Gatsu's Training

As the sun begins to rise and the annoying cocks of the west begin to crow, small tendrils of light perch upon the seemingly ever distant horizon. The gentle ray's of light make their way to the deep red eyes of Gatsu who is found standing on the highest plateau in the village by the ever menacing wind from the unforgiving ocean nearby. Encasing his vision in darkness Gatsu slowly closes his eye's and bow's his head in a sort of odd meditation, for he believes in a higher ideal greater than his own and gives thanks for the new day. Suddenly the wind stops and Gatsu's eyes open as slowly as they had closed, his enchanted eyes gleaming in the sunlight ever so vengefully.


"Aries is calling, the temptation of battle is yerning and the mourning of the slain is purging my very existence...wrath...wrath...wrath."


Gatsu scorned aloud in a tone that was not of personal intent as he clasped his sturdy puppet with both hands. Without hesitation Gatsu jumped from the cliff landing on supportive boulders condescending from the plateau's peak until he retained solid ground. Upon his landing a shriek of hopelessness and a scurry of foot steps entered his ever so perceptive ears. Unfortunately the shriek slowly faded away however the sound of the footsteps lingered as they seemed to be getting louder.

" Beguiling of the "precious jewel" shall not go un punished! "


Gatsu had sensed a sort of "cold" presence earlier but was unsure of his personal accusations until now. An energy of life had faded from his senses and the smell of foul play wreaked among the immediate vicinity and the source of the stench seemed to be heading this way. A cloud of dirt kicked up due to the wind concealing what seemed to be shadowy figure. With great haste Gatsu charged the figure from down wind attempting to use the cloud of dirt as cover to support his reckless attack.

"Haaa!"

A loud thud vibrated through the area and a justified smirk yielded to gravity and fell upon Gatsu's face. Visibility still was not clear due to the residuals of dirt in the air that had yet to settle. As the debris cleared and the dirt was nothing more than dust to dust visibility was deliberate once again.

"Gasp!"

To Gatsu's surprise the man before him, dressed in all black with an intricate mask concealing his face ,who was previously known to him in his thoughts as the "shadowy figure" was still standing. Gatsu was almost certain he knocked him to the ground with his puppet. Before Gatsu's eyes locked with the man's he noticed his puppets arm was clasped between the man's left hand.


*My attack foiled!?*


Gatsu thought in fear as he quickly recapped in his mind the events that previously took place.


* It was a sneak attack, a concealed one none the less, there is no way he could've..*

His thoughts were cut short as the man thrusted Gatsus puppets arm from his hand and jutted him off balance following a series jousts with his hand knife. Luckily Gatsu was knowledgeable enough to be in a balanced stance as the knife only grazed his neck as he was able to doge the rest of the onslaught. Re gripping his chakra strings with both hands Gatsu swung his puppet fluidly aiming once for the kneecap once for the rib cage and once for the throat. His first two attempts were dodged but his last attempt for the mans throat succeeded as he cleverly used the back end of his puppet to attack after lunging with his previous attempted. Caught off guard the man was hit in throat, the sound of him gasping for air only fueled his worry as he staggered off balance. Capitalizing on is surprise attack Gatsu gave the man a shot to the diaphragm eliminating his breath for a few seconds. Within those seconds Gatsu violently swung his puppet once again and swept the mans legs out from under him. As the man hit the ground the dust kicked up once more causing Gatsu to wince slightly resulting in periodic blinking. As the dust settled the mans body was no longer before Gatsu, it was almost as if he had vanished. Then suddenly a vent of hot air was shot down his ear.


[Man]: Nothing is as it seems..


How foolish could Gatsu be, that was not dust kicked up by the wind it was a puff of smoke from a substitution technique. Gatsu was now at his mercy as the mere seconds seemed like endless hours then everything went blank. Hours later Gatsu had found himself on the ground with his puppet still bound to his strings, he had been knocked unconscious though strangely he still possessed all of his belongings. Gatsu slowly rised to his feet with his hand resting on his throbbing head, his eyes then fell upon a trail of foot prints that disappear about 10 meters out. The only thing left behind was the mans knife, swallowed in the blood of the innocent victim he had killed. To Gatsu's left was 2 yen flapping in the wind, Aitsu picked up the Yen, clasping it with all his might and he then shrieked at the top of his lungs before his head dropped in shame.


"Aries forgive me for i have not mastered your game, but don't get comfortable for the vengeance of the slain will be guided by my very hand and redemption will be born from your bloodstained hands....rest asured and have faith in your vessel."

