Toma Uzumaki's Story

Toma Uzumaki was running. Running towards the Hokage's mansion. He jumped on a building. Then started running again. Running to jumping. He suddenly stopped and sat down cross-legged. Then, concentrating, a white outline was going around his eyes. He felt his incisors sharpen. Opening his eyes, Toma blasted from his spot, and started going faster than he usually would.

When he wasn't in Fox Sage mode, running on buildings usually took five to ten steps. In Sage mode it usually took one to three leaps. Looking up he saw the mansion. He jumped to another building, ran again, and jumped harder. To him, it felt like flying. He overshot where he was going to land, and hit the window. It cracked...then broke inwards. Toma was sent flying, and hit the ground and slid. He jumped up, pretty much fine. The Sage mode and his Kyuubi chakra healing him fast. "Sorry 'bout that..." he started, "Overshooting a jump has terrible consequences, but conquences are actually good things in disguise. Which could be a bad thing..."

Trailing off, Toma looked at who was present. The Hokage, an Uchiha he's seen before, and an Inuzuka he's also seen. "It feels...tense. What's up?" Toma asked after a few seconds.

Toma sensed he's seen everybody from Konoha. Well, probably not everyone, but most.

Kazu chuckled lightly as Mei elbowed him and then looked at Hokage. "I can help Mei and her team track and engage the target from multiple fronts with Mazaaki here." The little fox then made a yowl-like noise and jumped up onto the Hokage's desk and stared at him with some kind of animalistic determination before throwing his head back with a yipping noise. "Errrr, Mazaaki isn't going to take no as an answer." Kazu said and sighed. "The little guy is also mad that you threw a kunai at us." At that Mazaaki puffed up his fur and made a repeated growling noise. Kazu then giggled, "And he wants an apology."

Then Toma came crashing throw the window, Kazu jumped with a indignant yelping noise and Maza jumped around an angry bark and a snarl as the man stood up. Maza was an intelligent Ninkin and could care less if Toma was a Fox Sage apparently because he continued to snarl. Fur bristling as he stood on the desk. Kazu looked over and grumbled, recovering from his little yelp n' jump. "Dang it.... You made me mess my hair up!" He turned around and scoffed at Toma before running a hand through his fair and flattening it down, it seemed to stick up like a an animal's when he was startled or scared. He then sighed and shook his head. "You could have ripped my clothing with shattered glass too! And I just had it stitched!" Kazu seemed finished complaining because he slipped behind Mei and stared at Toma from over her shoulder, a slight angered growl still coming from him. This was becoming the quite the day. First he as a kunai thrown at him by the new Hokage, asked to join a mission by an old friend and then nearly flattened by some psychopathic Uzumaki! Life was certainly strange...

Watching the small little fox jump on his desk, first striking Shinri as a act of disrespect but then demising these thoughts as he listened to the two ninja talk about their plan rubbing the back of the fox . With Kazu being a very good tracker they would be able to accoplish the task they've been given with ease, also taking into account Mei's request to bring in another clan member to assist the two of them on the mission. Glaring at Mei shaking his head looking at her seriously "No, I must decline your request Mana is only a chuunin he has no place doing a mission that could have him killed." Shinri wondered why she even suggested such a young boy, from reports Mana was shown to be a good ninja but nothing over the top or special. "I'm sorry for snapping earlier, you could say I am stressed with all this work." Pausing pulling his cloak over his face as Toma bursted through the window sending glass all over the place, pulling another kunai from his side Shinri broke up the shards into smaller harmless pieces as they flew towards him.

Throwing his Kunai into the floor as he rubbed his face attempting to not lash out at the fox sage, "Listen sage or not you use the door like everyone else would, what if I thought you were a enemy ninja? You have to think before you act and stop being so brass." Shinri scolded him, as he dusted the shards of broken glass off of his shoulders. Shinri was starting to lose his temper, although he was the new Hokage he felt widely disrespected by the outcome of today someone snooping around the office and another crashing through a window which now needed to be repaired. He hoped by the end of the meeting, they would be off on this mission and not wasting any more time. Sitting back in his chair Shinri addressed all of them, " Mei, Kazu, and Maza are being assigned to a mission very beneficial to the safety of our village since you're here I am putting you on as well as the team leader due to rank and seniority. When this is over you are to report back to me on the missions outcome and what you have found, Mei has all the documents you need. They will also fill you in on whats going on, this is not a request Toma but an order." Shinri told them yawning and pulling out other paperwork he needed to attend to, peering up at them if they needed to ask any other questions.

