The Naruto RPG

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Is it, or isn't so?
Am I dead, now, here in the snow?


Stats:
Skills:

Ichita stood around, waiting impatiently. It was getting pretty close to half an hour away from when they had agreed to meet up in a half an hour. While the “if you’re not five minutes early, you’re late” maxim could hardly be applied to a fresh genin, she at least expected that much out of Urunobi. Even if the girl was only like 11 years old or something. She was a jounin after all. That came with responsibilities, like being even earlier than Ichita. But noooo. Unless she was hiding, the girl simply wasn’t there yet. She began tapping her foot, and one of the gate guards snickered. Ichita shot the man a black look, and that made the older ninja start outright chuckling. Ugh. Whatever. Only layabouts were relegated to gate duty, so it wasn’t really worth taking him seriously.

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Strength: Average
Constitution: Average
Stamina: Proficient
Reflexes: Epic
Coordination: Masterful
Wisdom: Average

At least she wasn't the last to arrive. Something that washed over Urunobi as a relief when she saw Ichita waiting alone at the gates. She wondered why the girl always insisted on being early though. A hero always arrives in the nick of time! Never too early and never too late! Therefor Ichita was no hero because she was always too early!

As she approached her teammate she waved. For now, Ichita would be under her mentorship. Kinda a funny situation, for one of the youngest Shinobi in the village to be of high rank as well as the upcoming leader of a really...really...shitty clan. The reminder that she'd need to 'lead' those bunch of edge lords did not bode well for her mood. Hopefully, the mission would lighten her up a little. Damn it, she shouldn't have thought of it! "Hey! We still got five minutes left so I guess we could give it another ten." she spoke with her typical childlike voice, accompanied by a flash of her white grin.

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Asuka's knowledge of everything in the village wasn't too great yet as she aimlessly walked around until reaching upon the gate and noticing Urunobi and Ichita. The little girl came running up after them, waving her hands. "Sorry, sorry! I don't know much things around here either. . ." She looked slightly down and then back up towards the two girls. "W-Well. . .you guys were just waiting for me last right?" Her eyes blinked slowly, knowing that they were most likely all ready to go now. Yet, she waited for the two older girls to give her instructions. The genin didn't know too much about even proper mission etiquette or even how these sorts of things are started, so it was up to the other two to teach her. She seemed to be excited at least as she couldn't stay still as she was slightly rocking up and down, or maybe that was a bit of anxiety. However it may be the girl's face at least showed a large smile and her eyes were bright.

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Urunobi showed up and flashed a grin at Ichita, who couldn’t help but give a small smile back. ”Yeah, I guess. Those nobles aren’t exactly going anywhere.” That was around when Asuka showed up, seemingly rushed and embarrassed at arriving slightly less early than everyone else. ”Yeah, I think so,” she said to the genin, before turning to Urunobi for confirmation. ”Shin and Tsumi aren’t coming, are they?” It would have been nice to see Shin again. Tsumi, too, but mostly Shin. But as a Jounin and nearing adulthood he was probably loaded with responsibilities that would mean they were unlikely to see each other very often. She looked back over to Asuka who was slightly rocking back and forth. Ichita remembered being like that, green as freshly grown grass, and that small part of her wished she could go back to it.

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Strength: Average
Constitution: Average
Stamina: Proficient
Reflexes: Epic
Coordination: Masterful
Wisdom: Average

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"They're not coming." Uru quickly replied, as if she wanted to cut the conversation short. Truth be told, she had seen Tsume recently but other than training she and her idol did not spend much time. Probably because of Uru's age...despite her rank. She sighed internally. Then there was Shin, well, Uru liked him, a lot in fact. But ever since the bridge battle where she had lost her consciousness, he seemed to have disappeared from the earth. He wasn't dead. Of course not. They had all made it out alive against apparently the Kazekage himself. How he could not end their lives despite having back up was still a mystery to her.

In fact, she actually was quite happy that she had fought him one on one and managed to end it in what seemed to be a draw. Blue eyes glanced towards Ichita and Asuka respectively before she flashed a white toothy grin. "WELP! Guess It's time for us to go then! Follow tha leadah!" and with that she began to march in a silly way, that was until she blinked with her eyes, wide. Someone was waving at them? Why though?

