NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: Not much else I can say to describe it. This is the RP dealing with three rather... interesting Godulans and their trek through the Coredian Ninja Academy. If ya have a legit reason for possibly having a character in the same class there is no reason to not tag along for the decidedly abnormal proceedings...

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The Kunai thudded into the ground directly between the Godulan child's feet, causing a small spray of grass and soil to continue along the path for a few inches further as well as a small poof of dust. A couple intakes of breath sounded out nearby as the other students looked on in surprise.

"Why didn't he move?" "What's wrong with him?" "Is he blind?"

The child simply stood there, hands clasped before his chest as if in praying to some form of obscure deity, intricately embroidered vest flapping slightly in the breeze. Unmoving, unflinching, unbreathing, and staring at the Sensei with emerald green eyes of surprising intensity, but no other indication of his state of mind. His expression was as neutral and unmoving as that of a statue, showing little more than a serene grin...

"You are supposed to dodge, Naberius."

The boy's response was as immediate as it was precisely punctuated: "We saw no reason to do so, sir."

"I threw the Kunai at you, that is reason enough."

"We would beg to differ. You threw your weapon at the ground between our feet. We saw no reason to dodge. You educated us to hold ourselves back from utilizing our abilities unless strictly necessary, did you not? Such would prevent our enemies from gauging the full extent of our capabilities and incorporating countermeasures into future tactics."

"Yes, but--"

"Is it not logical to assume then that a Kunai thrown towards, but not directly at a target, is simply a diversionary move utilized to get a proper sampling of the target's reaction speed? Is it not then logical to assume that the best tactic to adopt in such a situation is not to react at all?"

A muffled snort of laughter came from the small crowd of students watching the exchange. The Sensei gave them a withering glare before turning back to the boy standing before him.

"We are not testing your reasoning, Naberius. We are testing your agility. You are supposed to dodge the Kunai."

"Then be so kind as to make it worth dodging."

Another snort. Another glare. The Sensei then looked to another who was standing watch nearby. Silent communication between the two of them, and the Sensei returned his attention to his charge.

Knock some sense into that boy.

"Very well. We shall raise the bar for you."

If he moved, he did not show it. One moment there was nothing, the next the Kunai sliced through the air and thudded directly into Naberius' neck. Of course, in such a case the Kunai would not make a 'thud' sound... Ten feet behind him, the Kunai still reverberated slightly, imbedded by no small amount into a tree. The boy had made no movement, had shown no sign of vacating the path of the throwing knife, and yet the Kunai had sailed straight through him to strike the tree behind.

Naberius' grin widened slightly and his expression took a lighter, somewhat mischievous tinge.

"Now, sir, the question is... did we dodge, or did we duck? Did we do anything at all? Did we need to? Was there even a Kunai?"

"What is he talking about?" "It's right there!" "I can see it, it even left a mark!" "What's with all that 'we' crap?"

"Senses are important to us, Sir. They are important in your-- our profession, as we must be as adept at sensing our prey as we are at decieving them. But we are afraid to inform you that your deception had a minor flaw."

The Sensei sighed to himself. "And what is that?"

"Your Kunai passed into sunlight three times throughout the course of its trajectory. In neither of those incidences did the Kunai glint."

Another sigh. "You came here to torment me, didn't you."

"No," Naberius replied, smile even brighter than before, "We came here to learn. And indeed we have learned much under your tutelage, for which we are eminently thankful. We would very much appreciate, however, that the next time we ask you to make the weapon worth dodging, that you dispense with the half-measures."

This kid is insane...

Another sigh. "Fine, fine, I will 'make it worth dodging'. Don't blame me if you get hurt though."

"We will not."

Blame me, or get hurt?

"Dodge this!"

Three Kunais darted towards three separate portions of Naberius' body, as each weapon came just short of striking his body, Naberius seemed to reform lightning fast into a different pose, such that each Kunai would simply pass by mere millimeters from his body. Each pose was accompanied with a comment that seemed to come out of nowhere...

>>"Too fast!"<<

>>"Watch out, now!"<<

>>"Any of you feel a breeze?"<<

The Sensei winced and massaged his temples for a moment after realizing the scene that had unfolded. Then, with yet another sigh, he gave a simple shrug and waved Naberius off.

"All right, all right. You pass, you pass. Rejoin your classmates... please. NEXT!"

