Blackjack

Man from the sounds of it Nariko really wanted Natsuru to learn the shadow clone. It was a great idea in theory but how could they really implement it in reality. Her squad hadn’t exactly done a lot of missions together or much training sessions either for the matter but Ryuko still had a pretty good idea of what the others where capable of doing.

Shimiko being more combat focused had more of a background in Ninjutsu then the rest of the squad put together which meant she wouldn’t have much trouble picking it up as long as she was shown by the right teacher. Natsuru on the other hand was a scout through and through. She had bows and sensory down-pat but more advance ninjutsu like this where going to be tricky at best until she brushed up her studies.

Ryuko herself had only been able to learn it because she was smarter then the average bear as it where. She had to be in order to even become a Vestal candidate in the first place since what use was an an adviser if they where as dumb as a brick? She was likely one of the smarter people in the village, though obviously not THE smartest since she still had quite a bit of learning to do. Understandable given her age.

“Well I’m sure tis only a matter of time until she masters it.” said Ryuko with a light laugh. With a will there was a way and Nat-chan had more of that to go around then anyone else she had ever met. If anyone could pull off learning a hard jutsu it would be her.

What Nariko had to say about seperating the good from the bad went a long way towards making Ryuko feel a little bit better. Yes she had gotten lucky, but it was the skill to capabilities on her luck that made the difference and not just the luck itself.

“Oh thank Hakkin that dumb-ass got what was coming to him.” she said letting out a big sigh of relief that she wouldn’t have to worry about running into Akuma during a mission or in the middle of a fight ever again. She’d spent the last few days having nightmares he was going to be made into her next sensai.

“I’ve heard that most men are beasts, but please tell me they aren’t all idiots as well….” She said with a straight face feeling genuinely concerned about the issue. Excluding her direct family her experience with the opposite gender was extremely limited.

The monks at the monastery where nice enough but they where all old and had taken vows of chastity, even going so far as to eat special meals that would impede their libido which meant she couldn’t use them as a frame of reference for dealing with the rest of the world.

She’d always been told to be wary of men, but she had trusted Akashi because he was her sensai and look where they had gotten her. He’d betrayed the squad to a group of common thugs and bandits and nearly gotten them all killed. Seeing the way Akuma had acted like a complete buffoon had only served to reinforce her suspicions.

She wasn’t ready to write the entire gender off entirely due to the example of a few bad apples. Woman that though they didn’t need no man for anything where in her opinion idiots. But it was fair to say it had made her more leery and skittish around them. If Morikawa had stuck around she wouldn’t have been speaking half so freely as she was now.

Ryuko was pleasantly surprised once again that Nariko allowed the hug instead of rebuffing her. She’d known at least a couple of warriors who liked to keep everything professional, seeing emotional ties between master and student like this as a weakness to be exploited. But for the attention starved young girl it was like mana from heaven.

All this time growing up her family barely had the time of day for her. Of course they made sure she was well looked after, but human beings needed more then just food and shelter to flourish but love as well. Something that Ryuko had found more of in the short time since coming to Kumogakure then she had ever gotten from home.

But if she was surprised the hug being allowed and being hugged back she was utterly gobsmacked at how readily Nariko agreed to take her on for such an important task without even stopping to think about it or ask more questions first. That one action was enough to push Ryuko straight from simply just liking her to something more.

“Nariko. Ich liebe dich” cried out Ryuko who was so overcome with emotion that she spoke in her native tongue telling the older woman that she loved her. “I swear that I shall devote my heart and soul into faithfully serving you.” This was of course mainly platonic since Ryuko barely even what sex was. If Nariko kissed her now she’d likely faint on the spot.

As Nariko asked her if there was anything else she could help her with Ryuko was awed by her pure generosity. She’d been given so much already how could she possibly ask for more? Well their was that one expensive piece of tech on the market she’d been looking at getting to upgrade her batons, but it would have wiped out all her crafting funds in the process.

But screw asking for charity. Their relationship was already lopsided enough as it was. Ryuko needed to prove she could bring something to the table and not be handed everything on a sliver platter. She’d go do a few missions and earn the money herself to get that upgrade and once it was ready show it off to Nariko to impress her.