It became quickly apparent as to why - when the stranger approached the trio of girls. "Tane and Rumi?" she asked, tilting her head slightly to the side as if she did not understand what he was asking for. "Oh! Sure, but, who are you?" he didn't wear a headband. Traveler perhaps? It was quite odd to approach the gate and ask for the leader straight away. Still, even with his hood, she had this feeling that she should have known him from somewhere but...instead, she placed a hand on her thigh, smiling and waiting for an answer. He's probably somehow important...maybe Ichita knew more about this guy? A thought she had as she glanced with a single eye towards the girl, then back at the man.

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Drawing near, the twins kept their eyes on the cloaked figure that had approached their gates. As they themselves came closer, the man's physical details started to become noticeable. The most telling feature was the large scar that extended horizontally across his face from one side to the other. That's ... Tane began, thinking through her recognition of who had decided to pay their village a visit. Rather than delay any longer, Rumi's voice cut through the heavy downpour from behind the group of Kemurigakure shinobi.

"Get back, all of you." She ordered, her voice carrying with it her usual tough, commanding presence. Despite proceeding with caution by ordering her shinobi to create some distance from the man, the twins themselves held off on showing any hostility. They walked forward normally, hands at their sides. Adorning matching dark-blue cloaks, a dark-green umbrella above Tane's head and a red one above Rumi's, the Kemurikages entered the scene. They stopped once they had passed each of the three younger girls, ensuring that they were placed between them and Shikaji just in case anything went wrong. With confidence in their own close-quarter abilities, they didn't fear coming in close to the infamous Black Arrow.

"Nara Shikaji. What are you doing here?" Rumi asked, cutting straight to the point. "You're quite bold, aren't you? Walking straight in like this while having such a reputation." Wanted for both his destruction of Tanzaku Town and his role in the recent assault on Sunagakure, the man certainly had no shortage of enemies who would want him dead. "I presume you aren't here looking for a fight?" Tane questioned, hoping her assessment to be correct. Although their limbs were primed for action at a moment's notice, it was the uncertainty of his motives that held the twins back from assuming a higher level of danger. Thus far, the rogue ninja had done a great deal of damage to both of Kemurigakure's enemies in this war, and now he walked up to the front gates of their village without hostility. What were his intentions?

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The man parted his lips, an answer to her question, hopefully, was about to pour out until the sudden voice of a familiar voice resonated within her eardrums. There was no mistaking, that was the voice of one of her leaders. Rumi. "She sounds pissed." the Uchiha thought as she casually took two steps back, her posture otherwise remaining the same. The girl flashed a white grin before speaking. "kek, Well, speak of the devil, your wish has been granted, sempai!" a small moment passed and during that moment, Uru examined the man. He had this, presence, like, as if she was supposed to know him. Soon the bell would ring!

The twin kage approached, passing by Uru and the rest of her squad without a glance. Uru's single gaze trailed them until they came to an abrupt stop. The name Nara Shikaji immediately popped up and with it, Uru's excitement faded. Never heard of him. Then her excited went back up, the man claiming that that was one of his many names. Perhaps she knew him after all! Must be just a different name! Before she knew it, the man was on the muddy floor. Apologizing on behalf of his village. Suna or Konoha-nin, the Uchiha assumed. There was no other village they had a beef with, in fact, they were allied with the others. For the most part. At least, no one died. She guessed.

The man continued, apologizing for his own mistakes this time. It all was very confusing and incomprehensible for the young girl. She glanced over at Ichita, motioning a clear '?' expression - what was this guy on about? Then he begged for punishment and even the option to take his life. Her blue gaze instantly shot towards the downed man. Briefly, the Sharingan awakened, but it faded as quickly as it had appeared and with it, an ominous aura vanished as well - but the image of his own death, his own suffering, might have already been imprinted inside the Nara's brain, however, everyone else would have probably felt a chill run down their spine - that was fine, she could break that too. Saliva had already built up within her mouth. Blood, torture, death. She craved for it, like some sort of lust. It was why she initially had insisted on going on a mission to kill people. This person, however? He'd do. "What about both?" her evil-side asked in thought, her sadistic nature surfacing once more. She kept smiling. As she always did.