"Yessir," Toma said a bit cockily, "But you can't get mad at my amazing power. I just overshot. You should get someone to reinforce that glass. A tiny bit to fragile. An enemy attack just might be successful. Do your work some other place. With that window gone, of course an accident, I don't want you to die or become wounded."

He turned and walked towards the door. "Okay, let's go everybody. We'll talk outside this room. I want to get going soon...after I hear what the mission is about," he said, then in a whisper to Mei and Kazuhiko, "We're going to have to by him a bowl of ramen when we get back, alright? The tensivities are going around. Including me. And I'm not really tense."

He walked outside and waited for them to come.

As the three exited the room, Kazu put on an innocent face and then tugged at Mei's arm. "I need to errr... Retrieve something. Meet me at the gate and tell the fool about our mission." With that quick explanation, he grinned very sly like and poked her arm. "You can consider this payback for kicking me while we cuddled on that mission in the cold cold woods." He was completely joking around, and just being plain flirty. Kazu then gave them a brief but feminine wave with his hand before jogging down the hallway and dodging a couple Jonin that were passing by before running out the main door and into the village.

To his convenience, Tadashi was right outside. He grinned to himself, this would be a perfect mission to drag a Genin on! Not really but he had some ideas about Tadashi, he had always show special interest in training the young Senju. His family were supposed to have ancestral roots in the wood release technique and he wondered if Tadashi too carried the ability within his body. And this is were Kazu's more reckless side took over, he somehow concocted the most logical way to test these theories would be in a life or death situation.

Walking over to the boy he waved. "Glad you came to me... I want you to come along on a mission with me... But you can't tell anyone! Especially your parents or the Hokage!" Once he was within whispering distance. "I'm on a task to take out or capture a Rouge Uchiha and I decided to take you along... You need more hands on experience in the field. Now if Mei or Toma ask why you've come along just shrug it off, I'll take any possible heat for this. Just head towards the gate!" He then patted Tadashi on the shoulder and turned around to wait for Mei and Toma. Mazaaki climbing up on his shoulder, he knew he was going to get his head chewed off for this but it hardly bothered him. He had been in trouble before, he could wiggle out of it again.

Once they were dismissed, Mei left the room with the other three and stood outside the Hokage's door. Though her request for Mana to be part of the team was rejected, she understood what the Hokage was basing his judgement on. It is true - Mana is only a Chunin, and on a mission like this, perhaps he didn't have enough skill to properly assist in the team. One less Uchiha, but at least she still had a tracker and gained an Uzumaki. Not only that, Toma was the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, and also a sage. Where Mei lacked in physical prowess, he would probably make up for. Their team was perfection, or at least that's how Mei viewed it.

When Kazu left, Mei grinned and stuck her tongue out at him before turning to Toma. "Let's make our way to the gate while I debrief you." She suggested before beginning a leisurely stroll towards the outside of the building. "So we're hunting a man by the name of Karuto Uchiha.. we have reason to suspect that he was the one who assassinated the former Hokage, and though Shinri was originally tasked to assassinate him before becoming the Hokage, he is obviously unable to do so now with the duties he has." She began before handing Toma the files that not only summarized the mission, but had pictures of the man in question.

"He played a role in the planning of a second rebellion against the Hokage, according to what Shinri told me. However, all those records were lost after Karuto's room. where these files were, was burnt down. He'll definitely be a tough one to track, and I predict that if we do encounter him, bringing him back will be a challenge even for the three of us. But with your power and Kazu's tracking ability, I have confidence that we will be able to do it."

Tadashi waved back to Kazu when he saw him but before he could speak with him Kazu motioned him to follow. Tadashi wasn't as fast as Kazu but he followed not too far behind. Once he caught up to him he saw Kazu performing his Human Beast Clone technique. Now why would he use that? Then Kazu yelled at him telling him to go find Mei and Toma.

"OH Yeah!" "I'll go find them!" Tadashi shouted.

Tadashi then took off looking for them. He wasn't sure where they would be but he took a guess. Tadashi made a rapid sprint all the way back at the Hokage's Mansion where he hoped the others were still there. When he arrived he managed to spot them walking down the street talking. He jumped down from the rooftops and ran before Mei and Toma as he looked up to them.

"Mei, Toma!" Tadashi yelled.

