A new Wind approaches

[Naotaka Reiji]

Down the road a ways, the village of Suna was bustling as it always had, full of life and vigor despite the conditions the townspeople lived in. Dust and sand covered everything, and the sun continually beat down upon their still-thriving city. But the villagers continued through their daily life without question, content in the secluded arid place of existance. Today, however, a small portion of the population was experiencing a great disruption in their daily life...

Today was the day that all the graduating academy students had recieved their letters of congratulations from their Chuunin instructors... Letters that offered them the briefest advice on how to handle their following years... as genin. These envelopes, so tightly sealed, had been torn open swiftly by each eager pair of hands, to read over each personally written greeting, congratulations, and instructions.... And now, those young feet that came with those hands, were eagerly pounding their way to their respective meeting places.

The genins never knew who was to be their teammates.. It was a little bit of fun that the Chuunin always had with their pupils from that year. Keep them guessing, and excited... For some reason it always brought them great joy to leave the teens in the dark. But even worse for the genin... they did not know who their sensei was to be.

Naotaka Reiji had risen early that morning to the less than welcomed chirping of a desert bird. And one of his unused sandals went sailing out the open window shortly after to thank the little fowl for its wake-up call. From there, he'd rolled out of bed, and prepared for this day. His first team of genin since he'd been given the rank as Jounin.. Oh how wonderful.

The Jounin's face went almost as dark as the sky outside. The early morning hours were never his best moments... And as this remained true even on this momentous day, the large, broad-shouldered man left his home in sour silence.

Now though, well after the sun had risen, Reiji sat perched comfortably atop a boulder out in the quarry. He'd not picked a specific stone to send the genin to; searching for him would only help him... and give him more time to himself. Legs crossed comfortably, the brown haired Jounin had stretched out lazily across the top of the stone to let the sun beat at his back as he laid his head on his arms.

He'd read up on the three genin he'd been assigned.. But papers could only tell him so much... Names, ages, birth dates, genders, grades... What he wanted to know were personalities, who they were, not what... That determined a team... And the sooner he got to know his students, the better he could mold them into a fully functioning group...

[Seishuku]

Graduated... Finally graduated. Sei couldn't believe she had made past, to recieve her badge and move on to the more advanced training. It was so hard to believe. Oh, if only her father was here. He would be so proud of his little Sei, to see the certificate of graduation. Sei clutched onto the paper with delicate care. She never wanted to lose this. It was something she would finally be able to be proud of. She had completed her first few years of training, and she could go on to be a true ninja.

Itoe, her canine companion, panted happily as Sei left the building. He raced towards her, circling around and around until she smiled and bent down to pet him. As she held out the paper and pointed to the badge around her waist, the dog barked and licked her face. Itoe was used to Sei's silent being. He had come to learn her quiet ways and understood her, even if he was a dog. They had been together for so long, been through so much, it would be odd if he didn't understand her.

Now, the hard part was figuring out where to meet her new trainer.. Naotaka Reiji? Hmm.. Well, she would find him eventually. She grinned happily at Itoe as they walked side by side. People gave her odd looks, a bit of whispering as she went past. She was considered an outcast in this place. One, her scar that no one knew about. Two, she didn't talk to anyone. And three, they had never seen her parents, knew where she lived, or what she did to keep alive.. Well, it wasn't their buisness. Besides, Sei was used to being the strange one, so she never glanced at the townspeople as she walked.

After a while she saw a figure sitting on a boulder. Well, hopefully it was him.. She got nearer, her expression blank and emotionless as she nodded her head. Itoe sniffed at the air at the main, ears perked up as he stared at the stranger.

"Naotaka Reiji?'' she called out. Her blind green and bright purple eyes staring hard at him.

[Miura]

"Miura, dear, it's time you get up," Said the boys mother as she opened the musty cotton curtains in his room, allowing the morning light to spill in. From the teen's groaning and muttered words, Miura was not a happy man to have been woken up so early. His mother rested her hands on her hips and gave a small sigh, smiling fondly nonetheless.

The raven-haired women moved to stand over her son and briefly waved a piece of parchment in front of his squinted, violet gaze. " Don't you want to see whether or---" She was cut off when in one instant, Miura bolted up and snatched the letter away from her, staring at the paper with wide, awake eyes.

