Never Meet Your idols

[interupt]

Mission:

Alkaid was making her way to the gatehouse to in order to relieve the guards for the next shift.  Her outfit was similar to what she had worn the other day just with slightly different colors.  On her head was a a golden hairpin, a black face mask that covered up to the bridge of her nose and a dull red flowing scarf.  

On her torso she wore a simple sleeveless kimono that ended in a low cut skirt, its color a shade of purple almost verging on blue, inspired by Yomi’s trade mark trench coat.  Holding it together was A gray obi with overlaid with her forehead protected in the center.  It severed as a belt with two pouches attached to it as well as holsters for her bone white swords.   Over her hands where a pair of purple pink finger-less gloves that ran past her elbows.

A flashy katana and wakizashi hung from her hips, drawing the eye to the black thigh high stockings underneath them, tucked into a pair of rain boots that matched the color of her kimono.  She was the very picture of a modest Kunoichi.

She arrived just as Yomi was name dropping herself, breaking into a wide grin under her mask as she ran over to the taller woman her eyes practically sparkling with admiration.   “Fool don’t you know who this is?  It’s the Rouge of the mist herself, one of the strongest among our rank and definitely the most badass.” exclaimed Alkaid, her tone admonishing.

“Forgive his rudeness, he obviously doesn’t know greatness when he sees it.” said Alkaid with a long suffering sigh as she gave Yomi a light bow.  “You probably don’t remember me but I’m Alkaid, nice to meetcha.” she said,  as she nervously held out a hand for Yomi to shake.


“Sorry to bother you like this Yomi-sama but do you got a moment? I’ve been meaning to speak to you every since we ran off that red clad fellow.” she requested.  Ever since that day when she had saw first hand Yomi’s strength the elder girl had been her hero and role model.  She was an ideal candidate for the project Alkaid had in mind, namely reviving the seven swordsman of the mist.

“To answer your question the old man’s in the hospital.” she said.   It was a rude way to address Nikuyo but anybody could tell who she was referring to. “The Village Council appointed a new interim Mizukage.” she said this loudly for the benfit for Kotsubo who was just now catching up.

“Sensai!” she exclaimed happily as she ran over to him, her arms held out wide as she attempted to glomp onto him with a full fledged hug straight to his torso.  “You’ve been gone so long, I was beginning to worry you wouldn’t come back.” she exclaimed, tears of relief spilling from her eyes.

Being interrupted while trying to explain to one of those dull guards who she was...was not exactly what the Chuunin had expected, but even less so when the source of this interruption was a girl who she had probably seen only once and had hardly interacted with before and since. Lucky for herself and perhaps the girl's own selfesteem, Yomi was quite adept at remembering faces and names, however the drawback was that she wasn't sure she had actually ever heard the girl's name...so she wasn't sure wether or not her memory actually had acces to a name that had to be placed with the face she was looking at.

"Could you cut the annoying flattery, it's completely uncalled for...though...not at all untrue," The chuunin grinned while turning her attention away from the shinobi on guard duty, solely focusing on the girl who wore such...nice clothes. Not at all sure how to react to someone who seemed to be all so uppity. Luckily for Yomi though, the girl simply introduced herself, allowing for the Chuunin to stop thinking on how to adress her, solving that issue in an instant. "Well, so...Alkaid, right? So...the old mizukage's in the hospital and someone new took over...how...annoying."

Gritting her teeth, Yomi did not hide the fact that she was quite taken aback and also extremely disappointed that someone would actually be appointed as kage during her absence. It meant there was either someone she knew swinging the baton of kage or someone entirely unknown to her ruining the name of kirigakure, in either case it was an unpleasant and unacceptable idea for the Chuunin. "I don't even know how long it's been...longer than it should've been that's for sure," She answered when Alkaid seemed to voice her concerns. "I reckon that's always the issue with missions...you never know when they're truly over."

