Regular Tutoring [Tutoring Topic]

[Midori Futotta]

With a bunch of new recruits coming, there are a lot of students who want to be the the very best. That means there are a bunch of students willing to do a lot if it means being a shinobi faster which was a lot easier on Maru since he could give the academy students the grunt work while he had time to slack off. Most of the time it works out for him in the end, but sometimes the really serious ones practically drag him back to actually teaching them something useful like his star pupil had done. Regardless he was pretty good at multitasking...kinda sorta. When he posted on a build board by the academy it simply told the student that the tutoring would be pretty easy as pie and they would be able to be the strongest shinobi if they allow him to teach them his ways. Sure enough, he was really planning on making them do something benefital like learning about ninjustu or seeing where they were at in fighting but then he saw something in Cronopolis that diverted his attention from teaching. There was a high stakes poker game beginning held inside of one of the runned down buildings that was about to start in like 15 minutes from now. Though it probably wasn't a good idea to go since the chances that people would be cheating the scoundrel couldn't help himself but wanting to play since he wanted to try his luck at a hand or two. Could call it a addiction to the rush of a game purely based on chance.

There was only one problem.. he told the student to meet him here in 15 minutes and it's gonna suck having to teach some kid handseals instead of playing with people who he believed to be criminals. At times like these he wished that he wasn't a Chunin so the demand for him to actually do work would be low because this was really cutting into his free time. Then a lightbulb went off in the rouge's head, something Maru hadn't thought of till now. 'Maybe the kid could help me win.’ he thought. Though cheating was frowned upon by a lot of goodies he really wanted to win, perhaps if he taught the student a little slick move that no one else would catch then he would be able to walk away with some yen in his pocket. All he had to do is say the lesson had changed a bit, convince the would be student that this game was important, get in, then play with the conmen of Cronopolis. Easy as pie.

Maru was dressed in his usual attire. Donning a black masquerade mask on his face with long dark blue hair, he wore a fancy blue and white outfit too with a cape in the breeze. His white gloved hand rubbing his chin with a sly smile on his face, a utility belt around his waist with a 'M’ on the buckle and black boots to complete his bizarre looking outfit. He looked more like a weird villain you would find straight out of a cartoon, some even thought he was a celebrity of some kind but the weird thing was that no despite his mask only covering his eyes no one had actually seen his real face. Maybe a few people but he wore a mask so frequently that in public no one would recognize him if he didn't have his mask on which says a lot. The rouge waited on his student to show, tapping his boot on the ground wondering if whoever he was supposed to be tutoring was going to be there.

 

[Hanabi Aiko]

She had signed up for this class, not so much for the power, but for the practical application and experience. She was already pretty exceptional for her age at the physical nature of shinobi, but not so much anything else. She had a few jutsu she could run, but the breadth of that was lacking. In the future, she would focus on her strengths, but today was a weakness building day. How was she suppose to become the best killer of men anyone has ever seen, if she couldn't make it past this.

So here she was back in her natural element, the slums, a place she had visited many times for food and shelter. It was pretty easy to push her way around here, and in some circles had a bit of a reputation as a thief if seen by face. That's why, as she approached the spot to meet her teacher for the evening, she would be seen wearing a face mask that covered the nose and mouth, a wicked smile drawn on. She wouldn't be the oddest one here tonight as people who liked to hang out here for fun where eccentric, her teacher no different.

"Yui Tsukiko reporting for tutoring lesson." she said plainly and unafraid, bowing to show respect even if she didn't mean it, because while Maru was more eccentric than she was, she was dead on the inside and so had to put the facade on that she cared about honoring anyone at any given moment. If whatever they were doing here went south, he'd be happy to have her on his side that's for sure.

[MFT: WC - 273]

 

[Midori Futotta]

When the new student had finally came, she introduced herself to him in a rather respectful manner. “Well aren't you a proper young lady. Well since we are introducing ourselves I am Yamamoto Yamaru, but I usually go by Maru." the masked rogue said putting his hands on his hips gesturing his head to a to the building where the game was being held in then began to explain what the lesson is going to be about. “Decided to change the lesson up a little bit by giving you a real life experience. Sometimes you are gonna be asked to infiltrate yadda yadda yadda to get information or assassinate so and so. Today you and me are going to be sneaking in a poker game with some thugs pretending to be scoundrels ourselves.” Pretty simple, especially for him since he used to have a career in being a thief plus while he was in Wind Country he picked up on a lot of tricks and cheats he could use to win since that poker tournament he was in was life or death.

So now that he explained the gist of what they would be doing, he probably needed to work out a signal since he is gonna have her behind the scoundrels getting glances at their hands and he already knew a perfect signal since he always wore a mask. “Since I'm looking to win I need to see you so I could use my Uchiha eyes to copy your movements, if the hands look bad just blink once then I'll blink behind my mask, if they have great hands blink twice. If for some reason you have a bad feeling like you are about to get caught or someone caught on to your blinking simply pretend to gag and I'll play like I'm sick or something. Easy enough yeah?” He asked. This was probably a lot of information for a kid to handle, besides there was a possibility of a fight me breaking loose and they'll cross that bridge when they got to it. After all he wasn't too worried about that open since he could do the almighty Omni-Flash, almost nothing could stop that move he thought. So he wasn't worried too much about the students safety but he was still offering a way out should the kid is too scared to deal with a rough crowd like this.

