Underneath the town called River's Gate, located in the Land of Rivers, is an entirely hidden city underground called simply "The Undertow." With River's Gate as a front for the various shady dealings, The Undertow is able to work in conjunction with some of the greatest criminals known to the Land of Rivers, with the shinobi villages none the wiser. If there's something you want, you can find it here. Just don't ask how much it'll cost you. Located within the Undertow are various large buildings that work as places of pleasure, business, or violence. Casinos, brothels, and of course, the Undertow Colosseum, where everyone is dying to get in. If your dream is to see what the darker shadows of the underworld have to offer, look no further. But be careful, because once you get a taste, you may never want to leave.
Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2022 7:00 pm
xxxx TORNA, Hitotsu, Obi xxxx The Undertow, Land of Rivers xxxx Excited
Ito crossed her arms over her chest as a smirk of pride played on her lips. A light chuckle came from her mouth, just loud enough for Obi to hear and get him to turn his head. Her people were smart, and the pink haired Uchiha could see just a twinge of surprise on Obi’s face. She supposed that he thought they would just sit back and do as they were told. But TORNA was the best for a reason, true professionals. Obi gave Ito a scolding look, which just prompted a shrug from the woman as she shook her head wordlessly, before he turned back to the group at large. “Fair enough questions, I suppose.” He answered, ever the professional himself. There was an uncertainty in his eye that made Ito’s brow furrow. It lasted only for a second, but it made the woman suspicious, but not enough to act on it.
“We’ve been working on amassing volunteers for groundbreaking scientific advancements, from energy generation to medicine. We even have a horse in the current arms race for new weaponry. So as you can imagine, when people hear stories, they don’t take to it kindly, putting the progress of our research on hold.” As the man spoke, Ito scowled and looked away. This wasn’t the first time a client had tried to hardsell whatever mumbo jumbo witchcraft they were working on. “You all as a group wouldn’t need to worry about the dangers of handling such products. Your jobs are merely to keep the researchers, the subjects, and the location safe from intruders. And as for who might be coming for it, it would be your standard fair. The Land of Rivers is known as a home of criminals, all of which would like to get a piece of something as valuable as our research. So thieves, bandits and above all else-” Obi paused, his calculating stare shifting to Ito just for a moment. “Shinobi of Tanigakure.”
The pink haired mercenary perked up at the name of the nearest Hidden Village. This information was enough to wipe the boredom from her face and replace it with mild shock. Tanigakure… Usagi… Ito’s mouth split into another smirk as the thought rolled around in her head. For just the chance to tear down some of Usagi’s shinobi, just one more time, was more than enough for her to go all in on the job. “So when do we start?”
“That got your attention, did it?” Obi replied, giving her a level stare. “Are all of you mercenaries out for blood like that? Regardless, you should be starting right about… now.” As the man finished speaking, the elevator came to a stop with a ‘ka-chunk.’ The crossbuck blocking the exit slid up, allowing access to their new destination. As the group would step out from the lift, they would be met with a surprising display of lights and civilization. A village, around the size of one of the major shinobi villages, was on full display. Covered in neon lights and flashing electronic signs, advertising for the best night of your life with a one hundred percent guarantee. The noise and activity was at a huge contrast to the quiet town that TORNA and Hitotsu had come from.
“See? I told you so~” Ito playfully taunted as she walked passed the group, turning to face them as she took dancing steps back with the city behind her. “Welcome to The Undertow, the true underworld of the Land of Rivers!”
tab Maeko perked up in the back of Rabu's mind, the mention of advanced science brought her thoughts to Arashi, a deep longing to return pulled at her heart. In the same moment a searing pain came to their head. Rabu'd slip their hand against the forehead of their mask, clutching at it. Till the pain started to disipate. Thoughts of Maeko's former Kage seared the insides of their head. After a few moments they'd relax, letting their hand fall back to their side. "...Guarding scientific research, eh? And Shinobi?" They'd gently pat samehada, their opposite hand coming up to rub at the bandages that wrapped around their blade.
tab"You'll get your fill of chakra big boy.~ I promise." The weapon would chitter and relax against their touch, before speaking up to Ito. "But Boss, it sounds like it could put us directly at odds with Tani, are We ready for that?" That we wasn't meant to encapsulate just the four TORNA members there. It was the entirety of their organization. They'd caught that look of shock, hoping maybe they could speak about it more later. The smirk definitely eased any worries though. "Reguardless, what you say goes, Boss!~"
'Ka-chunk'
tab When the crossbuck opened, a new sense of wonder was suddenly opened. They had the memories of that village in the Sky, but a whole village trapped in the black depths of the underground. It rivaled it, in its scale and the sheer amount of activity. "Y-You weren't kidding, this place is unbelievable...so where too?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2022 11:01 pm
x tab TORNA Camp x tab Boss, Rabu, Mana x tab 【RANK: B】▰【STRENGTH: 01】▰【SPEED: 00】▰【AGILITY: 00】▰【ENDURANCE: 01】▰【CHAKRA: 1,920 || 1,920】▰【STAMINA: 1,160 || 1,160】
x
Xifeng followed the group forward, crossing her arms as the newbie was off formulating what kind of stuff they might be doing here. From the looks of it, nothing that seemed fairly good in nature. Obi would be talking with Ito while her interest was at an all time high with the mention of Tanigakure. Xi had never really heard of such a place, although it must be pretty important if the Boss had suddenly jumped completely on board. The tanned skinned rogue would be busy watching the two, then to Rabu. "She's got a point, Boss. We're only four people. Against all of a village. Even with your Kokou, we'd be overrun if we don't come prepared." Xifeng said while then looking up to the gate standing before all of them. Her eyes shot up to look up at the gate before the group. It let out a thunderous creak as what was behind it was revealed. A civilization the size of an actual village, covered with neon lights and the aesthetic of more darker times, standing out in the dark. "Whoa, look at all of this!" The woman said, just as excited as the smaller girl wielding a giant, oversized sword. "This place is way past cool, boss! Can we explore for a bit? I wanna see everything in this place!"
