Don't Skip Crepe Day [Open]

The breeze seemed to have breathed life into the world around Ari. Her eyes, the pupil slightly visible as bulging veins frame her eyesight, scanned the village for all to see as she remained perched on top of a random building within the village hidden in the leaves. Despite the fact that Ari can see with stunningly great detail at far distances, she cannot perceive the natural energy that flows throughout the world. Scars of lightning danced from head to toe as her silver hair had grown to shoulder-length. Almost like someone had taken her and shattered her body like glass. Only to glue her back together so to speak.

Ari wasn’t looking for anyone in particular, she just felt like viewing the world as Chika had in the past. The fact that she could hone in on one particular person 10 kilometers away, or that she could just see someone up to 20 kilometers away was something that was breathtaking. Ari’s sensory skills didn’t hold a candle compared to her pair of eyes, but with the pair of eyes came the hatred of both Hyuga and Uchiha. Hyuga, because she now possesses their previous clan leader’s eyes that were supposed to be the pinnacle of their doujutsu. Uchiha, because of their long-time rivalry with the Hyuga and Byakugan.

Garbed in her usual armor of steel mail shirt, her arms and shins are protected by a pair of steel guards. Protecting her abdomen was a leather fauld that’s placed over the mail shirt, almost like having a regular shirt tucked in. On her thighs is a leather cuisse, and on her shoulders is a pair of leather spaulders. Around Ari’s waist is a belt that holds a hip pouch no doubt filled with supplies as a holster of three kunai is strapped onto her left thigh. The headband of the hidden leaf is loose around her neck, almost like it can be removed with a tug.

Ari’s legs dangle over the edge of the roof as she takes a bite out of her strawberry crepe. It is wrapped in a white napkin to prevent the jam or anything from getting on her hands. Ari wasn’t really having a bad day, but she wasn’t exactly having a good day either.

Active Byakugan -0.2

As zenaku was heading back to the village after a long day of training the young uchiha noticed a young girl sitting on the top of a roof with her legs dangling from the side as she was eating a type of sweets. Already zenaku could tell that she was of the hyuga clan from the look of her eyes almost blind like in appearance, so in a puff of smoke zenaku vanished from the ground and appeared above her hanging upside down from a branch using chakra in the souls of his feet. " hello there young lady how is that sweet your eating. I'm more of a raman person myself." The young uchiha would state as he looked down onto her.

Zenaku had on black pants that ended around the shins, from there down was wrapped in white cloth. He where a long sleeved jacket which the arms seemed to be be a little on the long side and it had a silver zipper down the middle. He had spiky hair but in was messy and he had pitch black eyes. Zenaku had not really had many dealings with the hyuga clan as his ancestors was always in a heated position with them cause each clan always thought they was the stronger of the clans.

Ari’s eyes didn’t visually follow Jin who made his appearance, but he didn’t escape the near 360 degree visual of her. She casually takes another bite into her crepe as the man spoke, and frankly Ari wasn’t sure how to make of it just yet. She keeps tabs of all that’s going on throughout the village, but of course it is all just visual that Ari perceives.

”I would say that it’s very sweet, but honestly I can’t really taste it.” Not that her being burnt from head to toe had anything to do with it. Rather, her sense of grief from the majority of her teammates who were killed had robbed her of really tasting anything. Ari sees what she is eating, and does the motion of eating. Yet there is no taste on her taste bud. Just bland that has a light crunch with soft, chilled fruit.

”Did you come up here to enjoy the sights too? Or are you one of those fans that I kept hearing about?” Ari was actually humorous in her questions as her eyes slightly shifted from one section of the city to the next. Nothing worthy of note to sound alarmed as far as she can tell.

Byakugan Active -0.2

Zenaku just stayed there looking at this girl, she was not much for talking and she seemed a little weird but who was he to judge as he was a uchiha and most all either looked down on his clan for there power or fared them. Tho he was not really sure what she meant by fans but she was right this was a great spot to be able to see a lot of the village, he never really thought of coming here before to catch a glimpse of the scenery but it could probably be a good idea to do that.

" You can not taste it, then why do you eat it unless its just so you can put something in to refill your energy. " Zenaku would ask as he landed beside her and looked out over the village from his own home down to the village faces that was made so that the villagers had something that seemed like some one was watching over them.

" Honestly i never thought of just looking out on to the village before, and no im not a fan honestly im not even sure who you are. I know a lot of the shinobi in Konoha but i never saw your face before...are you new to the village if so allow me to introduce my self i am Zenaku Uchiha how about your self." Zenaku would ask the girl as he continued to look out over his home village.

Well the guy certainly doesn’t pull any punches. Either he’s blunt or oblivious, but Ari assumes the former as she doesn’t get the impression that the later introduced Zenaku Uchiha was an idiot. He poked a hole verbally into the logic of eating something that she can’t taste, and frankly that was something Ari wasn’t keen on sharing.

”There’s more to food than just taste or fulfillment ya know.” Unfortunately the spark of her spunk, the fiery spirit if one can call it that, leaves a trace of retaliation in her voice. Ari decided to sense not just the area around her, but to focus on Zenaku in particular. Chakra wise, he had roughly the same amount as Ari herself does, albeit he seemed to have spent some of it earlier. What’s more is that he possesses not only one element or two elements. But he owns Katon, Suiton, and Fuuton elements. Additionally, there’s even a signature chakra that is identical to those who possess the infamous Sharingan.

”Just master the other two elements and you’ll be set for all five elements.” Ari commented before he started to explain how he had never seen her face before. She hasn’t changed that much has she? Then again Ari has never seen nor heard Zenaku’s voice during the war and skirmishes that she was involved with. Maybe he was new? Ari banished that thought as he wouldn’t have an abundance of chakra with three basic elements under his belt.

”How far have you gotten with Suiton? Are you good with hand to hand?” She asked, dodging his question so to speak of whether she was new or not. Ari stood up on her feet as she deactivated the Byakugan and turned to face him with her blind-like eyes.

