Smoke and Mirrors [ANBU Class]

[Shirai Sadao]

Standing by the edge of the forest Yukio had request all those attending his class were too meet him here at the designated house, standing with his arms crossed as he looked up to the midday sky the clouds had started to gather quite quickly it seemed like rainfall was due at any moment but that didn't matter too much it would only serve to make things more interesting for what he had in mind. he was not impatient though Yukio was quite curious to see who would arrive to take the class and considered his options of how he may have to adapt depending on how many decided to show up.

"Could be interesting, could be quite basic either way there should be a lot to learn from this depending on how well they handle the situation." He wore his ANBU gear a black mask almost reflective adorned his face, it was the first time he had come to a lesson hiding his features and with no name or face the Hyuuga would be an unknown throughout the time he spent with the Students. His foot began to tap as he became absorbed in thought the first few droplets bouncing off the mask and slowly sliding off.

Tilting his head up he let his eyes wander the area, a habit he had started to develop considering how his students decided to turn up some simply approaching him, others trying to jump in and surprise him as futile as the effort might have been. "Lets just hope they can somewhat be in the same place without trying to blow each other up, not something i should be used to but there you have it. Quite a team you have Yukio" The thought was fleeting but an honest one, safe to say there was more than a few interesting individuals residing in the leaf village.

[WC: 314]

OOC:

Spoiler

- You each have 48 Hours from my post to reply
- Failure to do so resolves in 1 strike, 3 strikes and you fail this class
- 1,500 word and 5 posts is required to get rewards
- No post order is in place go nuts
- Enjoy!

 

[Midori Futotta]

Walking alone within the forest of death, there was a boy.. A dark boy. Everything that Maru wore from his clothing to his hair was dark for the exception of his mask and his four weapons scrolls around his belt. A class in the forest of death seemed to be a perfect location to have a lesson in the Anbu, if you was to go deeper into the forest you'll find their hideout not too far inside. Maru placed had his hands in his pockets, the young shinobi was wearing a mask of his own he only wore when he wanted to show off that he was apart of the branch. The mask was white with black eyes with white pupils. Purple stripes connect from his eyes to his mouth as if the make was crying. It also seems to have red blush on its cheeks, as well as red lipstick on it's mouth, which always seems to smile… always smiling.

Maru made his slow journey to where they were supposed to meet, a house on the edge of the forest of death. When he saw who the teacher of this lesson would be, Maru smirked underneath his mask. 'Perfect’ the boy thought while walking over to where Yukio was standing, apparently gazing up deep in thought. A raven flew down, landing on top of the house nearest Yukio and swaked loudly as if announcing that Maru was coming. The boy gazed from left to right seeing that there was no students around. Boring. The boy took off his mask so his teacher would see his smug grin, deciding to open his mouth. “Well damn I'm on time.” The boy said, strutting closer to be the front of the Hyuuga to disturb his peace. “Howdy there Hyuuga, looks like you've healed up nicely after your ass whoopin’. Don't worry I'll help move the class in the 'right’ direction if you catch my drift.” Maru said, there was an eerie tone in his voice that made him sound a bit untrustworthy. The Hyuuga was healed up, and he was ready to give Maru a Bad Time if he decided to run the show.

Regardless it was enough polite conversation with the Hyuuga, Maru peered out to look at who else decided to take on the course. The Hyuuga had a feeling that Maru would be the problem student in this lesson, but the other students will be judged by Maru accordingly before the little devil would find a suitable target to pick on.

WC:422
Maru's Mask:

Spoiler

 

[Bi-Gomon]

A small and dark figure with white hair could be seen traversing through the fabled Forest of Death. Surprisingly the figure had a large weapon attached to their back, and was carrying it without showing any signs of fatigue. "This is going to take some time" Kuro grunted as his dark clothing made breathing a little hard due to the abnormal signs of heat.
While walking he realized that all ANBU wear masks to hide their identities, so he quickly made do by pulling up his face mask to cover his mouth and nose only leaving his eyes open. But unfortunately the mask made it worse to breath so he gave in and pulled the mask back down. "God Dammit" Kuro grunted in anger while gasping for air.
A few minutes later, Kuro's journey finally ended as he was met with a house which seemed to be perfectly positioned at the edge of the forest. Someone arrived earlier than me? He asked himself as he started to walk closer towards the house. "Am I late?" Kuro asked at the two people already standing there while detaching the spear from his back. After doing so he looked back up at the two men, and while inspecting them he felt the waves of power emanating from their bodies, causing an astonished look to flash throughout his eyes. They're strong.....really strong He grimaced while looking at them.
Then he felt a curious gaze staring down at him, so he gazed towards the man with crying clown mask. "Ummm, do you need anything?" Kuro asked as the dark power started to react by trying to burst out. Why so suddenly? Why now? He used all his willpower to push the darkness back into exhaustion.

WC 290

 

[Hase Aki]

Fwoooosh

In a typical energetic fashion she hit the scene, sliding along overly large roots and swinging on vines. Her body flinging gracefully between tree branches. It felt right out of the Naruto anime, how she glided over them as if they were just suggestions. She landed with a thud on the ground, and did a forward shoulder roll to a stop, her feet still sliding a bit from the force she landed. Once at a full stop, she peered around at those who had arrived before her. She hadn't made any exclamations or joined the fray with an explosion, but that didn't mean she was being serious, it'd just meant that she was off that day, which may not be the best for this situation.

