate." A grin appeared on her face, until suddenly their sensei jumped down.

"Do all of the students in the academy neglect to greet their sensei these days?" The tall man -as she'd suspected, though not as tall as Lurch as far as she could tell- berated the three of them. Excuse me, sir anti-social? "I did greet you sir, but I guess you weren't paying attention or you would have seen. And you weren't being too chatty yourself I should add." She sounded matter-of-fact. Were she not speaking to her sensei, she would have rolled her eyes. But he wanted a proper greeting? "My name is Haruno Michiko, not that you didn't know. Could you please greet us as well? I have no idea who you are, besides our sensei."

She listened to the rest of his rant silently. Ryochoku argued against their sensei as well, and Michiko thought he raised a valid point. After all, it appeared they were dealing with an anti-social man. Twenty push ups it is, then... She got down to the ground and into position for push ups. Just before she was about to start, Lurch made his ridiculous proposition though. Her form collapsed and she stared at the red haired giant. You serious? Oh god. She hadn't realized he was such an overachiever. She got back into position. But like hell I'm feeling awful about it. She would only be doing twenty after all, so less exertion for her.

Sendo raised an eyebrow at Kiryuu giving him a quisical look. "Trying to carry the team's burden already? Looks like your temper has improved already." There was the thinnest amount of sarcasm hidden in his voice, but not in a condescending manner. Was the jounin trying to make a joke? In a more serious tone of voice he continued.
"The key thing I'm after with you three is solidarity. If you're going to assume your team mates can't carry their own weight that goal is going nowhere fast, but if you suggest of doing more push ups to pass the time..." suddenly his tone shifted to a pitch that hinted that it wasn't suggesting at all. "Then by all means." It sounded a bit off though, as if he was reading someone else's lines in a play.

Hearing the Tenchu's observation he snapped back to his usual tone and started explaining away as they did their push ups. "Good question Ryochoku kun. ever since the great villages were established, we the shinobi, have taken on more and more of a standing military and open contract doctrine. These days most shinobi want to be renown to get the best job offers, benefits and in some cases publicity. I myself agree with your line of thinking and the ~true shinobi of stealth~ are now what we called the ANBU. Our secret ops that, much like our ancestors of old, refuse to reveal their occupation, techiniques, missions and identity."

Reaching a conclusion he turned to Michiko. "It's mostly nitpicking from the superiors. They deem I should be more verbal. My name is Aburame Sendo, Jounin sensei with specialties in tracking, spying, infiltration and insect jutsu. I also have modest degrees in healing, earth, tai, nin and genjutsu.. chatty enough?"

Regardless of his intentions of establishing some form of camaraderie amongst themselves by taking the brunt of the punishment, it had not prompted the Jounin to agree with the modified terms in which Kiryuu himself had suggested; leading him to heave an exasperated sigh, he had always hated how things never went as he envisioned. He had been given the assumption that teamwork was an important factor within squads, whilst solidarity was perceived as a lesser one. He would have argued against Sendo that they needed no such thing that they were all, as far as Kiryuu was concerned, independent from one another... though after further self-psychoanalyzing... Sendo's words rang true, Kiryuu did not trust the other two in the slightest. He felt more comfortable having them within earshot than to have them be left to their own devices. The girl in which he dubbed as 'Chibi' had been perceived as a weakling purely due to her size, whilst Ryochoku was seen as incompetent due to his apathetic attitude. Hence he had given a curt nod to the man before him as he agreed with his decision. Whilst not exactly pleased about the aspect of getting his hands muddied from the downpour that had befallen upon them, he had nonetheless initiated the first of sixty push-ups after he had located a patchy turf of grass in order to limit dirtying his hands too much. Which others might find surprising coming from an individual such as Kiryuu. He aligned his knuckles across adequately, whilst facing forward as he brought his body up and down at an alarming speed; always ensuring that his chin touches the ground before pushing himself off. Whilst he was serving his punishment, he listened in to their conversation, and as he had suspected, the other two gave excuses as to why they did not greet their teacher.