Kotsubo hadn't bother to try and interrupt the conversation between them, after he had told the gate that he'd be fine to enter the village, however, Alkaid had noticed the sharkman soon enough and got mess with a full-on hug, to which Kotsubo didn't give much but he did slightly hunch over to help her. "You like me that much as a sensei huh? I guess I'm doing a good job then." he'd say, after a good few seconds Kotsubo had stepped back from the hug. "Now now, you really didn't think I'd come back alive? though truth be told, I was pretty close to not coming back at all." if Honiko had actually finished her assault on Kotsubo, or when the Anbu ninja could've finished off Kotsubo.

He gave a light chuckle when he heard the old mizukage had been put in the hospital. "So the old sucker finally bit the dust, eh? I kind of liked him, you never knew if he'd shake your hand with his own or use it to drive it straight through your chest." that was the kind of leadership that kept Kirigakure running for as long as it has, but he knew it would eventually have to come to a halt at one point or another. "And someone already took over the spot, of course... we got plenty of idealists in the village as it is, wouldn't surprise me."

He looked over to Yomi though, and got reminded that they should do their mission reporting soon. "We should head up to the Mizukage's office regardless and meet this new person in office, they'll want to hear about this mission... though we've been gone for an awful amount of time, if Alkaid wants to talk to us, I suppose they can wait a bit more." he especially wasn't in no rush, he would hope that the new Mizukage is either a pencil pusher or an optimistic idealist of some kind, since he knew well enough if Nikuyo heard the details of Kotsubo's report, he'd be dead or maimed in some way.

As Alkaid was talking to Yomi she felt the hair on the back of her neck raise slightly from the breeze. It was the feeling a person sometimes gets when they are being watched, but she quickly wrote it off as someone watching the acclaimed chunnin she was talking to and only seeing her as an incidental.

Yomi asked her the cut the flattery. Alkaid had been laying it on a bit thick because she had been trying to butter the woman up before launching her proposal. She’d really meant what she’d been saying but leave it to someone so sharp to want to cut thought the crap and great straight to business.

She’d been hoping to get more of a rise out of her sensai when she’d hugged him. He didn’t seem the type that would expect would expect so much affection after having barely met the one time, but he was just so friggen cool that it was hard for her not to admire him. Well at least he didn’t take it negatively she thought as she backed off him to give him some space.

“It’s not that I doubted your strength or anything sensai. It’s just….” she said with a sigh. “I lost someone I cared for to the plague while you where gone. Well we the village lost a few in general including a jounin, who just happened to be the wielder of the Kubikiribōchō. Strong, weak the disease didn’t seem to care.” she said with a exadurated shrug.

“Anyway enough sob stories for one day. You being together like this saves me some time so thanks for that. You two clearly have places to be so I’ll keep things short so you can get back to your date.” she said teasingly.

“As you probably know most of the seven swords have been sitting around gathering dust. I figure now that the old man’s out of the picture it’s high time to put’em to use again. Basically I wanna reform the Seven swordsman out of the strongest kiri has to offer and I think you two are perfect candidates for the job.” Alkaid explained bluntly.

Yomi's eyes widened slightly when hearing Kotsubo talk about Lord Nikuyo like that, it wasn't like she herself was fully loyal or faithful, but if anything, she was rather certain that he was by far one of the most suited candidates to run Kirigakure like it should've been in the first place: like a military nation. However she did not dwell to much on the subject, simply let out a deep sigh and calmly listened to what her companion and the girl had to say, keeping her mouth sealed for the time being...

Hearing the Sharklike Hoshikage mention they had their mission report soon, the Chuunin couldn't refrain from at the very least letting out a long sigh, though luckily he did also offer the idea that since they'd been gone for so long, a few distractional moments would not hurt them. It was at the very least better to hear what the girl had to say rather than listening to what this new Mizukage had to say to them after this entire botched up mission and the subsequent events which concluded their stay in the hostile Land of Lightning.

"Everyone dies in the end, such is life...fleeting and usually pretty boring as well," Yomi scoffed at the idea of people feeling down or depressed by death, while she saw life as the depressing factor. "As for that new Mizukage..."