She saw one man, wearing a weird puppet mask. It unnerved her a bit, she did so hate puppets. They were scary, life like but not real, she would later find out what she had was Automatonophobia and any fast reaction out of this rather brooding man would be almost explosive, in response. She kept one eye peeled on that guy as she sized up the other two. Another dark figure arrived on scene, he wore a mask covering his face, but it didn't look comfortable. He also looked a bit constipated, struggling to just be alive. She'd shelve the care for that till it became a problem, as a realization hit her, she wasn't wearing a face covering like the rest. She patted herself, scrambling before taking her long hair and wrapping it around her face, to cover her features. It'd stay in place, but it wasn't eloquent. Her eyes peeked out from inside, but her hair betrayed her identity anyways. Good thing she was just a student and here to learn.

"Ahem, hello everyone." she stated embarassingly, a bit oppressed by all the machismo and brooding in the area. It wouldn't be long till she bounded back though, so they better watch out. The only thing worse than an excited and energetic Yoshi was a reserved one, it meant her energy was building up!

 

[Arashi Takejo]

It was going to be one of those days wasn’t it? The clouds had closed up the sky and it was gloomy all around. Arashi hated rain, absolutely despised it. Getting wet and humid weather were uncomfortable yes, but rain always brought back bad memories for him. Memories he had tried time and time again to forget completely. Brushing himself in an attempt to get dry, he started running towards today’s destination. Small droplets had started to fall and thunder was banging at full volume. He had never been inside the forest of death before. Very few people had. There were rumours all around the village that mysterious and dangerous species of flora and fauna had made their habitat within the dense vegetation. People who wandered off and got lost in the forest, were often found with their memories wiped. Perhaps the forest hid other secrets that someone didn’t want the rest of the world to know.

Suddenly the ground became hazy and unstable before his eyes. It seemed like the world had started to collapse around him. Arashi almost fell to his knees, before he managed to regain his balance. It was another one of his ‘fits’. He closed his eyes for a few seconds and concentretrated on taking heavy breaths. The acute pain in his head started to ease off and his vision returned to normal. His ‘fits’ had become more and more frequent recently. Maybe it was time to obtain medical advice. Opening his eyes, he pulled his hoodie up and semi covered his head with his arm as he braved on. There was still a small distance to go before he reached the house where today’s ANBU class was to be held and he needed to concentrate on the forest trail so he didn’t lose his path even before reaching his class. His sleeves were already drenched which made his hoodie stick to his skin adding to his uneasiness.

As he reached his destination, he saw that there were already people present, four of them to be precise. Arashi joined the group and took his place silently beside a short girl. She had her hair wrapped around her face for some reason. Was that supposed to be a substitute mask? He wondered. She looked quite out of place among a rather pensive group. Two of them had the classic ANBU masks on. One of them had to be the instructor for today’s class. Both emanated powerful auras indicating they were seasoned Shinobis. The one in the crying clown mask seemed to be sizing up the others, including the fourth white haired person, who was dressed in black and grey from head to toe. There seemed to be a grimanced expression on his face as he seemed to be struggling with something. Arashi quietly pulled down his hoodie further, to cover his face to protect it from the rain droplets. He folded his arms and patiently waited for the class to start and be underway soon. He was not feeling his usual self today by any measure and hoped that it wouldn’t affect his performance in the class.

WC = 521/1500

 

[Sazuki Nao]

Izumi had been watching his cereal, death staring his cereal for over a hour now... He had a bad nights rest as his dad was sick. All the time the turning next to him, the coaching, the getting out of bed and all... This was the time the tiny house was a slowly turning horror.
He was leaning on his elbow and slowly taking another bite. He huffed a time and looked at the soggy cereal. His dad was upstairs and before he went out he would check up on him. He had a lesson this day... and it was slowly a torture to stay awake, to say the least.
Grabbing his weapon he would check his equipment one more time. It was going to rain... So he brought at least an extra shirt with him, along with his better shoes, but his clothing remained a little on the bigger size. He felt like he wasn't to grow anymore... He looked at himself in the mirror and would actually facepalm. He hated the way he seemed for the moment and went through his stuff. Extra shirt, arrows, tiny notebook, marker. He nodded softly and would walk out after. He started to read through his own notebook as he started to walk towards the place he had to train with his next Anbu class.
He felt like he was failing as he started to walk, the gloomy day didn't help that much at all. He closed the book and placed it away as he could easily tell it was going to downfall a little later... He was really glad that his bag was actually water resistant when he thought about the small notebook in the bag. When he started to arrive he saw so many things... With a slightly tilted head, he started to look around. So many masks.

Izumi swallowed for a second... He wanted to greet them all... but was unsure how he needed to do that... He opened up his mouth but no sound or anything left him. He looked at the ground and swallowed again. he then took a plan B thing and started to raise his hand in order to be able to wave towards them. It was that moment that he started to look around to see who were actually here. So far he saw, he recognized two persons and that was it... He thought the others name was... Arashi.. something. He didn't know that well actually, he had one lesson with the other and was horrible in names. the other he never caught a name from... yet so far he knew he had a huge weapon... a pointy one... and that was all he knew about those two.
He felt uneasy by seeing the masks and the female... He already knew for sure he wasn't going to like this class... A little unsure he stayed and would sign 'hello' to everyone. That was till he was going to stand someone, not alone but also not fully by the group. He was a whole lot tenser then he was last class... probably by the increase in numbers.

