Where it all ended, so it begins (Team One Meeting, Private)

Seiko awoke with a smile on his face. He jumped from his bed and did a flip, landing on the floor. He stretched and walked into his bathroom. He showered and bathed in haste. Emerging in a towel, he held out his hands, and a gust of wind swept over him, drying him completely. He dressed as normal with a smile on his face, strapped his gear to him, and took off out the door.

The sun greeted him, shining warmly on his body. His white hair shone in it. He took off at a gentle stride. The streets of konoha were not quite as busy as usual, as it was pretty earlier in the morning. Seiko continued forth, and stopped at a small ramen shop. He entered casually, and ordered a medium breakfast ramen. he ate it in a few minutes, and thanked the chef, tipping him generously. Leaving the ramen stand, he continued on towards his destination.

Today was the day he would meet his team. he already knew what each of them looked like, and their names, but it would be good to see them all face to face. He was sure that he was given the cream of the crop, the best genin there were. He would do his best to train them in the ways of the shinobi, to educate them in teamwork, and beyond all else would show them the joy of the sensei student bond. The time ahead of him would be easy for neither him, nor his students. But they would all reap the benefits from it.

After walking for several minutes, through konoha, and forest, he arrived at his destination. The Valley of the End. He stood before the massive waterfall, it water glimmering in the rays of sun. it crashed down at the bottom, forming white waves and vapor. Seiko figured this to be a fitting place for a first team meeting of Cell 1. Seiko walked forward to the water's surface and jumped. He landed in the middle of the large pool beneath the water fall. There he stood, awaiting his new team members' arrival.

Shibito had been sent a message saying that he was to be put in a new genin squad, his old team partner Osaru had got through the exams and had became a chuunin, Shibito was happy for him but he could not help but feel bad about himself. Last night he had thought of leaving the leaf village, he had dropped another genin to his death in the forest of death and the image of seeing Zatheria fall to his death burned in Shibito's mind. Shibito wished sometimes that being a human puppet would mean he had no emotions but no luck there. He got dressed, he had managed to fix his body and all burns were gone, he even had remade Tomoni. He grabbed his puppet, put him on his shoulders and headed out. He was going to work hard to make sure he would become strong enough to stop any more people from dying, he would help bring peace to the world.

He had taken his time wandering around the village and watching life move on, he was happy that everyone else was in good sprits. He bought a book, a fantasy story which he only bought because he liked the cover, and put the book in his pocket. He left the village from one of the gates, he was to head to the valley of the end, the border with Otagakure. He made his journey to the valley, he was to meet his sensei and team mates there and he hoped this team would work better than his last team.

He arrived at the Valley of the end half an hour later, he could not see anyone he jumped down into the valley and hit the water hard, he kept a tight grip on Tomoni and swam back to the surface, he climbed onto the water and walked towards the crashing water. He saw a man beneath the waterfall and shouted to him while walking closer "Hey! You're the sensei right?! I'm Shibito Daichi!"
He stood near the man, he could not fully see his face so it was hard to recognise who it was.

(OOC: I'm hoping I'm right by thinking you are under the waterfall where the mist is and all the crashing noise.)

The messenger ninja showed up at his place of residence only to find no one home. By the time the ninja had managed to find him the sun was well on it's way to starting it's trip across the sky. The ninja dropped down in front of him, almost getting shot with an arrow in the process.

"Orders.", he said, holding out an envelope towards Ken. He slowly let the bowstring come back to rest before reaching out to snatch the letter from the courier with an annoyed roll of his eyes. Who jumped in front of someone shooting a bow!? Was just retarded... well perhaps that's why he was a courier.

Bringing the envelope up to his mouth he tooth the corner between his teeth and tore, ripping it open. Spitting it from his mouth his fidgeted around with his hand, pulling the letter out and letting the envelope drop to the ground. He held it up reading from the order silently. The Vally of the end? But that was at least a day's travel from here... Stupid Jounin. He couldn't help staring at the order with a dumb look on his face. Yea right.. like he was gonna make it there in time. He still had to go get the rest of his gear from his weapons locker.. and then he'd have a days run ahead of him. The git could have at least told him what to come prepared for. Now he was going to have to bring everything just in case.. Well, early everything. He couldn't bring everything, that was simply too much to carry.

Shaking his head one last time he dropped the letter to the ground and placed his hand back on the bowstring, raising up the bow and spreading it as he took aim. He released, a slapping sound echoing out as the ya, or arrow, struck into the wooden target. Slipping the bow over his shoulder so that the string ran across his his chest he went to go collect his shot arrows, plucking the from the wooden target. They were just target arrows, but all the same he didn't want to make new ones for lack of retrieving old ones. With his quiver once again full he set off across the village, leaving the training grounds to go gather his weapons.

A few minutes later he stood inside a climate controlled room in the Ishikawa clan complex, the walls covered in weapons, tables stacked high with equipment. The first pieces he took were a set of companion swords, a wakizashi and katana. Lifting his jacket out of the way he slid the sheathes through a loops hanging down from his equipment harness, leaving them hanging at his side. Next he switched out the arrows in his quiver for his own special explosive arrows. Following that he went to get his signature weapon, a kanabo. He attached a strap with a quick release to it before bringing it across his back, letting the strap hold it to him, it forming a cross with the yami bow also on his back. Now just one last thing to grab. On the wall was a naginata which he took down and removed the sheath from. With that in his hands he had everything he could possibly carry with him ready to go.

Exiting the weapons locker he took off at a run towards the valley of the end. It would be no short trip, and he would have to give it his all if he expected to arrive on time. Well.. that was if he had to run all the way there. He had a way of covered large distances without tiring himself out. At the edge of the village he came upon what he needed, a horse. He would get there in the same amount of time, but with much more energy. It was the only way to travel if you didn't care about stealth.

And so he planted the end of the naginata into the ground and pole vaulted up and onto the back of the horse, adopting a one handed grip for the weapon while he seized the reins in the the other. An urging with his heels was all it took to spur the beast into motion. He thundered out the main village gate, getting a funny look from the chuunin guards as he rode onward for the Valley of the End. He paid no mind as he found the river and followed it's banks toward the waterfall somewhere off in the distance.