His personal evaluation of his current squad was lowered significantly, they searched only to protect themselves. Not that he was any better, but he thought he had an actual excuse. He did not even know where Sendo was when he first arrived. Well whatever, it was not important, and as such kept silent. He had been the first to finish, he possessed an absurd amount of strength and an adequate amount of endurance to go along with that strength. It had taken him less than thirty seconds to have finished sixty push-ups. Upon completing the task, he stood upright whilst he laid his hands out in order to collect rain in order to clean his hands. He hated the feeling of dry hands. He unknowingly glared at Sendo, the memory of having been beaten down caused him to be viewed as someone that needed to be taken down. Though in reality, he had been left at a daze as to what he should say; Kiryuu had never been all that good with strangers. He never know exactly how they would react, though felt that he should inquire about what will happen next. "... whilst I'm sure that havin' us 'broken in' is a task that ya lookin' forward to, but before ya make us drop another twenty or so, could ya tell us what we'll be doin' for whatever amount of time we got together? 'Sides from havin' us becoming more... independent, as ya've said before." Kiryuu had never been the sort of person who was good at having a respectful tone of voice, thus, whilst not meaning either respect or disrespect, may have come on as disrespectful.

Solidarity, interesting. Ryochoku was never fond of this solidarity thing but he knew he has to do so when he's on his job, much like a wolf in sheep's clothing. It's not that he didn't believe in teamwork but he was just having a hard time believing others, especially in a job he didn't like to begin with. Still, being a good teammate was essential to his survival out there and also to cover up his negative thoughts on his current disposition so, he has to do so. One thing he never doubted was the ability of his teammates, they are very likely to be better than him - one was from a legit and well-known shinobi clan and the other was a troublemaker with natural-born physical advantage - but he questioned their williness to help the others. He was pretty sure the girl was fine, seeing that she was trained to be a shinobi since she was a toddler, probably, and teamwork was part of the equation but Kiryuu, he wasn't too sure.

The deep thoughts have taken his speed away so he sped up his push ups after he was taken back to the real world by his sensei. It seemed that his sensei liked to eavesdrop. He was answering a rhetorical question that was directed toward the girl and no one else yet his sensei has decided to speak up about it. While he has no doubt on the eavesdropping ability of a jounin Aburame, he wondered if his sensei would be spying on the team all day long. It just seemed like they would have zero privacy if that happened, as in even private whispers between any two of them were recorded by his sensei. He wondered if his sensei was eavesdropping because he loved it or he wanted to make sure no gossip or backstab were made by his followers. Either way, Ryochoku was a bit shocked by that and knew he has to be more careful of what he spoke in a mission.

The sensei did make a lot of sense, sense that were not connecting to the head of his own clan, his crazy samurai-preferred clan. His clan made it seem like samurai was still part of the world while the fact is that shinobi has overtaken all of their duties. They were the army forces now and also the stealth unit for the lord. Still, he has no desire to be famous or whatever so his headband would served as his kneeband for a long time to come. ANBU seemed interesting though although he didn't expect himself to make it nor he would want to be one. As far as he understood, it was a very high position in the hierarchy and one with great responsibilities that he has zero desire to bear. Hell, even until today he wasn't sure what he wanted to do in life aside from making sure he could wake up for the never-ending tomorrow.

After he was done with his push ups, he stood back up and he probably stood back up the last among the three of them, even a little girl was likely faster than him. Luckily for him, he was used to this kind of thing since his little sister was far superior than him in almost every aspect, physical included. He could imagine being bitter or sad if he wasn't used to it. The first thing he realized after he was done was how dirty - pun intended, "dirt-y" - his hand was and he wasn't really fond of Kiryuu's way of gathering rain water. He was a suiton user, think!

Ah-ha! After he secretly molded some chakra, he formed a few handseals casually, not fast at all, and formed a water clone of himself with whatever water he could gathered around him. The water clone then formed a few handseals of its own before shooting a stream of water from his mouth, much like a water tap, by using the concept of Mizurappa but limiting the power of the water stream. It didn't take long for him to clean his hands. "Erm...you two want to clean your hands?" He turned and asked his two teammates while stopping the water stream at the same time. The other two could clean up, if they want to, while the sensei answer Kiryuu's question. He wondered if they would be doing the same maze trial or they would be given another task. Personally, he was hoping for another task. If it's the maze trial again, then he knew he has to do better this time.

