Fantasy Sector - Hidden Leaf Village

The Hidden Leaf Village is a small village, and to unknowing eyes might seem to be a normal village in feudal Japan. The truth, however, is that it is one of the five great ninja villages. Konoha, as it is sometimes called, is altogether peaceful and has a sort of small town feel. It has a number of tightly-packed, tall buildings in a traditional Japanese style. However, the fact it is a village of ninja is impossible to forget. A mountain that serves as the backdrop of this village has the faces of its leaders, the Hokage, carved into it. To have one's face carved into that mountain is a sign of true excellence as a ninja - believe it.

It's just another peaceful afternoon in the lovely Hidden Leaf Village. And Naruto Uzumaki is back in town after being gone for two and a half long years! Ah, the nostalgia. Ah, the memories...

Ah, the boredom. "Man, I can't believe everybody's too busy to hang out," Naruto mutters, kicking a rock as he steps out of the Hokage's tower. "Sakura-chan can't get away from the hospital, all the other teams are out on missions..." And the worst part (which he can't even bear to say aloud): Ichiraku's ramen stand is closed for renovations. The horror, the horror...

But Naruto's spirit can never be suppressed for long. "Ah, well," he says. "Guess I can get a bit more training in!" With that, he takes to the rooftops, leaping nimbly across the village toward the nearest training field. Maybe he can shave a second or two off his zero-to-Rasengan time.

With everyone off on missions or busy with real jobs, one would think that the training fields would be empty. Such doesn't appear to be the case, however, as a man in red already seems to have begun his own practice routine. Ashen Mist had read about the Hidden Leaf Village in IPA files, and thought that a world where curious powers were almost so common as to be mundane would be a great place to do his own training, and such a small request from an IPA agent as using the fields isn't too outrageous to grant.

The Outcaste is without his cloak today, leaving him fighting in the bright red shirt and pants that no ninja in their right mind would wear, plus his Red Jade bracers. His twin short swords hack cut through the air easily, stopping mere milimeters from the surfaces of the wooden training dummies. Today's routine seems to be more about control than anything else.

Should Naruto look carefully, there seems to be a slight glitter about Mist's forehead, although it could easily be dismissed as light shining off of the beads of sweat that are gathering upon his brow. He seems not to notice the native ninja's approach, fully focused upon his swordplay.

Naruto notices the practicing swordsman immediately as he drops from a tree branch into the field. (Not that he's one to talk about clothes that stand out, given his custom of wearing orange.) His impulse is to approach right away, but instead he pauses where the forest clears and watches Ashen Mist's training. At first Naruto thinks, 'Man, he's not managing to hit any of them.' It takes him a few seconds to realize that, yes, in fact, that is the point.

Eventually the ninja gets bored of watching and closes the distance to the center of the field. "Ah!" Naruto says as he draws closer. "You're the guy from the other day... Ashen, right? Nice moves!" He stretches his arms high above his head. "This your first time in Hidden Leaf?"

Mist doesn't seem surprised when Naruto calls out to him-- he'd likely noticed the orange ninja the moment he stopped in the trees to watch. Orange isn't exactly a camouflage-friendly color, after all. He wipes the sweat off of his forehead with a sleeve, then reaches into his pocket to draw out a length of cloth.

"Yes, it is... Naruto, was it?" He ties the cloth around his forehead, like a headband. "I'd read good things about this village, and wanted to see it for myself. That there are such extensive training fields here..." He gestures to their surroundings with a smile on his face. "Well, that's just icing on the cake."

He raises one of his blads to his shoulder, tapping the side of his neck with it-- an almost impatient gesture, as if he wants to stay in motion somehow. "Are you from around here? I've seen that mark on your headband all around town."

"Yep, that's me!" Naruto replies cheerfully. "Oh, you did? I guess the IPA must have records just like the Hokage's office does, huh?" At the question, he adjusts the headband proudly. "That's right! This's where I was born and raised." (Well, less the 'raised' part, really. But Naruto's not going to be detailing his emo backstory tonight.)

Naruto's looking just as energetic, hopping toward one of the training dummies and giving it a practice jab or two. "Well, Hidden Leaf is a ninja village!" he comments. "We do have some great training areas. Just be a little careful of the Forest of Death! I've been in there, and trust me, it got that name for a reason." He shudders briefly, remembering some of the... creatures that are in there.

