Mizukage Tower

---An Apparition

The tower stood resolute, and inside lay reposed the face of Kirigakure no Sato, a wretched blotch on the face of this great continent. A menacing wretched blotch.

"Mizukage-sama, there's been a noteworthy disturbance."

The man's words were short-lived; he needn't waste breath speaking the obvious. It was more a declaration of his presence, and readiness to accept orders.

Suijin spoke in reply - irritation colored his words.

"Capture him."

The man disappeared in response; his mission had begun.

Senko found himself escorted by several shinobi who were obviously at least at a Jonin level. His gaze shifting back between the two... strange why such a force for just him.... more imortantly, how in the hell did they find him? His hands had returned to the pockets which they seemed so fond of. It was only a few moments before they reached the tower, and following the other nin he would maneuver through the tower until they lead him into the Mizukage's chamber.

Senko's eyes would dart to who he assumed to be the Mizukage.... he seemed to be extremely young.... but to be a kage you had to be strong. So not wanting to be disrespectful Senko transitioned into an extremely deep bow. "Lord Mizukage, thank you for an audience, it is much appreciated." Senko smiled knowing very well that he wasn't being granted an audience at his own request... obviously he had done something to draw attention to himself, the question was what.

Aoiro had seen the mans eyes shift to his sword then they began whispering. Maybe they know of him? Probably not. But still, strange. His sword did usually give him away. Or maybe his doujutsu? The swirling water in his eyes? Who knows..

Moments later they were at the tower. They entered the chamber, and Aoiro stood off to the side. He was here to support his friend. He had seen and briefly spoken to the Mizukage before, but nothing really of this level.

Aoiro bowed to the Mizukage, and remained silent. Just casually watching now.

---The Hunt

It was with some surprise that his eyes fell upon the boy before him - the cause of his insomnia for the last two days. Suijin knew something. But he would never betray himself to show as much.

"What's your name, boy?"

His voice had depth, the words fell from his mouth as drops into a pool of water. His expression was clearly disturbed, despite his calm speech.

He peered at the boy just over his fist, attire strangely unconcerned; he was slouched against the arm of the chair, cheek propped against poised appendage.

Senko ended his bow coming to stand before the Mizukage, his thoughts churning as he tried to decide how he would go about this.... the decision was made, he'd be straight forward.

"I am Senko Ryu Kamori, I am a Missing Nin of sorts. I'm not really sure which village I came from for I suffer from amnesia. I remember nothing of my previous life so to speak. What I can tell you is that I desire to join your ranks. I am a genin, I aspire to become a chunin... and I promise you that while I might not look like much, I have several skills which I promise you will be helpful in unforeseeable situations."

Senko sighed as he took a deep breath in, his hopes were that the Mizukage would accept him as a shinobi of the mist and that he would have a job which would allow him to get a place to live and food to eat.

Amnesia..!?

What a fortuitous coincidence. Aching thoughts recycled themselves behind the paler hue of yellow through which Suijin gazed upon the boy's figure. What a strange color he represented.

His expression drifted momentarily, but the menacing composure that painted over his entirety remained the same. It seemed the planning was unnecessary; the monster had come to them of his own will.

"Senko Ryu Kamori, welcome to Kirigakure no Sato. Chose a residence quickly, and prepare yourself; you will be examined for promotion to rank Chunin by Takemaru."

His visage had risen from its place against his fist, and his eyes shifted towards the man who was sent to capture Senko.

"Yes, Mizukage-sama."

Takemaru's stress dared peek before it was stifled by the reply. It wasn't normal practice to promote by way of special examination.

Senko's left brow rose, the situation didn't sit well with him.... this was all way too easy. His gaze shifted from the Mizukage and over to the individual address as Takemaru. There was definitely something wrong here, but why look a gift horse in the mouth? Senko smiled as he gave another bow to the Mizukage.

"Thank you very much for this opportunity Lord Mizukage, I assure you that you will not be displeased, nor will you regret this decision. It is nice to have a place to call home." Senko's form rose slowly from the bow as his glance shifted back to Aoiro, his thoughts turning to what his friend made of this. A thought clicking within the depths of his mind, his form quickly shifting to bring his gaze over to the Mizukage.

It had accord to Senko that now might be the perfect time to assist Aoiro, "Lord Mizukage, if you don't mind me inquiring, do you think it would be okay if me, Aoiro, and a few others head out to the leaf village in a few days. Aoiro has acquired some sensitive information about the village and wishes to investigate to confirm it before bringing it up with the rest of the Mist." A smile slid across his face as he offered his friendliest and most sincere facial expression.

“ I wonder if he even remembers my name.. “ Aoiro thought to himself while they spoke. Aoiro thought back to when he first saw and met the Mizukage. Back in school and training. He didn’t really seem to say much at the time. Or not to Aoiro’s memory. Mostly what he remembered was the Mizukage stopping by and asking everyone what they are going to do for the village when they grow up.