"There's trouble at the hospital!" "Kazuhiko sensei took a couple of injured ninja there and told me to find you!" Tadashi spoke all in one sentence. Afterwards he was breathing heavily.

Tadashi made one last inhale as he gained his composure. He wasn't sure what to do next. He did as he was told and figured the two shinobi would rush to the hospital, perhaps he should follow them as to make things more convenient when they do leave. He knew where the Konoha Hospital was located but he waited for Toma and Mei to leave then he would follow them. He hoped the shinobi that Kazu took with him were alright.

Trouble at the hospital? Wouldn't something like that be more of a concern for the medics and nurses and not regular shinobi like Mei and Toma? But she could sense the urgency in Tadashi's voice, and the very fact that Kazu himself would send the boy over to them and tell them something like this made it evident to her that something bad had happened, and it was something that had a significant impact on Mei in some way, shape or form. She turned to Toma, giving him a look as if she were telling him to head to the hospital right away before nodding to Tadashi and taking off.

Mei launched herself upwards, landing softly on the roof of a building before sprinting in the direction of the hospital. Normally, Mei would travel through the streets, but in situations where time was of the essence, travelling on the rooftops meant avoiding people in the busy streets. So long as she kept her balance, it would be fine. Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, Mei expertly navigated around for the shortest route to the hospital - a place she knew very well, and a place she swore never to return to (as a patient) after she was finally strong enough to leave - and all the while attempting to guess what had happened, and who was involved.

When she arrived, Mei rushed past the doors of the hospital and headed directly to the front desk. "Any new arrivals..? Brought in by Kazu.. I don't know their physical descriptions but they should have arrived here by now." She said to the clerk, a middle-aged woman in a standard nurses uniform with hair tied up in a neat bun.

Mazaaki, who was carrying Mana in his human form backed away as soon as he lost grip and the Uchiha had gotten away from him for a bit. However, Kazu knew his ninkin could handle the situation so he carried on with Miza in his arms and a renewed urgency in his steps. Soon he felt her moving in his arms and he looked at her, slowing down for a bit to make sure she wouldn't panic. Then the gasped words left her mouth."Maru..Nara....Ri..Sensei..dead. He could hardly make sense of it... He had never heard of a member of the Nara clan named Maru. Then as he sped up and his mind resumed thinking the next part suddenly hit him with a shock, as if a cold water had just smashed into his chest and threw him into a pit of ice. Ri was dead?He had know Ri and often traded training secrets and ideas with the sensi. It came as a chilling shock that he was gone... Shaking his head he cleared his mind. Arriving at the hospital he barraged through the door and saw Mei and Toma. Mazaaki wasn't far behind, arriving about thirty seconds later with Mana due to the little fit the wounded Uchiha threw. Kazu was panting. "These two... Need urgent care now." He said quickly, then looked toward Mei as doctors arrived with stretchers, Kazu placed Miza down on one and Mazaaki on placed Mana on the other. Then with a poof the Fox was back to his natural form, watching with a whimpering growl as the two were carted back towards the emergency room.

Kazu looked at Mei again with a worried, panicked, stressed, and downright down trodden face and sighed. "We have two S-rank rouge ninja in the Land of Fire... Two!" With that he walked over and plopped down on a chair, looking at the ceiling with a pant. Would this job ever get easier?

Konohagakure

Tadashi tried to follow the two shinobi but eventually lost them on the way there. Great I lost them but I at least know where they're going. Tadashi thought to himself. Tadashi then diverted and ran a different route, more of like the long way around. When Tadashi reached the hospital he could see he was the last one there even beaten by a kunoichi in garb that is commonly worn in Suna. The air was tense as Mei immediately showed hostilities towards the woman and it made Tadashi uncomfortable. Not to mention worried as he closely hugged the wall diagonally from where the conversation between the Konoha shinobi and the Suna Kunoichi is taking place. Tadashi looked at them and from where he could see he noticed the blaring red eyes which could only be the sharingan. He must admit this is the first time he has seen the Sharingan been activated. The Uchiha he knew have either been unable to activate it or haven't been placed in a situation where they needed to activate it. Those eyes made Tadashi fell tense as he looked back towards the other woman and then over to Kazuhiko Sensei. He hoped that Kazu might step in but then the Suna ninja spoke.

