He had ignored advice from the random genin contemporary he had crossed paths with on the way into this dread that was the Tsumi Sand Grounds. He was a taller fellow of bronze complexion that had a long mane of ebony curls that made his gender rather ambiguous outside of a certain range of distance. The young stalk of a boy had taken time out of his fashion statement by removing his rounded sunglasses and gracing him with his apple green irises. The struggle in his voice relayed the hopelessness as he warned the adolescent Sōseiji to turn back, showcasing the god awful frizz the heat had afflicted upon his majestic cropping of hair. His idea, along with most others, was to return later and train at night when it cooled. The sacrifice of visibility for the sake of a good homeostasis sounded like a cop out to him at the time, but if only there was a way to go back, he would have heeded without skepticism.

Born and bread in Sunagakure he was well aware and very much used to the afflictions of the hot desert sun and humidity, but believe it or not, this was his first rodeo in Tsumi. He had heard the tales of its grueling conditions, and because of which, he’d stayed away up until now. His recent graduation to genin had without certainty upgraded his confidence, that coupled with his youth, gave him a sense of invincibility that had been everything except for battle tested in the real world. To his current chagrin, he found himself drained and essentially powerless under the tendrils of bright kryptonite that beamed down from up above. It was rather pathetic really, how he found himself skulking behind small boulders as he stalked not only their minimal amounts of shade, but this suiton show off that had been tantalize him with hydration ever since he perspired his first beads of sweat.

Like an idiot he had come here trying to train katon at high noon, not lasting longer than about an hour in this sun, even with his gifted capacity for stamina. With each of his failed embers the blonde bowl cut haired dork would launch a grand suiton jutsu, intentionally dousing himself with that damn good refreshing water. Earlier he had asked nicely for as little as a splash across the face to knock the edge off, but the bastard had given him nothing but a kick in the shin after he had closed his eyes in anticipation of refreshment. But now it was time, time for his revenge. That dorky bifocal wearing bugger would pay for his transgressions. Quickly jutting out from  behind the boulder with clandestine intent, the blue eyed genin leaped into the air after a couple swift strides, now finding himself airborne over his faucet hoarding nemesis.

“I’ve got you now water monger!” He exclaimed with a smirk of successful anticipation as he descended spread eagle in hopes to tackle his prey as his shadow began to engulf the seemingly unaware boy. But with a swift reverse pivot, his target had proven himself highly perceptive and already aware of his presence. With hand seals previously installed the blonde genin had already selected his attack, raising his hand to his mouth before spewing a jet of highly pressurized water into the Sōseiji’s now defenseless midsection without hesitation.

The trumpet of water hit with a refreshing cruelty that triggered a masochism within the fresh new genin as he welcomed the pain for the pure sensation of the water alone. He could have done without the harsh landing on his back, but it was what it was. Besides, his revenge was a success, although it did not look it in the least. He never wanted to fight the kid, he just wanted water, by any means necessary. He had heard the boy shout an obscenity towards him before scurrying away most probably with a type of slick sense of accomplishment. His care from him now had completely dissipated as he found himself in an aching bliss, lying spread eagle in a puddle of water with nothing but a grin of refreshment on his face.

----
WC: 699

It was not often that Akarui came to the Sand Grounds this late in the day. It was his philosophy that training in the early morning was the best for his health. The two other benefits of training in the morning were that he still had time for mission later in the day, and the fact that a less crowded training area allowed him room to practice more dangerous kenjutsu techniques. Perhaps growing up in the Kōga compound had also given him a distaste for being watched. For a Kōga, being watched meant far more than simply observing movement. It meant swift acquisition of internal emotional knowledge and immediate judgement. Strangers doing such a thing did not sit too well with Akarui, thus he usually preferred to train alone.

Today was a special day, however. Akarui was taking the day off from missions after yesterday's embarrassing defeat at the hands of a Taijutsu master. The defeat was not for naut, however. Akarui had decided to take the master's words to heart; Today he would take criticism from his peers as well as train out in the open. Even with this new burst of determination, Akarui still walked into the sand grounds with a hand resting on the cap of his katana, which lay strapped across his lower back. There was something about having a weapon on him that gave Akarui a certain level of confidence. So too did the yellow bandanna embroidered with the Kōga clan mon tied around his right bicep. Clan pride was quite the thing to him after all.

Akarui's low cut sneakers tracked designs across the sands as he entered the grounds, his usual high cut black capris and sleeveless hooded white shirt joined today by a small yellow towel hanging loosely from his neck. The shinobi had planned on making his way over to a more spacious area to practice his form, but his attention was quickly grabbed by the shouting of younger genin and an impressive spray of water.

