Naruto : A New World [IC] [M]

Aki stood on top of a boulder, admiring the waterfall that cascaded before him. The lake was crystal clear, with the water being churned near the edge where the waterfall merged with the small lake. It's almost time to go... He thought to himself. After receiving the note earlier, he realized that it was time to be summoned with the other members. I'm one of the relatively newer members of the organization...but a member nonetheless. Although Aki had some knowledge on the other members, there was nothing to do until they were called out for a mission. He stood up from on top of the boulder, wearing his robes which were provided by organization. I should get going...last thing I want is anyone to harass me for being late, or 'cus I'm new. He jumped down from the boulder, and landed on the soft patch of grass below. Surrounded by a massive forest, he started to casually walk down the only path visible, which would eventually lead him out of the forest. I wonder what they'll make me do. Hopefully it's not just some bloody massacre. The Akastuki don't kill just for the Hell of it...I think. No matter. If situation need be, I'll do it.


~

Upon entering the hideout, Aki realized his timing was better than he had imagined. "Oy, what's up men?" He said, smiling giving off a cheery vibe. "It's about time we got called out here. I was starting to get bored all by my lonesome self, and was thinking about quitting." He laughed. Aki never was the serious type. In fact, he just loved to crack jokes all the time. Besides, he thought that this organization was rather gloomy and could use some livening up. "Alrighty, I'm here now though, so let's get started? I kind of wanna get out of here as soon as possible."

Post 1: In Which I Defeat Trees and Challengers.
This morning I woke up in the forest, having passed out there after training. I had ravaged several trees near me the previous night attempting to extend the limits of my Swift Fist Barrage. Out of respect for the trees, I planted as many seeds as trees I had destroyed. Though I felt guilty that there was no way they would grow to be as big as the ones I killed, not in my lifetime at least,

"Nev are ya really still wasting your time out here?" My raven squawked above me, "I bet this didn't even tire ya out." He had decided to stay with my father in our home, typical of the bird.

"I have to keep practicing this jutsu, that way I never have to use Hurricane release again.' I answered, still planting seeds. "Anyways, this jutsu is much safer on my body."

He landed on a fallen tree near me, searching for worms. "That technique is fine and all, but think about how much strong you'd be if you got over your fear." He found one and happily pecked at it.

I saw in the corner of my eye a kunai knife thrown at me, and I quickly kicked up a thick branch to deflect it. I jumped up and flipped back, pulling out my own knife. "So you really are as fast as they say!" The boy said, who looked about my age. "How strong are ya?" He moved at a speed that surprised me, not as fast as me, but still faster than normal. He moved in to kick me, though I easily grabbed his leg and forced him to stop moving. He tried to retaliate by kicking with his other leg,, though I just used his lack of footing to throw him against a tree. He slammed against it with a loud thud.

"Show that scum that he ain't nothin but scum Nev!" My raven called.

"I'm sorry about that, my raven gets very rude." I said to the downed boy sincerely, "Please forgive me."

"You dare taunt me?" He said, standing up. He did a hand sign, "You think you're real tough don't ya, I bet you don't even know how to fight well."

"Forgive me, but didn't I beat you in this fight?" I said softly, slightly confused.

"Wind Release, Air Scythe Barrage!" He yelled. A slice of wind flew at me, warranting a dodge. It cleanly cut the tree behind me. I dodged several more without much effort.

"C'mon Nev kick that scum hard so we can leave." My raven called out.

"I really don't think it's fair to fight him," I answered, "Why don't you do it?"

"I don't think he'll be happy to know he is losin to a bird." The raven replied, "But I do love fightin, why don't we just do a switch." I nodded, dodging the barrage of wind slashes, then going behind a tree. We switched and I flew above to watch the fight.

The raven sped out from behind the tree. The two of them were about even, as neither were as fast or strong as I was. The boy stopped his barrage of slashes when he realized that my raven was getting easily closer to him while dodging every one. The boy was kicked up a couple feet when my raven got close enough. Although he shared my appearance, my raven's technique in a human form was bad, and he lacked my kekkei genkai. My raven attacked furiously, landing blow after blow. The boy was surprised that "I" had changed to be so aggressive.

I had been wrong about my judgement of strength, the boy was no match for my raven, and I deduced that he wasn't even a chunin. "That's enough" I called from a branch. The boy was standing there, beaten but still willing to fight. His dedication would get him killed.

