Blackjack

Where can someone find a peaceful time yet still bother with things such as paperwork and stamping repeatedly? Certainly not this jonin as he walks through the entrance of the famous and exquisite Raikage Building. Morikawa recently received more or less an invitation to help the kage with a problem. If it was any other person he would’ve tossed the letter aside with the rest of his junk mail and be done with it. Probably even play off that he never received it.

However since it was a direct contact from his boss Morikawa can’t exactly blow that out the window now can he? Anyways he walks up to the receptionist to basically announce his presence. “Hey. Is the Raikage in office?” As per usual the man behind the counter looked a bit intimidated from Morikawa, yet the jonin still doesn’t understand what makes him so intimidating. Is it his appearance? Or maybe the tone in his voice? “Y-yes she is. Just head up to the second floor and-!” The golden eye man didn’t even let the shaking receptionist finish his sentence. Morikawa had already began his walk towards the flight of stairs.

Morikawa heard a brief call out towards him, but he tuned the noise out as the jonin began to remember how many times he’s walked up these flight of stone stairs. The number of times he would come rushing in with his team requesting to take on missions and the like. Those were some old memories, and now he remembers the jonin how they’re doing now. Morikawa makes a mental note to attempt searching for them once he finishes business here. And that is when the final step to the top of the stairs as his mind was brought back to reality.

His flame-like coat trailing behind him slightly as his turquoise crimson tipped mane barely touching his shoulders. Those molten gold orbs glancing across the hallway and briefly gazed at the stone wall. As if body memory was enough for him to tell where he is going, he turns on his heel at the front of the Kage’s office and returned his attention to present. Pulling one hand from the pocket of his fiery coat Morikawa knocks three times while keeping his other hand in the pocket. For a moment he was tempted to just say ’Yo boss lady open up.’ But Morikawa decided against it as he doesn’t want to get on the leader’s bad side. “This is Morikawa Miriki. You mentioned that you wanted to see me about something?”

Nariko was having a field day with all the paperwork she had been doing lately. For the most part she had managed to catch up, using two shadow clones to help in the process of signing the papers. It was a very simple solution, as they thought the exact same way as she did, and at the same time added extra efficiency and a new pair of eyes.

She had spent most of the week in the office and wasn't exactly dressed in the manner you would expect the raikage to be dressed in, wearing more comfortable clothes in the form of grey sweat pants and a light blue tank top. Her hair was a bit of a mess, she hadn't combed it in a few days and had on the whole been up for the better part of the past few days, getting enough sleep so that everything still made sense to her.

Her clones were in similar states of being, although a lot more focused on their work than she was, as she was taking a break for the moment. Startled by the sound of knocking, Nariko looked to the door before hearing his name, and she called out, "Gimme a second, I'll be right there." Grabbing a large scroll leaning at her des, Nariko walked to the middle of the room, letting it go there, before going to the door and opening it up. Waving the Jounin in, Nariko motioned to the middle of the room and moved there herself, opening the scroll. Her clones continued working on the paperwork, disregarding anything else.

"So, Morikawa, I've scoured through files of active duty Jounin, and you're the most qualified one I could find in terms of a Fuuinjutsu expert. I've had you come here because I need you to do a seal application on me, and I was hoping you would be willing to learn the Iron Armor Seal in case of a bijuu attack. We need someone capable of sealing a tailed beast, and I think you might be one of the only ones smart enough to pull off a decent level of the seal." She started, getting right down to business. She didn't want to waste any of his time, and she didn't want to waste too much of her own either.

Pointing to the two jutsu in question on the scroll, there were diagrams that detailed the Fuuinjutsu application process and more information about both the Black Raiton Seal and the Iron Armor Seal. "Do you think you'd be capable of applying the Black Raiton seal on me, and learning the other? And is there anything you'd like as compensation, I can't really offer much I guess, but I'll try to honor whatever you ask."

To be honest Morikawa was a bit surprise he got a response. They only recently elected a new Raikage since Calypso up and disappeared. Morikawa assumed that she must be exhausted from the load of work that Calypso had left and so much more piling up in addition to that work load. Morikawa almost felt bad leaving their Raikage to so much paperwork, but only that. Tucking his right hand back into his coat pocket, Morikawa patiently waited at the door’s entrance.

It wasn’t a long wait thankfully as the heavy wooden door opens enough for him to slip through. To be frank this was the first time he’s seen Nariko up close since the other times he was often at the sidelines or simply too far away to get a good glimpse of her. Her hair was a mess and it doesn’t take a genius to see the amount of stress she was under. Inside of the office were two other Nariko doing even more paperwork than what was on the main desk. Morikawa assumed they were clones, but more advanced versions of the ordinary clone. Probably some clone filled with an element, or maybe even a shadow clone? It’s kind of hard to tell without destroying them to find out from Morikawa’s perspective.

Regardless the Raikage ushered him in as the sounds of slightly heavy boots echo from each step he takes. His fiery coat slightly moving with his body as the jounin doesn’t appear to be wearing a mesh shirt. Or really anything on the torso underneath the coat as his legs are garbed in the usual ninja slacks. Morikawa’s golden eyes, once he was done looking around, fixed on the large scroll at the middle of the room. Did someone left it there or did she drop it by accident? Morikawa thought at first until Nariko came around and revealed the contents about the scroll. Now he sees where this was going, and to be frank he wasn’t against this type of mindset. How often does anyone come across individuals that could potentially seal a tremendous force such as a bijuu?

Still Morikawa could not hide his surprise that Nariko not only wants him to learn the Iron Armor Seal, but to also place a special seal on her as well. What one might think of him just being polite of letting her finish talking Morikawa was gathering his thoughts of how to approach this effectively to work their benefit and the village. Sure he learns a particular seal and then gives their kage a seal that she can use. But what then? Morikawa gives this train of thought some moments to toy around with before coming to a conclusion. In doing so he more or less regains his composure.

“I can do both yes. It’ll take me only a few minutes to read the Black Raiton thoroughly just to be sure of any weak points or critical notes i should be aware of. As for compensation, i suppose we can start with assigning me a team of sorts. It can be all genin if you’d like. You choose who and i’ll train them accordingly.” Morikawa gives it some more thought as he honestly wished to establish a certain topic, but revealing that bit might backfire. “In addition I’d like to take a look at some missions. If anything i think sorting those out and giving tasks to other shinobi would be beneficial both to morality and even financially. Plus it is to give some of these kids to do as you adjust to your position.”

Morikawa chose not to reveal his true intentions as he actually wanted the possibility of giving his offspring if he ever produces one the sealed bijuu and thus turning his child into a Jinchuuriki. However the jounin felt like now was not the best time to request such a thing as currently he doesn’t even have a kid of his own. Perhaps another time would present an opportunity, but for now he needs to build trust with their current Raikage. Plus it might save her the workload if he’s going over the missions and maybe even assigning them to other teams. Morikawa feels like Kumogakure has entered a state of slumber and the only way to wake it up is by getting these people moving so to speak.

