The Roots Growing in Darkness [Meeting With Team Maru]

[Midori Futotta]

The sound of water droplets falling from the ceiling echoed throughout the grim prison, the guards standing next to the big heavy doors to make sure that the trainees would arrive safely. The cells from the bottom to top were emptied, cleared out for this private meeting. The path that the trainee’s would have to travel they would see hundreds of cells on each side of a long hallway, they looked more like cages, with bars instead of walls and doors. Standing within the middle of this hall was a man, a pretty young looking one too that had the look of trouble. Maru decided that since he was given authorization to go inside prisons now, so why not use this dark place to his advantage.

His summon for his new recruits were simple, they probably were just as surprised as he was when he learned that he would be teaching them. Fresh out of the academy, they were driving deep into the darkness;

Howdy!

So you've passed your ANBU exam with flying colors did you? Well congratulations! But don't go patting yourself on the backs just yet cause trainee its time to see what you're made of! Your team leader… Dokuso Maru would like you to meet him the A.C.M.E Hostel within the GRAND COMPLEX. Underneath the complex is a prison where you'll see your leader waiting for you for a meet and greet. Don't be late.

=) MARU

While Maru waited for the trainees to arrive he pulled out a pack of cigarettes, pulling one out to place one in between his lips. Then pulled out a lighter to take a flame to the other end, taking a long drag out of the cig to let the smoke fill his hollow body before puffing the smoke out through his mouth. “The newbies should be here any minute now.” he chuckled to himself, a smile stretching in the plastic lips of the dark ANBU. If things went well perhaps there won't be any property damaged, but worse case scenario was that the whole complex would end up being blown to bits which would suck because he's already paying off people for the damages done in tea and for one of his students destroying ANBU property. And with Mrs. Explosion around, it's more than likely he was going to have to keep an eye on the girl.

This might turn out fun… and he had high hopes for his team.

[Summoning Yasu and Kuro! Team Maru assemble]

 

[Hase Aki]

"Hmmm hmmm hmmm!" a cheerful hum echoed in the distance, quite eerily as the girl had skipped her way down the rather dark area. It was a prison, a rather empty one at that. She made an assumption that the prison should be full, and that it wasn't meant that this must be new cells, although she did notice they looked lived in. Perhaps they were emptied out for this meeting, either way she didn't care, she was meeting her first team leader, and probably not her last when she blows him up. She rounded the corner, as bright and as bubbly as ever, and skidded to a halt in front of Maru, as he ended his sentence.

"...any minute now."

She had been in a tutoring session with this man, but she didn't recognize him as he wasn't wearing that stupid puppet mask. Regardless, she was here, and as per her instructions, had arrived on time, 2 minutes early actually.

"Yasu Yoshi reporting for duty, sir!"

She bowed deeply, this is what people did in this situation right?

 

[Bi-Gomon]

Kuro slowly traversed through the garden complex while breathing in the fresh yet dangerous air surrounding the area. He then stopped himself in front of the hostel which seemed to be emitting an eerie aura, causing an overbearing pressure of danger to press down on him shoulders. "Anything to do with Maru is bad.....Oh god" His face distorted in reluctance as he put one foot forward, this stimulated the pressuring aura to push down even harder. "This doesn't seem like Maru's aura.....more like the hostel itself, he grunted when suddenly his aura subconciously burst out protecting him from the danger, Never knew it worked like that.....I have so much to learn about this power, Kuro contemplated while calmy walking into the imposing building.
When he stepped through the entrance door, he could smell the thick cigarette fumes coming from a few metres ahead of him, which he followed out of sheer instinct. Maru clearly likes his presence to be known to everyone, he grinned as he could also smell the bloodlust as he started to get closer to where Maru was. Just as he turned the corner he noticed two people, one obviously being Maru who stood there looking arrogant and creepy while emitting a bone chilling bloodlust, which Kuro just shrugged off due to the familiarity. The second person being Yasu Yoshi, who he had previously done a tutor and exam with, That happy attitude annoys me for some reason, he stated to himself while his eyebrows pulled down together in anger while gazing at her.
"Can we quickly get this over and done with?" Kuro angrily stated while staring down both Maru and Yasu with his aura guarding him, incase someone or something points their killing intent onto him.