"Oh, I don't know," Ashen Mist says as he continues to tap his collar with the flat of his blade. "I've been in the Wyld more than a few times hunting Anathema, I think I've seen enough deadly monstrocities that I could give your Forest of Death a run for it's money. I'll take your word for it, though."

The Outcaste watches Naruto's practice jabs, and can't help but think that the boy needs a bit more practice. "Did you come out here to train as well? There's not too much else to do all the way out here, just that or hide out and be lazy, and you don't strike me as the type to run away and lounge about." A pleasant smile is given to the Konoha ninja.

"Oh, yeah?" Naruto glances over at Ashen Mist for a moment. "Yeah, you do look like you know what you're talking about! It's probably not so bad when you've got more experience. I was only 12 when I went in there the first time!" So casually he says that.

A few more jabs, then a kick to the side. "Yep! All my friends are on missions right now, so I figured I'd practice a bit." Naruto laughs at the lounging comment. "Nah, my friend Shikamaru's the one who likes to laze around and watch the clouds. I've gotta keep moving! Gotta keep getting stronger!"

"Only twelve?" Mist says with a degree of surprise. "They start you guys young around here, huh?" Not that it's any different back in Creation, you're practically in training the moment you come out of the womb in the Realm, and some of the more militant Threshold lands are much the same.

"I like your attitude, Naruto," the Outcaste says cheerfully. "Don't let life keep you down, just keep on moving forward, keep trying to better yourself. It's a great philosophy to live by."

He finally takes the sword off of his shoulder and looks at the blade for a moment, the opaque red crystal inlaid with an intricate golden lace glinting in the sunlight. "You know, if we're both here to train anyway, why don't we train together? It's been a while since I've had a decent sparring partner, and you seem like you've got a lot of energy in you." He sheathes the twin blades at his waist and pulls a couple of wooden practice swords out a training dummy that had been skewered a few times..

Naruto nods, looking a bit more serious than before. "Yeah, I guess so. It's a lot worse in some of the other ninja villages, though. Kakashi-sensei told us once that there're people out there younger than us and stronger than him." The way he says that makes it clear that whoever "Kakashi" is, he's no slouch. The cheer quickly returns, and he says, "Thanks! Life hasn't been easy here, but I've made it this far, right? Just gotta pick yourself up no matter how many times you fall!"

At Mist's offer, Naruto grins wide. "A little sparring match, huh? Sounds good to me! I haven't had anyone but the pervy sage to spar with in ages." That's all the preamble the orange-clad ninja offers before darting forward to swing a punch at Mist's side. It's more of a jab to test his defenses than anything really meant to inflict damage.

Mist doesn't bother trying to dodge or block Naruto's punch. He's all about the element of surprise, after all, so why not let the little ninja overestimate himself a little, hmm?

There's no armor lurking beneath the Outcaste's loose clothing, only the hard flesh of someone with highly toned muscles beneath their skin. And then, suddenly, there is movement. The Fire Aspect swiftly tries to slip behind Naruto, the fluttering of his vermillion outfit giving the impression of a flickering flame as he tries to get out of the ninja's line of sight.

One of Ashen Mist's twin blades is raised and quickly brought back down, aimed to give Naruto a swift rap on the back of the head with the wooden weapon-- and this punch isn't pulled, to boot. "A pervy sage, huh? It sounds like you could do with some better role models around here if the only people you've got to spar with are perverts."

Just as Naruto is congratulating himself on getting in the first hit, Ashen Mist moves -- and moves fast. He spins to try to follow the Outcaste's movement, but he isn't quite quick enough to react to the strike before it connects. Fortunately that head is pretty hard (as anyone who knows the boy will tell you), so Naruto escapes with only a brief ringing in his ears. Whew, he's as good as he looks! Better stop holding back...

"Hah, yeah, nobody'd call that guy a role model, but when it really matters, he's definitely reliable!" Now fully facing Mist, Naruto rolls to his right, then leaps forward as soon as his feet hit the ground, bringing his fist up in an uppercut with more force behind it.

