Temple Trials {Mission}

Age : 28 Posts : 3640

Pre Mission Details...

The Mission:

Approved Mission Link

Age : 28 Posts : 3640

Starting Theme:

Kimiko:

Morning. One of Katsumi Kimiko’s most favourite parts of the day. She was used to being an early riser from the time she spent with her father in the wilderness when the sun used to wake her up at just gone 5AM. She still hadn’t exactly gotten out of this habit, despite being back in Konoha and living in a place of her own now. Her alarm clock sounded at just gone 6, and instead of groaning and punching it like she would have done about three years ago, she quietly switched it off and lay in bed with a smile on her face while she gazed up at the ceiling. Sunlight seeped in through the blinds over her bedroom window, and the sound of a cheerful number of birds chirping to one another woke her up completely. She yawned and stretched, sitting up in bed and pushing the duvet back while she rubbed her eyes to remove the sleep that was still there. Today was going to be a good day, she could just feel it in her bones.

Upon rising from bed, she bustled about her room making the bed, opening the blinds and window, and went about getting ready for the day. She showered to freshen herself up, and came back to her bedroom to choose an outfit that she would wear. As with most girls of her age, this task was always a challenge. She scanned through her entire wardrobe’s contents for well over fifteen minutes before picking out a white long-sleeved dress that resembled a blazer in its style. It had a starched collar with a blue ribbon-like tie attached, and two red stripes running down each sleeve. It clinched in at the waist with a white belt and flared out slightly to her mid-thighs. Emblazoned on the front were shiny silver buttons, a row straight down to where the belt highlighted her small waist. She liked this dress; it was both practical and aesthetically pleasing. She chose a pair of sturdy black ankle boots to go with the dress, and sat down in front of her dressing table to tend to her hair. After a lot of deliberation and frowns of disapproval, she decided on tying her hair up in a somewhat high ponytail with a large green ribbon. Strands of her black locks framed her face and her fringe was pushed back a little bit with a couple of hair grips, and she decided that this look was okay. She smiled at her reflection in the mirror, and went to get some breakfast.

As she opened the window in the kitchenette, a little bundle of brown feathers hurtled into the room carrying something on its back. “Good morning, Susu.” Kimiko laughed as she plucked the scroll from out of the black letter tube that was attached to his back. Now that she was back into the swing of village life, Susu was acting as a carrier pigeon between here and the Administration Building to check up and see if there were any missions that needed completion. Apparently today was Kimiko’s lucky day. She unrolled the familiar style of mission scroll that she was so used to and read its contents while preparing a bowl of porridge for her to eat. The mission was B-Ranked, and required her to travel to the Ninja Monk Temple in the Fire Country due to the monks’ desires to test their skills. This was certainly an interesting type of mission, and Kimiko could help but feel excited about it. Her initial feeling when she woke up about today being a good day had indeed been correct. She finished making the porridge and ate it as quickly as she could, already going through mission preparations in her head while she did so. She would need her weapons pouches, her trusted fan and her Chuunin flak jacket… that was a point… where had she put it?... she shoved the rest of her porridge to a very grateful Susu and dashed from the room to try and find her flak jacket. “Ugh, I only used it recently! Where is it?!” She questioned madly, running from room to room in her little apartment. She received a few knocks from below thanks to her moody neighbour, Yoma Chinatsu. That old lady had caused her no end of problems since Kimiko had moved in here. She cursed inwardly and slowed down a little as not to make too much noise, and searched like that.

Thankfully, she found her flak jacket in the airing cupboard, where she put her washed clothing to dry. She pulled it on and dusted it down proudly; wearing this put a smile straight on her face. She went back to her bedroom and pulled on a pair of fishnet shorts to wear under her dress, and tied bandages around her knees. She strapped her kunai pouch to her upper left thigh along with some bandaging underneath it. With that, she attached both weaponry packs around her waist and adjusted them so that they sat comfortably on her hips criss-crossing one another, and went on yet another journey to find Kagerou, her fan. That was actually much easier to find; she had left the strap hooked on the back of her front door and slung it over her left shoulder so that the black case was at an angle on her back. Last, but certainly not least, was her Konohagakure forehead protector that she tied in her hair as a headband, the silver plate gleaming in amongst a sea of black.

By this time it was almost 8AM, and about time for Kimiko to leave her apartment. She took the bowl of porridge away from Susu and dumped it in the sink, opening the kitchenette window a little wider for him so he could easily get in and out. “See you later, Susu.” She said fondly to the little messenger falcon, stroking the feathers on his head and heading for the door. Because she had always found that keys managed to escape her all the time, she had invested in a set of key hooks that were strategically placed just beside the door. She unhooked her set of house keys and headed out, locking the door behind her. She secured the keys in one of her weapons pouches’ spare pockets, and made her way out of the apartment complex that she lived in. It was conveniently located right in the centre of the village, so she could get to many places in about the same amount of time. Instead of going to do some shopping, or setting off to see the Memorial Stone, or paying a visit to her father in the Housing District, she was bound for the village gates so that she could get to The Fire Country, where her mission would begin.

