Chapter One: Enter Ino-Shika-Chou

[Nara Shikashu]

He had spent the better part of his morning laying on his stomach on his rather comfortable bed in his apartment. However he hadn't spent it sleeping but rather reading through a bunch of files while lazily smoking a cigarette with the window next to him wide open. Reaching with one hand out over the window sill Shikashu tapped the butt off on the ledge allowing the ash to fall into the flower bed below. While he did this he flipped another page through the files of his students before finding a smile gracing his lips. Not only was his idiot of a little brother one of his students but now the eldest son of his closest friend, Akimichi Choukuro, was also one. This meeting that he had planned for that day was already certain to be a rather interesting one.

As he pulled himself up off of his bed he already had running through his mind over a million possible things he could do with his team including possibly recruiting Choukuro himself for one of their practice sessions. Of course first thing was first and Shikashu needed to contact the three genin and set up a meeting time for later that same day. So he got himself dressed up in an unzipped flak jacket, black trousers, his weighted combat boots, and a bandana tied around his head the bore a hidden leaf symbol. His crimson tresses were fastened into a messy pony tail and then he art out into the streets after locking the door behind himself. Shikashu's destination was a simple one, the post office.

At the post office Shikashu sent out carrier birds with three letters. One for each of his genin and each of them saying the exact same thing.

Meet me at the third training ground at two in the afternoon and come prepared to fight.
Signed; the Crimson Shadow

With the letters sent out to the three genin, Iou, Yanmei, and Hoji, Shikashu set off to get himself a small snack and also arrive at the destination where he could then prepare for the task to be at hand. Now the only question was, would.he have them all fight against him to test their strength or perhaps make them find him within the forest putting their skills as shinobi to the test. He still hadn't decided but hopefully he would come up with something before push came to shove, otherwise he could be up the creek without a paddle.

[Yamanaka Inori]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true] a heart of gold won't take you all the way Yanmei had spent most of the morning fast asleep in her bed, curled up underneath a pile of blankets, completely shutting out the world. An earthquake could have struck Konoha and it wouldn't have woken her out of that deep sleep. Not even her father, knocking on her door and calling for her, was able to get her back to the waking world. Sighing, the man opened the door and walked in, dug through the piles of blankets until he found his little girl, and slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He carried her downstairs, dumped her on the couch - which began to startle her out of that dead sleep - and retrieved a glass of cold water from the kitchen, which he dumped right on her head. Spluttering, the girl awoke, and immediately pouted at the older Yamanaka. "You're so mean, Daddy." she mumbled, rubbing the sleep - and water - out of her eyes. "I was trying to sleep." He didn't say anything, just grinned at her and tossed her an envelope, which she failed to catch in her drowsy state. She snatched it off the floor and tore it open, tired red eyes scanning the words written there. "Third training field, two o'clock, ready to fight... got it. Now can I go back to bed?" Then she looked at a clock... she had really slept until twelve thirty?! Suddenly, the girl found a burst of energy, barreling up the stairs to dry off her hair and change clothes and find her headband, wherever it might have gone. That whole process took about forty-five minutes - well, she hadn't remembered that she'd accidentally thrown the headband under her bed the night before - and then she was back downstairs, scarfing down her lunch like an Akimichi. Yanmei was out the door as soon as her fork clattered down on the empty plate. She really, really didn't want to be late for what was definitely a meeting of the new Team One - well, one fourth of it was new, anyway. She still had silly Iou and fiery Shikashu (who really needed to learn not to cuss in front of twelve year olds, in her opinion), and of course, she hadn't changed. But instead of Hideo, they had Hoji - another Akimichi, one she wasn't sure she had ever met. She arrived at the training ground and found that she was the first of the students to get there - surprisingly. "Hey, Shikashu-sensei!" words 421 tags shikashu, hoji, iou notes - - -

MADE BY AKEMI OF BTN

[Hoji]

Hoji's first waking memory that day was soothingly normal. His daily battle with his alarm clock raged and, as always, the alarm clock won out. It's annoying ringing driving the young Akimichi out of his bed and into his wardrobe for the first carrot of the day to get dressed. The first difference of the day, however, was when he walked over to his bedside cabinet and fastened a forehead protector around his head. His Leaf Shinobi Forehead Protector. He was a Genin today; a Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf. Everything in his life had been working up to this day.

