Yuki Kootta's Story

Kootta had found his current disguise to get into Iwagakure surprisingly effective. At first glance he'd appear to be a man into his nineties but was still fit enough to keep up with some of the younger folks despite having to lean rather heavily on a walking stick. His disguise even worked on paper after all Lu Hanshu had been a Chuunin of Iwa many years before who'd retired and left the village before working at a steel mill around the border of the country. Of course, the real Lu Honshu had died less than a day ago, he'd seen to that after getting every scrap of memory possible from the man. It wasn't enough for him to come and go as he pleased, village defenses had been beyond this particular man's knowledge but he managed to get it simply enough.

Kootta had been an infiltrator his entire ninja carrier so had little trouble flat acting his way through situations, but he'd found that the use of a very subtle genjutsu on himself made things that much easier. After all if he truly believed he was his target and only vaguely remembered who he really was, the lie was that much more credible. Such was the situation he was in, looking about the village like an old home he'd come back to see before he got too old to make the trip. Though at that point a voice rang out, triggering his hypnosis a bit. "Thank you, Tsubame-sama. I have to be off now though, I'll come visit you a little later." The title name rang a bell, but something about the way it was said also seemed familiar, but the young beauty in front of the tea stand didn't match either memory. There was a vague memory of a little girl he knew becoming a ninja of importance, and the speech pattern seemed reminiscent of that...but it couldn't be.

"Tsubame," Hanshu called out with his usual overly familiar tone despite a long absence. "This Lu Hanshu is old, but has he gotten so old that the young beauty from back then is wise woman before him." At that moment the full memory came through, "I've gotten old indeed then, for I'm not a babbling on man then the young lady before me must the daughter of little Rio." He had a warm smile on his face, remembering the old days, " Last I saw her, she was just a little thing, but the resemblance is frightening"

Riyo continued her walk down the street, meeting and greeting the villagers as she went. There was nothing out of the ordinary, or at least nothing that Riyo could sense or feel. Riyo passed by a street vendor selling steamed buns. Fresh.. and delicious. Should I? I don't really need to watch my weight.. let's do it. She thought to herself before purchasing a bun from the man. Though it was a plain white roll, Riyo still enjoyed it as much as she would have enjoyed some savory delicacy. Riyo ate away at it in her own unique way - peeling off small chunks and eating it as slowly as she could without seeming too weird to people who were observing her. The Tsuchikage continued her stroll until she reached the end of the street and found herself staring at one of the Stone Monuments erected throughout the village. This monument was no different from the others - a pebble placed upon an intricately designed pedestal, with more pebbles around it submerged in a small pool of water. It represented the Will of Stone, Iwagakure's nindo. She stood at the edge of the pool, looking with a sense of fascination at the monument.
((OOC: Kinda crappy, didn't know what to say.))



As the students themselves were sorted into groups, another official came by and handed each Jounin a slip of paper, detailing the team members and the designated meeting spot. When Mei received hers, the color drained from her face as she read over the names. The one that made her most nervous was "Uchiha, Ryu" - She was going to be a mentor to a Uchiha? The thought horrified her, but in a way such a pairing made sense. Who best to teach a Uchiha the way of the shinobi than another member of the Uchiha clan? Or at least someone with knowledge in the clan's dojutsu. She kept going, learning that she was teamed with a Hyuga as well - a child prodigy that she had heard about multiple times from her peers. It was commonly said in tales by the elders that the Sharingan somehow was derived from the Byakugan, and though Mei never believed such a tale, perhaps this pairing would change her mind. The next name was slightly more shocking - a Kaguya? She had only heard about the Kaguya clan from textbooks. The clan was from the Hidden Mist, capable of a Kekkei Genkai that allowed them to use their own bones as weapons. They were fierce taijutsu fighters, but after the death of Kimmimaro it was believed that the clan had gone extinct. This certainly wasn't true as the clan is back and thriving now, but Mei expected the Kaguya to have returned home to Kiri. However, even if she seemed to be a 'foreigner' of sorts, that didn't mean Mei was going to treat Ken any differently.