Age : 28 Posts : 3640

Mid Theme:

Kimiko had heard about the Ninja Monks that inhabited The Fire Country, but had never seen them or know much about them what-so-ever. All she knew was that they must be pretty secretive to train in seclusion in a temple away from civilisation, but that was only from her deduction. She was yet to actually meet them, and as such didn’t want to make any rash decisions based on her pre-emptive thoughts. It didn’t take very long to travel to their ‘humble abode’ that took form in one of the biggest temples she had ever seen in her whole life. Not only that, but with the huge temple came a monstrous amount of steps to traverse. She literally groaned upon trudging to the first step, and sighed to herself as she began her ascent to the top. So far, monks were sliding down in her opinion for having such an un-necessary amount of stairs to climb.

She reached the top a blithering wreck of exhaustion, trying to catch her breath and failing as she doubled over and placed her hands on her knees while she tried to steady her breathing. “Goodness… gracious…” She panted as she started for the temple’s large gates with The Fire Country symbol in the centre. Two golden statues stood either side of the gates depicting monks with wings of some sort. She stood in front of the gates, her breath still trying to find its way into her lungs as quickly as possible as she knocked hard on the gates in the hope that it would be heard. True to her expectation, the sound of the gates’ inside locking mechanism opening and the gates themselves starting to swing inwards were welcome sounds and sights. She was met by a short middle-aged man with a shaved head and ironically thick black eyebrows. “Ah, you must be from Konohagakure no Sato.” The man said, stepping forward and placing both hands inside his long sleeves, bowing lowly in front of Kimiko. “My name is Maou, one of the elder Monks here at the temple. And what might your name be?” He asked respectfully, his dark eyes boring into her own. She smiled and curtsied slightly to return the pleasantries, and said, “I’m Katsumi Kimiko. But please, call me Kimi.” Her shortened name was the one that she would always rather be addressed as, and she asked people to do so upon first meeting them. “Of course, Kimi-san. Follow me and we shall begin your mission.” Maou said with a slight smile, removing one of his hands from his sleeves and waving in the direction of the large temple. The grounds before the temple were kept very neatly; the zen gardens raked to perfection. All was silent as monks strolled along the grounds, minding their own business. Some meditated with the aid of the zen gardens, and some made their way to the lush gardens behind the temple to be one with nature. It was a very peaceful place; undisturbed from the outside world.

Maou pushed open one of the large oak doors that matched the size of a two story house by itself and offered for Kimiko to go first, following after her and slipping a large oak beam across the two doors. Inside, the temple’s sheer size made Kimiko audibly gasp in surprise. The ceilings were so high and ornately decorated with rich oak beams. The walls were painted white, and oak panels showed that they followed the traditional practises here. Most temples followed this decoration. All the floors were made from pale wood, and doors were of the traditional brown and white screen nature. From here there were three screens; one straight ahead, one to the left, and one to the right. Maou led the temple’s guest across the room and through the screen straight ahead into an even larger room that must function as the training place for the Monks here. The walls seemed visibly thicker here, as if to function as a soundproofing aid. Despite it being a training room, it was deathly silent here also. A group of older monks were gathered opposite Maou and Kimiko as they walked in; about five of them in total. Ten more monks were lined up beside them, five in each line as the pair walked up to face the older monks. These monks that were lined up facing Maou and Kimiko as they padded into the room were younger, possibly new and the ones wishing to receive a work-out from a shinobi to test their skills. She doubted that the older monks would be able to move much by the looks of them, but their appearance could of course be deceiving.

“My brethren, this is Katsumi Kimiko; the kunoichi who answered our mission request for a sparring test.” Maou announced to the monks in the room. A few mutterings went through the numbers of monks, young and old alike. “So whenever you’re ready… let us begin.”