She turned to the side, looking at this strange girl literally dropping in unannounced to the conversation, grinning slightly when hearing how arrogant and uncaring the girl seemed to present herself, even more so...she did point out the most obvious and glaring problem with Alkaid's proposal indeed. "Heh, though you have a point, I don't really care wether it's this new mizukage or this kid trying to reinstate the old Seven Swords. It's not like I'd even aim to be a part of them, why would I waste my time on learning some swordstyle while my own power more or less outstrips and outranks practically everyone present here?" With a mocking grin, Yomi looked at Kotsubo before turning her attention back to Alkaid. "Do you truly believe it is the opportune time to revive the Seven Swords? As far as I remember those could only be the best and strongest swordmen and women in the whole Land of Water, don't tell me you think a couple of genin are going to be able to take these places?"

Kotsubo gave a crossed eyebrow when Yomi had mocked Kotsubo so easily, he can take quite the insults here and there, but he certainly wasn't letting that one go. "I can understand the bravado with what you've done in the mission against that... certain someone." referring to when Yomi was the only one who inflicted injury upon the pale woman back in the mission. "But don't forget... bravado gets ninjas killed, don't bite off more then you can chew." he can understand the confidence since her abilities are pretty unique, but such bravado demonstrated just then is a weakness and he honestly expected a better show then that from Yomi.

Even though Yomi gave it pretty blunt to Alkaid about the Seven Swords and the ranks associated with them, he can respect the intent behind it as the Seven Ninja Swordsmen are considered the strongest Kirigakure have to offer, and trying to revive it is a worthy goal but as of the village's current state, he doesn't think that Kirigakure is quite ready to build up that division, otherwise it might just end in a disaster and the reputation the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist are known for will just go down the drain.

He went with the word of what the pink-haired girl had said, since it didn't matter if Alkaid wanted to revive the Swordsmen of the Mist as the choice is ultimately up to the Mizukage, though he corrected Yomi on the account of what she said last. "Alkaid did say she wanted to reform the seven swords out of the best Kiri has to offer, I don't think she has any personal interest in the swords themselves or a position." he might be wrong on that front, oblivious to Alkaid's true goal as to why she wanted to revive them, but he did respect the idea behind it.

Hearing Yomi talk about the nature of death and how everyone died lit a fire in Alkaid.  An old poem famous in this land came to mind and being a natrual born ham she simple had to recite it for them.  
“Grief is like the ocean, it comes in waves, ebbing and flowing. Sometimes the water is calm, and sometimes it is overwhelming. All we can do is learn to swim and sometimes, just tread water.” she said dramatically.

She’d just finished when a certian pink haired interloper showed up, trying to steal her spotlight.  Talk about a difficult woman to understand. One day she was trying to help save Alkaid from a bunch of puppets and the next she’s trying to upstage her, attempting to impeded progress one one of the big three quests she had set for herself.

“Yo, I’ll have you know that I have an in with the Mizukage’s twin sister Toonami.  She has blue hair and crimson eyess; You can’t miss her. They’ve got this two in one blood line type thing going on so what one says goes for the other” she said deliberately copying the way Cheery had said it as if to say she could provide information just as well, if not better then her.  

“They asked me to help screen for potential candidates.  Can’t guarantee that my picks will be the finalists, but my choices do have some weight to them.” She said half telling the truth and half telling a lie using her stage acting ability to make it sound more believable.

They hadn’t asked her any such thing,  But she really did have an in with them and her cousin was in Koonami’s favor so if she floated the topic she was sure they’d at least humor her and listen to what she had to say which was more then could be said about Nikuyo who’d just wanted her to shut up and stay silent forever.

“You’re strong Yomi-san there’s no doubt about that, otherwise I wouldn’t even be asking you. But please don’t go selling my sensai short. Even the old man respected him, well as much as he respected anybody really. That alone should tell you that this shark’s got bite to him.” she said standing up for him. Taking her hands out she mimicking jaws snapping with them like she was taking a bite out of something.

“Anyway you wouldn’t need to worry about learning a new fighting style or anything.  Correct me if I’m wrong but I saw part of your file and it says you’re a medic and word on the street is that you’re the best armor maker in town.  You’re the perfect candidate for the Nuibari if I’ve ever seen one. I mean it’s name literally means Sewing needle, a tool you no doubt are familiarly with.  If you consider it as just an oversized one it’d you’d have no trouble,  don’t you think?”  she asked.