[Stats I would like trained are, Health, Chakra, Speed and Dex]

Speed and Dex are both 18 and sorry but Chakara most be trained in a sperate topic i think and you get more health by going to the hospitle from battle.

Oh ok, I didn't know that. Well can I get speed, dex and Int then?

speed, dex and Int all 18's

"No, No, No! Your being to ostentatious about it. You have to be able sell your opponent slyly without telegraphing your movements. You're worrying too much about profiling, bend your knees and concentrate on the fundamentals." Gatsu's father, Kugutsu Shoda, had intoned as he continuously lashed his tongue at his 1st born trying to whip his skills into shape. Despite his harsh tone and stubborn mannerisms Gatsu's father was excited. He was pleased that his son had chosen to become a shinobi like him, 'A real foot soldier', as his dad always liked to proclaim. It had only been a day after Gatsu had a achieved genin-hood and already his father had begun with his interventions on his training." The art of the quick draw requires finesse, which you have some skill in, however it also demands dexterity in the taijutsu department." Shoda exclaimed as he pried Gatsu's recent volley of projectiles out of the stump targets. It was a sunny day and unfortunately Gatsu and his father had begun training in a clearing just to the east of their cottage which had no trees in the vicinity thus no shade was provided.

Brimming with sweat and frustration Gatsu swiftly drew from his projectile pouch once again and whirled a pair of kunai towards his mark. His balance was off. Only one of the kunai hit the stump while the other whizzed by a few degrees to the left."You see, that's what I'm talking about. Be quick but not in a hurry. Focus on your follow through and take your time. Whats the point in the quick draw if you can't capitalize efficiently? After shaking his head in frustration, removing the kunai from the target, retrieving the other which had misfired and placing them in his own projectile pouch Shoda went over to Gatsu and faced the target with him."Now watch closely, though I doubt you will be able to pick up all of my movements unless you've got a sharingan implant I don't know about." Gatsu said facetiously before taking a deep breath and engaging the target. It all happened in a quick blur, all that Gatsu could determine was the sound of his kunai pouch opening and the sound of the kunai drilling into their target in the distance."No Way!" Gatsu exclaimed as he looked at his father in awe. Gatsu knew his father was a skilled shinobi but hardly ever saw any of his abilities first hand."Geez. It's been about a year since I've done the quick draw. It was a little rusty but you get the picture. You'd better hurry and get this down, were about to loos the sun and I'm on call to be in Sand in the morning.

A few hours go by and now it is minuets before sun down."Now that we've ironed in a descent compilation of fundamentals, lets see you put it all together." Shoda said with an excited look in his eye, he had a good feeling about Gatsu's next attempt."Sure. Here it goes" Gatsu said as he readied himself for his final attmept. With a quick flash of movements Gatsu's two kunai whizzed through the air seemingly on their own accord and barreled into their mark within seconds. Shoda gives formal golf clap."Now that's the son I know and love. That's a great job for your first day with the quick draw I'm mildly impressed. Overall I would give it a C-. You need to work on getting it down to one motion instead of three but for now that should suffice."

[speed, dex, strength and Int]

speed:14, dex:15, strength:15 and Int:13

So far Gatsu’s strategy had gone off without a hitch, his smoke bomb had effectively shrouded his movements and allowed him to hide and regroup in the bushes about 13 yards away from his previous location. His opponent was none other than his father, Kugutsu Shoda, an esteemed Chuunin of the Hidden Leaf renown for his acute sensing/tracking abilities. Which for Gatsu at this point in time was a relevant threat to his predicament, however Gatsu was confident in his abilities now more than ever. The young Kugutsu was a proud genin of his village and had the will of fire to prove it,. Sure he had never out witted his father before but he was no longer a simple minded genin with sloppy and predictable tendencies, he was now the up and coming puppet master of leaf and he would be damned if his father could still kick him around like a helpless child. A ball of out of placed chakra appeared above Gatsu’s head as he manipulated his chakra through his puppet forcing its eye to float independent from its body, his third eye technique allowed him to use the eye of his puppet to search areas the eye could not see clearly or at all. “ I can never be to careful when Im up against my old man. I’ll search for him without giving up my location.”