Of course he knew now that it was just a simple ploy to try to get younger children motivated by their own thoughts and ideas.

Aoiro kept staring at both of them. He still remembered what he said back then.. “ I’m going to become strong enough to bring peace to this world! And I will protect Kirigakure with my life! “ His thoughts slowly slipping back to the present, his eyes focusing on Mizukage.

“Senko Ryu Kamori, welcome to Kirigakure no Sato. “ Aoiro smiled. He was truly happy for his friend. And that he was able to be here for this moment. His smile got even wider when he heard the part about a promotion.

Aoiro at one point was suggested to be promoted by one of his teachers, but Aoiro refused. Back then, he was still trying to recover from his father and friends dying. Not really caring if he got promoted or not. Amaya is the cause he even got to Genin. She forced him to take the test, which he passed with ease. After that he didn’t really care about much.

But now he did have a cause. And a goal in mind. Sinking Konoha. He knew it wasn’t going to be a easy road there, but his determination is going to keep him going strong.

He focused on Senko as he turned, Aoiro’s face in a set mode of purpose.

Aoiro started moving towards the door, ready to leave.

Surprised at the boy's ambition, Suijin spoke in reply.

"The Leaf..?"

He paused momentarily: Senko's ambition was at the peak of Suijin's interest. Interest and concern.

"I will give orders regarding Konoha after you have settled things here. Your test is is currently more important than the Leaf."

His veer had shifted to the giant weapon laying openly on Aoiro's back. He'd be well suited to fight alongside two others..

"Takemaru, escort him to the arena. He's rested enough."

His head canted, and he leaned again upon the arm of the chair.

"Take the angry Jinsoku boy with you, as well."

Senko nodded towards the Mizukage, "As you wish Lord mizukage." His gaze then shifting over to Takemaru. A smile sliding across his face. Regardless of what his test was Senko had decided that he would not use more than 1/2 of his current power.... there was no need to show off everything. Even if he was to lose and not become a chunin there was no reason for him to bare all. "Alright then, when and where shall we do this? I'm ready to go!"

His eyes slowly shifted back to the Mizukage, his thoughts wondering. “ When did I become angry? “ The thought quickly left his mind. The Mizukage did remember his name. Or he became informed earlier on sometime. But either way, that was the least of his concern. He had been asked to go with Senko to the arena. For what yet, he did not know.

“ I am also ready. “

Takemaru nodded, turning towards the door. He opened it, looking to Senko and Aoiro and motioning for them to follow him.

The man stepped down the stairwell, and towards the exit of the tower.

"The arena is just outside."

His voice was light and casual, a strange thing for a man wound so tightly.

Senko followed Takemaru down the stairwell and outside of the tower to the arena. His gaze shifted as he looked at the battle field.... there were rocks, trees, puddles of water, and splotches of sand and water. Senko sighed, obviously this battle field was designed to give people false hope for the battle, it appeared to have something to contribute to every element, but.... with a little bit more observation Senko could see that everything was either soaked all the way to the core, or was being supported by water. He could also feel an obnoxious amount of humidity in the air. His head continued to shake as he walked out into the middle of the battle field and turned to look at Takemaru.... a Genin fighting a Jonin this wouldn't go well. Senko exhaled as his chakra flared up, amethyst waves dancing around him. "Alright, lets do this."

Takemaru stood in the soaked battlefield, and before him the boy prepared. Observing the flow of amethyst chakra, Takemaru reached for a kunai, grabbing hold of it with his left hand.

"You don't joke around, do you?"

The words fell from his mouth at the edge of a laugh. It was clear that the boy came prepared to fight. Judging by his preparation, he was no novice.

Takemaru took two other items from a pouch on his leg - another kunai, and an explosive tag. The explosive seal, however, was concealed by the grabbing of the extra kunai.

Some chakra was noticeably flickering off of Takemaru's image.

"Well..I'd ask if you were ready, but it seems there's no need."

Senko's hands slid down into his two thigh pouches, two orange tip kunai pulled from one, and three orange tipped shuriken moved from the other. The three shuriken would immediately be thrown in the general vicinity of Takemaru, the first kunai thrown right behind the others. The three shuriken would end up landing two feet in front of Takmaru, one on each side and one in front of him, the kunai traveling straight for the man's nut sack. His hopes being that the other shinobi would jump in the air stranding himself, and when he did the second kunai would be delivered. This last kunai though would not be thrown at the standard speed, rather as he had waited for the other to act he had saturated it with his own negative chakra before shifting to a positive flow. This would have a rail gun effect hyper accelerating the kunai at sonic speeds for his foe's chest.

"Suiton: Water Wall"

The words were spoken in lag behind the hand seals and actual formation of the technique.

