It was a pretty typical day for Arumi. She didn't have a mission today, so she was trying to get some training in. Just about every fight she'd been in lately had been a reminder of how inadequate her ranged abilities were. She needed to work on that, and the best way was to improve her wind ninjutsu. Simple enough. Or it would be if she weren't a Hirano. It was the one thing she didn't like about her clan, elements were a pain in the ass.

But Arumi was determined. She was going to master her element if it killed her. She focused, gathering up some wind chakra. She could feel it flowing through her, gathering in her lungs. Who knows, maybe she'd have a breakthrough. That was the plan. Concentrate on wind chakra, hope something cool happens. It was foolproof.

Slowly, his eyes opened behind the opaque lenses of his round goggles. Barely any light at all managed to pass through the inky black glass, but it was more than what was necessary for him to see. Yakushin took a long, slow breath as he gazed out, from the top of his office, at his village below him. Hidden away in the bottom of a deep pit, the Donkage took a moment from paperwork to allow himself to appreciate what it was he was working so hard for. A light breeze brushed past him carrying the aromas of the many different street vendors at the market, as well as the dank murkiness of the chasms below. The breeze picked up a bit, pulling his long orange scarf away from him to flutter in the wind, and at the same time, he raised both his hands up into the air and felt the infinitely intricate wind patterns delicately licking at his fingertips. This was what he fought for.

Feeling rejuvenated, in what would seem like an act of severe depression in any other case, the young man threw himself from his high perch above the city and began his plummet straight down. His body fell faster and faster, the wind rushing through his hair so hard it was whipping around and slapping the back of his neck with each subtle change in wind current. Suddenly, he jerked his shoulders forwards, pulling his legs up around him until his flip lined his with the side of the wall, and then he kicked. It was right at the last moment, just before he fell below the city and into the tunnels. The sudden change in direction lessened his downwards force enough to allow him to safely roll across the rooftop of one of the lower buildings. The moment he hit the hard surface, his body was already rolling itself up to his feet on reflex, and without losing speed, he ran forwards and jumped from the edge of the roof. Higher and higher he climbed, jumping from one roof top to the other until the scenery started to become more flat and stable. As he flew through the air, his eyes scanned every detail of the area around him, and his senses remained wide open and wary of any nearby chakra levels, which led him to noticing one particular individual standing off by herself. She was focusing her chakra, but not being one to hold back his intrigue, Yakushin changed his course for her. Something stood out about this girl. Perhaps it was her number of arms caught his eye the most. Using a little bit of chakra, the Donkage gave a small display with the use of the body flicker jutsu at the same moment that he landed on solid ground, and almost instantly, he popped up directly in front of her. He stood tall, his arms crossed and his frame rigid. His goggles hid his eyes, but it was obvious they were locked on the young girl, awaiting her reaction.

Arumi didn't hear anyone approach. Her eyes were closed, and both her pairs of hands were formed into hand signs. She didn't even know that anyone else was there until there was the rush of air of someone shunshining in front of her. Arumi opened her eyes, alarmed by someone suddenly appearing so close. At first, she didn't recognize who it was and acted on instinct. She jumped back, throwing a pair of shuriken with her left hands while her right hands drew kunai to prepare for a fight.

When she recognized who had appeared, Arumi went pale. She dropped the kunai, dropping to the ground in a bow. "I'm sorry Donkage-sama! I didn't recognize you at first, I was acting on reflex." She really hoped he was feeling forgiving right now. She'd already been in enough trouble lately. After all the reprimands she'd gotten lately for excessive use of force, attacking the Donkage could only make things much, much worse.

The slightest smile broke the corner of his lips as he watched her react to his arrival. Her two shuriken wizzed through the air, and while leaning his head back and letting the first fly by him, he reached up to pluck the other from the air between two fingers. She had reacted well, as he did not announce his presence in any way. Should he have been an intruder, her actions would have been admirable, but she was far too brash attacking that quickly. The kunai she held in her hand dropped, and with it, her head. Smiling a little more, and feeling whimsical, the Donkage lowered his guard and approached her slowly. Kneeling down in front of her, he extended his hand and held out before her the second shuriken.