The feeble eye crept its way through the remaining smoke left over in the area and scanned around for Shoda’s chakra ever so clandestinely. It didn’t take long for the eye to get him in sight, however by the time it did Gatsu was already in hot water. He had felt his fathers breath breathing down the back of his neck. “ The third eye jutsu was a nice try but you didn’t think it all the way through.” Gatsu had intoned as he released a lethal kick to Gatsu’s back sending him flying forward a few feet. ” How the hell did you find me!?” Gatsu exclaimed as he tumbled to a screeching halt on the forest floor. “ The third eye jutsu has a limited range in a short distance that it can travel from its user. Locating it was easy as you guided it directly above the smoke in plain view and there were only two spots from the eyes general location where you could have been hiding” Shoda intoned to Gatsu as he stood with his arms folded with that arrogant smirk on his face that Gatsu hated ever so much. “ Then you just made a lucky guess, you and I both know a couple of more seconds and I would have found you for sure.” Gatsu retorted as he wiped the blood from the side of his mouth with an arrogant smirk of his own. “ Ive been hunting down ninja longer than you’ve been alive son. No way in hell I rely on luck to get the job done.” Shoda said with a wide grin as he gave an arrogant wink back to his son.

[Dex, Speed, Int]

Dex:13, Speed:12, Int:13

It was like his father Shoda had once told him, " The fact that you bruise easily may seem to be a burden now but the prosperity of your soul shall reward you far greater than your physical deficit.". For a long while that message never made since to Gatsu, but it's riddle had slowly unraveled once he had achieved his goal of becoming a ninja. Though his body would take damage at a much accelerated rate than others Gatsu found he could cope with his disadvantage by wearing down his enemy with his abundance of chakra. Not only that but he found that the performance of jutsu was less taxing in comparison to many shinobi he had encountered on his road to becoming genin. Though this revelation was always present it took Gatsu 3 years to figure out his own talent. Perhaps it was because he was frequently discouraged in the art of Taijutsu or even in his own physical stamina. At this point Gatsu is still uncertain why such simple clarity was un-achievable in the past but now Gatsu realizes his talents and knows his place in the world of the shinobi and now his journey as ninja is destined to take a turn in his favor.

It would take many years before Gatsu could reach the whispered expectations of his esteemed clan of puppet specialists. Even though many of the young ling in the clan were in the same boat as Gatsu the only separation was that Gatsu's father Shoda was a rather famous monk of the High Temple when it once stood. All though no vocalized pressure was placed on him he could feel the aura of expectations beaming from each of his clan members. Unlike anyone else in his position Gatsu turned to the chapel books instead conducting harsh physical training. Besides the art of the puppeteer was believed to be channeled through spiritual connection between a master and his puppet. Through gathering knowledge alongside his father Gatsu slowly but surely was becoming in touch with his soul. Overtime his puppet skills began to glisten as all adolescnet shinobis of the clan did but his primary focus stayed fixed on his spiritual training thus surpassing all other clan members in his age range.

[Strength, Speed, Dex,]

Strength:12, Speed:5, Dex:5 (you hit pass 50 on some stats so u can only get 5's for those stats)

[OOC: Decided I'd rp a fake mission within a serious ^^]

In most opinions having two inexperienced genin leading formation in a mission was ludicrous and irresponsible. However Gatsu's methods were obviously different. If the inexperienced were to never engage first hand how would they progress in experience? Sure you could throw ninja codes and etiquette's their way but from Gatsu's own experiences as a shinobi everything is easier said than done. Besides, the young Kugutsu wouldn't assign his genin anything he thought they couldn't handle. After all he was genin, and by definition Gatsu was responsible for his teams well being,there was no way he would allow anything to compromise that even if it meant his own life or well being. The team was in good hands.

The team was making good time as they dashed amongst the trees using tree branches every so often to regenerate their momentum. Yashagoro and Insu were doing a fine job leading the front and keeping a steady pace so far as Gatsu and Ayase secured the rear. The team had been traveling for a couple of hours before the subtle changes in climate indicated their nearing toward the inter village zones of sand."Inusureibu. Yashagoro. We are entering the area where the nins tracks were last spotted by the villages carrier owl. Activate your sharingans now we are coming up on established territory." Gatsu announced through the headset so that he could be heard clearly over the passing wind. . Gatsu turned toward Ayase and gave her a friendly wink that suggested there was something to his "perceptions" that were more than just sporadic hunches.