It was some time later when his arrival was announced by the thundering of hooves coming from above the waterfall. He had gone around to get the high ground. With the sun directly overhead his timing was perfect. He dismounted with a feral shout, a war cry that would fill the air and compete with the crashing of the waterfall for supremacy. To them it would sound distant.. but it wasn't so far away. Without warning it's master would be right on top of them, Ken flinging himself off the side of the waterfall with the sun above to blind anyone trying to track his decent. Using the butt end of his naginata he made a downward thrust at the chest of his new sensei, beginning round two. He had swapped the weapon around to use the butt end instead of the blade. After all, he didn't want to kill the man, just put him at the bottom of the water basin. That was wholly possible too, the combined force of his thrust and his falling body would make for one hell of a wallop. That would get him good for electrocuting him yesterday... twice.

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Name: Battering Ram
Rank: C
Type: Weaponry
Element: None
Description: Named because of the techniques likeness to a battering ram. The user thrusts using a blunt weapon, using the power from his entire body to drive the tip of his weapon into a target. This strike carries enough force to blow doors off their hinges, crush bone, and send opponents to the ground (Usually with a short flight). This technique is feared for it's blinding speed and unpredictability.

Kazuto leaped from building to building, somersaulting over the gaps between houses, hurrying to his destination. He was late for his Team Meeting, having lost track of time since he had been so immersed in his preparations for the meeting. Really, it was funny how Kazuto had prepared everything for the meeting itself, but had lost track of time. Now, he was late, and tardiness was not something he wanted to display as a first impression. After all, the first impression is always the last impression.

Kazuto’s foot landed on a loose tile and he slipped and hit the roof hard. He climbed to his feet, cursing under his breath and straightening his glasses, then taking off once again towards his destination, a little more carefully now. He was being reckless, running so fast from rooftop to rooftop, but he needed to do so to make up for lost time. At the speed he was going, he might just make it in time. He continued running, leaping form rooftop to rooftop until he reached the village gates, where he flashed the note from his Sensei at the Chuunin guards. The guards nodded and let him past and he continued his sprint to the Valley of End, running up a tree and leaping form branch to branch to get there faster.

As he neared his destination, he saw the two large statues of the founders of Konoha, Uchiha Madara and Senju Hiashirama. Between the tow towering statues was a large waterfall. As Kazuto neared the river, he looked around and spotted a boy slightly shorter than him wearing a black hooded jumper and baggy black pants, with his back facing Kazuto. Slung over the boy’s shoulder was what appeared to be a puppet. Kazuto couldn’t see his other teammate or his Sensei, but he knew the latter would be here somewhere. Judging from where the hooded boy was looking, his Sensei was underneath the waterfall. He began walking over to where the hooded boy and his Sensei were, his hand in his pockets and a cold smile on his face. He could see the Jounin now, in his dark green flak jacket with its black undergarment and his silvery-white hair, the same color as Kazuto’s. I wonder what he’s got? was the thought that crossed his mind.

As he neared them, he heard what sounded like a battle cry, and the next thing he saw was a huge figure falling from the above them at the Jounin, with what appeared to be a weapon of some sort. Kazuto didn’t react to this, he simply continued walking over to the hooded boy with his hands in his pockets, knowing full well that his Sensei would be fine. He was a Jounin, after all.

Seiko found himself tapping his foot without thinking about it on the surface of the water. It made a gentle "splish, splash" as he did so. He figured now that he was probably several minutes early. he sighed. He really needed to calm down sometimes. Figuring that he had a good amount of time before anyone arrived, seiko reached into his ninja bag and pulled out a copy of the latest Bleach manga with his right hand. holding it in front of him, he began scanning the pages, reading with indirect interest in the exploits of "strawberry" ichigo. Although he was reading with his eyes, in his mind, his imagination was going crazy.

What if his team was filled with incapable whiners? What if none of them could work together, and just helplessly ran around, trying to work as a single person, instead of a single group. There were so many possibilities that made Seiko afraid, but in the end, he calmed himself down, and began to actually read the manga. He had to keep his cool around the genin, to seem admirable and powerful. which honestly wasn't at all a stretch for him.

As he read the manga, he noticed through his peripheral vision that one of his genin had arrived. He did not look up from the book, but instead studied the genin from the corner of his eyes. He found the genin to have bright purple eyes, which perfectly matched his hair. His appearance wasn't very interesting or unique. Until he noticed something off. The first thing he noticed was that the hair was much too fine to be real hair. when he noticed the next thing, he smiled as he noticed it. There was a black line drawn across the boy's neck, with a clear indentation. his body was seperate from his head. this boy was a tried and true human puppet. Seiko liked the idea of having someone so unique on his team.

Seiko didn't look up from his book. he would wait until his team was here before he would address any of them. Seiko continued to read the manga, when suddenly he heard a distant cry. He didn't bother looking, he recognized it immediately as the voice of the genin from his team which he had met the other day. Seiko looked with his peripheral vision to find the genin plummeting at him , a naginata in hand. Seiko Couldn't really tell how the genin was going to strike him, as he only saw a blurry, outlined figure. But Seiko, still reading his book, Pointed his arm upwards in the direction of the genin and flicked his fingers. A C rank gust of wind shot out, with a diameter of 5 meters. Seiko aimed, as best he could, for the genin, though he was prolly a foot or two off, when it came down to it. It wouldn't really matter in the end, though.

A few seconds later he noticed that the third member had arrived, and was standing there along with the other two. Well, other 1, the other was no doubt in a pile on the ground. Seiko spoke, using wind chakra to amplify his voice.

"Welcome, Team 1, to our first official meeting as such!. I'd like to start by introducing myself. I am Seiko Odolwa, and from know on you will refer to me as Sensei, or Seiko-Sensei. I'd like you each to tell me a little bit about yourself."

Seiko smiled, though he was still reading his book. He had no problem reading and concentrating on speaking at the same time. Seiko wondered what the genin would have to say.

Shibito heard a strange cry from above and then saw a person flying down with a weapon towards Sensei, was he mad? He then saw Sensei release a wind from his finger, he laughed a little, one teammate had gave him the impression of fool. The other member arrived not too much later, he gave the impression of being calmer and probably more intelligent, though they were not hard characteristics to have when compared with a guy who leaps off of waterfalls with some hope of hitting a jounin when they are nowhere near his skill.

