Flames Rising (Arisu)

Valen found himself arriving at the Office of the Mizukage this morning. A new day beginning all around him as various shopkeepers and other such individuals went about their morning routines in order to make the Metropolis of Kirigakure a productive place. He was wearing his usual shinobi attire of black shinobi pants, black boots, and a black compression shirt. A cloak was fitted over it although it wasn’t fully closed since he wasn’t actually on a mission. His headband was around his head, the Kirigakure symbol prominent upon the metal plate. At his waist hung his weapon, the Blade of Ashes. A katana of masterful quality that he had won in the Heavenly Emporium during the birthday festival that was still in fact going on. He had simply returned to Kirigakure for a few days to be in a bit of a quieter place. He had performed a decent amount of missions of late. A few D ranks, a couple of C ranks, and recently the Emporium would have reported his taking of and completion of a B rank for their own records.

He had awoken the day in his apartment to a bird pecking at his window. A small scroll attached to it’s leg. He had taken it and found himself being summoned by one of the Princesses of the village, but not the one he would usually be summoned by. Normally he dealt with Sayuri in some way or other. So much so in fact that he had never actually met the other two rulers within the triumvirate that governed the village. This time however Arisu was the one who had called him to a meeting. He geared up, made himself presentable of course, and came to the office with the intent to discover what he had been called for. His hair hung down to just a bit below shoulder length and his red eyes were careful and alert. He had indeed grown taller and continued to do so. Now standing at 5’6 he was growing to match his musculature and his form was built for a combination of strength and speed. His neatly trimmed facial hair forming a goatee and jawline beard that framed his face quite nicely. All in all he was becoming more confident in himself socially and in terms of strength and personal power as well. He arrived at the office, standing outside of the Mizukage’s office and knocking politely on the door. He was always polite, if forward and rather blunt.

Should he be allowed entry he would enter the Office, closing the door behind him as he did and bow politely while speaking. “Valen Minamoto, answering your summons Arisu-sama.” He would say, before rising to look toward the woman.

[1]

Arisu was recently back in the village after a diplomatic mission in Konoha, and a short trip to the moon for some rocks. Quite a bit had taken place in that span of time, but while she was waiting to report those things to Kitsuki and Sayuri, Arisu had taken it upon herself to go over some files and work on promotions.

In this post war downtime, plenty of shinobi had earned battlefield promotions, while plenty had simply gotten much stronger. Tensions were still high enough that a Chuunin Exam was probably a fairly distant pipe dream, so for now it was prudent to go through and promote any who were worthy of a promotion.

Wearing a simple white and grey kimono, Arisu had no need to wear her battle attire at the moment. Her usual weapons, the Kiba Blades and the modified Ersatz Blade of Kusanagi leaned against the wall of the office, next to the rest of her gear, which was all neatly folded and placed in a neat pile, ready for her to grab whenever it was time for her to head out.

Her long white hair was pulled into a bun made of elaborate braids, keeping it out of her face. Unlike usual, Arisu’s eyes were their normal golden shade rather than the Rinnegan that she often kept activated at all times when out and about. Seated at the desk, Arisu appeared to be as still as a statue, making no noise as she focused on gathering natural energy, contemplating recent events in her mind as she did so.

So lost in her own thoughts was she that she didn’t even notice someone was approaching until Valen knocked on the door. Snapping back into a more current reality, Arisu called out for him to enter.

Appraising the human in front of her, Arisu recalled the information that she knew about Valen. Most of it was just the files documenting his mission history, and the reports of those things.

“Thank you for arriving so quickly. I wanted to discuss matters of promotion. The war took its toll on our forces. Your mission reports have identified you as a candidate for promotion, but I wanted to meet you in person first, to get an idea of who you are before making a decision.”
[1]

The woman seated behind the desk wore a gray kimono, her hair pulled into braids and styled in an elaborate bun.. nearby her equipment sat ready go be dawned at a moments notice. Golden eyes took him in and he stood straight and at attention as he let her. This was one of the villages princesses, if she wished to inspect one of the shinobi under her command then she had that right.

When she spoke he would blink in mild surprise at the words. He was being looked at for promotion? That was welcome news indeed. He had been hoping to progress within the ranks. Ever since asking Sayuri how one obtained promotion he had begun to go on missions. He was team lead on them due to his experience in the ranks of shinobi but it wasn’t because of any rank. He just had more experience than the vast majority of the genin within the village. Now it seemed like his efforts were being noticed and paying off.

Nodding his head toward the woman behind the desk he would respond “Thank you for considering me. If you’re going by mission reports then is it safe to assume you have an idea of my martial preferences, or would you like me to go into a general explanation of those as well my lady?” He would ask, ensuring she knew all she needed or wished for his fighting strength. Her words had made it seem like she was looking at something else and not just his capability to fight and kill. His manners had progressed quite well over time although forms of address eluded him. He tended to refer to Sayuri as ‘My Queen’ but he doubted that would have the desired effect on Arisu. He had taken to thinking of ‘My lady’ as a broad respectful form of address for any woman in power and so he would use it here unless told otherwise.

