The Hunter-Nin Corps

Suzume had been pondering over how best to begin with her new plan. With the new Arashikage ascended and in place, she could leave the safety of the Village in his capable hands while she focused on removing the final vestige of the Empire that still festered in the Land of Lightning. Work had already begun of course, some other shinobi had been called but today was to bring new blood into the fold.

She had hand-selected a few promising students that came from the previously oppressed class that she shared. A member of the Yuki clan, and two from the Kaguya clan. For now she couldn't say how ready these aspiring hunters might be but she was willing to give them a shot. The real challenge would be learning how to teach, this was an entirely new endeavour. It was why she had elected to bring Saya along.

The pair of Yuki clansmen stood waiting, peering out over the rocky landscape that surrounded the training grounds. It had been some time since Suzume had the chance to simply admire her homeland, so she would take all the time she could while waiting for her prospective students. Fortunately, Saya seemed content to do the same.

Touya showed up, eventually. The youngest of the Yuki present, he was one of the genin who was placed into Suzume's tutelage. He had his hands in his pockets, all kept under his warm cloak as he skulked up to where the others were.

"...Touya Yuki, reporting for duty." He said, looking at the other two expectantly with half-lidded eyes, a show of his eternal disinterest. "...And the others?" He asked.

He hadn't met either of the other two who would supposedly be on his team. Surely this other older woman wasn't one of the genin too, right? She seemed a little... tall...

Sekitsui had received word of his new assignment via bird, telling him to head to a specific training ground for a meeting at a set time. Honestly he didn't want to go, since if it was going to be something official there was a good chance that it would be boring. But he thought about it for a moment, being punished for not showing up would be even less fun than going to this, plus he could make some new friends... either way it would be worth the time... hopefully. Arriving at the appointed meeting spot Sekitsui's eyes would scan those assembled there, the legendary Suzume Yuki striking a rather imposing figure, even if she was just standing around waiting, beside here was a younger Kunoichi, though she was still older than he was, most likely and held herself with far more confidence than a Genin normally would.

Turning finally to the last person gathered, a young man with white hair not to unlike Sekitsui's own though this one's was spiky standing out at all kinds of angles, where Sekitsui's hung straight down to the middle of his back. "Greetings, Sekitsui Kaguya reporting as ordered." Raising one of his hands to wave briefly he would let the baggy sleeve slide down revealing his long pale fingers, and thin arms that seemed to hold very little muscle, "Sooo.... if I may ask why were we summoned here? Not that I have any issues with being summoned by you lady Suzume, I just figured I flew under your radar, what with my being a Genin and all."

Rashi had a reasonable idea of who he'd be paired with given the brief homework he'd done on his squadmates, but meeting them was certainly an exciting experience. Couple that with the fact that he was apparently going to be learning under the old Arashikage, the woman who'd overthrown the empire herself in Suzume?..

His excitement was palpable to say the very least.

Still, in spite of his excitement Yamarashi would tend to struggle with punctuality and as such was definitively the last to arrive, though he wasn't necessarily late. 'Right on time' was about as much as you could hope to garner from the young Genin, but he certainly made sure to bring his enthusiasm and excitement along for the ride. He stopped in the middle of the two younger Genin, and then locked eyes with the ice woman who'd be their new sensei. "My name is Yamarashi Kaguya, reporting for duty as requested!"

A fourth joined shortly after, though it was hard to tell if this one really belonged here. It looked like someone had managed to barely clean up a street urchin enough to have her be presentable to the public. The girl was a young kunoichi with an unkempt head of long black hair around the age of the other genin. She was a little scrawny and definitely malnourished, she carefully approached while her startlingly red eyes shifted from all the figures around.

“I’m Sadako… Mamonaka.” The girl managed to add her name to the list as their new sensei readied herself to begin the lecture.

Saya shot a concerned glance over to Sadako, having been the one to find her alongside a comrade from one of the many islands that dotted the coast of the Land of Water. She hadn’t quite managed to get her ready for other people yet. Saya sighed and steadied herself, allowing Suzume to take the lead.

“Good. Welcome, all of you. Thank you for meeting me here today.” Suzume walked ahead, feeling that an introduction for herself was unnecessary at this stage in her life. Though Saya probably needed explaining. “This is Saya Yuki, she will be my second in command. I won’t always be available, if there is anything that needs my attention while I am away, she is your first point of call.”