Sensei Shikamaru sighed and shook his head, feeling the need for a smoke. Where the hell did Iruka pick up those kids? How troublesome.

Even the kids feel weird around the three Godulan youngsters, who seem to be above and beyond the level of any Genin.

"What are they doing here?" "If they're so strong, what do they need ninja training for?" "They're so irritating!"

"All right, continue training, kids." Shikamaru said. He continued training the other kids, his mind still on the kids. Godulans...always a troublesome people.

"Why do you have to be like that?" a voice from beside Naberius asked. Though he did not need to, he turned to regard the origin of that question. A blonde girl in a padded black bodysuit. Pretty but not overly so, and somewhat athletic looking as well. Presently, she was fixing a rather withering glare on him. "Now he's angry, and that makes things harder on the rest of us."

"Oh sure," Naberius replied with a wide grin, "If you look at it THAT way. What is the point of teaching people to anticipate difficulties if they do not see it in action during training?"

"Wha?" came the girl's response, decidedly confused by the reply.

"If we are a good little boy who does what he is told, doing only the minimum required to pass, what kind of Ninja would that make us? Hmm? Expand your horizons. Go above and beyond. Have all you can takes until you can't takes no more. It is quite simple. Just make sure that you know your limits, in order to avoid running into something you cannot handle."

All he got in return was a stunned expression.

"Plus we just like pushing buttons."

And with a slight cackle, he returned to watching the training.

Shikamaru overheard the kid talking and smiled. Well, if there isn't another smarter version of Naruto in this class...Haven't had someone like that in a while.

After a while, class was dismissed for a break.

"I tell you, something ain't right with that one. The other two... they're quiet, and you can always tell that they're paying attention..." The three boys turned towards Naberius in unison, who leaned against the building whilst juggling five shurikens between his right leg, bouncing them from his foot and sending them back with his knee. "But him... he's always goofing off, but he knows more than any of us!"

"Maybe he actually read the books?" one of the other boys asked, struck by the speed of Naberius' juggling.

"Wait, they actually have books?"

"I heard they had the Sensei make up harder tests for them, but they still finish faster than the rest of us, and its always him first."

"Actually, I can tell you why they did that." Naberius said from behind them, still juggling shurikens, and smiling slightly as all three boys squeaked in surprise.

"Bu-bu-bu-buh..." came the general reply, though the largest of the three recovered the most swiftly.

"Wh-why?"

"Because where our eyes are pointing gives no indication of where we are actually looking. We have full field of vision, front, back, to the side, all at once, so were we to have the same exams as you folks, the potential for cheating would be too great. So we get different tests then you lot. Harder too, because we have a bit more time to study. And yes, there are books."

"Why do you keep calling yourself 'We'?"

Naberius' smile grew wider, with a distinctly mirthful tinge. "Because that is who we are."

"Hey... um..." the smallest of the three began, still fascinated by the juggling. "Can you show me how to do that?"

Naberius shrugged slightly, and the shurikens vanished, materializing in his hand. "We don't see why not. Takes a lot of practice, though, and in your case a set of kneepads too. These things can cut pretty deep if you're not careful. Perhaps it would be better to show you how to do it with your hands first, hmm? Hand-Eye coordination is quite important. Improves your aim, too."

Suddenly the other two boys were interested as well, insisting that they be taught as well.

"I cannot teach three at once, but I suppose there is nothing against making a game of Hackeysack out of it..."

Lets do the time warp agaaaaaaain...

Naberius did not quite understand why the ancient song ran through his head at that particular moment, but pushed his momentary confusion aside as he watched the last of the 'human' students complete her Final Exam demonstration to Shikimaru. The girl tripped up once on her transformation jutsu, but managed to get it properly the second time, finally getting the nose right. After being given a 'pass' she returned to her seat, clearly relieved.

Shikimaru sighed for a moment and rubbed his temples slightly, dreading what was about to transpire. With a sharp intake of breath, he began. "Students, as you are aware, our three 'special' students required significant augmentations to the difficulty of their subject matter. As you have no doubt realized, neither of them have yet stepped up to perform their final demonstration of skill. The reason for this is because they are going to perform a different demonstration. More difficult by far."