Despite his being a Jonin, the speed of Senko's maneuver was intense. Takemaru's ability to quickly summon the wall of water was amazing, and his hand seals were immaculate, but it wasn't quick enough to appear before Senko's barrage of weaponry was thrown. The three shuriken would continue as Senko intended, but the thrown kunai would be stifled pretty well by the wall of water.

In either case, immediately after executing the water wall, the chakra flaking off of his body disbursed into a water clone. This was done behind the wall of water immediately after it was cast, so as to be semi-hidden.

The water clone jumped into the air, and hurled both kunai towards Senko's body - one of the kunai was wrapped with the explosive seal that Takemaru had earlier pulled out.

During his water clone's jumping maneuver, Takemaru dug a hole, and sunk beneath the earth. Gathering chakra, he prepared for the next order of attacks.

Senko grunted a little as Takemaru summoned a wall of water to protect him... fucking water ninjas. Senko's hands quickly came together performing several seals, a shadow clone forming in front of him. His eyes shifted up to see the kunai and clone. His form shifted back as he brought his hands together again as he performed another set of seals. Suddenly the clone exploded, the counter force produced by it redirecting the kunai thrown by the clone. Senko's form of course rocketed backwards by the shock wave. But there was a second reasoning behind this maneuver, in a chain reaction like effect each orange tipped weapon which had been cast, would erupt as the fuel gel that made up its core erupted. Obviously Takemaru would be unaffected but hopeful any remaining water clones, and his silly water wall would be destroyed, causing his stupid hole to be filled with water.

Underwater Breath was an understood ability for any jonin level mist shinobi - it was second nature to Takemaru. He didn't pause for a moment, but immediately continued into the next stage of attack.

More treachery; another water clone slowly rose from the puddle filling Takemaru's hiding place. He rose and, during the rising motion, was already in the act of a new technique.

"Suiton: Cover my Body"

The words were uttered under a quiet breath, and some of the water filling the hole rose up around his now faded image. It stuck to his body like somewhat of a glue.

Immediately thereafter, fake-Takemaru began a medium-paced stride towards Senko. His hands rose as soon as he began to move, and one more water clone appeared next to him.

He turned to look at the new water-covered-clone momentarily, and they did what seemed to be a hi-five kind of motion: corny, but it added dramatic effect to Takemaru's next maneuver.

The two of them immediately rushed towards Senko's figure, each hurling two kunai, and preparing a waterball technique.

"Fuck this shit." Senko's form was still mid flight when he saw two entities charging to him. Either one was real, or both were fake, there was no definite way to be sure. So as Senko's left heel touched the ground, his form sliding up against a rock, his hands came together ripping through three seals. Immediately his form became hazy, then translucent, his image fading into the shadow. This would immediately render all attacks by his opponent useless.

Within the depth of the shadow realm Senko found his hands sliding together producing two more clones. Both then pushing through the shadows as he emerged back on the battle field. The first clone came from the shade of a tree, it's form behind Takemaru's hole. The other appeared a good twenty feet to the right of the false Takemaru, two kunai flung from it's digits at the opponents. Hopefully the first clone would go unnoticed.

The four kunai thrown towards his opponent had met only with humid air and trees as his opponent had apparently..disappeared. The two Takemaru clones turned about, back to back, and their hands rose in immediate reaction to his opponents evasion - Takemaru's hand seals were immaculate.

"Suiton: Daimizu (Big Water)."

The clones spoke in synch with each other, and, simultaneously, water spurted forth from the ground beneath their feet. The amount of water that flowed forth was intense: the technique had been prepped, and the environment was heavily supportive of water techniques.

This technique began almost instantly after his opponent had disappeared, and it would likely accomplish more than it was meant to do.

It was meant mainly for detection and stalling. Takemaru had the unique ability to detect chakra signatures touching waters that had been imbued with his own chakra. What it would likely accomplish, however, was the near immediate destruction of his opponents clone - at least, the one touching the water.

Not that Takemaru knew that this Senko that would reappear (likely amidst the rush of water) was actually a clone.

The other Senko was undetected, but would remain so for only so long. Takemaru was searching him out.

At the same time, real-Takemaru was gathering chakra, and moving back underground away from the position of his whole.

End result: two-three feet of water (with wave crests reaching as high as six feet) spread out over about thirty yards in every direction surrounding the Takemaru clones. Real-Takemaru searches and preps.

Senko's hand slid together as he emerged from the shadow realm using his shadow clone as a portal. His chakra immediately flaring up, as he commenced his jutsu. Utilizing his purely negative chakra Senko would initiate Kage maebure. Immediately the world would become dark, clouds would form in the sky, and rain would begin to fall from the sky. As the storm picked up visibility would be significantly reduced by the down pour, and the shadows which had been cast by objects dotting the battlefield would elongate become several times larger and darker than before.