”I am the Earth Devil, Ari Dokuma. And I’ve been here for years now.”

Sensing Technique -0.5

Zenaku listened to the girl beside him explain that food had more value then just taste or fulfillment, in a way zenaku could respect that so he went on with his speech. As the two was talking zenaku was a little taken back when she said that if zenaku would master the other two elements then he would know all five elements but how did she know that he only knew 3 of the elements. " That is some pretty good insight you got there, i never knew that the byagugan could tell what elements a person has." Zenaku said with a grin on his face but at least now he had some more info on the hugya style of doijutsu. Zenaku was then asked how far along was he with sution and how good was he with hand to hand or taijutsu. " Well i have pretty much mastered the art of water style jutsu and im not very good with taijutsu but i do know a little to hold my own against people but i do not like to use taijutsu since its not my strong suit."

Zenaku would say as he sat there on the building with his legs dangling from the side of the building. Just then the girl introduced her self as ari the earth demon, she also asked him if he had been here in the village for very long. " Well its nice to meet you ari, and yeah i was born and raised in the leaf village, i worked hard and im now a chunin." Zenaku would say as he looked at ari who had deactivated her doijutsu and looked at him with her blind like eyes.

Part of Ari wanted to inform him that she had multiple ways of sensing things, but she decided to let him believe it was from using Byakugan. Perhaps that was Ari’s calling, to be the support. She certainly has the skill in both medical ninjutsu and sensory. Zenaku claimed that he mastered suiton, but lacked the taijutsu aspect. That was a bit of a downer for Ari, but she wasn’t visibly bothered by it.

”I see, well have you tried to develop a hydra-like water technique? Similar to the Water Dragon except with multiple heads.” That was something Ari was keen on doing with earth dragons, but she hasn’t exactly gotten around to it just yet. He sat down on the edge of the building, and Ari sat back down as he gave a brief backstory of his own.

”Chunin eh? I guess you’ve taken the Chunin Exams then. I heard the last one was a bit chaotic.” Not that she was privy to sensitive information, but she’s at least heard that things got pretty serious in the Chunin Exams. Ari has never seen what Chunin Exams might entail. She’s only heard bits and pieces from other people.

”I’m just a Genin unfortunately, but I’ll probably swing by the office and see what mission they have available.”

Ari and zenaku continued to talk about all kinds of things and one of those things that popped up in there conversation was about the water dragon jutsu tho how ari asked it she wondered if zenaku had created a hydra out of water similar to how the water dragon jutsu worked. Zenaku had thought of multiple kinds of new jutsu to learn but the water hydra was not one of then unfortunately.

" a water hydra ha honestly I have never thought of doing something like that, I have created a lot of interesting jutsu and I have a lot more ideas but that hydra idea sounds pretty cool." Zenaku said as he rubbed his chin.

Ari noted on the fact that zenaku was a chunin and asked him if he participated in the last chunin exam as she said that he heard the exam was pretty chaotic. She was right about that zenaku was not part of some of the things that went down but he heard there was a big fight that went down that day. " well for the most part yeah it was pretty chaotic but I guess that is expected when you have ninja from every village gathered in one place. I heard there was a huge fight that went down outside of the village but I was not part of that chaos."

Ari told zenaku that she was a genin and had thought of going to the office to see what kind of missions there was that she could do. " Your pretty strong for a genin I'm surprised you have not been promoted yet, but I would not be surprised if you was not promoted soon. Tho the missions you can get as a genin are not very good as they do not let you showcase your abilities very well." Zenaku said as he continued to look out over the village.

Chika had only just graduated from the academy and received her headband but already she was running into problems doing much of anything now that she was officially on paper a Gennin.  The main issue was that she was a puppeteer and her stats reflected that given how slow and weak she was she was pretty much near useless without a puppet on hand. Given that she was a Hyuga that might not be a huge issue if she wasn’t fragile as heck as well.  

The main problem with that was how the heck was she going to afford a puppet that wouldn’t fall apart with one solid hit?  The money she had been given from the village to equip herself as a graduation present wasn’t enough for her to build even the most basic non disposable model.   She’d never realized just how expensive a fighting style it was until she’d gone over the receipts she’d found in her Papa’s dilapidated store from the time he’d crafted a couple just a couple of years ago.

Most other fighting styles either didn’t require much but a few kunai and shuriken, or in the case of an ranged specialist a bow and some arrows.  She needed to take missions to raise some money but without a puppet on hand to begin with, going on most missions as she was now would be suicidal.  

That was just the start since beyond the 50,000 funding for her first puppet she also needed what was to her a small fortune in order to get her papa’s store back up and running again. 1500,000 ryo would be enough to get it at least running but it would take an additional 500,000 before it would even start seeing anything that resembled a profit.    All told she needed a minimum of 700,000 just to get started.  It was a darn good thing she had a clan district to live on otherwise she might be forced to live on the streets while scraping together what money she could.

At some point she was going to have to ask the higher powers that be to fund the fancier A and S rank puppets she wanted to build but that wouldn’t come for a long while. Not until she had some accomplishments under her belt to show for herself and could make a case that it would be a good investment.

For now she was looking for someone she knew second hand from her deceased Papa. Not to beg for money like some pauper but to ask for advice on how to toughen up a bit. If she could at least take a hit or two she’d be able to take some lower risk missions without putting her life in  the line in the process.

The sad matter was she didn’t really know who else to turn to.  She was still kind of miffed at her fellow Hyuga clan members for the way they had turned their back on her Papa at his funeral and she hadn’t exactly made a lot of friends at the academy.   Some of the boys had occasionally tried to hit on her but overall she was seen as a bit of a weirdo due to how taciturn she could be.  

She wasn’t as good as her papa had been at using her Byakugan but she wasn’t exactly a slouch either.  Between the wonderful powers of X-ray vision and being armed with an old team photo it didn’t take her long to locate the person she was looking for.    Ari was wearing virtually the same outfit as she had been in the photo making Chika absently wonder if she ever washed it or not.