Naberius raised an eyebrow, then shrugged slightly as he turned to take a look at the other two Avatars in the room. Vitalia simply seemed bored with everything, and Nereid appeared to be reveling in the almost constant fawning that she drew from the boys nearby. Though Vitalia and Nereid were equally beautiful in their form, the boys had learned early on that Vitalia was about as cuddly as a porcupine, and better 'admired' from a significant distance, but Nereid was more receptive, so it was all good to them.

Naberius couldn't help but chuckle at the situation. The youngest of the personalities inhabiting any of the Kython Avatars outstripped even the Sensei by a century, and Nereid was actually flirting with teenagers. Likely just to see what responses she could raise from the others in her exaggerated, but still almost-veiled 'feminine' movements.He wondered what would happen if it was realized that two of the five personalities within Nereid were male.

Surprisingly, all of Vitalia's were female, though former participation in the m'lekk'torr special forces accounted quite handily for their almost virulent attitude. The personalities curiously retained their telepathic defenses, but they seemed to resent being in a form that made their former physical augmentations obsolete.

Naberius' personalities however were somewhat more chaotic in nature, two savants, two Godulan Intelligence service agents, and a gun runner. The Savants alone meant he dwarfed the other two Avatars in sheer power, the Intelligence agents were almost fanatical in their acquisition of information of all types, and the dominant personality, the Gun Runner --he never could quite understand why they made him the dominant one, and took his operating codename too-- apparently represented the curiosity and creativity of the group, locating and picking at openings to see what would happen. He was the tactical loudmouth, the cunning clown, the intuitive speaker of unheeded warnings.

"That being said," Shikimaru continued, "Vitalia, front and center."

Vitalia emerged from her seat and stalked towards the front of the class. Students adjacent to her path were quick to scoot as far away as their seats would allow. Standing before Shikimaru, she stood straight and tall, and awaited her instructions as a statue awaits the end of eternity.

"Vitalia, no less than three clones at once, and show me something 'new'." He rubbed his temples again at how vague the exam was required to be. They had to 'impress' him. Rather than simple requirements, they wanted him to grade them based on his own personal opinions... how troublesome.

Vitalia formed the hand seals without speaking as soon as the words were out of the sensei's mouth, and four perfect clones of her sprouted into existence, arranged in a square around her. Each clone faced outwards, giving no direct sign of acknowledgement to anyone.

Then, they began to form handseals of their own at a breakneck speed. No clone formed the same seal as any of the others, and not one word was uttered by any of the clones as they progressed through a seemingly random blur of seal-forming. Eventually, Vitalia-Prime joined in, forming seals faster still than the clones around her. At the same time, a strange series of geometrical patterns seemed to form out of nothingness just above the floor, the complexity of the patterns increasing as the seals continued.

Suddenly, everything in the room went black. Despite the open windows, the sun outside, and the indoor lights, everything was simply pitch-black. Confusion amongst the other students broke out, only to be quelled by Shikimaru's shouted order to remain calm, and the increasing vibration in the floor.

After a moment, the vibration faded, and the classroom faded back into visibility... showing that all four clones had turned and were now forming seals toward Vitalia-Prime, and she herself was holding a curious globe of what appeared to be condensed light.

She reached out the window, and flicked the globe away. As her finger impacted the globe to send it fluttering into the distance, the globe shattered, firing a beam of energy into the trees nearby and leaving them either minus significant chunks of their trunk, or severely scorched.

Vitalia returned to her position before Shikimaru and made a simple comment: "It is easier to create the beam from our own energy rather than absorb it from our surroundings, but you wanted something 'new', so we felt it necessary to perform the more 'difficult' version."

As another Sensei barged into the room shouting "WHAT IN THE BLAZES WAS THAT?!" Shikimaru waved to dismiss Vitalia with a sigh, then waved the other sensei off with a shrug.

"Alright, you pass... I can't argue with lasers. Nereid, you're next."

Nereid emerged from her seat like a flower in bloom and flowed towards the front of the class, drawing a wave of longing sighs from many of the boys in the class, and angry muttering from the girls... and another chuckle from Naberius. She bowed to Shikimaru in a manner that caused several of the boys behind her to freeze up for several seconds.

"No less than three clones, and show me something new."

"Yes, Sensei," Nereid replied in her almost ludicrously sweet voice. She performed the necessary hand seals, and three clones materialized into existence, causing a couple boys in the back to whisper amongst themselves about how they wished the clones were real. After a couple seconds, the clones vanished from existence.