"That was a hasty attack. You could have lost both of your shuriken, or I could have lost an eye, and then how would I watch over the other half of the village?"

He smiled more widely as he tried speaking in a calm, soothing tone, hoping she would look up and feel more at ease. He could tell the realization of the position she was in was gripping her, but she needn't worry. Yakushin wasn't one for taking the lives of people who didn't ask for it, and she had done nothing wrong.

Arumi was tense as hell. From the tone of his voice he might have been trying to make a joke out of it, but it was hard to tell. She accepted the shuriken, slipping it into her pouch as she stood up. Once she was on her feet, she gave a standing bow just in case he really was upset. His words could be interpreted that way. Maybe he was just a very calm, relaxed kind of angry. "Again, I'm sorry sir. I was a bit on edge." It was tough coming up with excuses that didn't blame him and that didn't exactly accept blame either. This whole kissass routine was a lot harder when you had just attacked the ass you were supposed to kiss the most.

Arumi straightened up, still nervous. Why was the Donkage here right now? She didn't remember anyone else being scheduled for this training ground, and she definitely would have remembered the kage. Was he just dropping in for some training, or was he here to talk about all that trouble she'd caused? She really hoped it was the first, she'd been chewed out enough already. And one time she'd been yelled at with some throat stuck in her teeth, and nobody had told her or offered a toothpick or anything! That was pretty embarrassing.

"Did you want to see me about something, sir?"

He followed her lead and rose back up to his feet with her, lightly dusting his hands off on his pants and taking a moment to look around while she made another attempt at apologizing. He had always quietly laughed to himself whenever the village people would treat him as some sort of god. The position came with a certain amount of respect, but when people change who they are and hide behind masks when approached by something or someone they perceive as threatening. It was this very reason that drove him towards the animal kingdom around everyone. Animals didn't lie, or pretend to be someone they're not. They simply acted on self preservation, not on peer approval. He thought for a moment about how to respond, and even though he wasn't very good at speaking very eloquently, he gave it a shot.

"Sometimes I like to take a moment to step back and take in why I work so hard. There are a lot of people a lot older than I am who would love to see me fail, so sometimes, I need to remind myself what's truly important, and that is ninja like you. You can still be anything. Good or evil. Weak or strong. Its my job to make sure you end up on the side of Donzokogakure."

Arumi nodded. She knew that her going rogue wasn't really much of a concern. Only a handful of Hirano had even tried going rogue since their pact with the Three-Headed Father, and none of them had survived more than a few days before the clan found them, hauled them back, and made them into Hollow Men. It was one of the first things all Hirano learned, how futile and downright suicidal it was to betray the village, or worse yet the clan. But the second thing they learned was that all of this was to be kept secret, so it was no surprise the Donkage considered it more of a pressing issue than she did. The Hirano clan was known for its secrecy.

She was more than a little proud at his words. Even with the general nature of the sentiment, it felt like a high compliment coming from the Donkage himself. "Thanks." She got the feeling that he didn't want her to be so formal. It was a huge relief being able to talk normally, all that fancy crap didn't suit her. "Did you want to see me about something?"

"Not really any business. I just happened upon you and noticed you out here alone focusing your chakra. You simply grabbed my attention. So, what is your name?"

Yakushin shrugged slightly. His motives weren't usually questioned. He was starting to like this kid. As they stood there chatting, something was coming. It was on the wind, but he doubted she could smell it. It wouldn't be very long before it got to them, but he had no interest in leaving it, and refused outright to allow anything, man or animal, to harm his village.

"Hirano Arumi, sir." Both of her right hands came up, overlapping each other in a salute. That was weird, she'd only intended to use one. It just looked silly with both. She could hear a chuckling in the back of her mind, maybe Bottom Righty was playing a prank. That would be just like her, always getting them in trouble.