Post: 1/5
WC: 522

 

[Bi-Gomon]

Kuro's breathing started to quicken as the mask covering his mouth started to rapidly rise in temperature due to the unwavering heat, causing his breathing to be somewhat clogged. "Screw it" Kuro shouted as he pulled the mask off, leading to him having to take a massive gasp of air. His entire body trembled as he slowly leaned his head backwards towards the sky. "That was bad.....I regret that......very much" He slightly chuckled like he had just nearly escaped death. "This place as hot as the infernos of hell" He grimaced, ast this moment Kuro hadn't realised that 3 more people joined the group, as the so called "near death" experience occupied most of his attention.
A few seconds, his breathing finally stablished thus making it easier for him to survey his surroundings more clearly. And to his surprise 3 new individuals stood beside him causing him to slighly jump in surprise. "When....Wha....How?" Kuro whispered, his mind was rapidly questioning itself as to how everyone got here without him noticing anything. Am I that oblivious? He inquired hismelf with a confounded look plastered on his face while his finger was gently stroking his chin in confusion. Nevermind that now Kuro quickly shook his head to clear his thoughts before keenly inspecting the 3 people who just entered.
This girl looks amusing He concluded as he looked at the girl who was using her own hair as a mask which induced a small smirk. Kuro then directed his deep gaze to the two boys, one seemed to be quite untalkative while the other looked extremely shy. The shy boy sparked Kuro's interest, as he seemed to be trying to communicate but couldn't bring himself to it. But Hey,
I'm not going to judge Kuro shrugged before dragging himself and the sword-spear to the closet tree. Where he planted himself under the shade to avoid the heat.
How long are we going to stay here in the heat He grimaced while using his hands as a makeshift fan to cool himself down. But it obviously wasn't working, so he stopped and peeked towards the two masked figures who were continuing to emanate large amounts of power. Especially the figure with the clown face who was giving out a malevolent vibe, yet Kuro feel an odd sense of familiraty towards him. Subconciously, Kuro started to gently stroke the blade of his spear, hence causing a dark aura to slowly discharge from his body. I wonder.....I wonder

WC Total 705

 

[Moyamaru]

He was a distracted individual which was what caused him to be somewhat on the late end of the class gathering, having turned himself around to retrieve his umbrella from home. The sky was beginning to change and although he somewhat enjoyed the rain, he was not all to thrilled to have to dry his clothing after a sudden deluge especially if he had to partake in a class which took physical excercise. Approaching the gathered group, Kouza found himself feel just a tad bit out of place on a physical level due to the size and age range of a majority of the participating students. Considering his own age and physical structure he had developed quickly a pre-judgement of the other attendees, though this was something he only went over in his mind. With his umbrella opened and providing some shade for his own body, Kouza would involuntariy scratch at his right ear which along with his left were the only parts of his face not completely covered behind a gas mask. Even the lens of his mask were opaque, as a film of dark tint covered them and made it impossible for those to see his eyes. Coupled this up with the amount of layers he wore clothing wise the only parts of his body which were visible would have been the tone of his skin and the color of his hair, hardly enough for anyone to make a positive identification to who he was.

"Quite a weird assembly of characters, though the vibe I get from you gives me a subtle urge to punch you in the face."

Although his voice was muffled and turned a far deeper tone than normal due to his gas mask, every word could be heard clearly and the focus of his statement was Maru as expressed by a non-chalant finger point in his direction. Now despite Kouza only have a very vague guess at who occupied the body behind the mask, his body had a subtle tick of annoyance at his persona learned over time. It was almost as if being in the general area of Maru's influence just simply rubbed him the wrong way. Tilting his head to the side, his gaze would focus solely on Maru's form despite others not being able to tell as he debated mentally on a few things. Setting himself back right, Kouza's right palm simply would slide into the front pocket of his trench-like coat while his left maintained a grasp on his opened umbrella. He had developed impressions of the others as well but those were far less dynamic than passive agitation so it wasn't something to really spend much time on, let alone the fact that this was the first time he had seen any of them besides the questionable masked youth.

"Doesn't look like the rest of you seem prepared for the rain...or if it rains. Well I do at least hope none of you will have problems should it rain, could create some unique challenges if this class is the type which requires movement or searching through the forest."

Sure, it was a guess but given the trend of academy classes and the fact that this one was one categorized as an Anbu-Prep tier course there was some certainty that they would be engaging in some excersise. How this translated into he, personally being prepared for such an event in case of a downpour by simply holding an umbrella, would have been only a small understanding of his preparedness. Considering that he wore rather high boots, it was the threads of his soles which gave him that extra bit of non-chalant attitude towards that scenario. With deep grooves and somewhat spiked threads along his soles, he could find much more traction in slippery environments than the general run of the mill soles most footwear had.

"Should be interesting."

[WC: 646/1500]

 

[Shirai Sadao]

Remaining still for a moment Yukio allowed his gaze to cross the group that had now gathered before him, safe to say there were some interesting characters but that was to be expected no one was the same and as more time passed the students coming to the academy only seemed to get more unique. He listened to each one speak his eyes locking on Maru for a moment in warning, he was not in any mood to deal with what he had to say at that moment in time.

Stepping forwards he coughed demanding the attention of those before him taking a few paces before speaking. "Well good to see you've all arrived, I was wondering what kind of unique characters I would have showing up and how many but this is more than expected. Should make things that much more interesting." he brought his hand to his chin scratching slightly as he let his Byakugan scan each one thinking on the best way to handle the situation at hand but then again the best way to go about this was more than likely the straight forward and simple manner.

"So I have gathered you all here for a rather simple task, A pinnacle part of the ANBU branch is the ability to track targets. Make the best use of what you have to complete the objective at hand as such the task today will be to track and catch me with a twist." Swiftly moving his hands the Hyuuga performed a series of hand seals a series of four clones appearing at his side "You have three minutes think on how your going to deal with this" With that the group dispersed quickly moving into the forest though each student would see them move in different directions. As such each student would have a different sense of which direction he may have gone.