 

[Midori Futotta]

Well, he didn't have to wait long before he heard cheerful humming echoing in the distance. The girl skipping her way through the empty prison without a care in the world and halted in front of the ANBU. Maru puffed out smoke, dark glassy eyes peering out at the girl who clearly didn't have enough darkness within her. However she did arrive two minutes early, introducing herself to him and bowing respectfully. "Two minutes early, not bad newbie.” The dark puppet master said, before turning his head towards his next teammate Kuro. He walked in seemingly cloaked in his own aura, seemingly on guard against the dark shinobi.

The boy did have Darkness within him, but he clearly didn't know how to use that darkness. Clearly he had his work cut out for him in making these two proper ANBU, but it seems that Kuro had just given made the mistake of giving Maru an order to get this meeting over and done with. So it looks like he would have to teach the body who was in charge…. Maru raised his hand, coating his hand with inky black energy that looked like black flames and swiped his hand towards Kuro’s feet to make one long gash on the ground! A warning shot one would say. “Consider that your first strike, I can keep you here as long as I want and let you go when I'm good and damn ready. If you want to leave you do as I say, capeesh?” The dark puppetmaster puffed smoke out of his nose as if he was steaming, now that the scolding was done Maru decided to get to the point.

“Now, let's start with the basics in telling me what are you skilled at doing, what fighting style do you two have, and obvious weaknesses you may have. Because I'll be straightforward with ya….. I don't see a shred of talent in neither of you, once give me that I'll tell you what kind of training will you be doing under my supervision and to prove yourselfs I want you kids to help me with an assassination.” Maru stated, not giving to much detail in the assassination mission they would be given. That kind of mission would be just what they need to actually prove their worth to Maru and also to give them a bit of darkness. But before he could take them on that kind of mission, he needed to know that he won't lose any of them.

 

[Hase Aki]

Kuroguro arrived shortly after she did, and was blasting an aura second only to Maru's, not that she cared. She was a pretty laid back person, even in the face of immanent doom. Her only ever real fear, was when she was about to explode outside this very facility before the exam had taken place. She wanted to be an ANBU for pure self preservation, and a little to prove she wasn't weak, and while she was very happy go lucky, she had a hidden strength inside her, one people don't expect until it comes down to the wire. She was praised, but didn't smile about it, because she could have been earlier but she had to let loose a few small rodents to scout the area out before she walked in. You see, she was a pretty tactical thinker for one of her personality type. She used her clay skills in some unique ways, meaning she was more than likely ready to blow this whole place up before she even walked in. Her clay mice scampering along the walls of the cells, unseen. Mice and rats where a vermin you couldn't get rid of, no matter what universe you live in.

Kuroguro got a warning strike against him only moments into stepping into the place. That man had a way of making the worst out of relatively alright situations, she recalled him just falling asleep on a tree mid exam. She thought to herself that if there was darkness in him, he should let it take over because at least it's more productive.

“Now, let's start with the basics in telling me what are you skilled at doing, what fighting style do you two have, and obvious weaknesses you may have. Because I'll be straightforward with ya….. I don't see a shred of talent in neither of you, once give me that I'll tell you what kind of training will you be doing under my supervision and to prove yourselfs I want you kids to help me with an assassination.”

"I am very, very good at tactical matter expansion!" she said, code for exploding stuff.

"I trained extensively in ninjutsu of a rather destructive nature, and I'd say my glaring weaknesses would have to be my taijutsu, I'm not winning any hand to hand combat trophies, not that I would need to when I can blow off arms but you know, there are certain people with affinity to melee that could be problematic." she meant those who could open the gates, a pretty common practice of people in Konoha who were not born with an affinity for the chakra use.