"Aw, but I ain't done havin fun!" My raven proceeded to continue the fight, prompting me to transform back to my normal self. I jumped down from the branch landing in between them, I stopped both from charging at each other. Without having to move either arm but a couple inches, I pushed them with enough force to hit a tree. I had done it so fast, that the boy didn't even see that it was me who had come down.

My raven transformed back into his raven form before the boy saw him. "How did you move so fast." He struggled to say. I had damaged him pretty hard by accident. "It isn't human." He passed out, probably from the beating and lack of chakra. My raven landed on my shoulder.

"What'cha do that for Nev, that hurt." He whined.

"Sorry, I did ask you to stop though." I replied. I counted the trees destroyed, and planted more seeds, much to my raven's annoyance. Even after I finished, the boy was out cold. "I'll get him home, that way he can rest."

"Don't you worry about it Nev, I'll get him home. I was supposed to give you money so you could go get food." He reached into the small pocket where I kept scrolls tied to his leg. He pulled out a few bills with his beak. I took them from him and he transformed into me again. "I'll carry him home, then meet you in town." He said.

I looked at the boy and nodded, "I'll eat at the ramen shop." I told him, "If the kid wakes up, see if he will come too."

"Yea whatever." And he picked up the kid and ran off. I walked into town, stopping at the ramen shop.

"Hey Nev." The owner said, "You don't ever eat out, what is going on?"

"I was told to out here." I said kindly. "And this is the only place I have been before."

"What can I get you?" He answered nodding.

"A large bowl of plain noodles."

The man seemed surprised, "Uh, so like nothing on it?"

I nodded politely, "Maybe salt if it isn't too much trouble."

"Well okay kid." He said, turning to make the order.

"Boys, boys. Miss me?" A voice could suddenly be heard from behind Aki, after he had finished talking his useless chatter. He recognized it as one of the female members, but wasn't sure who it was. She then removed her hood as she approached closer. Oh yeah...it's ummmm... Aki had forgotten her name, but he knew it was the blonde one. He just looked at her for a few seconds, and then turned to the giant of a man standing near him. I know that's Haru...He's pretty cool I guess. I wouldn't wanna pick a fight with him...then again, I have never sen any of these guys actually fight. I only know some of their basic skills, and even that's kind of vague. He then turned back to the girl. "Uhhh, who are you again?" He said walking up to her. He squinted his eyes a bit, observing her face. "I know your name starts with an 'A' but I just can't seem to put my finger on it."

He scratched his chin as he tried to think. "Wait, don't tell me. Let me think." He tried to think of a possible name, but in reality, Aki just wanted to push her buttons. He was getting kind of bored and thought it would be funny to rile up someone who wasn't taller or bigger than him. "Was your name..Aiko? Yeah I think that's it. You kind of look like an Aiko." He said laughing.

Shin walked past a cascading waterfall that was visible over a sheer drop. A simple, worn and faded path lay before him winding through a dark forest of trees that had grown very close together fighting for the sunlight. A light breeze ruffled his wild, shaggy hair - which was an unusual charcoal colour (that was all too frequently mistaken for black) - as well as the black robe decorated with blood red clouds that he wore open over his usual outfit (black pants and a flack jacket vest over his heavily bandaged torso that would otherwise be bare).

As Shin walked down the long winding path he contemplated what would lay before him. He wad never interacted with the other members of the Kurotenshi, the reborn Akatsuki, and had worked alone more often than with a partner (which he preferred except that it made using his most powerful technique more difficult). He listened carefully to the shady forest landscape surrounding him, it would be unfortunate if had been tailed, but all he heard was the leaves rustling gently in the light wind that had started up.

Shin soon found himself arriving at the allocated meeting spot. Entering the small isolated building without hesitation he found that three other individuals were already inside. There was a man carrying a sword and wearing a pale blue shirt, a pony-tailed and fair-haired man wearing a similar robe to Shin's and a woman with ridiculously bright blonde hair also wearing an akatsuki/kurotenshi robe.

Shin hung back at the door, he'd talk to them without any problems if they'd talk to him first but he really couldn't be bothered initiating conversation and so left them to their mindless chatting.