Nereid then began to dance. A strange sweeping dance that eventually saw her spinning about like a top with her limbs bundled up to keep her center of gravity properly situated. With every major movement, she shifted her weight from a foot to a hand to another foot to another hand and so on, gaining speed until finally, on one leap from hand to foot, she left the ground entirely. An awkward thud marked the sudden shift, and she seemed to be hovering in midair, spinning even more gracefully now. Naberius turned his attention to the floor and noted a hole had formed, as though she had poked some form of sword into the ground and was supporting her weight on it. She shifted to a hand, still removed from the floor, and created another hole in the ground.

It proceeded along this vein, until, sensing something about to happen, Shikimaru vacated the front of the classroom... just in time to see Nereid skate forward and slice the chalkboard into several pieces, then sliced those pieces into several yet smaller pieces, in such a manner that they landed on Shikimaru's desk in a nice little pile. With one final leap, Nereid landed fully on the ground like a feather coming to rest, and apologized to Shikimaru before returning to her seat, basking in the numerous looks of pure awe.

Shikimaru sighed again, rubbing his temples harder than ever. "Pass, and I hope you can pay for that chalkboard, Nereid. What was that technique called, by the way?"

"We can, sensei. And we do not know, we did not take time to name it."

"We suggest 'Pinwheel'," Naberius said, tossing a piece of paper in the air and impaling it on some unseen force as if testing how Nereid pulled that particular move off.

"Pinwheel it is, then... and now for the moment we have all been dreading..."

Naberius sauntered from his seat and danced a little jig as he came to stand before Shikimaru. "Sensei, you honor us with your compliment. Shall we assume that the test is the same for us?"

"Yes, but I am adding another stipulation. You cannot destroy anything. Vitalia and Nereid have done enough damage today."

"Well, darn. Sensei, much though we would enjoy the opportunity to cause widespread strife and misery in our wake, we shall accede to your wish and instead perform a jutsu that we just made up. And we shall do it without moving, or saying a single word!"

"Clones first please."

"Ah yes... the easy part first... we shall do that without moving as well!" Naberius stretched out one bare arm: "Nothing up our sleeve." Stretched out the other: "Nothing up here either..." then, holding his arms extended to each side, his eyes suddenly flared with energy and three perfect clones came into existence, each inspecting the room as if seeing it for the first time, then settling to look at Naberius. They then launched into a short conversation...

"Sup?" "Sup?" "Sup?" "Sup?" "Sup?" "Sup?" "Lookin' good, my man!" "You're lookin' mighty fine yerself!" "Hey, you told me there'd be booze!" "This section floor is squeaky." "I'm bored." "I'm gonna go hit up a liquor store." "The hell you are." "Aw!"

After a few moments of this senseless chatter, the three clones poofed from existence and caused no small number of exhalations of relief and a similar number of rolling eyes.

Naberius broke into a magician pose and waved his fingers in front of him for a moment. "And for our next trick, we will pull a random thing from thin air!"

And suddenly, he went dead still, even in his present pose, and his eyes flared with power so brightly that it cast a shadow behind Shikimaru. Power seemed to settle in the room like a lead sheet, weighing down everyone in the room with the sheer tangibility of the energies he was calling to bear. The room vibrated and trembled in anticipation of Naberius' next move.

In something of an anticlimactic ending, the power lifted, the trembling stopped, and everything seemed focused into a single point... and gave off a decidedly unassuming 'Poit' sound.

On the desk, staring at Shikimaru from atop the pile of chalkboard fragments, was a crystalline scorpion about the size of a poodle.

Shikimaru couldn't help but back away from the new arrival, as Scorpion stings were nothing to laugh at, and a crystalline scorpion presented a distinct unpredictability in the nature of whatever venom was in its tail.

As if offended by Shikimaru's retreat, the scorpion made a rude gesture towards the Sensei with its pincers and spoke in a voice that sounded like a grindstone on metal.

"Oy! Screw you, ya little bahstard! I ain't gon' bite'cha!"

"Calm down there, Fanaxiss. We suspect he was not expecting us to manage bringing you out."

"Oh. 'S you, eh? Givin' the ol' Scorpion King some fresh air rather'n that bloody dog, what?"