[WT: 629]

OOC:

Spoiler

Used Fun house mirror jutsu, causing each student to see 4 unique clones

 

[Sazuki Nao]

He was slowly watching as the last one took its turn towards the group.... He was quite unique... Having so much layered things. A long coat along with a gasmask and an umbrella were the items that stood out the most. Yet.... Something about this guy gave him a uneasy feeling.... Sometimes he bit on his tongue...

He was thinking back for a brief moment before he heard the teacher speak up which instantly got his attention.

He listened to him in confusion, a confusion that multiplied as the man suddenly multiplied and ran off in all different directions.
He had... He stood there, questionmarks floating above his head as the words slowly sank into his head.

'You have three minutes think on how your going to deal with this.'

Deadpan panic spreads across his face. 3 mins to discuss and he instantly wanted to work together. He waved his arms rapidly in order to gain everyone's attention. He did not want anyone to take off without a solid plan.

He started to jump and wave with his arms, he wanted to have their attention before anyone would rush off. After that he would try to speak in his own deaf language before shifting to his paper notebook. He wrote
Wait. Let's discuss before we leave. with a thick marker.
He would then hold the notebook up in the hopes that the people all around him would be looking and hopefully catching on to his requested teamwork.

He would once again begin to write in his notebook.
We need to track him down, i have a hawkeye ability, what dk you guys have which might help? Does anyone have a idea what exactly we need to look out for? As clues and everything?'
After that was written out he would hold it higher and look if anyone had stayed. He hoped he could have everyone's attention like this.

Post: 2/5
WC: 842

 

[Midori Futotta]

Maru waited, seeing a dark figure approaching the young Anbu in training began to straighten his crying clown mask on his face so he could get a good look at the first student that came. Kuro directed his question to both him and the Hyuuga, asking if he was late which made Maru chuckle darkly. "No you're early as a matter of fact.” Maru said, grinning underneath his mask. Kuro had a similar darkness what Maru had, only he wasn't as malevolent as he was. Perhaps he was one of those half breeds that sought to have a balance between darkness and light. As Maru gazed at the boy, Kuro directed his attention to him and asked him if he needed anything, although Kuro phrased it as a question Maru took it as a ‘What are you looking at’ kind of deal. Maru snickered to himself, Kuro barely could even control his own demonic energy. “Word of advice kid, if you want to get strong stop trying to tame yourself. You're a dark creature so accept it.” the boy in the crying clown mask said, then turned his attention to the next student to enter.

Making a dynamic entry was a young girl, she peered at the three that had arrived earlier than her. Upon meeting her gaze, Maru could tell by the look on her face that his presence unnerved her. Perhaps she was afraid of clowns, a common fear most people had. Or it could've been that she was afraid of dolls that moved on their own, if that was the case she was in for a little treat because Maru was a master of puppet's and he used his demonic ancestry abilities to make his puppets cursed. And a cursed puppet is a terrifying sight. The next to enter was another boy who seemingly was not feeling too well despite the brave act he was putting on, and he seemingly knew the girl who had her hair tied about her face as a substitute for a mask. 'They do know wearing a mask is optional right?’ Maru thought, truth be told he only wore his mask just to look creepy or to hide his identity.

Regardless Maru didn't say anything, then the next student came who looked pretty nervous from the creepy masks, hooded figures, dark chakras,and… the girl. This student didn't really have much to say and even if he did he couldn't say anything anyway because he was a mute. Besides the oppressive atmosphere, no one in the class managed to annoy him like in most lessons he's been in. Maru usually picked on people stronger than him or people who were too hopeful but the classroom seemed to be full of students who were nervous or putting on a strong face…. But then there was Kouza.

This boy came in holding an umbrella like one of those nannies you see in the movies, after he finished his statement Maru began to show his real self. “So you think because you come up here in that tacky raincoat and those firemen boots you're prepared for what this loser has in store for us." Maru said nastily, tilting his head to Yukio as though he was the loser he spoke of. “But if you are itching to have playtime with me here and now I'll be more than happy to accommodate you. Kawaii needs a new raggedy playmate any–" Maru saw the face of the Hyuuga, giving him warning because he wasn't about to put up with his disrespect. Maru flashed a menacing smile then looked at Kouza the drew a line on his throat.

The goal was simple, track down and capture the Hyuuga while fighting off his clones. Seems straightforward, they have three minutes to decide just how will they go about doing it. So Maru decided to open his mouth. "Okay normally I would go at this alone and tell y'all to spit up. But of course because every teacher is gonna harp on “TEAM WORK” it seems I have to work together with… well y'all." Maru placed a hand on his hip, continuing. "I say we split up into two teams, one is in charge of leveling the forest to flush the Hyuuga’s sorry behind out while the other team is searching for the Hyuuga to prevent him from escaping. I will be leader of the team that will be destroying the forest while raggedy Ann over here leads the search.” he gestured his head to Kouza referring to him as raggedy Ann from now on. Of course now it was time for another to throw out an idea, Maru was already prepared to argue down a plan that wouldn't work. Maru had the look of an Anbu but had the attitude and actions of a common street criminal. It was clear that this boy was out for blood and he couldn't wait to begin his puppet show...