Once more Ashen Mist seems to flicker like a living flame as he rolls to avoid Naruto's uppercut, the punch catching on the man's clothing but not connecting with anything solid. His movements are somehow both elegant and chaotic at the same time, channeling the unpredictable nature of the element that is his namesack and aspect.

"Careful," the Outcaste warns as he flits to the side, swinging one blade and then the other to give the Konoha ninja a pair of strong strikes to the shoulder. "You're telegraphing your moves, I saw you pulling your fist back while you were still rolling. An observant opponent would be able to dodge that easily."

Missed! And once again his opponent is quick as the wind. Naruto yanks his arm up to try to block, but the two strikes still hit hard, and he tumbles backward into the dirt. "Oww... Man, those things sting!" The criticism causes a frown to briefly tug at his mouth, but he shakes it off. This is sparring, and the whole point is trying to improve. Just because he doesn't like the evaluation doesn't mean it's not right. "Alright... This one'll definitely hit, though!" Naruto runs at Mist again with his clenched fist readied -- but at the last moment, he plants one foot down hard and uses his momentum to swing the other foot at the Outcaste's legs.

Not quick as the wind, dear Naruto, as unpredictable as fire! Honestly, you could offend a Dragon-Blooded by saying they're acting like the wrong element. Tsk tsk! "If you think that's bad, imagine what would've happened if I'd been using my real swords," Mist counters as he prepared for another strike. This time Naruto is really telegraphing, which makes it pretty obvious that it's a feint given what just happened.

Unfortunately, even though he has his eye out for it, Mist catches the true strike too late. The foot arcs forward and his own feet are knocked out from under him, sending the Fire Aspect to the ground with a satisfying *wumph*. "Ow, that was a good one," he says with a wince.

There's no time to rest, though, lest the orange ninja put him in an even more compromising position. He plants one hand on the ground and kicks forward, swinging his other leg around to give Naruto a taste of his own medicine. The other hand is planted as he follows through, eventually landing in a crouch and springing backwards to protect himself from a counterattack.

"Thanks!" Naruto replies with a grin -- which is wiped off his face quickly enough when the kick is swiftly mirrored. The ninja is knocked to one side, and he can see Ashen Mist getting ready to dodge backward. Oh, we can't have that! Naruto's still a few inches off the ground, so he can't stop himself the normal way... but he's got an even better tactic to use.

Hands go together in a crossed hand sign. "Shadow Clone Art!" Naruto shouts quickly -- and two more Narutos appear on either side of him, accompanied by puffs of smoke. The cloned Narutos grab the real one by the sleeves and fling him forward at Mist, and he clasps his hands and brings them down in an attempt to strike.

"That's different!" Ashen Mist exclaims as Naruto is suddenly grabbed by Naruto and Naruto, and flung forward. Unfortunately for the orange ninja, it's very easy to dodge out of the way of an airborne person, you just need to step out of the way. And step Mist does, almost as if he didn't move at all.

One of the wooden training swords is dropped, to give Mist a free hand with which to try and pluck the native of Konoha out of midair, redirecting his momentum and throwing the small ninja as one might throw a discus. It's bowling for shadow clones, everybody! "That was a great technique, I'm sure that would've hit any opponent who didn't specialize in agility," the Outcaste encourages.

Mist's hand swiftly reaches out to catch Naruto's jacket, swinging him around and right back toward the two clones, who jump in shock as their creator comes barreling at them. He collides with one, causing it to vanish in another cloud of smoke, and rolls several seconds more after he hits the ground. The one remaining clone quickly gives him a hand up, brushing dust and dirt from his clothes.

Despite the setback (and the slight bruises he knows he's earned), Naruto's grin widens. "Oh, I'm just getting started! Shadow Clone Art!" Three more clones appear, bringing the total Naruto tally to five, and all of them leap forward toward Ashen Mist at full speed, spreading apart as they get close in hopes that at least one of the five punches will hit.

Silly Naruto. Mist was watching you the entire time, he knows which is the real Naruto and which are the clones, and the slight smile on his face shows as much as the five ninjas come rushing in. He flits to the side with ease to dodge the Konoha native's attack, grabbing his dropped sword in the process and completely ignoring the clones... until four out of five hit him, anyway. The combined force punches send the Outcaste onto his back and sliding across the ground for several meters, where he lies blinking in confusion for a few moments.