His sensei spoke when they all arrived, he introduced himself as Seiko Odolwa, he had heard of the clan of powerful fuinjutsu users and wondered if Seiko had that power. He then said to call him Sensei or Seiko-Sensei, Shibito chose Sensei becasue he was alreasy calling him that. Sensei then asked them to reveal a bit about themselves, Shibito started off, he said, while keeping his voice above the waterfall, "My name is Shibito Daichi, As you may have guessed, I'm a puppeteer, this is my only puppet Tomoni." He moved the puppet with a few chakra strings a little to wave. "As you may not have guessed, I'm a human puppet but I want to tell you now that I am still human and that means I have emotions. My element is Earth and I enjoy building puppets, none of the others I have are meant for ninja use though. I dislike people who are brash and overconfident. That is a little about me."

Shibito looked at the other two to see what they would say, he hoped that they would be people that could get along with him and more importantly, each other. He had a funny feeling about this, was he a advanced genin? He had made it to the second round of the chuunin fighting tournament. He did not know if either of the others had been in the exams, he had only paid attention to those he had fought. He stood by as he awaited one of the others to do or say something.

There were a few things wrong with his Sensei's plan. Looking up into the sun out of the corner of ones eye was not the best way to gain any sort of depth perception, not to mention the blinding effect the sun had. That was the reason he had picked the waterfall to make his attack as it would allow him tactical advantage by attacking out of the sun. And then even should the man predict where he would fall and how his attack would be launched he misunderstood a crucial element of the weapon being wielded. It was a polearm, using a downward strike from above put him very close to his target at the point of the attack. One step was not nearly enough to put him out of range of a strike. All he had done was give his student a better angle to use for a strike to collapse his ribcage through a strike to the sternum.

Of course, he was looking up into the sun, so perhaps he misunderstood the weapon being brought to bear. Or perhaps he was simply out maneuvered. Jounin or not, battles were lost when you let your opponent dictate your movements. Ken had done just that, ensuring a reaction with his attack. His opponent simply had never learned the secret of timing, and launched his own attack too late. By the time Ken would be directly in front of him the strike would have been delivered. He didn't even attempt to dodge with any conviction. He had committed the cardinal sin of a duel: not taking it serious. He was due to pay for his mistake in spades. He had overestimated his own power and underestimated his opponent in an effort to act superior. How did he think he was ever going to earn the respect of his pupils by showing arrogance and weakness? He had better get back on the horse and quickly, because Ken would kill him for such disrespect if he could. He would be justified in his actions as well. No Sensei who would fall so quickly to his subordinate deserved mercy. It was survival of the fittest. If the cub could kill the bear, then perhaps the bear was not fit enough to survive in this world. When student beat master, he becomes his own master. Thus the act of killing his Sensei would gain him great respect among his peers. After all, who else could so easily dispatch their Master?

Regardless of how his initial strike went he dropped down still, making a sweep of the Naginata as he did, dislodging the butt end from wherever it had struck to make a sweep with the razor sharp blade through the throat. As for the wind? Terminal Velocity and the conservation of momentum dictated that the wind wouldn't be able to make a vast change in his trajectory. It's effects were far too little, far too late. By the time the wind attack had come for him he had delivered a potentially crushing attack to the chest, and then a cutting attack to the neck just in case he somehow missed or the first attack didn't finish the job and send him reeling. He was still well within the reach of the weapon by the time the second attack landed and his feet hit the water, breaking the surface with a tremendous splash as he dove down through the water feet first.

Of course.. it was possible to be missed by both attacks. The wind had put him slightly off course, so the second attack could go ever so slightly astray, turning a blinding slash into the nearest of misses should he find the energy to lean back far enough or step further back. The one sure way to miss the lethal slash was to ride the impact of the first blow away from Ken.. but that had it's own dangers in the form of broken bones, collapsed lungs, or even internal bleeding. Today the student would teach the teacher. He had made an error. A huge error. All it took was one. Should he somehow come out of this unscathed he would likely realize how close he had been to arriving on death's doorstep. For the first time in a long time, Ken wanted to show how powerful he had become. Other Genin presented little sport to him. Most stood no chance against his powerful attacks.. But this Jounin had more then a fighting chance. He had humiliated Ken the day before after all. That gave him drive to do what he had trained to do his entire life, kill.

He had yet to realize it yet, but all of his training led to that single purpose. His training had taught him how to kill people. He had yet to understand how it felt to take a man's life. Here was an animal used to playing around with it's brothers and sisters... but the games it played were the basis of hunting skills. To him it had always been play. Consciously he realized that he was using techniques meant to kill. But in the deepest recces of his mind he had yet to understand the meaning of that. He had never landed a blow like the kind he was making right now. He had yet to see the blood spray from a man's throat or depression formed when breaking a man's sternum. He had never wanted to do such a thing before... But now there was the lust that all warriors felt. The desire to conquer, the desire to kill. Like a predator on his first hunt alone he put his skills to the test, waiting to see the first result of what he was born to do.

OOC: [Don't delete my posts, that was not the arrangement I allowed for. You were to change the original reaction, which you failed to do. Further you then called a hit with this piece of work, "Given the force that the genin was going, and the momentum he held, there was absolutely no chance of him dodging this attack. " This is being reported to other admins for review due to frequent meta-gaming and god modding. I suggest that no one further post as it will likely be nulled if unfair play was found on either side.]

[[That's my character's thoughts, you chose to interpret as such, Because of course there is no such thing as "impossible" or "absolutes" in naruto. I didn't understand what you meant by initial reaction, if you meant reaction to your first attack, or your scond. And I deleted your post because it was giant, and spamming the topic. So calm down if you will. I'm sorry we've had this misunderstanding. I edited my "initial" reaction. I was sent a PM by adam, who told me to fix it, which is what I did =] Now then, if you're quite finished, let us continue.]]