"If we do good I'll split the money with you. Common whatdaya say?" the rouge held out his hand as if trying to tell the girl to trust him. But then to his luck a ear splitting BLAM! could be heard from inside, followed by a man with a country sounding voice yelling from the building that got extremely quite."YOU NO GOOD CHEAT, I'VE SEEN YOU POCKETING CARDS ALL DAY!" Maru scratched his head as he looked into the open doorway, seeing a huge gorilla of a man dragging a man who was bleeding something horribly around the corner to probably throw the body into a dumpster or something. Almost like a warning to the two that cheating was a bad idea... Very bad idea. Well, things in there are escalating pretty quickly. they hadn't even stepped in and already people are dying in there, well this should be fun.

 

[Hanabi Aiko]

“Well aren't you a proper young lady. Well since we are introducing ourselves I am Yamamoto Yamaru, but I usually go by Maru. Decided to change the lesson up a little bit by giving you a real life experience. Sometimes you are gonna be asked to infiltrate yadda yadda yadda to get information or assassinate so and so. Today you and me are going to be sneaking in a poker game with some thugs pretending to be scoundrels ourselves. Since I'm looking to win I need to see you so I could use my Uchiha eyes to copy your movements, if the hands look bad just blink once then I'll blink behind my mask, if they have great hands blink twice. If for some reason you have a bad feeling like you are about to get caught or someone caught on to your blinking simply pretend to gag and I'll play like I'm sick or something. Easy enough yeah?”

Her first thought was to boil with anger, she was not to be condescended with such talk as being a proper young lady. She shook it off inside, as she realized it meant her blending was working. He would go on to describe today's tutoring lesson. Essentially, he wanted to play and win money and she was the help. She could say this was good espionage training, if she didn't feel like he just didn't want to teach and make a quick easy buck. However, he seemed like he had a rank that could be good for reccomendation in the future, so she would go along with it.

"Help you cheat so we can get paid, and you can buy me the biggest meal I can eat? Deal, but I better get my fair share!" she exclaimed the last part, shaking her fist weakly into the sky. As she dropped her arms, shoved her hands in his pockets and walked forward, a man got dragged out of the place, she was close enough to the doors to be hit with them as they swung open, but as if superhuman in reflexes she did a small step back, then a small bunny hop over the body as it was being dragged out, she was already in the building before the body hit its final resting place. Her eyes darted around the room, looking for the poker table, once she had eyes on it, it was a matter of perching up behind the players, near the bar and ordering something as not to seem suspicious, she had a few dollars on her, so the first drink wasn't a big deal.

"One milk please with a straw, and keep em coming!" she slammed the table, blending in to this place ten times better than the man would have ever thought possible. She grew up in this life, if she was older she'd be known here by name.

 

[Midori Futotta]

Not even before he said that they were to go in that the academy students bolted into the shady looking place without so much as a warning, the rogue went in after the little girl to make sure she didn't get killed or anything like that until the surroundings of the place settled in. The Tavern looked like a abandoned run down business that people just came into just to fix up a bit. It didn't even have that much light in it, wooden tables with drunkards hunched over passed out from having one too many of their drinks. The ones who weren't passed out looked exactly like what you would think a bandit would look like, big gorilla looking men with leering grins and tattered robes brandishing their weapons. There were some who sat to themselves with a stone cold look sipping their sake, those were probably spies or assassins who hung around the lowlives simply to pass the time. You could see a few women in there too, mostly old beggars trying to get more money to drink their lives away while you see younger looking women who were trying to seduce the rich looking men, gold diggers and escorts if you will. Yup a very kid friendly place.

However, the poker tables had a single light bulb swinging over the tables like a pendulum which was where Maru thought Yui was going until the bar in which she met with a old bearded man who had a gut that told the girl the man loved his Sake and Meat. The huge man was cleaning a glass when the child slammed down a few dollars in front of him then asked for milk. The mans head cocked back a bit wondering what on Earth a kid was doing in this place, how did she even get in? “Oi who brought this ‘ittle brat in here!” The mans voice boomed, then Maru casually made his way to where the girl was feeling some hard stares directed at him. "Oh she's with me, brought her along because she's my little good luck charm.” He patted the girl on the head a few times before ruffling her hair, but the man's experssion had yet to soften. “No Kids allowed.” he said flatly, and Maru already knew a good way to get the guy to allow the girl to stick around. So he reached underneath his mask to pull out a small bag filled with diamonds then slid it to the man. “Soooooooooo now can she stay.” the rogue said, then the fatmans face soften going to find the milk that the girl asked for and Maru gestured his head a bit to tell the girl to pick up her money because the guy didn't need diamonds plus HER YEN.

The man returned with Yui's milk that she requested, with her straw then the man asked Maru if he wanted anything. “Oh just gimme a bottle of your finest Sake, I'm sure whatever was in that bag would cover it.” He requested. Sure a teacher shouldn't be getting drunk on a job but screw it! The girl got her milk and he needed a little liquid courage. Finally someone from one of the poker tables called out to the rogue, the bartender had a strict No Kids allowed policy but when this caped masked scoundrel handed him a bag of something the mean crow of a bartender seemed to soften up on his policy. “Aye there hotshot! You smelling like money, wanna come play with us lowlives.” The bottom feeder waved a fingerless gloved hand at Maru. The masked man nudged his student as a reminder to do her part, all she needed to do was keep a eye on the hands then blink if it's looking good or bad.