She spoke of assisting us in handling with rogue ninja. Rogue ninja? Tadashi thought. He knew they existed but they were problems for ANBU maybe she is a Suna ANBU. Tadashi wondered if Rogue ninja harmed the Konoha shinobi that Kazu brought in. He tried to look over to doctors to see who it was but couldn't exactly get a good glimpse of them. He could of sworn he knew who they were...for the moment though they were in good hands. Then she talked about the Hokage hoping to see him and not worry about talking to new people. He could understand how the Sand Kunoichi felt, new people are hard to talk to especially if they are staring you down with a sharingan. Tadashi limply waved towards Kazu motioning for him to come over here. He was confused and a little bit worried and hoped Kazuhiko Sensei could fill in the blanks.

Tadashi noticed Kazu waving back at him as Mazaaki checked out the Sand Kunoichi. Apparently Mazaaki seemed to think the kunoichi checks out alright. So it might be safe for Tadashi to move towards him as he began to remove himself from the wall. He slowly etched closer to his sensei as started to act like his normal self. Always saying some sort of lame line to pick up the ladies, of course if you asked him he probably say it was gold. Once he reached him he spoke in a whisper to him.

"What's going on Kazuhiko sensei?" Tadashi confused about the situation.

"Also are you really going to take me on a scouting mission?" Tadashi asked hopefully.

Tadashi looked back at the others and wondered if the Sand Kunoichi will come with them too? If Mazaaki thought she could be alright then perhaps she is trustworthy? Tadashi really hadn't much of a clue about Sunagakure. He knew it's ninjas were very tough and very resilient and are masters of Wind Release. He wondered what jutsu she could perform as he was curious as to what a ninja from another country is capable of. He would ask her himself if he wasn't filled with so much uncertainty. Tadashi stood there silently as he awaited for his sensei to respond.

"How did you-?" Tadashi cut himself off as he shook his head. "Uh no thanks I'm not much of a fighter, at least not yet!" Tadashi quickly added. "No I'm uh more of a spectator....er...yeah that." Tadashi said awkwardly. He then noticed the woman before him changed as her eyes changed color. They were golden and very stunning as if they could burn a hole through a wall. He wasn't sure what she was doing. Did she have a kekkei genkai like the Sharingan? Whatever the reason the whole massive eye transformation some how unnerved him as he knew power were behind those eyes. He has been constantly told of the mighty Dojutsu and it's capabilities, some are so frightening and unbelievably unimaginable that Tadashi has a hard time picturing such power could come from your own eyes. Still it is possible and he knows that two of the great dojutsu are here in his own village, The Sharingan and the Byakugan. Does the Hidden Sand have Dojutsu users as well?He doesn't know much of the Hidden Sand except to say they are supposed to be allies. If they are allies why are we so hesitant around her? She isn't a rogue ninja she should be friendly right? Tadashi thought to himself as he looked around.

He hoped she wasn't too serious about fighting him. He really didn't want to fight someone with a Dojutsu, mainly because he didn't want to find out if those stories are true. Besides they were in a hospital, not exactly the most ideal place to fight or maybe it is. If one gets hurt they could walk on in, if the injuries aren't too severe of course. Tadashi continued to stand by Kazuhiko not so readily to leave his side. Thinking of Kazu he still wanted to know if sensei was really going to go on that scouting mission or at least the training!

(I'm back!!!)

"Tsubame Taka..." Toma started after hearing everything before, "Mei or Kazu, get to the Hokage now. Which ever one's faster...Tsubame, of the Sand, Hawk Sage. I'm still better than you!! I have the Nine Tails inside of me!! I'll show you around...actually, I'm just taking you to see the Hokage. I turst Mei's ability, but still. Next time don't go to the hospital. Go straight to the Hokage. A'ight?"


Taka's eyes were interesting. A golden colour. His were just white...kind of saddening.

Tsubame smiled at Toma and leaned forward, whispering into his ear so only he could hear.
"You still have several weaknesses... Like, say, everyone in this hospital would die if you dared go Fox on me due to your destructive chakra, and you wouldn't like that, would you?"
She stood straight and smiled again.
"Lead the way, foxxy! And sorry for not going straight to the Hokage, I've never been to Konohagakure!

Toma laughed slightly. "From now on, I'm going to think of you as a slight retard. Not saying that you are one, but because of what you just said. Why would I go Nine-Tailed Fox in here? That's not even thinkable. Well, okay, I'll show you to the Hokagee. Let's go."

Toma took Tsubame's arm and walked away.