Passives: ▱▰▱ Nin-Bloodline: May combine one bloodline technique and one ninjutsu technique for a single action once every three posts by paying the resource cost for both. Bloodline techniques that share the user's elements gain the overwhelming property if not already applied. ▱▰▱ Infernal Body [ Jigoku no Karada ] | Rank C | Training The user heats their muscles with their burning hot flame chakra at a constant rate, increasing their muscular performance and granting a one point increase in their strength at C Rank body and another 1 point increase at S Rank for a total of 2 points. Additionally, physical contact with the user's body causes tier one burns to the contact point.
PAs ▱▰▱ Volatile Arsonist | The user has mastered their explosive flames, causing tiered trauma to their fire based techniques. Additionally, their katon techniques now create thunderous booms, causing deafness for two posts. ▱▰▱ Armor Penetrating Shot | The user's fire based techniques ( including clan techniques ) have a volatile force behind them. Any katon technique with a single target has the ability to shatter armor medium tier and below on contact while heavy armor takes two instances of contact. Additionally, they are able to puncture shield techniques and barriers with equal chakra to the parent technique as though they were one rank lower. ▱▰▱ Signature Explosion Style | The user gains access to one additional taijutsu slot and may choose one Taijutsu style as their signature style as though they were Taijutsu class. The custom techniques gained in this way must be used in conjunction with that style and the Ignition Release. If the user is already Taijutsu class they receive the additional custom slots for their current signature style and those must be used for the combination of bloodline and style.
▱▰▱ Art is an Explosion! | The user is able to use A Grand Display twice per battle rather than once. Additionally, the user's clay gains an elemental advantage to water like all doton but without the lightning weakness. ▱▰▱ Ephemeral Arts | The clansman receives the Artistic Creativity ability to apply exploding clay to their shinobi class's aesthetic without puppeteer, performer, and scholar classes. However, if the clansman is of those classes but has this PA then they receive [2] custom techniques per body rank (12 at S+) rather than [1]. This only applies to one class so if you have multiple creative classes then you must choose one of them. ▱▰▱ Grand Illumination | The explosive radius of any exploding clay technique is doubled and explosive techniques apply tiered burning status by rank. Additionally, the user receives [5] ninjutsu per body rank dedicated to doton and an additional 200 chakra.
It was a continuation of less than stellar, subtle signs that this man didn’t think so highly of the groups combine intellect, coming off as reluctant to spill his fill of information. Now just like a guy who sell watches out of a trench coat the verbal products he offered told them lots and not very much at the same time, if not maybe for the fact the fact was they weren’t guarding a simple package but in fact the entire packaging plant….. and that the local powers that be, I.e. Tanigakure might find it’s way there to do an…., “security inspection” so to say. At least it appeared the wouldn’t be handling unknown objects with questionable safety, she got the feeling that despite the grand claims of their achievements there was no doubt that a higher percent of the products in question were dangerous than not. Despite suspicions remaining it looked like the groups boss was totally sold on the matter, seemingly because of the mention of the local shinobi village which implied some things about their distant leader.
Just before the mechanical clunk and mild jolt of the stopping elevator, Obi would instruct them in response to Ito’s question that their mission would be commencing operations in that moment. The grand reveal of an unlikely, bright neon signage laden, hidden city was something rather outside of her expectations, it was quite marvellous in a sense. Shielding her eyes for an instant due to the transition in lighting, Mana not used to such fiercely bold and plentiful artificial light sources found the whole place a little overwhelming in the immediate. In contrast to Xi Feng and Rabu’s vocal astonishment and excitement to the grand location, Mana had a more breathless reaction as her hidden eyes did a long slow pass as she took in all the visual stimulus with a deep breathe. After taking a moment to take everything in Mana would give a nod, turning toward Ito and saying in her gentle tone ”I see this is why you were speaking so highly of this area earlier, it is rather astonishing, Ito-sama.”
The sound of Xi Feng excitedly requesting that they be able to explore gave Mana a bit of pause, turning toward the tanned woman and speaking up with a touch more assertiveness, feeling the other had completely missed what their client had just said. ”You ask because you want to get the lay of the land yeah? Our client has just said that our assignment has begun so we can’t really be running about having fun, right?” She was still soft spoken and phrased her statements more as questions, in case she was out of line with trying to fear the others focus more toward work than the desire to sightsee the pretty place. The young assassin brought the sake bottle she’d been dangling over her should and held it out, thinking it could be used for some compromise. ”But I did purchase this sake, if you’d like maybe we could share some of this? We should all be able to drink this while not being encumbered by its effects, so maybe a calm drink while we get any other information needed, maybe discuss who will be doing what or posted or patrolling where, just so we aren’t unprepared?” Her voice and certainty shrunk a little as she continued, choosing to allow her body language to portray herself as nervous about voicing her opinions and to not come off as pushy with her “buzzkill” of a suggestion, Mana being used to pre-emptive preparations for jobs similar to this kind. Mana tactically chose to look toward Rabu near the end of the statement, remembering the other mention a want to imbibe in a little alcohol it was possible they would want to support Mana’s suggestion…. though any potential pleading from her eyes would be hidden behind her skull piece.