Michiko listened as their sensei spoke. Solidarity huh. Didn't sound hard. She did trust her teammates to carry their own weight, no prob. If there was anything she was a bit insecure about, it was her own lack of jutsu. Then, he finally introduced himself. He didn't respond to what she'd told him, which was annoying, but at least he was talking now. "It's mostly nitpicking from the superiors. They deem I should be more verbal." So if it was up to him he'd have remained stoic and anti-social? Thank goodness for those superiors. "My name is Aburame Sendo, Jounin sensei with specialties in tracking, spying, infiltration and insect jutsu. I also have modest degrees in healing, earth, tai, nin and genjutsu.. chatty enough?" Michiko didn't respond immediately. She wanted to, but found the exercise demanded most of her attention at the moment.

The ground was muddy because of the rain. Even so, her push ups went pretty good. She didn't have a lot of physical prowess to boast of, like Lurch. Man, that guy was a machine. But what she did have was a light, athletic build and wiry muscles, so she didn't find the push ups very hard. Lurch had long since finished by the time she was done though. Ryochoku was the one that surprised her. She'd thought he was pretty strong and good at physical stuff because, well, he was bigger and older. A stupid assumption, it turned out, for he was slower than her and it took a while longer before he was done with the exercise as well.

She'd considered wiping her muddied hands on her clothes, but decided against it and simply held her hands up in the rain, just like Lurch. The rain didn't hurry cleaning her hands though, so she took Ryo's offer when he made it. Michiko had looked on in delight as he summoned a water clone and made it into a human fountain. "Amazing! And how inventive!" She held her hands before her so the stream of water could clean them. "So you have an elemental affinity with water huh?" she asked him. Sounds nice to have an elemental affinity, she thought wistfully. She'd like to have one too, but so far she hadn't noticed one in herself. Oh well, I have a medical affinity. A learned affinity, but it would have to make do. Could elemental affinities be learned? It was an interesting thought, worth looking into.

She directed her attention back to their sensei, Aburame Sendo. He sounded pretty accomplished, except in the social department. Nope, she wouldn't let it go. Not right now anyway. "Thank you for introducing yourself, Aburame-sensei. Or Sendo-sensei? What do you want to be called?" She looked up at the tall man with big green eyes and took a few steps back so she wouldn't have to strain her neck so much. "And I prefer you being chatty over being silent. Communication is important, I can't read minds." She blinked, then narrowed her eyes at her sensei. He had specialties in spying and infiltration and 'modest degrees' in genjutsu... could he read minds? A sly grin spread slowly on her face. "Not yet anyway. Can you read minds?" If so, then this sensei had scored big time in her books. Mind reading, that's crazy! And I want it! It would be so awesome! I do hope it doesn't have much to do with genjutsu though... If there was one thing she sucked at, it was genjutsu.

The Aburame watched patiently as they collected themselves from their exercise. He took note of their actions after finishing it. Post activity actions told you just as much about one's personality as their actions did.
"During your training with me I'll train you in an all round fashion, you'll learn to to able to track enemies, prepare for and plan ambushes. fighting in a way to best use your strengths to complement your opponents weaknesses"

"Either is fine Michiko chan" He commented simply but seemed rather quizical on her following question. "Me, read minds? That's unheard of." pausing to look up at the sky. "We have the interogation squad for that.

Now then, your training. Your task is a s simplified tracking mission. One of my subordinates has gone west into the training area, don't worry I asked her to leave obvious tracks along the way. Now this is one of the larger training grounds and extends quite a far distance to Konoha's outer territories. I will stay with you the whole way to answer any questions you may have, but, even though there could possibly be dangerous wildlife I will only interfere if absolutely neccesary.
Are there any more questions?"

