The day was moving slowly enough. Garuda decided to avoid the library today and enjoy the scenery outside. After all, it was called the Village of the Hidden Leaf for a reason. The foliage and array of deciduous trees and temperate-zone plant life was still a beautiful sight to behold and wondrous thing to observe and study. Dressed in a pair of regular fit black jeans and a clean red t-shirt that bore the Hyuuga emblem in the top left section on the shirt, by the shoulder and in black (yin yang still black and white), Garuda was friendly enough to everyone, dipping his head in a courteous greeting here, catching a kid before he trips there. Many of those who recognized the Hyuuga clan emblem on his t-shirt wouldn’t look at his eyes; those who did were curious as to why his eyes were black, more like the eyes of an Uchiha.

“Oh it’s my father,” Garuda would often reply, almost turning it into a script because of how often he was asked. “His eyes were blue, but his family has had a history of dark eyes. The Hyuuga gene went recessive in my eyes, I guess.” But as for the Uchiha question, Garuda would dodge it. He didn’t know; he didn’t care. It wasn’t any of his business. Sure, he could have inherited the Sharingan, but he was skilled in the Byakugan, and it was readily available. What’s more, the techniques he learned and the way he was raised, and reading all he could about the Sharingan, it was just hype. To him, the Sharingan was second fiddle in a long line of great doujutsu techniques. Sure, the Rinnegan could evolve from the Sharingan, but many of the techniques useable to an Uchiha are lost. Then again, there was no recording of Madara using his Amaterasu technique written anywhere. There was just word about his use of the Rinnegan, using things like the Heaven Concealed technique with the massive meteors that came down. It wasn’t like when Pain used a concentrated full-power version of the Shinra Tensei, an attack on Konoha that would eventually lead to the Great Ninja War over the Bijuu and the reawakening of the Ten Tails, a giant tree that was housed in the Gedo Statue...

Garuda closed his eyes and remembered the pain he endured while reading about all that. It took him three days straight. He was smart and took no breaks because of the enthralling read. He slept for a day and a half straight as a result of the intensity of what he envisioned and what was found in the words. Then again, reading about Neji, his hero, made it all worthwhile.

It was only the later afternoon when Garuda decided to turn it in for the day. Opening his eyes, he looks up to see that he has arrived at Ichiraku Ramen, an old haunt of former Hokage and Neji’s mentor in life, Uzumaki Naruto. It didn’t change much since its days back then, and Garuda can’t remember ever having traditional ramen. He walks in and sits at the bar, receiving a formal greeting (and not responding, since it’s customary that the restaurant’s staff is friendlier than you are) before ordering a bowl of their basic ramen. He gets a pair of chopsticks ready as his bowl is set in front of him. “Itadakimasu,” he says before digging in. As he eats, he savours his meal.

WC: 577

Kyohei ran his fingers back through his hair and let out an exhausted sigh as he made his way through the streets of Konohagakure. Looking at the position of the sun it was easy to tell that evening was fast approaching, but it still felt like morning to the Uchiha who had spent his entire day fulfilling his duties in The Dungeon. In fact, he had not even seen the sun that day until he left that area, having snuck out of the village gates in the earliest hours of the day, before the sun rose on the horizon. Moving about at those hours had become rather commonplace for Kyohei. It was simply easier to move about unnoticed while most of the village slept, and he really couldn’t afford to be stopped and have to explain his intentions or his Black ANBU uniform.

The day wasn’t entirely wasted, however. The Dungeon was a massive place, and as his time within the organization and under the command of Enaka went on, he was allowed more access to and more knowledge about the operations which went on in the shadows of Konoha. The area he took the most interest in that day was Hataro’s armory. It was that area that housed Hataro’s puppets, their equipment, and all of the engineers that maintained and produced the tools of his trade. What Kyohei had hoped for was that this location was also where his puppets were stored when out of combat, specifically the puppets Hataro had been using made from the bodies of Risu’s parents, but he had no such luck. What he did find however, was the lab in which Black ANBU engineers were working on prototypes for Hataro’s new equipment. There were quite a few interesting items that caught Kyohei’s eye. Maybe it would be wise for him to pay a… personal visit to that area when no one was around.