The answers to all the questions the others had posed was interesting. Even more interesting was the reaction to the mention of Tanigakure that the girl who seemed to be the group's leader displayed. Perhaps some history there, perhaps something that he would find out soon enough. Something else had also caught his attention a bit as well. One of the girls referring to the cloaked figure as she. There was a girl under that clock and skull mask? Surprising to him. It was then that it hit him, he was working with a bunch of girls it seemed. Which was a bit off putting for him at least considering where he came from. "Geez, an entire group of girls? I guess you all have much much different culture than I do." He spoke. Seemingly more concerned about that than about the prospect of fighting Tanigakure shinobi. Then a bit of wonderment himself from the underground city of lights which he had basically never seen before.
It was surprising, but also not at the same time considering what they were talking about in the first place. "Very different culture." He tacked on to his earlier statement, as if the village beneath the small quiet town above was a confirmation of the earlier statement. One of the others seemed to want to go explore, another had rather quickly explained why they probably would not get the chance to. "Eh, I'm sure our client is not expecting us to all be working at the exact same time the entire time we're on this job. Seems like a long period of time kind of a job. I'm sure one or two people can go have some fun and perhaps rest up a bit for when it comes their turn to be on guard duty."
“It’ll be fine.” Ito waved away the concerns of being able to explore. “I’ll go get us set up with Obi while guys go and see what this place has to offer. I won’t have an issue finding you if I need you. Is that alright with you, Obi?” She asked, turning to look up at the man.
“Indeed.”
“See? Nothing to worry about. But before you guys go, let me make one thing clear.” Ito turned to face her group, staring intently at her three followers. The look on her face was a scowl that was almost as dark as the underground city they stood in. Ito hadn’t meant to, but her pink Mangekyo Sharingan had replaced her usual eyes. She could feel a surge of anger, fueled by years of hatred, rise up inside of her. To indicate this, a pink aura of chakra formed around her body, moving like a flame that made the surroundings seem much more cold. While her full Susanoo wouldn’t form past this aura, a spectral version of the giant skeleton would appear behind Ito as she began to speak. [Susanoo Aura Rank B] “We do not run from Tanigakure shinobi. If they come and clash with us, even outside of this mission. We shoot to kill without hesitation, until the entire village is nothing but corpses. If you don’t, I will kill you myself.” Ito’s voice was hard as steel and lacked any of her usual cadence that she normally had. She wasn’t being friendly with her TORNA members like she usually was, nor was she playing up the theatrics of antagonism like she had been with Hitotsu. This was an absolute order, pure and simple. “Do I make myself clear?”
The tension faded once the TORNA members in her employ would respond, as the aura dissipated and her Sharingan deactivated. “Good.” Ito turned and began to walk down a street by herself, until Obi walked just behind her. “I’ll call for you when you’re needed. Now go look around.” Even with giving them permission to have fun in the Undertow, her voice was still clipped and the sentiment rang just a bit hollow. Ito did her best to calm down; the group needed to at least try and keep a low profile. She knew that. But the thought of losing again, and against Tanigakure shinobi… against Usagi again filled her with such rage. As one of her hands was lifted to her chest, she clasped the hourglass she wore around her neck that she’d managed to recover from Chai’s body. The woman took a breath and closed her eyes as she calmed down.
She wasn’t going to lose. Never again. Ito would make sure of that.
It didn't really matter that he had only just met the woman. Hitotsu had a certain image in his head when he thought of the pink haired leader of this group of supposed mercenaries. She was definitely interesting, of course. But no more or less interesting than anyone else you might find with a literal monster living inside of them. Maybe a bit like him with how she had chosen to go about antagonizing him in the first few moments of their meeting. Perhaps a bit too arrogant, cocky, confident? Something along those lines. Maybe with reason, after all from what he knew of people like her it was quite difficult to defeat them let alone deal with them normally. As one might expect, he felt like he knew exactly how he had planned to manage dealing with her. Not in a combative way obviously. They were on the same side after all, but how to deal with someone with her personality and disposition.
Of course, all of that had shattered in an instant. It didn't matter that it wasn't directed at him. He wasn't part of their group, he wasn't the woman's underling. It was clear that the words that had been spoken were meant for the other three she had come with. That didn't change anything though, he could feel it. The tension that hit the air the moment chakra had come from her body. Tensions formed from her anger, her hatred, the pure no-bullshit seriousness that seemed out of character from how he had assumed she was. The shiver that shot through his entire body as the woman spoke, again, regardless of the fact that he was not the target of this particular moment.