OOC: [I will accept you edit's, even though they were made without the approval of the other people in the thread and outside the conditions I laid out, which were required an admission from you and an apology, none of which you have done. Further, I choose to refute your claims of spamming. The rules of this site regarding spam are as follows:

"2. - Please do not spam anywhere other than the Spam Area of the forum. That is the only place where spam is allowed. Spam can even include replies such as 'lol' or 'haha' anything that can be said but does not need to be. This also includes members posting on other member's applications. This is a no, only Moderators and Administrators may post on them.
spam (definition) - a useless post that does not need to be posted. This may include random internet lingo such as 'lol', 'lmao' etc. Advertisements unless posted the proper way are also considered spam."

I wasn't aware that making a logic based argument providing sound proof that I had the ability to complete my post as posted and that your defense was not applicable was spamming. However I would like to remind you that editing a post other have already responded to without the permission of those who have posted after you is considered god modding by most.

That being said I am going to take the high road and ignore all of that because I want this topic to progress. It is unfair to hold the topic up any longer for an argument between the two of us when there are four people present in the thread. That said I will now post my reaction to your edited post, which will supersede all reactions made since your initial posting in question. I apologize to the other players in this topic if my new post should make things confusing or force you to change your initial reactions.]

The blast of wind rushed upward to meet Ken as he rapidly descended downward. The midair collision was something of a train wreck as the pressure of the front wall of the blast hit him. Luckily he had many times more mass then air and had built up considerable momentum, which helped him hold his course as the wind whipped by, battering into him, slowing his decent and putting him off course enough to completely miss his target. Had he been a weaker man he might have been bruised by the time he made it to the water basin below. Had he been a weaker man that might have been taxing on him. But as a brute of massive strength and stamina, Ken looked only as if he had just had his head stuck in a wind tunnel, his blond hair swept by the wind.

With a giant rippling effect he landed upon the surface of the water, aided by the wind jutsu slowing his fall. Still, the water took the full force of his fall, rippling and jiggling like jello as a layer of chakra kept the surface tension from breaking. On a more grand scale it would appear like a pebble dropped into a glass of water, the surface chopping and rolling without breaking it's cohesiveness with a splash.

Rising from a kneeling position with his naginata held in his right hand, the blade pointed back over his shoulder he would respond to the question posed to all the genin last. His words accompanied by a sneer and a snide tone, "My name is Ishikawa Ken, and I resent authority."

And there it was. The driving force of most of his youth. He was a rebel, which caused family issues, thus creating his initial problem with authority. Then as the leader of a gang one could see why he might not care for authority, at least the authority of others. Those who he had authority over was established by power. The strong had the right to rule the weak. It was under that philosophy that he had the right of authority over his gang. They could challenge his authority, his power, just as he had just done to his new sensei, who would no doubt be challenged over and over in the future.

(OOC: I'm so not in the creative mood, so don't expect any great quality.)

Kazuto gaze sifted upwards at the falling figure as his sensei seemed to launch a gust of wind the descending body. How Seiko even managed to aim well without averting his gaze from his book, Kazuto didn’t know. However he did it, it seemed pointless, as the boy falling above him proved to be too large to be blown by the force of the wind, though the fact that it was off-trajectory might have been advantageous. The boy landed with great force on the surface of the water, straightening and revealing that he was, in Kazuto’s opinion, a truckload of muscles. Now, is he your regular muscled baffoon, or does he actually have a strand of intelligence in him? thought Kazuto.

He then glanced at his other teammate, Shibito Daichi. He noted the wire-like purple hair, the wide eyes and the socket at his neck. So he was a human puppet, eh? That was quite unique. And this one appeared to be quite anxious to convey the fact that he was still human enough to feel. And he was a puppeteer himself. That would mean that he could use himself if his puppet was damaged.

As Seiko finished speaking, Kazuto turned to him and said with a friendly smile that was as sincere as a liar’s tongue, “Well, my name is Kazuto Nara. Seeing as you’re our teacher, you should know all about me. I’d prefer not to tell anyone what I’m capable of doing, but since I have to work with all of you, I might as well tell you something about myself other than my name.” He paused and pushed his glasses a little more higher up his nose with his middle finger. “Well, I suppose you’d best know that I’m not the kind of person who would run around like an idiot and do something reckless and stupid, such as what my fellow teammate here just did. “ He gestured to his blonde-haired teammate. “And you’ll have gathered form what I said earlier on that I don’t enjoy spilling my guts to others, so that’s the end of my introduction.”

He finished talking and glanced over at his other teammate, who informed them with a sneer that his name was Ken Ishikawa and that he despised authority. For a first impression, Ken wasn't doing so well. Perhaps it was him, but Kazuto was already disliking Ken, not because he seemed to be a lean mean fighting machine, but he seemed to be the type who would enjoy fighting for no apparent reason, someone who would never give up. A born warrior.

He wondered what drove both of his teammates, what were their goals in life, what they wished to achieve besides strenght.

Seiko watched the genin sail into the air, off trajectory and land on the water. This was just as Seiko hoped. After all, he didn't wanna hurt the Ickle geninkin. Seiko listened to each of his team members introduce himself. The first one, the Human puppet with the wire hair spoke first:

"As you may not have guessed, I'm a human puppet but I want to tell you now that I am still human and that means I have emotions. My element is Earth and I enjoy building puppets, none of the others I have are meant for ninja use though. I dislike people who are brash and overconfident. That is a little about me."

Seiko Nodded as this genin spoke. After a few seconds, the one in the air whom had landed, The one whom had just attempted the foolish attack on him said:

"My name is Ishikawa Ken, and I resent authority."

Seiko didn't flinch on his face, but inside, he didn't like this. The next genin proceded to talk, giving a much more detailed answer to his question.

“Well, my name is Kazuto
Nara. Seeing as you’re our teacher, you should know all about me. I’d
prefer not to tell anyone what I’m capable of doing, but since I have
to work with all of you, I might as well tell you something about
myself other than my name.” He paused and pushed his glasses a little more higher up his nose with his middle finger. “Well,
I suppose you’d best know that I’m not the kind of person who would run
around like an idiot and do something reckless and stupid, such as what
my fellow teammate here just did. “ He gestured to his blonde-haired teammate. “And
you’ll have gathered form what I said earlier on that I don’t enjoy
spilling my guts to others, so that’s the end of my introduction.”


Seiko nodded again.