The drizzle proved to be a rather ineffective method of cleansing his muddied hands, though he chose to remain in the affixed position despite its inefficiency; there was no rush after all. Kiryuu had noticed that the other two did the same as him once they had finished serving their punishment, and smirked since he foretold that the other two would take a while longer than him; despite having done triple their amount. It was then that Ryochoku had offered an alternative method of washing their hands, to which the girl leapt at the opportunity as soon as it presented itself. Despite knowing full well that taking the offer would be a much better alternative than from what he was currently doing, he turned his head away from them and continued. He would never take such an offer as he knew all too well that people often expected something in return for their supposed acts of kindness, and he would rather avoid being subjugated to their ridiculous demands as penance. Additionally, their sitter had even blatantly told them to be more independent from one another. " ... what are ya even doin', chibi...? Here I thought ya'd be all gunghoe 'bout carryin' on orders, what with your dog collar, and there ya go... dependin' on custard cap over yonder. Gunna have him hold your hand the entire time as well? Guess sir specs-a-lot was right 'bout ya needin' to be more independent." He had more-or-less finished washing his hands once he had ceased speaking, and turned to face them all and awaited for further instruction from their jounin; taking note that Ryochoku had an elemental affinity of water. Which prompted him to remember their get-along at the restaurant a while ago, he either lied about having no special skills or that he did not consider being able to use an element to be significant. Well, not that Kiryuu hadn't told his fair share of lies himself.

It had appeared as if their "teacher" did not care on the girl depending on Ryochoku, at least not enough to have her drop another twenty push ups, he went straight to barking out what they would be doing for the day. Or part of the day. Something in his gut told him that there was more to the exercise than to find his subordinate; things were never as simple as "go from point A to point B", you often had to go through A to Z. He even stated that they would be watched all the meanwhile whilst they were doing whatever they were doing, in order to prevent them from dying some meaningless death in the woods or wherever they were heading toward to. He had no questions, and whether the other two had some or not, he proceeded to carry on the exercise. He'll be the first to find this subordinate of his; he always enjoyed competing again others for first place, made it easier to do better. He took a glance upward in order to search for the sun's current location, it was early in the day, so he concluded that the sun would be somewhat low and it sets from east to west, so the direction to go was an easy thing to determine. Once he found the sun, he would head toward wherever it was heading in a calm walking manner. Searching for clues in order to determine the subordinates whereabouts.

[Roll for Tracking]

" ... what are ya even doin', chibi...?" Wasn't that obvious? "You have eyes, don't you? Look how efficient this is!" But Lurch would have none of it. "Here I thought ya'd be all gunghoe 'bout carryin' on orders, what with your dog collar, and there ya go... dependin' on custard cap over yonder. Gunna have him hold your hand the entire time as well? Guess sir specs-a-lot was right 'bout ya needin' to be more independent."

Michiko stopped and stared. What the hell? What did her making use of Ryo's human water fountain have to do with being dependent? In fact... "Lurch, have you even got a clue what solidarity means?" She rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe this guy. "Solidarity is relying on each other, helping each other, standing together as one." She pointed to Ryo's spitting image spitting water. "That's solidarity right there. Take an example." Asshole, she added in her mind. If there was one thing she was proud of, it was her independence. Him calling that into question? Nuh-uh, no way. She glared up at him, which probably didn't intimidate him in the slightest, but she was sure it got the point across. Something among the things he'd said had ticked her off, that would be obvious to him, but she'd leave him guessing as to what it was exactly. She wasn't gonna shout her personal issues out to the world.

Having blown off some steam, she listened to their sensei as he spoke about all the areas he was going to train them in. When he spoke to her directly, answering her question, she raised an eyebrow though. "My name's Michiko? After I introduced myself properly you just forget?" She sighed when he said he couldn't read minds, what a bummer. But the interrogation squad sounded pretty awesome now.

The mission itself sounded doable, nothing too difficult. She could do a little tracking herself. Emphasis on 'little' though. She nodded when he was done. "Do we have a time limit?"

Only the girl was taking the offer, much like Ryochoku had expected. His other teammate just didn't seem like he wanted anything to them with them, which is fine, because he kind of feel the same. The difference was that he knew how to fake it and the red giant was more or less, honest and blunt. The thought of blasting the girl with a full-force Mizurappa did crossed his mind for a little bit there, but it was not the time or place to do it. Well, at least he was enjoying that thought. The water clone proceeded to form another set of handseals to create the stream of water once again.