After reading that she was assigned to meet them in Room six, Mei turned, locking eyes with Klin and giving her a look that seemed to say 'follow me'. At that, Mei weaved through the crowd, emerging at the other end just in time to see her group leave into the halls. She couldn't help but to wonder what the Gennin would think after seeing that their Sensei was going to be the girl who was famous throughout Konoha for constantly having to go to the hospital. Perhaps they wouldn't even know that Mei had been sick for most of her life. She headed out into the halls, waiting for Klin to catch up before heading towards her meeting spot.

When she finally arrived at the room, Mei found the kids talking amongst themselves already. She smiled to them. "Well, looks like you three are going to be under my care for the next two or more years... I'm glad to see that you're all getting along. My name is Mei, and yes.." She said as she held the back of her hands up to show the Uchiha Clan crest that was printed on the back of her gloves. "... I, like Ryu, am part of the Uchiha Clan. But don't think that means I'm going to go easy on you, Ryu." She added, looking straight at him with an 'i'm not kidding' kind of look in her eyes. "I'm going to be your sensei. Now, before we begin, does anybody have any questions?"

((Fortune, I hope you don't mind that I'm pushing your character along. I don't want to just leave her in the middle of nowhere :P))

Kootta realized when the hypnosis that formed the old man began jabbering that he'd never get the information he wanted. Since the old fool was bent on merely talking and reminiscing about the old days, breaking the jutsu himself and continuing would be dangerous under the current situation. So he forced a false memory of an appointment into the facade and politely left. When he was free, he made his way out of the village, this disguise would not be used a second time. He kept traveling until he was far away from the village, it was only then that he spoke again. " It would appear that your speed should never be underestimated Takezo. Not only did you collect your prize, you even beat me back here."

He shrugged out of his disguise as he spoke, his giant of a team mate stepping out of the shadows carrying the body of the crime lord he'd chosen to pick up. "At any rate, my infiltration was a failure, I ran into a woman with a monstrous amount of chakra. The old man then began to babble, I had to make a tactful retreat or waste time talking about his old days."

"Since we have one success I suggest we head to the Land of Honey for the next meeting, after all a prosperous country such as that would never expect an organization like Akatsuki to use it as a temporary meeting place. My compliments to whoever came up with the idea." The current Akatsuki was quite scattered, this would be the first time he'd attended a meeting of more than two members. As it was, this should be rather interesting.

After Takezo had dropped off the money he went straight to work. He released his seal, turning himself into plasma for one brief second while he moved to Iwa in his accelerated form. Every thing seemed so slow when he was in that form as he was almost instantly to his destination. There he waited for Kootta just outside of Iwa. The village was too low to the ground for his taste. The other part to his distaste to the village was probably because it was made out of rock instead of wood or clay. That meant he could not melt it though he could still easily wipe out enough organic life. When Kootta came out he gave a short nod towards the comment about the Land of Honey.

As they walked and were eventually out of sight from the village, Takezo put his Akatsuki robes back on. They were the symbol of the infamous group so he thought the robes should be worn with pride. "Say. Do you have any idea what we will be doing next after the meeting? Personally I want to raze a village to the ground. I want to here the roar of battle and the clatter of weapons once again." He told Kootta. He was sick of waiting endlessly without any challenge. Because of the damned Alliance war was rare among even the smaller countries so nobody hired mercenaries very much anymore. What they really needed was to start a war.

Mumoichu was waiting up ahead of the other two and smoking a cigarette with a stupid grin on his face. "Ah if it isn't Yuki-tan and Take-chan, how've you guys been lately?" Tugging at his robe slightly he get up and followed behind them. "Hey Yuki-tan are we to just walk there? I mean sure I'm slower than you guys but even I have time that can't be wasted, strange isn't it?" Stretching slightly he finished his cigarette and threw it into a puddle as they walked on. "Oh how funny it is that we represent the three branches of a ninja... Taijutsu, Genjutsu, and Ninjutsu but who can complain? I'm a member of the esteemed Akatsuki wheeeee..." With this Mumoichu shut his mouth and walked on grinning.

"Hakui, The Black Scalpel is here! Thank you ever so much for your compliments about my genius. I figured that it would be the best place to plan our permanent location. Finally, when we're done with the place, I suggest we raze it to the ground, as a sign of things to come. The Akatsuki is back, gentlemen, and I think it is time we said 'hello.'"