[Evil Intent; S-Rank]

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Of everything that the pair of Kemurikage even remotely suspected of happening, Shikaji's decision didn't line up with any of it. There was no immediate proposition, nor any hostility. Instead, the man dropped down onto his knees, planting his face into the muddied road beneath their feet as he proclaimed his deepest apologies. As would be expected of anyone being apologized to by a complete stranger, Tane and Rumi were genuinely confused, shown slightly in the dumbfounded look on Rumi's face. As they listened, there were a few choice words that the twins marked as curious, drawing attention but lacking the concrete substance to necessarily mean anything beyond the surface. Multiple names and multiple villages didn't explain enough.

The pieces of the puzzle began to fit into their sockets when Shikaji lamented on his inability to uphold his promise. Yet, those initial connections were met with disbelief, the entire premise they were based on deemed too ludicrous to assume. Then, the final nail hammered the idea fully into Tane's head. "If you wish to take my life, I will not resist." Memories of the first time those words were spoken came to her. "... Shingen-san?" She asked incredulously, her voice a mutter as she stumbled with truly believing it. Be on your guard, Tane. The telepathic voice of Tane's twin cut in, always the distrusting one of the two. Shingen died, remember? She remained unconvinced.

"What's the meaning of this? Explain yourself." Rumi requested, unsure herself what the man could say that would definitively prove his claim to her. While she would have preferred her sister to have not given the rogue ninja the recognition of his uncanny resemblance, it couldn't be taken back now. "You talk as if you're Shingen, but your name and history don't match." It was a hard tale to swallow. Even Tane had to admit that-- the connection between Shingen and Shikaji was unclear. Escaping death was not unfamiliar to her, so that was a factor that she was willing to overlook, but that connecting piece of information needed an answer.

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It was less hot than Suna that was the only compliment Tori had. She wasn't a person meant for hard physical work, not anymore. At least the ridiculous rain slicker Shingen had gotten her kept her from getting soaked. Mud clung to her legs. It had been a long time since Tori had done anything physical, and usually it was just running while her dad tried to bring her to the brink of death to teach her a lesson the only way he knew how, blunt force trauma. Her cheeks were flushed so much that Shingen had gone on ahead. Well Tori had insisted. She hadn't wanted to hold him back. A flash of killing intent caught her attention, which might have meant something had she not been raised on the knee of the Kazekage.

Still it pushed her fatigue out of her mind. Her focus sharpened. Two dangerous chakras caught her attention. Despite the mud, Tori hurried her pace. She caught sight of a spooky girl child who's chakra matched her outsides - and the kage. Tori nearly slipped on mud in her surprise. Tori could read the mood and the mood wasn't good. So much for them being grateful! They look like they want to kill him!She glanced over at Shingen and wondered why it was that every time they were together she was always in the crossfire of some sort of fight. She was a pacifist dammit. Feel my killing intent, asshole. Stop putting me in these situations! KYA!

Tori moved her glare from Shingen's shoulders and put on her best smile as she faced the kemurikage. "Kemurikage-samas, it's an honor to finally meet you. Though I apologize for my state. We weren't expecting to meet you at the gates. I am Sunba Tori." She gave a respectful bow. She straightened and brightened her smile.

Techniques Used: Chakra Sensing
Stamina Remaining: 148

Just when they were about to leave, someone came up to the gates bold as brass and said they were here to see “Tane and Rumi.” The Kemurikage she corrected internally, immediately off put by this man’s seeming familiarity with their villages great leaders. Urunobi took the lead, though, and asked who exactly the man was. Before the man could finish responding, though, the two Smoke Shadows appeared, strolling passed the trio in an almost matronly fashion. She named him Nara Shikaji, and Ichita thought she remembered something about him blowing up Tanzaku town. Oh, another Konoha traitor? Their own village, even, was founded by a traitor from Konoha. She wondered what it was about those legendarily beautiful forests that made people want to leave.