Hoji suddenly felt very hungry.

The familiar aroma of breakfast was, again, soothingly normal. His mother dancing and weaving around the kitchen preparing more food than any family should eat in a week was so soothingly normal it allowed him to almost forget about the importance of the day.

However instead of his dad's usual thunderous boom of “How's ma Boy?” instead he got a devilish grin and an envelope tossed at him. Hoji frowned and sat down reading the envelope. “Meet me at the third training field at two in the afternoon and come prepared to fight. Signed The Crimson Shadow.” Hoji had a habit of reading aloud. It helped the information soak in better and he usually did it subconsciously anyway. It was this habit, however, that made the other students groan when they had to sit next to him in the academy.

“That's Shukashu, son. It's the summons to your first meeting. I'm proud of you, boy.” His father had a big grin plastered over his face as he said this. Hoji could tell he was genuinely proud.

Hoji mustered up a brave face. The time was set and it wasn't very long away either. He was getting nervous again but luckily he could now tuck into his larger-than-life breakfast. He ate and he ate and he ate and eventually it came to that time again. The eye-locking battle for the last morsel of food between him and his father. Except this time he winked and excused himself from the table. “You're gonna need ever bit of strength you've got, Hoji, but don't worry I won't go this easy on you again.” With that he kissed his wife and left for whatever it was his father did all day as a Jounin.

Hoji didn't feel victorious as he scoffed down the last morsel of food. It wasn't that his dad forfeited (that would have made him happy on any other occasion) but the reason why he did. The note had said 'come prepared to fight' and now his father was saying he needed his energy. Given their close relationship his dad probably knew all about this and he was warning Hoji about how difficult it was going to be.

Hoji reached out with one arm and opened a nearby cupboard. Reaching he grabbed a packet of crisps and closed the door again. He continued to sit in the chair and sulk for a little while as he had some time. Watching his mother do the dishes he notice her suddenly stop. “The baby needs feeding.” She said suddenly as if mommy senses were tingling. “Don't forget, your lunch is on the counter.” She chimed as she hurried out of the room.

“Okay, mom...” Hoji mumbled into his packet of crisps. After such a large breakfast he felt kind tired. His head kept drooping into the bag of potato chips. He eyed the clock. He had plenty of time... Enough time for just a little na- -snores-

[Iō Nara]

The Third Training Ground. The lush greenery gave a pleasant view and a ominous feeling of adventure in the most strictest of senses. However, it was in the air, apparent as his own existence in this shinobi world. IT FELT GREAT! Knowing that today is going to be amazing, today going to be breathtaking with a twist that will call it the adventure of adventures! Perhaps he was pushing it a bit too much, but with expectations and willpower, even if he was alone, anything can become the adventure of adventures.

Like, just before venturing from Konohagakure Gates to the Third Training Field, he had met a pair of dogs humping each other. An exciting sight for sure. Then, he tripped off a branch and experience a near death moment, but saved by a boar just walking around, laid flat on him. After tendering to the boar - not the first time he treated an animal - he was off towards the third training grounds once more.

Today was getting off a good foot on the adventure side, and that wasn't all. There was much more, and now he was running away from a horde of bees that he's disturbed. At top speed, his smile brazen across his face, "WATCH OUT! WOOOOOOOOO!" Running past his teammates and landing in the lake nearby. The bees loomed over the lake for a good while before taking off. Popping out abruptly after seeing the horde from inside the lack move away. "Am I late?" His smile still not fading from his face. God, life was exciting.

Word Count: 263

[Nara Shikashu]

Shikashu had thrown off his flak jacket and boots at the roots of a tree before climbing into it and hanging upside down by hooking his knees around the branch. In this position he had resorted to doing a sort of sit up or curl to work out his abdominal section and help him warm up for the activities that were to come. He had been doing this fore probably a good ten minutes before deciding to instead just hang there. Letting his arms hang down toward the ground, he relaxed there for a bit and watched as Yanmei appeared down the path.

When she got closer she greeted the red haired jounin. Shikashu in return flashed her a bit of a grin, "Good after noon Yanmei. Hehe, have to say people look silly upside down." Of course she wasn't the one upside down, he was, but he wouldn't admit it. He didn't need to. Reeasing his grip on the branch, he dropped down into an impressive hand stand and got back onto his feet after a few moments. Once on his feet he retrieved his flak jacket, slipping it over his shoulders but not zipping it up, and then took to latching his combat boots back onto his feet.