"Hell, four of us here and we haven't even made it to the meeting ground. If I were a conceited upstart I'd think I'm special," Kootta couldn't keep himself from cracking the joke as the continued their unrushed journey to the Land of Honey. "Though I think I'll play the counter argument this time Hakui. After all that small nation may have deeper pockets than most anyone and never seen war, but messing with it too much will draw attention to ourselves. So a great leveling or conquest this round I must question for the sake of long term benefits." He wasn't disagreeing with Hakui, it was simply a game of Devil's Advocate, after all the previous Akatsuki fell in part because of a premature unveiling.

"Though I guess this is a great time to voice a couple points that I intended to voice at our meeting: an evaluation of the two man cell, sure it worked for the previous incarnation but we also saw it let them get hunted down. A classic speed versus power debate really. The second point being as you said a permanent base and my final point being how to we wish to go about. Our predecessors quickly got all the major nations on their tail, but used a minor village as a base. Should we use our own might to try breaking the major nations up front. Or shall we extort all the minor villages, they should be chaffing under the after effects of the Five Nation Shinobi Alliance. There should be plenty of hatred there for us to extort." Kootta slipped his gloves on before he finished his idea.

"We have power, and they have some resources and a lot of cover...since we have what they desperately need to level the field, I think an arrangement can be made."

"The smaller nations certainly hold quite a bit of power if they are united by even a loose alliance." Takezo spoke out, citing his opinions on the matter. "The larger nations would have numbers on their side though the former Akatsuki had a larger force than the Shinobi Alliance as well but we all know how that ended. We would have financial power on our side. With multiple villages that can serve as bases it would be harder for the Shinobi Alliance to uproot us. Also if we can manipulate the Daimyos of those nations then we will have true power on our side."

"Our next step would need to be to break up the Alliance so that war can break out. Peace is bad for our line work so the sooner a war breaks out, the sooner we can get the high paying jobs. Though we could always aim for the bingo book too. I would suggest sparking up a war between the Land of Lightning and the Land of Fire since they have the largest armies in the continent. We would have to disguise Akatsuki as a group of independent mercenaries."

"On the subject of disguise the matter of our pairings is vital. If rogue ninjas pair up in our clothing we will certainly be uprooted quickly. First of all we need to slim the robes down to something that would seem more symbolic, like a headband using copper in for the cloud. That would make us seem as mercenaries who appreciate the Akatsuki for the fact that the old group served as excellent soldiers for hire.
Then we need to go straight to individuals. We will not be able to back a massive punch but this will be as we gather strength. Unless a Kage faces one of us themselves I do not think we will have much to worry about." He finished.

Senshiro grinned as she came out of a forest moving faster than the eye could see. It was late and that would be a problem in a sense. Damnit was there a reason why the Land of Honey was so far, and why the hell do we have to meet there!? Senshiro questioned herself as she headed towards a path where four travelers were walking. She outlined them well, they weren't travelers, they were her partners.

"On the subject of disguise the matter of our pairings is vital. If rogue ninjas pair up in our clothing we will certainly be uprooted quickly. First of all we need to slim the robes down to something that would seem more symbolic, like a headband using copper in for the cloud. That would make us seem as mercenaries who appreciate the Akatsuki for the fact that the old group served as excellent soldiers for hire.
Then we need to go straight to individuals. We will not be able to back a massive punch but this will be as we gather strength. Unless a Kage faces one of us themselves I do not think we will have much to worry about." She heard Shinmen say.

"Well that sounds simple enough. But wheres the fun in that. Their's no blood shed or killing involved with that type of plan. As for the nations and their dealings, well I agree. Exploiting the village's could be our greates asset seeing as how we could take control of the minor countries, such as the Waterfall village. They have a reasonable amount of supplies and lets just say, when you spill their blood it looks like art." She said with a devilish smile and closed her Akatsuki robe, pulling her hair out and letting it fall onto her shoulders.

"Alright!" Mei sensei said after everyone had finished, "putting If there are no questions, then let's head out of here. Follow me!"