The turquoise-haired jounin lets Nariko think on his terms, simple though they were, as he looks at the Black Raiton on the scroll. From the minute of reading Morikawa remembers that it alters the traditional lightning ninjutsu into something more potent. Even to the point that it rivals against certain advanced elements. That certainly would benefit Nariko and the village on the long run; but there was a catch to it. The text states that it requires a sealing art expert to place the seal on the person who wishes to use it. Which leads to the part where Morikawa was expecting to find. “Okay quick question to you. I can place the seal, but i would recommend placing it somewhere that most likely won’t be damaged. A knife wound or even losing an arm won’t remove it; but just in case the enemy is also a fuuinjutsu user and a skilled one at that they might have a way to remove it if they find the seal.”

Relieved that Morikawa appeared to be more or less fine with her requests for basically nothing, Nariko nodded and allowed him to study the Fuuinjutsu on the scroll in more detail. While he took the time to do so, she headed back to her desk, opening up the file cabinet and sifting through the categories. Unfortunately there weren't a lot of unassigned genin, and she herself was going to be taking in a full squad, so that request might be slightly smaller than he had hoped, but still there was no harm in looking.

Finding a few files, Nariko nodded to herself. "Ah, so. We are lacking in the genin department but there are two that need a sensei. Rumehi Chinoike and Sora Inazuma." She said, walking back to him an handing the files over. "Two genin with an additional third should another be free to assign in the future. Alternatively, if you wished for a full sqyad, I would allow you to supplement the third with a chuunin, but only Simon Kageyama. However, that would be his choice ultimately whether he agrees to or not. The others are assigned to their own duties teaching or guarding things, and I need Yui as my assitant." She hesitated for a moment, struggling to decide whether or not to offer another potential, but decided against it in the end for the time being.

She had fully demoted Akuma, and by all rights he was not a shinobi of Kumogakure's military any longer. She could have offered him the chance to rise through the ranks as a genin again, but she didn't want to thrust that on anyone. Not yet. He wasn't that important and would be a handful.

"As far as missions go, feel free. We don't have many sorted in yet, I haven't gone through all the requests and paperwork yet, which is what I was and am doing right now. However, jounin are allowed to submit their own requests should they find a situation that calls for a mission." She would give him a chance to read over Rumehi and Sora's files while she talked before responding to what he said about the placement of the seal.

"I'm fine with wherever you think best to place it. I suppose if a suggestion would be offered, over the heart is the best area. It's almost assuredly a kill shot if it's damaged enough to take out the seal anyhow." She said, her eyes shifting over to Morikawa. A wry grin appeared on her face. "Is that what you were hoping to hear? A nice chance to catch the Raikage shirtless." She let out a laugh and then stopped after a few seconds, coming to a stop with a sigh. "No, I really don't care, wherever you think best. But I agree a good place none the less. I'll comply within reason."

That was more or less true. She wasn't about to have any invasive cavity placement but really anywhere else she wouldn't mind. Limbs probably didn't make the most sense, as she could lose one potentially, if combat was to be had. She did just order Akuma's hand removed and cauterized after all. It did happen.

To be frank Morikawa wasn’t surprised to find the genin department rather low in numbers since most are already taken by other jounin. Mostly because the genin are assigned the moment they graduate from the academy. Whomever is left generally wasn’t accepted by anyone or simply didn’t have enough numbers to qualify as a squad. “An Inazuma and a Chinoike. That’s gonna be an interesting combination.” Morikawa spoke just before he took the files from Nariko and took a few minutes reading through them. Particularly reading into their skills known and their history too. One appears to have a bad medical case while the other is like a wild beast inside a human.

“These two would be fine by me, though i’ll need to work on their sense of teamwork. But i can get to that on a later date.” Morikawa closes the files and sets them beside him. His attention focusing on the current situation, Morikawa was relieved to hear that he practically has permission to submit a request of his own. Granted he won’t get any noteworthy experience from this, but frankly Morikawa doesn’t care as long as his students learn and grow from their trial and error. As for their first training session, it won’t be as much of a sparring session, but rather set up a scenario and let them come up with a solution to get out of it. Genjutsu in particular as even experienced genjutsu users have difficulty getting out of it.

As for the seal placement, Morikawa could agree to place it over the heart since if the heart is struck then it won’t matter if the seal is in place or not. At least in most cases it won’t matter, but that reminds the jounin on the matter of crafting some medicine and purchasing vials and flasks to store them with sealing scrolls. A small grin plays on his lips as he toyed the thought of the Raikage shirtless, but twas only that. “Only in dreams, but yeah over the heart would probably be the most protected area of the body. The frontal of the body above the heart would be my recommendation. Be kind of pointless to place it on your back since you would have better chance of guarding it from the front.”

Morikawa has this aura about him that is neither uncaring yet doesn’t seem to really care. It is quite confusing, but least to say it doesn’t scream give me more power! Not to mention his background of extensive training in regards of medical science, sealing arts, and his seeming native talents for genjutsu on a whole. Least to say he doesn’t seem to be the type for frontal assaults and instead use tactics and more or less suggest things. At least that’s what he proved through his dozen missions in the past and even the second attempt into the chunin exams. Yet despite all that Morikawa honestly looks subconsciously tired overall based on his eyes.

"I'm fine with it. Heart it is." Nariko said, crossing her arms in front of her, each hand grabbing the bottom edge of each side of her shirt, and she pulled the tank top off with ease. She really didn't mind, and there was purpose for it anyhow, so it wasn't an issue.

"Your squad should be easy. I have my hands a little full with a fully formed squad myself. Luckily, they appear to have taken to doing things on their own without leadership following the loss of their former sensei. I have faith that if the genin we have between us are properly trained that Kumogakure can survive our current situation of weakness. Still have to meet with them actually, might do that tomorrow." She was basically making small talk.

Her gaze fell on Morikawa, and his more interesting features. His hair was probably the most intriguing part of him but his entire persona was one that she could raise an eyebrow over. She wanted to ask what it was about, but that felt a little too personal to start talking to someone about while they were working on applying a seal over one of her breasts.

In general, she just didn't say many words when in any state of undress. It didn't matter what she was doing, it never really seemed appropriate. Sex had people doing other things, waking up was generally alone, and right now was slightly different in that she wanted him to focus on the seal and not be distracted too much by anything else.

To be frank emotions or even the drives seem to not really exist on this man’s face. If he was flustered or even nervous Morikawa certainly didn’t show it. Of course with years of training as a doctor he’s done something similar a few times before. Mainly surgical procedures and even some cleansing appointment from illness. Regardless he glance down at the seal one last time before he gets to work.

The first step was to literally take a calligraphy brush, dip it in ink, and proceed to write the seal. Coding it into the advanced seals that was necessary as the formula was being formed over her heart. His eyes and attention appear to be focused yet clearly listening as he responds to her statement. “It is generally a good idea to meet with the squad you’ve been tasked the lead. Unless you like being the mystery figure in their heads.” It was a mild joke, but his eyes never left the formula.

The seal contained a formula where it takes the common lightning chakra and empower it into the stronger form. However Morikawa also made sure to add the little bits to the formula so that the sudden change in her chakra nature wouldn’t harm her. Modifying one’s nature is a tricky subject that is often avoided by most shinobi. Of course they come up with combinations with their natures, but they’re just combinations. They don’t literally tamper the chakra network specifically to alter the chakra nature to become more powerful than before. So naturally Morikawa was careful and precise.

