Personal Training Outside the Village

Kimiko, a Jounin of Konoha, and a member of the Uchiha Clan, wore her flak jacket visibily, identifying her as at least a Chuunin to any passerby who happened to see her, when viewed in combination with the headband hanging by her neck that verified she was, in fact a Konoha ninja. Her long sleeves covered her arms, while her legs were left bare, uncovered by the shorts that she wore. Her feet were clad in combat boots rather than the normal open toed sandals.

It took Kimiko a bit of time to find a clearing large enough for her to safely work on her jutsu, but eventually, she came across a massive clearing, at least a kilometer of open space so she wouldn't end up blasting someone on accident or catching a building on fire like she ran the risk of doing in Konoha. The village wasn't set up well enough to comfortably allow for that. Open space wasn't really designed, even in most of the Training Grounds, which liked to give different obstacles every so often, or differing terrains or things like that.

Still, with this area, and plenty of space to work with, Kimiko, the Uchiha Jounin, set to work training with her jutsu. She had 2 that she really wanted to train up, besides wanting to make some sort of jutsu of her own at some point, but for today, she was going to focus on the jutsu that were already made.

First thing was first, Great Fire Annihilation. Learning a one off massive flame jutsu first was a better idea for her, since she'd have some base to go off of when it came to learning the other one, which was functionally the same thing, but a massive sustained burst of fire. Activating her Sharingan, more so she could keep an eye on the area than anything else, Kimiko's two tomoe'd eyes swirled into view.

Since meeting Akihiro, the eyes had been more or less the standard 2 Tomoe Eyes, rather than her somewhat fractured looking form, but that seemed to be tied to her mental state more than anything else.

With her setup complete, Kimiko began working on molding the chakra inside of her, gathering large amounts of chakra as she would if she was using the Great Fireball Technique, since it was the parent technique to Great Fire Annihilation, just on a much smaller scale.

It took her a bit of time to get the ratio down, but eventually, Kimiko was met with success in the form of a massive plume of fire, a sea of flames rushing out of her mouth and bathing the area in her flames. Luckily, she'd chosen a clearing relatively void of life and vegetation, so she didn't have to worry about anything as long as she didn't turn around and aim at the Senju forest that was directly behind her.

-Learned: Great Fire Annihilation [S rank]

Shimiko-Raijin approached from the rear. While her appearance was normally that of a teenage blonde girl with pigtails, using an advanced transformation technique she had turned into a teenage black man. She had taken on the identity of Raijin, also known as Bayushi. The former Lightning Country ninja was a known operative of the Society and for the purposes of Shimiko's plan she needed Konoha's authorities to believe it was actually he that was skulking about their borders. "Raijin" approached calmly and slowly. The technique's destructive power was immense and Shimiko recognized it right away. The Grand Fire Annihilation Technique. It was an S-Rank jutsu which meant it required a degree of skill and mastery that was a cut above most ninja's capabilities. She was not dealing with a genin here. This strange girl was a Jounin at the very least. Taking Kimiko hostage was a possibility but until Shimiko could ascertain her level of skill, it might lead to a major battle. The result of which was that either one (or even both of them) could end up dead. Rather than risk such an event, "Raijin" decided that diplomacy was the best approach.

Shimiko-Raijin called out to the brunette while keeping his hands in his cloak's pocket. An arrogant smirk plastered on his face.

"Pretty impressive for a girl..."

He spied the Leaf headband on her head. Jackpot!

"I'm trying to get to Konohagakure no Sato. You wouldn't happen to know the way would you?" He asked rhetorically.

"Of course you would." he answered his own question. "The only question is....how can I persuade you to tell me without either of us getting hurt"

The Sharingan eyes of hers turned towards Shimiko-Raijin, taking him in momentarily before she realized who he was. It wasnt that she had ever met him before,  but she was issued a Bingo Book and knew who she was looking at, even if he appeared a little older than when he had left Kumogakure. The way he casually approached, it annoyed Kimiko quite a bit, but she didnt really say anything about that.

"Impressive for a girl? Tough  talk for  a guy who has at least 2 that are far superior. Blood Prison reports say Nozomi and Honiko were far more important, and last I heard, you couldnt even beat a Kaguya girl in the tournament."

"So. I guess the real question is why the hell would I show you where Konoha is unless I was taking you in to claim whatever bounty is on you, if you're even impressive enough to still be worth anything to anyone?"

Kimiko turned to face Raijin, the Sharingan drilling into him. She flashed a grin at the Rogue Ninja, fiesty energy coming from her. She wasnt initially scared of Raijin, but his appearance here brought questions and rose her  nervousness quite a bit. Him she should be able to take if it came down to it, he never really got that strong, at least in comparison. But his group...