Mei headed out of the doors, followed closely by Seiji and the rest of the group. Seiji was literally shaking with anticipation. He was so excited for the first real day of training. Team Mei headed for one of the many training grounds scattered around the village. When they finlly got there, Mei-sensei turned to face them and spoke, "So I know you've all just come out of the Academy... but the real hard work begins right now. I want to know a little more about you guys though, so we'll have a little fun with this. Let's see who's the first to be able to lay a hand or a technique on me. You may all work individually, or work as a team, but the little competition begins now. Best of luck to you all!" And with that, Mei's eyes began to change from its normal shade of black to a glowing red color. The trademark three tomoe of her Sharingan could be seen as she activated the doujutsu. With it activated, Mei's reaction time and perception would be boosted dramatically. It would be interesting to see how the kids would respond to this challenge, and how they would work in order to accomplish the task. Seiji spoke up, "Guys, we should work together! It'll be the easiest way to win. All we have to do is touch her." Just as he was finished, however, Kanashia was no where to be seen. Great. "Alrighty then, Ryu, back me up! I'm a water technique user, if you've got lightning or ice, combo your attacks with me!" Seiji said, activating his Byakugan. Seiji was formulating a plan in his head, however, at that moment, Kanashi darted out from some brush and tossed a smoke bomb at Sensei's feet from behind her. There's the opening! Seiji used the body flicker technique to move back to where Ryu was and formed hand seals as quickly as he could, "Suiton: Tearing Torrent Technique!" Seiji raised his right hand and a ball of water the size of a basketball formed in it, floating an inch or so from his palm. Seiji aimed and fired his rapidly moving stream of water at the place where he could see Sensei's Chakra points through the smoke. Immediately after the water struck, Seiji moved to the place where he could see Mei-sensei's Chakra points, his gentle fist blazing.





Hakui listened in silence as the others spoke. "Hell, four of us here and we haven't even made it to the meeting ground. If I were a conceited upstart I'd think I'm special." Obviously cracking a joke at Hakui, who made a plan in the back of his head to murderize the silly old man. "[b]Though I think I'll play the counter argument this time Hakui. After all that small nation may have deeper pockets than most anyone and never seen war, but messing with it too much will draw attention to ourselves. So a great leveling or conquest this round I must question for the sake of long term benefits. Though I guess this is a great time to voice a couple points that I intended to voice at our meeting: an evaluation of the two man cell, sure it worked for the previous incarnation but we also saw it let them get hunted down. A classic speed versus power debate really. The second point being as you said a permanent base, and my final point being how to we wish to go about this. Our predecessors quickly got all the major nations on their tail, but used a minor village as a base. Should we use our own might to try breaking the major nations up front. Or shall we extort all the minor villages, they should be chaffing under the after effects of the Five Nation Shinobi Alliance. There should be plenty of hatred there for us to extort." Kootta slipped his gloves on before he finished his idea.

"We have power, and they have some resources and a lot of cover...since we have what they desperately need to level the field, I think an arrangement can be made." He wisely pointed out. It was brilliant. Then Takezo spoke.

"The smaller nations certainly hold quite a bit of power if they are united by even a loose alliance. The larger nations would have numbers on their side though the former Akatsuki had a larger force than the Shinobi Alliance as well but we all know how that ended. We would have financial power on our side. With multiple villages that can serve as bases it would be harder for the Shinobi Alliance to uproot us. Also if we can manipulate the Daimyos of those nations then we will have true power on our side." Hakui nodded in approval. They really were a smart bunch. Hakui had to hand it to them He was glad he was finally in a place with his equals.

"Our next step would need to be to break up the Alliance so that war can break out. Peace is bad for our line work so the sooner a war breaks out, the sooner we can get the high paying jobs. Though we could always aim for the bingo book too. I would suggest sparking up a war between the Land of Lightning and the Land of Fire since they have the largest armies in the continent. We would have to disguise Akatsuki as a group of independent mercenaries." Hakui nodded again, it was another master stroke, plus it would keep Konoha, who meddled quite thoroughly in the last Akatsuki's business, off of their tails for a while.

"On the subject of disguise the matter of our pairings is vital. If rogue ninjas pair up in our clothing we will certainly be uprooted quickly. First of all we need to slim the robes down to something that would seem more symbolic, like a headband using copper in for the cloud. That would make us seem as mercenaries who appreciate the Akatsuki for the fact that the old group served as excellent soldiers for hire. Then we need to go straight to individuals. We will not be able to back a massive punch but this will be as we gather strength. Unless a Kage faces one of us themselves I do not think we will have much to worry about." Takezo finished. Again, Hakui nodded silently. Take out the influential figures and watch them fall apart, as long as it was done quickly and quietly, there would be no mess and no Kages to fight. At that moment, another of their members join. The woman shinobi from Kumo.