“Any ideas of what your team is leaning towards? I have a feeling mine is going to be more of an infiltration or assault type since my team consists of someone who uses poison while the other currently uses a nintaijutsu combination.” Honestly if he could get a more support or even sensory type of genin into his squad they would have their efficiency increased by a great margin. Otherwise it is going to take Morikawa a while to get the seal on her and then put his chakra into the seal in order to activate it. This is something he just looked at from a scroll only a few minutes and he hasn’t looked back at it again since he started. The only moment he stopped was to quickly clean the brush, dip it in ink again, and resume in a matter of seconds. Least to say he knows what he’s doing.

She actually enjoyed the feel of the brush over her breast, and the ink feeling wet as it was applied. It was almost vaguely reminiscent of a tongue, but without a body attached and much more pleasant of a feeling constantly happening rather than the breaks that a person usually took.

"Hey, I tasked myself to meet them. I just haven't necessary had the time. Seigi and Calypso left me a lot of paperwork." She said, feigning an indignant tone, although she knew he wasn't actually calling into question her leadership.

A small tingle went up her back as he worked, the brush and meticulously done strokes reeling in a constant feeling of light pleasure, the same one had when fingers wran through one's hair. During his work, he asked if she had any clue what sort of sqyad she had, and Nariko snorted slightly in laughter.

"Of course. I'm the Raikage, I have their files. They're a bunch of crafters. Each with their own specialty. Then for fighting they each bring a unique trait to the team. Ryuko is a taijutsu and Bukijutsu fighter, preferring up close and personal. Shimiko, Lord Second's little sister, is a Ninjutsu and Bukijutsu user, the mid range heavy hitter, with some close range assitance. And Natsuru, the defacto genin leader, is a sensory kyujutsu user, basically the sniper and shot caller. It's a very well rounded team and I'm expecting great things from them." the small talk was nice.

A soft smile played at his lips upon hearing her response. During these small talks Morikawa was steadily getting a feel of how their Third Raikage was going to be. Both Seigi and Calypso had up and left to who knows where in the lands. Two kages just gone and maybe only a single generation had passed. In honesty Morikawa hopes their Third would last longer than both of the First and Second combined.

Plus Morikawa has seen what Nariko has done in the short time she’s been in office. Clearing the way to make dirt roads to provide a clear, safer passage around the mountains would reduce the risk of their caravans to get lost. So far not a single shinobi or at equivalent skill of a chunin has attempted to attack their caravans full of valuable resources. Which was good, but at the same time Morikawa sees this was the time period to build up their defenses and build up their strengths. Morikawa just hopes they would have enough time for it.

“Crafters… I suppose i could get the Chinoike into chemistry. He seems to be dealing with some kind of bad ailment, so hopefully in the long run we might uncover something that would allow him to breathe air without something to aid him again. It might even get us a better clue as to what his poison does exactly.” Morikawa spoke after Nariko was more or less praising her students. Though he secretly has a feeling she would never admit this to them until later. Still it was nice to see the Raikage like this. Well, aside from the shirtless part, Morikawa got a sense of her personality and he deemed that it was good.

By now, with a sigh of relieving the amount of stress on his shoulders, Morikawa finishes with the black raiton seal. His colorful hair being combed backwards by running his finger through to brush the hair away from his eyes. Even as his hand leaves from his head strands of blue-red hair fall to his shoulders. Morikawa lets the ink dry as the next part requires him to touch the seal and activate the sealing onto her body. If he was to just place his hand on the seal without letting the ink dry he would not only have an ink-stained hand, but also messing up the seal as a whole.

“Just gotta let that dry then i can activate it and you’d be glowing sunshine.” Morikawa said with a near stoic face as his voice carried a small amount of humor in them. Meanwhile he proceeds to clean off the brush as best as he could without messing up the bristles. In the middle of the cleaning Morikawa puts a topper on the vial of ink. It still has quite a bit of ink in the container, but Morikawa didn’t want the ink to dry up on Nariko in case she needs to write something. Saves her time at least.

Morikawa plays a near photographic memory of what Nariko looks like, and to the normal society’s eye she is quite unremarkable in appearance. To Morikawa however he sees the amount of training and effort the woman had gone through to get to this point in life. In way having a messy dark hair enhances a bit of cuteness to her appearance, but that’s just Morikawa’s opinion. Overall she has a nice, healthy body fit for this job. His main concern is if her body is ready to withstand the sudden change.

“Alright, this might sting a bit at first, but if anything it would be comparing it to an ant biting you.” Morikawa forewarned the Third Raikage before he reaches over to place his hand on the dried seal. Focusing his chakra to the palm of his hand, Morikawa would proceed with the activation of the black raiton seal. The activation would come to as a shock to Nariko as the seal forcefully takes ahold of her chakra network. From the inside the sealing power grabs onto the chakra nature, and once it matches with the seal as lightning it will pour its power into the chakra network. At first it will start over her heart, but it quickly surges all over her body as the seal does the empowering factor into her chakra. Through it Nariko maybe in pain, but with her body’s vitality and durability it won’t be fatal.

Just by the name alone, a bad ailment was not good. Nariko nodded in agreement, something would probably have to be done to help the Chinoike in the future, but he was not within her current limits to help, so that would be something for a future task or for perhaps Morikawa to handle. He seemed capable enough, was incredibly intelligent, and above all else, he was not only proficient in Sealing, but also Medical Jutsu and chemistry as well.

If anyone could concoct a cure, it would probably be him. "I'm sure you'll figure something out. I assigned him to you for a reason. Someone with your talents might be the best to help." She said, as he appeared to finish up with the application of the seal. She looked down at the wet ink on her breast and smiled. It was almost done and then she was good. The seal was what she really needed to place her solidly in charge and competent among the other kage. She was probably the weakest and least experienced one, and she needed something special. This seal would be it.

It didn't take long for the ink to dry, and the jounin got back to work on the finishing touches of the seal. The chakra application to the seal that would let it work in the first place. He warned her about a little sting and Nariko responded with a wave of her hand, dismissing the idea with a laugh. "What's a little pain, I have worse pain than a sting with my foreplay sometimes." She joked, ready to be done with the seal.

That said, he placed his hand over the seal, Nariko gasped slightly at the feeling of warmth spread across her chest. It was followed with a rush of chakra through her body, and a right bit of pain, her hair moving to stand on end but her ponytail stopped most of it, just a few strands straightened out. A shiver ran through her body by the pure surge of electrical chakra and her teeth clenched as her muscles seized for but a moment.

As quickly as it came though, it vanished, leaving her chakra system buzzing with energy, but the pain of the stings gone. "If only everybody electrified me that way with a single touch of my breast, I'd have an intense partner in bed let me tell you. I can only imagine if that was other places." She laughed excitedly, throwing her shirt back on.

"I'll have to test run the seal, but not here. Don't want to blow up my office if it is faulty in any way." She grinned. "Although then, no more paperwork at least."

Someone of his talents or maybe for the fact that he has a personal drive to develop a cure for the boy? Hard question to answer in Morikawa’s case, but he won’t deny that it won’t just benefit Rumehi it would also benefit the medical research industry. After all that kind of poison put a child into critical condition and almost killed him. Yet the kid lived with the poison in his veins, and apparently despite the condition it put him in Rumehi somehow used it to his advantage. Hence the bandages. Mori would have to capture a sample of Rumehi’s poison and take some time to analyze it.