If one had taken a look at his appearance for a quick moment, they might have expected him to be afraid. Hair covering his face in such a way that a moment's glance would not be enough to see the expression he held. However they would be wrong, instead a slightly closer inspection would show widened eyes, not in fear but in excitement. A near ear to ear smile grown across his face. Excitement plastered across his person. The shiver that had shot through his person hadn't been of fear. "This is going to be a lot more interesting than I thought." Expression he had yet to show since the group had met him. He would however attempt to recollect himself. The widened excited eyes no more, the smile on his face lightened. Although it felt like he just couldn't completely get rid of the smile he had now on his face. It would take a while for the rush to leave his body after all, that was expected. He looked at the others. "Well, you guys have fun with whatever you do. If you need me I'm sure you'll find me." He said, walking off as well.
x tab TORNA Camp x tab Boss, Rabu, Mana x tab 【RANK: B】▰【STRENGTH: 01】▰【SPEED: 00】▰【AGILITY: 00】▰【ENDURANCE: 01】▰【CHAKRA: 1,920 || 1,920】▰【STAMINA: 1,160 || 1,160】
x
"Well when you put it like that…" Xifeng gave a hurt pout to Mana, the tanned cook crossed her arms underneath her chest while gazing over towards the monotone skinned woman to her left. "B-But we should probably get to know this area a bit more, right? Just to make sure that everything is safe and all." The feeling of her "newbie" behavior was akin to daggers being pushed into her skin. Out of all of them, she had been (officially anyway) with TORNA the shortest amount of time. Despite her best interests, Xifeng had still felt like the black sheep of the rogue group, moreso than obvious reasons. Everyone here was cool and strong and powerful. Ito had a demon and was pretty as always, Mana was super scary and kind of oddly stoic at times with a threatening aura that was as approachable as a blade to the throat, and Rabu was…well, Rabu with a giant, sentient, chakra hungry sword. Then here Xifeng was as herself. Just some half blooded freakshow that was made solely to be a soldier for hire, only to be adopted by some family of women that taught them to be an ideal housewife, more or less. "No wonder everyone here makes me on edge. I'm the only one here without any kind of trick. Just some dumbass with a frying pan." All she seemed to have to offer was her ability to cook decent meals and turn any building into a crater. Not exactly mercenary material but it was a…did they ever get paid? Was it just bed and board?
Man, she'd need to talk to Ito about stuff.
Mana did flash a bottle of sake though, which was enough to catch the girl's attention. Xi's eyes locked onto the sake with an amazed expression painted on her face. "Wow, you hid that all this way? I've never had sake before!" she smiled giddily at Mana while Ito would wave off her request to go and explore around this neon lit paradise. Xifeng pumped her fist up to the sky in celebration. "Yes! We get to go scouting!~" Her fist pumping was put to short rest as the leader of the group would activate that special dojutsu of hers, a giant skeletal figure appearing behind her as she reminded them of their true enemy: Tanigakure. This terrified the woman down to the core, Xifeng fearful of her life after being threatened to be taken care of by Ito herself. She'd tremble before the pink haired jinchuriki, murmuring to herself. "Y-Yes, sir. Ma'am! Uh, Boss! I wont forget. Just, uh, please dont hurt us!" she nodded alongside her comrades before everyone went their separate ways.
Xifeng and Mana would pair together while she sighed and walked alongside the woman. The conversation was pretty quiet between Xi still spooked from Ito and her self esteem still being pretty low. "Boss sure is scary when she's serious, huh? I'd hate to be the one who's fighting her." Came after a solid five minutes of silence. The tan woman frowned to herself as The doubt in her mind was causing her to worry more and more about herself. She shot the woman next to her a very closed off expression before opening her mouth. "H-Hey Mana? You ever feel like you don't belong somewhere? Like everyone else is a part of a group, but you're just some guy with them accidentally? Y'know. For, uh, no reason…" Xifeng rubbed the back of her right elbow as she went with Mana, cursing to herself at how awkward that little question would have been phrased.
Passives: ▱▰▱ Nin-Bloodline: May combine one bloodline technique and one ninjutsu technique for a single action once every three posts by paying the resource cost for both. Bloodline techniques that share the user's elements gain the overwhelming property if not already applied. ▱▰▱ Infernal Body [ Jigoku no Karada ] | Rank C | Training The user heats their muscles with their burning hot flame chakra at a constant rate, increasing their muscular performance and granting a one point increase in their strength at C Rank body and another 1 point increase at S Rank for a total of 2 points. Additionally, physical contact with the user's body causes tier one burns to the contact point.
PAs ▱▰▱ Volatile Arsonist | The user has mastered their explosive flames, causing tiered trauma to their fire based techniques. Additionally, their katon techniques now create thunderous booms, causing deafness for two posts. ▱▰▱ Armor Penetrating Shot | The user's fire based techniques ( including clan techniques ) have a volatile force behind them. Any katon technique with a single target has the ability to shatter armor medium tier and below on contact while heavy armor takes two instances of contact. Additionally, they are able to puncture shield techniques and barriers with equal chakra to the parent technique as though they were one rank lower. ▱▰▱ Signature Explosion Style | The user gains access to one additional taijutsu slot and may choose one Taijutsu style as their signature style as though they were Taijutsu class. The custom techniques gained in this way must be used in conjunction with that style and the Ignition Release. If the user is already Taijutsu class they receive the additional custom slots for their current signature style and those must be used for the combination of bloodline and style.