“Well I could use some advise…” She said ending the hug and reluctantly pulling away. She couldn’t stay clinging to her teacher forever. She needed to get much stronger if she was going to preform her duties as a Vestal properly and support Nariko.

“After the way our last mission went I’ve been studying medicine. But I’m not sure having the squads forward striker also be it’s medic is a great idea, at least not until I handle myself better on the battlefield. Do you think I should stick with it or focus on something else for the moment like learning my element?” Ryuko asked.

Not being able to use any element was highly inconvenient and the biggest thing holding her back from learning more jutsu at the moment, though then again becoming a medic would grant her access to a technique that would allow her to boost her strength. If she had that she wouldn’t have to rely on the Ahrat fist so much anymore and could focus on learning a new fighting style focused on speed and precision instead. Decisions, Decisions

"I wouldn't say all men are bad. Just the ones who have an over inflated view of themselves. Or the ones who only care about sex. Or the ones who hate women in roles of leadership. So sure, quite a bit of them are bad, but that's not every guy. I know a couple who are fine I think." Nariko replied honestly. She didn't hate men, or necessarily distrust them, but then again, she was the type that did drugs, or drank, and had plenty of sex with men and with women. She really didn't care. To her, it was the men who refused to acknowledge a woman as a good leader purely because they were a woman that pissed her off.

The conversation soon moved on, with Ryuko speaking some strange dialect briefly. Nariko wasn't versed in that language, and so glossed over it fairly quickly, figuring it to be some sort of her religious stuff. She quickly expressed her utter devotion to Nariko who smiled in response. It was probably a good thing that she wasn't the type to take advantage of someone so young and impressionable or she could have had a lot of fun with that oath, but Nariko was more mischievous than she was just an out right abuser of power. This meant a lot to the girl, she wouldn't abuse it.

Then Ryuko asked for advise, rather than something material, a little bit of a surprise to the new Raikage. She could either advance her element or become a field medic, but was unsure of which to do, and Nariko was even less so. Deciding to help Ryuko by purely weighing some pros and cons, and speaking out loud to sound board, Nariko addressed the question.

"Well, they're both useful in their own right. Having a medic who is strong enough to be the Frontline striker is incredibly useful in its own right. Plus your ability to sustain would increase, as healing could be applied to you by yourself. Medics who can't protect themselves don't belong on the field, but you can protect yourself. But then again, an element would be fairly useful as well. It opens up the door to new Jutsu. Each elemental library has a wide variety of jutsu, and plenty to learn. I'd say either way you go, it is a huge benefit to you."

Nariko talking about how all men weren’t bad wasn’t quite as reassuring as Ryuko had been hoping for. One one hand it was nice to know that their where some good men out their but on the other it sounded almost like those where more the exception then the rule. She just had to try her best to find more of them. Well at least Simon seemed to be one of them so she was off to a good start in that department.

It made her all the more glad to be free of the spectator of an arranged marriage. Sure some of the nobles like her father actually tried to do their job properly and look after the people like they where supposed to but she’d also met more then a few that seemed only interested in lining their own pockets.

The idea of marrying some stranger she didn’t know had never seemed very appealing to her. She’d probably have better luck winning the lottery then finding a suitable partner that way. And to be frank despite how much she enjoyed playing matchmaker when she got the chance she’d never been all that interested in going out with a guy herself.

She didn’t understand why people would hate women in the roles of leadership. It wasn’t like that made the men underneath them lesser for it. Well at least if the woman was doing her job correctly anyhow. Heck a Vestal was considered one of the most important jobs you could have in this land and yet that was a role only a women like herself was allowed to have.

“Fair warning. If someone has the gall to tell either of us to get in the kitchen, I might break their arm.” said Ryuko in a serious tone. As the daughter of a noble house she was used to being part of a aristocratic society where titles and status where hereditary. But it was also a society with elements of meritocracy as well since advancement was often based on talent and ability. In her mind your ability to do the job mattered far more then your gender.

When Ryuko got really, really excited she had a bad tendency to lapse into her native language. It was a tendency she was trying to fix since it was pretty frustrating when nobody around her could understand what she was saying. Though in this particular instance it was hard to say if that was a good thing or not. The way Nariko had smiled at her made it seem she got the sentiment at least if not the exact meaning.