Regardless the operation appears to be a success with no permanent damage or really any injuries in general. Which was good because it would bold ill should the seal reject her body. Morikawa snorted in response to her comment about the partner. “If it was that electrifying then you and your partner would be thundering.” The jonin went along with it as he chuckled along with her laugh. As she was getting her shirt back on Mori shift his gaze back over to the scroll. In particular at the Iron Armor Seal that he was given permission to learn.

Just having the ability to seal such power as the bijuu into a host is honestly rare in its own way. Despite the generations past and from what information Kumo gathered only 1 other person has successfully sealed a bijuu over at Konohagakure. As far as everyone is concerned there are still 8 more tailed beast ready to be collected. Morikawa hates to put himself so highly in demand, but the route he chose is a rare yet very much needed in certain cases. Not everyone attempts the sealing arts or if they do it is generally not for the right motive. Morikawa prepared in the case if he deals with a summoner from Konoha for example he has a specific seal to disconnect them from their summons. Though it has weaknesses, but it has a better edge than simply hammering them with fists. When coming against other shinobi who love spamming ninjutsu all Morikawa has to do is to get close with a body flicker and slap a chakra draining seal on them.

Either way Morikawa responds as he kept examining the seal on the scroll. “With that much power you just got. Yeah it would be best to use the local training grounds just to be safe. From what i’ve learned acquiring new powers is best used alone and away. Last time someone tried to use their newly obtained skills they almost wrecked their own house.” He was actually referring to his previous cell Roc incidentally wrecked his room and almost collapsed the entire second floor to his parents’ house because of his insane strength that Roc didn’t know he had.

“As for this seal, it looks simple enough. Though from what i’m gathering it is just sealing and holding the beast in place. I’ll still practice it, but with your permission i’ll see if i can improve it in some way.” Morikawa spoke up as he began tracing the Iron Armor with the tip of his index finger. For if some mysterious reason he can’t precisely remember what the seal looks like at least his body memory would aid in that sense. Plus it is a seal oriented around the kanji of ‘Iron’ and the /rest is a description of what is needed. Or rather, what to write around the kanji to properly execute the seal. It is complex Mori will give the seal that, and necessary to bind such an extraordinary beast as the bijuu.

Even so Morikawa sees that if it was disturbed from an outside source mostly from an unsealing technique then the beast is out. The man creates a mental note to come up with a defensive barrier against the ordinary unsealing without taking extra time to remove it. At least to make it difficult for anyone to remove it as the bijuu can’t do that. For the only one who can truly remove the seal is the host itself, and there were some risks when sealing bijuu too. The berserk jinchuriki will undergo a transformation that resembles the tailed beast, and on the final tail the bijuu often has the best chance to break out of the seal.

“My lord there is a lot of risks when it comes to the jinchuriki.” Morikawa commented to himself mainly, but at the same time he can understand why that is the case. For the host is granted possible tremendous power, but if they don’t invest a good relationship with the bijuu sealed inside of them then most cases when they reach at least half of the tails they’ll start the mini-transformation. That is where the host’s mind is often blind with emotions related to rage and hunger for more power. Causing them to produce more tails until the final tail has sprouted. After reading this much in depth into the Iron Armor Seal the sealing arts expert also makes a mental note to create a separate seal designed to restrain the host if they get that far into the transformation. At least to buy them time to deal with the jinchuriki preferably knocking him or her out.

893/250

Technique Learned:
Iron Armor Seal (A)

Nariko nodded in agreement. "Yeah, there are risks involved with being a jinchuuriki, so the choice will have to be made with great consideration in the event we have to fight a Bijuu. If the vessel is too weak, or the seal is too weak, or the seal is undone, then the Bijuu will just break free and wreak havoc. Obviously, that's why I asked you to learn the seal in the first place, we need a strong seal that will be less likely to break. Other safe guards can be placed to further enhance any seals, which would be nice to develop, but aren't necessary."

Stretching and cracking her neck, Nariko looked at the scroll and pondered who they would even choose as a vessel for a Bijuu if given a choice. "I don't even know which would be better to choose, someone lower ranked, or someone higher ranked. Obviously someone stronger already would be safer to contain a Bijuu, right? Able to contain the power and more likely to master it with less danger. But giving it to a genin, that would allow for heightened potential and skill in a genin. Of course, should they be taken out in a mission or something else, it would be devastating releasing the Bijuu. I don't know, there aren't really a lot of people around I think would be capable of taming such a beast. Whoever it is would have to be promising."

As far as she was concerned, having gone through the files of quite a few shinobi, she would prefer it to be on active duty shinobi rather than guards or scouts. Ideally those that would be gaining experience through missions, as adversity bred the strongest shinobi. To that end, it would have to be someone with potential, so she'd probably prefer it to be out of a select group of people. Any of her genin would suffice, they had proven to be able to handle adversity as a group, and would be able to help keep the Bijuu in check with each other. Besides, they would be under her supervision on missions frequently, with her there to help in any bad situation.

Morikawa's genin were also high potential choices, as they would be directly under his supervision, and with a sealing expert around, if the beast would grow out of control, he could help reign it in with more seals. To that end, Morikawa might also prove to be a good choice himself, being a Jounin with talent to spare. Then again, should something go awry with him, then there would be no way to seal the beast again, and it would rampage. Personally, she would prefer to avoid that, but she wasn't the one who would really choose in the end, as he could simply choose to seal such a creature inside himself.

As far as any Chuunin were concerned, Simon Kageyama had proven himself skilled enough to take on an adversary of unknown skill and come out on top with relative ease. He could probably handle being a Jinchuuriki, but she wasn't really sure. She didn't know all that much about him, beyond his files and his report. She absolutely trusted Yui, having known the girl since her academy days. That girl was skilled for sure, and Nariko was surprised she wasn't a Jounin by now, but that was probably just her own personal choice holding herself back.

And of course, there was an obvious choice for Nariko to build more power by having herself become a Jinchuuriki. She briefly entertained the idea, as she was fully capable of doing so, but at the same time she already had quite a bit going for her. Too much power in one person was corrupting for sure. She wouldn't turn down such a choice if there was no other option available, but she wasn't too concerned with it. While being a Jinchuuriki was something she had no doubt she could do, she already had Black Raiton and the Lightning Release Chakra Mode. Those placed her on par with such a being.

Besides, she was fairly certain, if she ever lost control as the Jinchuuriki as things currently stood, there was nobody in the village who could stop her. However, she felt confident in her ability to fight any such threat. It was neither here nor there though, what would happen would happen, and there was no point in dwelling on something that didn't matter yet.

It was at that point that a messenger hawk flew into the room through an open window, landing on Nariko's shoulder. Somewhat surprised, Nariko took the scroll attached to it, the bird flying out the same way it had entered, and she opened it up, reading the contents that it held inside. Usually, a person would have come to deliver the message, but for it to come directly to her, this message was intended to reach the Raikage first and foremost, with no chance for mishap. With that in mind, the scoll's contents had incredibly vital information.

Turning to the jounin, Nariko paused for a moment. "So, there have been interesting developments Morikawa. This is a missive from the Kage Summit. Lady Calypso is indeed dead, struck by the same wave of coma's and deaths that hit us. Further more, the Kage Summit has agreed that each nation is to assemble a task force of shinobi to combat some threat that is beyond any one village. Each of us has been hit by some creature, wiping out entire scouting forces with not even a trace of them left. And the strike forces, from what I am gathering, will all meet in Kumogakure. Not inside the village of course." she said, explaining the situation to him.