▱▰▱ Art is an Explosion! | The user is able to use A Grand Display twice per battle rather than once. Additionally, the user's clay gains an elemental advantage to water like all doton but without the lightning weakness. ▱▰▱ Ephemeral Arts | The clansman receives the Artistic Creativity ability to apply exploding clay to their shinobi class's aesthetic without puppeteer, performer, and scholar classes. However, if the clansman is of those classes but has this PA then they receive [2] custom techniques per body rank (12 at S+) rather than [1]. This only applies to one class so if you have multiple creative classes then you must choose one of them. ▱▰▱ Grand Illumination | The explosive radius of any exploding clay technique is doubled and explosive techniques apply tiered burning status by rank. Additionally, the user receives [5] ninjutsu per body rank dedicated to doton and an additional 200 chakra.
tab With crossed arms, they'd stare down their boss as they laid out a specific set of orders. Just like Hitotsu, though unseen, the sudden killing vibe that oozed from every bit of Ito prompted a deadly smile to creep across their face. Rabu felt a surge of excitement well up from the terrible sight of that Susanoo. "Understood boss, I'll bring you their heads."
tab"Very interesting." They'd respond to Hitotsu as he started to walk away, something about him kept their interest. They were excited to see just what they'd be bringing to the combat table. Rabu'd eye up the bottle of sake and gently take it from Mana. As they'd bring the bottle to their lips, the lower half of their mask was disipate. It allowed them to press it to their lips and take a nice swig of rice wine. "Pheeew! Mmmmmh, Xi!~ Fighting Ito is excilerating you should try it!~" They'd respond giving them a playful shove, only to hear their question to Mana, "I think you're not giving yourself enough credit. Lets go scout out our new playground and we can talk about where we all belong, yeah?"
Mama practically winced when she realized that Xi Feng seemed to take her words as more commanding than they were intended. It was the case she had simply assumed that they would be properly working in that moment, most jobs she did involved active effort from beginning to end, though she had only ever guarded people in transit and everything else tended to be theft, assassination, subterfuge or similar. The thoughts to correct herself into a more polite approach and potentially apologize did cross Mana’s mind but instead she stayed silent, that is until Xi Feng noted the bottle which broached a way to make minor amends. ”Ahhh yes, Rabu mentioned alcohol so I purchased some, it’s pretty good quality, I have some cups to share it….” She responded while removing her mask and offering a gentle smile to the taller woman as Ito had cleared up that they weren’t exactly needed in the immediate and were free to peruse the area. Said smile would find itself leaving her face an instant after their leader shared they wanted to make something clear to them before anyone left.
With the shocking release of chakra, palpable hate and a skeletal visage unveiled, Mana found herself automatically dropping low as she wheeled her body about, unoccupied hand having slotted its fingers through the rings of the knives at her hip ready to throw them by the time she’d realized what was going on. Managing to relax a little and straighten up she tensely listened to Ito’s demands and offering a slow nod after she was done speaking. ”Your orders are noted, I shall do as you bid should I come face to face with a member of Tanigakure, Ito-sama!” She chimed in after the others whilst straightening to a neutral stance, fingers moving away from her weapon as she offered a very short bow before turning away with Xi Feng with Rabu joining the pair of them in an initially silent walk, everyone besides maybe Rabu feeling somewhat shaken by the sudden ferocious outburst.
Finally Xi Feng who appeared a little put off would ask Mana a question, expressing a shared point of view that fighting Ito would be an undesirable activity, a sentiment not shared by Rabu who mentioned the opposite point of view that it would be exciting. Mama would hum as she considered a response for the taller tanned woman, looking up to her and softly offering her own thoughts ”She is rather intimidating and hard to approach I’d say, I’d also not desire to be the one facing her in direct combat at this point in time.” She said with an honest tone, not one to fluff herself up beyond her abilities but not implying her loss was definitely always going to be the case, especially as Mana specialized in taking people out when their guard was down. Her answered was followed by another question from Xi Feng, the woman trying to remain stoic but instead appearing nervous or apprehensive as she spoke.
Again Mana stayed quiet and let Rabu say their own thoughts on the matter, a statement that acknowledged a clear point of the others question but simultaneously dismissing it, something which the ash skinned woman didn’t see as best for the others self confidence or worth. Mana was good at dealing with or telling people what they wanted or something they thought they needed to hear, it was a part of her skill set and something she tried to avoid using with people she wasn’t trying to fool into becoming attached to her. So she actually had to consider her answer here and not give a more automated group of reassurances and reinforcements of a hollow nature, also because she could empathize with the thought process, Mana almost always being the person who didn’t actually belong, though there was often a reason for her presence and it was almost always bloody. ”I..I can understand how you feel, it’s very common that I find myself inserting myself into groups of people for nefarious reasons, so besides the fact I’m meant to be there I’m just some outsider playing a role. Compared to a group like TORNA where I’m not a part of it for the sake of a job, I find it difficult to feel like I fit in and so I’m trying to find my place within the group, just like yourself…. so if one were to give it time and I’m sure they would feel more comfortable and that they belong.” Was what she chose to offer in response, easily using her own thoughts and experiences to address the matter, reaching out a hand to squeeze Xi Fengs arm for reassurance and smiling at the other woman.