Then came the buzzing. It was so bad that Shikashu could have sworn a hive was near by, but nope, the voice of his half brother told him that. The little idiot rushed right past Shikashu and Yanmei carting behind him a horde of bees.

The look that then appeared on Shikashu's face was one of utter unamusement and if one could hear what he would be thinking it would be something along the lines of, /You Sir, Are a Fucktard./ Shikashu let out a long exasperated sigh. His brother was already beginning to drive him nuts. "Iou why are you such a pain?"

Looking around now, Shikashu scanned the area to look for the last of their little party. The first, Yanmei, had been a bit early, and Iou had been just about right on time, but where was their last misfit? Would he arrive late? Certainly his friend, Choukuro, wouldn't let his boy be late to his first meeting.

[Yamanaka Inori]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true] a heart of gold won't take you all the way Yanmei couldn't help but giggle as Iou ran past, chased by a swarm of bees. What had he done to make them so angry? Honestly, it wouldn't surprise her if he had poked their hive with a stick or knocked it out of a tree or something like that. Those poor bees. The Nara had probably destroyed part of their home with whatever he did, and though she know they could fix it, she kind of felt bad. Not for Iou, though - he was the one who had provoked a whole hive of bees, after all. And they must have been really mad at him, to hover over the lake he'd jumped into for so long, and to ignore both her and Shikashu. The girl looked over to Shikashu. "Do you know what he did this time?" She figured that if anyone would know, it would be the Nara's older brother - and she wouldn't be surprised if Shikashu had known that Iou was messing with bees and then left him to get stung by the whole swarm for being an idiot. Their sensei could be pretty mean sometimes, and had an especially low tolerance for Iou's antics... not that she could blame him, because he probably ended up in some strange situations because of the boy. Once the younger Nara had popped out of the lake, Yanmei tackled and hugged him. "Iou-kun, don't mess around with bees!" she scolded him, trying to sound stern, but she just erupted into giggles again at the thought of the swarm. "What if they all stung you?" Eventually, she let go of him and returned to the area where Shikashu was standing. "So... where's our other teammate, sensei?" She knew he was an Akimichi, but one she'd never met... at least,s he didn't remember him. But now he was late... which wasn't going to be a good start for his tenure on their team. words 333 tags shikashu, hoji, iou notes - - -

MADE BY AKEMI OF BTN

[Hoji]

“Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzz ZZZZ-CH-ACHOO!” Hoji woke up with a bang shooting out of his seat. Hoji looked left and right panting heavily pupils dilating with panic. As his wits returned to him Hoji began fairly certain that the loud noise that had perhaps roused him from his sleep may have in fact been a sneeze. “Lousy sneeze.” Hoji huffed with a scowl as he stretched out. He was feeling a bit stiff from the awkward position in the chair that he had slept in.

As he stretched his eyes happened to fall upon the mantle clock his mother kept on the kitchen counter. “QUARTER TO TWO!?!” Hoji cried in blind panic. “I'm going to be late! Oh no, I'm going to be late.”

Hoji grabbed his lunch and vacated the house at top speed. The Akimichi clan residences were not so far from the Third training grounds. Had Hoji been any regular, virile whipper snapper fresh from the academy he might just have arrived on time. Of course Hoji was not such a person. The entire way to the training field was comprised of short bursts of sprinting followed by slow gasping walking and then back into sprinting again.

By the time he reached the Third Training Ground he could no longer muster up the energy to sprint any more. He had pulled a bag of potato chips out of his lunch bag and was shovelling them into his mouth. In his mind he was recharging his energy but in his mouth he was redefining heaven. Frankly Hoji was nervous about being late which was the true cause behind the potato chips.

When Hoji saw the older man he hurried up a bit those last few meters. He was painfully aware that he was late but it didn't seem as if he had missed too much. A boy he recognised as Shikashu's younger brother had just jumped into the lak and Shikashu had just vacated his perch on a tree.

“I'm here.” Hoji declared in answer to the girl, who must be his other team mate. He had heard her just as he approached. “Am I late, Shikashu-Sensai?” Hoji apologised with a brief, strained bow. It was hard to bow when you were rounder than average.