"I believe this, but I'd be foolish to take this news blindly. You'll be head of our task force, but I shall accompany you all to the meeting point whenever it happens to ensure this isn't a trap. With our former Raikage dead at the meeting, I can't guarantee some plot isn't around to strike us down while we are assumed to be weakened. I can't just blindly trust her death was as written. I guess I have more preparations to make then." she said, sighing. It was fortunate indeed that she had planned as she did.

To be honest finding such risks when trying to contain such great power is to no surprise for Morikawa. It just made him realize how many things can go wrong with only but a snap of his fingers metaphorically. The topic certainly earned his attention though, and the matter of things they would have to consider before even attempting such a thing. So many scenarios running through his mind and so many more on countering certain situations. However it all boils down to one thing, and that is who in the world would be the jinchuriki?

“Someone who is already strong maybe recommended, yet even i do not know anyone who is able to keep the beast within. If anything there’s always the risk they start using a fraction of the bijuu’s power and get carried away enough to break the seal by accident…” Morikawa pondered as he considered the two genin freshly placed under his command. There was Sora, and talented the boy was or at least he already demonstrates skill in combat according to the file. Rumehi was simply too weak to contain such a thing inside of him, so Morikawa doubts that putting such a strain on his body would do any good. On the other hand it might give the boy the extra strength to regain his true strength. However, Morikawa doesn’t truly know either of them so he can’t vouch for them as candidates. So the jonin goes back to what he was originally going to propose earlier.

“Well… if we’re worried about the host losing control or getting lost while on a mission. I could attempt to produce an offspring and use the child’s body as the host for the bijuu. If anything the beast would be inactive for at least the first five years and probably won’t start announcing itself until the child hits near graduation age from the academy. The child would be under constant watch from me personally for various other reasons a parent should do. Additionally we won’t have to worry about the child going out on missions and whatnot for at least another decade.” Morikawa proposed as he certainly wasn’t going to suggest himself. For all he knows there is only one other person who can seal a bijuu and that person is all the way over at Konoha. However there are a number of reasons he chose his child as a candidate other than buying time.

For primary reason number one, Morikawa will be constantly watching over the child’s progress as he said he would. Number two, his bloodline gives the useful kekkei genkai against ninjutsu that with time could master it. The number three, the kid will be hidden from view of other villages for the most part or at least keep the identity of the jinchuriki a secret. Even so there is the decade before any sign of the jinchuriki can be revealed without proper examination. Plus they are not in war currently, and he doesn’t see Nariko being a warmonger or willing to start one if she can help it. So they should have time for the child to mature enough.

Then a hawk flew in from the open window and gracefully lands on Nariko’s shoulder. At first he just heard the rustle of feathers which brought his attention up at the Raikage. Silence fell on them as Nariko took the scroll from the bird and began reading. It was only after she seemed to have read all of the contents that she began to speak. What she said only confirmed Morikawa’s fears as Calypso is said to have fallen into a coma and passed away during the summit. The jonin did not meet Calypso in person, but she never seemed to be the type to just fall ill and die so easily. Apparently Nariko can’t believe that scroll all the way either.

“A force beyond any one village? What on earth could it be that the other villages can’t handle it on their own?” Morikawa asked the million ryo question as he finds it hard to believe that even Kirigakure can’t handle. Whatever it is, the force is certainly mighty to warrant such caution. “Once we know more what this summons is about i’ll ensure a strategy that i’ll go over with everyone. If we bring others i recommend someone you can trust and capable of handling themselves.” Morikawa stated as he will be polite enough to close the scroll containing the techniques and wrapped it up with the cord. “Is there anything you would like for me to do specifically before we depart for the Kage’s Summit?”

Here Ryuko was standing inside the administrative building feeling incredibly nervous. This wasn’t the first time visiting since she’d had to come here the register herself upon moving into to the village. But this was different, she’d only had to speak to one of the clerks then, not the Raikage himself who had been far to busy to great a single lowly gennin like herself. Even if she had at least she knew what the now late second looked like. After all she had a signed action figure of him in her collection. A figure that she would be soon be giving to his sister.

She wondered how long it would be until the third Raikage had such a figure made in her honor, if she didn’t have one already being a former jounin. Well at least she knew it was a woman which was a good thing given her recent experinces with men such as Akashi and Akuma doing eroding her trust in the gender.

If it had been a guy their was no way she would be going to meet him without bringing her lady in waiting along. The only reason she had left Sofia behind and was carrying about twenty pounds of luggage within two fancy looking bags herself was because she didn’t want to look too pretentiousness on their first meeting.

As per usual she was wearing her shrine priestess outfit which consisted of a purple kimono top with matching colored detached sleeves. This kimono was tucked into a red pleated skirt held up by a light blue belt and below that where detached purple stockings.

Over the kimono she wore a cape. It was purple o with her clan symbol of a rose woven on the back. The inner lineing of the cape was red and the sides where adorned with golden trimming along the edge which denoted her rank as a priestess. The cape went a great deal towards concealing the batons she had holstered on her belt behind her back as well as her one fumma shuriken.

The most eye catching part of her outfit though was a golden necklace worn around her neck known as the amulet of kings. With one large flawless blue diamond at the center supported by twelve smaller diamonds around it, it was a master piece fitting for a member of nobility such as herself to be wearing. She probably should have hidden it given the impression she wanted to make but couldn’t help but keep it out on prominent display given that it was a gift from her best friend.

If one looked close enough at her they would see faint traces of sawdust and dust on her clothes from her recent training session over at the academy that she had just come from. Try as she might to straiten herself out and look presentable as possible, she couldn’t remove it entirely. At least not without going home to change first and right now she didn’t have time for that.

She had spent the last week and a bit working on a gift to give to the third and it frankly their was no time like the present to give it to her. Frankly she was surprised how easily the secrtary at the front desk had allowed her in without an appointment, but she guessed maybe being a noble daughter had some perks after all as much as she hated to admit it. They must have had thought she was here to request a mission because she had been waved though with hardly a second glance.

Reaching out a hand she lightly rapped on the door, knocking three times just loud enough that if anyone was inside they would surely be able to hear her. “Premission to enter, my lady.” she spoke formally not wanting to simply barge in uninvited. Such actions would be ill befitting someone of her upbringing.

Nariko was almost completely taken aback by Morikawa suggesting he father a child to place a bijuu inside. "Absolutely not, no. What sort of parent would suggest a thing like that? Burdening and isolating a child in such a manner before they can even make a decision on whether they want to take on such a sacrifice? No. I want it to be someone who makes the decision themselves." She frowned at Morikawa.

"Besides, I want them to be able to begin training as soon as possible. Whoever becomes a Jinchuuriki would play a vital role in our military and political structure and be a person of interest. Someone to look to and respect. It's important and I don't want to coddle and use them." She explained a little more, hoping to impress upon him what her thoughts on the matter were.

"As for any meeting, it would be an assault meeting. The Kage Summit already took place, that's what this detailed the goings on of. I'm not sure any Kage are going to be meeting here but I want to make sure that everything is on the up and up. I won't have my shinobi walking into a trap." A knock on the door silenced her though. "We'll talk more on it later, this will be drafted as a high ranking mission anyhow. You'll have the details. For now, just train your squad up in preparation. Sora might prove useful in this." She finished, turning towards the door.

