Private The Ropes [Req. Yuna]

[Toraono Michino]

The message had been sent out nearly the very moment that Yuna got the upgrades needed to view the electronic message. Rei had made sure her team was tracking the ANBU Sennin's every single step at the moment, and as soon as she got that phone, it would light up with a message. It seemed simple, straight forward, and spoke of nothing more than what it said:

-Meet me in the open training grounds of the Academy - Head Master Ryuu Rei

…but there were subtle remarks buried in the sentence. Ones that would no doubt not be missed by the new village leader. The demand for an audience in the training grounds that was Rei’s territory instead of a neutral setting. The Head Master title instead of her, higher, Sennin title as if to make mockery of Yuna’s sudden ascension to the role. Which was exactly what Rei had intended to invoke.

The last ANBU Sennin burned Kumogakure in ways that would be felt for the next decade. What little trust that they had managed to work up with the country was starting to look shaky again with Miro’s actions. Forced labor in a mine, of all things. With her background, Rei imagined that girl would be a bit more against forced labor. The hidden village's well intended rehabilitation were twisted by the raven hair bitch, and pockets of resistance were starting up again. It boiled something inside of the Ryuu that hadn’t been touched upon since her transformation - anger. Fury at herself for Sumika’s disappearance. Disappointment in Miro’s actions. They all invoked a certain need to stage herself as a leader now that the pressure of being Kitsune’s “chosen” weighed her mantle.

An alpha, if you will.

Rei waited in the training grounds wearing a simple pair of work clothes - her usual office attire in fact. White button-down with rolled up sleeves, pair of black slacks, dress shoes and round mirror shades. She was sitting on an invisible block of air she had changed the molecules of to gain enough resistance so she could sit on it. In her left was a tiny black notebook full of private information her spies had been collecting for her while she was away; there was a lot to catch up on. In the right hand was a skinny cigarette, lit and burning away that Rei would take a drag from periodically between every six pages or so.

Her eyes were glued to the pages behind her reflective spectacles, but she could “feel” every inch of the of the courtyard. A simple prep to make sure someone who was supposed to be very stealthy didn’t take her letter as intended and get the drop of the haughty lycan-like.

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

Yuna had gotten word of how the Main Branch Sennin operates, and how their work is getting into ANBU business. The Main Branch's Spy network works too closely into ANBU territory even before Yuna has made the big changes to the branch. That being said, she wouldn't put it past the older Sennin to try and pull a fast one on her. Whilst the phone was given to her by Kitsune, Yuna had some ANBU agents look the phone over as it had gotten the update.

She was in her own office looking over various documents when she had gotten word of a message on the phone, along with the phone now being traced. She had her agents work on moving to somewhere far off and work on their own to erase and scramble the location of where the phone was. Don't get her wrong, Yuna has a healthy bit of paranoia from her time in Sand and it is her job as ANBU Sennin to eliminate every threat, but even this is an invasion of privacy. Not to mention, such a thing as tracing is a breech in ANBU headquarter location. Something that she will NOT take lightly.

As for the summoning's, it's obvious that this Rei is acting rather childish, by treating Yuna, her colleague and equal, as a child. "Very well... You have my attention now." The ANBU Sennin would let natural energy wash over her, masking her chakra signature as she made handseals for an active camo.

She would quietly make her way to the Academy grounds and watch from afar as she studied the other Sennin. By now, the last location of the phone would be somewhere in the Spine of the World, but it's not like that would matter much. Yuna would seamlessly float like water behind the other Sennin, still masked by the natural energies of the world, until she finally made herself known. Dropping the active camo too, it would almost seem as if her presence just came into existence behind Rei.

Yuna would not say any words, her presence would be enough for the other Sennin to know and get down to business on what she has on her mind. But so far, it seems that Ryu Rei is someone that wants to flaunt their own power. And while the new Sennin has had her hands full with both her personal life, things inside her branch, and having to clean up her predecessor's mess, she didn't expect a level of pettiness from another Sennin.