"Indeed. They did not want anything destroyed."

"Oh! So oi'm just decoration, eh?! A fancy toy to trot out on your whim?"

"Not at all, Fanaxiss. It is simply that Cerberus is more of the 'rip things apart THEN ask why he was summoned' type. You at least wonder why you have been brought out before destroying things."

"Ah. Ya, that mutt is a hot-tempered one if'n ever I saw. You gon' send me back now or do I get ta stay a while? Nuthin' happenin' thereabouts anyhow."

"We see no reason you can't stay. Here," Naberius reached moved forward and picked the scorpion up. It immediately scrambled up and settled down on Naberius' head as he walked up to Shikimaru, still visibly shaken by the fact that one of his students had not only summoned a creature that had never before even been imagined, but apparently showed signs of being able to bring out ANOTHER, similarly impossible creature. Fanaxiss suddenly reached out with his pincers, causing Shikimaru to jump slightly.

"Boo!"

As Fanaxiss chittered in a manner that was obviously laughter, Naberius concluded his demonstration.

"Sensei, we have just summoned a Crystalline Spider without utilizing blood contract or any form of handseals or summoning circle."

"Guy's got guts, I'll give 'im tha!"

Naberius executed a bow, accompanied by a "Ey ey EY! Geez! Damn near threw me on me arse, ya little bahstard!" and returned to his seat.

After a moment, Shikimaru shuddered slightly and rubbed his temples harder than ever before. "A plus. Just keep that thing away from me, please."

Naberius raised one of his hands and gave Shikimaru a smirk and a thumbs-up.

Shikamaru sighed as he tallied up the scores. What wouldn't I give to simply lie down on my favorite chair and watch the clouds...

"All right...here are your scores. Those of you who have passed, please pick up your forehead protectors." Shikamaru said. "You'll return tomorrow for your team assignments."

Unsurprisingly, the three Godulans passed the class, along with 80% of the rest of the class, giving cheers to those who passed and groans to those to who didn't.

Vitalia and Nereid both picked up their forehead protectors and wandered out of the classroom, the latter escorted by several other graduates who seemed to be on the verge of fighting over who was going to be on the team with her.

As Naberius walked up, Shikimaru hunkered down slightly and tried to appear nondescript. I just know he's going to say something...

Naberius picked up his headband and looked at it, then at the others that had not yet been taken. He turned to Shikimaru and raised an eyebrow.

"Sensei, a question. A riddle, if you will."

Oh no. No no no. Let this end. Gods please help me...

"If ninjutsu is primarily a discipline geared towards stealth, why is it necessary for us to wear an identifying symbol? Does it not defeat the purpose of the entire profession?"

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...

Shikamaru groaned. The question should be obvious... "It is an identity symbol, much like the lightsaber is for the Jedi. Shinobi do remove them during stealth missions, but it is often unnecessary in most cases. Even a bandit would likely wish to think twice once they see the symbol of a Ninja Village."

"Would it not be better then to utilize some form of badge instead?" Naberius asked. "A headband of this nature offers little utility beyond identification, whereas the Jedi Lightsaber is quite efficient as a weapon. Though, it does give us something of an idea..."

Naberius took the forehead protector and held it in both hands. A strange crackling energy seemed to engulf the forehead protector, then began to diminish the size of the object. Within a few moments, it was gone entirely, and his left arm began to morph slightly.

When the transformation was complete, Naberius' left forearm had developed a layer of wickedly spiked armor plating, and on a small plate on the back of his arm was the hidden leaf emblem.

"This should be sufficient."

"Well...that works...I guess. How troublesome." Shikamaru sighed, shaking his head at the display. Please go away...

Naberius inspected his new 'accessory' and smiled wryly. He walked out of the classroom to leave Shikimaru alone. Out in the hall, a sudden *SHINK!* sound preceded a pair of startled shrieks and a sheepish "Oops, sorry..."

"Oh no..." Shikamaru peeked out to see what was the matter, although dreading it.

Naberius stood there with a sheepish grin, as two of the other graduates stood to his left giving him decidedly spooked glares. He turned just as Shikimaru poked his head out, revealing a pair of foot-long spines that emerged from the armor plating to either side of his hand.

Naberius shrugged with a smirk and flexed his wrist. The spines jerked back into his armor, leaving no trace of their existence. Then continued walking out of the room.