With that out of the way, Suzume moved directly to business. “You four will be the first inductees into a newly formed division. Should you accept the call.” She paused, “Unfortunately there isn’t much I can divulge outright without compromising security. So I’ll need an understanding now that what is spoken of today never leaves this training ground.”

This was no idle request, the tone of voice the former Arashikage spoke with was rather cold considering she was speaking to children. Better than any unwilling to take a gamble on such a team learning valuable information. As far as Suzume was concerned the fewer loose ends the better.

Touya nodded, crossing his arms under his pelt. Ever the cautious one, he was quick to prompt Suzume about what exactly her newly formed division would entail, offering his own promise of secrecy. "I won't say a word." He remarked, his quiet voice nevertheless determined. "But what kind of division is this? What's the objective?"

He looked around him. He didn't know everyone here, but he had a sneaking suspicion, based on the appearance and names of those gathered, that everyone had been chosen for their ability to use a Kekkei Genkai of some sort. Whether or not he was right, he wasn't sure, but that was just his gut speaking. He tended to listen to his gut. At the end of the day, nothing was more reliable than Number One.

Sekitsui turned as the third member of this little squad arrived, a fellow Kaguya like himself this one was named Yamarashi, Sekitsui could not recall interacting with this new arrival, shrugging he turned back towards Suzume expectantly, there was now four people there one of them clearly older and more experienced than the rest of those gathered here, yet not quite at Suzume's level so that meant that whatever they were gathered for should be explained soon right? However just as the young Kaguya was about to ask why they were gathered a sixth figure showed up and introduced themselves, a young Kunoichi with dark hair who introduced herself as Sadako. So a six person squad, I wonder what....

Sekitsui's thought was starting to be answered before it could even be formed while Suzume explained that the Kunoichi that was older than the rest gathered here was to be her second in command for a new unit within the village. And from the way that she described the unit, and how what it did was going to be top secret the young Kaguya was immediately intrigued, "So if I am understanding what is being implied here, we are going to be specially groomed into a team that may one day be able to stand toe to toe with the Seven Swordsman, and whatever the other villages have to offer on that level, right? If so count me in."

Yamarashi was a bit uncertain as to why this meeting seemed to be so.. full, but he also didn't really care. He was just here to bone people.. as a manner of speaking. He wanted to beat things up and serve the village the best he could in that pursuit, so he wasn't exactly sure why or what that had to do with this current harem esque ensemble of cold looking goth girls but, it seemed he'd soon find out. "Yeah sure Suzume, is Spooks the ghost in our squad too or is she just a tag along?"

Yamarashi would smirk, waving hello before turning his attention to the rest of his squad, seemingly waiting for them to agree so that they could finally learn about this big thing they were all going to be a part of. It did seem odd that everyone present had a pretty evident KKG, and Suzume was definitely an intentional choice for their leader but.. the rest of it hadn't really come together in Yama's head yet.

Not that much had...

Sadako glanced over to the mouth Kaguya boy, though seemed to shoot little more than a sign of confusion before answering their sensei. Nodding in understanding to maintain her silence for the moment.

Suzume took a quick note on each prospective member’s response before nodding curtly. “That's correct Sekitsui, that is my intention. And you should listen more carefully, Yamarashi. I said ‘four’, didn’t I?” She didn’t seem to register the disrespect; Suzume had never cared for such things in the first place. What she did care about was listening when she was speaking. She had no need for renegades in this new team.

“As I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, you all are from what was the Low Caste before the Emperor’s fall. Each one of you carry the bloodline abilities of your ancestors.” She paused “You may have all been too young to remember it….”

Suzume pushed on. “This new division is under my discretion. Our mission is to weed out the remaining remnants of the old guard still loyal to their dead Emperor.” The First’s goal was rather direct, they were to dispense justice. “You four will be specifically training for infiltration and assassination.”

The Yuki gave her students time to consider her words. While it was too late to regret answering the call, she would hear out any disagreements to begin with. Better to get such things out of the way.

Touya nodded. He didn't really mind either way what they were doing here, as long as it was training. And to be honest, being selected for this particular group was probably as great an honor as he was going to get at this point in his career. Becoming a fighter like that, who specialized in assassination. Like Yamarashi, he was surprised to see that there were *four* of them there, given that typical genin squads only included three, but that seemed to emphasize more than anything the uniqueness of this little band of soldiers.

"As long as no one gets in my way." He shrugged. Four was a large number for a stealth squad. But perhaps Suzume expected that one of them would die. It wouldn't be him.