"As far as Genjutsu, I've been taught to resist them, and I have a few visual tricks, but I'm no stage magician, my illusions are pretty basic. I'll read up on and practice these things to cover the weakness as best I can." she stated plainly, but full of cheer. "As a side note, when our meet and greet is over may I have a side-bar with you to discuss a personal matter? It'd go a long way toward making me a reliable team mate!" she clapped her hands, a happy smile forming across her lips.

 

[Bi-Gomon]

Kuro didn't flinch at all as the attack landed on the ground in front of him, causing a look of contempt to surface in his eyes as he stared at Maru. This arrogance pisses me off..... He shook his head in disapproval as he knew he couldn't do anything to Maru due to him being stronger than him so he just stood there accepting the reality. Kuro's omitted aura slowly retracted back to make a thin protective cloak shrouding his entire body in darkness except his face.
His gaze was then directed to Yasu Yoshi, who seemed to look unfazed by the scene that had just occured as he mind was occupied by something entirely different. She seemed to be weirdly looking around the place, especially at the vermin(rats) who were casually scattering past the group. Did she do something before getting here? Kuro keenly gazed at her but all the while focusing at Maru at the same time.

After a few seconds of silence, Maru finally broke the ice by asking the skill level of both of us and just as Kuro was about to speak about it, Yasu quickly opened her mouth and started to blabber off about herself and her speciality. I hate when people interupt me He cast his rage induced gaze at Yashu before shaking his head to get rid of the dark thoughts.
"I'm an All-rounder but I mostly specialize in Genjutsu and Gravity Arts. My Taijutsu isn't half back but it could be more refined but other than that.....I have nothing else Kuro gave out a short introduction about his skills and finished at that, as he didn't want to give out too much as he didn't want to reveal some of his trump cards.

 

[Midori Futotta]

Maru took in the words of each team member, one was pretty much good at blowing up stuff with a few visual genjutsu while the other was specialized in the use of genjutsu and gravity. But they both seemed to not have too much training in Taijustu, that would actually prove to be a little problem for the most part… mostly because the person that he was assigned to assassinate was a user of the gentle fist. However this wasn't the only weakness that he found within his team. Maru puffed out smoke, remaining silent for a moment, before he decided to speak again. “Interesting… Very interesting. “ Maru said, peering down at the two. "Well I with those weaknesses in mind I think I should drop a some knowledge on you trainee’s”

“Firstly, explosions are a powerful tool at our disposal what happens when we get a stealth mission that involves us having to sneak around to gain information. I already can sense the little clay rats you made before coming here and a person with the Byakugan would surely be able to see them without a problem.” Maru gave a pause, a smirk crept upon his plastic lips. “With this information I could easily have time to trap you with my blood bending technique and allow you to be crushed when this building goes down. Get sloppy like that and you'll wind up dead…. Oh and sure you can set up a meeting for me after this brave one.” Maru finalized his statement towards the girl, before finally he looked at Kuro who relaxed his dark aura.

“Then there's you, it seems that you failed to stand your ground because I am stronger than you. I honestly expected you to have more of a backbone, but clearly you allowed a little girl has more courage than you. So will you surrender when I decide that I want to attack you for the fun of it?" Maru demonic aura began to cloak his body, a set of glowing red eyes pierced through the endless darkness that this man carried. “I will tear you apart. I hope you don't expect a fair fight half-demon. You won't be able to withstand my kind of darkness….” Maru calmed his aura, then winked at Kuro with a evil grin on his face. “But you won't actually know unless you try, keep your attitude and never back down.”