It was funny, when she had been just a Vestal Candidate she had studied a wide range of topics in order to be able to give the best advice possible, and yet here she was the the supposed adviser asking for advise herself. The answer she got wasn’t anything too different from what she’d already worked out for herself but it was still helpfull all the same just to here things in another light.

“As your Vestal the best benefit to me tis what would best benefit you. Since we’ll be together alot I think I’ll concentrate on my medical studies for now, that way you’ll almost always have a doctor at hand.” She reasoned thinking that if for some reason Nariko got hurt or sick who better then her attendant to take care of her.

“I think I’ve taken enough of your time for one day. Is their anything I could help you with or a mission I could do for you? ” asked Ryuko looking incredibly eager to actually be useful to her master, especially since the rest of her squad was busy at the moment which meant their wasn’t much she could do for them. Maybe there was another team that could use a little back up......

Nariko laughed, clapping in excitement. "Oh, that'd be great! I mean, I can't even cook, so me in the kitchen is useless, but still, I'd love to see the look on someone's face when you just manhandle them after they perpetuate stereotypes." Now, she wasn't advocating violence, but she really did enjoy putting people in their places.

"If you think that learning medical jutsu is best, then go for it. It's a fantastic skill to have. Even for a front line fighter, and sometimes especially for a front line fighter. I want to see what you do with it, as it has endless sort of applications. Morikawa, the jounin that I was just meeting with, has the ability to use it himself, maybe I can see if he has some pointers for you." she said. It wasn't a problem really, although she didn't need to do that really. Even base line medical jutsu were useful.

"I don't think I have anything that needs to be done other than the paperwork I have. If you want to take a D rank mission or something, that would be fine. I'll take you guys out on a higher ranked mission soon enough." she said, smiling at her young charge. "As it is, you should probably train up. I might be sending you and the rest of the squad on a high ranking mission to track down and capture some sort of beast that's been plaguing the ninja world. All of the other nations are forming task forces as well. You'll find this all out soon enough anyhow."

She smiled at Ryuko, seeing if the girl had anything further to say. "Anyhow, thank you very much for the chainmail present! I really appreciate it, and you stopping by. If you need anything, don't hesitate to come and bother me, I'm pretty agreeable to being dragged away from my work."

-If nothing further, EXIT-

Learned: Black Lightning

Ryuko had been expecting a stern rebuke about not hitting potential clients but once again she was pleasantly surprised when Nariko appliauded her.  The fact the two of them where of similar minds on the subject was very comforting.  The truth was Ryuko wasn’t much of a cook herself. Why would she be when she’d had servants to do that for her.

She could do a couple simple things, like bake cookies or make a Sandwich in a pinch but that was about it and hardly qualified as proper cooking.  If someone actually asked her to make them a sandwich the only kind they would get was of the knuckle variety.  

Ryuko’s ears seemed to perk up as Nariko mentioned the man she had been meeting earlier and how he was a medic.  Sure she could learn all the universal stuff that everyone knew without much help but if she wanted any of the juicy hidden stuff she’d need to consult an expert like him.  Those could be hard to find so the fact one was at hand sure was a happy coincidence and yet another reason to learn the skill further before she delved into her element.

It seemed Nariko didn’t need any help at the moment, though Ryuko found the idea of taking a D rank mission a bit of a sour one. She’d taken a quick look at the mission board on the way up to the office and doing things like picking up liter was a bit beneath someone of her skill level and status.

Training up seemed like a good idea thought she’d learn most of the physical jutsu she was capable of being able to preform at the moment. The rest would require a sword, something she’d have to talk to Shikimiko about acquiring.  Maybe she should train some mental stuff, even if genjutsu wasn’t her specalicity she was capable of learning some which would make her pretty well rounded if used right.

The idea of her squad trying to capture a beast that was plaguing the ninja world seemed a bit much.  They where still only gennin after all and had trouble when fighting bandits. What was she going to do with some monster that was giving jounin trouble? Punch it into submission?

“You’re quite welcome. By the way Natsuru is having a party later this week, seeing as you’re our squad Captain you should come. It’d be a funny way for them to find out that you’re our teacher.” suggested Ryuko as she made her way out of the room.

[exit]