"Well that sounds simple enough. But wheres the fun in that. There's no blood shed or killing involved with that type of plan. As for the nations and their dealings, well I agree. Exploiting the villages could be our greatest asset seeing as how we could take control of the minor countries, such as the Waterfall village. They have a reasonable amount of supplies and lets just say, when you spill their blood it looks like art." She said with a devilish smile and closed her Akatsuki robe, pulling her hair out and letting it fall onto her shoulders. Hakui pointed at her and directed his thoughts at the others, "I like her," he said. "We should do more of that. In all seriousness, these were excellent excellent suggestions my minio...partners! We should save them, however, until we reach the meeting. Onward!" Hakui finished with a fantastically manly pose, pointing into the distance. "With that, gentlemen, dear lady, let us be off." Hakui finished and took off towards their destination.

Staring blankly at everyone following along he was moving in and out of the conversation as it wasn't deemed "fun enough" for anything he tuned back in at a certain point. "On the subject of disguise the matter of our pairings is vital. If rogue ninjas pair up in our clothing we will certainly be uprooted quickly. First of all we need to slim the robes down to something that would seem more symbolic, like a headband using copper in for the cloud. That would make us seem as mercenaries who appreciate the Akatsuki for the fact that the old group served as excellent soldiers for hire. Then we need to go straight to individuals. We will not be able to back a massive punch but this will be as we gather strength. Unless a Kage faces one of us themselves I do not think we will have much to worry about."

Partners? really partners? I mean sure they can help with fighting but whenever I fight I just think of draining everyone in sight... Mumo thought to himself mulling it over he then felt a presence of a large chakra and had his attention focused again. Before letting loose a chakra absorption on it he noticed it was yet another member of the greeeeeat akatsuki, Senshiro.

"Well that sounds simple enough. But where's the fun in that. There's no blood shed or killing involved with that type of plan. As for the nations and their dealings, well I agree. Exploiting the villages could be our greatest asset seeing as how we could take control of the minor countries, such as the Waterfall village. They have a reasonable amount of supplies and lets just say, when you spill their blood it looks like art." Laughing to himself he spoke softly to himself, "Killing people? I think I found my partner..." shaking it off he heard Hakui next.

"We should do more of that. In all seriousness, these were excellent excellent suggestions my minio...partners! We should save them, however, until we reach the meeting. Onward!" "With that, gentlemen, dear lady, let us be off." Slightly bewildered at how he suddenly ran off he looked to Senshiro, "Hey Sen-chan next time you try running in here at your 'high speed' to show off I will drain you I mean it's almost an instinct and I wouldn't want a pretty girl like you getting hurt now would I?" Saying this and smirking he silently followed after the overzealous Hakui whistling a mangled tune of an old child's lullaby.

Senshiro turned her head as she heard Hakui state, "I like her," . She laughed and continued towards their destination. Sure the Land of Honey was a small village, but it had countless acess routes to where they would have to go. Not to mention the amount of travelers that passed through their. Sen smiled as the thought ran through her head.
But looked at Hakui when he spoke.

Laughing to himself he spoke softly to himself, "Killing people? I think I found my partner..." shaking it off he heard Hakui next

"We should do more of that. In all seriousness, these were excellent excellent suggestions my minio...partners! We should save them, however, until we reach the meeting. Onward!" "With that, gentlemen, dear lady, let us be off." Slightly bewildered at how he suddenly ran off he looked to Senshiro, "Hey Sen-chan next time you try running in here at your 'high speed' to show off I will drain you I mean it's almost an instinct and I wouldn't want a pretty girl like you getting hurt now would I?" Saying this and smirking he silently followed after the overzealous Hakui whistling a mangled tune of an old child's lullaby.

Sen looked at Mumoichu for a second before bursting out laughing. "I'm sorry Mumo-san did you say that you would drain me? Ok and let's be real, your not the only person who can drain someone's chakra around here. But your right, I wouldn't want to spill that prescious blood of yours. One day I will but that day isn't anytime soon." Senshiro added.

"So question, about these pairings now. Is it mandatory to have a partner or would it be like a request of sorts?" She looked at Mumoichu and Yuki as she kept her pacing fairly well with the other members.