Upon realizing he had allowed himself to become lost in thought, Kyohei shook that morning’s activities from his mind, instead refocusing on what he had originally went on this walk through the village for, food. He was tired, hungry, and irritable, all of which could be remedied by grabbing a quick bite to eat and heading home. With that goal in mind the Uchiha would begin thumbing through his mental rolodex, searching for a place to eat which would fulfill those interests. Most of the restaurants he frequented were out of the way, too much so for him to be interested in making that kind of detour. He also had zero interest in going through the process of cooking. At this moment in time, the more simple he could make this whole process the better.

It was then that a flash of large, red lettering on loosely blowing cloth would catch his eye. The sign read “Ichiraku Ramen Shop”, a name that was more than familiar to any person that grew up in The Village Hidden in the Leaf. There was a time, a long time ago, when that ramen shop was something of a tourist attraction due to the fame it had acquired thanks to the patronage of the 7th Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto. It had additional locations and at one point even tried to branch out into branding store-bought ramen. As time went on however, the hype around Ichiraku Ramen died out and now the restaurant had returned to its roots as a mom & pop shop ramen spot at its original location; a location that had barely changed from the old hole-in-the-wall it used to be even when the rest of the village changed around it.

It had actually been quite some time since Kyohei had eaten there, and given how convenient the location was for his current situation, he decided to give it a try. Using his left arm the Uchiha raised up one of the cloth flaps with his forearm, at the same time tilting his head a bit to the right in order to step into the establishment. He took a moment to look around, the enclosed space including little more than a few seats in front of a counter where the customers ate, behind which the chef and hostess worked, greeting Kyohei with a smile as he entered. His face remained stoic and emotionless as he nodded in turn before taking his seat at the counter and looking up at the rather short list of items on the menu which hung from the ceiling. “I’ll take the special and a glass of water,” he spoke as he directed his order to the hostess, after which the chef promptly began to prepare the bowl. While he waited to be served, Kyohei examined the counter top in front of him. A bamboo place mat sat before every chair along the counter, which seemed rather empty considering dinner time for most people was fast approaching. Over at the far left corner sat a framed picture of the ramen shop’s original owners Teuchi and Ayame alongside the 7th Hokage during one of his very frequent trips to the shop.

If nothing else, this ramen shop was fast with getting orders out. They had noodles constantly being made in a pot with broth. All that really needed to be done for each individual order was add some pre-chopped meat and vegetables and maybe a fried egg or two. It was a pretty efficient system and it allowed them to make it through lunch and dinner rush’s without much trouble. For a casual diner like Kyohei that just wanted to grab something quick to eat, it got the job done. Within a couple of minutes he would have a hot bowl of ramen sitting in front of him, ready to eat.

---

975~

The voice that asked for ramen behind him, as he ended up sitting down close by, felt cold. Garuda turned his head, slurping up the last of the noodles he had on the chopsticks, so that he could examine the new voice that entered the shop. It seemed to cut through the rest of the hustle and bustle, even though it was a quieter business day. Catching a glance of the man, he turns his head back to his soup, getting another mouthful, shifting his eyes over to inspect him.

It was obvious that he had come from something, something as inconspicuous as he could make it. It was just the aura he gave off, a spirit of intensity and secrecy. As the man sits down in front of his bowl of ramen and glass of water, which was set down as Garuda made his observations, he begins to eye the outfit as quietly as he can, just minding his own business as he ate slowly. It was just a set of regular street clothes, but there was something else. Garuda wanted to ask, try to extract little pieces of information a piece at a time. The man reeked of a history of combat, and Garuda wanted to delve into it. If possible, judging by the experience that he seemed to read off the man, maybe Garuda could convince him for a little time in the training yard; all battle experience is strong battle experience, win or lose. Garuda could use the training after spending so much time just reading about being a shinobi.