"I was out here practicing my wind. I need some more ranged options" Arumi was starting to relax a bit. The Donkage seemed like a pretty chill guy. She could see that something seemed to be on his mind, but he was still taking time out of his day for a casual chat with a genin. She wondered if he was going to help her train. She didn't remember hearing of him ever using any wind jutsu, but still it would be pretty badass to train with the Donkage.

He wanted to laugh a bit after hearing her name. Hirano Arumi. He hadn't met her, but a few reports recently had her name popping up in them. For a genin, however vicious, she was pretty impressive. He had silent hopes for her future after seeing that she wasn't all just maiming and goring, and better yet, she was out here training her ninjutsu in a place where no one could be harmed. Mulling over some ideas and observing everything around him, Yakushin moved over to stand side by side with the young girl and pointed his arm along her line of vision towards a point in the air before them. There was nothing really there, just some extremely common cave openings on the far side of the wall.

"Aim for that spot right there with the strongest jutsu you know already. I just want to assess your ability, but don't hold back."

Arumi nodded, taking aim. She took in a deep breath, forming up as much wind chakra as she could. It gathered in her lungs, building up until she couldn't hold any more. "Futon: Mugen Sajin Daitoppa!" She spat out a massive blast of wind, aiming it at the spot he was pointing at. The air around them filled with the smell of engine exhaust.

The blast was pretty strong, but not as strong as it could have been. Arumi knew she lagged behind other shinobi in elemental ninjutsu. It was one of the inconveniences of her clan, the elements tried to rebel against her. Her tainted chakra could harness the wind, but not without a good bit of resistance. By her estimation, it was about three quarters the strength it would be from any other wind type. The genin looked over at the Kage, hoping he approved. "How's that?"

Jutsu used:

It happened exactly as he had imagined it would, save for the awful smell that now flooded the area. It made him gag a bit, but did not deter his movements. Just as Arumi blasted off her wind, from the mouth of a cave came jumping out a grotesque creature. It walked on four, hoofed legs, and had no eyes, ears, or nose, but rather, a wide, gaping mouth that spread across the larger portion of where it's face should be. Its skin, pink and rippling with no hair, looked like it had been skinned, but this was clearly not the case. It soared through the air only for a moment before coming ramming headlong into the gust of wind. A small whine escaped it as it struggled to avoid the rancid smell. The force of the blast wasn't strong enough to completely overtake it's momentum and send it flying backwards like he had expected it to, but it was strong enough to stop it's motion in the air. Before it began it's decent to the ground, the donkage had thrown a small mass of crystal in the shape of a kunai knife towards the target, and his hands were already finished forming the seals by the time it had fallen half the distance to the floor.

"Shōton: Kesshō Gokakurō"

The moment the pink kunai made contact with it's body, rather than piercing through it, the crystal warped and grew around the entirety of it's form just as it smashed into the floor in a loud crash. The crystal, as well as the beast inside, disintegrated. Breathing out of his nose and in through his mouth to avoid the awful air as much as he could, Yakushin turned to face the genin with a wide smile on his face. She wasn't by any means more powerful than the average shinobi of her rank, but she had a few...special qualities to make up for it.

"That was perfect."

Jutsu Used:

Arumi stood there with her mouth hanging open. She'd never seen the crystal release at work before, it was amazing. He had just obliterated that creature without even breaking a sweat. From the look of things, she'd exerted herself more panicking when he first greeted her than he had in killing a giant cave monster. "Wow..." Arumi had heard a lot about the power kage possessed, but it was a whole other thing to see it in person. It was awe-inspiring.

After standing in shock for a moment, another realization came over her. She had just helped the Donkage kill something! Her wind jutsu had set up the creature to be hit by his attack. He probably could have killed it about as easily without her, but she had still done a combination attack with the Donkage. That was quite possibly the coolest thing she had ever done. She got a huge smile, looking over at the kage. With them standing side by side like this, she realized she was just a little bit taller than him. It was a bit weird, now that she noticed it. She knew she was tall for her age, but that was a bit much. "Thanks, sir. That was pretty awesome!"