“And Sensai?  He’s a Jounin so that pretty much automatically qualifies him.  Frankly with his build there’s several of the swords he could use, though personally I think Samehada would suit him best.” she said explaining her reasoning about why she had chosen them in particular.

“And yes, now when we’ve already lost so much is the perfect time to revive them. What better way to show those shit-stains from other countries that Kiri is still strong even without the old man around to prop us up? Together the Seven will make Kiri great again” Alkaid proclaimed as if her words where the gospel truth.

Yomi asking about gennin taking a spot as one of the seven made Alkaid burst into a deep laughter, making her have to clench her stomach as she pretended to in pain from chuckling too much. “Oh dear me I wouldn’t presume for a gennin to take up such a role, let alone one as weak as myself.”  her voice slightly bitter from her words. It was hard admitting you where weak infront of your hero’s but facts where facts.

“Ultimately when I’m as strong as you Yomi-san I want to become the 8th swordsman. An unofficial member if you will.  One that we won’t advertise that they exist. A blade that stabs because they won’t see it coming.”  

using ua - Stage actor

Yomi let out a sigh, obviously getting annoyed and bored with everything which was going on around her. A stranger jumping down and provoking the kaguya kid, the kaguya kid herself starting to pose like she was some sort of stage actor...not exactly something which made her interesting and more likely annoying in the Chuunin's eyes. There was a difference between an actor and a powerful orator and Alkaid seemed to go for the former. "Let's get the facts straight, Alkaid," The woman let out another sigh and placed both of her hands atop the child's shoulders, leaning in extremely close, so close that Yomi could've easily nibbled upon the Kaguya Child's earlobes if she wanted. With her lips this close, on a cold and nearly ruthless sounding tone of voice, the Chuunin whispered into Alkaid's ear soft enough for the kaguya kid to be the only one to hear what she said. "Imply it even once more, just a single time...that Kotsubo is my equal or even my superior...and they will have to scrape what's left of you from underneath my boots, understood?"

Taking a step back, Yomi smiled brightly at Alkaid, winking at the child as her smile turned into a threateningly diabolical grin. "I don't think I'd be suited to wield a weapon anyway, it's not my forte, better to let it in the hands of those who do not own the physique to have their body be used as a weapon," With that being said,the chuunin walked over to Kotsubo and tapped him on the shoulder. "You're the one who was complaining that we couldn't be late...so don't go wasting my time either. This conversation can be held at some other time, don't you agree?"

Kotsubo wouldn't have an idea of what Yomi would say up so close to Alkaid in a whispery tone, but guessing by what he knew of her so far, he would doubt that it's anything friendly. Regardless, he'd watch her reaction closely to determine the nature of what Yomi really said to her. The other words that Alkaid had said didn't pique Kotsubo's interest too much, it was true that it would be nice to wield such a blade, but he'd only do it once the Mizukage deemed him worthy of it. He's done well so far with just a normal blade anyway, so he's particularly in no rush to get one of the famous seven swords into his possession, as nice as that'd be. "It's not a bad idea Alkaid, but it'll be a while until we find the worthy candidates for all seven swords, in the end like that woman said..." he'd look over to the pink-haired girl before looking back to Alkaid. "It's not really for us to decide, even if you have some sort of sway with the Mizukage." he was pretty indifferent about the idea currently.

Even though Yomi was right that Kotsubo mentioned they couldn't be late about reporting the mission, he just simply shrugged about the hypocrisy. "Hey, plans change. I'm sure we can at least rest up a bit at our houses before heading up to the office anyway. I think we at least deserve that." besides, he hasn't gotten a proper rest ever since going out to the Land of Lightning, so it's something that he's looking forward to at the price of the urgency of the mission reporting. "Anyway, you can go on ahead if you'd like Yomi, I'd like to catch up with Alkaid either way." with how long they've been gone, he'd like to get the latest gossip on Kirigakure so far.

