Joseibi walked down the street from the residence she shared with Ryoko, feeling a little sore from the work Ryoko had put her through.
The technique in question was the Musabetsu Ja Jinku no Hebi. It was the advanced Musabetsu-Kakuto Ryu footwork training technique. Teaching the practioner to move at the instant of need, interrupting steps as dangers became apparent and tracking the sound of danger.
So named because the training their father had invented for it was to find a large number of poisonous snakes which the trainee had to walk through without getting bitten. Of course, Ryoko wouldn't endanger Joseibi that way, so she hadn't used poisonous snakes.
Instead, it was a network of mousetraps and tripwires that Joseibi had to navigate. While it was definitely much safer than what her sister Ryoko had to navigate, it was certainly no less easy.
Ryoko must have been preparing the training for hours the previous night, underneath what looked like standard earth were boards settled unevenly so that every step through the mousetrap field had the potential for shifting one of several mousetraps so that the overall placement changed on Joseibi with each step she took.
And the triggering of mousetraps far away wasn't any better, since they seemed to be set to leap out at random when triggered.
Looking back over her shoulder to see the smiling black-haired girl waving her down the street, Joseibi resisted the urge to rub at one of the bruises that she'd acquired from the day's training. Ryoko had purchased some ointment for bruises, and it itched terribly.
"Ryoko-ne-chan," Joseibi said under her breath as she waved negligently back toward her sister. "You're devious when you want to be."
Joseibi turned back down the street, heading for the academy and walking in the doors with a yawn.
There were still some looks her way from the other students, but for the most part no one really thought much of her. She took her normal seat beside the Uzumaki kid, one of the only other blondes in the class.
"Morning Kuren," Joseibi said. "What's the word."
"Still nothing," Kuren said, shaking her head and looking ahead grimmly. "We'll find him."
Joseibi nodded and then leaned back to take a few minutes of rest before the instructor came in. Above them, Joseibi heard a dismissive snort that she knew came from Jubei Lee.
"You're always trying to sleep, Saotome," he said. "You should work harder. By the time dawn lights, I've been training an hour, and then I come here."
Joseibi didn't bother to comment that her own regimen was comparable. In fact her only comment was to crack an eye, look at the boy, and pointedly give a loud snore.
****
Ryoko had her own training to attend to, and, soon after Joseibi had set out for the academy, she had returned to their training ground both to clean it up and to see about her own training, at least until it was time for her to work.
Work was as a waitress at one of the restaurants in town. She usually was started just before Joseibi got out of the academy, and this day was no different.
Ryoko was sweeping up the front step when the afternoon crowd started to arrive. Among the first was a tall man with white hair that covered one eye with his Konoha headband. He was reading out of a small book as he approached.
"Afternoon, Hatake-sama," she said with a submissive politeness.
"Hmm," Kakashi said, looking up from his book. "Afternoon. Ryoko is it?"
"Hai," Ryoko said cheerily as she swept the stoop one more time and then twisted the broom up to catch the swinging door behind her and push it open.
Casual as he was, Kakashi had to notice that several of the broom's straws struck the door together. The result was that the door was opened while the force of the push was distributed over dozens of straws so that no one straw bent or broke.
Minimum effort, minimum cost, only the desired effect.
The girl tried to hide what she was, and most of the jounin were polite enough to let her get away with it, but her every effort was a calculated step toward perfection of form and function. That sort of attitude was hard to keep hidden in a village of ninja.
It was too bad she'd already been too old when she came to the village.
"Welcome to our restaurant," she said brightly, holding her hands together around the broomstick while the entrance was invitingly open behind her.
"Thank you," Kakashi said. "But are you going to move out of the way of the entrance?"
"Oh!" Ryoko said, flushing brightly as she stepped aside, bowing repetively. "Sumimasen..."
She was a funny kid, Kakashi noted as he walked past the still apologizing teenager.
****
The next day, Ryoko and Joseibi started to make their usual trip to the training grounds, but something was different this time.