Takezo was watching the others speak as they all walked. Senshiro was much too eager for battle though he was the same when he was young. He too wished to crush any foe that stood in his way, with awesome might. It was not until he was delivered a truly devastating defeat where he settled down and learned to become much more patient. The previous generation of Akatsuki was defeated due to their lack of patient as well as the fact that they were not spread mout enough. After all in order to kill an Akatsuki member one would need to kill two at a time.

He walked between Yakurei and Senshiro. "The partners will be discussed further once we are at the meeting point. The issue is whether or not we even need to carry out our missions with partners." He told Senshiro before he continued to his next point. "Now I do want a cat fight between you two. The last thing we need are two members hostile towards one another. If we do still have a two man cell then I will personally make sure to it that you two stay as far away from each other as possible." He told them still walking at his constant pace.

"For some reason the lot of you going on like this makes me feel old," Kootta sighed as he continued walking. He wasn't talking to anyone in particular when he said that but it was his honest opinion. In all truth, he was also getting tired of the extended walk. After all with so many members present already, travel was becoming a flat waste of time. "For situations like this a seal on all of us for summons would be useful. That way a gathering is as simple as using a damn summon scroll and meeting up would be much simpler."

The opportunity to simply chat with each other would be fine every once in a while, but at the moment they had much bigger priorities. "After all, while war makes good business... it also provides great opportunities for things like profit, kinjutsu, domination or simply gathering Kekkei Genkai and secret techniques of all sorts.So without a doubt, breaking the Alliance and starting a war is a must. Question is, which is our biggest interest?" He cut to the chase, after all there was no way things could hold out if there wasn't a common goal.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but to me it doesn't seem too much aim for it all. It's simply a matter of planning and careful execution." There was no denying he'd always been an ambitious man, after all his nature always said 'why settle?'. It was a bold move, revealing something so intimate about himself to this current group. But he figured his aim offered the best option for cohesion.

"Yuki-tan if you want us to calm down I guess I'll comply just because of the fact your chakra tastes so unique." Pulling his hood over his face grabbed a pebble and started dancing it in his palm. "But as for the alliance breaking... I'd say we hit places here and there at set intervals, it doesn't sound fun buuut the end effect would justify this lack of entertainment. I'd say start with the West where we are then hit the East doubling back to a midpoint to hit in that order. From there I don't care because it just doesn't sound fun." tugging at his Akatsuki robes he turned to Kootta again. "But Yuki-taaaaan one last thing, if we were to use scrolls or even mass projection jutsu it just wouldn't be fun hanging out like this would it? It'd just seem like work to me."

"My suggestion towards that would first kill various anbu from the five great nations. That way we can use proper disguises when goin out for sabotage missions. I know from experience that what the nations are the most paranoid about is the protection of their Daimyos. Perhaps if we can assassinate a few we could incite a war, preferably with either the Land of Lightning or the Land of Fire as the antagonist. After all they do have the strongest military might" He spoke to the party in general.

"Once we do that our option of missions would be high. Most likely B missions and up. The assassination of a Kage is always key and nations will always try to rid the other side's jinjiriki." He finished on that note and picked up his pace a bit more. He had wished that everybody had just met a the meeting point instead of on the road.

"Watch your tongue child or I'll take it from you. There's a large difference between familiarity and disrespect, referring to one's senior as chan is already unforgivably rude. The fact you insist on talking like a baby as well makes it only more so." Kootta interjected at Mumoichi.. The younger man's style of talking quite frankly pissed him the fuck off.

"Furthermore both of you fail to account for political maneuvering in your idea. There isn't a nation that'd be caught dead being so incompetent as to use ANBU to assassinate another Daimos. As for Jinchuuriki, and Kage: yes they are prime targets but they're also incredibly loud targets. If you account for political maneuvering, we'd have to use pieces seven steps distant from affiliation to a Nation to arouse suspicion and then do the job ourselves...no witnesses. But that literal statement is still too blunt, war is politics and politics involves the kind of subtlety of a masterful genjutsu trap."

As in infiltrator, Kootta had quickly learned the importance of political maneuverings and the importance of those microscopicly fine details. Granted ANBU allowed for great use in things required for this level of political intrigue, but that was getting ahead of things at the moment.

