Figuring things out - NK

For all his life Toshihiro had only known the sensations of the jungle. The sights, sounds and smells of Tsukigakure were so different to what he was used to that the young man felt like entering a new dimension. All the books the shinobi has read only nourished his hunger for the world. And now he was able to immerse himself in it. Feeling like a fish in water Toshi slowly made his way through the sea of people surrounding him. He was still thinking back on Anya, the female ninja guarding the gate. Seeing her blue-greyish eyes before his own inner eye. The impression lingered for a moment before the young man realized that he had arrived at his destination. The Kage tower.

While his couriosity felt nourished he noticed a slight appetite, especially after walking past so many restaurants. Sticking his hand into his pocket in search of some coin Toshi approached one of the street vendors. Some fried dumplings on a skewer would make for a perfect snack he thought, making the exchange. Continuing on his path while enjoying his meal Toshi's gaze fell upon the waterfalls which were thundering down both sides of the kage tower. They created a mist on which the sun projected a beautiful rainbow. Wanting to get closer he crossed the bridge to the tower and sat down on one of the benches lining the square in front of the building.






TWC: 239
WC: 239

The young kunoichi of Tsukigakure made her way out of the Kage's office slowly, taking a deep breath as she tried to figure out what to do while waiting for her next appointment with Junko. She felt that she was never able to see the woman outside of missions these days, and was really nervous because she had a very important question to ask her that would possibly determine the young woman's future. The short raven haired girl looked about as she tried to find something to distract her for a moment, her bright blue eyes searching in vain. Eventually she did notice an older boy sitting on the bench, one she didn't recognize. Deciding to let her curiosity get the best of her the young girl made her way down the steps of the Tower and toward him.

Hasumi's attire wasn't befitting of a shinobi, looking more like a casual outfit. The teenage girl wore a pair of grey baggy pants and a bright red t shirt, the only indication that she was a shinobi was the headband resting on her collarbone displaying the symbol of the village. If Hasumi caught the boy's attention as she approached she nervously smiled and waved at him. The young girl stopped before invading the newcomers' personal space and introduced herself.

"Hey! Sorry to bother you, are you waiting for an appointment with Lady Tsukiko as well? if so I was wondering if I could sit with you while we wait?" Hasu gave a small chuckle and smiled as she finished speaking, hoping that she wasn't coming across as to weird. She had been trying to get better about being social lately, for whatever reason she often found herself getting incredibly nervous or anxious when trying to talk so she was doing her best to overcome that.

WC:304

Having finished his snack the young shinobi was sitting on a bench, letting the sun warm him, unsure what to do next. His sharp, attentive eyes were mesmerized by all the activity around him. He couldn't help his habit and started to analyze and observe the people and their behavior like he would do with animals. The traders, advertising their wares loudly, haggling for every last Ryo was nothing new to him. But the goods they had for sale or the customers buying them all looked unusual. Here and there a ninja was to be spotted but no one like Anya.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted as a young woman approached him. No, not a woman, a kunoichi he deduced by the headband she wore, not much else about her catching his eye. He himself mirrored this subtlety, the only obvious gear being his breathable shinobi sandals with the toe cutouts. This may have been the thing that caught Hasumi's attention in the first place. As she stopped a respectful distance in front of him and asked him a question Toshihiro gave her a slight smile.

(The image doesn't really represent his outfit, it is more for flavor. For the outfit look at my avatar.)

"Yes, of course, take a seat." the young man replied, shifting over on the bench so that Hasumi could sit down. "Uhm, Lady Tsukiko? Well I don't know, you must be referring to the Kage of this village? You see I am new here and the gate guard was so friendly to point me to this place. Are you a ninja of this vilage?" Toshihiro replied, making it obvious how little he knew about this place while his gaze layed upon the small kunoichi's eyes. "Normal." he thought to himself, still thinking back to the seemingly blind Anya.