“This is my first time here,” Garuda says, swallowing the next bolus of food he had in his mouth. “What would you say the specialty of the house is?” He turns his head towards the man before he eats, taking a bite out of the hard-boiled egg, chewing slowly and, politely, with his mouth closed. He would have said more, but he doubted that it would have extracted much more than the reply he might get to his question, regarding the other choices on the menu.

Garuda held no tension in his body, no springs were tightened and ready to go, and he made no aggressive gesture, other than a dead, stoic gaze that matched the man's own eyes to a tee. Likely, at the angle Garuda had turned his body, the Hyuuga emblem on the opposite shoulder to where the man would sit was flashed enough to be seen by a trained eye, and there wasn’t a more trained eye in the building at the moment, even Garuda’s, whether his Byakugan was active or not.

WC: 440
Total: 1017

OOC: Finally, someone who can give me something to read while I struggle to find his profile so I could have described his visible attributes better -_- in other words, I gave up looking.

It was strange. Kyohei had never thought himself to be particularly personable or approachable to strangers, especially not after a long day of work where he was both exhausted and hungry and wanted nothing but to be left alone and enjoy his meal. In his mind, everything about him right now was giving off something of a “fuck off” vibe. At least, that was definitely his intention. And yet here this man was, clearly capable of seeing the Uchiha getting ready to eat his meal, and still with the audacity to sit there and ask him stupid questions in an attempt to spark idle conversation.

Kyohei’s brows furrowed as he glanced over to the man sitting to his right. The black pupil of his eye was all that would have been able to be seen from the man’s perspective, the piercing glare Kyohei gave him saying more “are you stupid?” than anything else. The rest of Kyohei’s body would remain facing towards the counter, including his face that never turned to face the man speaking to him. The Uchiha remained silent as he picked up the thin, paper cradle which held the disposable chopsticks that had been set before him with his meal. Carefully he would pinch the end of the chopsticks between his thumb and index finger as he slid the chopsticks from their holster and carefully snapped the conjoined wood in two. It probably wasn’t a big deal to most people, but Kyohei NEEDED to break disposable chopsticks as close to perfectly even as possible. If one end of the chopsticks was lopsided it would bother him for the entirety of his meal.

With his gaze and attention now returned to the task at hand, he would lift the bowl of ramen off of the counter with his left hand, holding it at chest level as he positioned the chopsticks between the fingers of his right hand. “It’s a ramen shop,” he answered bluntly, the snark of his comment clearly audible as he dipped the ends of his chopsticks into his bowl, “Their specialty is ramen.” Without another word he would assume he had sated the man’s curiosity about the establishment sufficiently and move on to his meal. Even if he had not answered all of his questions about the restaurant, the people who ran the damned place were right on the other side of the counter. Surely he could just ask one of them for specifics rather than the man who was trying to eat.

---

424 | 1399~

Garuda had his eyes locked on the man’s, reading all the signals as clear as day. It was obvious that he wanted to be left alone, but sometimes even the most negative communication can be turned into a profitable and rewarding experience: time to poke the bear a bit.

“Yeah, you gotta make sure that those chopsticks aren’t deviated in size, width or thickness in any way, huh?” he says, hiding his amusement. Was he trying to pick a fight? Maybe he was. Something about this man rubbed Garuda in one way and another, regarding clan heritage and even potential skill. “Only someone with keenness of eye and sharpness of movement would be able to make sure that his chopsticks are as straight as an arrow, fully and expertly whittled and fletched.” He holds up the end of his own chopsticks, exhibiting the minute deviation in his. “Of course I don’t care. Chopsticks are chopsticks. They aren’t senbon needles. They aren’t kunai. They aren’t swords or staves or any other piece of weaponry that is lauded for having straightness as a requirement. If you need straightness, buy a good pair of chopsticks and carry them like you would carry a fork and knife combo as a soldier would. Chopsticks are easy enough to clean and they last long enough.”