"See you tomorrow, Sensei!"

The very next day, Naberius watched the other students trickle in whilst inspecting his arm once again. It was no longer 'armored' for the most part, save for a plate on the back of his hand bearing the emblem of Konoha. The two girls he had startled the other day walked up to him somewhat tenuously and cleared her throat.

"Wh-what happened to that armor you had there?"

"Too conspicuous. The point of a ninja is to avoid identification, after all, and such 'flashy' things would only prove a hindrance. I hope I did not cause too much undue stress for the two of you."

The girl simply bowed slightly and skittered off. Okaaaaaaaay.

Shikamaru had not yet arrived, and Naberius began to feel pangs of impatience about who his supposed 'teammates' would be. It was mostly due to curiosity about how they might react to being stuck with him...

glorified bump for CW :p

"Sorry I'm late." Shikamaru said as he entered the room with a folder. The lazy jounin gave no explanation, but started to sort the class into groups. When their names were called, the students shuffled to their groups, with various reactions, from shrieking glee from girlfriends to brooding glares from young rivals.

As it is, Naberius was hooked up with a girl who bears the unlikely name of Hirokatsu Sharina, a brunette with a sweet disposition hiding a steel interior and a hyperactive brat who's name is Uzumaki Nawaki, the elder son of Naruto and Hinata, and the spitting image of the Fox-carrier, only with purple hair instead of blond. His eyes were normal blue, due to his father's dominant genes and the Kyuubi's chakra that was passed down to him, but he has been trained in the use of the Byakugan by his mother, where his eyes turn milky and he can see many hidden things. There is also the potential for 'going fox' as Naruto called it, but as of yet, it has never been activated. Suffice is to say, Nawaki's full of surprises, although he doesn't look it.

"Team Six. Your sensei will be Inuzuka Kiba." Shikamaru ordered and moved on to the other groups before fleeing in sheer relief.

Naberius shrugged as Shikimaru bolted out of the classroom in a blur. Was he expecting protests about the assignments? Such was the only logical conclusion as the rather loud protests of those who did not appreciate their assignments could very likely be heard from half a kilometer away.

Nereid was teamed up with two boys, who did not have a single problem whatsoever with THEIR assignment. And already Vitalia had somehow managed to get into an argument with one of her partners. That simply left him and his team to see how things might turn out.

As it happened, Naberius needed only turn around in his chair to see Nawaki, who seemed curiously intent upon the third member of their party, who in turn seemed curiously intent upon Naberius... of course, following her gaze to him, Nawaki rather quickly settled in on Naberius as well.

"Why for are we being stared at like some form of museum display?"

Bump for CW

Naberius shrugged as Shikimaru bolted out of the classroom in a blur. Was he expecting protests about the assignments? Such was the only logical conclusion as the rather loud protests of those who did not appreciate their assignments could very likely be heard from half a kilometer away.

Nereid was teamed up with two boys, who did not have a single problem whatsoever with THEIR assignment. And already Vitalia had somehow managed to get into an argument with one of her partners. That simply left him and his team to see how things might turn out.

As it happened, Naberius needed only turn around in his chair to see Nawaki, who seemed curiously intent upon the third member of their party, who in turn seemed curiously intent upon Naberius... of course, following her gaze to him, Nawaki rather quickly settled in on Naberius as well.

"Why for are we being stared at like some form of museum display?"
"No idea." Nawaki shrugged.

A few minutes later, a man with red warpaint wearing black and a HUGE pooch arrived to pick up his team. "Yo. I'm Inuzuka Kiba. This is my nindog Akamaru."

Akamaru gave a resounding bark. "Woof!"

"All right, if you'll come out with me, we can get set on introductions." Kiba said and lead the team to a bench outside the academy. "Right. The drill is simple. Your name, likes, dislikes, future plans and anything else you could think of."

"If we would be permitted to go first?" Naberius asked quizzically. At the rather deafening silence that resulted he decided nobody had a complaint about that. He stood up and made a show of clearing his throat, even though he did not have one, then began.

"Our name is Naberius, an old earth name reputed to have eventually derived into both Anubis and Cerberus of Egyptian and Greek mythology, respectively. The original owner of the name was known for swiftly picking up information and, as one might venture to guess, loved the sound of his own voice.