Maru's mask:

Spoiler

 

[Arashi Takejo]

As Arashi stood patiently with his hoodie pulled above his head, two more students joined the class. One of them was Izumi who had been in another class with Arashi before. Izumi’s first impression on Arashi had been an interesting one. He didn’t seem to have a very heavy presence at first, but he could tell that it didn’t mean that he was to be ignored either. As he joined with the group, Arashi expected to see a greeting in the sign language. But before he could greet him, his attention was interrupted by something what could only be described mildly as an interesting character. At first Arshi could only see the white umbrella, but then what surprised him even more was the fact that he was wearing a gas mask. His attire was pretty unique as well covering almost every inch of his body and his demeanour was very bizzare for an academy student. Clearly this person was more mature than an average academy student which meant drawing any conclusions about him would not the be the right thing to do. As Arashi was wondering more about this, The student spoke up in a voice which couldn't possibly had been a natural tone. The actual words spoken by him were far more interesting though. He seemed to have some kind of history with the person in the crying clown mask, as he pointed right towards him and flat out said he wanted to punch him. The person in the mask started his response in a similar fashion, with the atmosphere threatening to turn into a full blown brawl. And as much as Arashi would have enjoyed to sit back and watch a good fight, this was hardly the time or place.

Before the situation could progress any further though, The instructor in the black ANBU mask locked his eyes with the other person in a mask, and the situation turned anti-climatic. Everything kind of cooled down a bit after that. Stepping forward, the instructor addressed the assembled group. Doing a quick scan of the group, he described the task at hand. It was concerned with tracking target, which rightfully was a very big part of ANBU operations. The ANBU did some quick hand seals and four clones appeared beside him. They dispersed into the forest in a blink of an eye. The group had three minutes to think and discuss how to approach this. As soon as the instructor disappeared, The first one Arashi noticed was Izumi, who was waving his hands rapidly. He quickly had pretty much everyone’s attention and suggested that they should work together and formulate a plan. Arashi was of the same mind and started to think about how he could contribute to tracking down an ANBU in a huge and dangerous forest. Before he could suggest anything though, The clown mask guy spoke up, suggesting that they should split up into two groups. What seemed bonkers to Arashi that he wanted one team to blow up the forest and the other group stop the instructor from escaping. It was not only way too reckless, but it also seemed kind of unfeasible from his view. But he refrained from disputing the plan until he had a better suggestion. Because as it crazy as it sounded, it was the only kind of structured way of approach they had till now.

TWC = 1085/1500

 

[Moyamaru]

It would seem as if his little ruse in order to trigger a response that only Dokusu Maru could produce had worked. Sad however that someone who would go as far as wear a mask to hide their identity had not developed an understanding that one must also suppress their character traits. Tilting his head once more, his eyes would narrow slightly as he mentally dissected various options available to him though this measure was interupted by their instructor. With his attention snapped towards the Anbu many of his previous thoughts were simply forgotten or momentarily put on hold. Shifting his posture and position, Kouza would squat as his observation focused solely on Yukio. After a quick speech in which their instructions and purpose for this class was expressed their teacher would begin to mold handseals. This act itself was not a shock for him as many of their classes had involved some hands on instruction by their own instructors. Now he did develop some recognition for the Anbu in how perfect he was able to execute the clone jutsu, though the number of handseals having to be weaved led him to suspect they were not simple clones. Definately worth keeping in mind possibly..

Flash forwards a few minutes and in this time the clones have dispersed into the forest including the real Anbu. Kouza kept his silence while maintaining his squat a bit away from the others. Looking up towards the sky, through the transparent material that made up his umbrella, his attention drifted to the clouds. His concerns about the weather were untarnished though while his mind was focused on this, a single flow of directed chakra was purposely led to trigger a seal. The seal was hidden beneath his layered clothing and as it activated an expelling of smoke as long as an audible krackle of the air could be heard by everyone. With a slight breeze dispersing the smoke, within Kouza's right hand was a single blade. The weapon was grasped tightly and looked more in the style of a bowie knife. There were several holes of the same size randomly positioned all along the blades body. As Kouza's pulled the weapon closer to him the breeze was manipulated through the holes cause an audible but ignorable whistling sound.

"The instructor was clear, this is a tracking assignment so I wouldn't expect someone like you Dokuso Maru to understand that damage should be kept to a bare minimum. There is also the fact that the clone jutsu used was not the ordinary basic one but something more advanced. This is verified by different handseals and longer weave time than a simple clone jutsu. Question is how do we only find our target without getting caught in a diversion of unknown intent. Currently I have two suggestions on how we can go about this.."

Kouza would use his blade to etch quitely into the dirt a diagram of each plan while explaining it...

"First is Plan A.."

• Using the number of this group we assign everyone a direction in which to follow a clone, with one of us taking along our mute member for obvious reasons.
• Each person seeks to immobolize their target taking caution not to attack the target unless it cannot be helped.

"Then there is Plan B.."

• Because we have no idea what type of clone jutsu this may be or if it was ninjutsu at all, we all compare the directions in which we saw the clones run.
• In the possibility that there are different directions between us, we only have to track in the direction of a clone that moved in the same way for all of us.

And there it was, his plans that he felt he could offer the group. This however is not to say that another would come up with a better idea or something that the group favors in a majority vote. He'd follow the majorities opinions, though he would also have a plan in place if things were to turn sour.

[WC: 664]
[Class WC Total: 1310]

 

[Hase Aki]

It was go time, the clones all split and they were told to track them. As everyone stood around measuring the size of their kunai, she leaped into action. Running at the spot the teacher had just been, she dropped what appeared to be a clay blob on the ground and leaped into the air, it blew up and projectile flung her through the air to the exact standing location where he had been. She landed with a flying kick, hoping she'd hit something invisible, as if he'd gone nowhere and just decided to screw with them. She wanted to rule out the possibility, before she spoke up to anyone arguing over a plan. Either she hit him, and they won, or she didn't but either way she had removed an option.