[Strength, Int, Dex, Speed]

(( I do that some times too)

Strength:13, Int:5, Dex:5, Speed:5

"Halt!" Gatsu announced through the headset as a pile of what seemed to be wood and rubble came into view.Gatsu jumped down from the branch he last landed on and dropped safely to the ground."Follow my lead and approach with caution" Gatsu intoned through the headset as he signaled for his genin to jump down and follow him. As Gatsu neared a bit closer to the rubble it became apparent that it was the remains of what use to be a home. Light embers still encompassed the vicinity and 3 relatively fresh separate footprints lead in the same direction west of the scene.

Amongst the destruction was a middle aged woman trembling and sobbing. Normally Gatsu would have conducted standard investigative procedure but he wanted to see how much his academy students could muster about what happened here."Team. It seems our first possible lead has presented itself. I would like you three to investigate the scene but also stay alert as it seems this crime is most recent." Gatsu intoned into the headset yet again and surveyed the scene to calculate his own probabilities. As he waited for his genin to arrive over to the scene Gatsu couldn't help but notice the odd feeling that they were being watched. The adolescent genin flipped his kunai pouch and left it open just in case, his quickdraw talents would allow him ample time to react to a hostile situation if need be. Drawing a weapon now would be cause for alarm and it was the teams best interest to keep the lowest profile possible.

[Str, Int, Dex, Speed]

Str, Int, Dex, Speed all 5's

After Gatsu's orders were given a strange aura befell the area as the team began their investigation upon the crime scene. The first to take a closer look was Yashagoro. Gatsu found it odd that Yashagoro would tend to the fresh foot prints first before taking advantage of a possible witness who could explain what had actually happened instead of isolating himself to his own assumptions. At any rate, upon Yashagoro's close inspection of the footprints he would have noticed there was no chakra residue among any of the foot impressions with his sharingan. The young Uchiha would have also noticed that the foot prints soon converged into one sloppy pile about 7 feet ahead before abruptly ending.

"Proceed Ayase." Gatsu replied through his headset giving the Kunoichi the ok to interrogate the sobbing woman. Upon the beginning stages of Ayase's interrogation the sobbing woman had turned her sobbing eyeballs quickly toward Ayase with a shaken up terror. Though after Ayase consoled her with her gentle words the woman slowly calmed down and probed her shaken memory in order to answer Ayase's questions." I-I..I'm fine, im not hurt." The woman said as she squeezed her shirt tightly to keep her hands from shaking more than they already were. " No, I was the only one who lived here. And.." The woman began to shake with more terror as she began to answer Ayase's last question"I-I-, I don't know who, but... There were four of them. Everything happened so fast and i can't seem to recollect what they looked like. All i remember before they destroyed my home was something about possible pursuers." The woman then completely broke down emotionally as she gazed at the remains of her home again. She was now obviously too emotionally tattered for any further questions.

[Str, Int, Dex, Speed ]

all 5's

As Gatsu continued to survey the investigation he suddenly noticed that Insu was not present in the vicinity. Before the young chuunin could turn around to check the trees behind him for his missing genin a crude mud clone of the Uchiha began to drag forward toward the scene. Gatsu completely disregarded Insu's comments in the headset frequency due to his flash of frustration. "Insu! disperse your clone and get down here with the rest of us. I will not tolerate disobeying of orders!" Gatsu said firmly through the headset without looking back at the real Insu perched in the trees behind him. The young Uchiha's counter outburst of orders against Gatsu's not only offended him but made him rethink his decision of Insu's position in the formation. Such radical disobedience were grounds enough to have Gatsu relegate him to the back of the formation and promote Ayase to the front. Regardless of how Insu felt about the situation was irrelevant, they were orders, and his shinobi inexperience would only stray him closer to danger without the proper supervision of his genin team leader, his actions now only proved this fact. With such little information on the enemy there was no telling what to expect and having an inexperienced genin flailing off on his own accord would not only take away from the teams strength as a combined unit but would also increases the chances of putting Inu in a vulnerable, dangerous and unsupported situation.

As Gatsu awaited for Insu to hopefully follow his orders and join in on the investigation he kept his ESP active, concentrating on the vicinity trying to locate any other presences. The only thing he could muster at the moment was the odd off and on vibe that kept him slightly uneasy. The team may have been uncomfortably in the open but there was no other choice. Given the little information they had it was almost mandatory to stop and investigate. The positive side was the team was together, regardless of any opposition or situation a shinobi was always strongest and most malleable in a group. With that concept, no matter what would befall them, as a team there would always be a valid solution to any predicament. Gatsu then awaited for Yashagoro and Gatsu to communicate to him what they had found out so far. It was important to stay on the move, this investigation could only be allowed to continue on for a little longer.

