Gail
The constant chatter was driving her up a wall, her focus fixed on the technique performed despite being perfectly capable of keeping up with the restless genin. She simply disliked talking for the sake of talking in the middle of training or work, mostly if who she was talking with seemed to care a bit too much about style in the middle of a war. Truth be told, she had never considered the branch attire as a criteria to pick, nor a reason to be concerned. The only note worth mentioning was the tabard that would need to be adapted to make sure it wouldn't get in the way, a matter that could be easily solved. 

"Do not define silly my colleague's attire. Be respectful to your superiors, there's a reason why each branch wears differently and neither of those is inconvenient for the purpose of fighting." Her voice had grown colder; she understood the genin's attitude, so young, full of idealised pictures of his future in the military. It had to be hard to be thrown into a war, where there was no space for such dreams and only a harsh reality. She wondered how she would have behaved as a genin. 

At her request to shoot the technique, Hitomi waited and forced her to keep it stable for a few instants before pointing towards a tree, where she could easily tell nobody was hiding and risking to be chopped by a wind blade. "Keep it stable and follow through as you shoot, don't lose focus just because you've launched it." She said, finger still pointing in the direction, just to be sure Hikari would understand it would be better not to shoot wherever she wanted. 

"The Prime Director is the only individual above Directors. Prime Director Amano oversees us Directors, while we take care of Commanders and Operatives. I'd suggest you start looking into it, this is your job after all."
John
Hikari flushed at the cold rebuke, quickly backpedaling and waving her hands as though to wipe away what she'd said — only to hear, and feel, the blade of wind accidentally fly from her hand and cut a deep gouge into the ground some fifteen meters away. Thanking every deity she knew (and every deity she didn't know of, for good measure) that she hadn't accidentally just bisected one of the Directors of the Frontier Patrol, the gremlin-esque redhead let out a resigned sigh and stood somewhat uncomfortably, readying another use of the technique to ensure it hadn't been a fluke.

"I, er, sorry..." Hikari said simply, pointedly looking away from the older woman. "Didn't mean t'let it go, just — yeah. Uhm. Also didn' mean t'call your colleagues' clothes silly, I jus' can't really 'magine 'em on myself yet. Really didn' mean t'offend, 'm sorry..."

She took a deep breath, eyes suspiciously shiny, before visibly trying to calm herself. The last thing Hikari wanted was to upset someone who had so graciously agreed to help her learn ninjutsu principles at no benefit to themselves, but she felt like she'd done that anyway. The redhead was always very easy to read emotionally, so it would be almost pitifully easy to see her turmoil.

After Hitomi's command to throw the technique towards a nearby tree, Hikari made sure the blade of wind she'd formed was as stable and refined as it had been before, er... Anyway! Taking careful aim, Hikari waved her hand in a similar way to how she'd moved accidentally before, though with more purpose and not nearly as chaotic. The slicing stream of air leapt from her fingertips at the Uzumaki's behest, flying fast and true towards the aforementioned target. It sliced cleanly through the wood, and the upper portion of the tree fell to the ground after just a moment, a perfectly-flat cut through the entire trunk.

Hikari blinked at just how effective the technique had been. As dangerous as her Vacuum Serial Waves, definitely, but nowhere near as uncontrollably slicing.

Hitomi's miniature lecture on the command chain in the Frontier Patrol was appreciated, though Hikari pouted at the passive scolding tacked-on to it. "I, er... Had a hard time payin' attention in the 'cademy. It's, uhm... It's kinda my fault, come on. Sorry for bein' so dumb, eheh..."

Though Hikari verbally was readily taking the blame for her lack of knowledge, her body language told a different story — she'd shrunken into herself and brought her hands close to her chest, a clear sign of insecurity. It wasn't enough to know the full picture — that Hikari had been the subject of bullying in the academy, which took up a lot of her time better spent studying and learning — but it was certainly sufficient to realize Hikari wasn't telling the full truth.

"But, uhm, anyway!" Hikari continued, emboldened perhaps by an urge to skip over more uncomfortable topics. "Thanks a ton for helpin' me learn this thing! The whole clan seemed to really like you — when I asked for a tutor they were all smiley when they were talkin' about you, but not like 'laughing-joking' kinda smiley. More like jus' thinkin' about you made them happy. Dunno why they were like that, but it was kinda the same level as when they talk about cousins and stuff. Er... It's prob'ly private, why they're like that, so I shouldn' pry, right?"