The man continued to walk forward, and Ichita’s eyes narrowed as she moved her right hand to the katana on her hip. Hands up didn’t imply anything to the young girl – even she could utilize her katon techniques without her hands. Even as he knelt down and professed his sorrow, Ichita was more confused than anything. His words had little meaning to the girl – how Nara Shikaji thought that destroying Tanzaku town was something that would have helped their village a year prior was beyond her. Just another drunk, I’m sure. It was all but confirmed when he started spouting off that buddhist nonsense – saying that he was both Shikaji and Shingen. She fought the urge to ask him why he was a buddhist when the God of Shinobi had destroyed their home – why someone would pick a clearly losing religion was well beyond her.

There was another girl, too, that introduced herself as Sunba Tori. Ichita had no idea who the hell that was. With the Kemurikages here, she didn’t want to interrupt, so she did her best to grimace and look intimidating.

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Strength: Average
Constitution: Average
Stamina: Proficient
Reflexes: Epic
Coordination: Masterful
Wisdom: Average

It was a difficult concept to grasp their head around. As trained killers, Tane and Rumi had been conditioned from a much younger point in their shinobi career to be somewhat desensitized to death. Although the twins had not become so distant as to not feel for the loss of a life, it was ingrained in their minds that it was a natural, fundamental part of life's cycle. To that end, they had not delved into the philosophies of what became of one's being after they passed over into the afterlife. Simple had always been the name of the game-- dead was dead, that was all there was to it.

Hearing Shingen now claim to be tangible evidence of the truth, that there was more to one's journey after being slain, brought with it a much wider perspective for the twins to consider. The thought alone was enough to put pause to Tane's thoughts. She found herself for a short moment distracted, her gaze fixated on Shingen's bowed form. "The soul is eternal, huh?" She muttered somewhat quietly, pondering what implications that held. Did that apply to everyone that died? Does that mean that Saizo ..? The thought set her heart aflutter for a brief moment before she mentally told herself to snap out of the thought. There was a time and place to think that through.

"So your soul moved on from one body to the next? I hope you know how crazy you sound." Rumi commented with a slight crack of a smile, her voice light enough to hint at it being nothing more than a jest. Truth be told, the lack of concrete evidence beyond his word made it difficult to fully believe. "But, alright. I'll bite. Let's say for now that you are Shingen." She paused momentarily, turning her attention towards the next new arrival-- a girl following behind Shingen. Her face shifted, turning from a glare towards the knelt man into a friendly smile, introducing herself as Sunba Tori. She must have joined up with them when they raided Sunagakure. Rumi presumed, wondering what exactly the motive behind that fiasco was. "It's alright. We wouldn't expect your best appearances here, especially under the heavy rain." A light smile accompanied Tane's attempt to reassure her, "I'm Watari Tane, and this is my sister, Rumi." Rumi raised a hand, sliding it briefly through the air to introduce herself with a wave.

"Getting back to business ... If you really are Shingen, then don't let the results of that battle bother you. You did well, and gave up far more than we wanted you to give up." Of everyone that could have died that day-- themselves acting as bait to draw the enemy, or Team Saizo at the hands of the Kazekage and his squad-- Shingen was the one they hadn't expected. "Without your warning, we wouldn't have been ready. Things could have gone a lot worse. Please, consider your crimes atoned for." The destruction the village faced was only a fraction of the losses they could have taken. Without Shingen's warning, Kirigakure's battle-turning reinforcements would have been absent. Without Shingen's bravery and dedication to the cause, the Fox wouldn't have been lured away from the battle. With her present, Tane and Rumi were confident that they would have faced complete defeat.

"You can't be held responsible for what your villages did, anyway. There are other bastards to blame for that." Rumi spat the last sentence, the disdain for them carried in her tone. "You may rise." The scene replayed, following the pattern of the first time-- they weren't interested in taking his life. What good would his death serve them or their village?

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The conversation continued, and all Urunobi could really do was listen intently and wait for the order to kill. It was a rather boring process, a process the young jounin wish she could skip. Why talk when the enemy has already surrendered? What a waste of time. She wouldn't be surprised if talk was what happened initially during the first battle at the former Kemuri gates. Capture them first, interrogate them later - or - kill them where they stand. This is so lame. Her only visible eye rolled, looking down onto the wet surface before looking back up, towards the backs of the twin kage.