What was Raijin even doing in the Land of Fire?  Why was it her that he had come across? What did he want from Konoha? Where was Nozomi, the two never seemed to be far apart? Was Honiko around? Questions flooded the Jounin's mind.

Shimikojin saw the fury of the Sharingan up close and personal for the first time. Shimiko was a smart gal who had studied her fair share of military literature. She recognized the infamous Doujutsu on sight and realized that she was dealing with an illustrious member of the Uchiha Clan. The Clan was renown for its pride and sense of superiority over others. As demonstrated by Akihiro's arrogance and self-assuredness and Kimiko's own braggadocios introduction. Shimiko wanted to laugh at how little this stranger thought of Raijin. What Kimiko was saying more or less cohered with her own assessment of the traitor. Raijin was more or less a catspaw. Honiko and Nozomi were the real threats, and if it were actually Raijin standing before her Shimiko did not doubt that this one could take him. The question was how would Raijin respond to such a blatant insult?

On one hand, Shimiko speculated that Raijin was probably quite insecure about his skill level when compared to Nozomi. They had both joined Honiko at the same time, yet based on the tournament and reports at the Blood Prison, Nozomi had emerged as Shiroi's favored disciple. The Nuke-Nin would be pissed to have someone mock his skill level in such a personal and arguably accurate manner. Raijin's anger would spill over and he might even attack Kimiko out of sheer rage.

Shimiko could go this route, but if she did there'd be no turning back. This Uchiha was likely no slouch and there was no telling what hidden abilities she had up her sleeve. Attacking her might prove dangerous. It could create a battle that could not be easily contained or ended. Shimiko might be forced to kill her, or worse yet flee and the plan would be ruined. She couldn't have that.

The other possibility was that Raijin would not be rattled by her words. However, the only universe where such a thing could be true was if he harbored no insecurity about his position. Either he was content to be their minion or, more likely, he had grown to become Nozomi's peer. The Blood Prison fiasco was rather recent but a lot could happen in that time period. Additionally, the Society had been successful in their endeavors. There is no telling what kind of experimental abilities or techniques they could have gotten their hands on. Perhaps Raijin's power had increased since then or even more devious, maybe he had been holding back during the World Tournament. Truthfully, Shimiko didn't have a ton of information on the young man and while the evidence didn't suggest he was some secretly talented genius she couldn't rule it out either. If Raijin was in fact far more competent than his previous excursions demonstrated then he'd be amused by her comment. He'd be totally un-threatened by her words and would relish the challenge. Knowing that he could take her, he'd negotiate from a position of strength not trying to start a fight but not necessarily avoiding one either.

Shimiko-Raijin decided to go with this option. It would allow her enough wiggle room to continue negotiating with Kimiko without breaking into combat. The disguised Chinoike's decision-calculus was complex and thorough but ultimately it only took a few seconds to make. Shimiko was a tactical genius and arriving at an airtight strategy was child's play. Without missing a beat, "Raijin" retorted:

"Don't believe everything you read and hear doll. We villains tend to let misinformation spread like wildfire. Lulls the idiots into a false sense of security"

"Raijin" shrugged and laughed as he scratched the back of his head.

"You could do that....and we could fight....and you'd die, but why go through such trouble? I'm actually not here to hurt anyone. I have a proposition for your Hokage. She can listen to it and if its mutually beneficial to your village's interests maybe we could work out a deal. Of course, if my proposal is bullshit and I'm as weak as you think I am then taking me down in your own village will be a piece of cake"

Shimiko was internally giggling. This acting thing sure was fun. Maybe in a different life she could have made a career out of it.

"I mean, I know someone who was at both locations. Wasn't particularly a spread of misinformation, but whatever you gotta tell yourself." Kimiko flashed the boy a grin and put her hands on her hips, obviously not buying his bluff. Akihiro in fact was the one who co-ran the chuunin exams with the Raikage, and thus was responsible for and monitored the entire Tournament during them. And he had more or less told her that he was present at the Blood Prison as well, and saw the events all unfold first hand, so it made sense to her that he would have corrected any misinformation. Nozomi was definitely the biggest known threat, discounting Honiko. Raijin wasn't too special but was jounin-ish in capability.

Raijin she could probably take on. However, she wasn't a monster either, at least not currently. Kimiko wasn't about to attack Raijin when he didn't seem to have come looking for a fight. She wasn't positive that she could win without taking damage or losing hard, and didn't know if he had allies in the area, so she did the sensible thing.

"But I guess I can humor you a little bit. Let's say you're important enough to warrant the ability to make deals with your group and my village. Let's say you're strong enough to comfortably walk into an enemy village by yourself with no backup and this isn't some trap. Let's say I believe you've got no allies in the wings, to track us to the village and attack it. And that you aren't just the most expendable one in case something goes wrong in negotiations " Kimiko said pointedly, growing more serious as she crossed her arms, eyes scanning the horizon to see if she could pinpoint any trails of chakra, while still continuing to throw jabs at Raijin, ever goading, ever confident, which was done so she could hold her own air of superiority.