In terms of her ‘getting an idea of who he was.’ He could give her a brief breakdown of his life thus far but he didn’t think that was what she was after either. Unless he was overthinking it. He found he tended to do that when it came to such things now that he was learning more of how to really think things through. It was something he would need to work on it would seem.

[2]

“I have some idea of your capabilities, but those are only so important.”

He was polite. Respectful. Didn’t appear to be too challenging of authority. Some people just had that look about them that said they thought they were beyond authority. He’d led some missions, which was the most important thing, but hadn’t let that get to him.

After a moment of silent appraisal, Arisu turned her gaze to the weapon he wielded. It was easy enough even at just a glance to tell that it was a blade that matched her own in quality. Whoever had made it had put their heart and soul into it, the craftsmanship was peerless. That was evident even without it being pulled.

“I was thinking of promoting you to Chuunin, but I feel like that would be an understatement. Between your abilities with a blade and your blade itself, I feel that you are bordering on Jounin capability, but I don’t want to skip that far ahead on a whim. Perhaps Special Jounin? It’s an acknowledgment that you have Jounin capabilities in certain areas, although something tells me that’s an understatement.”

Normally for someone of his talents with a blade, she’d offer a chance to join the Seven Swordsman, but something told her that it would be a wasted offer.

[2]

He would nod his head in acknowledgement of her statement. That meant she wouldn’t need him to go into what he could do. That actually gave him a bit of relief. While he was more than willing to state the truth he felt odd about talking about his own capabilities too much. An uncomfortable feeling that he didn’t like. It was probably attributed to the need for some sort of secrecy regarding one's capabilities and there was one capability that he had recently gained that he was more or less keeping close to the chest unless he needed to.

Her appraisal of his weapon would bring a small smile to his lips and he drew an inch or two of it from the sheathe and looked down at it. “I won it in a raffle of all things. It complements my capabilities perfectly. I’m fortunate to have gained it.” He would say before sheathing the weapon fully and turning his eyes back up to hers. He would listen to her statement of possibly promoting him to Chuunin and take it in stride. He had discussed that possibility before with Sayuri although the specific rank had not been mentioned. However when Arisu went on to say that she thought he was bordering on Jounin capacity he would feel his own eyes widen a bit in surprise. Her statement of definitely being Special Jounin would make him wonder just how powerful he had become in such a short time.

Nodding his head to her in acknowledgement of her words he would respond. “Your words fill me with pride, Lady Arisu. If I might ask, assuming you do settle on promoting to Special Jounin. What would my new responsibilities, requirements, and perks be? For that matter, what would I need to do in order to progress further within the ranks? Recently I’ve become able to utilize the water element. Although I would like to keep that information close to the chest if I may. No one expects someone who uses so much fire to be able to utilize its opposite number and I intend to use that to my advantage if I can. I say this because I’m working on becoming more balanced overall so that I might be more useful to the village, and in that regard be able to fight stronger opponents and have better, more interesting challenges.” He would explain. He actually went a bit further into it than he intended initially, letting some of his own personal desires show. The desire to be challenged, the love of the competition, win or lose. His red eyes had gained a fire within them at the possible excitement although it wasn’t at the prospect of killing. Simply of the thrill of the competition itself.  

[3]

“Your responsibilities are the same as what you need to do to progress. Continue getting stronger, take on missions, and help train up the next generation. A promotion will come in time so long as you continue being an exemplary shinobi. As far as benefits, you’re a higher rank, which allows you some measure of authority over those of Chuunin and lower. You’ll receive an increase in salary, of course.”

Arisu nodded at the request for secrecy on Valen’s suiton abilities. It wasn’t really her place to tell anyone what anyone could do, nor did she really pay too much mind to it. She often forgot that most people only had 1 or 2 elemental capabilities, as she wielded all the elements naturally.

“It’s good that you can use Suiton anyhow. One of the benefits of ranking up is more access to village exclusive techniques, and ours are primarily Suiton based, although not entirely.”

There was, of course, a standard hand out at certain ranks for some of them. Silent Killing, Hidden Mist, etc.
[3]

He would listen to her answer and nod his head in acceptance. He would not interrupt her as she spoke, instead choosing to wait until she finished speaking in order to return his thoughts. He knew those of higher rank were able to take on teams of their own and he wondered if as a Special Jounin if he would have the capability to do such a thing as well or if such a thing was a thing only a fully fledged Jounin could do. When she finished speaking he would put his thoughts into words. “I understand everything for the most part. Although I am curious as to if I would have the capability to take a team of my own or if that is something only a fully fledged Jounin could do.” He would ask, his tone polite but inquisitive.

