Secretive Scouting (Open to all!)

Whistling merrily as he wandered through the training fields, a lazy grin on his face as he took the chance to glance around for decent spots. In his hands he kept his standard deck of cards, however every now and then was taking a single card from his card and casually flinging it into the dirt and burying it halfway with his sandal. He’d been trying to find a funny activity and frankly, the village just felt so small when it came to host any activities.

I need to liven this place up more, Riku thought to himself as he continued his trek.

As he pushed past another remarkably mundane bush in his journey, Riku smiled as he came face to face with the Naka river. The black-haired rogue thought casually about if there was a way to get it renamed to the Nara river and claim it as his property. Raising his head upwards with squinted eyes to figure out where the sun was, the rogue then took a lazy half spin on his heel to look around. He was supposed to split up with the other two to find decent spots, then meet up near the river around this time. They weren’t at a different part of the river, right?

“Note to self,” He said with a sigh, rubbing the back of his head, “Bring a map next time.”

Riku took the chance to sit beside the river with a lazy smile as he resumed shuffling his deck of cards, his head occasionally pivoting about to see if he could make heads or tails of a nutjob with a bow or abnormally persistent insects.

Did Riku believe he had gotten here first? Hohoho, what a fool he was. Inotsu giggled on the inside of his stoic skull as he imagined the shock on Riku's face when he... OW! Just as Inotsu began to daydream of shocking Riku, a sharp object lodged itself in his forehead, just skin deep, but still it hurt! With that, the blonde genin rose up from the earth, displacing loose soil he'd used to camouflage his location. In his head was a card stuck between his brow like some sort of horn, making him look quite silly, all things considered. But comedy was all about the absurd, thus Inotsu did not comment on it and simply saluted Riku.

"Inotsu Yamanaka, reporting for duty," he said blankly.

A few minutes before this, Inotsu had been scouting the area from a vantage point, bow drawn so he might measure the distances with an arrow every now and then. Difficulty was, despite being in view, his arrows would sometimes fall short of his target. To correct this failing, he utilized a clever trick his dad showed him way back when, flowing chakra through his arm to reinforce it just enough to pull his bowstring back further, allowing for a longer range shot.

Trouble is, even with the capability to fire such a shot, Inotsu required a certain additional level of aim to properly take advantage of this increased range. But dad was no one-trick pony, and Inotsu remembered his lessons every day from their hunts. Instead of chakra, mere breathing could enhance his focus, drawing the energy from the air, depriving it from his body and resupplying mechanically, calculatedly, thus optimizing his entire bodily system toward this one shot.

Time seemed to slow, his eyes straining and temples feeling like some sort of vacuum on his head as they struggled to pump the large amounts of focused blood into his optical areas. In this moment, Inotsu’s pure and raw focus was a thing to behold. He observed his surroundings, understanding the layout of the river and its immediate environment. There was a peculiar bend in the river, a drop that appeared almost unnatural, which provided him an idea. First, however, it was necessary to know how steep the drop is and whether he could properly take advantage of the depth.

With that in mind, Inotsu’s focus turned to something else as he evoked the Sensing Technique, sensing the slight chakra in the trees and the way the aura would flow in the wind, ever so much that he could get a feel for how the air moved around, through, over, and below certain obstacles. Rather than let those obstacles become a burden, they only opened many more routes for his arrow to fly, his possibilities multiplying.

Keeping such in mind, Inotsu shot an arrow at the river, the projectile flying parallel to it and even skimming the watery surface every now and again before an updraft would send it rocketing upwards toward an overhead horizontal post which the arrow would then loop around in an almost cartoonish fashion before splashing down into the river drop.

From his location, he could see how the arrow landed, how it was affecting the river flow, and even how deeply it pierced the earth. All this information was promising, all things considered, for Riku’s end goal.

“I found a small waterfall in the river downstream. We could probably dig under it to create a secret hideaway,” Inotsu reported with little glee in his voice, with concentrated amounts of glee in his pupils. “We can float the lumber downstream for easy transport and store it there, throwing off our scent and tracks while we’re at it.”

“Interesting choice in fashion, Inotsu,” Shigeru announces as he turns up to the meeting, fashionably last of course. “I hear 'muddy card unicorn' is all the rage nowadays!” The Aburame was frankly more surprised that the Yamanaka wasn't sopping wet from having hidden in the river for hours on end.

“Hmm... I like the lumber idea, I'm guessing we use the hideaway like some kinda secret stash? Means we might get all wet trying to get in, but I guess so will any potential nosy people.” Shigeru's mind was whirring through Inotsu's idea, refining it (in his eyes at least). “And since you like arrows so much, we could get Riku to rig up some kinda trap, I'm guessing? Oh yeah, and we probably don't want to go too far down the Naka River, the thing ends up winding through Uchiha land, not to mention the ravine it drops into. Best to keep an eye on the lumber, I think.

“As for my thoughts... I think taking a look at the Senju Park could be a good idea. It's a pretty big forest, so we're pretty unlikely to be found, but it's still a public place, so we could spy on some interesting conversations. Plus,” Shigeru's voice gains a new level of excitement, “It has a playground!” Truly, the most important factor in his findings. How else would they blow off steam, build a whole playground?

Sakai sat in a small grove in meditation, reaching out to the life of nature around him. He did this twice a week to increase his influence with his families bloodline jutsu. The sound of people however made him open his eyes and stand up. He huffed at the annoying noises and went to investigate. Today he wore a dark green kimono that hid the ninja clothes and several ninja tools under it. His long hair reached his waist and flowed in the wind as he walked out of the trees, Sakai had always looked a bit feminine with his tear dropped shaped face and green eyes. Many had mistaken him for a girl only to be surprised when he corrected them. The first person he spotted was a Genin who was playing with a bunch of cards. He looked familiar so he was probably from the leaf village but not someone he interacted with.

The second to arrive came out of the ground and now had a card lodged into his head band. He seemed a weird sort but he wasn't one to judge people. He noticed the boy carried a bow and had a quiver of arrows on him. He had heard of a Genin archer and a family of them in the village. Another one he did not interact with. He preferred his own company and that of the trees and Michi over a bunch of people. However a word did hit his ears that made him grim. They were talking about cutting down the trees which was a big deal. Sakai had spent summers coaxing these trees from acorns into their full bloom.

He was about to head over when a third boy appeared. He said something about muddy unicorns and went on to agree with the cutting down trees idea. Sakai stepped into full view and using his chakra he walked over the water towards the three boys. A storm cloud on his brow, his hands rested in the sleeves of his kimono. "Excuse me, what is this about cutting down trees to make some hide out? These trees are here for training, not to be used for some idiotic boys club. I would ask you to refrain from such activity!" He glared at all three as if he was the Hokage himself admonishing three lack luster students.