 

[Toraono Michino]

Sitting silently in the open courtyard on her invisible air pillow, the Main Branch Sennin didn’t even begin to notice Yuna’s presence. She was engrossed in her book, flipping through the pages with a thumb until she landed on a name that sent a shock into her heart: Sumika. The buried pain she had patted down hard quickly rose from its tomb like a zombie. The engineer flipped the pages by quickly until all mentions of her daughter were in the past; then distracted herself further by focusing on events that happened in the last week.

There was no point in researching her daughter’s possible location. She had read the files countless times after being besieged with news of her greatest failure, but a modicum of pride lifted up in seeing that Sumika was just as hard to keep track of as her own adoptive mother. A roaring tide of chakra behind her broke the faux fixation she had for the book. It felt like standing in front of a tidal wave with the limitless ocean right behind, and about two feet of land to stand on. It was smothering, large…

“…and not really the chakra for someone that’s supposedly the head of ANBU. Really, how do you plan to remain quiet if you drag an ocean behind your steps?” Rei finally spoke after Yuna dropped her camo, refusing to acknowledge that the woman had managed to get the drop on the head of the KIO. The small black book snapped shut and quickly blew to the wind as Rei’s chakra destabilized it into ash.
“Rather rough find my friend has made in replacing that bratty teenager, but I can’t say we’re doing much better right now if your signature is that noticeable; really a shame that Hon didn’t take over. Maybe then he could finally take some credit to his heroics in the last war.”

The Main Branch Sennin turned to finally face Yuna. Her eyes were hidden behind round mirrored shades but the pale cheeks were marred by tear streaks. Rei had always been a woman of science and never one for makeup or believed in its uses (she never had trouble pulling them hoes), but if there were ever a time she needed it; it was now. Such a clear weakness in the face of a fellow leader she was trying to grandstand on wasn’t going to help her. Yet, she tried anyways. Reaching into the pocket of her white button-down shirt, the Ryuu removed another small black book that was mostly the same as what she had nearly finished reading. She rudely tossed it at Yuna like a frisbee.

“Since you’re the new ANBU head you might want to look that over and get up to speed. The KIO has been keeping tabs on Kumo, ANBU, and the Judges while I was away. You’ll find your predecessors sins in there in great detail - do try to be better,” she remarked, “and since you’re new I’ll give you some really easy advice to follow on,” Rei slowly closed the couple of feet between them before leaning in enough that her shades dipped to reveal red glowing irises full of chakra - nothing as menacing as an Uchiha’s dojutsu could be, but a threat non the less.

“Stay out of my Intelligence. I will continue to collect information as I have and share it with the Raikage; if I deem it worthy, you as well. You can keep the assassins though. We don’t dabble in such uncouth work when blackmail works just as well.”

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

The ANBU Sennin would stare at the Main Branch Sennin through her mask, near crimson orbs, not like the Sharingan, but rather that of one born and has endured as a Chigokai. Even though Yuna has lost her powers as a Chigokai in favor of being a tidecaller, she still carries its brand. One that will subtly change her appearance, mainly her eyes, once she endures strenuous times. The very fact that it seemed to change fully when she finally was at home and not abroad is rather strange given the circumstances. Rei had mentioned her crushing chakra signature. "One must use everything in their arsenal to prove to be even a mediocre ninja. That to eliminate the threat, and to erase their own existence." Once she said that, she let the natural energies surround her once more, masking her own chakra with the world's energies. "Then again, a Sennin like yourself should know all about that." The slight jab at the other Sennin. She doesn't know what kind of games this Rei is playing, but Yuna is tired of all the drama.

She would let Rei talk her talk and even anticipated her closing the distance as she stared down the other Sennin. It was a famous stare that Yuna had heard got her father in trouble a time or two in Leaf. There was a determined look in her eyes to show that she was undeterred with how Rei was acting. Finally she stopped. "Such bravado coming from someone who seems to be breaking on the inside." She would say plainly, noting the physical tiredness? No... More like sadness of dried tear streaks. She would scoff, "You will be quite wrong to think of me similar to my predecessor just because of my age and experience. Unlike her I work with logic rather than losing myself completely to emotions. And don't think your disrespect hasn't gone unnoticed by me. I expect as such from my enemies, not from people who are supposed to be my allies and colleague as a Leader of this Village."