WC: 300
TWC: 539

Hasumi took a seat on the opposite end of the bench as the boy shifted over, crossing her legs and turning to the boy as he continued to speak. He seemed to be a new arrival, sparking Hasumi's interest. It had been a while since she'd heard anything about what was going on outside the village, the last updates she had gotten had been from her brother after he'd entered Tsukigakure. The girl however refrained from unloading another series of questions on him immediately after he revealed that fact, instead opting to answer the boy's questions so as to not appear rude. As she began to speak the girl noticed he seemed to be gazing into her eyes intensively and found herself feeling a bit uneasy.

"I'm a Genin of the village, though if I'm honest I haven't seen any combat yet. I just kind of do patrols and help out people with small jobs. As for Lady Tsukiko, she is the one who brought everyone together and made this village and resides in the Kage Tower over there. I'm not sure if that's her title though. I've heard people call her that before but I've never seen it anywhere official except when referencing that tower. I know she's the Leader of the village though if that's what the title of Kage means." As Hasumi went about answering the questions she started off strong and excited, but as she attempted to explain Junko's title the young girl found herself becoming confused. She went from smiling and looking at the boy to turning toward the tower and furrowing her brow toward it, realizing she'd never really put much thought into how the village was run or its status before.

After a brief moment, if the boy didn't say anything to pull her out of her confused stupor, the girl would realize she was screwing up again and turn back to the boy with a look of slight embarrassment on her face, "Oh my gosh, I'm sorry I haven't even introduced myself yet. I'm Hasumi by the way, welcome to the village and I hope you have a wonderful time here. If you need any assistance with anything I'd be more than happy to help... you said one of the gate guards told you to come here? I could help you try and book an appointment with Lady Tsukiko if you'd like."

Hasumi continued to speak nervously unless the boy interjected or started to seem uneased by the random girl who'd approached him and started talking his ear off. The truth of the situation is that Hasumi was incredibly nervous and terrified about another choice she had to make soon, and her anxiety was causing her already abysmal social skills to plummet to further depths.

WC:463
TWC:767

Hasumi sat down beside Toshihiro on the opposite side of the bench, leaving a small space between them. It would have been enough for a third person to sit down, a comfortable distance for a conversation between two strangers the young shinobi found. He broke his eye contact for a short moment, first looking at one of the waterfalls behind her which was thundering down the side of the kage tower, the sunrays projecting a rainbow onto the tiny water particles suspended in the air. His attention moved back to Hasumi once she began to speak.


"Well, If she is the one who brought this village together and has been elected as it's leader I would consider her a Kage. Though I am not an expert on politics..." Toshihiro pondered loudly for a short moment, looking down at the cobble stones between his feet. He seemed completely unphased by Hasmui's confusion.

While he certainly noticed it, the young shinobi remained calm himself, hoping that this calmness would help the young girl ease up a bit herself. "But titles aren't that important really, it is the respect that makes a leader." Toshi interjected before Hasumi began her introduction. Listening carefully he gave her a confident smile.


"Nice to meet you Hasumi. I am Toshihiro. And don't worry, I haven't introduced myself either before asking you questions." The young man replied, giving an assuring look as he pointed out his own rudeness. "You see, I grew up on this island but I have never before been to this village. In fact, I haven't been many places at all. And I am looking for work here. Like you I am a trained shinobi. But probably not as good as you are, with all those other shinobi around here to learn from." the young man finished his introduction, throwing in the compliment on purpose to make Hasumi feel more confident. He realized that talking about her nervousness would probably only increase it, so he decided not to mention it at all. "If you don't mind you could tell me a bit more about the village. I honestly don't know how anything works around this place." Toshihiro replied to her last question laughing a bit.




WC: 300
TWC: 839

The boy didn't seem to know exactly what the title was supposed to be either, the two kids simply at a loss as they both contemplated on what it meant. Where as Hasumi remained perplexed by it the boy seem to come to a conclusion, that it was respect that mattered more than titles. Hasumi supposed that was true, Junko seemed to have proven herself a leader long before officially founding the village. She had brought together a number of vagabonds to defend the country without needing some fancy title before, Hasu supposed it didn't really matter what she was called now so long as she remained true to herself.