"Didn't see that coming," the Dragon-Blooded coughs, climbing back to his feet and rolling his shoulders towork a kink out of them. "Your clones all back the same punch as the real you? That must take a lot of skill." He considers the five Narutos for a few moments more... then races towards them.

Darting between the Narutos, Ashen Mist's swords lash out at random intervals, like sudden flares in a fire. He tries to deliver a couple of strikes to each of the orange ninjas, probing, testing to see if they all take blows just like the original or if they'll vanish in a puff of smoke when they're hit hard enough.

All five of Naruto grin proudly at Mist's compliment. "This technique's my specialty," one of them says, and another adds, "And I can make a lot more than this, too, if I try!"

As the Outcaste races forward, so too do the ninjas, and they meet halfway. Two Narutos are quickly vanquished by Mist's lightning-fast (ah, sorry, wrong element again) sword strikes, vanishing just as he predicted. The third, however, is the real thing, crossing his arms in front of his chest and taking the hits with a grunt of pain. As soon as the swords draw back, Naruto moves forward and targets his opponent's chest with a quick palm strike. If all goes well, he'll knock Mist backward into the two remaining clones, who will then hand out attacks of their own.

Bingo! Ashen Mist twirls to the side as Naruto tries to land his palm strike, letting the outstretched hand pass cleanly by him. His own arms cross in front of him as he moves, aiming to get to the ninja's side and exploit the hole in his defense brought about by the failed attack.

"Are you actually controlling them?" the Outcaste asks as he uncrosses his arms, the wooden blades closing around Naruto's midsection like a pair of scissors and giving him a nasty pinch in the side. "Or are they independant? I can't imagine controlling so many bodies at once, it would take years of training to master a technique like that." Perhaps Naruto can take that as a compliment, seeing as he managed it in a matter of days, if that.

"Ow!" Naruto ducks away after getting his side pinched between the swords. "Man, you're really quick with those things!" he says, with something of an admiring tone. He's never really had the patience to get good with any melee weapons. Naruto has to pause for a moment to answer Mist's question. "Well, they're pretty much independent, but they think just like I do. When I was younger, Kakashi-sensei managed to trick me into fighting with them. I've been using the technique for three years now, though, and I've gotten good at working with myself!"

Now that the question is answered, back to the battle! Naruto's been trying to think of another trick to try, but he's coming up empty. Those darn swords are too quick for -- aha! The hand seals come out again. "Shadow Clone Art!" Two more Narutos appear next to the original -- and then they both form a different hand seal and shout, "Transformation Art!" More smoke covers the trio...

And when it clears, a single Naruto stands there wielding a pair of wooden swords of his own. "Thought I'd give them a try," he says casually, speeding forward and swinging one of the swords like he's seen Mist do several times during this fight. The swing's clumsy, but with a fair amount of power behind it.

"I guess that's one way to get to know yourself," Ashen Mist laughs as he takes a step back and watches Naruto with interest. The summoning of the wooden swords only elicits a click of the tongue from the Outcaste, though. "That was a bad idea," he says, easily moving out of the way of Naruto's wild swing. "Using a weapon with a martial art takes practice. You can't just pick one up and expect to be any good at it-- you may as well just be swinging a stick."

He tries to move to the orange ninja's side again, taking advantage of the longer recovery time now that his opponent is armed to give Naruto a quick jab in the side. "Especially using a two sword style, you'll probably hit yourself on accident before we're done."

Naruto winces as he gets jabbed in the same spot he'd just had pinched. Okay, that part didn't go so well. But this is a multi-pronged plan he's got here! "Yeah, guess you're right there. Personally I'm better with throwing weapons!" Turning to face his opponent, Naruto whips the two swords up and tosses them, setting them spinning in the air toward Mist -- and past him, hitting the ground. But the instant they touch the dirt, the smoke surrounds them again, and they turn back into Naruto clones, who skid to a halt and leap at Mist from behind with fists swinging.

"Stick with what you know," Mist agrees as Naruto throws the blades. Not that he lets them impact, though, moving to the side impossibly fast-- and yet so casually that it seems like he didn't do anything out of the ordinary at all.