Evidently, Hikari was still learning how to identify social cues.
Gail
There was clearly a lot Hikari had to work on, first of all trust and reflexes: being a bit slow and unsure on what to do was normal, not being able to respond quickly to an order wasn't, as it could put the team in danger during an operation. "How about less apologising and more focusing? This is not the academy anymore, you need to keep up with your team and respond as quickly as possible. Keep that in mind when you're not sure what to train next." She said. That was exactly why genin were tasked with civilian matters, bandits and other criminals unable to use chakra the way shinobi did, they needed the means to learn these things without being thrown into the shinobi world too fast. A privilege they didn't have anymore. 

"Simple exercises will do: have someone give you directions and act quickly. It will speed up the performance, teach you how to do what we just did fast, and it will teach you to act without thinking. One day you'll trust your body enough to find this easy." A part of her knew she'd check on Hikari to see the progress and make sure things were going the right way. 

Her indirect words of praise softened her gaze, feeling warm at the thought some from the clan appreciated her that much. It was probably Yua telling everybody nice things about her, though the official partnership with one of the strongest members of the clan certainly did its part. "My partner." She said. "Director Uzumaki Sana, we've been working together since we joined the branch. His family likes me" The tone was quite dismissive, to hide the affection she felt at saying those words. Her hand reached inside her pocket to give Hikari a chocolate bar. It was her old strategy to cover for her coldness and rough manners, some food. "Eat, get some rest and go back to work."
George
`disregard channel location for this rp <3`


The yang family blade was an old heirloom, but lotus knew well that the blade was no less powerful for it. The scabbard was decorated with a pheasant of some kind, its plumage cast across the length of the fine wood with colours still vibrant. The other side of the scabbard featured a design that seemed vaguely floral. How fitting, for someone named after a flower.

*The phoenix flame* Had not been entrusted to lotus for long; upon returning home from his final academy exam not even two weeks ago, it had been (rather ceremoniously) handed to him. Lotus' brand-new headband had been access to the ancestral blade, his father told him. *Do it justice, and make us proud*.

Well, lotus had a very sharp sword now. He supposed, if he wanted to uphold his father's request, he ought to do something with it.

Lotus' first stop was the library. Despite being a quiet person with a studious air about him, lotus never had been much for books or conventional studying. He was fine with it, of course (he'd graduated the academy, hadn't he?), but practical education came a lot easier to him and suited his sensibilities much better. However, he could not dismiss the benefits of paper-written research. In any case, it seemed like the best place to start if he wanted to learn something new.

*Kenjutsu, kenjutsu, kenjut- ah.* Lotus' browsing through the shelves came to a halt as he reached a shelf full of titles like 'the art of the blade,' 'bukijutsu and you,' and so on and so forth. Lotus' hand came to a stop hovering in front of one *Samurai styles*. That sounded promising. He freed the book from its spot on the shelf and skimmed its contents until he found something that caught his eye. *Samurai sabre technique*. Flipping the book open in earnest, lotus soaked in the information laid out on the page.

But reading could get him only so far, and lotus was itching to actually experiment with the concept now that he understood it: extending the blade's length with a simple augment of chakra.

Ten minutes and a walk to the training grounds later, lotus ran through the basics of the technique in his mind. He pulled his blade from its sheath, its metal glinting wisely in the sun. Lotus stared intently at it, as if silently willing the sword to become enveloped in chakra.

While he felt some stream of chakra begin to lap around the sword, it didn't feel... Comfortable. Not that lotus particularly *Expected* To immediately feel natural with a new technique, but he couldn't dismiss that this didn't feel right.

What was he doing wrong? He was flowing chakra into the blade, focusing on it intently with his eyes...

Ah, maybe that was the issue. Lotus was too used to thinking with his head, conceptualising chakra from the viewpoint of a fire style user, where the main tenketsu he utilised was the one in the throat. Practically speaking, it made a lot more sense to flow the chakra around the blade from his hands- lotus almost felt stupid for not realising this sooner.

Well. Better late than never.

Lotus unfurled his chakra around the blade, concentrating it until he could *See* Ripples of chakra forming around it. It was still unrefined, but lotus had the basic principle of the technique down, and he was confident enough he could replicate it as needed. Practise would make perfect.

`jutsu learnt: samurai sabre technique`
Carter
`meanwhile, at the missions office...`

Ume fiddles with the edge of a scroll, untying it to reveal content scrawled in a neat but busy handwriting. The mission seems simple enough — gather a few documents, return them to the owner, avoid obstacles... But it's the prospect of entering a ruined area that makes her hesitant. There are bound to be blood stains, reminders of what happened not that long ago. 

She gives her head a little shake — it's not good to fall deep into her thoughts, not now — and waits for a second or third genin to take up the mission.