Feeling conflicted (Open)

The young girl confronted Minato with another question. If he didn't think someone could be proud of doing something bad. 
"Of course they can, you always need to believe in something before you act on it. But that doesn't mean other people will be proud of it as well."

He believed that a person who is proud of doing something bad for his own good had to be some kind of sadist. It was difficult for him to take into consideration that there were people out there doing bad things to people for their own interest. Sure, there would be situations where bad things needed to be done for a greater good and that could result in being proud of it for being successful. Apart from that Minato wouldn't be able to catch some sleep if he had to do something bad just to be bad. He would always try to do good for people, even though that gesture wouldn't always be returned. Maybe this view of his would change later on, but for now he would believe in it. Because if you don't believe in it yourself, who will?

“People aren't born good or bad. Maybe they're born with tendencies either way, but it's the way you live your life that matters."
And Minato decided to try and live a life of a good individual.

It was then time for Suzume to ask about what happened at his mission. If he didn't know better he would start to think that she was actually interested. He decided to explain it to her, but he wouldn't expand too much since she had a tendency of acting like a brat around people.
"Short version is that I was assigned a mission to catch the thief that was wreaking havoc around the city. I was able to carry out this mission and was successful in bringing the culprit in. So basically nothing to be sad about, but the man that got arrested was stealing so he could take care of his sick wife and children. That's why I wasn't feeling good about it."

Minato figured that was the best way to describe what he was going through without using too much time. Waiting on how she would react it was his time to ask a question as well.


"So, what's your reason for being out here on your own? Or are you still not telling me?" 
Maybe she would give him something he could relate to, who knows.

(WC: 415, TWC: 1985)

There wasn't any special story Suzume had for being out and about. She could be mean spirited and say "Well I live here, why else would I be here," but she had no real reason to be mean. So she shrugged, looking around. "I kinda just am, didn't feel like staying inside so I went out to wander around...see what's going on today." 

Otherwise, this would seemingly be a more difficult conversation for Suzume to get through. A talk on morality more so...well, it was odd how it upset her that in the shinobi world a persons life could be thrown away so easily such as what she witnessed for her first time watching the chunin exams, but yet was then the type to think 'kill first, ask questions later'. It only occurred to her at that moment that it was a bit ironic, but didn't really speak anything of it. Minato didn't know her well enough, and if she were to have, it would sound like an ignorant genin's blabber. As if she really had enough life experience to truly understand how morality comes in to play with shinobi stuff. Her judgment mainly stemmed from her academy years, anyhow.   

At that, she let it up to Minato if he were to give her more detail about what he talked of. At least it was something to talk about, but wasn't in Suzume's full comprehension since she had yet to have had her first mission completed. 

[WC: 246]

With her same look of disinterest the young girl would tell him she didn’t feel like staying inside and just went out to see what’s going on. A valid reason to be outside , so he thought.
“And besides walking into me, anything worth your attention so far?” he decided to ask.
 
Minato thought it was in both his and Feza’s best interest not to drag out the subject of morals and what is determinded good and bad.
After all, it was a heavy topic for a girl of such a young age like hers. She should be enjoying her time and not concern herself with thinking about stuff like that.
Leave the worrying to the adults, Minato would think.
 
“What would you say if we continue our conversation somewhere else? Since it might be a bit awkward to be just standing around here.” Without waiting for her to agree to his proposal he would start walking, not knowing where he would take them. But it did sound better than just standing at the same place doing nothing. And so far all they were doing was looking at each other, talking about serious matters in an awkward way.
 
He wasn’t sure why, but he had a feeling she would follow him anyway. It was obvious that he hadn’t win her trust yet since they just met, but on the other hand he noticed she wouldn’t make a big deal about continuing their talk while walking around, since that was the main reason the young girl came outside today.
 
“Enough about morals and such, we shouldn’t be worrying about stuff like that for now. Although it wouldn’t hurt to think about it from time to time. It might help us decide what kind of people we are, or want to be.”
 
With that being said Minato would start walking again, not knowing their direction just yet.
 
(WC: 315, TWC: 2300)

She thought about everything that was there during her time out so far. After a few long seconds, she said, "There was a cat!" with silly enthusiasm. Other than that, everything was as usual. The trees scattered in the distance, the daily village maintenance was carried out, and the sky was still up. 

How wonderful, the world continued to carry on as she struggled to face the reality that the academy days were over. They ended when she received her shinobi headband. Time certainly waits for no one, and that meant that the girl had quite a lot to catch up on. The excuse of being juvenile wouldn't work for her for much longer.

Minato had been right in saying that it was awkward standing out in the open, taking up room where others ought to be passing through. She followed a few paces behind him, asking, "Where are we going, then?"

It seemed as though morality was a topic Minato put a lot of thinking into, but Suzume hadn't reached his level of understanding. She had much too narrow minded approach to it, being that the only consideration Suzume gave it was from after she graduated. 