Her acceptance of keeping his second element a secret brought a small satisfied smile to his features and her following words caused his eyebrows to rise in curiosity. Village Exclusive techniques? That sounded interesting and like something he would be wise to look into. “Assuming you are deciding to promote me. What village exclusive techniques would I have access to and where would I learn of them?” He would ask, his tone again, polite, if curious. Anything he could use to increase his personal strength would be welcome. Anything to help make fights in the future more interesting and fun. The fact that most of the village's exclusive techniques were water based seemed like a happy accident to him as he had just finished training the element fairly recently. However he wouldn’t look such things in the face.

[4]

Arisu paused. A team? That hadn’t been something that she’d really had since arriving on planet. It often escaped her mind that most people would have a team. It was one of the oddities of her existence here. She hadn’t really been questioned all that much, having fake documentation that proved she’d always been here. Ever since she’d become a Jounin though, and then a princess, she hadn’t found a reason to hide her existence anymore either, but most people overlooked that sort of thing. Like she was a mutated Kaguya or something. However, due to having appeared here and her rapid growth, she hadn’t ever had a squad.

“You can take a team if you’d like, but it isn’t required. In times of war, Chuunin often lead squads as it is, so there’s not really a reason to forbid it. The main reason for your promotion is to help raise up the next generation after all, so if you find a squad, feel free to take them on.”

Right, she needed to actually officially promote him. His mannerisms were very polite and he seemed to be quite receptive to the idea of it, and he was very mature as well. Asking all the proper questions. It was the type of thing one could expect from a leader. In her experience, it wasn’t often that way. Hana certainly hadn’t been so inquisitive and she ran the nation for a time. Although, she had been competent in her own ways. Perhaps the fight to test for the promotion?

She entertained the thought for a moment, but in the end decided against it. There would be time for a spar later, but fighting wasn’t something Arisu particularly enjoyed all that much. She only really wanted to fight if it was the only course of action. Holding herself back wouldn’t be a fair gauge of his ability in comparison to her own, and she’d likely flatten him if she didn’t do so. No, if he was a mess of a Special Jounin, she could just demote him.

“You’re promoted. If you do well, you’ll continue to be so. If not, we can demote you down to Chuunin.”

Onto the exclusives though, it was something else. Arisu’s gaze shifted momentarily to her gear, where one of the scrolls existed. It contained the Tool Creation and Repulsion techniques, but she had decided to keep it. One was a technique of her people, and one was similar to the Deva path’s abilities. Those were certainly off limits. Certain other ones were also very off limits. The power of some of them was too great to give to someone so untested as of yet

“Silent killing, a technique that makes your movements completely silent. Hiding in Mist, a technique that summons some mist to mask your presence. Water Prison, which creates a dense dome of water around a target if you maintain contact. Those are granted. I’ll allow you a choice of another technique when you reach Jounin, and perhaps another special one when your abilities begin to peak.”

Standing up, she demonstrated each technique. It was faster than grabbing the scroll from where it was kept. Explaining how to properly do each as she did so.
[4]

Her confirmation that he could indeed take on a genin team brought a nod from him. The logic made sense as far as he was concerned. He would be able to lead people on missions as she said and in those situations he was expected to ensure that the team got back in one piece. There was no reason why he couldn’t take an official team as a Special Jounin and help teach them and train them for the future. He already considered how he would begin to test a team for their first training session and he was surprised to find himself thinking that far ahead. Usually he didn’t do such things but this time he found himself excited.

Her next words were to confirm the promotion officially, and when she did he gave a respectful bow to the woman. Her words that if he did well he would continue to progress and if not he would simply be knocked down to Chuunin were well taken. He would simply have to do well, and it’s not like he had any intention of doing poorly. Next she would go into the individual exclusive techniques he could learn and he ran through them with her one after another. He wasn’t using the jutsu, but he was copying the seals and taking the memory of how each was used to heart. He could practice them a bit later. The promise of access to more once he achieved full Jounin and another when his abilities began to peak was extra incentive and he resolved to progress at a similar rate that he had been so far.

Once he had gotten through each technique and everything was said and done he would give her a salute this time, not a bow. “Thank you, my lady. If I may, I would like to get started immediately. With your permission may I be dismissed?” He would ask, an inquisitive eyebrow raised. Provided she gave said permission he would give her a final bow in farewell with a “Good day to you then, Lady Arisu.” Before leaving and closing the door quietly behind him. Then he would immediately move toward the academy. He needed a record of the recent graduates. Once that was done, he would go the training ground. Most genin began training quickly after promotion so he could scout more there. As well as practice the techniques Arisu had shown him.

[Exit]

[5]