Taking the stairs one slow step at a time she approached the roof of the building making no effort to conceal her presence. It wasn’t like she had anything to hide after all.  Honestly speaking with her purple blazer and red tie combined with her black skirt and stockings she hardly even resembled a ninja outside of the headband she wore loosely around her neck mimicking the way Ari was wearing hers.

She could tell Ari had been speaking to someone.  From his spiky black hair to the way he was dressed in such goth looking clothes practically screamed to her that he was most likely an Uchiha.  Not that she particularly minded members of that clan outside of a couple particular individuals.  What a feud between Hyuga and Uchiha?  That was ancient history as far as she was concerned and it had nothing to do with her.

As she reached the entrance to the roof she hesitated for a second before opening the door. One one hand it would be a little rude to interrupt the pair’s conversation but on the other it would seem pretty creepy to just lurk in the stairwell, especially when there was little chance the that they hadn’t noticed her presence being much more experienced shinobi then a noob like Chika herself.

Putting a smile on her face she finally stepped through the aperture giving the two a friendly wave as a way of greeting.  “Are you Ari?” she asked her question using as few words as possible as if to confirm the woman's identity.   Sure it LOOKED like the woman in the picture but because Chika was a shapeshifter  herself she knew how at times looks could be deceiving.  

[1]

Active Byakugan -0.3

The idea of a hydra-like jutsu seemed to appeal to Zenaku. Then again Ari can imagine how much chakra a jutsu like that would eat up from a person. Which means it would be recommended for something with a large amount of chakra to perform. Even then, it would be better if someone was specialized within the element. Refining their chakra to where the element doesn’t become as taxing as normal on their reserves.

Zenaku explained that the rumors were true about a big fight going down, but he wasn’t part of it. In a way, Ari would count that as a blessing if she was more knowledgeable of what went down. He might not be here if he did get into that fight.

Then Zenaku commented on how strong she was for a genin. Even pointing out that Genin aren’t allowed to go on missions that aren’t mundane in nature or important. Just a bunch of chores throughout the village.

”Strength is not the only thing that matters. Sometimes intellect and information can go hand to hand that may determine the outcome of a mission.” That was when Ari heard a door open, a door that came from behind them and there was really only one door that led up to this level. Ari turned her head to look over her shoulder to see a thin girl with pale skin. She was a bit shorter than Ari as well, but Ari was concerned for the girl’s health of being that thin.

The main thing that caught Ari’s attention was the girl’s Byakugan active, but it seems to be in the middle stage of sorts. They were a good pair of eyes. The girl questioned if Ari was truly hers truly, and that raised a brow on Ari’s expression. Ari turned to face Chika as she was still covered head to toe in lightning scars that seemed especially dark around her pale eyes. Ari’s silvery hair rustling with the breeze as she confirms.

”Indeed I am. And you are…?”

Nyguyen had taken to rooftop leaping as a means of clearing his head. It allowed him to work out the haunting memories and regrets that had burrowed into his heart in the aftermath of the war. Ordinarily, he could go out for a long walk or fish, but his infamy had made that a rather difficult proposition. When he went out in public he had endured staring, heckling, and even occasional cheering from his former subordinates. All of this attention was not conducive to introspection and so any time he needed some time alone to think, he stuck to the roofs rather than the streets.

Nyguyen hopped from building to building, reflecting on what he could have done better in the past and what he could do in the future. He had secured a role as the new Head Administrator of the Heavenly Emporium. He was in charge of governance of the floating city but he also had the authority to go out and acquire new pieces of land on Okane's behalf. It would give him the capital and influence he needed to make things right. Not just for Konoha but for the world. Unfortunately, Nyguyen's family life was less than stable and relations between himself and the clans were still somewhat thorny. The situation was making him question whether he was right to accept the job offer.

Perhaps I should get my own house in order before I worry about acquiring others....

The only issue was how to resign without losing face. As Nyguyen mulled it over, he stopped for a break. He paused on the rooftop of a very tall building. It was adjacent to the one that Ari, Zenaku, and Chika were standing on. Nyguyen peered over the ledge and saw his student conversing with the newly minted ANBU. He also saw another individual that he did not recognize. Ari could probably see him coming a mile away and she likely was aware of his presence. That Byakugan was a mighty Doujutsu and while Chika's execution still made him sick, he was glad that at least one positive thing had come of it.

She can see now...and she can see better than most.

The scars of Tamwyn's deadly strike still adorned her body. It was a physical reminder of his failure and whilst in the past he'd look away, nowadays he fixated on it. Burning the memory into his mind. He'd do what he could to heal her and he would ensure that no other genin would have to suffer such a fate. He did not go down and speak with the group, instead he watched from above. If she acknowledged his presence, he'd give a simple wave and a smile. He did not have the heart to go and speak with her at the moment. Nyguyen was far more brave than he had been when he first met Ari but he was still a coward in some ways.

The young uchiha would listen to ari as she said that strength was not everything that brains and tactics was just as useful innate fight, she was right tho being smart could come in just as handy as being strong but he also knew that you needed to have the strength to protect your self and tho you love, you can be as smart as you want but that wont always save you. Zenaku would think after hearing what ari said, but just then a door from behind them would open up and yet another hyuga showed up to the conversation and the first thing she did was have her byakugun active as she looked right at ari as she asked if she was really ari. Zenaku did not really know what to do or say in this situation so he just stood there with his arms crossed, out of the corner of his eye the young uchiha noticed the former hokage nyg uchiha just lurched on top of a building just looking down on the trio.

Zenaku would wonder tho why the former hokage was just sitting up there and not coming down to say hi so the young uchiha zenaku would just wave up towards his location to show him that zenaku saw him.

From behind Ari had looked like the same woman in the picture but as she turned around it was clear to see that she had changed since that photograph had been taken.  It was a little rude to think but she looked like someone who had seen the wrong end of an electrical socket.  And yet to Chika at least Ari still seemed beautiful despite the multitude of electrical scars.   Her tanned form seemed to exude a dignified radiance.  The kind Chika only wished she could project herself.