Speaking a bit louder so that whoever was knocking could hear her, Nariko addressed the knocker. "Come on in."

Not unexpected for Morikawa’s mind that Nariko reacted in such a manner. No normal person would even hazard such a thought pattern or if they do it is generally for some selfish reason. As the result Morikawa is actually a bit pleased with Nariko’s words as a small smile play at his lips. For it just confirms what kind of kage she would be, and such things will probably crop up that the Third will have to deal with in the future. For in truth this world they live in is quite cruel and nasty too.

“Just to correct your assessment, i said nothing about isolating the child and it wouldn’t necessarily considered to be a burden. At least not for a while since the beast will more or less be asleep. However i should apologize. It was just a small test to see how you’ll deal with situations such as that. I meant no offense.” Mori admitted as he politely bowed as his composure got sincerely apologetic. He may be intelligent to have discarded some things that restrain the human mind to think outside of the box. However cruel he is not one. A few strands of turquoise hair hangs in front of his face as those molten gold eyes were briefly closed.

Upon hearing the orders given to him, Morikawa straightened his posture while combing the strands back from his face with a sweep of his fingers. “Very well, i shall get onto it immediately.” That’s when a knocking sound rapped from the closed door, and once Nariko addressed the newcomer Morikawa knelt briefly to pick up the closed scroll. Then he’ll walk over to lean the large scroll on the desk’s side. Once he had done this the jonin would tuck his hands into the pockets of his coat.

Ryuko heard the words come on in and began to creak open the door with visions of what the third Raikage would be like dancing in her head.  She had no doubt the woman was strong and tough to be taking on the roll but the question was would be be fiery and hotblooded or cool and refined.  She began to paint a idealized picture in her head, a picture that was immediately shattered into a thousand pieces when the doors finally parted allowing her to get her first good look at the state her leader was in.

The gray sweat pants the woman was wearing, combined with a slightly ruffled light blue tank top and disheveled hair made for a very sorry sight.  Ryuko wouldn’t be suprised to see someone jogging in such an outfit but for someone as estimated as the Raikage to be dressed in such a manner while on duty left her aghast.

“Unacceptable. How could you even think about having meetings while dressed like that?” Ryuko blurted out the words before she could think and quickly covered her mouth with her free hand, shocked that she had said something so rude.  It wasn’t her place to be talking about such things but she had spend her entire life being raised with courtly educate being hammered into her and couldn’t quite help herself from speaking up when confronted with such an obvious breach of protocol.  

Sneaking a wary glance at the man the Raikage had been meeting with Ryuko gave a small nod of approval. The coat with the flames on it was a bit on the flamboyant side but nice enough It wouldn’t do to wear anything TOO fancy after all.  At least he had the right idea in mind and was appropriately dressed for the occasion.  

Taking a deep breath to clam herself down Ryuko reminded herself that she was dealing with a person who likely wasn’t used to having to deal with politics, someone who hadn’t been groomed for the position ahead of time having it come upon them due to unexpected circumstances.  Still the very idea of some foreign dignitary or Hakkin forbid the diymo himself walking in to the same sight she had made her blood run cold.

“My apologizes for the outburst.” She said bowing her head and looking down at the floor feeling ashamed at herself. “Ryuko Shizu Von Rose at your service mam.” she said introducing herself as she picked up the hem of her skirt and preformed a curtsy. “In honor of your recent inauguration I’ve come to present you with a set of my finest chain mail. May it serve you well in your long reign"  she said speaking reverently as she knelt down one one knee and held out a large fancy looking bag for the third to take.

Nariko was taken aback for a second, her face somewhat frozen in surprise, although once she had a few seconds to register that she had been called out for wearing sweatpants and a tank top, she burst out in laughter. "I'll send you the details on the assignment later Mori, go train your student. Seems like mine are coming to find me themselves." she joked, waving on Morikawa. As he left, she would turn her full attention to Ryuko and smile.

"Don't worry, I'm not really offended. To be honest, I wasn't expecting to be meeting with anyone, and I've actually been in here for like 4 days now. With Lord's First and Second both falling so soon, there was a lot of paperwork. Until recently I haven't even bothered to see anyone, let alone do any meetings." she explained her appearance. She slightly was lying, but it didn't really matter. She had been here for at least 4 days, but she preferred comfort much more than pomp. If there was something she needed to do, she would put on a more appropriate attire, but she otherwise didn't care.

Walking up to Ryuko, Nariko accepted the bag from her, although she didn't look into it just yet. Instead, she examined Ryuko, sizing her up. "So you seem to be pretty capable. Interestingly enough, Ryuko, I was going to come find you soon enough anyhow. I pulled your file, as well as Shimiko and Natsuru's. You're a very promising squad, and I would love to become your sensei. With proper guidance, I think you guys could very well be the strongest shinobi of your generation." she said after a moment of contemplation.

Opening her bag, Nariko pulled out the chainmail that Ryuko had made, letting the metal unfold in front of her. It was a beautiful piece of work, and showcased Ryuko's talent as an armorer. "Oh wow, this is fantastic Ryuko! I might ask you to make more things for me actually, I need to restock at some point, but your work is more impressive than the run of the mill weapons and items we buy." Slipping the chainmail on, Nariko looked to see how it would fit, and it was a surprisingly good fit. There was a little more room for her breasts than was probably necessary, but it wasn't all that noticeable as Chainmail formed to fit the body, using the force of gravity to pull itself taut against the person wearing it.

Morikawa took the time to more or less take in the appearance of the new person. She looked kind of young, maybe teen or at least early teens. The purple-red combination with other bits to stand out looked rather well, or at least it looked good on the young lady. One thing Mori quickly picked up was how she carried herself. It was often associated with nobles as that aura of controlled and well educated courtesies is present with Ryuko.

Now that he thinks about it, perhaps obtaining a new coat would do him some good. Maybe go with a jacket that is mainly black with royal purple lightning design caressing at the bottom and the sleeves. However that was for another time as Nariko dismissed him. Morikawa gave a lazy bow before taking his leave through the front door. There was a playful smirk on his lips and even a chuckle as he passed Ryuko. “Nice one kid.” And like that he turns left down the hallway towards the staircase where he’ll begin his descent.

[exit]

Ryuko braced herself, expecting some form of corporal punishment or at least a verbal reprimand for speaking out of turn but instead the third simply laughed it off much to her relief as she allowed herself to look just in time to catch the smile come across the third’s face.

Now that she was getting a closer look at the woman and wasn’t quite so distracted by the clothes she was wearing she could now tell it was a face she hadn’t seen before and not one she knew from her action figures. Ryuko had one of every famous ninja from their village but it wasn’t a surprise that someone lesser known had gotten the position.

Some of the best ninja where scary because they weren’t widely recognized. Thought now that the Third had put on the hat it would only be a matter of time now until the toy company came sniffing around asking for permission to use her likeness. It was ironic how becoming a kage meant becoming the complete opposite of a shadow to the general public at large.