Hasumi smiled as the boy introduced himself as Toshihiro, glad that she at least managed to remember to exchange names this time. She'd neglected to do that a couple of times now, having gone on missions with a number of people without getting to know them. She continued to smile softly as the boy explained that he was from the island but hadn't traveled through the country much until recently. She was surprised to hear that he was also a shinobi, but she supposed that most of them weren't obvious. She herself was only identifiable by her headband, before joining the village she doubted anyone would have known she was capable of manipulating chakra either. She doubted his assessment that she was superior to him, knowing that most of the people who'd come to work in Moon had been rather impressive so far. She briefly pondered where this boy rated compared to the 3 Ronin she'd watched sparring in the Springs a few months back, if he was somewhere around their level or closer to her own.

Rather than taking up her offer to get the appointment he asked her for more information involving the village. At first Hasumi wanted to protest and say that she wouldn't be much help, but in truth she had been part of the village from the start and had even helped with the construction of some areas. Taking a deep breath Hasu decided to do her best to give Toshihiro a succinct report of the village to bets help him understand it. Having been forced to give a number of such reports to The Masked Man, she hoped she'd at least do well at this.

"Well the village is relatively new, Lady Tsukiko came to the country some months ago and began to work against some dangerous bandits and a mad scientist that lives within the Ruins of Tengakure. A number of other vagabonds rallied to her and they very quickly were able to build up this village with the support of other settlements within the country. Right now we're still in the process of having people officially join the village... my father for instance seems to find the idea of being given the rank of Genin to be insulting and is trying to negotiate for a better position. Some have already managed to prove themselves to Lady Tsukiko and the village does have a few Jounin within it now, but I really don't know how we compare to the other more established villages in the world.

From what I understand we've managed to do a decent job of fending off the mad scientist and bandits so far. I've mostly helped with cleaning up the mess after or helping support places that have suffered, but my father has told me that he and a number of others have managed to win a number of battles and fend the bandits and the scientists' monsters away from a number of the settlements within the country.

The village itself has been a pretty cheery place so far. We have a nice restaurant called Darkside that has great pancakes and have been trying to get into the practice of doing festivals every other month. I think one's coming up soon but I've usually been doing patrol or something whenever they've come up so I can't really tell you too much about them. If you want to practice any of your jutsu we have a place called The Shinoda Springs where you can train by yourself or others. A number of Uchiha seem to have gathered together and formed their own District as well. They've built up quite the grand community center and have been working together to try and build up the reputation of their clan within the village."

Hasumi spoke in a neutral voice as she explained things to Toshihiro, her nervousness seeming to disappear as she began to focus on recalling facts about the village. Hopefully she didn't overwhelm the older boy or just give him a bunch of useless information he didn't care about. As she finished speaking an idea popped into the girl's head, but she figured she'd spoken enough and should give the boy a chance to ask about any of the things she just told him about.

WC:824
TWC:1,591

Toshihiro was glad as Hasmuni's nervousness seemed to disappear. He felt a slight happieness to be able to have this type of effect on another person. But perhaps she just calmed herself a little, he wondered next. As the young Genin smiled at him he couldn't help himself but to mirror that expression. She even took a deep breath, perhaps to relax herself a little Toshihiro concluded. His smile faded and turned into focus and attention as she explained the recent history of Tsukigakure to him. Not wanting to interrupt her he gave nods and "Mhms" from time to time as she carried on while his gaze wandered off into the distance. It wasn't a sign of rudeness, simply something he did when his focus was turning inward on his own thoughts.


"A mad scientist?" the young hunter repeated Hasmui's words in his mind. Banditry was a fact of life in parts of the world as remote as the Moon Country but mad scientists are another novelty the young shinobi never heard about before. While he has read many books, especially on biology and the natural world, the creation of monsters was completely unheard for him. "The possibilities for a person wielding both chakra and the scientific method must be endless." Toshihiro thought while putting a finger on his chin.