“Better a mime then a clown pinky.  Why don’t you run off and join the circus?  I bet you’d be a big hit with the kids!” Alkaid shot back sarcastically only just barely holding herself back from saying something much ruder.   She’d been getting a bit more fowl mouthed then usual lately, clearly spending time around Toonami had been a bad influence.

It was one of the reasons she’d been seeking Yomi out.  Yomi was the strongest kunoichi she’d ever seen in action and in the months sense she’d built her up in her head to be an almost mythical figure. One that could be a more positive role model for her, not just in how she should act in battle but for life in general.  Someone that could, show her the way.

The illusion that was quickly shattered however as Yomi put her hands on Alkaid’s shoulders and leaned it.  At first Alkaid was flustered, what was this… was her hero about to hit on her?  She would be extremely flattered  if that was the case, thought there was the slightly problem of her being pretty straight (for the most part anyway.)  All told she wouldn’t object to experimenting if Tsubaki had been the one asking.

But the instead of words of warmth and love she received an ice cold threat in a tone that made her spine shiver.  Did Yomi have a screw lose or something?  When she’d been saying not to sell her sensai short what part of that had implied anything about him being equal or better then the acclaimed Chunnin?   She’d just been trying to say that the shark man was no pushover.

Before Yomi could step back a small bone spike shout out from Alkaid’s cheek without any warning. The spike would ripe though her mask as she attempted to use it to nick Yomi in the face and draw some blood.  If it hit it wouldn’t do any serious damage, but the point wasn’t to actually hurt the Chunnin but show her that Alkaid hadn’t taken to being threatened kindly.

“Be careful what flowers you try and step on. Some have thorns.”  She warned in a whisper her tone equally as icy as Yomi’s own.   Alkaid had survived a sparring match with old man Nikuyo himself and managed to snatch the scythe from the reaper itself.   She knew she couldn’t beat Yomi but she wasn’t afraid of her either.  

If the woman wanted to take her life there wasn’t much she could do to stop that from happening,  but she’d be damned if the cost wouldn’t be steep.  Mess with her and she was going to take an arm or a leg with her as a souvenir to show off in the afterlife.

She shrugged as Yomi turned her off down, pretending as if nothing had just happened between the two but secretly she was more then a bit disappointed in her idol.  Why oh why did almost everyone in this godforsaken village have to be such psychopaths?  Village hidden in mist? More like the village hidden in blood lust.    Did that make Alkaid even more eccentric for being one of the few who actually cared about her allies?

“A sword is just a tool. The Weapon should always be the wielder.” she said sagely.  Anyone who depending on their blade too much to function without it where considered little more then trash in her eyes.  “But if you’re not interested,  that’s that. Thank you for taking the time to listen to my selfish request.” she said giving Yomi a polite bow of her head.

“One more thing before you go Yomi-san…. You wouldn’t happen to make any gear suited for a Kaguya? It’s rather…annoying to go all out and then end up naked on the battlefield afterward. ” she said with a long suffering sigh.  Kotsubo seemed to like her idea, but was worried about how long it was going to take to find the right people.  It was a big village thought so how hard would it to be to find seven candidates…. well six really since Kotsubo hadn’t really turned her down.  He just wanted the Mizukage’s approval first before signing off on joining.

“Oh? What can I help you with Sensai?” She asked curios about what he wanted to talk about since he’d elected to stick around a bit longer despite the seven sword business coming to an impasse for now.   When it came to information about what was going on in the village their where few sources better then her other then then obviously the Mizukage herself.

A nick in her skin, a smile on her face, Yomi simply heard the words and proceeded as if nothing had happened, but her smile, her grin, her expression was nonetheless honest. She had threatened someone with capital punishment and rather than being subject to whimpering or an overt display of fear, she caught herself a rather defiant little fish.