A slow grin crept across his slightly chapped lips as he eagerly opened it, accidentally tearing the letter just a tad. Black ink was scrawled across the off-yellow paper in smooth, elegant strokes. Miura held his breath as he read. He was taking so long his mother was beginning to worry. She was about to offer words of consolation when Miura sprung up and grabbed her, twirling the small but stout woman around in a tight hug.

" Oh my," She laughed, " congratulations dear!" Misao gave her son a kiss on the cheek as he set her down and hurried out of the room, allowing her son the privacy to get prepared.

Miura was grinning all the while as he threw his clothes on, carefully buckling on his impressive number of belts. He had so many that some people thought it might've been a fetish. Hell, it probably was, considering who was wearing them.

Miura grabbed his father's sword and said a small prayer of thanks over it before strapping the weapon to his back. The young man ran his hand through his hair, gave a quick glance in the mirror and was out the door before you could say "genin".

His head was held up high with pride as the boy strut through town, and his lizard, or rather, partner in crime, fell into step, leaving the felines it was harassing alone. Miura really looked like he knew where he was going, but to be honest, the boy hadn't a clue. That wasn't enough to dishearten a guy like him though, so he just sauntered on.

Eventually he did reach the others and came to a stop a few feet behind the girl. His lizard tasted the air with its forked, pink tongue, beady eyes focused on the dog. The reptile climbed up the expanse of Miura's body and took safe haven on his shoulder.

Was this his team? There was only one way to find out. Miura, being cursed with the impatience of youth, didn't wait for the older man to answer the girl's question and called out,

"Yo', man, you awake?"

[Naotaka Reiji]

"Yes... I'm awake, thanks."

A large breath of air was exhaled through Reiji's nose inthe form of a very loud, exasperated sigh. The first student had arrived, and though he was in a sour mood this morning, as he was all others, the Jounin had tried to keep a good lock on his 'morning grouchies.' And he'd done a good job... until that second voice piped up. It belonged to a young man, a very impatient one at that... Voice rumbling in his chest as he grumbled darkly, Reiji pushed himself up from his sprawled out position to turn and face the two newest arrivals.

Two toned eyes of gray peered down upon the Genins with the look of a man appraising newly recieved goods... A young woman stood off to one side, a large canine at her side... Seishuku. It'd done him some good to read all those papers, at least... But still the papers hadn't really explained the aura of absolute discontent around the girl. She was an unhappy little character that one... Which was just was well... Reiji wasn't a man to produce a beaming smile very often.

The other though... Oh his eye started to twitch just thinking about the boy. Miura... Oh some of the things he'd heard at the academy about that boy. Eyes shifting to his lizard, it took all Reiji had to not pull a face at the great scaley beast. About all they were good for, was eating. Unfortunately, this one he wasn't allowed to eat... but the thought crossed his mind all the same.

Scratching at the stubble left on his cheeks, the older shinobi frowned thoughtfully down at the boy. He sighed again, hands falling into his lap as he shook his head. "You'd do well to greet your sensei properly, lest you wish to eat sand..."

Still grumbling slightly, the Jounin pushed himself up to stand on his rock perch. Turning around in a circle, Reiji looked around for the third member of his team... Late. That word never settled well with the older man... and while other senseis might have made an exception, as nerves tended to keep the youths up far too late for their own good, Reiji wasn't about to. Make one exception and everything else after was void.

Crouching down, the large man jumped from his perch to land squatting before the first two members of his team. He sat there for a moment, looking rather ape-like as he supported his weight with his hands, before he stood again and dusted off his leggings. "Well, I'm glad to see two of you made it all right... We'll need to sit and wait for the third member before we start anything. Find a rock, some shade... make yourselves comfortable."

[Seishuku]

An ignorant tone of voice made Sei's eye twitch as she glanced back. The boy was going to a pain in her thorn, wasn't he? 'Nother reason why Sei didn't talk to others. There was nothing to talk about with idiots.. Attention turned back towards her Sensei as he spoke.

The man could definately be intimidating, to say the least. Mornings weren't his thing it seemed, best to keep out of trouble.. No trouble for Sei, she didn't talk much anyway. As the man went over to threaten his pupil, she raised her eyebrow at Itoe. Yeah, best be on his good side..