The clone would bounce from the tree maneuvering to another tree, purposely creating a much noise as possible to bring attention to him. The real Senko on the other hand was beginning to channel his positive chakra molding it into a small ball, it'd only take a few more moments.

Darkness had begun to cover the sky above them - that much was obvious.

The Takemaru-clones' reaction speed continued to be immediate: the both of them exploded in release, sending the chakra used to create them flying out in all directions.

The effect of this was the saturation of water with Takemaru's chakra, effecting all the water within the range of the aforementioned explosion of chakra. As a result, however, was the enabling of Takemaru to detect chakra signatures within the range of the water, which was within the range of the explosion of chakra. Basically, Takemaru was able to see where Senko was, along with his clone.

Already prepared, and now aware of his opponents position, Takemaru was poised to make a move. He launched himself from the beneath the ground, and thrust his arms out from his figure.

"Suiton: Water Bullets."

As he did thus (hopefully a surprise), the water that had been saturated with his chakra only a second ago was charged, and, as a result, shot as bullets in the general vicinity of Senko, and even of his clone.

The spray of high-intensity water bullets would likely prove very difficult to avoid, and nearly impossible to avoid all together.

His action was simple, and immediate.

Senko's left hand shot out as he tossed his ball of chakra out into the open, it immediately exploding causing a saturation of positive chakra on the battlefield. As his left hand performed the thrust, his right hand grasped the tree, his form swinging around behind it, using it as a shield. The clone would not be so lucky, and caught in mid flight it'd vanish in a poof of smoke. Takemaru had prepared his own trap, but Senko had prepped one as well. The negative chakra that Senko had used to form the clouds of the shadow harbinger attack would be negative ionized. The positive chakra which he had just tossed into the open would positively ionize everything it touched.... the end result? A lightning bolt.

Regardless of Takemaru's location he would find himself in a rather bad situation. A super heated bolt of plasma would tumble from the sky, it's bright blue figure easily twenty feet across. As it's form made 6 seconds of sustained contact with the water, a blinding white light would suddenly erupt out as the booming thunder cast by the attack would cause the trees to arch. With it's prolonged contact several smaller bolts would dance from it's sides burning into the water.

Senko found himself holding onto the tree was the water bullets tore through it, his eyes shut tight to keep the powerful visible radiation of the attack from damaging his retina. He could feel the intense heat cascading around his body, sweat pouring from his pores, his fingers aching as he grasped the trunk of the tree barely able to hold on. By the time that the attack subsided Senko would feel a gradual pain building in his left arm, blood slowly oozing from it. It seemed one of the water bullets had hit the tree hard enough to send wooden shrapnel into the shinobi's limb.

The quickness of Senko's actions had caught him by surprise. The positive chakra orb was thrust out into the open at the same time that Takemaru's water bullets technique was executed. It was obvious that Takemaru was stuck in a bit of a pickle - the situation was currently in favor of Senko.

"Tch'. I can't believe a kid got the jump on me."

The thought was really only passive, and was matched by simultaneous movement. It was reflex that caused Takemaru to reach for another kunai, and, as he thought about in that miserably small amount of time, he grabbed also another explosive tag.

The height of his launching upon executing the water bullets technique was high - it was a good thing, perhaps the only thing that kept him from getting fried by his new friend's fish-toasting-technique.

By now, Takemaru was falling. During his fall, he immediately hurled the kunai with explosive seal attached down towards the water below him. The result was an explosion - a blast that cleared away an open space for Takemaru to land without getting cooked by electrocuted water. There were some downsides to this though.

First, the fact that he was falling so quickly would mean that he would have been in the range of the exploding kunai - that damage was unavoidable, but it was really nothing in comparison to the super-cooker he was about to land in.

Second, he only had a few seconds before the ionized water flooded the hole left by the exploding kunai.

He jumped immediately after landing on the dry ground, and caught himself in a tree.

Hanging on the tree with a charred and bloody arm, he yelled in the wake of the currently ended slew and flurry of techniques.

"Hey!! I think this test is pretty much concluded! We should get back before one of us dies!"

His light-heartedness remained despite his trodden countenance.

Senko poked his head out from around the side of the tree to look at Takemaru, his face filled with relief. "Sounds good, I was actually just about to give up." Senko coughed as he looked at the blood still oozing from his arm. He was hurt, he was tired, and he was now hungry.... it didn't make for a good combination. His right leg buckled a little causing his knee to bend, his form pushing into the tree. The clouds from his previous jutsu fading away into nothing, as if they had never been there.

Senko's form shifting a little as if he were going to get down, and then stopped. "By the way, even if you are just trying to trick me, I really do give up. I'm done." His body then slid from the tree landing in the three feet of water which was now hopefully slowly dissipating.