Garuda had no control on his words. His only concern was reading this man’s face. It was cheap culinary ranting, at best, easily ignored and chalked up to drunkenness. However, Garuda hadn’t had a single drink, other than the broth. On his breath, there wasn’t a trace of alcohol. He enjoyed the glare, the furrowed brows, the ‘why are you being a jackass’ sensation that he was getting screamed at in his own head. He turned his head back to his meal and takes another bunch of noodles, eating them politely and swallowing before looking back to the man.

“I’ve done a lot of reading in the past few years,” he says, “mostly history, about the clans and the wars and the weapons and the techniques. I’ve seen that Hyuuga and Uchiha are the only recognizable clans with acknowledged doujutsu, and that they are particularly anal about how they like things to be. So tell me this: how many tomoe are in your Sharingan?”

Of course, the question was merely extrapolation and speculation. Garuda had no idea whether the man was an Uchiha or not. He just took a wild stab in the dark. After all, as far as Garuda knew, the basic eye was as black as his own, hence being questioned about his heritage before arriving at Ichiraku. It was just how Garuda felt in how the man carried himself, how he acted and reacted, how he moved and grooved, so to speak. He turns his head to have another mouthful of noodles and meat, chewing and swallowing before turning his head back to his... conversationalist partner.

WC: 488
Total: 1505

OOC: Having fun yet? :p

Someone couldn’t take a hint. It boggled Kyohei’s mind how a grown man could be so incredibly rude and immeasurably dense at the same time. It was almost inhuman. Some might even consider being that ill-mannered a talent. What kind of person even goes off on a tangent about the merit of carrying around chopsticks? If that wasn’t just an ill-conceived ploy to spark up unnecessary conversation, he didn’t know what was. It was as if this man had risen from his bed that morning with no intention for that day other than finding a way to irritate the Uchiha as much as humanly possible in as short a period a time as he could manage. One hell of a talent.

Still, there were ways to deal with pests. Unfortunately for Kyohei, the easiest method of doing so was… inappropriate for this setting. His time within the Black ANBU had begun to wear on him. It may have gone unnoticed by the outside world, but Kyohei knew. The darkness had changed him… it was still changing him. It was becoming more and more difficult to separate the man from the mask. There were days that he forgot what part of himself was Kyohei and what was Enaka’s Black ANBU. No matter the amount of prodding however, the Uchiha had no intention of falling to the point where he would consider killing civilians in cold blood for something so insignificant. The other way of dealing with pests was simply to ignore them. Let them come to the realization that their presence is unwanted on their own and let them take whatever steps they deem necessary to make themselves scarce.

Ignore him. That was the plan. At least, it was the plan until the man proposed a very specific question regarding Kyohei’s blood lineage. Although he made no outward gesture to show it, continuing to eat his meal while staring directly down in front of him, the comment set off a red flag in Kyohei’s mind. He was sure that he had never met the man before, Kyohei did not forget faces. Kyohei also wore none of the Uchiha clan’s traditional clothing. There was not a single fan symbol to be found on any article of clothing he owned. For this complete stranger to so casually inquire about his Sharingan was more than suspicious. Those who have obtained knowledge that should have been beyond their reach through nebulous means rarely harbored good intentions. As far as Kyohei was concerned this man was a threat, and all threats needed to be dealt with.

But Kyohei would not make his move yet. There were still questions left unanswered, and a restaurant was not exactly the ideal place to extract information from a person. With that in mind Kyohei would continue on as normal, or at least as normal as possible. “I’m eating,” he answered bluntly to the man’s torrent of questions and insignificant observations, continuing to eat his ramen at a moderate pace, never once motioning towards or away from the man seated near him.

---

523 | 1922~

The vein was popping out of his head. Whatever training the man had to stay calm, Garuda was wearing it down slowly but surely. “I’m sure you don’t care about this,” he says, ignoring his comment, “but my name is Garuda, considered the Kurokaze of the Hyuuga clan. It is nice to meet you, Uchiha. Too bad I think nothing much of your eyes.”

Whether that got a rise out of the man or not, it did not matter in the slightest. Garuda turned his head away, directing his attention to his meal. The soup was getting cold while he was trying to get more out of this man, but through a mentalist perspective, Garuda got a lot of responses. Just the intensity of the stare into his bowl told Garuda that the man was in obvious disbelief, and the sharpness of the response was meant to push Garuda off the case. It didn’t matter though. He knew what the man is, but it’s not like it matters all that much.