With her right index finger sliding over the nick in her cheek, the chuunin's rather hostile disposition quickly made way for a more intrigued and slightly interested demeanor. Having given Kotsubo her say and an equally truthful and honest reply by the man himself, Yomi heard how the Kaguya asked wether or not she actually had something for the young woman that could be worn without the usual drawbacks of any kaguya bearing armor. "Kind of an interesting question, but not entirely without foundation and certainly not impossible," Already having her thoughts wander off into the realm of infinite possibilities, the chuunin quickly snapped back to reality, putting the index finger which still had a trickle of blood on it which she had smeered off of her cheek earlier into her mouth to taste said aforementioned blood and taste the iron within it. "I think I might find a few ways to grant you the opportunity to wear something more suitable for your...disposition. Come find me in the eastern part of town when you got the time, I might have some stuff to try out and we'll see where we'll get."

Giving a nod to everyone, the woman walked off, passing Kotsubo again, she tapped him lightly on the back and smiled. "You go wash yourself up, can't have us both reeking like sweaty pigs when getting to the Mizukage," With that being said she left the group to their own devices, all the while stroking the cut on her cheek with a grin on her face. tenacious little girls were after all very useful for what she had in store.

Exit Thread

Kotsubo didn't seem to mind the nickname that the pink-haired individual gave him, he's been called worse nicknames with how he looked, with the most common one being "Blueberry Shark" with that barely getting to him anymore as it's just repetitive and annoying instead of actually being offensive and irritating. Though he sported an interested look when Alkaid mentioned about being naked on the battlefield when using her full ability, finding it hard to imagine. "It really just sounds like a bad wet dream, it's like if you're in the middle of a serious battle and you suddenly see that you don't have pants on. That'd be a shitty dream." he'd jest, a light chuckle coming out of him. It's been a while since he could push in a sort of harmless, dry joke like that. He's been all serious-like with the mission so far.

He'd nod to Yomi, feeling the light pat on his back as she walked off, Kotsubo gave a light wave as a form of goodbye to her as she walked off before refocusing his attention to Alkaid. "Just tell me the latest news really with the village, excluding all the Mizukage stuff. I have been gone for a while so I'm expecting some form of changes in Kirigakure, no matter how little they could be. Tell me about Yumi, Tsubaki, anything worth noting." he just wanted to be on top of the Kirigakure news as information is always important to be on top of things, instead of letting one little thing slip that could ruin an entire day's schedule.

Inwardly Alkaid breath a sigh of relief as Yomi smiled after being nicked then proceeded as if nothing had happened.  She had been worried that standing up for herself would make Yomi want to take her head but it seemed like she’d been let off the hook for now as the Chunnin told her to come find her in another part of town later to get hooked up with some gear.

Part of her wondered how much said gear was going to cost, hopefully since she’d completed an s-rank mission recently she’d be able to afford it.   Still the fact that would be better the anything should could grab in a normal store would easily make it worth it and there was no price high enough for preserving her dignity.

Her eyebrows raised at being called a Shank and she shot a disdainful glare at Akira. The longer she spend around this infurating woman the more she seemed… Familiar somehow thought Alkaid was having a hard time putting her finger on exactly why.  Come to think of it she sounded a heck of lot like her cousin Yanagi only more pretentious.  

She was about the same size as her as well. The only difference real difference if one looked closely enough was that her hair and eyes where different colors.  But as an infiltration expert Alkaid knew that was nothing that couldn’t easily be changed with with a simple dye job and contact lenses.

“In my line of working, being like a ghost is a good thing. Means you aren’t being detected by the enemy.”  she commented while watching Akiria suspeciously. She couldn’t be 100% sure without concrete hard evidence on hand but if she was wrong it would one heck of a coincidence.  If it was a disguise like she was assuming it was good enough to fool most people.  If they hadn’t been close family members she probably would never have seen thought it.

Ignoring her sensai’s rather vulgar joke she dove right into catching up on the latest news. “Well the old man put Yumi in the hospital after our training session but she’s doing alright now outside of the occasional explosion when she’s mixing chemicals in her labs.  Tsubaki’s the new Mizukage’s Secretary and handles most of the paperwork for her and stuff.” she explained starting with the small stuff first and working her way up.    

“As for the village at large it’s been pretty much business as usual outside of all the deaths from the plague.   Been too busy rebuilding our strenght to go start shit with other villages. Speaking of which we just secured a trade deal and alliance with Konoha after they helped us fend of the freaking Kazekage and his legion of puppets the other day.  So you happen to see any leaf’s around please don’t rank them by accident.” she joked.