"I've got you now water monger!" Akarui heard such and smirked as the boy was blasted with a water trumpet. It was not so often that Akarui was given the opportunity to remember that being a shinobi did not mean giving up his humanity, least of all a sense of humor. What amused him all the more, though, was the way the other shinobi merely remained in the water puddle even as his opponent left. There was more than one way to win, perhaps. Akarui sighed and shook his head as he approached the motionless boy, a smirk still captivating his expression.

"Trust me, you don't want to be hot /and/ wet." Akarui crouched over the boy, hanging his yellow towel over him as both an offer and a tease. The shinobi had used water to cool off quite a few times in his younger days, and he remembered quite clearly the disastrous consequences imposed on him for his more flagrant soakings, both by his parents and by the mold. "There's no rest for a ninja anyhow, is there? The day is still young. There is so much to train." Akarui grinned all the wider as he said this, knowing full well how little he heeded his own advice. Even as he had just arrived at the Sand Grounds he was already dreaming of a cold drink in the shade of some cool corner shop. Whether the other boy accepted the towel or not, Akarui would drop it, going to stand up and draw his blade, squinting as he stared at its rusty side, sun reflecting brilliantly into his eyes from the few still shiny places on its outer coat. "Wouldn't want to become rusty, would we?"

632

His cool ecstasy had lasted in what seemed to be a literal blink of his eyes. By the time he had settled into the makeshift puddle and cast darkness upon his icy irises an apparent eclipse had overcome him. Furrowing a brow in confusion he tried to discern its nature while lazily refusing to open his eyes. It was impossible for it to be an eclipse and was much too still to be a large passing object. Taking a deep sloth like breath the young genin heaved his eyelids open with a burden perhaps akin to trudging waist deep through a patch of murky mudflats. Simultaneously, he’d heard an unfamiliar voice advise him to relinquish his unauthorized trust with regards to not being both wet and hot.

“I’d like to trust you, but I can't possibly because I don’t know you. And for the record, I’m not hot, just happily drenched.” He replied with an exhausted groan as he rose as if from his own bed in the wee hours of the morning. He immediately flinched, not expecting at any point for there to be a bright yellow towel dangling right before his face. After taking in the non-threatening item for a moment he grabbed it graciously before looking up at his randomly concerned benefactor. A pair of gold/brown eyes met his own with a glint of seemingly positive intention. The boys dark red shaggy hair causing him to dry and fix his own in order to avoid such a mess.

“Well I was getting some rest before you showed up…” He replied under his breath as he tucked his mouth to the side, pretending to towel off his face as a front. Assuming his new acquaintance had heard his smart aleck response he took alarm to the unsheathing of the shaggy haired boy’s katana. Scrambling to his feet with a comedic grace his posture was poised with a grave caution as he tried to discern any aggressive undertones in the boy’s statement.

“Uh…, course not…” He added with a tentative voice and forced grin. It was clear upon standing that this boy was much older and much taller than himself, which of course, boosted the intimidation factor ten fold without even counting the sword in this unofficial multiplication.


WC: 383

Akarui couldn't help but grin as the boy jumped to his feet. He had not drawn his sword as a threat, but it was always amusing when people reacted to him in ways he did not expect. In one fluid motion Akarui turned to where Tsugumichi had jumped and slid his blade back into its sheath behind his back. "You sure have a lot of energy for someone who wants to rest in a puddle." The young shinobi flipped his shaggy red hair out of his eyes and forced a chuckle out in an attempt to smooth the tension. He was doing his best to ignore the boy's comments about having his nap interrupted, but the thought still buzzed in the back of his head like an annoying little gnat trying to make him mad. Then again, he could hardly get angry after pulling out his weapon like that. Scaring kids really was not the best defense against comments like that.

Taking a step back, Akarui ran a hand through his hair with a sigh. This was already more awkard than he expected it would be. Perhaps he needed to stop approaching strangers in the training grounds for a little while. Doing his best to maintain something of a smirk, he continued his conversation. "By the way, my name is Kōga Akarui. I've been a genin for a while here. It's always nice to see new faces."j Meanwhile, Akarui looked over the boy. His obvious thick black hair was the first thing he had noticed, as it reminded him of himself at a younger age but for the coloring. Looking down on him from such a difference in height, Akarui had only just noticed his light blue eyes. It was a rare occasion that he saw eyes like those in Sunagakure. Perhaps his family had moved here; he did not know.

Akarui was reluctant to use the Kōga clan's skills of face reading on a kid this young, but it was difficult for him to stop reading him. Resting his right hand on the hilt of his weapon, Akarui's face slowly melted into a blank state of no emotion. His eyes stared down Tsugumichi with the same look an old lady might give a jigsaw puzzle. And so, the young shinobi went to work attempting to read his new acquaintance's current emotions.