[WC: 197]

Minato had to try and contain his laughter when Suzume mentioned “there was a cat” when he had asked her if there was anything worthy of her attention so far.
A silly answer like that would point out that she was still a young girl after all. It would be easy to forget something like that when most people become a shinobi early on. There wasn’t that much time to think about such trivial things since they had to graduate and turn into ninja at a young age. They had to grow up fast which meant there wouldn’t be much time to spend thinking about stuff like that. A part of him would regret that about being a shinobi, but they had responsibilities they needed to take and they would just have to find some time to enjoy the little things.
 
Just as he thought he noticed Suzume following him without asking too much questions besides the direction they were going to. Minato didn’t really know the answer himself as he just started walking to keep warm and to try and change the awkward atmosphere that was hanging around the two of them. He figured they could go and get something to drink or grab a bite to eat. Maybe head to the Training Grounds to see if there was someone they would know. There were a couple of options left with things for them to do.
 
“What do you say if we go get some kind of refreshment and have a look at the Training Grounds afterwards? You never know who we could run into.”
 
He would lead the way to one of the places in Konohagakure no Sato where they could get a can of soda or a bottle of water to replenish theirselves. If needed they could also get something small to eat, a little snack for example. On their way over he would try to get more information out of Suzume since they still didn’t really know much about each other.
 

“Why don’t you go ahead and tell me something more about yourself while we’re walking?”

(WC: 350, TWC: 2650)

Suzume could see how ever so slightly the corners of Minato's lips held back some laughter from her story about how she saw a cat earlier. While it wasn't uncommon for some people to have a more stoic persona, she didn't see why Minato had hid his laughter. Maybe he had a really weird laugh and was insecure about it? For such a friendly guy, Suzume found the quirk to be odd. 

She followed after him, waiting for the awkwardness to be broken. Soon enough Minato asked about possibly getting a bite to eat, which Suzume was totally up for. Any time was a good time to get a snack. She would most likely get some dango, if where they went had it. "Yeah, I could go for a sweet treat or two," she told him. Two actually could become too much, but hey if it tastes good enough the food gets eaten anyways. 

As Suzume walked alongside him, Minato asked her to tell her about herself. Although, she had never answered this question to anyone before. What does one say about themselves to someone they just met? Nothing too personal was the obvious, but nothing that was boring either. "Uhh," she stammered, trying not to completely drop the question just because she didn't have an answer ready. "I like desserts!" she finally cam up with, something a bit relevant to where they were heading. "What kinds of foods do you like?" 

[WC: 242]

Just as he expected the young girl decided to follow after him as they were looking for their next destination. In his first attempt to break the silence Minato had proposed to get something to eat, waiting for Suzume to decide if she was up for something like that. To his relief his companion for the day agreed to join him on his adventure of finding snacks.

Heading to one of the many places in Konoha where they sold any type of snack, the two of them were slowly trying to get out of the awkward silence that was hanging around them.
It took her a bit more time to come up with an answer to tell Minato something more about herself. It was to be expected since you don't tell the story of your life to someone you have just recently met. 

Suddenly they would interrupt their stroll as they had arrived at this cozy, little shop where they had a large selection of sweets. By a stroke of coincidence the young girl yelled out of nowhere that she likes desserts. 
"Seems like we came to the right place after all" Minato said with a gentle smile while offering to treat her to whatever she would pick. Shortly after choosing something she wanted Suzume asked what kinds of food he liked.
"I'm not that much of a sweet tooth, but I prefer something with chocolate. As long as it has some chocolate in or on, I'm sold."

Now that they both had picked something that they liked, the two of them continued their walk. As they were enjoying the calm and peaceful streets of Konoha, Minato would think to himself that he could get used to this. It was not that long ago that the village had gone through more unpleasant events.

Having finished their delicious treats they had finally arrived at the Training Grounds. It had the same scenery as the streets, calm and peaceful. It turned out they would be the only one there so far. This being the situation as it was would give Minato the time to propose some entertainment.

"What would you say if we went for some excercise to lose those delicious calories from before?"

(Exit)
(TWC: 3022)
(Claims: Lightning Javelin 3000/3000, 15 stats)

Minato's claims approved

Suzume ate up her delicious dango one by one, even having trouble finishing the last one from how well stuffed they were. Sure did make her full! It was so delicious she almost forgot to pay attention to Minato, who was talking to her still apparently. She nodded along as he mentioned something about chocolate, but didn't give much as a response. It seemed as though this was excused by the fact that she was then stuffing her mouth with food. Yet, Minato continued to talk. Something about going to the training fields? "Sure, why not?" she shrugged.


[EXIT]
 
[WC: 98/2001]
[Claiming 10 stats, chakra absorption]

Approved suzume