SPOILER: Click to show

Word Count: 382

[Iō Nara]

He was wet. If he was a girl, that could totally be interpreted incorrectly, but fear not, he was a male, and indeed wet from something else than spontaneous arousal. He was keeping himself afloat while in the lake, trying to keep his sight and wits about him from the alluring bees that attempted to seize his life just a few moments ago. His smile broke into an even brighter and larger smile when he heard his brothers voice, giving off a little chuckle and rubbing his nose with his wet finger, hehehe. Iunno, but if i wasn't me, then i would be boring, right?" At least, he never saw himself as boring. Every day, every breath, there was something occuring that was spontaneous and fun as if it attracted itself towards Iou like a lightning to a lightning rod. Perhaps it was because he actually seek it, controlling ones fate with sporadic events were a rare ability that anyone could just hope for, and if obtained, it would be just like his life right now. Never a dull moment.

He gave off a laugh at the Akimichi that came into view. "HOJI-KUN!" He yelled, beginning to swim to the edge. "YANMEI-CHAN!" He yelled simply because. "ONIISAN!" He was now getting himself out from the water, shaking like a wet dog was fun to do and the water sprayed everywhere. Finishing the wet dog dance with a jump, his foot overlapping his other foot, causing him to lose balance and thus, fall back into the water - back first.

He stayed underneath for a while, processing what happened, and then had burst outwards like he'd done before. "I'm prepared to fight! So lets start this team meeting!" Optimistic, albeit incapable of getting out of the lake.

Chakra Reserves: 100%

Word Count: 296

[Nara Shikashu]

Shikashu watched his idiot of a brother for a bit before sighing and shaking his head. So Yanmei and Iou were here so far, however Hoji, their Akimichi, had yet to show up. Well this was just great. He had figured that Choukuro would have made sure Hoji had come on time, but guess not. Shikashu would have to talk to him about that later. "To be honest, Yanmei.... I have not a single clue." He shook his head as he watched Iou fall back into the water.

Idiot.

Shikashu folded his arms across his chest, and just about as he did so he heard the characteristic heavy foot steps of an Akimichi rushing towards them. Turning to look back towards the village, and towards where the foot steps would likely be coming from, Shikashu caught sight of the Akimichi boy in all of his jiggly might. Ah now everyone was here. Good.

"So nice of you to show up Hoji. I was starting to think that you might not show." Okay that was a lie, but hey he wasn't going to be easy on the kid even for being only five minutes late. "No, no, you're just in time to watch Iou fail at getting out of the lake again." Shikashu jeered as he half turned away so that he could look over at the lake, and then look back at Hoji if need be without having to fully turn his body.

"So. Iou. You going to stay in there all day or are we going to start sometime soon?" Even if Iou gave him a sarcastic answer and was like, I'll stay in here, Shikashu knew he could get him out. It was easy really, he could just use the shadow pull technique, or better yet, he could walk over and give him a hand. But he wouldn't do that. Why? Iou might just pull him in.

[Yamanaka Inori]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true] a heart of gold won't take you all the way As if on cue, the Akimichi appeared, panting, with a bag of chips in hand. Yanmei grinned at him. "Hi!" He received one of her patented Yamanaka Tackle Hugs, of course - what other way was there to greet a new teammate? Plus, he looked like he might be a little bit upset about being late to their very first meeting as a team, and hugs were a great way to make people feel better. Thankfully, he wasn't very tall - she didn't like hugging tall people, because she couldn't reach the proper hug area. Sometimes Yanmei felt like she'd never hit five feet tall - which would be a true tragedy. "You do bring a lot of.. excitement.. to the team, Iou-kun." The excitement wasn't always particularly welcome, but so long as no one got hurt, then it was alright, wasn't it? Well... sometimes people did get hurt, but no one ever ended up in the hospital, so that was... progress, she supposed. She covered her mouth to stifle her giggles when the young Nara fell back into the lake immediately after managing to get out of it. Iou... wasn't always the brightest guy, was he? Noting that Shikashu-sensei didn't seem particularly interested in freeing Iou from the clutches of the lake, and guessing that Hoji probably wasn't going to either, Yanmei walked over and asked him, "Do you need some help, Iou-kun?" ...not that she was going to be able to pull him out. He'd just end up pulling her in in the process, and then there would be two genin stuck in the lake. So... moral support was what she was offering, she supposed. "...I think Shikashu-sensei might kick you again if you don't get out of the lake soon." she said, quite serious. words 309 tags shikashu, hoji, iou notes - - -

MADE BY AKEMI OF BTN

[Hoji]

Hoji smiled; laughed even. Io Nara had always been something of a goofball. Due to Shikashu and hias father;'s close friendship Io and Hoji were no strangers too each other and Hoji had been both happy and prepared for the amount of goofball-ery that would be present in his squad due to Io.