"Yeah. What's yours?" He wondered what kind of affinity would the girl possess, the Haruno clan didn't seem to have one "fixed" elemental, like Uchiha with katon, so he was very interested in the answer. He would ask the same question to the red giant if he wasn't so "friendly" to pretty much every person in the world.One of his clan's private sensei has told him that he might actually have another innate elemental affinity but that was untested for now. He really doubted he was one of the special people to possess more than one elemental affinity from the get-go, just statistically unlikely coming from the blood of a commoner and a very lousy shinobi. He always thought that the shinobi family might have more chances to be born with multiple elemental affinities because of their long history with jutsu although he wasn't really an expert in this kind of "shinobi biology". Perhaps he could ask his sensei when he came back today, hopefully as a genin.

His hope to become a genin today was kind of diminished by the announced mission that involved two things he didn't care for -- tracking and wildlife threat. The maze test was so much easier compared to this bullshit. Ryo even wondered whether his own clan actually pulled some string behind the curtain to put him to a team he wasn't going to be good in. His sensei was the tracking class lecturer plenty of times in the academy so he's probably very good at that while Ryo himself has no interest whatsoever when it comes to tracking. He always thought his shinobi duty would be much more interesting than being a tracker. It's not that he didn't respect tracker at all but he thought there were far more interesting things to do than scanning dirts for clue about someone's whereabouts.

He was also underdeveloped in this aspect because his house generally didn't care about tracking at all. The tracking sensei was a retired hunter that didn't really achieve too much as a hunter. He even had a theory that that the tracking sensei got his job because he was friend of someone high in the Tenshu hierarchy, likely one of the elders. They were all pretty old, make perfect sense.

As much as he wanted to rely on his teammates just to pass this test, they didn't seem to want to cooperate, especially the larger one. While he chose to ignore the rather dickish comments of Kiryuu - because he was so used to them and could care less about a little insult - the girl fought back with her own words and that kind of put the team in a really bad situation. Kiryuu was already going solo from the get-go while the sensei wasn't even commencing the mission to begin. Ryochoku has nothing to say so far, merely standing still in position for the sensei's command. His mind running through the detail of the mission.

Sendo left no comment on the teams reactions to each other or Kiryuu's initiative. It seemed he was content observing the team instead of uttering criticism. "Time limit? Well I suppose, but it's very generous. The entire day should be more than enough. I believe Kiryuu kun has found your first clue."

Kiryuu would a few footsteps in the dirt that ended with a deeper pair at the end close to the forest's treeline. Probably caused by their target as he/she jumped into the branch level. If there was no dirt but only grass like the rest of the opening he probably wouldn't have found them.

Kiryuu bellowed a groan as he furthered the distance between himself and the other three due to his own personal frustrations with how things were currently developing within their squad. It did not stem from the young kunoichi's rebuttal over his previous comment, which as she had pointed out and to which he also admitted, was an idiotic one. He grew significantly flustered once he heard that his name was given honorifics by their alleged teacher, he was just not used to hearing his own name being called out by people outside of the family; and even then, he was accustomed to 'Yuu-chan', as unfitting as it might have been for someone as macho as he was. He more-or-less wanted the others to be as riled as possible from his remarks or his actions, since he knew how to handle people when they were in a state of flux... but it had been apparent that Sendo did not care about making his own rebuttal about the 'sir specs-a-lot' nickname. Kiryuu had been so sure that he would at least be slightly annoyed, since it appeared as if he cared about respect. So much for that. With an hefty sigh, he searched for any signs which would indicate where an individual passed by... broken branches, torn pieces of clothing or... he looked down and spotted a set of footprints upon a patch of dirt leading onward. "... or footprints." He followed the prints and had been shortly lead toward the forest's treeline, he further examined the last set of prints and noticed something peculiar about them. They were further sunken into the ground than those before it, which indicated that the person was suddenly carrying some form of burden at that point, or pressed against the ground for a jump.