So this is his team. He had a brute rebel without a cause. An intricate Human puppet with untold abilities. And finally, a well reserved ninja, who spoke when neccesary, and didn't seem to be at all a hot head. AFter thinking for a few more seconds, Seiko spoke.

"Well Team 1. This is our first official training Session! From now on, we will be known as Team Monkey" Seiko smiled, his white teeth glinting in the sun as he thumbsupped his genin.

"And for your first assignment as Team is to individually answer a question. I need to know how well each of you can process information. It doesn't neccesarily seem like a neccesary skill to you, I'm sure. But later, my reasoning will be clear. For those of you who answer it with a correct view, you shall be spared of the punishment. Now then. The riddle is this: Under this situation, Assume the Truth to be that I am a liar. Everything I say is a lie. I state the following 'This sentence is a lie'.

Now, is this sentence a lie or the truth? Choose your words wisely. Right your answer on a piece of paper, and give it to me when you have your answer. You have 5 minutes to create an answer"

Seiko smiled and waited for his genin's response.

((OOC: You may post your character's thinking proccess, but to prevent cheating, don't directly state your characters answer. INSTEAD, Pm me your answer when you are confident in it))

Shibito listened to his teammates talk about themselves, the loud one spoke first and claimed he did not like authority. Shibito did not like that answer 'How on earth are we to work with this guy, he won't do anything unless he chooses to from the looks of it.'
His second partner spoke and he seemed like he may be better to work with but he may cause trouble, he seemed like the sort to cause trouble through words and not care about others. Shibito thought Kazuto and Ken were not going to get along well. Shibito would work with anyone but these guys may be tough to get along with and treat as comrades, his last team was nto good at working together either, there was an Uchiha and a Uchiha hater which made for an awkward experience but the team were not together for long and Shibito had not seen either teammate for a while, he knew Osaru became a chuunin but he was not sure where the Uchiha had gone, he had forgotten the name of him.

After the introductions were done, sensei announced the team's name as "Team Monkey" with a thumbs up, Shibito thought 'What's with the name and thumbs up? This guy seems too happy to have us. Is he mad or is he testing us? Ugh, why do I always get the odd ones, never allowed to have a normal team am I?' Shibito was going to ask why team monkey but he figured that it was probably better not to ask, he may not like the answer.

Sensei then came out with a riddle and asked the team to individually answer it and come to him in five minutes with the answer. Shibito started thinking on the statement, it was confusing and he had no idea how to answer, he figured he would make something up which sounded smart and hopefully would be right. He got to writing down on his piece of paper and came up with and answer within a few minutes but kept it to himself, during the time he had got an idea and now believed that he had the answer, he had wrote it down. He then went and handed the paper to Sensei, confident in his answer.

"I need to think. Don't disturb me.", he said with an intense gaze shot at his sensei, and then each teammate before he began to preparations. Fires he stabbed the naginatia into the ground with a firm thump, driving the weighted butt of the shaft through the dirt till it could stand on it's own. Releasing it he next unslung a wicked looking club type weapon known as a kanabo. It was four feet long, and the buisness end was covered in iron, with steel rivets raised from the surface. He let it fall to the ground at his side before stepping away, pulling off one side of his jacket as he, leaving his right arm exposed to the air. The jacket was left half on, half off as he reached up and pulled the yumi from his back, raising it clear of his head in his left hand. He stopped only some ten feet away from where he started, facing away from the banks of the pool behind him and toward the trees some fifty feet away, well within the effective range of the yumi.

This was most odd, or might appear to be, to most ninja. First was what lay under his jacket, when pulled off one side it became clear that there were weapons hidden from sight under there on a series of leather straps forming a harness that didn't cross the front of his chest, except for what would look like a belt that ran through loops in his jeans. Sure it was an nontraditional choice of clothes, but was that such a big deal considering his personality? The big deal was that a person who seemed to carry all his weapons so openly had been hiding two large fuma shiruken on his back, and various shiruken, kuni, metal wire, and who knew what else on his sides and chest. Even now that his hidden arsenal had been revealed it was hard to tell what all was there, just that there was a lot of it cleverly hidden on the harness. If it hadn't been made clear by his entrance that he enjoyed having the jump on his opponents, it should be clear now that he cared nothing for a fair fight. Perhaps the overabundance of weapons carried in the open was simply a way of directing the eyes away from more covert threats? So much was revealed about a man by his weapons, and surely the number, type, and concealment or non-concealment of weapons said more then words about Ken as a shinobi.

Just as the mind might be thinking that his gimmick was to use every weapon known to man, probably with minimal skill, he took up a stance, spreading his legs to shoulder width and resting the end of the asymmetrical bow, or yumi, against the inside of his back leg. A quiver hung from his side and back somewhat. With his right hand he drew an arrow from the quiver and placed it onto the bow and against the string. With one fluid motion he raised it up, holding the bow and arrow up slightly over his head and out in front of him. Then, continuing the motion, he brought the bow down, spreading the bow and string apart. Now poised in position to fire he held the position a moment as he looked down the shaft of the arrow at the target. One deep breath and then he released the arrow, letting it spring forth into the air. One whistling second later and a tree at fifty feet away was struck on a small knot in the timber. A hit.

He breathed deeply as he lowered the bow back to rest against the inside of his leg once again. ~Assume the Truth to be that I am a liar...~ ~Truth.. Liar..~ ~Assume. Truth. LIAR!~ ~Liar. Assume. Truth.~

"Ha... so simple. Assume the truth to be that I am a liar.. So simple.", he said to himself with a shake of the head and a grin. How he hadn't seen it in the first place was beyond him. But then again, the mindsets of war and philosophy were not so easily mixed in his mind. He raised back up, bringing the bow up and over his head before lowering it back onto his back, with the string running across his chest. He reached inside his jacket, pulling out a piece of metal user for writing called judge brushes. From a small leather pouch he pulled forth a scroll, empty of course, and from a different pouch he took out small amount of ink in a crystal vial. These were not the tools of a hasty writer. With the items in hand he knelt down in the grass, spreading open the scroll before he began to write.

A minute later it was done and closed. His tools went back into his jacket and the respective pouches before he rose and approached his new sensei. He held out the closed scroll.