Itoe, on the other hand, was not paying attention to the large man or the looks Sei was giving him. Instead, his gold eyes stared at the large lizard, a deep growl starting to form in his throat, threatening to burst out. The lizard reminded him of snakes, and the white dog hated snakes. A pat on his head brought his ears to a perking stance, eyes losing their hint of anger as he stared at Sei. She frowned at him and shook her head. Lizard was not doggie food.. Besides, that lizard had some sharp teeth...

Sei sighed impatiently as her Sensei gave the orders. She wasn't one who lyed around and did nothing. But, it was what the man ordered and she didn't want to argue. Walking off the side, afar from the small group, she layed against Itoe's belly, hand rubbing his head as she stared at her Sensei. This should.. be interesting at least... She might actually enjoy Ninja training for once...

[Miura]

Miura's grin didn't falter even when Rei threatened to treat him with a meal of sand; the boy was too giddy with excitement for anything to bring him down. Sure, Rei's early morning grumpiness was a intimidating, but hell, the teen just learned he'd passed on to become a genin.

He offered the jounin a small bow and a finger-salute, but could not smother the boyish smirk that graced his lips. "Sorry, Chief, I'll remember that for next time," Miura said, tilting his head as he looked up at the tall, muscular man.

Some might of been afraid of Rei due to his impressive stature, but from the look on Miura's face; he was anything but frightening. The purple-eyed boy seemed quite taken with him actually; He'd always hoped to grow tall and strong -- just like he always imagined his father had been.

His smile did falter a smidge when the Sensei eyed his prized lizard, and Miura started to look a little wary. Did the sensei have something against reptiles? He sure hoped not. The dog standing by the girl hadn't garnered the same reaction from the tall Suna man. The lizard perched on Miura's shoulder slipped its tongue out and moved to the hilt of Miura's katana. The farther away it was from the canine, the better it felt.

Miura caught Sei's glance, and as if he sensed her initial dislike, stuck out his tongue. Sure he was impatient, but that didn't make him an idiot. In fact, many of the townsfolk thought Miura, or "little fox" as they had taken to calling him, was too clever for his own good. The boy shrugged and turned away, finding a place to rest against a large boulder. Hopefully he and his other teammate would get along better.


(( as a note, I'v changed the species of the lizard to make things more realisitc. It's a green anole now, and much smaller than it was orignally))

[Kosetsu Akina]

The windows against her bad were cracked open, just enough to let a cool breeze waft into her room but not enough to keep out the bustling sound of people who were walking down below. In the bed by the window, a figure was curcled up tightly in the blankets. A hard band echoed from the floor, making the collection of things beside her on the desk fall over.

A book by the edge of the desk began to move with each bang untill falling off. A sharp yelp sounded as a black dog lept to its feet. He blinked once and looked for the thing who had woken him up. Baring his fangs, he began to rip the book apart.

"Tatari! If you don't get up soon, you'll have the academy after your hide!" A older woman yelled from the lower level. She banged her wooden pole against the roof of the kitchen again.

The girl curled in the bed cursed softly and turned to her other side. Ran, the shiba inu who had finished his destruction on the book seemed to grin at the woman's yelling. He lept onto the bed, barking like a rabid dog. Krail hissed, taking on foot and shoving the furry nuisance off the bed. "Go away Ran....they can wait." She grumbeled half asleep.

The dog was on his back, starrring up at the bed. He growled again and began barking. Ducking in time to miss another painful meeting with a book, he scampered to the door as the store owner came upstairs. She lowered her brow seeing the genin still half asleep in bed. She hurried over and dragged the blankets off of the bed much to girls complaints. "Up you lazy girl. Your sensei will not be pleased with your lateness on the first day. You're not in the academy anymore, the teachers won't give you a break like last time." The owner said before literally kicking Krail out of bed.

Krail sat up on the floor, trying to straighten her ebony colored hair from the night's sleep. Her purple eyes blinked a few times to clear the sunlight from her eyes. She gave a stupid grin to the store owner and gathered her clothing. She knew better then to upset the woman anymore. Afterall, she was the one who had offered the girl a place to stay. Krail slipped her headband around her waist and grabbed her letter.