"Well, first I'd say, let's see if your proposal is worth my Kage's time. See, I won't walk a rogue nin of your.... purported ability, into my village without knowing the truth of course. Luckily for you, I'm the Jounin commander," Complete lies, but he doesn't know that. Kage hasnt been heard from in a while and Akihiro is out of the village. I guess I am sorta in charge enough.... Besides, if he thinks I'm the Jounin Commander, he might not try anything that would cause a fight. He did see me use an S rank jutsu.... "so you can go ahead and tell me now and then i'll decide."

Shimiko-Raijin raised an eyebrow as Kimiko turned the tables on him/her. She insisted that Raijin tell her what the proposal was. Then, as Jounin Commander, she would be in a position to decide whether or not it was worth the Cat Kage's time. Shimiko had no reason to doubt the claim aside from its convenience. She was pretty sure that Kimiko was in fact a Jounin but as to whether she was the Jounin Commander was totally up in the air. The young black man audibly scoffed and crossed his arms. He didn't want to appear gullible so skepticism was his best move.

"How convenient. Look, I don't care if you are or are not the Jounin Commander. What I have to offer is very sensitive and though you wear a Konoha headband and bear the Sharingan, I'm not even 100% sure your interests fully align with Konoha's. I've heard you Uchiha lot can be pretty finicky and treasonous". It was a rather bigoted and racist remark but Shimiko figured that the Society were the sort of people that trafficked in that type of rank ignorance. Narrow-mindedness was a common characteristic of villainy.  "All I can tell you is that my offer involves a quid pro quo. In exchange for a specified amount of funds, I can do you guys a favor. A big favor. The sort that is worth way more than I am asking. As to what that favor is. That's for the Kage's ears only. If she chooses to share that information with her...." Shimiko-Raijin threw up her hands and did scare-quotes with her fingers. "'Jounin Commander'...that's on her. I can't divulge anything further than that."

The rogue was offering Konoha a favor in exchange for gold? What sort of favor would they be able to offer Konoha, one of the big three nations around? Kimiko laughed, uncrossing her arms, and shook her head. "Sorry, but like, you'll have to give me more to go on than simple vague 'oh i can offer a favor if you guys pay me'. C'mon, I coulda come up with a better frickin' excuse than that one off the top of my head. If that's all you're gunna offer in terms of information, you can fuck right off then, I ain't about to sell out my nation's location with vague promises of a favor for Konoha if a deal is struck in the first place."

She raised a finger, as if to further her point. "Which, by the way, ain't much likely to occur in the first place. Like, damn, you're dumber than you look if you think you're just gunna walk up to the kage and strike a deal without someone below him clearing it up first. And since you're clearly behind the times, here's a tidbit for you: Kage's not a girl anymore. Masuyo left, Neko-sama is in charge now."

Her eyes flashed valiantly as she followed up her retort. "So, let's try this one again, boy. You gimme more than that, and I'll see if its worth Neko-sama's time to consider striking a deal. I ain't tryina pull your leg on this, I just care too much about Konoha to sell it out. If I was gunna sell it out, I'd have just pointed you in the direction of Konoha and that'd be that, but that's not befitting one of my station. As it is, you're lucky I didn't just blast you on sight. I'm sure some of my other clan members aren't quite so charitable about you and your people."

Kimiko advanced forward a step, moving towards "Raijin", eyes no longer searching the horizon. They were locked firmly on Shimiko now, and it was obvious that insulting the Uchiha clan had angered Kimiko in some capacity. She didn't outright address her in that manner, but hostility had grown the moment Shimiko had suggested that the clan was treasonous. The subtle shift in her manner of addressing "Raijin" was more or less the indicator there.

Shimiko-Raijin blinked in disbelief several times as Kimiko once more refused to take her to Konohagakure and instead demanded more information. Either this girl was suffering from serious delusions of grandeur or she was appropriately skilled to be making such demands. Kimiko had insulted Raijin calling him "boy" and correcting his understanding of the contemporary political situation. Shimiko herself was not offended but she was playing a role and that meant pretending to be infuriated at the remark. She scowled and tightened her fist as Kimiko continued her tirade. Shimiko respected this Uchiha girl. She was totally unyielding in her devotion to the village and she would not budge an inch from her position until she knew the full extent of what Raijin wanted with her Hokage. It was an impressive display, but it was also frustrating. Shimiko had wasted valuable time talking to this Uchiha instead of being led to her original destination. The girl's reaction was cute but impotent. Shimiko began to suspect that she was bluffing. After all, if her skills were way beyond Raijin they wouldn't be talking, they'd be fighting. Shimiko figured that if she were in Kimiko's position, she wouldn't have let Raijin gotten a word out before trying to kill him. Then again, her animus towards the dark skinned Nuke-Nin was far more personal.