Ryoko felt it first, she was about to set down her bokken and cloth, but then froze and stood up straight keeping both items.
"Oneechan," Joseibi said. "We didn't bring my bokken."
"Jo..joseibi," she said looking about. "Perhaps it is a good day for a break."
Joseibi rolled her eyes, there was only reason that Ryoko would suggest leaving.
"So what's out there?" she asked. "A bear?"
Before Ryoko could answer, a laugh came out of the trees around them.
"Oh, what's this," a voice said in a laughing patter. "Konoha shinobi brats out for a little practice?"
Joseibi looked toward the sound and saw a tall man step forward. He was wearing a forehead protector of the Iwagakure. Three others stepped out behind the man.
They looked like chunin rank.
"Ano..." Ryoko said nervously, standing up straight and bowing. "I...I am Ryoko Saotome of the Musabetsu-Kakuto Saotome-Ryu. Who..who are you?"
"This brat has polished manners," the first speaker said, laughing as he turned back toward his comrades.
"Ryoko," Joseibi whispered, "They're Iwa-Ninja."
Ryoko swallowed nervously at that and looked back to the four men.
"I...I'm afraid that this is the w..wrong place for you," Ryoko said. "Tsuchi no Kuniis further north. Th...this is Hi no Kuni."
One of the men stepped forward and looked down into Ryoko's face as her brows started to furrow fearfully.
"We know that girl, just your bad luck to be out here this morning," he said. "We can't let you be saying you saw us, can we."
Another started walking toward Joseibi, but the blonde girl was more interested in Ryoko's face as the orange flashed across her eyes. Before the approaching Iwa-Ninja could reach her she darted forward and stamped hard down on his foot.
"Little brat!" the man snapped loudly as he smacked the blonde girl in the chin with his knee, throwing her back across the Saotome girls' usual training site.
"Imouto-chan!" Ryoko shouted as the orange fire rose higher in her eyes.
"Worry about yourself!" the thug in front of her declared as he lashed a punch out at her inches' close face, much to his surprise, the polite girl dodged barely aside and, then move to bite his hand.
A moment later, the girl still biting down hard on his hand dived her feet in to snap his legs out from under him. The Iwa-ninja collapsed onto his face Ryoko rolled away and came to stand in front of the ninja that had struck Joseibi.
"U...umis..senken, Gaito Retsuga D..dan, Umi..s..senken, Shichu Rakuchi Sei," she said with a stutter, her irises both filled with crackling orange fire. "Musabetsu-Kakutu Ryu, Haoto no Suzumebachi. Su..sumimasen. You can't hurt my sister."
Joseibi stood up from where she landed and watched Ryoko's hands reach for the bokken as if it were sheathed.
"Little brat," the second iwa-ninja said as his other two allies started stepping forward to help.
"Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu, Ryoko-Umisenken, Ippo ne Rei," she said stepping forward.
"Ha!" the ninja called out as he followed her motion and started to attack with his kunai.
As his hand slashed out, it momentarily blocked his line of sight, a phenomena aided by a slight twirl of Ryoko's Umisen-cloth. The martial artist shifted direction in the space of a step to cross past the ninja's otherside.
For all appearances to the Iwa-Ninja, whose brain supplied what it thought should be there for a precious second, his kunai and arm had past right through his target, but did nothing.
"Mus...Musabetsu-Kakuto-Ryu, Gaiza Ashige," she said, snapping a kick straight up and sending the Iwa-ninja flying into the air. "Please...w..we can stop this now."
Joseibi shook her head at Ryoko's attempt at ending the fight peacefully while sending one of the Iwa-Nin into the air and another was still recovering from her biting his hand earlier. That first man was even now moving on her sister.
And what was worse, the orange-fire had moved past Ryoko's eyes, it was limning around her head almost imperceptibly.
No, no, she'd been keeping that at bay for six-years.