Age : 28 Posts : 3640

Fight Theme:

The young monks who had been lined up opposite one another moved into a long line of ten in front of the older monks. The first one on the right-hand-side was ushered forward and stood in front of Kimiko, palms pressed together as he bowed respectfully to his opponent. “Whenever you are ready, sister Kimiko.” He said humbly. She smiled and tightened the ponytail in her hair, dusting down her clothing and flak jacket before pushing one leg back, and bringing both her arms out to her sides in a balanced ready position. “Hai.” She stated, reversing her palm and that had been facing outwards and beckoning for her opponent to come at her. He nodded and quickly started to fight, charging forwards with his dominant right arm out with his fist clenched in the aim to punch her. She sashayed backwards a few steps, dodging the punch and sending him briefly off balance, and she used that time to swiftly raise her right knee, landing a hard hit on his upper right arm as he tried to block the original direction of the strike at his gut. She spun round to the left and got to his blind side where she started to make a few hand seals for a jutsu. “Konoha no Hōkō - Konoha's Roar!” She called out, spitting forth a large lions head at her opponent. He was taken by surprise, and although he dodged it, it caught his left side and burnt away most of the robes he had at that area. After performing that technique, she lunged forward with a strong palm strike to his opposite shoulder, missing and having her wrist grabbed in a reversal. She was thrown away with the aim of her hitting the wall, but she caught herself and skidded along the wooden floor to use the momentum for her next attack. She stopped and flipped over forwards towards her target, landing behind him and punching the small of his back while pivoting her body, propping herself up with just one hand and swinging a powerful kick at his left side. The attacks had their desired effect as he was down from those strikes, and Kimiko was only very slightly out of breath. She grinned and straightened up, bowing and bringing her palms together respectfully and then making the same gesture she had done earlier so show that she was ready once more.

The battles continued in this fashion, but towards the end of the ten monks Kimiko was tiring. It was showing in her face and slowed movements, but she didn’t give up. She made a few hand seals in the midst of her seventh fight and called out, “Rion Henkan no Jutsu - Lion Transformation Technique!” This jutsu never failed to pull her out of tough spots, and with her heightened senses, reflexes, speed and strength, she was back up to her full game again. The monks all fought in different ways which made it hard to make a strategy to beat them in the same way, but she was working her way through them in a way that impressed the elder monks.

Her eighth fight was particularly difficult because this particular monk specialised in close combat along with Suiton that expelled her Katon jutsu, and Raiton which he used in conjunction with his Suiton techniques to provide a much harsher shock. So, dripping wet through and scorched, she puffed and panted while she slid away from another narrowly missed strike to the head which would have brought her down. She had to make a plan to beat this man. He was appearing rather arrogant; succeeding where most of his brethren had not. Although, he was injured from Kimiko’s claws and other physical strikes that had landed a hit. It was looking as though Fuuton jutsu was to be the way to go here, since that was strong against his Raiton jutsu. She waited, circling her opponent like a lion circled its prey, and was ready when her opponent came in with a strike. He performed a few hand seals and out shot a Raiton jutsu from his fingertips, aiming to scorch her with electric burns once again since she was already soaked to the skin. She leapt upwards to avoid it, and rapidly made her own hand seals. “Kamikaze - Hair Wind!” She shouted, releasing Wind chakra through her hands being pushed forwards forcefully. Four small tournedos ripped towards her opponent; one negating his Raiton jutsu, one boxing his left side, the other boxing his right side, and the other coming at him from behind. When she heard the ripping of her jutsu make impact, she made a couple of other hand seals and brought a hand to her mouth while she fell from the air. “Goukakyuu no Jutsu - Great Fireball Technique!” Aiming for the tournedos she had created, almost the whole room was engulfed by a flare of raging flames and howling winds. Kimiko landed cat-like on the ground, crouched and panting while she watched the aftermath of her jutsu fade away. As she had hoped, when the flames cleared, the monk was on the floor and that made her the victor. She grinned to herself and got back to her feet, pulling her hair over her shoulder and squeezing her soaked hair out onto the wooden ground.

The remaining two competitors weren’t as hard to defeat as the one before had been, and Kimiko had completed the mission. She had given the monks a work-out that tested their skills to the limits and given them chance to improve. Seeing a ninja from the outside world defeat them meant that they could improve to that standard and train some more against one another in preparation for the next shinobi who came to test them. Kimiko heaved a deep sigh of relief when her final battle was finished, and she placed a fist to her palm while she bowed to show that she was honoured by the strength she had seen today. The elder monks muttered amongst themselves, flashing the odd look at the teenage girl who stood before them patiently while they discussed something in private. Finally, they nodded their heads and Maou stepped forwards from the elder monks, placing his palms together and bowing before Kimiko. “Thank you so much, Kimi-san, for honouring us with your strength and training companionship. Your final opponent for the day, however, will be me.” He smiled kindly, preparing himself in a fight stance. Kimiko’s eyes visibly widened and she struggled to keep her composure while she sunk into her own fighting stance. “O-Of course, Maou-san.” She said, bowing and placing her palms together to show that she approved. What else could she do? She gulped quietly and narrowed her eyes on her new opponent, one of the temple elders.

