OPEN!: Kisame's whirlwind diplomatic tour

[noboatbigenough]

Who: Hoshigaki Kisame, and whoever wants to meet him/work with him on his mission
When: Late March-mid April ..ish? I'm flexible!
Where: Kirigakure -> Sunagakure -> Konagakure -> ??? -> profit!
Notes: Kisame has been named Kiri's official ambassador to Suna and Konoha and possibly other places. The latter is because he and his clan have been pushing for it, and the former is because Yagura is a dick and likes sending Hoshigaki to the desert.


In Kiri, before leaving

Kisame almost hadn't expected it to happen, even with the pushing Great Grandmother had been doing, and the hints he'd dropped, and the more outright pointed statements that had been calmly delivered. When it did, he was as unprepared as he could be, having been eyeing an assassination that had looked fun. Having a mission scroll shoved into his hands like that had almost pushed Kisame into being visibly off-guard. The papers were first, declaring him an official ambassador, and Kisame had to smile.

He didn't know why Mizukage-sama had suddenly decided to do it (and give it to him of all people) but he was going to have a chance to get in those spars he'd promised--

Suna. Well! Now Kisame wasn't so surprised. It would be like Mizukage-sama to give him what he was asking for but not what he wanted, though it wouldn't hurt to get some more desert training in. Kisame wasn't going to let this disrupt him.

It didn't take long for Kisame to prepare. A debriefing or two, a notice of his absence, and a little packing was all. It would be interesting, he thought, as he headed towards the travel seal.

In Suna
The desert burned, as usual, and Kisame had work to do this time. There was an escort to meet, first, and then maybe he could wrangle a tour. He'd probably already seen most of it, but seeing a native's reaction to the place could be telling.

Then there were meetings and paperwork. Kisame actually had an idea of a program that might foster closer ties and make them both stronger. He wasn't a stranger to how hard the desert was on Kiri-nin, even non-Hoshigaki ones, and he'd noticed more than one Suna-nin having trouble in return. A brief exchange for training purposes, probably of genin, would help both sides adapt better to the opposite environment. He had a Suna-nin to thank for giving him the idea, if he saw her.

And, of course, he couldn't be in Suna without hoping for another spar. The one with Sephiroth had been invigorating, and so many of the locals seemed strong. Kisame wanted to test it.

In Konoha
Konoha was as interesting as last time, and this time Kisame was himself, Samehada and all. If they didn't respect his weapon, he'd be a poor ambassador, so he'd brought the sword. That, and he hadn't wanted to leave it behind and find out one of his cousins had gotten drained close to unconsciousness after getting too close.

The official business was much the same here, though Kisame had fewer ideas on ways to improve relations. Well! Official ones, anyway. He had more than one "gift" of treats for the Hokage, and sparring was always an act of at least a minimum of trust when it happened between shinobi of different villages, so that might work in his favor.

He wondered who his escort would be this time, and if he might get to spend more time looking around, this time without the burden of reporting every little detail back.

((ooc: The top post is a general glossing of what Kisame will be doing! Put up a starter, or for something more focused, ping me and I'll write up something in post.))

Comments

[thebestuchiha]

He didn't hesitate, as the moment Kisame came at him, he fled, jumping up into the trees and darting away, dropping explosive tags in his wake like confetti. They went off like paper dominoes the moment Kisame got close enough to them, and he was laughing, throwing weapons coming to hand as soon as the initial spill of explosives left them, which he didn't hesitate to start unloading on the other man.

[noboatbigenough]

Kisame was laughing too, as he finally finished off the Great Colliding Wave. He’d been taking more care than he usually did with the amount. Enough to generate the force the jutsu was known for, and thoroughly flood the place, but not so much as to unduly strain the barrier.

The water clone took a hit from one of the weapons and dissolved, and Kisame directed his glide over the surface of the crashing wave. The other man would avoid being crushed by the water, and Kisame wanted to try and get a few swings in with Samehada before the momentum of the water settled.

[thebestuchiha]

It was interesting, and fascinating, the way the other man fought, and he kept ahead of him. He knew that his tendency to play tag with people tended to be somewhat infuriating, but it gave him a better sense of what he was working with, and with that blade he didn't feel any particular urge to get close.

So he'd run up the wave, using his experience with Kushina to ride it out and roll with it instead of fighting the momentum. And he'd watch out for tree branches this time.

With that approach he could hopefully get back around close enough without much trouble to resume his weapon hail on the one actually throwing around jutsu.

[noboatbigenough]

The other man was keeping his distance. A wise choice, considering Kisame’s skills, but Kisame wasn’t about to let himself remain a stationary target. He wasn’t particularly worried about projectiles, and had chakra to spare. Now that the playing field was inundated, sending some Feeding Sharks after his opponent would let him gauge just how good the Hokage was.

An S-Class skill-level, naturally, but where exactly did the man’s true specialties lie?

[thebestuchiha]

Obito was not a stationary fighter. That would quickly become obvious, with him moving from point to point, circling and never trying to vanish out of sight. He was fast though, having Minato as a sensei meant he couldn't much afford to be slow, to say nothing of his other sparring partners.

He also seemed content, at the moment, to watch how Kisame dodged and deflected his weapon hair, which turned into more precisely aimed throws before finally he switched tactics.

With fire. His next pass has a rain of small fireballs instead of weaponry.

[noboatbigenough]

Kisame was almost reminded of Sephiroth, at least a little. Quick movements and high speed. The biggest difference was the lack of the kawarimi that Kisame had almost come to expect. It took an adjustment, but a minor one. The use of projectiles wasn’t something Kisame was unfamiliar with, but it wasn’t overly common among his sparring partners, and certainly not at this level. So he made a tiny misstep or two at first when the blows became more accurately aimed and paid for it in blood, but the adjustment was almost immediate, and Kisame changed his own movements to make aiming that much more difficult.

The fire made him laugh in delight, and Samehada spun up into the air. The initial hand seal was familiar, but the rest… well, this kind of subtle water release was used more in their lake to direct and shape the currents and filter out impurities, but the smooth movement of the next seal mimicked the wave that rose up to block and absorb the fireballs in a burst of steam.

And a second later small, shark-shaped missiles flew out of the steam, each smaller than a kunai, but following curving trajectories more like shuriken.