'I didn't think we were supposed to meet up until we reached the city, but there's five of them right there. May as well join the party.' Joruri was observing the party from a safe distance trying to determine that they were in fact the new Akatsuki he was so bent on assisting. Walking up from the side and behind he calls out. "Hey guys! Fancy meeting you here! Joruri at your service. It's nice to finally meet all of you in person. Those silly projections hardly do you all justice. Your much more scary in person."

Staring at Joruri feigning hurt he turned to the new face. "You think I'm scary? well that's just not right I mean I'm in no way scary I'm just your everyday normal rogue ninja I mean sure there's the fact I have different colored eyes but that's about it really. I mean killing people is a hobby sure but scary? I think not sir." Walking up to the new guy he looked him over for a bit. "Hmm... hey Yuki-taa.... Kootta what do you make of him? I don't see anything special of this guy at all he just seems bleh to me if you get what I'm saying."
Pulling out another cigarette he lit and huffed a long drag from it and pointed it at Joruri. "Didn't we tell you to meet up at the city anyway? your initiation to the Akatsuki was supposed to happen there not now. And besides if you're going to wear your Akatsuki robes wear them right like I do!" Brushing his robes he threw his hood over his face. "See? this is how you do it, it keeps the face covered so that others can't recognize your face, albeit I don't like that it's Kootta's orders... has to do with keeping a low profile until further notice or something I never really cared enough to listen but having my tongue cut out doesn't really suit me much." Saying this he took off down the road towards the town.

Takezo was thinking possible scenarios of how each member of the party would die. It kept going back to Yakurei. It seemed that man, who seemed to have the mind of a small child who's only word known is me, had a passion for trying to start pissing contests. He has managed to piss off three members in less than a half hour and was aiming to make yet another potential ally an enemy. The Akatsuki could never become powerful again with such a mentally incapable member in it's midst. He looked over to the newest member to join the group on the trail.

"He's a puppeteer Yakurie. The fact that he is with us states that he is the best at what he does." He said before Yakurei sped his pace up. Takezo sighed as he was beginning to gain a headache from all these young and ignorant ninjas. He didn't bother with the hood. After all it wasn't like they were actually trying to conceal themselves since the robes gave it away in the first place as well as the large group that they were in. "So tell me Joruri, how would you approach combating an enemy. Let's say an anbu." He asked the young puppeteer.

"He's a puppeteer, so like myself his battle methods are best kept as a surprise." Kootta decided to put in his two cents, "besides puppets are also for show. Asking in advanced seems like it'd ruin the show, Mumo, stop and think...does this strike you as an organization that'd waste a form projection jutsu on someone who hasn't even been initiated?" Kootta had grown tired of wasting time on stupid little things and stopped walking.

"Forget the Land of Honey we'll just hold the damn meeting right here since we have everyone." Fortunately, he didn't need to waste time on hand seal for his kekkei genkai since he'd spent virtually all his time mastering it. The relative parts he took the time to learn later, a massive dome of ice form around himself and the other members of Akatsuki. Sadly since he was doing his full trap on top of the rain barrier, he couldn't shorten the number of hand signs. That being said he still performed the seals for all four of the parts fast enough for conversation to continue normally, though it annoyed him. After all he could perform the seals for just the rain itself fast enough that most ninja wouldn't even notice his arms moved.

Of course a sharp eye chuunin or any Jounin could still catch the movements, maybe even read the seals. So to compensate, he had the sleeves of his uniform overly large to allow him to form seals inside the sleeves with ease. "Ninja Art: Threefold Rain Tiger Barrier Trap," he explained as a heavy rain began to fall on the outside of the ice dome. "I'm aware of anything that disrupts the fall of the rain and get an approximation of the strength of those it touches. Furthermore it'll trap those inside allowing for quick clean up. Naturally the more disruptions there are to the rain, the less accurate it is. But since we're in the middle of wide and flat nowhere, it should be fine." He didn't explain how it worked beyond that, there was no need for them to know that there was a visual, sound and touch genjutsu infused in each of the aspects of the rain: the pattern it fell,the sound of if touching down and the feel of water on the skin. The ice barrier was designed to even be sound proof and the dome itself interfered with the other two parts. With that precaution, everyone was safe from the effects of his barrier.

"I guess the first order of business is our goal, otherwise we have no reason to work together."