Shin wasn't the last to arrive, within a few minutes of his entering the hideout he found himself standing next to another woman, she wore the same robe as he did - although closed, and didn't seem to regard him to highly. The other woman of the group was staring at them, not with disdain but with calculating eyes. She was undoubtedly trying to ascertain who everyone was and where they all stacked up power wise. Then, with a surprisingly bubbly tone and a wide smile she asked he and the other new arrival to identify themselves.

Sighing silently to himself Shin answered her question
"My name's Shin Kaito. You probably haven't heard of me and unlike most of you I'm not known by any other names, perhaps you'd like to let me know whom you all are?"
Shin watched the others through the same calculating eyes as the woman that had been watching him.
I'm not going to be shunted to the bottom of the ladder if that's what they're thinking. That's the trouble when you work with a bunch of S-Rank criminals, they all want to be the boss - even though clearly the person in charge isn't one of us at all but someone operating behind the scenes.

"Actually, Akihiro, that's Asina Paoi. The Burier. You may have heard of her." Aki turned to the tall man who started to speak. Actually no, I don't know her. He thought. "And you, are Akihiro Hamasaki." Aki just continued to look at him with a now emotionless face. He wasn't surprised that Haru knew Aki, but they hadn't talked much since his joining with the organization. "I don't mean to be rude, but you need to arrive on time, next time. We Kurotenshi are punctual." Man, how early do you want me to come? I showed before Asina over here anyways. He didn't really care about being punctual. Nobody except Haru seemed to know him, but that was probably only because he was one of the people who were at his recruitment. "But all formalities aside...I Am Haru Nashimura. You may know me as the Fire Demon of the Hidden Leaf. You can also call me Haru though." He gave a slight smile at Aki. Asina and Aki continued to watch, until she had focused her attention to some other members near the corner.

"Yeah, I've never heard of you." Aki said to Haru rather cheerfully. "I'm not familiar with things from the Leaf. But don't let that bother you." He laughed and gave a smile. "Hopefully we can get action going soon, I'm battle ready!" He made a battle stance and started to shadowbox in front of Haru, making sounds as if he were punching a real opponent. After a few moments of that, he started to speak again. "You know, you're pretty tall." He said to Haru. "You've got like 4 inches on me. You drink a lot of milk?" He said seriously, as he started to shadowbox again.

Gothax yawned loudly. He was still in his bed which was slightly unusual for a ninja like him. But what could he do? He had pushed his body far beyond the limits in his last mission so now his muscles were paying the price. If he wasn't unreasonably tired, he would have been training already but he didn't it was a good idea to do this. He got up and did 5 minutes of carefully stretching his muscles as he does everyday. He then went to the bathroom and proceeded to clean himself. After that, he put some clothes on his body. He felt his stomach make some complaints then he remembered that he haven't ate since 2 days and the bad news were that he didn't have any food there. "I'll make a stop in the ramen shop then." He didn't have any other choices than ramen and besides the food wasn't too bad nor expensive there. He exited his small apartment and walked through the small village. It didn't take him long to arrive at the ramen shop. He entered and he ordered his usual amount of pork ramen, his favorite. But he quickly noticed he wasn't alone and the person in question had a rather high chakra signature. "Guess I'm not the only strong ninja in the world".

"I can't say I do. I'm just this tall naturally." Haru laughed. "And I can't say I'm too up to date on news from the Cloud. You, however. I know." Aki looked at him observingly. Surprisingly this guy knows about me. I'd rather stay lesser known. The less trouble we attract the better. Haru then turned to the others. "I am Haru Nashimura. Fire Demon of the Hidden Leaf. Pleased to meet you, Shin Kaito." He turned to Aki again and smiled. "The Master said that we will be working together. It will be a pleasurable experience I'm sure." His smile suddenly faded away as a serious look came upon his face. "I hope you will be ready to do what needs to be done. We will be killing innocent ninja, taking the lives of those who contained the tailed-beasts, although they had no choice in the matter." Aki looked at the others, not bothering to introduce himself. However he did hesitate a bit as a serious look wept across his face as well.