The sight of her fathers eyes staring back at her for the first time in over a year brought a tear to Chika’s eyes.   She had to wonder, could his spirit see the same things Ari did with his eyes?  Many of her clanmates were furious that their trademark eyes had been taken and used without permission like this but she had the feeling Chikamatsu himself wouldn’t have minded so much, rather he’d be overjoyed that his precious teammate would be able to see again and that some value had come from his body even after death.

Ari confirmed that she was in fact Ari and then asked a simple question in return asking for Chika’s to identify herself.   It was a more complicated question to answer than Chika had initially anticipated.  If it was some total stranger then naming herself as Chika would have been fine, but saying that to someone who knew Chikamatsu and was his friend would just be confusing without a proper explanation first.  

“I’m Chikamatsu’s…. Adopted… Daughter.”   She explained haltingly. Having to clarify the adopted part was annoying but not including that invited way too many misunderstands given their relative ages appearance wise.   Chikamatsu had only been about 19 at the time of his execution so having a biological daughter that looked like she was 16 or so now would have raised more than a few red flags and make it seem like she was trying to pull some kind of identity theft scam.    

Chika wasn’t going to get into her real age either since that would make things seem super sketchy in an entirely different way.   There were some people that might think it was possible that she was Chikamatu’s biological daughter and the whole adopting thing was just to cover up his youthful indiscretion.   People already thought badly enough about him that she didn’t want to put further black marks on his character.

That and the fact that revealing her true age could cause other problems for her.   She’d had trouble graduating from the academy at first because of the arbitrary age standards that had been set entirely intended for humans and not other species.  Considering she was a Spider she was plenty adult already but the instructor hadn’t seen it that way  at first.

It was only because she was a shapeshifter that could pass herself off as a Teenager in her human form that he had finally relented.  Maybe he’d been under the mistaken belief that the age put down on paper had to be some kind of mistake, or maybe he simply didn’t care as long too much since she could pass scrutiny as long as she kept her mouth shut.  Either way the result was the same to her.

“Cerise Hyūga, at your service.” She introduced herself by giving Ari and Zenku a polite bow.  In a rare display of trust for her she gave out her true name, the one Chikamatsu had given her.   “But lately I’ve taken to calling myself Chika in honor of my Papa so please call me that instead” she requested.   For someone who didn’t like to talk much for her, the fact she was bothering to explaining so much to someone was a sign of just how much she liked them.

“Since you have Papa’s eyes and were his teammate may I call you big sis?” she asked, her eyes practically glittering with reverence for Ari.  Far from someone she despised like the rest of her clan she saw Ari as someone to idolize.  Suddenly the look in her eyes changed from one full of warmth and joy to one of bitter chilling cold as she spotted Nyguyen lurking on the building across the street behind her.

Chika might not be as good with the Byakugan as her Papa was and by extension Ari but she was no slouch with it either.  She might not be able to see for literal kilometers just yet she couldn’t fail to notice him approaching, at least while her Byakugan was still active anyhow.
As she’d thought earlier she had no problem with the Uchiha clan in general but she did have a grudge against a couple particular members.  

Akihiro for accusing Chikamatsu as a traitor.  Satomi for executing him and Nyguyen for allowing it to happen.   Akihiro was dead as a doornail, executed for his attack on Moonspire that had sparked off a war with Kumogakure. The only ones left she had to direct her  animosity at were Satomi and Nyguyen.    It was a good thing she wasn’t out to get them since they were both former Hokage’s which meant they were virtually untouchable at her level of strength.    

That said just because she didn’t wish them dead didn’t mean she had to like them.  While Nyg hadn’t touched Chikamatsu himself the fact remained that his inaction had cost the life of his own student.  Turning to face the former Hokaga,  Chika glanced at him straight in the eyes before putting a finger to her right eye and blowing a raspberry at him.   It was a very childish gesture but for once Chika was acting her actual age.  Needless to say if he was seeking any forgiveness or absolution from her then Nyguyen had his work cut out for him.

Chika quickly turned back to face Ari and  Zenku, brushing off the incident as if nothing had happened before getting to the business she had come here to discuss in the first place.  Since Zenku was here she figured she might as well ask him for advice as well since he seemed like a capable enough fellow.

“Actually Uchiha-san.” She said. Again she was only assuming he was an Uchiha since he’d yet to introduce himself but she was 99% sure she was right that he was one of them. “Perhaps you could help Chika with her problem.” she said, referring to herself in the third person.   She occasionally liked to do that because she thought it sounded cute.   “You see Chika is quite fragile so she came to ask Big Sis how to get tough.”  she explained.

From the beginning she had planned to get around her low strength, constitution and speed by wearing puppet armor to enhance herself.  The problem was that puppet armor could only substitute either one of Strength or Constitution at a time, never both.  Originally she had thought of doing some weight lifting or something to get stronger until she realized that if she remained as fragile as she was then she might accidentally end up killing herself somehow.   In the end she figured it was better to condition herself to be able to take a few hits and let her puppets do the heavy lifting for her rather than that other way around.  

[2]

Active Byakugan -0.3

For some reason, unbeknownst to her, Ari was strangely popular or at least seemed to be attracting all kinds of newcomers and old acquaintances. First was Zenaku Uchiha who seemed to have been in the area at the time, then a later introduced Cerise Hyuga came directly to Ari. Truthfully Ari was anticipating that someone from the Hyuga clan was about to spark another conflict with Ari for having Chikamatsu’s eyes. A non-Hyuga having their doujutsu in the most powerful stage no less. In the near distance, Ari’s mind picked up Nyg’s signature, and while she had seen him well beforehand Ari prefers to use her sensing technique due to the subtlety and less strain on her eyes.