402 + 632 = 1034

Well, yah know, adrenaline's a hell of a thing.” He replied with a stark glance at the boy’s katana as he kindly sheathed it after probably gathering its potential as a threat. The awkwardness was in the air, especially after the boys forced chuckle with which he joined in on, rubbing the back of his head with a cheesy reciprocating grin. He’d known somewhere deep in his gut that this apparent swordsman had picked up on his snappy comment but was surprised by his seemingly collected demeanor in spite of it. Perhaps this new face meant well, at least for now, it was still entirely possible he’d been given the benefit of the doubt and was still only one slick remark away from a well deserved en garde.

“Ah, likewise. The names Sōseiji Tsugumichi, I’ve just recently graduated from the academy. And how long is a while? You seem a little grown to still be a genin. Is it that hard to rank up to Chūnin?” He asked with a genuine curiosity as he tilted his head to the side, taking in Akarui with his superior appearance in age as well as height. He found it hard to believe someone who seemed to be practically an adult was still a junior ninja. Although it was entirely possible he started his shinobi studies later in life, or was even a late bloomer, but even by both standards he was pressing the mold. Sixteen was the oldest genin he could reference in recent memory, but Akarui looked like he might be old enough for a tall bottle of sake with a tobacco chaser.

“Hey, uh…, you okay there bud?” He inquired as he squinted his eyes to notice the blank state of emotion that had befallen his new acquaintance. It was random as well as extremely creepy, but those observations wouldn’t be enough to deter him. Slowly etching forward, the young genin began waving his hands across Akarui’s face looking for any reaction towards his external stimuli. So much so that he eventually found himself dancing around the elder genin like a foolish jester of the court with an unrelenting will and concern for his well being as if versed in the art of foolery.

WC: 377

At first Akarui remained focused on trying to read Tsugumichi. Answering questions was not really all too important to him at the moment. The way the young boy started jumping around eventually won him over, though, and Akarui could not help but begin to laugh. It was not every day that Akarui encountered children with so much spirit. The least he could do was to be polite.

"Hmn, yeah, I am an old fogey, aren't I? It's just the way my family does things, I suppose. We don't leave the compound 'til we are seventeen years old." Akarui smiled genuinely at the energetic youngster as he tried to get his attention. "I see you got through academy right quick though, didn't you? With that kind of determination and energy you should have no problem making chuunin."

Akarui rubbed his eyes as he tried in vain to regain his composure, a grin easily visible on his face. In truth he believed this encounter to be a good sign. Energetic children growing up to be Sunagakure's next generation of shinobi was the best he could hope for in reality. Then again, Akarui did not know much of anything about this child but for the fact that he seemed to be somewhat impulsive. The older shinobi sighed once more as he pushed his own hair back. "So what exactly is it you do, uhm.... Tsugumichi, was it? Surely you must have impressed your instructors with some kind of skill back in the academy."

Even as he asked, he was already almost certain of what it was. Ninjutsu was so entrenched in the basics of shinobihood that it was rare to find anyone without a knack for it. That was, at least as far as younger shinobi went. Older ones like those who grew up in the Kōga compound learned their skills from an entirely different angle. While weapons were common as far as shinobi went, it was rare in Akarui's experience to find fresh genin trained in advanced fuuinjutsu. Even as he looked over Tsugumichi, Akarui was having difficulty trying to deduce what this genin was skilled with. He guessed ninjutsu due to its popularity, but what else would Tsugumichi surprise him with?

Akarui tilted his head as he drifted back to his observations. Tsugumichi did not have any large weapons on him so far as Akarui could see, but that did not mean he was not skilled with weapons. Akarui himself after all had not received his own personal weapon until one fateful day in Takigakure. Akarui frowned. Bukijutsu was unlikely but not impossible. His eyes then drifted to Tsugumichi's sides, looking for anything that could give away his specific set of skills. No scrolls? Akarui thought to himself. Those would almost certainly give away some training in fuuinjutsu, but their absence did not necessarily mean he was not skilled in the art of sealing and unsealing. Finally Akarui sighed, looking down.

"You know what? On second though, why don't you just show me your skills?" Akarui smiled, placing a hand on the hilt of his weapon once more, left foot sliding into position behind his right as a smirk crept its way across his face.

543 + 1034 = 1577

His efforts in jumping around much like a rabid kangaroo seemed to pay off as the odd trance he had abruptly found his shaggy haired acquaintance subject to had dissipated. With the discovery of a smile accompanied by the ensemble of laughter the young Sōseiji ceased with a result of minor fatigue, taking the time to gather his breath by perching his hand upon his partially bent knees. He was uncertain as to what that odd moment of blankness was, but if it had anything to do with some strange attempt at concentration, Akarui was terrible at it. To have his focus broken with a little bit of theatrics had to be a bad sign if indeed his assumption was correct. After quickly catching his breath, he poised himself to responded to his responsively revived acquaintance.