With that, Maru decided to give them the real reason to why they are here. The kind of darkness that the duo will be in for. “Now then let's get to the mission that you to will be in for….” Maru took out a document from his coat, looking down at the paper he began to read what it said. "There is a man who lives outside of the village, age 35, he's already considered an old ninja to you two. But he was a great shinobi in the ANBU….” Maru took a pause, looking up from the paper with smoke puffing out of his nose. “But our reports show that 35-year-old Tafu Hyuuga is a spy for the land of lighting…” he let the two think that he was done talking, before picking up again with more information about the man. “He has a son that caught a nasty illness that will kill him if the proper medical treatment is not given to him, and since that money Tafu makes is for his son if the Hyuuga was gone. That boy will surely be without a father, and his mother is long since passed away in a bandit attack so the boy will end up dying alone. The child's death won't be a quick one either, he'll be in his little hut dying slowly begging for his father to come home…. All because the authorities have gotten to his traitorous father who had a bounty placed on him.” Maru paused, then took the cigarette out of his mouth to flick it away from him. It seemed to be the end of the story, a father who done the wrong thing to save his dying son. But why did Maru tell the duo the backstory to this man? What was Maru trying to place in these recruits?

"We are going to kill this man.” He already gave the order, he was making them go to the darkness with him. Maru was about to make these two kill a man with a family, a dying family member at that! “Since we don't know the location of his son, you are to not look for the boy dying or not.” The second part slammed into them, not asking if they were going to accept this dark mission or not. There's no way to get out of this one.

 

[Hase Aki]

"Well I with those weaknesses in mind I think I should drop a some knowledge on you trainee’s”

He deliberated, and then spoke to them. Of course, the edgy guy had some advice for them. Since she had spoke first, she was first up on the chopping block. This was no doubt going to be a show of force, some kind of unwavering hate that would be aimed to shatter her confidence.

“Firstly, explosions are a powerful tool at our disposal what happens when we get a stealth mission that involves us having to sneak around to gain information. I already can sense the little clay rats you made before coming here and a person with the Byakugan would surely be able to see them without a problem.”

She'd stay silent as he spoke, not bothering to answer all at once to his advice.

“With this information I could easily have time to trap you with my blood bending technique and allow you to be crushed when this building goes down. Get sloppy like that and you'll wind up dead…. Oh and sure you can set up a meeting for me after this brave one.”

She continued to stay silent, but her face showed no signs of hurt, or anguish, or darkness that this man was looking for. She simply listened, her face smiling ever so slighlty until he went in on the boy. They were both dueling over dark auras or some such, and that's when she remembered that feeling...the one Maru gave off, was the one she had been with before, wearing the creepy puppet mask. She had hated that thing, so much so that she made one at home and wore it around the house and kept it near her JUST to exposure therapy the fear of it out of her. She went to extremes to make sure she was fearless, when something really got to her. As these thoughts went through her head, she had missed the fearsome darkness cloak and such, having essentially blanked out there, only coming back into it on the announcement of the mission.

"There is a man who lives outside of the village, age 35, he's already considered an old ninja to you two. But he was a great shinobi in the ANBU, but our reports show that 35-year-old Tafu Hyuuga is a spy for the land of lighting. He has a son that caught a nasty illness that will kill him if the proper medical treatment is not given to him, and since that money Tafu makes is for his son if the Hyuuga was gone. That boy will surely be without a father, and his mother is long since passed away in a bandit attack so the boy will end up dying alone. The child's death won't be a quick one either, he'll be in his little hut dying slowly begging for his father to come home…. All because the authorities have gotten to his traitorous father who had a bounty placed on him.”

She listened to the mission intently, her eyes shifting downward as she unfocused her senses to absorb all the information. It may have looked as though she was sulking at the sob story, but it was just the opposite. Then he said they were going to kill him, and that they weren't allowed to find the boy. It was obvious that they were handed this mission, hand picked by this man, to screw with them emotionally. She wouldn't let him win, even if he wanted to fill her with darkness, it wasn't going to work.

"Alright, we should head out then yeah?" she clapped her hands, a big smile forming on her face.

"Ol' white-eyes won't kill himself, y'know!" she would leave a discussion about her weaknesses for another time.