The trio continued their journey though the brightly lit streets, able to get a closer look at the city people’s lifestyles. Little shops, food dispensaries of various types, alleyways that didn’t look safe, woman and men offering services of many a variety standing in front of stores or hanging out of windows and calling out to try and appeal to passer by’s. ”It really is quite impressive that they have such a location underground that appears to actually be sustainable, so large and not widely known about…. It’s rather unbelievable, wouldn’t you agree?” She said with the question aimed at both her compadres there at the moment, Mana nudging closely past a person, neatly snatching and removing the mana wallet and stashing it away into her cloak after weighing it in her grip and feeling satisfied with its weight. The groups journey would end out leading them to slightly more open streets, leading toward a larger building in the distance that it seemed a good deal of people were heading, lights and a bit of noise that was clearly a magnified voice but to distorted from distance to be clear, this piquing then curiosity of Izumi and she steered them in that direction.
It would be compare apparent due to information provided by hard to miss signage, declaring the place to be an arena for fighting and even more interestingly, betting on fights. Izumi was immediately hit with temptation, always up to earn a buck she pointed at the large building and said ”Say do you want to earn some money and learn a little about one another, if we need to fight together it would be helpful if we understood one another’s moves, plus if Rabu-sama bets money on both of use, either way we will make profit and I can fix us up after… what do you say Xi Feng?” She quizzed with a keen sparkle in her eye, one very motivated by money as that was what her tribe was all about, plus Izumi had missed most of Xi Fengs match which left her lacking much awareness of what the other woman could do and be able to plan how to offer support when in actual battle.
The walk to their new, temporary base of operations hadn’t taken very long. It reminded Ito of a factory as she and Obi got closer. “Can you get away with threatening your subordinates like that?” The man eventually asked while he walked her through security. A badge, with designated clearance complete with a lanyard. Ito clicked her tongue and looked away from Obi. She was still sore from the conversation earlier, and it was hidden about as well as an elephant behind a blade of grass.
“If you want them so badly, then you take them.” She retorted, snapping the badge from Obi’s hand and shoving it into her coat pocket. “TORNA doesn’t lose, and we don’t keep quitters on our team. The sooner the newbies understand that, the sooner they’ll stop being dead weight.” Obi regarded Ito with a cocked eyebrow but said nothing further about the subject. Instead he led her further into the facility, loosely pointing out rooms that she didn’t care about. In fact, it took someone walking into her to pull her back to the world of the living. The man bumped into her and sent both of them careening off of their path. “Hey, watch it!” She snarled, staring daggers at the offender.
“Whoa, sorry short stuff.” The man held his hands up with a chuckle that Ito figured that he thought was charming. He was tall and extremely skinny, with bright red hair put up into spikes. His dress was unassuming, full of bracelets and leather jackets. “I’m not used to someone of your, uh… stature walking around these halls.”
“What’d you say?”
“Ito, meet Lea.” Obi introduced the young woman to the moving target in front of her. “He’s another one of our associates.”
“I work in crowd control.” Lea chimed in with a toothy grin as he jabbed his thumb to his chest. “Speaking of which, I’d love to catch up Obi but I gotta run. One of the subjects ran off, all the way to the Weald if you can believe it. It’s one of those newer ones, uh, from Arashigakure? You’ll need some tiger security on that chick.”
“Well, that is why we have you, isn’t it?” Obi’s statement brought a laugh from Lea before he saluted and disappeared faster than Ito could keep track of. “Come, let me show you to you and your crews’ quarters.” Obi led the mercenary leader to the rooms, but Ito spared a glance over her shoulder to the path Lea took. Just where was he going? Surprisingly, the more answers Ito managed to get, the more questions about this job rose up.
x tab The Underdark x tab Rabu, Mana x tab 【RANK: B】▰【STRENGTH: 01】▰【SPEED: 00】▰【AGILITY: 00】▰【ENDURANCE: 01】▰【CHAKRA: 1,920 || 1,920】▰【STAMINA: 1,160 || 1,160】
x
Mana had always been a very strange member of TORNA. She had been fairly quiet and seemed to be plotting to herself instead of being the boisterous kind of members that Rabu and Ito seemed to be. Xifeng had tried to match their enthusiasm to the best of her ability. It was taxing on her energy, both physically and emotionally. She didn't know how they two could just be like that all day, every day. Mana, on the other hand, appeared like the inverse of the team that she was on. A welcome reprieve but one that was certainly welcome for the bomber girl. She flashed a smile at her, sending Xifeng into another sort of awkward shuffle while she tried to look like she was confused on how to view this act. After Ito's little threat to how they were to handle Tanigakure ninja, the small group of Rabu, Mana and her would go off and towards more hospitable pleasures.
"Yeah, well, Boss just is on a whole other level than me. Shes got a demon and those creepy eyes. I doubt i could stand up to her if I wanted to." Xifeng remarked at Rabu's suggestion to try and see if she could train with Ito. What a crazy idea! Here she was trying to keep herself from getting singled out and sent to the medics of TORNA and then comes the smaller bone loving girl offering her the sage advice of "just fight her". She stumbled a bit when the smaller girl shoved her, looking back with hesitation present while shooting Rabu a clearly worrisome glance. It was quite clear that Xi had no confidence in her abilities compared to the leader of the group, and for good reason. What wad she going to do against somebody that could beat her six different ways without trying? "I mean, you guys have stuff. Ito has her demon and eyes, you have your weird sentient sword, Kizuri is just crazy, Mana is good at being sneaky and healing, and I just cause things to blow up when i dont want them to."