“It’s also too bad that there’s still darkness and cruelty in this world,” he says after another healthy mouthful or two of the ramen. “Too much death, too much needless fighting, too much greed: I’m sure you understand, given your clan’s history, as well as mine.” Of course, Garuda was referring to his own life, but there is also the history of clans going to war, the Great Ninja Wars, and the fights that have taken place over both the Sharingan and the Byakugan, the latter of which had to deal with the seal which would have been placed over Garuda’s head if he was born only less than 50 years ago.

All that being said, Garuda spends the next couple minutes focusing solely on his meal. He finishes it slowly, savouring the extra flavours as the food cools off, drinking the leftover broth slowly. He sighs with relish of the food and hands the bowl back so it can go right back into the kitchen for cleaning. He lays down the necessary money plus a decent tip to pay for his meal before turning to the Uchiha, bowing shallowly. “Thank you for the exciting luncheon conversation,” he says. “I’m sure if you have your own questions for me, you’ll find me quickly enough. I don’t natter on like you just witnessed. Until then, arigato.”

Garuda turns around and pushes the curtain open, slowly making his way out, his left hand going into his pocket as he resumes his walk through the village. Somewhere in his head, he wished that he was being tailed or followed. It would make for some interesting conversation, or maybe it’ll be a fight that Garuda won’t be able to defend himself from.

WC: 459
Total: 1964

OOC: So is that a yes?

A white husk shrouded beneath a red kimono made out of silk wondered aimlessly around the buildings, until the warm smell of ramen reached him and perturbed his senses.  Conquered by his primal instincts,  Tenzō increased his paced, although he now had a destination; the ramen shop. Once he found himself against this fairly-sized building, the Uchiha halted instantly, freezing like an icicle. Both of those silver bracelets rattled at his stop before his head jerked in all kind of directions. He wondered if the food was any good, since there were only a few customers at that hour. Nonetheless, that was not enough cease the urge which just arose within him.  

Without a single more thought wasted, Tenzō stormed inside the shop. A chair was left empty between himself and the group. Once seated, the black-haired figured greeted the chef before kindly asking for a bowl of ramen. In the meanwhile, as his ramen was being prepared, Tenzō began making himself feel like home by taking off his red haori which hid beneath a dark grey shirt with the Uchiha symbol imprinted on the back. His hands looked rather dirty, indicating that the day kept him with a couple of menial tasks. However, this did not bothered him at all, therefore he began feasting immediately once the spicy bowl of noodles which he requested was placed beneath his eyes.

“What a pair...” were the words which stood upon his mind while noticing the two individuals who were engaged within a fiery conversation. Although, after a further inspection it seemed more like a one-sided talk, as the Hyuuga never rested his mouth, even for a mere second; he was either eating or talking. Without leaving the wrong impression, Tenzō cocked his head back towards the ramen, minding his own business. Seeing the Hyuuga leaving so abruptly, posed a few other questions on his lips, although they remained unspoken. “I’ve never tasted such a good ramen before, mister. This is clearly amazing!” the Uchiha said before bringing up a small change on chef’s lips, curling them within a smile. Due to his daily activities, Tenzō barely has any time to enjoy a warm meal.

---

368 Words

Consider me never having been in this thread. I'm out.

[Exit]

The Hyuuga did not had time to enjoy his walk for more than a couple of seconds, as he immediately was encountered by a pair of two individuals. Both of them had a very colorful vocabulary, and they also reeked from a considerable distance.

Their cheeks were blushed, and once they had began to speak against the Hyuuga, a foul stench of alcohol began to arose from their mouths. Clearly, they had too much sake at this hour.