She turned to listen to everyone's plan, each one giving a solid course of action. Of course the gas masked one and the puppet one had varying view points. She did like the idea of leveling the forest entirely, it's something she could accomplish. It's hard to hide in a flat environment with all cover destroyed, but she felt that Konoha would probably throw her in the ANBU compound, torture and kill her, for decimating the entire forest of death. So instead she thought of a different course of action. It was hard, standing still and thinking, but she tried.

"Alright, I agree with wierd-kun over scary-kun. We should all go in opposite directions, and NOT explode the forest, even though I REALLY want to. I'll take the one who has a hard time speaking. as they say they have a keen eye for detail, and it'll compliment my lack of such. I am of a clan not really seen around here, the Toujigikou, and I think if I let my hands taste a bit of the surrounding area, I can pick up a trace of the ANBU." she said as she began running her hand mouth over anything in the area the ANBU may have touched or been near, trying to get a lick of the chakra left in the air from his jutsu as well as dust and other materials that may carry a scent not traceable by the human perception. She'd then take all this material and make a small woodland creature out of it, a small clay fox. It'd writhe on the ground a bit as it got it's bearings.

"Ok boy show me the way!" she'd let it loose to do as it will, following it as it moves.

"Keep up quiet-kun!" she yelled back at the mute boy, as she took off.

Spoiler

Everything after the first paragraph is if my first plan doesn't work. weird-kun is gas mask, scary-kun is puppet mask. Let's hope we get a bit of leeway on posting next round cause of holiday stuffs.
LOVE YOU ALL MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

[Bi-Gomon]

Kuro looked at the scene that had just conspired in front of him where the ANBU instructor just spouted some "instructions" before spawning 4 clones of himself. I don't like where this is going He sensed as a slight forebading feeling slowly covered his body. Skipping a few seconds later, the intructor and the 4 clones all disappeared causing Kuro to finally realised what was conspiring. Oh, good......I have to work with other people He groaned in annoyance as he used his sword-spear to slowly pick himself up and onto his feet. He stood there for a solid minute or two as he stared the silent kid's gimmicks. He's clearly panicking Kuro snickered as he stated to walk towards the group.

And as he approached the group, he could already hear the plans that coming from everyone's mouths except his. Was never really good at coming up plans Kuro grimaced at that thought as he continued listen on, by slightly nodded at each recommendation but before he could do or say anything, the girl with the energetic appearance had already decided upon her course of action and started to drag the silent boy away. "Um.....so which plan is everyone most confident in?" Kuro wriggled out a smiled as he stared at the other. This is worse than I thought....., he sighed as he leaned his head backwards to take a deep and refreshing breath, hoping that someone would break the the ice and start talking to break the awkwardness that just commenced. After a few seconds of staring into the sky, he looked back down to look at everyone's faces. One is wearing a gas mask and the other is wearing a clown mask....so I really can't see what they're thinking. and this guy with the hoodie is not even showing an expression Kuro ranted on inside while a confounded and confused expression was plastered on his face.

WC Total 1,025

 

[Shirai Sadao]

Yukio's eyes remained focused on the group he couldn't help but be impressed by how quickly they'd decided to come together and begin planning on how to deal with the task at hand. Considering Maru's antics in the beginning he was certain it would take up some time preventing them from giving chase immediately. coming to a stop a hand came up to his chin scratching as he pondered for a moment analyzing how each one acted in that moment some taking the initiative and planning immediately, others taking what was said and wondering what to do themselves.

Such acts would be what separated them from one another in the future and see them develop was something that brought a smile to the Hyuuga's face. "Well seems it won't take them long to find me if they play their cards right but let's see if they can complete step too." He smirked shaking his head a moment before continuing to move through the trees bringing his hands together a Mirror clone formed at his side the two nodding at one another before splitting off in separate ways each with its own objective to complete.

Back in the clearing, it appeared the copies the group had seen decided to move in numerous directions upon their leaving, Izumi seeing them run across the forest floor much the same being said for Kuro and Kouza. The rest has been groups moving to the treetops Yoshi would note them all moving to the right, Takejo seeing most moving towards the centre and Maru seeing them move to the left. Safe to say Yukio was not interested in making their search easy as a version of Yukio lept from the trees to land before them. "Time is almost up please try and find me if you feel confident enough" Its tone Streight forward and blunt as expected.

[WT: 940]

[OOC:]

Spoiler

Due to the Christmas holidays there is an extension of time for this post of 48 hours so you have 96 hours to post, enjoy your Christmas day everyone and have fun

 

[Sazuki Nao]

Izumi had been trying to get everyone's attention as for the moment, but as soon as he did that and wrote down a little thing. He noticed he was soon forgotten. First, the clown of the group started to speak up, he had an ANBU mask... But Izumi could swear that he was missing some healthy brain cells. He frowned upon hearing that plan and would look towards his notebook and placed it away as he was ignored,
he played a little with the pages of them as slowly closed the little notebook. He would place it away in his pockets and close the zipper of it, the pencil he would be still holding it in his hands. The young boy felt ignored by the matter that no one reacted at him and looked a little sad to the ground, he started to blame himself a little more and more that he had no voice to speak with. Yet the reason he placed those two elements to communicate away because he felt that being anti-social for the moment would benefit the most people.