She had to let Ryoko know she could take care of herself. Grabbing a kunai from her pack, she tossed it across the field at the man, but her aim was off, and she only slashed a line over the man's shoulder.
"Joseibi, no!" Ryoko shouted as she turned her attention away from the approaching enemies.
"Little brat," the first Iwa-ninja snapped as he stood and returned Joseibi's kunai with three of his own.
The second Iwa-Nin was on his downward trip as Ryoko twisted and through her bokken spinning across the field of battle for the trio of kunai.
Joseibi swallowed, almost frozen, only her hand reaching for anything she could find to defend against the incoming stream of kunai.
Ryoko dodged aside one attack and rolled forward, seeing the first ninja following his kunai for her sister. Behind her the second landed into the last two, creating a momentary pile and delay as they tried to extricate themselves.
Two of the bokken were intercepted by the spinning bokken, but the third sped onward, and Joseibi had time for one thought before it slammed into her shoulder.
"Don't let her see the blood," she thought.
It was a vain hope, however, as the spray was immediately apparent to Ryoko.
She stopped cold in the same instant, the orange fire was outlining the elder Saotome's entire body in a way that was obvious to even people not familiar with the girl.
"What's going on?" one of the Iwa-Nin asked as Ryoko, intercepted the man that had struck her sister.
The Iwa-ninja leader screamed in pain as the fire-coated hands grabbed him, already burning as the girl unceremoniously ripped the arm out of joint, tears turning to steam as they tried to stream down her face.
Ryoko hefted the man, clothes burning where she grabbed him, and whipped him toward the other three. The man didn't get far though, as the Saotome girl didn't let go but merely used his momentum to add to her own leap, launching her into a twisting spin at the other three as the first was slammed downward into the ground.
Joseibi, watched the fires crackling around Ryoko and, clutching her shoulder thought about running.
She'd never seen Ryoko this out of control before...there was no telling what the next thing to happen would be.
Even as she landed on one foot amongst the Iwa-Ninja, the other burning a path along the chins of the three other Iwa-Ninja, Ryoko was winning only one of the fights in front of her.
Which was most apparent because she'd dropped the buzzing hornet technique. There were no apologies or requests to stop or technique names, it was just a continuous barrage of attacks and burning chi running out of control.
"Oneesama!" Joseibi yelled out, drawing the flaming girl's attention.
Ryoko glanced at her the fire died away as the relief washed through her. Around the girl, the Iwa-Ninja looked nervously between her and the younger girl, trying to decide how to proceed.
Catching her breath, Ryoko stood up straight, eyes still showing a trace of orange as she looked to the men.
"Ano..." she said before bowing sharply. "Sumimasen. I...was...worried...but I should not l...lose control like that. Do you really want to do this...still?"
Joseibi breathed a sigh of relief. Ryoko's Haoto no Suzumebachi was back.
The four ninja looked over her in shock as she entered a fighting stance, trying to equate the scared expression of her face with the skill she had so far shown.
"There is no need for you to continue," a cool adult voice said as a tall Hyuuga wearing an eye-patch stepped out into the clearing, noting the marks of fire where Ryoko's chakra had burning as she stepped. "They are finished and they know it."
"Hyuuga-sama," Ryoko said suddenly, pulling out of her stance and trying to look innocent.
Neji turned his head about again, trying to read the Saotome girl's chakra network before turning toward the Iwa-ninja. As he did so, two ANBU dropped down out of the trees to come behind the Iwa-ninja.
What he saw was a chaotic flickering of energies spreading down out of her head and flashing erratically along the lines of the normal passage of chakra.
Joseibi stood up and grimaced at the kunai in her shoulder and looked about, wondering how the jounin and the ANBU had gotten there so fast. Ryoko was at her side in a flash, seeing to wound and clucking like a worried hen.
"Surveillance is one thing," Neji said to the Iwa-ninja. "Assaulting our citizens is quite another. Take them to the holding cells. I'll see to the children."