He stood idle as he would decided whether he should continue onward on ground or via jumping from tree to tree in search for additional clues as to the current whereabouts of whomever it may be; it made more sense that the person jumped rather than be suddenly carrying something. He looked into his immediate surroundings to see if the prints continued further, but couldn't find any himself. Hence his conclusion was to search the trees. He took a glance behind him in order to determine whether his 'teammates' would be coming toward him or not, pondering whether he should tell them of what he had found out. Might as well clue 'em in. "Well... the footprints end there." To which he pointed where as if he needed to prove his word. "Notice how the last prints sunk themselves further than the others...? Could mean a lot of things, like our friend here got burdened with whatever suddenly... but far as I can see, no further prints. So, since people don't just disappear in thin air, safe to say they decided to change their travellin' method." As if in response, he looked up. "Y'all welcome to stay 'round here and see if there's anything else, but I'mma go up there. S'good idea to search for broken branches, but just as likely that some animal made 'em." And with that he was off, jumping at an absurd height due to his impressive strength. He did not particular care whether the other two followed him; less competition for him if he were on the right track. If they do come, they'll probably spot something he missed which would be beneficial to him. In order to assure he doesn't miss anything too obvious, he stopped briefly at each branch and examined whether there were broken branches, or any other clues. If not, he would continue to the next and repeat his actions until he eventually found something. Hopefully without getting into any trouble.

[Roll for tracking]

"Yeah. What's yours?" Ryochoku asked after answering Michiko's question about his elemental affinity. She shrugged a bit self-consciously. "I don't have an elemental affinity, actually." As far as she knew of, at least.

Their teacher told her they had not much of a time limit and they could take the entire day if they wanted. Was it going to take that long? The challenge didn't sound very difficult. "Kiryuu kun has found your first clue." Michiko blinked, then stared at Lurch's retreating back. "Kiryuu?" A wide grin appeared on her face as she left Sendo behind and hurried after the tall redhead. She saw he'd found footprints that came to a sudden stop. She listened to him explain his thoughts on the matter. "You make a good case," she agreed. She followed him up after he jumped, though it took her all of two jumps to reach two-third of the height the tall boy had jumped in one go. "You check up there, I'll check down here," she called out to him. "By the way, why'd you make such a point of not introducing yourself last time we met? You got a pretty name, Lurch!" Though she still wasn't calling him Kiryuu! And wouldn't, unless he asked her to. She moved on at the redhead's pace, checking for signs of people having passed by recently and keeping her eye out for threats.

Investigation roll: keeping an eye out for threats. Tracking roll: checking for signs of recent passerby

Ryochoku wasn't really taking the girl's words literally, he assumed the girl meant she hasn't tested it yet and she hasn't learn to control her affinity yet, which was very normal for an academy student. He remembered in his lesson that most would pick up their first - and for many, the only - natural elemental affinity one or two years into their genin career. He was actually surprised at how fast he could pick things up, seeing that he wasn't really talented or well-trained since he was a toddler but the Tenshu house sure knew how to push people. He remembered his batch has a lot of "elite" students that has learned much of an elemental affinity even when they were just inside the academy, such a top class batch he was in. The most ironic thing was  that plenty of these "elites" failed their first attempt to be a genin.

He didn't really reply, knowing that the mission was already underway. He moved his water clone toward the tree he leaned on before reverting it into a pile of water. A thank you for the tree, it deserved the water more than other things in the environment. Seeing that his teammates seemed much more capable than him in terms of tracking, Ryochoku was pretty relaxed at this moment.

The redhead seemed very confident in his tracking ability so there's no need for him to go up there. Instead, Ryochoku stuck on ground level as he scanned around for clue. His mind lingered toward anything he could recall upon those boring ass survival and tracking classes. The only thing he could remember by now was to check the sun's position so he did. West is where the sun go down, knowing the current time and the current sun position should be enough to determine their direction. Seeing that his teammates were already tracking hard there, he might as well be the compass for them, making sure they were heading to the right direction the whole time. When they were checking for clues left and right, it's easy to mess up the direction.

Roll:

Tracking: Ø - General tracking
Survival: E - Trying to recall anything that could help, be it from spotting unusual patterns on the ground or signs of animal in the area
Survival: E - Specific roll: Checking for signs that they are really heading west, mainly from the position of the sun

Kiryuu had trouble finding tracks among the thick branches most shinobi used as a stealth highway. He now found out one of the reasons why the trees where even used this way despite that traveling on the ground might be easier and faster. The tree bark was significantly better at preventing footsteps than dirt. He found the branches Sendo's helper had obviously landed and a few branches ahead but nothing beyond that

Ryochoku was sure they where heading west, the Hokage monument was still slightly visible which was an easy landmark. As for wildlife, it probably didn't venture near the forest edge because he couldn't find any animal tracks.