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Age : 28 Posts : 3640

End Theme:

What the temple elder wanted to prove by facing off against Kimiko was unknown, but she would be stupid to decline his offer since her mission had to train against any monk who so wished to test their skills. Apparently Maou wanted to do just that. “Ladies first, dear.” He said calmly, not moving a muscle or an inch in any direction. Kimiko nodded her head in understanding, and launched herself from her standing position opposite the monk. She charged with an arm outstretched, going for a cross-body chop that should strike his chest if it was successful, but, as she had grimly suspected, it had been intercepted and stopped before she could even think any differently. He gripped her arm firmly, and threw her away as if he were simply batting a fly. But the impact that had launched her told her otherwise. She smashed against the far temple wall, creating an indentation that roughly matched her body as she pushed herself out of it. As a kunoichi, she knew that surrender was never an option, and she would fight until she had won or lost. That was the bottom line.

She started running again, this time with her arms behind her back in the stream-lined shinobi run to gather some momentum. Behind her back, she was making hand seals in preparation for something… she stopped midway before she could complete the jutsu and slipped behind her opponent, attempting to strike one of his blind spots. She was intercepted, of course, but this time she should hopefully land a hit. She completed her jutsu and in a poof of smoke behind Maou, another Kimiko bound both of the man’s arms behind his back in a vice-like grip. It was a Shadow Clone, of course. Kimiko slipped out of the grip that she had been held in when her clone took over, and elbowed his ribs hard in the process. He grunted slightly and a small smile touched his lips as she sensed Kimiko leap up into the air above him. Instead of going for an aerial strike like he expected her to, however, she switched places with her clone without him knowing, so now the clone was coming at him from an adjusted angle above him, kicking his chest and using its chakra substance to fall on top of him to make him stagger. Kimiko seized her chance, making a few more hand seals and breathed out a thick substance that soon covered the whole room. Just before Maou could recover and counterattack, Kimiko clicked her teeth and the room was engulfed in explosive flame. She leapt back and skidded across the ground to harness her momentum instead of wasting it, and her clone followed. It would come in handy for the next manoeuvre she had planned.

Maou emerged from the flames singed and a little taken aback, but otherwise his feathers weren’t really ruffled. Not yet, anyway. He was now disorientated between the two Kimikos, and an introduction to a third. Two circled around him and approached his blind spots, while one ran at him head on. He struck the Kimiko coming towards him in the chest, but to his surprise all it was met with was a cloud of smoke. He felt a painful slice across his back left-hand-side which was a strike from some sort of bladed weapon, and he found it to be a kunai which dropped to the floor. Both Kimikos had now fled, and before he could take any real notice of the kunai that dropped to the floor, he was engulfed once more in a ball of flame. While the smoke was clearing, the shadow clone Kimiko launched the real one high up into the air, so high that she was able to grab hold of one of the great beams keeping the ceiling up. She waited there, watching the proceedings with a silent determination in her eyes. Seeing only one Kimiko confused Maou, and he looked desperately for the other one, in the mean time the one he could see had charged at him and engaged in basic physical combat. As soon as the clone was dispelled and Maou was disorientated once more, Kimiko dropped from the ceiling and performed a string of hand seals complete with the slicing across her right thumb to summon out her strongest lion summon, Miwa. Both summoner and summon fell silently and prepared for their combination attack. The lioness spewed forth great streams of fire that made contact with their target, and Kimiko followed it up with a C-Ranked gale which was enough to alight the whole room in a massive blaze once more.

If you play with fire, you’re bound to get burned.

Kimiko and Miwa landed next to each other in exactly the same way; crouched like a cat, and they waited patiently for the flames to disperse. Maou was stood in the middle, swaying and trying to catch his breath in amongst the smoke. Finally, with a statement of, “Your strength is to be admired” he collapsed to the floor, and claimed Kimiko the victor.

~~~

When Maou awoke, he was greeted by the familiar black-haired girl that he had greeted that self same day. She was sat worriedly in a chair beside his bed, and he smiled at her as he turned over to meet her gaze. “Kimi-san, I would have thought you left hours ago.” He said quietly, sitting himself up and checking the burns that covered most of his body. Kimiko smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of her head a little in an embarrassed manner. “Well, I felt really bad for injuring you to the point where you passed out, so it was common courtesy to wait for you to wake up so I could apologise.” She said gently. Maou smiled even more; this girl had such compassion despite being a kunoichi, one trained to kill and only to kill. She was different. “I am honestly fine. You should journey home now, young one, but I’m sure that your services will be welcomed here again soon. You even put me through my paces, young one! We shall all learn valuable lessons from today.” He chuckled, reaching out a hand and squeezing one of Kimiko’s tight in his. The latter smiled and bowed her head, saying “Goodbye, Maou-sama.” With that, she left the room and found her way out to the front of the temple and was confronted once more with that mass of steps, at which a huge sweat drop appeared on the back of her head. “Great… looks like it’s gonna be a long journey home…”

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{Mission End}