Xifeng looked at her hands, both wearing white wrappings as it made them a bit more comfortable to do things with and most importantly, not to burn anybody past searing hot temperatures. Her lips formed a conflicted pout while Mana began to speak up again. While she spoke, Xi paid close attention out of interest, listening and reflecting on the advice she had laid out in the open. Xifeng looked down as her hand was squeezed by the woman, her hands still warm to the touch, though no harm would come as they had been fully wrapped. She tried to smile back, but it come off as being embarrassed by the gesture from Mana. Despite the Okashimi clan being primarily focused on relationships, Xifeng was still considerably hopeless out of most of her clanmates. So it came as no surprise that she floundered a bit. "Oh, ah thanks. I think I get it then."
Good thing Kizuri was somewhere else or she would never hear the end of this one.
They passed by a good amount of businesses while in this Underdark. Some more legal than others, with Xifeng finding some interest in window shopping and exploring around. A lot of people stood outside some unsavory buildings, offering services that ranged from indecent to illegal in some parts of the shinobi world. They had an all around sketchy vibe to them, but one building did stand out among the rest. A huge building, littered with posters, lights and every sort of promotional material imaginable plastered across the walls. This was a fighting arena of some kind, with the trio stumbling upon it as the other two looked rather excited as this discovery. People gathered around a booth with fitfully of ryo contained in each, betting of some kind no doubt. It was a good thing that they wouldn't stick around here, and Xifeng maybe wanted to try and find some kind of interesting thing to do here.
Unfortunately, Mana came up with an idea that would more or less be what Xi had wanted to avoid. "F-Fight each other? But i just fought aomebody in TORNA already." she whined, having jist barely won that fight had the icy woman not called it in so very early. The idea of fixing the fight so that both of them coukd have a payout regardless of who won was imenticing. Maybe tgere was a place nearby that could refill their supplies so Xifeng could provide them with an actual meal this time. "I guess we could do that, a-and you'llheal us up back right after, right? I can do that." The woman nodded her head up and down before preparing herself for what she was dealing with. Xi had little idea how Mana fought or even if she did well. But if she was a higher rank than her, it would be a pretty uphill battle. She went back to screaming inside of her mind and wondering how long she could last against Mana.
Passives: ▱▰▱ Nin-Bloodline: May combine one bloodline technique and one ninjutsu technique for a single action once every three posts by paying the resource cost for both. Bloodline techniques that share the user's elements gain the overwhelming property if not already applied. ▱▰▱ Infernal Body [ Jigoku no Karada ] | Rank C | Training The user heats their muscles with their burning hot flame chakra at a constant rate, increasing their muscular performance and granting a one point increase in their strength at C Rank body and another 1 point increase at S Rank for a total of 2 points. Additionally, physical contact with the user's body causes tier one burns to the contact point.
PAs ▱▰▱ Volatile Arsonist | The user has mastered their explosive flames, causing tiered trauma to their fire based techniques. Additionally, their katon techniques now create thunderous booms, causing deafness for two posts. ▱▰▱ Armor Penetrating Shot | The user's fire based techniques ( including clan techniques ) have a volatile force behind them. Any katon technique with a single target has the ability to shatter armor medium tier and below on contact while heavy armor takes two instances of contact. Additionally, they are able to puncture shield techniques and barriers with equal chakra to the parent technique as though they were one rank lower. ▱▰▱ Signature Explosion Style | The user gains access to one additional taijutsu slot and may choose one Taijutsu style as their signature style as though they were Taijutsu class. The custom techniques gained in this way must be used in conjunction with that style and the Ignition Release. If the user is already Taijutsu class they receive the additional custom slots for their current signature style and those must be used for the combination of bloodline and style.
▱▰▱ Art is an Explosion! | The user is able to use A Grand Display twice per battle rather than once. Additionally, the user's clay gains an elemental advantage to water like all doton but without the lightning weakness. ▱▰▱ Ephemeral Arts | The clansman receives the Artistic Creativity ability to apply exploding clay to their shinobi class's aesthetic without puppeteer, performer, and scholar classes. However, if the clansman is of those classes but has this PA then they receive [2] custom techniques per body rank (12 at S+) rather than [1]. This only applies to one class so if you have multiple creative classes then you must choose one of them. ▱▰▱ Grand Illumination | The explosive radius of any exploding clay technique is doubled and explosive techniques apply tiered burning status by rank. Additionally, the user receives [5] ninjutsu per body rank dedicated to doton and an additional 200 chakra.
tab Rabu had taken the offer of Sake by taking the whole of the bottle from Mana. The jaws of their mask shrinking away and revealing her mouth. Pale skin lit up by the artificial lights of the Under Tow. They'd take a few hefty swigs from the jug, before offering it back to their teammate. They'd followed along, their mask growing back down, to hide their lips.
tab The discussion seemed to fall on where one might belong in their organization, if they belonged at all, Rabu waited for Mana to finish before speaking up themself. "I fell in with Ito because she proved her powers to me, not that she even knew I was watching." They conversed back and forth with each other. "Aye, those eyes and that Beast. Formidable, deadly and above all awe inspiring." Their thoughts fell back to that epic battle of will they'd watched from the skies over the Torna camp. Only to grit their teeth when they remembered what happened after, with an old member. "I'm apart of TORNA because I believe Ito will change this world we've found ourselves in. I will follow her to the depths of whatever hell we wind up in, and relish the chaos we bring about." Listening to Xifeng, they'd get an even better idea than having her spar with the Boss.