He listened to every single one of them, blowing up was an idea he would scratch off in an instant. Then there was the plan A and B of the gasmask... However as the plans were forming, Izumi slowly got a more steady pace and a global idea of what had to be done. He might always look careful silly or weak. But he knew better. He let his mind wander about all the ideas while playing with the pencil he had in hand. Twisting, twirling it and toying with it until that slowly stopped, the placed the pencil away in his pocket. Having his head a tat lower and his chin resting on his index finger and thumb. His body language would be showing that he was thinking. There had to be something, he just had to connect the dots... In his mind, he was rushing through all the kind of jutsus he knew and had read about. It had to be true at what gasmask would have said... Slowly he threw his head back and placed his hands behind his head he tried to keep thinking but no idea got to him. Now that he slowly started to think about the plans. For him, B sounded better but you could always combine the two. That was when a strange thought occurred to him. He started to look back from where they had come. One of the clones went towards there for him... Slowly he started to frown more and nibble on the tip of his thumb. He didn't bit till it would bleed, but enough to feel it for himself.

He was shaken from his thoughts when he heard the female suddenly speak up, at first he wanted to cover his ears at her. but when he was just taken as an object he crossed his arms, stood still and wouldn't move from his spot like this. He shook his head on top of it and was slight pouting which he didn't know himself just yet. He shook his head once more and would frown at her. He wasn't going anywhere like this. He felt like kicking a rock to her as he was annoyed, lack of detail was one thing she missed he let out a long drown out huff on top of it. He was looking at the tiny clay fox that was apparently running off... They could easily use that in a plan, why weren't they just first explaining to each other anything that would actually help to form a plan... Just like the brains of the gas mask, details from a Hawkeye and the sniffy sniff foxy that was running the ground. He was looking towards the two who had remained silent till that number rested on a single one, he started to gaze towards him and tilt his head. It seemed he had to write down again. Taking his time as he knew by now the three mins were already gone.
The plan of Mr. Gasmask sounds the most plausible. Then the plan B. Because if it is true what he said and there has been an advanced Jutsu used... We are still at a huge disadvantage. We need to find a way to track down a single one. Right now none of us have a single clue what has been used. Scattering would oppose a bigger threat. What we need to know is facts first. What if we happen to combine A with B.
He would first let someone read that, if possible the one with the brains and not Maru or the little girl as they were way to quickly jumping into action. What they needed was a solid plan and information.
When going into situations like this you need to know as much beforehand. No one knows what he used I assume... So why don't we first tell which directions they all went for us? After that part of a line, he had drawn the 4 directions the clones for him ran up to.
Izumi was watching all the others and was honestly spooked when he saw their teacher arriving in front of them all like that in a sudden moment. He wasn't paying attention towards above where he came from.
He knew the other was right, their time was almost up... and that was a painful truth. He had sketched out earlier where the clones ended up for him and he was hoping that the others would tell the same and so that they at least had a little knowledge about the others whereabouts.
He looked around in the hope everyone wanted to share a little bit of information.

Post: 3/5
WC: 1810
[ooc:] Merry X-mas everyone!! ^^

 

[Arashi Takejo]

As Arashi was trying to process a legible plan to put in front of the group, The person with the gas mask summoned a strange blade and spoke up in his unusually queer tone. He once again took this opportunity to take a fling at the clown mask person, but the points made by him were very valid. Some of it were things that should have been caught on by everyone such as the extended hand seals performed by the instructor and this being a diversion to distract them from completing their task successfully. He also put forwards two plans. Arashi was pretty impressed by his ability to think on his feet, reflecting his experience in the field. The plans were pretty basic but the first alternative seemed a pretty tricky one to execute. To find and subdue even the clones of a ANBU would not be easy at all. The second one seemed more tactical but it was less likely to work out in Arashi’s opinion. He decided he would wait to listen everyone’s input before he put forward his own proposed course of action.

However before they could go any further, The weird girl from before decided to show off some of her moves, expecting to succeed with her out of the box thinking. To be fair it was a possibility that the teacher might have just hidden below the ground around them or gone invisible. Clearly it wasn’t the latter when the girl almost fell flat on her ass while kicking the air. To clear the other matter, Arashi bent down on one knee and touched the ground with his palm trying to feel for any traces of unusual chakra or movement below surface level. His affinity with the Earth prevented from anything being hidden from him under the surface. Clearly the ANBU was above ground as he felt nothing out of the ordinary. After concluding with her experiment, the girl, restless as ever suggested they should all look in opposite directions and revealed she was from the Toujigikou clan. All Arashi knew about the clan was that they an old clan from Iwagakure. She revealed that she could trace anyone as long as she let her ‘hands’ taste a bit of the surrounding area. She collected the sand and dust around the area, and a small clay fox formed on the ground. She took off after the animal without stopping for even a moment further, yelling for Izumi to follow.

Before Arashi could look at how Izumi reacted to this, He noticed the white haired boy seemed pretty bummed out for some reason. He pretty much nodded at any suggestion and waited with his powerful looking weapon gripped, for something to be finalised. He sympathized with the boy, as he felt the same way to some extent. By any means he didn’t want to team up with the clown mask and the gas mask wearing persons, but clearly they were on harsh terms and he didn’t want to be caught up in anything. Brushing aside his thoughts, He proceeded to look over something Izumi was penning down after calming down a little from being pouty over being summoned by the Toujigikou girl. He had written down some good points and to the most part Arashi agreed with them. He bent down beside him and said,

“Yup completely agree with all those points.” He said pointing at the written stuff. “I saw most of the clones move towards tree tops over there.” He said pointing straight ahead, to the centre portion of the clearing. The lines Izumi had drawn showed that the clones had moved in different direction for him. This pretty much confirmed without a doubt that different people had seen the clones move in different directions for different people, which definitely a big spanner in the works for them. Arashi had a plan in mind he wanted to propose as well but before he could speak suddenly, One of the instructors clones or the instructor himself appeared before the group and warned them that their time was about to be over. By reflex, Arashi quickly waved seals and activated his Entrapment Mud jutsu to entrap the instructor or his clone, whichever was in front of them. There was little chance of it actually working on such a high level opponent, but it could slow down anyone giving them enough time to subdue it, if it really was a clone.