Letting out a sigh, Yuna would go on, "I'm keeping my own intelligence sub branch. As for whether or not you share your own information is up to you. Just know, your ego can be detrimental to the Village if you choose to withhold information that can be vital to the ANBU. We all may be separate branches, but we all want one thing in common, the safety of this Village."

 

[Toraono Michino]

“Yes but I was your predecessor that is giving me pause on trusting you or your spies, Silent,” she hissed. The ANBU Sennin had struck a nerve by pointing out the obvious that Rei hadn’t covered up yet. With an embarassed wave of her hand the tear streaks lifted away from her face as she altered the skin to die and regrow instantly - yet she still turned away from Yuna. Feeling the sudden crashing ocean vanish into nearly nothing from one moment to the next only served to impress Rei too. Then the assassin dropped the mortal blow to her argument in stating that they were both meant to lead a village - not attack each other over petty bullshit.

The wolf inside disagreed.

Rei’s hands raised up like she was going to lunge at the ANBU member, with all the hostility there before they ended up in her hair instead. Streaks of white flashed through the green before turning back to their emerald color again as a brief moment of the Ryuu Curse re-surged inside the Sennin. Tears were starting to well up again as the stress of everything broke the woman over fate’s knee and she couldn’t help but turn away in the vain attempt to keep the fellow leader from noticing. She took a deep breath and let it out. Chakra forced the tears to stop and a gentle layer of it settled on her brain to activate certain chemical to facilitate a calm. Her body language dropped the hostility in defeat. The newly minted leader was more than correct that this wasn’t the time.

“I’m…sorry,” Rei said, breaking herself down further to offer that apology first, “…a lot has happened since my time away. Soon as I got back, Kitsune marked me as the next Raikage, and my daughter…” She bit her lip. Yuna knew, or, would know soon.
“…anyways, you’re right. I shouldn’t be such a bitch just based on Miro’s failings. That said I cannot just so simply hand over information between our branches. At least, not yet. I set up a lot to keep an eye on ANBU to prevent the exact scenario that Miro pulled anyways so I gotta pull them out of deep cover - I think it’s best if you don’t know who they were. Trust is such a hard thing to earn these days…”

The woman stood there for a moment not looking at Yuna and staring off into space behind her mirrored shades. A soft wind blew through the courtyard that intensified the awkwardness before Rei sniffed suddenly and threw on a fake smile,
“Well, guess that’s settled then. Welcome to the team. If you need anything out of the Main Branch just…” she reached into her pocket and pulled out the phone, “…shoot me a message.”

Rei’s chakra coated her her body slowly, turning it invisible little bit at a time as she activated the Camo jutsu. Her chakra was on full display as Yuna’s had been, with a major difference in how it felt in comparison. The Ryuu’s swirling energy felt like a void, as if there wasn’t any actual energy there at all but an outstanding lack of it. A nothing, being twisted and used to fuel her power. Once the last strand of hair was covered that void feeling became filled back up with air and Rei was gone.

[Topic Left Unless Stopped]
[MFT]

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

She certainly did her research. Knowing of Yuna's code name when she was in Sand. Silent... A name that she herself nearly hates. A reminder of her own failure to kill Akkuma. And now that he's a Sennin of Sand, who knows what will happen now. Rei left her with an almost cryptic message of how there might be others that are like Miro.

Yuna would shake her head. She knows that she has to deal with the antics that her predecessor left her with, but to think that some others were swayed to think like Miro as well... Yuna would clench her fists. The pull of her contracts wise words almost seem to be ineffective on her. She could feel her grip of the Ocean loosening if only for a moment. She could feel the root of her power... The Chigokai bloodline start to boil up for a brief time.

Letting out a sigh to calm her nerves, she sets her sights on Monumentum Deo.

(topic left)