Shimikojin wasn't in the mood to further entertain this lout of a woman. Time was ticking and she couldn't afford to reveal the full offer to someone who may or may not have ranking authority within the village. If Shimikojin decided to tell the truth as to why she had come to Konoha then it was possible that Kimiko could take that information, dismiss her, and then leave her high-dry with no recourse other than to fight. She'd essentially be in the same situation as before but with the disadvantage of revealing critical intelligence. If she lost the battle after having given up the details of her plans, then she'd be worse off than if she had lost without saying a thing. It was a tough spot to be in and there was only one way out. Shimiko grunted like a dude and walked towards Kimiko slowly.

"You really are a pisser you know that? I have half a mind to give you a good spanking for your insolence."

He stopped about 5 paces away from Kimiko. The two were in close quarters now. "Raijin" continued speaking in a low and menacing tone.

"But you know what....I actually respect your grit. That's why I'm going to tell you what I have to offer and even the asking price for it. Right here, right now. But I'm not a fool and I'm not someone that you should mess with. If you don't take me to Konoha after I tell you, I'll beat you to death and take those pretty eyes of yours. Looking for Konoha is a real pain but I'll be able to find it on my own eventually. Sharingan eyes aren't something you see every day though so I wouldn't mind having those as souvenirs."

The threat was bold and calculated to tilt her opponent. Shimiko focused on the girl in front of her and began scrutinizing her in the event that a fight broke out. Every detail of the moment was captured and stored away for later use. "Raijin" sighed and boldly declared:

"I'm going to become an informant for Konoha in exchange for 3 million Ryo."


OOC: Analyzing Nozomi for precog charging purposes

Kimiko's own eyes met the boy's, not backing down as he stepped in and further threatened her, to steal her eyes or spank her for her insolence, refusing to give any ground in case she appeared to look threatened by it. She was in a rather tough position here, where she couldn't back away from him, but she didn't really like being in close quarters all that much either with a Nature Clan member. They were pretty dangerous, that much was true, even if he wasn't a master of his KKG. So she stood her ground as he stepped towards her, maintaining her own slight bluff and hoping her bravado would be enough to keep this from escalating before it had to.

Kimiko finally got her response from "Raijin" after she was very firm on her own stance. And what a response it was. He wanted to get paid to be an informant? That seemed a little bit.... unlikely, but perhaps he had decided to betray his group. Maybe he was telling the truth on this. Kimiko scanned him for a few moments in silence, as she thought about the possibilities of the outcomes of this. It was hard to get information on the Society, that much was true. However, this could be just a ploy for money, trying to make fools of Konoha and netting his group a cool 3 million in the process.

Still, she didn't see anyone, and she had a sharingan, so the likelihood of them being tracked was pretty slim. It was hard to hide from a Sharingan's sight, and from what Kimiko could tell, "Raijin" was being at least honest enough to not be quite so easy to see through. While she didn't quite have 3 tomoe yet, so her eyes precognitive abilities on the smallest muscle twitches weren't as defined as a fully mastered sharingan, her 2 tomoe were adept at picking up and copying certain movements and motions, which was why the 2 tomoe was the standard for unlocking the Copy Wheel technique. If he was ultimately hostile, he was good at hiding it.

He hadn't made any obvious signs that she'd guessed his true purpose while she was throwing out potential situations on which this could be bad for Konoha. There would have been something, everyone had a tell, and since they weren't fighting, Kimiko's entire perceptive abilities were able to completely analyze him without distractions.

She sighed, and nodded. "Fine. I literally just started training, but whatever. Back to Konoha we go then. You're not going anywhere in the village without an escort though, and lemme tell ya now, the information gotta be trustworthy and with some sorta proof, or you likely ain't getting paid a cent. And you'll be stripped of your gear at the gates, you can get it back when you leave."

She motioned for Raijin to turn around. "Oh, and you'll stay in my eye sight while we walk. Ya got nothing to worry about from me long as you don't try and pull some shit on me. If you try anything and you'll be dead before you can say 'oops'."

-exit to Konoha-

Bingo! Shimiko mentally squealed in delight when the Jounin agreed to take her to Konoha. She had to restrain herself from breaking character in the middle of their negotiations. Instead, she gave a cocky-dudebro smirk and nodded. "See, I knew we could come to an understanding. We're reasonable people after all." Shimiko-Raijin turned around and obeyed Kimiko's commands. She'd allow the Uchiha to lead her to the Hidden Leaf village. It was quite fortunate that Kimiko had held up her end of the bargain. Shimiko would rather not have to fight one of Konoha's finest in a death match.

Exit to Konoha