Imagine Ari’s surprise, or rather a major red flag being brought up, when Cerise introduced herself as Chika’s adopted daughter. This caused Ari to raise a brow as her mind reflected on her memories, and none of her encounters with Chika had he mentioned of having an adopted daughter. Not to mention Chika was simply too young to have a kid who looks about the same age as Ari, maybe slightly younger. At least Ari imagined that if Chika adopted a kid then she figured he would have been a bit chatty about it. Given that Cerise had the Byakugan, Ari suspects that Cerise might have been a very distant relative to the Hyuga family, or maybe even had a Hyuga parent and a non-Hyuga. Which wasn’t uncommon from Ari’s understanding, but how exactly would Chika adopt a Hyuga family member in the first place? But, whatever the case may have been, Ari wasn’t going to pry open Chika’s personal life. Not unless Chika felt comfortable with sharing the details.

”Are you sure that you want to be associated with me in that regard? I’ll be honest, I’m indifferent about being your Big Sis, however both the Hyuuga and Uchiha are not too happy with the very eyes that I’m using. Then again some of them just seems to have a stick up in their ass too.” Ari said that rather comfortably, casually, that she did not consider that some people might take offense at that. Especially with an Uchiha being next to them. It would seem that Nyg is not as stealthy as he wished to be as it seemed like everyone noticed him. Ari was at least subtle initially, but with both Zenaku and Chika looking up at Nyguyen. Ari’s eyes looked up without the need of searching, as if she knew where he was the entire time.

Nyguyen has done a great deal that was equally as tragic as it was leading to peace between Konohagakure and Kumogakure. Even though their previous clan leader was executed for his transgressions, it was bringing a calm to the raging wars before more blood could be spilled. However, not everyone shares Nyguyen’s perspective of how things should be, and not many can understand why Nyguyen did what he did. The Hyuga were still distraught that their clan leader was executed by the hands of Satomi, and consequently Nyguyen’s as well. However what the people don’t seem to grasp was that Chika had planned to turn against Nyguyen and ultimately hurt Konohagakure into a civil war between Hyuga and Uchiha once more. With the war going on with Kumogakure, a war amongst the two major clans at the same time would have been devastating.

In that respect, Ari doesn’t bear hatred towards Nyguyen, but she finds it a bit sad that there isn’t much that he or she can do to get people to understand. When Chika turned towards Zenaku and started talking in third person strangely enough. It seemed that Chika was aware of her frail appearance, and was inquiring how to be able to take a few extra hits.

”Body strikes. You can take a shadow clone and have them run drills by punching and kicking your upper body and hips. Not too hard where it’s overwhelming, but enough to where you feel the sting. After a while of doing these drills and conditioning your body with adequate food. Your body will grow used to that level of body strikes, and then you can go further. However, it takes time before these results come to fruition.” Ari answered as if it was simple enough.

”There are other methods of course, such as taking a boulder, staying within the waterfall for as long as possible, or if you’re really into the thrills I’m pretty sure you can get someone to spar with you.”

Using Sensing Technique -0.5

The former Hokage, who was standing on the building right next to their own rather than across the street, had been spied by all three parties. He could make out Ari and Zenaku but the third party he did not recognize. Zenaku waved at him and he waved back, he even found himself smiling when Ari looked up at him. Out of all of his students, he had the softest spot for her. It was why he had found it so difficult to stand up to her. The girl's blunt and stubborn behavior reminded him so much of his daughters that he could hardly find the strength to raise his voice or even discipline her. Since the war, Nyguyen had gotten better at setting boundaries in his own home. He wasn't the perfect Dad but both Mercedes and Innocence had sensed that he was not the same man they knew. He rarely had to raise his voice or speak twice these days, and if sass was given, it was quickly retracted once he gave them the look.

If pushed, Nyguyen might be able to extend the same treatment to Ari but she was a special case. She had been badly burned by his ineptitude and with that guilt came shame. He felt he had little right to lead her or tell her what to do since it was after all his mistakes that had almost gotten her killed. He had fantasized about getting revenge on her attacker, but he knew that such an act would be in vain. It would not heal her skin nor would it bring him peace. All he could do was just be a better ninja and steward to his community. It might give Ari a chance of a brighter future and it might keep peace in the world's hands for a bit longer.

When Chika blew a raspberry at him, Nyguyen did not react. He did not know this individual and could not ascertain their identity, but that didn't matter. He was used to this kind of treatment while out and about in public. Its why he didn't always throw his weight around town as a former Hokage. There were many shinobi, not just the Hyuuga, who had found his leadership distateful and his decisions disastrous. The purple-haired teen didn't seem to pose a threat to either Ari or Zenaku so he didn't feel the need to intervene. He just stood on the ledge calmly watching over the group.

Zenaku could tell that this lady who introduced her self as chiki had some history with ari. Maybe they was former squad mates or just this girl was a big fan of ari. But as the conversation went on he learned that she was the daughter of ari former squad mate, once zenaku had the name of her father he realized who he was. He was a renowned ninja from the hyuga clan and was well known for his bayakugan which turned out that ari was now the owner of these said eyes. This meant that zenaku was wrong to assume that ari was a hyuga in fact he only thought that because she did have the eyes.

Zenaku watched as nyg waved back at him, zen was still sad to see nyg stand down from being the hokage but at least knowing that tengoku was the new hokage made him feel a little better but the fact that a uchiha hokage not being able to stay in the position for long was kind of discouraging but that was just the way the whole power game went, one day your sitting high and mighty the next your down in your luck.

Chika had asked zenaku if there was any tips he might be able to utilize in order to help her build up her resistance to taking damage but he did not have many ways of that, some people was just not built for taking a beating. " well as ari said you can just beat your self up using clones but I hate to tell you but not every one is built for taking a lot of damage or being a tank. Me my self I'm not good at taking damage so I stopped doing hand to hand and focused on my mid to far ranged attacks and utilize my sharingan. If I was you I would try to focus on strengthening your eyes then focus on your speed so that you won't have to worry about being touched."

Zenaku was not really sure what else he could tell her cause he did not know her very well and was not sure what she has already done.