Michiko on the other hand noticed a flock of birds taking of from the treetops just under a KM ahead. Which might or might not be their target slipping up. They could head over to it and and leave their current tracks behind, or take more time looking for tracks but risking that whatver it was get away.

As a result of being sheltered by the dense foliage from atop, he had been capable of carefully inspecting without experiencing the displeasure of being pelted by the rain from overhead; whereas otherwise he would have undoubtedly rushed in his search as to seek refuge from the torrent as quickly as possible. Whilst rummaging through the branches for hints, he heard the excited banter of their kunoichi originating from underneath amidst the verdure; whose words forced the titan to recollect the now-seemingly idiotic, over-sentimental state that he had the displeasure of ever experiencing. He felt an immensely strong urge to hit himself, more-so to forget that particular moment of time rather than to serve as a form of punishment. Though he had remained reticent as he came to collect himself before providing an adequate answer; the howling wind might of implied that the Haruno girl had been ignored by the colossal boy. "S'trivial isnit...?" He had given a brief pause between then and thereafter as to allow sufficient time to comprehend his accent-heavy words. "... names, whether mine, yours, his or anybody else... they're all meaningless in the end." The meaning behind those words of his were, in high likelihood, not as apparent as he might have wished, they probably served to only make him appear all the more introverted or to some even misanthropic. Shinobi served as disposable tools and thus death may occur in any moment of their careers and thus the prospect of friendship diminishes greatly in value; at least in his opinion. Not that he believed in the concept of friendship in the first place anyway. "So... I'm guessin' ya heard my name from Aburame-sensei, or from custard cap from down below." Kiryuu had never been that great at conversing with others especially whenever making small talk; direct questions and answers were more up his alley.

As if to fill in the awkward silence that would surely ensue afterward his poor attempt of making conversation, he focused all the more on finding hints as to where he should continue onward in order to complete this mission of theirs. Only he found fewer and fewer signs until there were none at all; they just... stopped there. As far as he could see that is. Perhaps there would be more if he proceeded further on, or maybe he had to go unto the ground... or, or... "Fuckin' hell, I'm not a bloody tracker... how am I suppose to know all of this...?" The other two probably heard his frustrated moaning as he descended unto the ground a few feet further from the other two. He took a quick glance around his surroundings in the case that Ryochoku had failed to spot something obvious. "Alright, s'far as I can see, there's 'nuffin else up there; 'nuffin obvious to me anyway. Did one of ya spot anythin'?" Probably not. Considering that he was on the right track, just that there was nothing that would indicate whether he should keep going in the same direction. "There were signs that indicated that the guy, or woman, went up there and whatnot... but nothing indicates whether they kept going in the same direction or if they changed directions... hell, we could have been following a bunshin the entire time." That was also a possibility. Hopefully one of the other two could provide some sort of insight as to what their next move should be.

Tracking D Roll: checking whether Ryochoku had missed anything down below on the ground.

Michiko didn't get Kiryuu's point about names being meaningless, but she didn't comment further on it. "Yes, I heard from Sendo-sensei. He mentioned a certain Kiryuu had found our first clues and I figured that must be you, Lurch." She added the nickname for good measure. It was gonna stick.

Ryo remained quiet as the search went on. Michiko didn't find much of interest and Kiryuu didn't either, eventually saying he found nothing more where he was looking. Or rather, 'nuffin'. That's guy's accent is funny, she thought, chuckling to herself. "Nah, I didn't..." She stopped mid-sentence, noticing a flock of birds suddenly taking flight, obviously disturbed by something. It was several hundred meters away. "Hey guys!" she called out, alarmed, while peering out into the distance trying to pinpoint where the birds took flight. "Did you see those birds? Something startled them. Could be our man. Shall we go over there to check it out? It's straight ahead of us." Kiryuu's clues had ended, after all, so why not go over there? She hoped she could sway them and they wouldn't stay stuck in their stubbornness. "Lurch said he could find 'nuffin more, so let's golio! I'll bet we find more clues right ahead. Come on!"

Investigation rolls (D): pinpointing the place where the birds took flight, keeping an eye out for threats, searching for more clues.
Tracking roll (E): searching for more clues.
Persuasion roll (B): convincing the guys to go check it out

Michiko manages to come over as rather convincing if no one wants to make an opposing persuasion check.