From what Ryuko could see the third looked young. In her early twenties at best which made the fact she had become a kage all the more impressive. But what stood out to Ryuko the most was how pretty her face looked. Maybe It wasn’t the kind of beauty that would win a pageant or get you on the cover of a magazine, but it was enough to make Ryuko blush a bit just from looking at the woman.

She lost her focus for a moment almost missing the words that where being spoken as she told the man she’d been meeting with to go train his student and that hers where coming to find her on their own. Wait…. did that mean what she thought it did? Was she referring to Ryuko being one of her students. No that couldn’t be possible, it was just misunderstanding.

The man left leaving her with the a couple of parting words. While Ryuko was glad he had found her outburst humorous she had to frown a bit about being basically called a child. She was a gennin for Hakkin’s sake not to mention a fully ordained priestess. While she wasn’t quite yet a full adult yet she was far from being a kid either.

The fact that it was now just her and the third alone together made her feel three times as nervious but that feeling quickly went away as her lady went on to talk about how she wasn’t offended and explain the situation. From the sound of things it was really more the secretaries fault for letting people in then her’s. Doing paper work for days sounded rough and it was enough to make Ryuko wonder where the heck the third’s assistants where.

She knew a thing or two about paperwork herself from watching her dad work, and the important thing was delegation. From what she could see their where entire stacks in the office that where too properly too minor for someone as important as a kage to be dealing with. That’s what they had clerks for.

“Have you been doing all of this by yourself?” Ryuko asked her voice full of concern. Even if their had been a backlog from the previous administrations untimely demise it shouldn’t have been this bad that it would take days to straighten out. But it seemed things hadn’t been run properly even before the second had fallen into a coma.

Then the third began talking about Ryuko and her team. The words she was saying where so unexpected that Ryuko had to pinch her arm to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. Why would someone as important as the third come looking for her? Even as a noble she was a nobody, just a pretty bargaining chip for her family to use in negations.

The stuff about being promising sounded true enough for Shimiko and Natsuru but not to her. She had been told time and time again at the monastery that she had little potential as a ninja and would be lucky to make a chunnin at best. And now here was someone, someone who meant something telling her that she could be one of the strongest of their generation?

It was enough to bring a tear to Ryuko’s eye and she almost had to fight from being out into full on sobbing from having an authority figure believe in her for once. At being told her armor was fantastic she couldn’t hold back anymore and began to cry though strangely enough she had a huge grin plastered all over her face from being compliment on her work.

“It would be my honor to craft more for you miss….” she said fishing for a name so she actually had something to call her lord and apparently now teacher other then my lady. It had long been a dream of hers to fashion a suit of armor worthy for a kage, she just hadn’t been expecting to do so in quite such a literal sense.

Thankfully unlike Natsuru the third had elected to try her chain mail on over her sweet shirt instead of stripping on the spot. A small part of Ryuko would have liked to see that but another was grateful since her emotions where already running high and she couldn’t afford to lose any more blood today and still be able to think straight lest she gave into her urge to glomp the third which was growing stronger by the moment.

"Ah, that's a tricky question. Mostly doing this all by myself yes, but I am also contributing with more help to myself than I can give alone." Nariko said, a knowing grin on her face. From behind the desk, working on piles of paperwork as she had left them, the two clones popped up and waved at Ryuko before going back to their work. "I figure, 3 is better than 1 after all, and with my mind in the clones, I know they'll respond to each piece of paperwork as I would. Unfortunately, I can't really do anything else, cause I don't want to risk losing concentration on my clones, so I've just been chilling up here."

Her response was almost exactly the same as it would have been to Morikawa if he had bothered to ask about them, but he didn't, so she hadn't even mentioned them. It was probably a good lesson for someone to learn. While doing work on your own was sometimes necessary, that didn't mean you needed to be alone. The Shadow clone technique, and other techniques that made solid clones, were all very effective in different situations. "If you have the ability to, I would suggest learning a solid clone technique of at least one kind. They're more useful than you might think." she said simply, withholding anything else about it for Ryuko to figure out herself. It took some people years to figure out why.

"Anyhow, right, I forgot, we haven't had a public ceremony for me, huh? Sorry, I've been really busy, like I said." she said, holding the back of her head and laughing awkwardly. "I'm Nariko Mizushima, but you can call me Nariko or Nari if you'd like. I don't really require formality unless it's really necessary. Oh, feel free to take a seat and talk. Tell me a bit about yourself. I only know the technical stuff that's in your file. Personality profile, grades from the academy, assessment reports and stuff like that." she said, dropping to the floor with a plop, cross legged.

The chainmail clinked against the ground as she did so, reminding her that she was wearing armor in the first place. Sometimes it was easy to forget that sort of thing, and while she enjoyed the armor's fit, she didn't want to wear it for no reason just yet. Removing it from her sitting spot, she struggled with it slightly, rocking on her butt to try and get it over her body, although she was sitting on the bottom edge of it, so it wasn't working. It made for a bit of a funny scene, until she finally got it off, letting it gather on the floor next to her. Nariko blushed slightly, embarassed by her display.

Ryuko was a bit confused about what the third meant by more help by herself then alone until the clones popped up from behind the desk and waved at her.   She had to admit that was a pretty clever way to speed up the paperwork though it didn’t really resolve the issue since their had to be a ton of files that didn’t need the Raikage’s attention in the first place mixed in there.

“Actually, I already know how to make shadow clones.” Ryuko admitted as she wiped away the tears from her face using a handkerchief she had pulled out of her sleeve.  Naturally she didn’t have the stamina to use clones very effectively in an actual battle yet but the fact she could cast the jutsu at all was nothing to sneeze at.  

On paper the jutsu was insanely useful for letting you be at two places at the same time.  Who hadn’t wished to have a second pair of hands at some time or another. But nobody had told her that you would remember anything that your doppelganger did, a fact she’d quickly figured out for herself after preforming the jutsu once.  The implications where staggering.  

Forget being able to craft armor twice as fast, she could read one book by herself and have a clone read another and retain information from both. It was a wonder people didn’t use the jutsu that way more often but then again it was such a charka guzzler that no normal person had enough energy to get the full potential out of it.

As Noriko introduced herself Ryuko did as instructed pulling up one of the guest chairs and began to sit down in it only to feeze midway as Norkio plopped herself down straight on the floor.  It seemed her leader wasn’t joking about not requiring formality, so Ryuko followed suit and sat down on the floor across from her forgoing the chair after all.  It would have been way to weird to be sitting higher then her boss for all sorts of reasons.  

“Are you sure you got the right files? I never attended the academy.” Ryuko said feeling more and more like this was less of a formal interview between master and student and more of a gossip  session between two girls, especially as Noriko went to take her chain-mail off and had an awkward go of it which made her seem all the more cute in Ryuko’s eyes.

She probably wasn’t used to wearing chainmail which was why she was having trouble taking it off.  It was odd to Ryuko how little armor most ninja seemed to wear. They seemed to have a misconception about it being loud or unwieldy when neither where the case if made properly.  

“Well as you can see Nariko, I’m quite fond of armor smithing and I’ve even supplied our entire squad with chainmail similar to the one I made for you.” said Ryuko. “I’ve also made a fifth set for Hahashi-san but I can’t seem to locate her anywhere.  Natsuru told me to check the bars around town but they won’t let me in for some reason.” she rambled on,  pouting that she had been unable to get near any alcohol in the last week.