"Yes, Hyuuga-san," the ANBU said as they collected the intruding ninja.
"Saotome," Neji said, looking toward the two girls. "Come with me."
****
It was the second time Ryoko had been in the Hokage's office, Joseibi was in the hospital being treated for her shoulder wound as the elder Saotome was here waiting for word and waiting to be told what was to happen with her.
When she'd first arrived, the Hokage had been in discussion with the Uzumakis, they were currently off to the side talking in low tones as Neji Hyuuga stood near the door, watching Ryoko and waiting for the Uzumakis to finish with their business.
A little restless, and biting her lip, Ryoko couldn't help but scan her eyes over the Hokage's desk in front of her. Most of the papers were quietly covered, but there was a slip of paper on which had been written a letter and the reason Genma found Ryoko to be a useful resource went into operation.
Ironically enough, the analytical instinct that let Ryoko see through codes, was evident in her elder brother's tactical adaptability. Had Ranma been as well educated in mathematics and the finer arts as Ryoko had under Nodoka, then he'd likely have developed the same talent.
Something stood out.
"Ano..." Ryoko said nervously raising her hand and looking toward the three ninja speaking in hushed tones at the other end of the room.
Neji arched an eyebrow, the girl hadn't been known to step forward and attract attention like that usually.
"They are busy," Neji said.
"But Shadoloo doesn't have Uzamaki-sama's son," she said, suddenly wilting under the attention that afforded her.
"How do you know that?" Naruto demanded as he moved to stand over her.
Neji saw the orange fire flash in the girl's eyes at the sudden approach and surreptitiously entered the byakugan to watch the process again.
Hesitantly, the teenager pointed toward the desk and the loose sheet of paper on top of it.
"You can read that code?" Tsunade asked, thinking of the gibberish that their code-breakers had made of the letter.
"I...I can r..read three of them, Hokage-sama," Ryoko said. "The other five are...missing pieces."
"There are eight coded messages under that note," Naruto asked, surprised.
Ryoko nodded quietly, not mentioning that such complex many-layered codes were the only kind she could really notice.
"Now we know why your father had you with him when he left you here," Tsunade noted.
"Ano..?" Ryoko said, blinking.
"And what do the messages you can read say?" Hinata asked gently, recognizing something of Ryoko's attitude.
She also noticed her cousin's active byakugan and his examination of the girl. There was apparently something strange about the girl's chakra, but activating the byakugan herself while trying to keep the girl calm wasn't necessarily a good idea.
"Two ar...are d..death orders f..for captu..r..red agents," Ryoko said, biting her lip. "And the third i..s a rep...port that a man named V..vega does not have the byakugan."
"So they were looking for Jiraiya as long as four years ago," Tsunade said.
"But if he's loose, why hasn't he gotten back here?" Hinata asked, worrying.
"We have a name now," Naruto said firmly. "We'll find him."
He turned to look at Ryoko and smiled broadly at her.
"Thanks kid," he said, bring a flush to Ryoko's face and calming her down.
"I think you should go visit your sister," Tsunade told Ryoko with a likewise encouraging look.
"Hai, Hokage-Sama," Ryoko said, standing up and bowing to the adults in the room. "Uzumaki-sama, Uzumaki-sama, Hyuuga-sama." She was still bowing when she walked out of the room.
As soon as she did, Tsunade turned to Neji.
"Well," she asked.
"They were up earlier than normal," Neji said. "We arrived a few minutes late. It did confirm our suspicions. The elder has jounin level hand-to-hand capability and control over her normal chakra. But there's something else. She has a second chakra."
"What, is she a carrying a demon?" Hinata asked.
"No, she builds it up herself," Neji said. "As she gets frightened I'd say, the electrical impulses indicating the motion in her brain convert to chakra. I'd say she has dangerously little control of the second chakra. I've never seen anything like it."
Tsunade frowned.
"I may have heard of something," she said. "I'll look into it."
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(Posted Tue, 17 Mar 2009 02:11)
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