[Str, Int, Dex, Speed ]

all 5's

After a short while the investigation of the scene had come up with some interesting results, Yashagoro was the first to report back with his discoveries. According to the young Uchiha there were three distinct footprints heading west with absolutely no sign of chakra residue that end in an odd jumble 7 feet ahead. Before Gatsu could give his analysis on Yashagoro's findings Ayase's voice was heard in the headset. According to the kunoichi the woman described four assailants that uttered something about pursuers, their descriptions were unable to be extracted from the traumatized woman. Soon after Ayase's voice was heard over the frequency yet again this time giving an impressive analysis on the data gathered thus far. Out of the corner of his eye Gatsu noticed the real Insu appear amongst the rest of them. It seemed Inu's mind was geared in the fashion of a genuine assassin, the way he positioned himself to not only be unseen but to be the first to strike as well gave confirmation to that assumption. The cold gaze he had given Gatsu with his blood red sharingan lit eyes only confirmed his suspicions about a possible crazed bloodlust in the young genin. After shaking off Insu's cold yet malicious aura Gatsu focused back on the situation."We will head out momentarily Insu. The team is going to need your abilities on the frontlines. All I ask is that you put some faith in my judgement as i have put faith in your abilities." Gatsu said to Insu with a focused look on his face, he didn't want any "friction" within the team but everyone needed to play their role and the role of leadership was Gatsu's. The young chuunin then turned back towards the others and constructed his analysis with what was just reported.

all 5's

"That's a very logical conclusion Ayase, but if there were an alleged amount of four assailants then a set of tracks are not accounted for. And if Yashagoro's sharingan didn't detect any chakra residue in the foot prints then all of this would seem to be a deliberate decoy to throw us off track. But there is another thing that still doesn't quite add up."

Gatsu narrowed his eyes a bit in the direction of the old woman and realized that she had vanished."Tch! I had a feeling this might happen." "It seems our sobbing witness was quite the actress. If Kenko Shuto and his team did attack her home It would have made sense for them to dispose of any witnesses so we wouldn't be able to gather any extra information then what they intended us to discover. However the fact that the woman was left behind means that she was part of the diversion as well, tasked with feeding us false information. Which then links her to whomever is behind all of this, most probably Kenko Shuto."

[Speed,Str,Dex,Int]

All 5's

"Ahaha!. You seem to be quite the detective, but you konoha ninja are all the same!" A strong feminine voice had rained down on team 23 as a figure seemingly hovered above them just over the height of the trees. The figure seemed to match that of the middle aged woman just prior. The only difference was her red and black kunoichi outfit. A few moments later a brief rustle of leaves erupted from the right and left sides of the team and revealed 4 seemingly identical robust thugs,two on each side of the team, wielding crude versions of chain spikes. " Though I must admit for a chuunin you have some good wits about you. Had you not notice my henchmen lurking about in the trees your red eyed genin there would have been a goner." The mysterious kunoichi intoned as she flipped her hair with a malicious smile. Gatsu didn't want to rile his genin with his knowledge of enemy whereabouts before he could assemble more concrete information and get everyone together, thus this was a motivating force behind Gatsu's outburst toward Inu.


[Int, speed, Dex, Str]

All 5's

"Everyone remain calm and get back to back so we form a circle, this way we can be alert on all sides." Aitsu whispered through the headset as he kept his eyes on the Kunoichi."Ayase and Yashagoro, I am tasking you both with handling the four henchmen. I hate to state the obvious but be careful and stay alert. I am unsure how strong this Kunoichi is but she was able to get past our detection so I will take her on for now. Insu, I'm going to need you to back me up." Gatsu then ended the transmission through the headset and waited for his team to get into position. With the orders assigned team 23 was ready to take on these mysterious shinobi.' Whatever you all are planning wont matter, I won't let you take another step closer to my beloved Shuto!" With that the kunoichi snapped her fingers and her henchman began to charge toward Yashagoro and Ayase."Lets go, Insu! I will cover you from a distance, use the trees to try to get into melee range. Ayase and Yashagoro, you know what to do!" Gatsu exclaimed as he quickly made his way through a string of hand seals. A strong wind then developed, sweeping toward the opposing kunoichi seeming to sway her off of balance slightly. The whirlwind would give Insu cover from projectiles and hopefully obscure his movements from the slightly discombobulated kunoichi. The first battle of the mission had begun.

[Int, speed, Dex, Str]