"Within this scroll lies the truth. Take it.", he said, very sure that he had come up with an answer that he could live with. Right or wrong in the eyes of another did not matter. What mattered was the truth he had arrived at. Nothing else mattered.

"Well Team 1. This is our first official training Session! From now on, we will be known as Team Monkey!" Seiko was giving his students the thumbs up with a grin on his face, apparently quite pleased with himself for coming up such a… unique team name. Kazuto’s left eye twitched in irritation as he heard this. This guy sure was a strange one. Great, we’ve got a happy-go-lucky Jounin for a sensei, he thought with exasperation. And now he was asking them to solve a little riddle. Kazuto’s fake smile vanished for a second, replaced by a look of shrewd interest. But a second later, the mask was back up, and most would have dismissed it as a trick of the light.

Kazuto listened carefully to the riddle, taking in every word carefully, making sure he understood the riddle’s meaning. He glanced at his other teammates out of the corner of his eyes. The answers they gave would show just how they thought; it would be valuable information in the future.

Kazuto stepped back and sat down onto the ground with his legs crossed over each other. He folded his arms and closed his eyes, thinking it over. He found it easier to think when his body was relaxed, so that his mind could function to its fullest without worrying about complex body movements. He ran the riddle through his head once more. Assume the truth to be a lie… This sentence is a lie…

Kazuto wasn’t exactly the perfect example of a Nara genius; he had his flaws. He had never been able to beat any other Nara in a game of minds, though he was confident that he wasn’t a total idiot. He wasn’t sure if the conclusion he had reached was the correct one or not. Such questions as this one where not what he enjoyed racking his brain over. He had reached the conclusion which he thought was most likely, though it did not mean that it was the correct one. Well, he would find out soon enough.

Reaching into his kunai pouch, the Nara extracted a small foot-long scroll as well as a bottle of ink and a brush. Calmly rolling open the scroll, he dipped his brush into the ink bottle and began writing in his neat, tiny handwriting, which meant that his people would have difficulty in reading it form a distance. Replacing the bottle cap on his ink bottle, he tore the sheet of parchment from the scroll and rolled it up as well as the scroll, getting to his feet as he did so. Placing his items back in his kunai pouch, he handed his answer to Seiko. “Knock yourself out,” he said He still wasn’t sure if his answer was correct, but he would find out soon enough…

Seiko smirked after stating his question. That would surely stump them. Or so he thought. Who knows, perhaps these ninja were more intelligent then they looked. Their expressions and mannerisms were interesting to watch. The first, the human puppet, looked very confused, but eventually scrawled something on his sheet of paper, and walked up to Seiko, handing it to him, without looking very confident. seiko didn't read it quite yet. The second ninja, the brash and rude one, was doing something flashy, sticking his naginata in the earth and then showing off his weapons and armor in a similarly flashy way. That genin walked up to him and handed him a scroll, as he said "Within this scroll lies the truth. Take it." Seiko nodded and took the scroll. in one hand he now held the scroll and a piece of paper. The third ninja was the one Seiko was most interested in watching. He showed a good thinking process so far So Seiko was looking forward to his answer. This one sat down crossed his legs, folded his arms, and closed his eyes. obviously taking the question very seriously. Then he too stood up and walked over, handing his answer to Seiko. “Knock yourself out,” Seiko nodded and took it.

He read the piece of paper's answer first. It read:"You are not lying but neither are you telling the truth. 'This sentence is a lie' Does not actually say anything of signifigance, there is nothing to lie about or tell the truth about, the rest of the stuff you said was just to throw us off." Seiko shook his head as he read. Well. It wasn't neccesarily a bad answer... but nor was it correct.

Sighing, he pocketed the piece of paper, and opened up Ishikawa ken's Scroll. It read: "The truth cannot be assumed.
A liar cannot be taken for his word.
Thus I cannot accept the assumption of lies.
Therefore, you have said nothing of consequence.
Thus it does not matter if you lie or state the truth.
Determining truth or falsity of nothing is the same as giving nothing and taking nothing.
In essence, you have told the truth and lied in the same act." The genin had obviously thought out his answer. but this too was completely incorrect, a bit more so than the previous answer given. Seiko pocketed the scroll.

It was on to the third scroll now, The Nara's. Seiko was excited for this, it was surely an intelligent answer. He opened it up and it read: "This riddle is a perfect example of what is known as a paradox. Since the sentence states that it is a lie and that any word spoken is a lie, therefore the sentence is the truth. However, since the truth is always a lie, therefore the sentence must be a lie. The answer is that the sentence is neither true nor false." Seiko smiled, small, at first, but it eventually opened up into a huge beaming smile. He pocketed the scroll. He spoke, addressing them all. "Not bad Team monkey. You each had fairly decent answers to the question. However. Only one of you managed to answer the question correctly. Congratulations Kazuto, you are exempt from punishment. As for the question itself. It's called a paradox. there is no real answer, and it's quite literally impossible to solve. As a ninja you must know your limits, being able to except when you can and cannot complete something. Now, Kazuto, Your answer was clear and concise, with no BS. Now then, as for punishment..." Seiko thought for a moment before speaking again "Okay, this is how it's gonna go. Kazuto, You are exempt from fighting if ou so choose. Now than, for Ishikawa and Shibito.. you will be fighting along side one of my monkey companions against me. We will be in this training ground until one of you manage to land a hit on me." Seiko smirked.

he pulled out a scroll, and unraveled it, it landed perfectl on the ground in an open position. On it where several symbols, each corresponding to one of his ninja monkeys. He spoke again. "You two may choose one of these 3, Either Chouka, Chouji, or Chouja" Seiko waited for their decision.

Shibito was annoyed, he thought his answer was pretty good but it was that none of them were right or wrong but Kazuto's answer was better than the other two's and that was probably because of the whole Nara genius thing that they are well known for.
Sensei had said that ninja must realise their limits and when to give up, Shibito understood and figured that sensei may do something else to further this point so Shibito felt he was ready for whatever was going to happen. Shibito could show intelligence at rare times and hoped that he would be able to use his head in whatever was going to happen next.
Shibito and Ken were told that they were to fight alongside a monkey companion and try to land a hit on sensei. Shibito did not like the idea of this, he did not want to fight a jounin yet and he believed that he would be here all day unless he managed to get Ken to work with him. Maybe this was a test to warn them to know whne to give up but it did not make sense, they had been offered companions so either this was a test of sorts or sensei was full of himself, 4 on 1 was bad for anyone. Shibito said "I would like to pick Chouji." Shibito had no idea what each monkey was capable of so he just picked one at random.
He then stood back and looked to Ken and said "Hey, we are going to have to work together to do this, are you ready to fight sensei with me?"
Shibito brought his puppet to his side and readied himself for whatever was to happen next.