“Do you have any money with you? How about loaning us a couple of ryo..." was the question posed by one of the two individuals; a genin around the age of 22, with a belly slight larger than your average shinobi, ironically since he wasn’t even a member from the Akimichi clan. The other one individual was rather frail and short, but he was just as bold as the first one. Even together they did not actually pose a threat, they were just irritating as a company. It was obvious that these two were just asking for money, without having any kind of intentions of returning them back to their loaners. They were known as troublemakers who picked up on the elderly or on the youngsters who were unable of defending themselves. Although, this particular approach was probably a mistaken on their behalf, as they did not knew who they were up against.

Tenzō was still inside the ramen shop, half-way through with his meal when their irritating tone managed to pierce his ears. He did not had a chance to finish up his meal, although he took a few ryo from his pouch in order to cover up the bill, placing them on the counter respectfully before thanking the chef for the amazing meal that he bought. Without further ado, the young Uchiha began packing up his stuff before heading outside to check on the occurrence which was about to unfold.

---

322 Words

Total Words ~ 690

Garuda stops, almost as if about to hand over some ryo. “Or I can sober you both up VERY quickly,” he says, enraged almost immediately by the drunkards. Without a second thought or a moment’s hesitation, Garuda strikes the thinner of the two with his palm, right to the sternum, sending him to the dirt without much force, given their inebriated state. Closing his fist, he swings and connects with the fat guy’s nose from over his shoulder while he gawked at how quickly his partner was knocked off his feet. A Judo shoulder throw later and the two were in a heap on the dirt, moaning and struggling to get up. “Next time you two try asking for a pay day,” Garuda says, straightening his shirt a la Picard Maneuver, “why don’t you earn it honestly like decent people instead of panhandling for one?”

Garuda turns around, looking at the crowd around him gathering. Everyone knew of these two and they were always left alone, treated as a nuisance. “I took it easy on these two bullies,” he says. “The extra effort needed to breathe through his nose might help Big Boy over here lose some weight.” With that, regardless of the crowd’s reaction to the sudden assault, Garuda hops up to the roofs, going a short distance away from the scene to one of the flat rooftops to sit and relax, and he definitely needed to calm his head and burn off some adrenaline. Taking deep breaths, calmly inhaling and forcefully exhaling, Garuda closes his eyes to relax.

It just gave him flashbacks of what his father was responsible for when he was drunk. It was always a hot button for him. Normally he would tolerate such things, but something about how they blatantly asked for the money just rubbed him the wrong way, and he made sure that they felt the error of their ways.

WC: 318
Total: 2282

Training STR from E0 to D0 = 750 (1532)
Training Reaction Time from E0 to D0 = 750 (782)
Training Perception from E0 to D0 = 750 (32)

In just the blink of an eye the scuffle had gotten rather intense, therefore Tenzō rushed outside from the ramen shop in order to investigate the matter. The young man threw his eyes around his vicinity before locating the source that was quite obvious due to the people which gathered around. It did not take long for him to blend into the crowd that were carefully observing the one-sided fight between the Hyuuga and the other two individuals. His help was clearly not needed, as the Hyuuga managed to single-handedly take care of the troublemakers that were harassing the villagers for quite a long time with their pesky requests.

“Either that guy is really strong, or those two are incompetent when it comes to fighting.” were the words which arose deep inside his mind while watching Garuda fading away in the distance. “Well then, there isn’t much for me here, and I’m almost late for my next assignment.” the young Uchiha mumbled towards himself before readjusting his messed up clothes and fading within the opposite direction. The day was still young for Tenzō, and there were a lot of activities that needed to be accomplished by the end of it.

Even though the break from work was rather insignificant at the ramen shop, the young Uchiha needed to seek for another task in order to raise up money for his family so that they may cover up those family debts. Little by little, he contributed daily by bringing up various sums of money within the house, there was only a matter of time till the complete coverage of their loans. Not only Tenzō, but his sister too was helping out by contributing slight larger sums of ryo from her missions, being a higher rank also granted the benefit of receiving a higher paycheck.

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307 Words

Total Words ~ 997

Training Strength E0 > E3 | 997 Words - 450 Words = 547 Words Left

Training Speed E0 > E3 | 547 Words - 450 Words = 97 Words Left

Exit Thread