"I'm sorry Runa. We had a late night, you know the parties the families have after graduation." She apologized as she slipped out the door.
Runa only sighed, sagging her shoulders before cleaning up the mess of her bed.

Krail slipped out the second story window, Ran at her side in a flash. Despite being a young dog, he had all the loyalty as an old companion. Leaping across the rooftops, she made her way to the stone quarry. Every step was quiet, only detectable by the occasional clack of dog nails against the metal rooftops.

She squinted as the entered the stoney wasteland, trying to get used to the never changing sun. Ran padded beside her, tounge rolling out of his mouth as he started to bound ahead. Krail looked at the letter one more time, trying to determine exactly where she would meet with her new team. It didn't take long due to her little partner.

Ran suddenly bolted forward at the scent of another canine. Krail took after her untill she could see the trio sitting on the rocks ahead. Her eyes suddenly lowered as she knew she was late. Not that it really mattered, they would just have to deal with it. Putting her fingers to her lips, she whistled to the shiba who came to a halt beside her. Krail approached the impossing man. Her purple eyes were set like stone, each step unervous as she appraoched. "Sensei...." She said bowing her head slightly. "Please accept my apologies for my absence. I was out a little late last night doing some....buiness." She added with a sly smirk at the end. Her little hobby of pickpoketing only know to her and Runa.

[Naotaka Reiji]

Reiji watched as the first two arrivals took his offer and found their own respective seats. At least they were obedient this far. It was the least the man could ask for... A group that gave him as little grief as possible. And though he would wish and wish for such a miracle, Reiji knew it would never come to pass.

Karma always had its ways of coming back to bite a person in the ass... And it certainly had a very large bite to offer Reiji... This was only the beginning.

The Jounin stood where he had landed still, though he now stood in a slightly more relaxed posture. Broad shoulders were slumped slightly as his thumbs were hooked into the pockets of his pants. Hell, this was easy, so far. All he had to do was sit now, and wait... But unfortnately, Reiji himself wasn't the most patient of people.

His gray eyes shifted back and forth between his two Genin pupils, though the rest of his body remained stone-still. Until he grew rather bored with waiting and fished around in the dozens of pockets of his sandy-colored Jounin's vest. After much rummaging and soft cursing, the man pulled out a long strip of cloth and proceeded to tie it about his forehead. What sort of sensei would he be if he didn't start wearing his headband every day? Daichi sensei had... To set a good example... Though Reiji had always thought it a bit odd.

Now though, it made sense. There was a certain kind of pride in wearing the badge, with their crest inscribed so neatly upon the metal. But it hadn't been precisely what he'd been searching for... though it was a much needed addition to his appearance. What he had been looking for was finally nicked out of one of the chest pockets and promptly began twirling around his finger.

Kunai had always been some of his favorite items. Easily thrown, and deadly if the user had good aim. And besides, they simply looked cool when spinning about on fingers. But they could only entertain the Jounin for so long before his irritation began to pulse in the back of his mind, pushing his nerves full force. Oh how he despised tardy students.

And his annoyance was well exhibited when the third and final team member finally decided to show up. Reiji grunted at her explanation as to why she was late. Excuses never held well with him either. The once spinning Kunai went speeding from Reiji's finger tips to embed itself in the sand between the girl's feet. "Apologies not accepted. You'd do well to be on time from now on, Miss Tatari."

Turning his head, Reiji nodded to the other two, signalling for them to rise. "All of you, come sit closer. We have plenty of lovely little things to converse about before I send you home." He himself took a seat in the sand, but not before looking to Krail again. "Tatari, grab my Kunai for me, and take a seat. We'll start with you first."

[Seishuku]

Seeing the last student arrive finally, Sei rose from Itoe's side and walked towards the group, sitting just outside the forming circle. She may be part of the team, but she didn't consider herself as a team mate just yet... Itoe stood and walked to sit by her side, nudging her for reassurance and to try and persuade her to join the group. Sei gave her pet a look and shook her head.

Great, two what seemed to be obnoxious students as part of the team. One what seemed to be a loudmouth, the other.. obnoxious might be a good word... Resisting the urge to sigh at her own annoyance, she kept her gaze on her Sensei, trying to ignore the other two. It wasn't that she thought she was better than them, she didn't know of that yet... she just never knew how to talk with others before, she never learned how to socialise. So, instead she was cold and shunning around others. Others may not like it, but they would just learn to deal with it.