~Just once? I did more then that the other night.~ He thought to himself as he heard Seiko talk. God he hated Seiko. Something about him just made his blood boil. That was when he heard a little whisper in his ear. He knew that right now he stood no chance of catching his teacher when he was expecting an attack. He simply wasn't good enough and didn't have the right sort of gear for that on him. ..Or didn't he...

Ken looked down into the grass around his feet, finding the kanabo laying amongst the vibrant green blades. He stuck his foot under the weapon and kicked it upward and into his hands. It was really an odd choice of weapon for such an exercise.. it was a hefty weapon that was slower then most and took a good deal of strength to wield. It probably seemed like the worst choice of weapon ever made, actually. He looked directly at Shibito with a twinkle in his eye.

"That's just what I was thinking..", he said before whipping the kanabo around in a mighty swing for Shibito's lower ribs, trying to strike him from the side with the studded metal end of the heavy weapon. His form when swinging couldn't have been more perfect, strength from his legs and chest transferring down through his arms and into the Kanabo. Ken's superhuman strength gave speed to the swinging club, moving it in a arc towards it's target in a flash. One hit with the Kanabo was all it took for most people. Not only could it break bone and stone, but it could do it through thick armor. Shibito was a human puppet, so he had no doubts that this would be non-lethal.. He would live after the first blow. But as it would quickly become aware, one blow wasn't his intention.

Strike or miss he immediately set out to take a sweeping swing for the legs of shibito, trying to break his knees. But why was he doing this? Sun Tsu taught to strike not at the enemy, but at what he cares about. His supplies, for example. In this case he was going after something that he believed Seiko could not do without. Sooner or later he would have to either stop Ken or help Shibito. And then his speed would no longer matter, now would it?

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Name: Earth Crusher
Rank: C
Type: Weaponry
Element: None
Description: Earth Crusher, aptly named for being able to crush rocks, allows a user to strike with the full strength of their body and maximized momentum. The end result is that a blunt weapon swung using this technique delivers lethal force. Any person foolish enough to stand in the way of this technique is likely to end up in the hospital.

((tricky tricky mr. K. Sorry about skipping you, ulkira))

Seiko looked out at the genin, trying to see what they would choose. SHibito, the puppet spoke first. "I would like to pick Chouji." The genin stood back and turned to ken before speaking again. "Hey, we are going to have to work together to do this, are you ready to fight sensei with me?" Seiko waited for Ken to say something, but what he did next was both unexpected and. Ken suddenly kicked up a large weapon, and brought it around for a giant swing at shibito.

Seiko made a handseal with incredible speed, and dissapeared. When he reappeared, his gigantic sword was off his back, and he braced it with both hands, blocking the hit of the club indefinetely. He pushed it away with both his brute strength and a gust of C rank wind. This would send the club flying. if the genin held on, the momentum would send him flying. If he let go, seiko was prepared. after pushing away, he aimed a side kick to the spot where the genin was.

OOC: [Posting order will return to normal following this post with Ulkira.]

The strength needed to stop the swing of an Kanabo was great. The force it would take to counteract Ken was even greater. The wood of the Kanabo simply wasn't strong enough to resist the forces trying to rip the weapon apart. The metal end of the Kanabo molded around the flat of Seiko's blade as the bottom half snapped in a shower of splintered wood while Ken swung through with his now broken weapon. The chunks of wood exploded outward, hitting Ken and in all probability, Seiko as well, before he pushed away and blew the splinters away.

With the bottom of the club still in his hands he took the foot to his side, feeling the foot drive the air out of his lungs. He had no time to prepare a defense against Seiko's speed. But that was okay, he didn't need one. Mission complete had already occurred when the spray of wood chips hit everyone. That was a hit. He would have had a grin plastered on his face had he not been thrown backward by the force of the kick, landing hard on his side in the sand near the waterfalls basin. He skidded a foot before his body came to a rest, the lower half of the Kanabo still clutched in his hands. A wheezing sound came from him as he tried to get breath against the spasming of his diaphragm. It was probably then that it might be dawning on Seiko. He had been played expertly. He had been read like a book. Worst of all would likely be the feeling in his sword arm, his wrist. If the Kanabo had been full metal and not yielded, he would have likely had an injured arm. Some attacks simply weren't meant to be blocked.

Kazuto smile twitched ever so slightly as Seiko informed them that Kazuto was the only one to get the riddle right. How fortunate for him, that his teammates would think that he was an average genius Nara, when in fact Kazuto wasn’t exactly considered a smarty-pants. Nevertheless, he was pleased that he had answered it correctly, even though he wasn’t confident in his answer.

Kazuto looked over at Seiko. “Why, thank you, Seiko-Sensei,” he said, his grin widening further. “I think I’ll heed your suggestion and calmly sit this one out. Have fun getting your butts kicked, my fellow comrades.” With a mocking wave, Kazuto flipped back a few times and then used Shunshin to appear in a tree a few yards away from his team. Seating himself comfortably on a branch with his legs crossed over each other, Kazuto looked over at the three figures his team. Now that no one could see his face, Kazuto’s grin vanished to be replaced by a shrewd, calculating look. He was extremely lucky. He could stay out of an unnecessary fight and observe how his teammates fought. He could easily pick up a few pointers on their fighting styles if not their abilities. Perfect for him. He didn’t care if Shibito and Ken thought he was a coward or that he had no honor by turning down a fight, backing away from a fight wasn’t cowardice, it was as Seiko had said, that a ninja should know when to give up.