Another girl appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, causing the Uchiha to look up. Was she always there? Strange. A glance was shot towards Ichita once more, no reason in particular really. Urunobi was just growing impatient. "Can't he just die suddenly?" weird stuff was being talked about all of a sudden. The man claimed to be someone deceased, and very surprisingly both twins instantly believed him? Even for the child, it made zero sense. There was no evidence, just a wanted villainous man claiming to be a 'hero' so to speak. "I wonder if I could pretend to be someone else, they'd probably believe it." an interesting thought, not something she had expected from the twin leaders, considering all that had happened. Ichita held pretty much onto her blade, ready to jump into action on a moment's notice.

Much to Urunobi's dismay, that would probably not be the case.

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Irritated by the childish comment of Urunobi, Rumi felt the desire to turn around and scold her for her assumption. While Tane may have perhaps been more easily convinced, she was far from it. There was a distinct difference between believing the claim and being willing to play along for the time being, and the fact that the young Tokubetsu Jounin had seemingly missed that fact was an annoyance (Rumi also didn't take kindly to any sort of slight against her sister). It was only the situation at play in the moment that staved the scolding away. Instead, the twins' focus remained on Shingen, watching closely as he requested privacy before disclosing his purpose for coming.

There was a slight pause before the answer came, the twin Kage using that time to telepathically seek counsel with one another. Knowing her sister was skeptical of the situation, Tane sought her opinion on what their next play would be. What do you think, Rumi? There's too many unknown variables. It's a walk into the dark. The man was known for causing great destruction wherever he went-- taking him any further into the village was a risk. That's true, but ... I don't think he has hostile intention. If he's here, it might be worth our time to listen? It might be. We should handle this carefully. The twins' gazes turned briefly to look up towards Tori, considering her role in the equation before drawing their attention back towards Shingen to reply.

"I can't say that I'm convinced, but I will admit that your past record for attacking our enemies has me intrigued. There's a potential friend to be found in the enemy of our enemy. For that, we'll agree to meet with you." At that point, Tane lifted a finger to point over in Tori's position. "She, however, will remain here. I'm sure that you can understand; bringing someone of your reputation past the gates is already something problematic enough. I trust you two won't take issue with that?" Tane posed the question, looking to observe their reactions. The situation served as a way to perhaps gleam something from their intent-- whether or not they accepted the arrangement or showed hesitation and discomfort would be telling. Rumi turned her head over her shoulder, looking back towards the three younger kunoichi. "You three were heading out on a mission, right? Consider it delayed for a few minutes. We want you to supervise things here." Tane also turned briefly, offering one of her gentle smiles. "Urunobi-chan, don't let anyone else inside until we return, okay?"

The presence of Urunobi, Ichita, and Asuka at the gates served two important functions. First, it acted as a countermeasure in case there were others who hoped to seek entry while Shingen served as a distraction to the Kemurikages. Second, it placed them in the vicinity of Tori. That was Rumi's primary objective when she gave the order: If, by some chance, conflict did break out, the three Kemurigakure ninja could presumably subdue Tori, granting Kemurigakure leverage in the struggle.

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Asuka just watched as everything went down in front of her, she shrugged but her eyes remained interested. It wasn't much of the little girl could even understand, it was matters she slightly knew about but her knowledge of just everything isn't too. . .much at the second within the shinobi world. Being young and dumb has it perks as it didn't matter much to her about anything. She just looked up to the two older girls in front of her until the Kemurikages spoke to them and asked them to switch their missions, the young girl responded by tilting her head. "So. . .two missions now?" Asuka's eyes shifted from the Kemurikages to the woman to watch then the bigger slightly-deformed face man then back to the young girls who were taking her on this mission.

"Does this happen often?" She didn't know too much but she had to at least ask. It's so much already for this kid to be doing all at once, just becoming a genin and now two missions already. Her excitement died down some at this point, it was now a boring guard mission at this point. She sighed and looked at the lollipop stick that was left over from earlier as she met the girls. There was nothing entertaining her at this gate now. "So. . .whhhyyy did this have to happen?"