When Chika introduced herself she didn’t fail to catch the look on Ari’s face. The raised eyebrow of surprise and doubt was a look that she knew well. Perhaps Ari thought she was full of shit since it wasn’t as if Chika had hard evidence of her claim on hand. Ari herself was proof that you didn’t need to be a Huyga to have a Byakugan after all, which meant that Chika’s claim could be nothing but a very elaborate attempt to scam her. Even if she had pictures or a family registry they might not be taken at face value since it was possible to doctor those, though to what purposes one would bother to go that far for was hard to say since Ari wasn’t particularly famous or rich.

The best proof of her claim perhaps was that Chika was in possession of Chikmatsu’s old puppets which Ari would have been familiar with. Even just one of them was expensive enough that the idea of duplicating it for a scam seemed ludicrous. The only reason she had elected to leave her beloved Faithful Karakuri behind was that it might seem goulish to be carting around the image of her dead father. Chika didn’t always understand the human sense of ethics and values but even she had enough sense that she should give Ari a head’s up first before pulling that kind of stunt.

Ari asked her if she was sure about associating with the older woman. The part about the Hyuga clan not being happy was something Chika already knew about being part of that clan but she was confused why the Uchiha would give a damn. Were they just concerned about the type of precedent it set and that one of their precious eyeballs would be implanted next? What would they care about who Ari associated with then?

The Uchiha with them who’s name she didn’t know was living proof that they didn’t all have a stick up their ass given how he hadn’t made any major remarks about that comment. From her experience the Uchiha didn’t seem that bad. Chika for her part didn’t understand why the two clans disliked each other so much after so much time had already passed from whatever incident had incited their rivalry. Despite her loathing of Satomi and Nyg she couldn’t hold the entire clan responsible for the actions of a couple individual members and she had been hoping to bridge relations between them a bit.

“Chika doesn’t know much about the Uchiha. She was hoping to make friends with them. She’ll start with you Mr….” Chika said fishing for a name. Words were hard for her and she’d already talked more than she usually did on any typical day. The ability to communicate verbally wasn’t her strong suit and while she had reverted to third person she was still struggling valiantly to speak coherently.

“As for the Hyuga… well Chika was already pretty much an outcast among them to begin with.” she admitted with a shrug as she pointed to her eyes. Unlike most of her fellow clan members she had normal pupils, a fact that often saw her ridiculed. Half-Hyuga who were born to one Hyuga and one non Hyuga weren’t exactly that rare or uncommon but most of them could easily blend in.

“Mother wasn’t a Hyuga. When Chika was born her...biological… father didn’t think she had strong enough blood to be able to activate the Byakugan and wrote her off as a defect. When the fleabag ordered the migration Chika was left behind...abandoned in a ditch to die. It was Chikamatsu who saved her and took her in.” She explained a heavily abridged version of her story leaving out a few choice bits, especially the part about her being a spider. The few humans she’d tried to tell her secret too before being adopted had never reacted well to that little nugget.

Obviously the man who had birthed her had been wrong about her being able to not use the Byakugan. It was only because she could that the elders had reluctantly allowed her to take on the clan name but she was still essentially something of a black sheep among her family because of how different she was.

Chika’s eyes widened in surprise at Ari’s suggestion of using a shadow clone to condition herself to taking strikes. She’d never even considered the idea of using clones before, mainly because they were an advanced ninjutsu technique. Could someone without any talent in Ninjtsu like Chika even learn such a thing?

She felt more than a little bewildered at the alternatives Ari presented. With her strength level if she tried to take a boulder she’d be squished flat. Trying to stay in a waterfall for as long as possible was nearly guaranteed to make her sick. Sparring was always a risky proposition since she was the very archetype of a glass cannon. She had a feeling that Ari didn’t realize the extent of just how fragile Chika really was. Honestly it was a wonder she had even managed to graduate given her weak constitution.

It was ironic how much of a contradiction Chika really was. She was by far the weakest person on the roof but simultaneously if she had a puppet on hand she might even be able to give an ex-hokage like Nyg a run for his money. Though in reality she knew that if she actually tried a stunt like that she was sure he’d demolish her if she didn’t knock him out in the first hit.

The Uchiha giving her advice had a point. Sometimes the best defence was not taking a hit to begin with. It wasn’t like Chika was out to become a tank in the first place. She just didn’t want to be so weak that she risked being done in by a particularly stiff breeze anytime she went outside.

“And what if Chika can’t use Shadow clones?” she asked. “Like all Hyuga she’s good at Taijutsu but big sis would still beat her 10 times out of 10. Right now she’s so weak that even average strength might snap her bones like a twig.” Chika admitted feeling more than a little sheepish at just how inferior she was in the hand to hand department. Without puppet armor to use as a exoskeleton she couldn’t even user her clan’s signature gentle fist style on her own.

“Like her Papa before her, Chika mainly uses puppets to fight. She doesn’t intend to be in the line of fire much but if she doesn’t toughen up at least a little, she’ll be nothing but a liability for her teammates” honestly with her skills she would be better off as a civilian since she primarily intended to focus on crafting to begin with. She had no intentions of even trying to rise up the ranks with but she wanted to at least be able to defend herself should the need arise.

As she spoke she’d been trying to ignore Nyg’s presence but over time she was growing more and more annoyed by him continuing to watch over them in silence. To be frank, him just standing around and staring at them for no discernible reason was kind of creepy. Didn’t he have anything better to do than act like some pervert? She herself could see a lot with her eyes and was careful not to abuse them to invade other people's privacy when she didn’t need to.

“Nyguyen-san aren’t you going to at least come over and say hello? People are going to get funny ideas about you if you keep lurking around like some sort of stalker.” Chika remarked loudly to make sure he’d hear her. She was criticizing his behavior but respectfully so. She might not like him but she considered herself a professional and could put her feelings aside for the job or in this case maintaining the former Hokage’s and thus the village’s reputation. Besides he’d been kind enough to allow her first bout of disrespect slide and she wasn’t about to continue towing the line since she knew better then to play with fire lest she get burnt.