"Wow, it sounds like a lot has been going on here and your people have done some good work." the young man began to reply to Hasmui's report. "I have fought some bandits myself, not long ago. They were terrorizing the people of my home village but me and my father took care of the problem." he further explained his own experiences in a calm voice. Toshihiro's facial expression or body language had not changed, even tho his wording clearly suggested that he had killed them. "It sounds like Lady Tsukiko, the shinobi following her and you too are bringing some stability and order to this island." the young man noted, his face lighting up with a slight smile. "I had the intention to join you guys but I wasn't decided yet. But now I feel sure. Maybe you would like to vet me further over some pancakes at this Darkside place?" Toshihiro continued on, his smile becoming bigger.


WC: 383
TWC: 1222

Hasumi was glad that Toshi seemed impressed by the village's achievements and it's endeavor to protect the country it had been built in. She listened to the rest of the boy's response, noting that he said that he and his father had managed to fend off  some bandits that had attacked his village. This led the girl to believe that perhaps he was above her level of skill, as she hadn't faced any sort of combat and certainly wouldn't have been able to talk about it without treating it like a big deal if she had. Though she apparently possessed potent and vast chakra her physical skills were worse than any other shinobi's and she didn't know to many jutsu other than one than a few water techniques. Were she to face a similar threat Hasumi wasn't sure she'd be able to take care of it. Perhaps if Isamu or The Masked Man assisted her, but she knew they'd likely have to deal with most of the threats. Perhaps Toshihiro's father had dealt with most of the bandits but Hasumi had no way of telling as of yet, lacking the ability to sense chakra like her brother and creator.

The young girl was elated as Toshi finished speaking, grinning excitedly at his suggestion that they get pancakes at Darkside. "That sounds like a great idea to me! My appointment isn't for awhile, I think I have enough time to get a quick bite. It's not to far, just follow me and we'll get there in no time!"

Hasumi hopped out of her seated position on the bench and onto her feet, still grinning as she looked toward Toshihiro and motioned for him to follow. She then began to walk quickly in the direction of Darkside. Her pace wasn't anything of note when compared to high speed shinobi movements but it was a step above casual. If Toshihiro didn't seem interested in keeping up with her fast walk than Hasumi eventually slowed down and waited until the boy was walking beside her, doing her best to match his speed.

As she walked the teenage kunoichi contemplated reaching out to her brother and asking if he wanted to meet up with her there, but she knew he likely was going to be busy dealing with the Lord of the Uchiha District and The Masked Man. She hoped that one day her brother would stop trying to impress all of these strange and ambitious men they seemed to be running into and be able to join her on fun social outings like this one.

[Exit]

WC:431
TWC:2,022

[center]

Toshihiro mirrored Hasumi's grin. It was genuine expression of joy lighting up over his face. The girl had an infecting positive attitude and the otherwise cool and calm shinobi couldn't help himself. "Yeah, I have been walking all morning since breakfast. Some pancakes would re-energize me." he replied with a slight chuckle. He didn't quite match the energy when getting up from the bench, doing so in his usual relaxed manner but still unable to wipe that grin off his face he matches Hasumi's pace. The young man was well conditioned so a brisk walk was no problem at all for him.

While Hasumi looked like she was caught up in a thought Toshihiro let his attention wander again. He was glad to have met the girl as she seemed to be the person who could clear things up for him. Many of the new impressions he had already processed but this conversation brought up a whole bunch of new questions in his mind. "Maybe she knows the gate guard and can tell me more about her. It would probably be rude to ask this straight away so I need to frame this question right." the young shinobi thought. "And she seemingly has been involved with the village from the beginning, at least her father was." another thought interjecting the one he just had.

Toshihiro kept analyzing and sorting the information he had just gotten. While Hasumi appeared to be your average Genin he had also learned not to judge someone by their appearences. And by what she had told him at least her father is an important person. The 20 year old was so deep in his own thoughts that he didn't even pay attention to the people around him anymore as the two crossed through the streets of Tsukigakure.



EXIT
WC: 301
TWC: 1523

Claims: 1523 WC to 15 stat points. 10 into speed, 5 into vigor.
89 WC towards completing the learning of Genjutsu release, Prior training,1434 WC remaining.
700 WC towards learning Earth Kunai, 734 WC remaining.
743 WC towards partially learning Rock Pillar Spears.