The telltale 'poof' of transformation smoke clues him in to keep his senses alert, and he once again sidesteps as the first clone tries to punch him. The second isn't nearly so lucky, as the Outcaste uses his wooden blades like a set of tongs to once again grab the Naruto out of midair and redirect its momentum, pitching it around and back towards the original. "Look sharp!"

"Whoa, whoa, hey -- !!" Naruto's clone fails to dismiss itself in time, and it slams into Naruto and bowls him over. "Ow..." It takes Naruto a few seconds to get up this time. He keeps slipping up on his dodges, and the damage is building up. Another hit or two like that and... Well, it's a good thing this is only sparring.

There's still a chance to turn things around, though. "What I know, huh? Alright...!" The remaining scattered clones vanish, and Naruto leaps forward, several meters into the air. "Shadow Clone Art!" he yells one last time, and half a dozen clones pop into existence and drop down in a circle around Mist. The clones close in to try to kick the Outcaste up, and the real Naruto descends from above to try to knock him down.

Ashen Mist watches Naruto with a pleasant gleam in his eye as the ninja goes skyward. "Show me your best effort, Naruto," he says as he prepared for exactly that... and gets it, to boot! His bladework is masterful, and he succeeds in blocking the first few strikes from the clones, but superior numbers eventually overwhelm the man. Kicks land, disrupting his balance and leaving it that much more difficult to block the next strikes.

Finally he's knocked off his feet and the Naruto horde blasts him skyward, into the true Naruto's descending strike. He's not going to let the boy get off scott free for this stunt, though, and with a spurt of effort tries to twist himself in midair so he can meet the ninja's strike with a slash of one of his swords.

Hit or miss, Mist takes the punch and falls to the ground, trying to roll back to his feet as swiftly as possible. He's panting from all of the exertion, but doesn't look at all put out. After all, it's just a spar, he's not taking any of this personally.

The sword slashes through the air like a rocket's flame trail... (There, finally got the element right!) And it connects, knocking Naruto out of the attack and sending him rolling across the training field. The clones pop out of existence one by one as he finally skids to a halt by the dummies. Silence for a moment... And then: "Owwwww!"

Naruto pulls himself to his feet, looking bedraggled and exhausted, but that grin on his face shows he's had a blast with this fight. "Okay, you got me!" he laughs. "I'm just about at my limit! Man, that was a great match!" Great, indeed. And he feels like he's learned a bit, too! As a kid the advice Mist gave would have rankled, but Naruto's matured enough to be able to take it as it's intended -- as help, not as an insult.

"It was a good workout," Ashen Mist agrees as he walks over to the training dummy he pulled the practice sword from and reimpales it. "You've definitely got a lot of talent, especially for someone your age. It could've gone either way pretty easily, a lot of those punches were way too close for comfort."

He stretches his arms, then begins to tap his feet, apparently still eager to stay in motion-- after all, a candle that burns out is dead. "Hey, I don't suppose you know a good place for food around here, do you? I'd been out here for a while before you got here and if I could get advice from a local..."

Naruto is still breathing heavily and favoring one side, but he's almost visibly regaining his energy now that the fight's over. "Thanks!" he replies cheerfully. "I've been working hard ever since I was young. My goal --" He lifts a hand and points up at the five faces carved in the cliffside that towers over the Hidden Leaf Village. "-- is to become the next Hokage, and have my face up there next to all the previous leaders. So I've gotta be the best I can be."

And then the conversation turns to one of Naruto's other favorite things in the world. "Food? Let's see... My favorite place to go is Ichiraku's ramen stand, but it's closed for renovation right now." Naruto hangs his head at this, the very picture of dejection. "Most of the other restaurants..." Well. Most of the other restaurants won't serve the container of the Nine-Tails. But he does remember one that took pity on him now and then. Hopefully their management hasn't changed too much since! He perks up and says, "There's a good place not too far from here! I'll lead the way! I could use a --"

Cue growling stomach. "Ehehe. I could use a snack too!"

Mist stares at Naruto when the boy declares his goal of ruling the city. "...well, nothing wrong with big dreams," the Outcaste eventually concedes. His sparring partner's stomach then also concedes to getting food, which gets a laugh from Mist. "Alright, lead the way, o hungry one."