[3]

Active Byakugan -0.3

"Well that's where Doton comes in handy. There's several defensive techniques to utilize, or even burrow yourself in case of emergency. But as Ration of course is the number one Nemesis of that element. Against everything else though, especially Suiton, Doton is incredible and is probably the second best element out of the five in my opinion." Ari followed up with Zenaku's explanation that not everyone was built to take damage, or at least not much of it. Truthfully Ari's fortitude was only average for Chunin. However when Ari began to hear Chika what Ari assumed to be self doubt. Ari was reminded of Ashitaka in a way as he started out that way at first. She might not be this girl's sensei, but Ari will not have a repeat of what happened to Ashitaka.

So Ari will stride up to Chika before placing both hands on Chika's thin shoulders as her fierce yet determined eyes makes direct eye contact with Chika. If Chika began to look away, Ari will take Chika by the chin to make the Hyuuga to look at her.

"First and foremost, before you even think about training, being a Shinobi, or trying to pretend to be somebody. Stop doubting yourself so much. I can get modesty, but take some pride in what you can do instead. Doubting yourself is just making you walk backwards, when you should use what you lack as a goal to correct in your own way. If it's confidence, earn some by focusing on just you for a while. Whether that's training your eyes, your strikes, or even taking up a hobby such as painting and painting the best damn picture you've ever done. If it's something you physically lack, while it might be a longshot, find ways to either build up on it or find an alternative. Just whatever you do, don't walk backwards and keep moving forward. Alright?"

Sensing Technique -0.5

The conversation amongst the trio continued uneventfully until one of them called him out by name. It was the purple-haired kunoichi, the one who had blown a raspberry in his direction. She insisted that he come down and speak to them rather than just observing. The joke she threw his way was rather disrespectful and he huffed as he shot the stranger an exaggerated frown. He activated his Sharingan and stared her down.

Someone ought to teach this welp some manners.....

Nyguyen was used to receiving abuse from some denizens of the village. Those with little to lose and a lot on their mind. The war had cost Konoha much and he couldn't very well beat the respect into every smart mouth he came across. However, this one looked like a genin and her voice was that of a child. Nyguyen assumed that she'd know better than to speak that way to her elders, but this generation continued to surprise him. He crossed his arms and remained silent. He wasn't going to act on the orders of some child. Part of him did want to go down there and make conversation. Perhaps if Chika or anyone of them had asked nicely, he might have obliged. Now he felt compelled to remain rooted on his perch. However, he would use his Sharingan to lip read what was being said below. Ari appeared to be giving the hothead a pep talk. He nodded approvingly as he "read" her message. It was the exact sort of speech he would give. The Kage wished he could take credit for teaching Ari on this point, but the truth was that his last remaining student had always been a determined kunoichi. She was the type that would make a fine leader one day.

Zenaku listened as ari explained to chika that earth style had a lot of defensive jutsu but it also had a lot of power house techniques in its list that should not be overlooked. As the trio of shinobi was speaking zenaku heard chika tell nyg uchiha to come down from where he was lurking like a stalker. But instead he just activated his sharingan and looked down on the young genin.

" Hey Nyg come on down and join us, maybe you could use your knowledge to teach these young ones a few things."

Zenaku would say to nyg as he gave him a big grin, he knew that a lot of people in the village did not see eye to eye with nyg but so far he has done nothing wrong to zenaku so he had no reason to have any ill will towards him. It was thanks to nyg that zenaku has been able to grow more as a uchiha as well as sato which was also the reason he was now a anbu black ops member.

" I agree with ari here earth style jutsu has some of the most powerful defensive and offensive jutsu out there so it would be a good one to learn. Tho if you need money for puppets you should try taking on more missions and raise your rank cause chunin gets paid more then genins."

Zenaku would make a comment to chika. Zenaku was having fun getting to know more about the other clans of his village as well as the other ninja that help to make up there village force.

Ari seemed to be really selling this Doton stuff.  To be fair, being able to manipulate the earth with nothing but chakra sounded pretty rad.   Chika was already trying to think of ways that it could be put to use to help with her crafting.  If her big sister and Zenku both thought it was so useful  then maybe she’d learn how to eventually though that was continent on her learning all the craft skills she needed under her belt first.    

The only thing that kind of struck Chika as odd however was Ari’s description of Doton’s strength and weakness.   Why would being good against Suiton be a good thing when their primary ally was Kiri who used a ton of Suiton.     And isn’t being weak to Raiton a bad thing when their primary enemy most of the time was Kumo?   Just what on earth was Ari trying to tell her here?

While she was trying to puzzle that nugget out suddenly she felt a pair of strong hands on her shoulders.  Shoot she’d let her attention laps and now she’d been caught.  For someone as shy as Chika that alone was enough to make her panic a little internally.  Trying to break free with her strength level would be futile since she was completely outpowered.  Generally speaking she tried to avoid being touched to begin with because she was so fragile.

She didn’t bother trying to look away either. With her Byakugan active it would have been pretty much pointless.  Seeing her fathers eyes from this close up for the first time in months made her feel a mix of nostalgia and confusion since they were attached to someone else’s face.    It was a good thing she hadn’t tried to look away since if Ari had grabbed her by the chin it would have set her confusion into overdrive in a different way.  Talk about a situation that would have been way too similar to something you’d see in some Yuri manga where the big sister figure dominates their younger cohort.

“Yes Big Sis!” she said briskly signaling her understanding of the motivational speech.  Talking was hard enough to begin with but she felt like she’d trip over her own tongue if she tried to say too much now.   Take pride in what she could do and focus on herself huh?   That seemed like some pretty darn good advice.   The only thing she was really good at was making and using puppets so she’d just have to focus on that and the rest would come together on its own.   She could already see the first steps she would have to start taking to achieve her goal so now she just needed to start walking.