tab Before the Kaguya knew it, they were standing infront of an Arena, a grin spread across their face, unseen. Ears perking at Mana's suggestion of making some Ryo at the fights. Their eyes glistened as the idea bubbled from their mouth. "Sometime soon, you and I'll spar. I wanna learn how to better my explosives, Xifeng.~"
The shorter woman smiled at Xifeng then Rabu, shifting her cloak a little as the explosive wife material bemoaned her own abilities in comparison to the others, Mana not totally understands the issue besides one point. ”Well then we can help you learn to blow thing up when you want, also your sister has expressed you are a quality chef which none of us are, nutrition being essential to strength, as a cook you are an asset.” She explained based on the little she knew about Xifeng, she didn’t bring up the wife training as Mana was under the impression the other hadn’t trained for that sort of thing to get close or kill people so she didn’t bring up that facet, though the woman could easily learn to be a Vishana if she had the confidence.
Mana pointedly chose not to comment on Ito’s eyes, instead focusing of Rabu’s motivation toward why he followed Ito, not sharing the same mindset over Ito at this point. ”I’m here for more selfish reason than that, perhaps with time I can share the same point of view as yourself, though I prefer order to some extent…. It’s easier to take advantage of and more safe.” Said the Jashinist with a line that to those who knew this fact, which was no one, would see such hypocrisy from this point of view, her type bringing chaos to everyone else’s order and this applied to her own tribe, not like they did many jobs that didn’t involve committing evil.
Finally after revealing her personal plot of monetary acquisition a rather overtly unwanting Xifeng, clearly uncomfortable with having the idea pushed at her would reluctantly agree, the fact Mana could fix their injuries probably the dealbreaker. Having to remove her smile so she didn’t answer the other while looking pleased with herself and to show she was being serious ”Of coarse I will heal you, we are teammates and the practice will do us all good, it will help Rabu get more of an idea of our abilities too! Ohhh and Rabu-san, you will place bets for us won’t you? I promise the return will be worthwhile for each of us, even if it’s nothing compared to our current jobs reward.” She finished with her attention flipping over to Rabu, Mana holding up a small royal blue coloured pouch that was tied up and dangling from the same string of golden colouring that created the telltale jingle of coins.
After getting confirmation Mana handed it over to the other as the group started to enter, not forgetting to hand Rabu the mid class bottle of sake she purchase and the small bowl cups she stole so the other could enjoy it while watching. The dark skinned girl guided the tan one to the sign up station, the pair arriving in front of a middle aged looking bald man, with a noticeable scar stretching across his bald skull. He looked up to the pair after Mana tapped the table with a combination of reluctant boredom and looked at the pair, eyes wandering after a few seconds to look over the attractive women before him with an unrestrained and telling grin spreading across his face as his deep voice rumbled. ”I think you two are at the wrong place, sure you aren’t meant to be looking for business in the red light district? Though my shift ends in two hours so if you wanna wait until then and we can f…oohhh!!” His lecherous words being cut off by Mana wanting to move this along, a sound of surprised shock escaping his likes followed by a careful but noticeable gulp, the man wincing as he did for Mana had very neatly place a knife to his throat.
”Me and my friend are here to fight sweetheart, so how’s about you take down our names and tell us what we need to…, or you can try and continue that though and find out how nicely I’ll treat you, kay’!!?” The small girl said with a tone mocking how she might sound when trying to be cute or alluring to a certain type of person, fluttering her eyelashes and looking at him sweetly, however the air around her and knife to his throat made it undeniably clear that this was a threat, one that even if security could respond to that it would be too late for him. This allowed the employee a few seconds of thought, before sheepishly smiling with his sweat covered face and giving a slow nod and carefully saying “Of coarse, let me just get the information I need from you all and we can get you that match you want.” He said while keeping it short and sweet, taking down the limited information from the pair and pointing them to where they needed to be, letting them know that they would be fighting after the next two matches and if they no showed there would be a fine.
Mana would hand the man their participation fees out of her own pocket as she was now not holding a weapon to his throat, patting the man’s shoulder with her hand and offering a smile with the same energy she now treated him to show that this was still somewhat of an implicit threat. ”Sorry it took us a minute Rabu-san!!! We should be fighting in half an hour or so, shall we find you a seat to watch from or will you be signing up for a fight too? We should be able to places bet near any of the entrances toward the arena seating, give ‘em the entire pouch worth of money and bet it all on Xifeng… Xifeng, you need to make this look good to entice bets, I will be doing so too so expect me to try but at no point will your life be in real danger. Oh, when I signal you I will need you to attack me with the intent to kill, then we can milk a lot of ryo from this!!” She exclaimed while rubbing her hands together, eyes basically two giant shinning gold ryo coins and this desire for cash wasn’t a subtle one in the least, possibly the most obvious this about Mana.
After the allotted time the trio would separate and head to where they needed to be, Mana and Xifeng needing to enter the arena from different points. Mana grabbed the others hand before leaving and wished her “good luck,” then moved onto Rabu whom she made the request of to not drink ALL the sake.
Ooc: you can start us off In this fight.) Stamina 2025/2025 | Chakra 2350/2350