She considered mentioning her ninjabo collection but though better of it, not wanting to sound childish in front of Noriko whom she was trying to impress. “I also told that I play a pretty mean Mandolin. How about you, do you play any instrument Nariko?” thinking it would be amusing if their squad could also become a makeshift band.  

Just then the full implications of her new-found situation sunk in.  If she was the direct student of the third Raikage herself that meant she could also function defacto as one of her assistants since she was going to be exposed to classified material one way or another just from behind around Noriko.

For her to graduate from being a Candidate to a full Vestal there where only about four or five people in the entire world she could serve, if they picked her. The pope of church of hakkin, the daiymo of land of lightning or last but certainly not least the Raikage.  She’d just never assumed that path would be available to her since the second had never really expressed much interest in religion to her knowledge.

The opportunity of a life time had literally just fallen in her lap, now she need merely ask and make it offical.  All Nariko had to was say yes and Ryuko would never have to worry about another stupid arranged marriage attempt ever again.  The only question mpw was how to bring the topic up naturally.

"Good good. The Shadow Clone Jutsu is a very powerful and useful one. It is one I recommend all the shinobi to learn. Natsuru definitely, it's fantastic for scouting." Nariko nodded, and smiled at Ryuko. "And no, I was just speaking generally. That's what's in most files, you know. I didn't mean specifically your grades. I've been over your file a few times myself. They'd already been pulled when I took office, I assume her goal was the same as mine. But with that, plus Simon's report gave some more information about you, during your fight with that large red man."

Ryuko gave a little bit of information about herself, telling more about her fun of crafting armor. Nariko's face lit up at the mention of Yui's family name. "Oh, you know Yui? She was one of my best friends back in the academy. We graduated together. She's kinda my assistant now too, although more of a temporary one than a permanent one."

Thinking a moment about her answer, Nariko shook her head. It was a weird thing to have to think about. "No, I don't know any instruments. I always enjoyed listening to music though." She smiled and laughed though, at Ryuko's being upset that she wasn't allowed in bars. "Maybe I'll have them make an exception for you. Shinobi are different. You can fight and die for your country so why not enjoy the bar?"

Nariko went on to extol the virtues of the shadow clone as something that all Ninja should learn at some point, even going so far as saying that Natsuru should definitely get since it was a fantastic skill for a scout to have.

“I could show Nat-chan and Shii-chan how to make them if you’d like. Tis would be no trouble” Ryuko offered casually.  If she could perform it then there was really no reason she couldn’t teach it to the rest of her squad.  If nothing else it would save Nariko some time

It was reassuring to hear that the third had just been speaking generally when she’d mentioned grades. It seemed she’d read the correct files after all which meant she’d have at least a board understanding of Ryuko’s situation and capabilities if not all the specifics.  If nothing else the files couldn’t entirely be up to date since she’d only just learned some jutsu now which meant The Ryuko of today would wipe the floor with the Ryuko from just a few short weeks ago.

It was surprising to here that the first had also been looking at those files as well.  The second she could understand wanting to see them since she was on the same squad as his sister but otherwise she had no idea what she could have done to draw so much attention.  

“I can’t really take much credit for that one. Simon did most of the work and even then I was only able to get a shot in because the foe dropped his guard after the so called destroyers of world’s pathetic display.” said Ryuko giving her own short assessment of that day’s events.

In the end she had gotten the results that had mattered but she couldn’t help but wonder if she could have repeated those same results if the variables had been just a bit different.  Each mission she went on was like a test in a way, a test she had to pass no matter what.  Failure was always an option, but one that would come at a terrible price.

“Yes thought she’s more of an acquaintance then a friend since we’ve only just met.  I was telling Nat-chan about the armor I was working on and Yui seemed pretty interested so I offered to make her a set as well.  The look of her face when I told her it would be free was priceless.” said Ryuko with a smirk.  “I know I could charge a fair sum for my work, but well tis never been about the money….” she said looking wistful.

It was about keeping the people who where important to her safe.  The armor she made can and already had made the difference between coming back alive from a mission or not.  Being able to keep seeing a friend was all the reward she would ever need.

“Well then if she’s your assistant even if only temporarily I can leave this here for her to pick up.” reasoned Ryuko as she set the second package beside the desk. “Speaking of assistants…. would you do me the honor of allowing me to serve as your Vestal?” she asked. If felt… odd lacking almost all the pomp that was supposed to go along with that question but she felt this suited the situation more since Nariko had said she disliked formalities.

It was too bad about Nariko not playing any instruments. It seemed her lark about forming a four woman band would have to remain just that.  But at least her boss enjoyed listening to music which meant that Ryuko could always play for her in the future.  

Hearing that Nariko was considering making an exception for her being  allowed into the bars Ryuko’s eyes went wide like saucers.  Finally someone that got it, if she was going to risk her life all the time then what was wrong with having a little drink now and then especially since it wasn’t like she was looking to drown her sorrows in the stuff.  

“Yes please! You’re the best Nariko.” squealed Ryuko as the last thread of her restraint finally came loose. Moving quickly she scooted across the floor and attempted to embrace the older girl with a big hug.

"I would appreciate the help showing them, sure. I mean, it really isn't that difficult a technique, just really chakra intensive, and obviously pretty advanced. Most genin don't really have the ability to utilize it to a very high degree of effectiveness, but that doesn't mean they can't. Natsuru's a scouting type, and not really much of a front line combatant, so she would benefit from it the most, adding numbers and scouting advantages, so I do want her to learn it at least." she explained a little further, repeating that she wanted Natsuru to learn the technique.

As Ryuko went on to explain more about the incident, Nariko listened patiently, Ryuko speaking a bit humbly about the experience, and that she had really only taken advantage of a situation that otherwise wouldn't have gone so well. "Well, that's the thing Ryuko. That's what separates the good from the bad. You were able to take advantage of an opening to allow you to complete something that otherwise would have been much more dangerous, and that's to be commended. You saw an opening, took it, and it panned out." she said, offering the girl a smile. "As for Akuma, you'll be happy to know I have released him from his services, discharged with the highest of dishonors. Anything further from him, and he'll be marked as a criminal to be wiped out with extreme prejudice."

She had assumed that's who Ryuko was referring to as the Destroyer of World's. "The only thing he was successful in destroying was himself and his career. I guess he destroyed his own world." she said, grinning, finding it impossible to ignore the joke that presented itself.

As Ryuko offered to be Nariko's Vestal, she recalled some of the file's contents. Ryuko was a priestess, and had some sort of stuff that she needed to complete to advance, or something along those lines, but she hadn't really delved deep into it, as religious stuff wasn't something that really intrigued Nariko all that much. Still, with her excitement and even hugging due to her comments about the bar, Nariko found it impossible to refuse, and so she agreed. "Sure, I don't know all that that entails, but we'll be spending plenty of time together anyhow, so I don't see a problem with that. Might as well take advantage of my position as your sensei, and as the Raikage to help you out a bit."

Her position on the floor made the hug a little awkward, but completely heartfelt as Nariko returned it. "Anything else I can help you with?" she asked, a bit of a sly grin on her face. She took her job as the Raikage seriously, but also knew that her position afforded her the ability to have a lot more leeway than others. She could grant access to things or places that not everyone could, and while some considered it an abuse of power, Nariko viewed it as perks of the job.