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Rumi suddenly stock Tori with them, and Ichita fought the urge to roll her eyes, but she nodded to the Kage and answered in the affirmative. Asuka’s asked a question, and Ichita looked over to her. ”Not that I’ve ever heard. It’s not every day a dead hero comes to your home,” she said, unsuccessfully keeping the scorn from the word dead when she did. There had been no heroes from Kemuri that day – that had been reserved for the Kirigakure shinobi.

She looked over to Tori. The woman had had a smile on her face, and Ichita sized her up. Pretty enough and while she didn’t seem particularly dangerous, Ichita’s own experiences with Urunobi were enough to know that appearances could be deceiving. She took her hand off her katana, still wary. ”So,” she said, addressing the woman. ”What’s it like traveling with a dead man?”

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Strength: Average
Constitution: Average
Stamina: Proficient
Reflexes: Epic
Coordination: Masterful
Wisdom: Average

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It was good to hear that Shingen was willing to comply with the request. With everything that had happened within the last year and some odd months, the twins couldn't be too careful-- their leader had been assassinated, their village destroyed. The extra precaution came at no visible cost, but ensured that they could feel more at ease while navigating through the situation. Plus, the rain still fell upon their village. Were there to be any more chakra signatures entering the vicinity, the twins would be aware.

"Well then, shall we be off?" Tane asked, turning back towards the village proper. She took the first steps, leading the group forward towards a place more private for the group to chat. Rumi gestured with her hand to wave Shingen forward, allowing him to go ahead of her. She wanted to take the rear, allowing her to keep an eye on the missing ninja in the off-chance that there was any sort of malicious intent. While she wasn't sure whether or not to believe his tale, it was that uncertainty that left no room for leaving themselves exposed. Hopefully, all of the caution would turn out unneeded.

~Exit~

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With the Kemurikages and the strange lad gone, all that remained was this...girl. Urunobi sighed. Deeply and very visible. All she wanted was to go kill some murderers. Now she had to babysit on this...girl,l. The Uchiha’s unnatural blue eyes scanned the defected Suna girl from head to toe and vice versa. Why did that guy give her money anyway? She wasn’t allowed to enter the village. Did he not hear that part? Aargh adults could be so dumb at times, believing some random ‘im two guys now!’ story and now this.

Fine. She’d entertain the idea. Ichita beat her to the punch but that wouldn’t stop the child from adding in her own 2 cents. “Or betraying your people?”

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Asuka watched as the deformed man had just left with the Kemurikages to go within the village, just leaving the three girls and the now apparent betrayer of their village. While Sunagakure wasn't on the side of them, there was something wrong with the thought of all these people who can't even stay loyal to their homes. 'As if they know loyalty at all. . .' Asuka looked down at the ground, feeling disappointed in the Kemurikages with their decision to listen to an insane man. Yet, she needed to keep that opinion to herself in these situation, she needed to remain loyal. But, Urunobi couldn't help herself from speaking up to this girl that they now needed to watch under their instructions of the Kemurikages, even questioning the same things of Asuka was thinking at the time. Her eyes went to her new found friends and the stranger, wondering what would happen next in front of these gates.

"U-Umm. . ." Asuka looked at Ichita and then Urunobi, they had the courage to even say something about the things that just bothered the small girl in her mind. "So we just sit here?" She did not even know what to say about these things bothering her in her mind but she wanted to at least talk to them.

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Tori’s shoulders slumped. How did she explain that she both intellectually believed Shingen but emotionally disbelieved. There was literally no other explanation that explained all of the moving pieces, no matter how improbable, her mind knew that. Emotionally she didn’t want it to be true because she didn’t want to think that Shingen would have let her think he was dead for so long. That Shingen, her best friend, now had a life outside of one she knew and was a part of. It hurt.

Tori glanced over at the girl with the dangerous chakra, Urunobi. “I’m not a shinobi.” Tori responded simply to the barb thrown at her. “So I’ve broken no oaths. My only oath is as a doctor, to do no harm, which I did not feel I could continue to uphold in Sunagakure.”

Feeling more composed after answering a barb she could answer, she looked to Ichita. “Uncomfortable. Honestly.” She answered blandly.