“Feel free to jump in guys. If we take a clone out of equation, it might improve our chances to track the real one by a fraction.”

TWC = 1856/1500
OOC = Merry Christmas to everyone!!

 

[Midori Futotta]

Maru smirked underneath his mask, seemingly everyone was against the whole idea of the whole destroy the forest idea and favored the plan of Kouza simply because it sounded good. But of course the Hyuuga didn't SAY the forest had to be intact, and clearly one person guarding the mute wasn't such a good idea because the fact of the matter is that the mute was… not that strong. And it seems that all the other students seemingly wanted to let the two ‘big dogs’ make decisions. "Good plan, won't work for obvious reasons.”Maru said first gesturing his hand to the rest of the students.

“Your plan will have us being plucked off one by one, you seem to overestimate the talents in this class.” The boy in the crying clown mask cast a gaze down at the girl, the dark eyes peering into her very soul. “This one would be useful in helping me to destroy, as well as the one who can hardly control his darkness. But alone, what good are they when they have to take out the Hyuuga or any of his clones?” the boy said with a sneer before turning his attention back to Kouza. Truth be told he didn't like the boy as it was, nor did he find his plan of any value. Not to mention the whole idea of teamwork and one person guarding the mute to already spelt defeat because Maru had doubt's that even these shinobi won't be able to handle a single clone much less capture the Hyuuga…

Maru now turned his attention to the mute, who was literally jotting down everything he was trying to say however he seemed to show a bit dissatisfaction to both him and the girl. The boy in the crying clown mask took the notebook from the mute, holding it high above his head so he wouldn't be able to reach it, he seemed the weakest out of everyone so Maru might as well torture him a bit. "Well writing a letter to Yukio to tell him what we are doing I see.” Maru teased, chuckling to himself because it was clearly a lie but the boy couldn't exactly SAY anything in his defense. Suddenly a coat of flames surrounded Marus arm, the book going up in flames then to add insult to injury he tossed the book over his shoulder like trash to let the flames claim the notebook.

Maru seeing a few clones running off left into the wilderness, the boy now focusing his attention on the clones. “Well it seems that they want to play hide and seek, I'll give them three seconds…. One” Maru drew both of his weapons scroll, with a poof of smoke there stood Maru's Adorable, pigtailed, blond haired companion.. Kawaii. Wearing a burgundy laced corset, a blood red dress to match with her corset and a white shoulderless feminine dress shirt that covered her small chest. Her mechanical dangerous arms made from titanium stainless steel with an assortment sharp metal razors, spikes, and drills on each finger. When she was summoned the doll extended her arms and happily exclaimed when Maru's blue strings attached to her limbs. "WELL HELLO THERE… HEHEHE ARE YOU READY FOR PLAYTIME?”

“Two” If things wasn't creepy enough with a the doll, the next thing that Maru dose will likely give an average child nightmares. His chakra threads turned from a usual blue color to a hellish blood red, his creation began twitching violently like she's having some kind of episode. Her glass eyes rolled in the back of her head, her mouth suddenly began to ripped open to show rows of razor sharp, endoskeleton teeth within a toothy smile. Her head starting to spin all the way around as the devilish chakra strings turned her from a horrific doll, to a hellish abomination. The drills beginning to buzz eerily, her mouth creation a metallic clang so her sharp teeth are locked together. Her head tilting over to the left side, her head stopped spinning her eyes rolled in the back of her head to show only her whites. Her mouths opened and snapped back down... Then a bone chilling voice came from the hellish doll.

Three… here I come! I hope you're ready. with that the fiendish doll and the boy in the crying clown mask chased after the clones.... A leering grin stretching on his face. This time I'll destroy it....

 

[Bi-Gomon]

Kuro's eyes wandered through the group as his dark and abyssal eyes scanned each individual, trying to find out their secrets while nonchalantly nodding his head to what ever came his way. This clown face is going to be a problem He sighed as he started to deeply stare into his eyes. But he quickly shook his head in annoyance, trying to disperse the unnesccesary thoughts and instead focus on the task at hand.
"Well--" Kuro opened his mouth trying to speak out a suggestion before being interrupted by Maru who was starting to give out his disapprovals on the plan developed by gasmask and the entire team in general. Before he could register what had just happenend Maru walked towards the mute kid who was furiously writing something on his notepad which was immediately snatched away from him. This guy sure knows how to make enemies Kuro nodded in disappointment as the pad went up in flames. No mercy...... He stayed watching the scene conspire as this was the mute kid's battle.
"Ok th--" Kuro was interrupted again as he tried to break the bleak aura that surrounding the group, this caused him to really shake in anger as he wasn't able to get anything out of his mind.
Maru then pulled out a weapon scroll, which with a smoke later a puppet appeared. He then looked at Maru who's entire being was emanating with joy and ecstasy as he stared at the puppet, instigating a snort of disgust. How can someone get so excited from seeing a puppet? He questioned himself, as a disgusted look spawned on his face.
The puppet then started speaking which caused a small shiver to run down his spine. What the heck......How....Why Kuro looked at the smiling puppet, with a confounded expression. then abrubtly both Maru and the puppet started to emanate waves of fiendish energy. What is he trying to do? Hurt everyone? Kuro grunted as he released his dread force to cover everyone from the corruption.
"Are you guys alright?" He asked after Maru had disappeared into the woods.

WC Total 1,373