“Chika will move forward towards building the bestest most ultimate puppet at maximum speed!” she declared with fire burning in her eyes.  What did it matter how fragile she was if she never went into battle to begin with?  Nobody said she had to be the person actually using the puppets she built… well beyond the puppet armor she was planning to make for herself.  You could think of it as a full body prosthetic of sorts, something that would help her get around her crippling strength and speed issues and be a more productive member of society.

“You’re right Uchiha-San.  Chika DOES need money for her puppets though missions might not be the best way to go about getting funds.”   she said as she made a sour face at the idea of being promoted.  She didn’t have a team or anything so the kind of missions she could do on her own were invariably the lowest ranked kind that didn’t exactly pay very well.  You know baby stuff like finding a lost cat or painting a fence.  Not exactly the kind of stuff that looked sterling on a promotion evaluation.  

Not to mention that being promoted would include dreaded things such as responsibilities and expectations.  Right now as a gennin nobody actually thought too much of her as long as she could support the village in some fashion.  Being a Chunnin meant having to actually fight and lead missions.  Could someone like her who could barely talk when it was about anything other than puppets even direct people around properly and have them follow her instructions?

“By the way, what is Chika supposed to call you anyhow?  She doesn’t believe she has been introduced yet.” She pointed out that she didn’t know the older boys name.  She felt like she was kind of being rude here, constantly referring to him as just Uchiha-san for lack of a better term.  

While she was talking she took note of the fact Nyg was still lurking around even though she’d tried to politely ask him to come over? She’d never dream of trying to order someone so much more distinguished than her.  She couldn’t understand why he was frowning so much and had gone so far as to activate his swirly-swirl eyes.  Was he still mad at her for blowing a raspberry at him even though she’d switched over to full polite deferral mode after?    Man adults were so complicated.

If she thought about her top five goals she realized she was going to have to put aside her grievances with the man eventually.    1.  Build the ultimate puppet.   2. Protect the nest (home) and the brood (her fellow kohan citizens)  3.   Have the Uchiha clan and the Hyuga clan get along better  4.   Learn not to be so shy with people and make a lot of friends 5. Prove that her Papa wasn’t a traitor and vindicate him.

She didn’t even want revenge or anything so what good would her hatred do?  She couldn’t just turn it off like a switch but she’d have to start somewhere if she was ever going to get over it.  For the good of the village, for the good of the clan she was going to have to learn to forgive Nyg even if she would never forget what he had done.

She tried to turn to face him, hoping that Ari would losen her iron vice like grip on her shoulders and allow for this movement to happen.  Her mind went blank for a second as she thought of what to say and how to say it. A  Thousand words ran through her mind, mostly condemnations that she silently swallowed, never to be uttered.

“Apologies for the earlier….. Disrespect Nyg-san.” She said bowing her head to him as a sign of submission.  She almost wanted to call him Nyg-sama but was afraid to try since she had a hard time pronouncing the word sama. It would come out as Shama.  The last thing she wanted was for him to think she was insulting him when she was doing her best to swallow her hatred, not to mention pride and ask for his assistance.

“Do you think you could come over please? I could actually really use your advice.”   She almost couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of her own mouth. The thing was Nyg was a former Hokage and a highly respected member of the Uchiha clan.  Plus wasn’t he also supposed to be like a Historian or something?  Who better to ask for ways to improve clan relations than him?

“I know that the Uchiha clan and the Hyuga clan haven’t always gotten along that well.” she said in an understatement of the year award moment.   They had a sort of mutual respect type thing going and now that they were both in the same village together they had a sort of peace with each other.  The problem now was the high tension between after the way her Papa had been executed.   Chika was far from the only Hyuga pissed about that.

“But do you know any ways we can get along better?  As fellow villagers I want us all to be friends!” she declared.   Ultimately at the end of the day as mature as she was she still had a very simplistic mindset.

Or at least that is what she would have wanted to say in another reality. Instead all she managed was the apology to Nyg before her shyness overcame her, compelling her toscurred away down the stairs as fast as her slow legs could carry her. She'd have to try asking for his assistance in improving clan relations another day, if said day ever came.

[4]

[exit]

Active Byakugan -0.3

Zenaku invited Nyguyen to come down and teach the youngsters. Zen's request was far more respectful than what he had received from Chika and had she been as deferential as Zenaku, he'd probably have joined them. Unfortunately, she had chosen to lead with disrespect and this meant that Nyguyen couldn't comply with their wishes on principle alone. How would it look if he tried to school them if Chika had just called him out on his name?

Besides, it appeared as though Ari was doing a good enough job on her own. She was hyping up the puppeteer and Nyg could tell via his Sharingan that the precocious kid was now chanting out motivational affirmations. Nyguyen grinned and shook his head indicating that he had no intention of coming down from his perch. Eventually, Chika turned to him and apologized for her behavior earlier. Nyguyen held frame and merely nodded to acknowledge that her apology was accepted. He knew how children could get. Besides, the genin probably learned her hatred of him from her parents. It wasn't so much her fault as it was the politics of whoever raised her. The genin then scampered off leaving Ari and Zenaku standing alone on the rooftop. With the stranger gone and Ari in good hands, Nyguyen gave a curt two finger salute to the ANBU and his student. He had things to tend to and he couldn't brood on a rooftop forever or people really would get the wrong idea. He turned his back and began leaping from rooftop to rooftop as he exited the scene.


[Exit]

As they was talking zenaku was told by chika that she did need more funding for her puppets but the low level missions she could go on right now would not be enough. " I guess that makes sense chika, the amount of money the missions genins can do really don't pay much, I remember being a genin my self once so believe me I know all to well."

Zenaku would say as he laughed, as they continued to talk chika had asked zenaku what she could call him and that was when he remembered he had not given his name to the young lady. " I'm sorry about that, call me zenaku uchiha, zenaku or just zen is fine."

It was not to much later that chika turned and ran down the stairs then nyg Sama would salute zenaku before he also left. Zen would look at ari. " well ari I will have to take a rain check on that sparing thought but I would be happy to spar ya some time so see ya." Zenaku said as he would suddenly vanish as he went on to do chunin stuff.

(Exited) (8 posts.)