"Well, we gotta do what we gotta do." Although Aki himself was against killing innocent people like that, he knew his role as a member of the organization required him to do so. Besides, he did not want to show his weakness in front of the others. He then looked at the others. "I'm Akihiro Hamasaki by the way. But I prefer Aki." He just looked at them, and gave a warm smile. "So yeah...I'm new to this whole Kurotenshi business." He paused for a brief moment to think of what to say. "Does someone want to fill me in on how this works? Say one of us gets captured or something do we form a rescue mission to save the member?" Aki wasn't sure if that was how the Kurotenshi ran. He knew from experience that saving teammates was more important than the mission itself, but for some reason felt that this organization ran differently.

"Nice to meet you, Asina. I hear you are known as the Burier. I am Ayame Ibaraki, the Legendary Illusion Of Konoha." Ayame was curious to know more about her.

Her techniques were told to be disastrous. But, another member came out of the shadows. She immediately recognised his face, it had to be Haru Nashimura. He had also recognised her. They were from the same village. "Fire Demon of the Leaf, was it? I remember you." Ayame confidently said. Haru gave her a smirk.

She had heard many rumours about him. As the legendary Fire Demon, anyone would be easily frightened by the presence of him. But it seemed that Ayame didn't even care. They had similar techniques, which intrigued Ayame. Asina mentioned my name. Asina had a smirk too on her face.

She turned to the other members, who were still standing in the shadows. Especially the one with the sword...

"We don't get captured. You know that, right?" Asina turned around and arched an eyebrow at Aki. She then started to twirl her golden hair and gave him a smile. "You want my advice? Don't. Get. Captured. It's really that simple." She finished her sentence, making it obvious to Aki to not screw the mission up. Well, alright I guess. It's not like I will be captured so easily anyways. He thought.

It was then one of the other girls who started to speak again. "Nice to meet you, Asina. I hear you are known as the Burier. I am Ayame Ibaraki, the Legendary Illusion Of Konoha." Ayame then turned her attention to Haru. "Fire Demon of the Leaf, was it? I remember you." She said, before shifting her attention to Aki. Aki just stood and looked at her. He wasn't so sure what made him so intriguing to look at, but it did kind of freak him out. I really hope none of these people think of me as a vulnerable piece of meat. Again, as Aki was new, he really did not want to rub the others the wrong way. No, I can't let them influence my confidence like that. If I act like wimp, they'll treat me like a wimp...but then again, I am the youngest it looks like. Hopefully they'll treat me like an adult.

"I never knew Konoha would have two Shinobi who would later join the Kurotenshi..." Aki said, to both Haru and Ayame. He gave them both a quick look, and then quickly focused his attention to the rest of the group. "You know, no offense, but I think Haru over here trumps all you guys in a fight." He said, chuckling a bit. He had no doubt in his mind that Haru was strong, but he kind of wanted to see who was the more sensitive one in the organization. "Aside from me that is. I think I could take him on." That last part was obviously a joke, but he wanted to see if anyone would take him seriously.

Shin had zoned out again, the chatter was quite meaningless - it seemed to him very shallow and false. But it was probably a good idea to work out what his compatriots were capable of at some point. One of them introduced themselves as the Fire Demon of the Leaf. Shin hadn't spent much time in the Land of Fire but he had heard of the spectacular blaze left by Haru's departure. He nodded his head in acknowledgement and then heard the name of the woman - The Burier.

The entire group, minus the missing sixth member that nobody seemed to have noticed, had been introduced now.
So, we have Haru the Fire Demon. From what I have heard he left quite the blaze in Konoha upon his departure. Another person from the Leaf, I know less of her but from what I have heard Ayame is quite formidable. Then there is Asina - her I have heard quite a few rumours about. Her Earth techniques are famed and the jutsu she is most well known for has earned her the nickname she carries. I don't know the ninja with the sword either - but I have a feeling I'll learn soon enough.

Shin was snapped from his thoughts when he heard a glimpse of the conversation. The guy with the sword had suggested that Haru trumped all of them in battle, except from himself. Haru tried to be modest and deny it, but it was clear he thought otherwise.
"I have to ask exactly why you think that? You know nothing of me at all, and if you do it will be very little. Besides, all that any of us have to go by really is what we have heard in rumours. I personally don't think Haru is any more dangerous than the rest of us, nor do I think you are either. We each have our own strengths and weaknesses and you would do well to remember that."

It didn't look to Shin like he was making many friends in the organisation so far, he had nothing against any of them but he didn't want to see their unit defeated simply because of the arrogance of other members. Besides, he wasn't going to let himself be pushed to the bottom rung where the others could trample over him.