From his vantage point, Kazuto could see and hear what his team were saying and doing. Seiko had unrolled a scroll in front of Shibito and Ken and had asked them to pick a monkey who would aid them in landing a hit on Seiko. “Monkeys, eh? That explains the team name,” muttered Kazuto, still watching. He heard Shibito chose one of the monkeys, then he turned to Ken and asked him if he would like to partner up with him. Kazuto grinned as he heard this. Teamwork, an essential thing. Ken appeared to have agreed to this request, which made Kazuto think that Ken clearly wasn’t all brawn. He actually had a brain!

But the next thing that happened made Kazuto re-think his impression of Ken. Ken had grabbed the weapon he had used to hit Seiko on his entrance, and had swung it, not at Seiko, but at Shibito. Kazuto leaned forward, interested. What was Ken thinking? Why was he attacking Shibito? Didn’t he realize that if he injured Shibito, then he would not lose one, but two allies, which would decrease his chances of getting a successful hit on Seiko?

Suddenly, Seiko appeared in front of Shibito and blocked Ken’s attack with his sword, and then gave a great push that seemed to shatter the wooden section of Ken’s weapon. “Strong,” commented Kazuto, nodding. A second later, Ken was kicked back by Seiko, landing on his back. Kazuto leaned back with a smile on his face. That had truly been an interesting show. He waited patiently for further events to unfold.

(OOC: Alrighty, y'all keep fighting each other, Kazuto will stay in his tree watching unless someone decides to attack him. Hence, I'll post when I have to do something important, so, skip me until such a time comes ^^.)

Spoiler:

Seiko exhaled a sigh of relief as the sword connected, and the weapon broke. At least that was thwarted. He sighed again when his kick connected and sent the genin flying. In a quick movement, seiko body flickered and he was near the genin whom he just kicked. With an outstretched hand, he held his sword's tip to the genin's neck, It's red tanto tip razor sharp. He glared down at the boy with distrust. He spoke with disdain towards the boy.

"Now you listen. and you listen good. If you ever try anything like that again, I won't hesitate to kill you. We don't attack our teamates unless in sparring. You're still an unrefined and undertrained ninja."

Seiko flipped his sword around and placed it on his back. He walked a few feet forward before speaking again.

"As punishment, you will do push ups until my monkey, Choukebi gets tired"

Seiko smirked and in one fluid motion, he turned around, bit his thumb, made several quick handseals, and placed his hand on the ground. A black seal extended from it, and a gigantic Monkey appeared, standing about 95 feet tall. Seiko spoke to Choukebi for a short moment.

"I hate to do this to you, Chouk, but this genin's got a hard hard punishment a head of him. He attacked his teammate with a lethal weapon. Would've broken his legs beyond repair. He's gonna do pushups till you get tired of being here, okay? And in exchange, I'll buy you a few full barrells of Sake, okay?"

Choukebi nodded, and looked down at Ken and said "unfortunately for you kid, I love being in the ninja realm! You did a bad thing today, I'll be overseeing your punishment. Pushups sound about right. but. You'll be doing it with a giant Shuriken Strapped to your back!'' Coukebi reached into her pocket and withdrew a shuriken easily twice as tall as Ken. When he got in pushup position, she would place it on his back. "That should make it fairer".

Seiko nodded. Choukebi sure knew how to punish. Seiko walked past her and faced the general direction of both Shibitio and Kazuto. He spoke, still and edge in his voice, but not at all directed at them. "The rest of team monkey is dismissed! Our first mission begins next week, be sure to train and rest up!" Seiko turned and headed away from the training field.

Shibito had not seen the attack coming but managed to jump back. before he could retaliate with an attack of his own, Sensei jumped in the way and stopped ken's attack and then punished him by making him do pushups. Shibito had thought 'What?! How on earth am I to work with these guys, one can't tell who his allies are and the other just seems strange. Argh, always the awkward guys!'

Shibito remembered when he was in the sand village 8 years ago, he had 2 friends who were awkward and were at each others throats. Shibito always tried to get them to be friends and be happy together but they had none of it and Shibito gave up eventually when he realised that some people just can't work together. Shibito sighed as he remembered that memory and knew that he had a problem ahead of him but at least he no longer had to fight, he could just go home.

He said goodbye to everyone and headed off home. On the way home while leaping amongst the tree's, Shibito thought to himself 'That could of gone better but at least everyone, for the most part, seemed quite respectful. I quite like Sensei, he seems like a good man but Ken, not so much; he is too wild and troublesome. But the other guy, Kazuto, was too hard to read, he seemed like he was trying ot avoid revealing anything about himself in case we get to know him or something. I wonder what mission faces us next week, it sure as hell better not be a catch the kitty mission, I want something that will challenge me.'

Shibito arrived home an hour later and he put his puppet down and lay on his bed, this was his second chance to become chuunin and he was not going to fail this time, the psycopath Cyrus was chuunin so he did not need to rematch with him. He hoped he would not have to fight his teammates, they seemed more powerful than him and he really wanted to become chuunin because failing twice was not an option, hopefully the inclusion of Sensei would help him reach a new level of power. He eventually fell asleep, his day had been tiring.

Exit Topic.

Well, the meeting had ended abruptly, with Seiko telling Shibito and Kazuto to head home, informing them that they would be going out on a mission the coming week. Ken was to remain behind and do push-ups as punishment. No doubt a useless punishment for someone as muscular as Ken, Kazuto smirked as he pushed his glasses up his nose with his middle finger, a habit of his that served no real purpose. Getting to his feet, he dropped down from his tree, landing cat-like on the soft grass and then straightened up, placing his hands in his pockets and walking away from the group, heading in the opposite direction from his home. It was much too early for him to be heading home, he might as well go fro a stroll around the village.

As he walked on, he thought about what he had found out about his team today. Shibito was a human puppet who seemed keen on relaying the idea that he was still human even though he had no organic body. It was actually quite fascinating to think about how he could move like a human and how his body must work. His teammates were both special body-wise. Shibito was a wooden trinket, and Ken was a bag of muscles with a personality that made on think that he was a bomb about to explode. And Seiko? He was mysterious like any other Jounin, though he seemed a little too fun-filled for Kazuto’s taste.

Pausing to look around at where he was, Kazuto saw that he was close to the library now. He smirked once more as he saw the building. Well, he might as well go and see if his teammates had any interesting family histories. Redirecting his steps, he walked up the steps and into the library.

(Exit Topic)