"The subject of our likes and dislikes is somewhat extensive as there is a very good reason that we always refer to ourselves in the plural. This is somewhat simplified by the fact that the rest of our constituents do not care about what they like or dislike enough even to remember what in fact such things were. I, however, recall perfectly such information. I like guns. I like swords. I like traveling, the further the better. I like the unexpected, as dealing with new situations lets me know that I am not some mindless drone in this crystalline body. More than anything, however, I like victory. There is something to be said for the sense of satisfaction at a job done well and a job done right.

"I dislike watermelons. I dislike romance novels. I dislike being caught unprepared. I dislike failure, whether by my own actions or those of others, as in a team it is necessary that each member be responsible for the actions of others at the same time as he or she is responsible for his or her own. Failure is the natural result of this breakdown. More than anything, I dislike boredom. Tedium is worse than failure, because at least in failure I will have learned something.

"Our future plans are the simplest of all considerations," Naberius continued, shifting from "I" to "We" as if flicking as switch on and off. "We would not be present were our objectives divergent. We wish to learn, and we intend to continue doing so as much as possible. In terms of the physical and mental aspects of our chosen path, we seek nothing less than perfection. We neither know nor care how long such a path will take to travel, only that we will see it through. Obstacles be damned."

He sat down, seemingly finished with his surprisingly long-winded response, then paused for a moment, snapping his fingers in recall, he continued for one last little bit:

"And of course, on a personal note, we can only hope that those around us learn from us as much as we learn from them."

"Nice speech." Kiba nodded. "All right. Uzumaki."

"Hehe. I'm Uzumaki Nawaki. Yeah, I know it rhymes. I like ramen. Lots of ramen." Nawaki grinned as Kiba sweatdropped. "I also like to train alot with Mom and Dad and I don't like snotty people (never mind the fact that he's in one of the top ten clans of Coreworlds). My future plans? Well, I wanna take my dad's spot as the number one unpredictable ninja!" He grinned there.

Heh. If he's anything like Naruto, he's certainly going to go a long way. Kiba smirked. "You in the pink shirt."

"I'm Hirokatsu Sharina, I like to play with my boomerangs and I don't like licorice. I look up to Master Sakura, so my future plans include becoming a medic." Sharina smiled.

"Ah, good. Now that we've introduced ourselves, we'd best get started." Kiba said. "All right, now that we're here, I'd like you three to do something for me. I'd like you to give my dog a bath."

Akamaru's ears perked up at that and he woofed and growled in disagreement.

"Of course you need a bath! You stink, for one thing! For another, it's been two weeks since you last had one!" Kiba shot back.

Akamaru stuck out his tongue in a very human manner of disrespect and growled at the kids, daring them to try something.

"Yeah, just give the pooch a bath." Kiba rubbed his head. He grinned. "Oh yeah, and you have three hours to do it. Otherwise you fail this task and I'll have no choice but to send you back to the academy."

"Back? No way I'm going back!" Nawaki yelled.

"Well, then..." The Dog Sensei set down a clock. "Once I press this, you can begin."

Akamaru suddenly sped off, leaving the kids eating dust. Kiba was pissed and pressed the clock. "Akamaru, you cheater! Begin!"

"That dog will not make it easy," Naberius said as he crouched down onto the ground and rested on all fours for a moment. "Objective one is to locate the dog, objective two is to locate water, objective three is to combine the components..."

with that, he kicked his legs out behind him, hovering in midair for a moment while his body transformed in a manner similar to a werewolf, seemingly sprouting fur and reorganizing his limbs until his feet landed back to the ground and he stood between Nawaki and Sharina, a great black bloodhound with glowing green eyes and glowing green mist flowing forth from his mouth.

"You two," the hound said without moving its disturbingly fanged jaws. "We will need to acquire the dog physically. Traps will likely be ineffective. Expect it to bite. Now, try to keep up."

And with that, a great puff of dust was all that remained of Naberius, the only sign of his departure a momentary gust of wind and the nearby forest suddenly erupting with a great baying of one hound... then two... then three...

A moment later, another hound came plodding out of the forest, even as the other three voices continued to ring out in the woods. It walked right up to Kiba and sniffed at him for a good thirty seconds. With a last *SNORF* the hound transformed into an exact duplicate of Kiba and grinned.

"Back in a bit," the Kiba clone said before skipping back into the woods.