“Hehe, sorry, Shikashu-Sensei.” Hoji apologised with a nervous laugh. He had no real reason for being late other than his own laziness so he made no move to protest or blame. Choukuro had taught his son better than that. The hulking Leader of the Akimichi Clan had always been something of a wise and honourable man. Hoji was glad that he was not overly late however it seemed that Io's stunt had insured that. All Hoji could do was smile and praise his ancestors for his good luck.

When Hoji was hugged rather voraciously by the girl he could not help but turn beetroot red and loose his voice. Women were not usually so openly friendly around him and he was at that age where he was starting to want woman to be so friendly. As quick as her body was around him however she was after Io determined to help him out of the lake. The feeling of closeness was for but a bitter sweet second.

When he heard Io's determination he too felt determined to begin. “Yeah, Sensai, I'm prepared to fight too!” Hoji cried with a grin. Punctuating said grin a moment later by placing a chip between his lips. If they weren't going to get started right away that meant Hoji could have a snack first, right?

SPOILER: Click to show

Word Count: 274

[Iō Nara]

Hehe. He was wet. Of course he was wet, he was in the lake staying afloat with movements of his arms. The events before him felt so heart-warming, at least to Iō's mind. The scorn of his older-brother, the offer of support from his female companion and just the presence of Hoji made the entire thing feel like they were having some sort of reunion of some sort. Hehe. "It's aight Yanmei-Chan, i got this."

He begin to swim towards land once more, he didn't want to fall back like before, and that was purely accident, or was his own inapt coordination skills that lead to such a plunder? Perhaps, but he was skilled despite his usual attitude, even he knows of his intelligence, having a win/loss record of nearly 5000% in favor of wins against Shōgi matches with adult members of the Nara Clan proved his undeniable, and if it wasn't for inherent laziness for IQ tests, he would've earned more recognition for his intelligence by possessing one over 200 IQ.

With a smile and a little effort, he pushed himself upwards and outwards of the lake from the edge, and just rolled inwards with huffs and puffs of the breath. "I'm out." His clothing had completely soaked the once dry ground. "Before we start, Onīsan, let me remove these wet clothes." Despite everything that had occurred, he was dead serious on learning the Clan's Hiden, something, despite his intelligence, he was unable to accomplish as of yet, despite being rather close. He was serious.

Picking his heavy wet body upwards, begun to undress abruptly, disregarding the presence of others all the way down to his underwear. He had to make sure he wasn't going to get a cold, right? So what if that means fighting in your underwear.


[Dialogue]: 9BDDFF
[Total Word Count]: [859/????]
[Inventory]:

• [Kunai] | [10]
  
• [Shuriken] | [12]
  
• [Explosive Tags] | [30]
  
• [Bowie Knife] | [1]
  
• [Smoke Grenade] | [3]
  
• [Hikari] | [2]
  
• [Exploding Pouch] | [10]

[/ul][Techniques Used]:

• [None]

[/ul][Chakra Reserves]: 100%[/blockquote][/blockquote][/blockquote][/justify][/color][/font]

[Nara Shikashu]

Everything happened within a quick succession of one another. First came the abrupt hug from the Yamanaka on this Akimichi, then the Akimichi turning beet red. Then there was the Yamanaka going to cheer on the soaked Nara. Through all of this Shikashu remained silent, although by this point a sort of smirk appeared on his face, unknown to him. By the point that Iou had finally freed himself from the watery clutches and begun to strip, however, Shikashu held up a hand between his eyes and his little brother.

"Really man?" He sighed and then broke out laughing before walking over to his little brother and placing a large hand on his head. He then proceeded to mess up Iou's hair in that older brother, I love you anyway, fashion, as he walked past him. He moved a ways away before turning back towards his team and pulling a small stone out of his pocket. Engraved in the stone was a hidden leaf symbol.