“Your family kept you locked in a compound for seventeen years? Thats major man…” He replied with a tone of sympathy as he tried to wrap his minor brain around being stuck in one place for longer than he had even proved to live. Also with the newly gathered information of Akarui being at least seventeen, the blue eyed rookie ninja deducted his present age to be hardly older than that, his guess being somewhere between nineteen and twenty. Which meant at the earliest Akarui would have graduated the academy would have been in just two years when it took him three. Still,  the curriculum for a seventeen year old versus that of a nine year old was more than likely something that couldn’t truly be compared.

“It took me three years, which I guess is like average or something, but for my sake I hope your right.” He added, doing his best to receive the compliment without mouthing off like he wanted to deep down. There were numerous things he wanted to say that would nullify Akarui’s attempt at good graces with regards to his ability. He was no genius and would probably struggle the same as most in passing to the next rank if not more considering his propensity for trouble. Only time would tell but it was nice for a positive vote of confidence.

Well, I…” His next response to Akarui’s question was cut off by a counter offer. As opposed to explaining what he could do, the super aged genin wanted to see for himself. His heart sank as he watched Akarui favor his hilt again, the fear of that rusty sword of his all came rushing back to him like a forgotten day dream preparing to reoccur. It all seemed to be polite and friendly but in the back of his mind he could not help but think this was his way of revenge for his sly remark from earlier. A way of getting even without perhaps making that motive apparent.

“So now I have to fight this Super-Genin? I mean, who knows what his family taught him for seventeen years in captivity, this guy might be a highly trained assassin for all I know.”

He thought with a mix of common sense, fear, and reluctance.

“Oh quit being a looser Tsugumichi! You wanted this life, you wanted to be a ninja, and this is part of the process. You can’t cower away, that’s what mom and dad would want. You have to prove you can handle this life. Quit screwing around and step up to the plate!”

He added in thought as he jutted backwards, creating space between himself and Akarui. His black padded sandals skidding softly as his body quickly decelerated to a halt. With his knees slightly bent and legs shoulder width apart, the adolescent genin formed his arms in a tight cross guard across his chest with both his palms open face and his finger tips curled into tense claw like fashions.

“Fine, come at me if you want.”


WC: 651 + 1459 = 2,110

Training Stats:

Akarui chuckled to himself as Tsugumichi commented on his childhood. It was true that he had spent the great majority of his life in the compound, but looking back he did not truly regret it. For a few moments the red haired shinobi smiled sadly as he reminisced about his past. Day after day the training beat him to a pulp physically and mentally. Despite the long periods of loneliness and the the intense desire to prove himself to his instructors and family, he suspected it made him a stronger shinobi in the long run than how he would have turned out had he not gone through said training. Then again, the younger shinobi before him had not gone through such intensive training and hardship, yet Akarui suspected he was stronger than he appeared at first glance.

"Three years? That's not half bad. Especially not if you did not have any training before you entered the academy." Akarui grinned widely down on the boy. It had taken him quite some time to get through the academy even with his prior training in fighting with weapons and performing fuuinjutsu. There was something about shinobi academies which seemed to focus on ninjutsu, so for someone like him whose clan did not use ninjutsu much if at all, academy training was made exceedingly difficult. Perhaps it was unfair to sandbag himself like that though. Surely all shinobi had their own challenges in the academy to face. That was part of the brilliance of it. The academy brought out the specific skills of everyone who went through it.

At first he was a little bit embarrassed that he had interrupted Tsugumichi, but that was to be expected. That was what he got for changing his mind so often, he supposed. He did not regret his decision to see an example of skill rather than simply hear about it, though. Even he, who had been taught that language held secrets far deeper than most people gave it credit for, could recognize that actions spoke far louder than words. The vast majority of language was action after all.

However, another thought crossed Akarui's mind at this point. He did not want to have a spar in the middle of a discussion without any preparation. That would be unfair to both of their skills. It would not to do have a spar and determine ability based on an arbitrary encounter where one of the two fighters had just finished training and the other was just about to begin. Such a thing would be less a test of skill and more a lopsided show of pride. Even as Tsugumuchi jumped back and prepared to spar, Akarui had already changed his mind yet again.

"Actually, let's do this another time! We'll set up a time when we are both ready to go all out, alright? See you soon, kid!" With that, Akarui jogged out of the training grounds, a grin on his face and his sword bouncing behind him. Yes, he would need time to prepare for this. And so would his new friend.


519 + 1577 = 2096
Training Katon C-rank -> B-rank (2000/2000) Complete!
96 words for the trash