“The only other big change is that supposed my cousin Yanagi whacked a bunch of my clan’s elders… Not that I’d blame her after they let her sister die. I was almost tempted to do the same myself.  Still something about the whole way it went down smells fishy.  No offence.” she said speaking loud enough to make sure that Alkira would hear her as she made her way off so that she could try and gauge the girls reaction.  

“The Mizukage wants her found and brought back alive for questioning, not that I have any idea where she went.” she added lying though her teeth and using her stage actor ability to make it harder for her deception to be seen thought.

“First I had to fight the old man, then a freaking grim reaper. That’s twice I almost got my ticket punched.  I need to become stronger sensai… can you help me?” she asked pleadingly.

Kotsubo just laughed his way through the insults the girls were sending at each other, it was the perfect moment of where he'd just sit down and eat popcorn while the two went at it, but their insults were a bit shortlived and slightly disappointing, ah well. Kotsubo placed his undivided attention back on Alkaid as she explained what seemed to be the usual of Kirigakure, he honestly wasn't expecting too much news but he was a bit disappointed at it as well. Though the real news stuck in when he heard a few clan elders of the Kaguya clan got whacked by one of their own, apparently for letting a younger Kaguya's sister die. He can understand well enough that someone would be emotional enough to pull that off, but such an event was quite interesting.

Then after all the news had been told to Kotsubo, he heard Alkaid's request, apparently being in two life-threatening situations that inspired her to try and become stronger, for the next time where a situation isn't so life-threatening. He let out a sigh, not expressing much interest in what Alkaid is asking. "Perhaps later on, just for now I just want to get in my bed and sleep now that I've heard about the usual of Kirigakure. I'll train you later, alright?" Kotsubo said, mostly saying that just so Alkaid wouldn't make a whole case of basically forcing him into it as he's just not ready for another headache.

"I'll see you two ladies later, I just want to get some rest now." Kotsubo said, giving a light wave to the both of them before walking past them and into the village at last. He didn't bother for any other stops along the way and as soon as he got home, would just collapse on the bed, gear on and all.

(Exit)

Alkaid had been hoping her sensai would laugh more at her small joke about not raking the leafs now that they had allied themselves with Konoha but it seemed he had been to tired to react much to that or any of the other news she had just given him. One would think the story about being attacked by a small army of puppets would have been enough to at least raise an eyebrow.

She’d been also expecting at least one “Are you shitting me?” remarks at some point as well but nope he gave her none of those either. It was surpising how much trust he was willing to put into her word considering they barely knew each other. They hadn’t even managed to finish proper indroductions before he’d been sent of on a mission by the old man, a mission he’d just returned from.

Did he know about her real job as a spy where delivering proper information was key? That was need to know information only but considering he was the jounin assigned to training her it would make sense he’d been told, if only so he wouldn’t be surprised when she wandered off to do something more important then the usual d rank mission, even if she’d never get any credit or recognition for it.

Akira wandered off, not showing any reaction that she’d heard what Alkaid had to say. “-tt-” said Alkaid clicking her tongue in annoyance. All she had was a hunch, a theory and no proof. Thought even if she had she wouldn’t have said anything. Selling out her own cousin would have been in bad taste and while she was loyal to the village blood was still thicker then water.

Promising to train her later becasue he was tired, the shark man wandered off, waving his hand good buy. Little did Alkaid know at the time that he had little intention of actually keeping his word and had just been saying that to get away with the least amount of headace from her as possible.

With the others gone Alkaid had to man the gates on her own, but luckily the conversation had taken up most of he shift. With nothing eventful happening she quickly wrapped up for the day as another gennin soon arrived to take her place. The fact they where leaving such an important to people so low ranked said a lot about the current situation. Either security was rather lax or they where simply too short handed to field anyone better suited to the goal.

If someone major had rolled up like the former kazekage had the other night their would have been jack shit she could have done to stop him from just walking over her right into the village. That just went to show how weak Kiri really was right now and why she’d wanted to reform the seven swords to rectify the situation, it was a shame so few people where interested.

[exit]