Itoe gave a rather odd look at his master, frowning as best as a dog could do. This would never do, her being her usual cold self. How could she ever be accepted as part of the team if she remained cold like this? His eyes passed an apologetic glance towards Rei before giving Sei another nudge in the ribs.

[Miura]

Miura glanced up when the girl and her dog appeared. He didn't mind waiting, but the others didn't seem so pleased. Tatari didn't strike Miura as an introvert like Sei, and for that he was grateful. Miura didn't know how to deal with people like that; The more he tried to be friendly towards them, the harder they pushed him away. Miura frowned. Sometimes he just didn't understand people.

He cringed at Rei's words and made a mental note never to be late. He didn't want to go out of his way to annoy the man. Miura smiled at that thought. He would, of course, make a little mischief for the sensei, for it was in his nature. The boy then eyed both of the girl's dogs and furrowed his brows. Why they were such popular pets, Miura couldn't fathom.

He looked down to the green anole resting in his open hand and smirked.

Lizard's were so much cooler.

[Kosetsu Akina]

Krail jumped back slightly as the kunai landed between her feet. She starred at the edge weapon then to her sensei who sat uphead of her. A michevious looked flashed across those purple eyes as he barked his sentence at her. Ran began to growl at his tone, overseeing it as a threat on her health.

The genin brushed against the top of his head to ease his anger. Having the little rage of a furball attacking her new sensei would not be wise. Besides, it was better not to anger him anymore then she did. Pushing back her black hair, Krail leened down and picked up the kunai. She examined it between her fingers, testing the weight of both ends. Not a bad blade she add in her mind before walking forward.

Krail glanced at her new teamates, hiding her normal grin as they looked at her as well. Not that she really cared what they thought of her. Just as long as they didn't bother her. Handing the kunai back, hilt first, she swept around and took her place besides Sei. Purple eyes glanced at her as she offered a small smile as a hello. Ran sat with her, eyes kept warily on the teahcer.

Perking forward as he spoke, Krail tilted her head to the side. She acted oblivious to his dislike of her lateness for fun and sighed as he said they would start out with her. She did deserve it afterall but sleeping in late couldn't be helped sometimes. "What ever you wish sensei." Krail said softly, drawing those rebellious eyes to him again.

[Naotaka Reiji]

Calloused fingers gently removed the Kunai from Krail's grasp, not hurrying to whisk it away lest he cut the girl's fingers. After all, she had been nice enough to do as he'd told her. Already, some of his earlier annoyance with her lateness was ebbing away. At least they all had the intelligence to listen to him on the first day. Come tomorrow, however, that may all change... Which was to be seen.

Nodding his head to her in silent thanks, Reiji waited as the she and the others all moved closer, taking their seats in front of him in the sand. When their little circle was completed, the Jounin once again took the opportunity to look at them each before speaking. He took note of things such as expressions, movements, even the glances that were flickered back and forth between each Genin. Miura's esctatic grin, Sei's somewhat brooding silence, and that ever-present glint of trouble in the back of Krail's eyes were all filed away to memory in the man's mind. Something told him, that though first impressions are most times false, that these kids were either didn't care to change their ways or were too excited to hide anything at the moment. He had a feeling he'd be seeing a lot more of each of those...

"Well, congratulations are in order, I suppose. You've made it to the ranking of the esteemed Genin. Apparently the three of you did well enough... or perhaps annoyed your teachers enough, for them all to decide to pair you with me. As I'm sure you've read on your letters you recieved earlier today, my name is Naotaka Reiji. Last names work, first names work, but not without the title of Sensei. I am your teacher, and I expect to be treated as such." For now... He concluded the sentence in his mind. If they were lucky, he might just learn to like them.

"Also, as I'm sure you've all come to realize, I'm not a very happy person. Get used to it, as it's not likely to go away any time soon." The man gave a small grunt before shaking his head. "Enough from me. I need to learn about you three... I don't need life stories, that's your business for now, but names, goals, skills... anything you think that might be of interest to me or your teammates, I want to hear. And, as I said before, we'll start with you, miss Tatari."