"Alright! Since Iou had apparently opted to fight in his underwear, I guess we'll continue anyway!" He placed the stone on the center of the three wooden posts, "Your Objective! Is to take the stone from the post!" Seemed simple enough, right? Wrong. "However preventing you from doing so, is me." He held out his arms now, "Iou, you and I have done this exercise many times, and none of them have you ever succeeded. Think about what you have at your disposal this time that was different than all of the others, and use that to come at me." He continued on, "You will not succeed if your attacks are half hearted. COME AT MY WITH YOUR FULL POWER AND STRIKE AS TO KILL! NOW BEGIN!"

Chakra: 100%

[Yamanaka Inori]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true] a heart of gold won't take you all the way She wasn't really all that sure why the Akimichi turned bright red, but she didn't wonder about it for long. No, her louder, more enthusiastic teammate was the focus of all of Yanmei's attention. She felt a little bad for laughing at Iou - but Iou laughed at himself, so it was alright, wasn't it? Even if he was going to have to sit through a whole team meeting with soaking wet clothes... "I guess I'm ready to fight, too... Ooh, Hoji-kun, may I please have a chip?" The young Yamanaka was easily distracted, especially when there was snack food involved. Despite not even weighing a hundred pounds, the little blonde could put away a ton of food. It was kind of silly, really. "...you sure about that, Iou-kun?" It wasn't that she didn't think the Nara was capable of getting out of the lake, but... Well, he hadn't done so well the first time, had he? If he managed to escape its clutches only to fall in again... That would kind of suck, wouldn't it? Thankfully, her favorite teammate managed to get out and stay out this time. But... he was going to... to take off his wet clothes, right there in front of them?! Yanmei became the second genin in attendance whose cheeks turned bright red - just about as red as Shikashu-sensei's hair, to be exact. Iou was the boldest person she knew. There he stood, in nothing but his underwear, still smiling. Yanmei glanced at him but had to turn her head because the blush became fiercer the more she looked at him. She wanted to suggest that Shikashu make him go home and get dry clothes - 'cause he was kind of... distracting the way he was - but the man moved immediately into the task he was setting. They had to somehow get past their sensei and take the stone from the post? Oh, this wasn't going to end well... Yanmei knew there was no way she could approach Shikashu on her own and hope to get anything but a swift butt-kicking. And, no matter how much stronger they were than she was, Hoji and Iou couldn't either. So they needed to work together, didn't they? "Iou-kun, Hoji-kun, come here." Iou had a brain somewhere in that head of his, so surely he'd be able to come up with something, right? words 413 tags shikashu, hoji, iou notes - - -

MADE BY AKEMI OF BTN

[Hoji]

Hoji vigorously nodded his head holding the bag of chips out to Yanmei. Hoji was happy to share with his friends and, for a girl, he might even let her take the last morsel. Of course that was no issue as there was still over a half of the monster-size bag left. This pleased Hoji. Moral conundrums such as who deserved the last chip would ruin the good time they were having.

“Io...” Hoji sighed shaking his head. The boy was not known for his completely normal approach to doing things so this wasn't as much a surprise as people seemed to think. Hoji was much too interested in his chips to be alarmed by the sight of Io in his underwear anyway.

Shikashu seemed to roll with it too. The man didn't even offer to let Io go get changed before they embarked on whatever dangerous exercise he had planned for them. Hoji's tempo increased as the man got down to business. By the time he had finished issuing his challenge the bag of chips was done and Hoji let out a loud exclamation of distress. “I forgot my staff.” The chubby young boy explained when he realised just how badly timed his sudden recall had been. He loved food but it wouldn't cause him to cry out in ardent distress every time he finished something of course.

Hoji took his chance then to ask a question before the official game began or at least before they got into it. “Where should I put my lunch, Shikashu-Sensai?” He asked holding up the weighty brown paper bag that had previously been tucked under one of his arms.

(I'm just gonna assume there's an answer or something here so as not to leave Yanmei hanging)

Hoji turned to Yanmei as she summoned the team. He moved closer to her conspiratorially. There was safety in numbers so it made sense for them to work together. They might just be able to distract or outmanoeuvre Shikashu if they stuck together. Hoji had no idea what exactly they could do however.

He didn't make any motion to speak however. His mind was coming up a complete blank for plans. Frankly it was his nerves though Hoji was no mastermind to begin with. That was Io's department, right?

SPOILER: Click to show

Chakra: 100%
Word Count: 384