A red haired shinobi stretched his bare arms high above his head as he meandered through the bustling marketplace of Sunagakure No Sato. Even as he was off duty for the day, he still wore his flak jacket which identified him as a chuunin of the village. It was far too much work in Akarui's mind to walk all the way back home just to change into civilian gear when all he wanted to do was relax anyhow. Even so, he was getting hot wearing the vest over his favorite hooded sleeveless shirt. Usually its white color helped him to avoid the heat, but under the flak jacket it was simply making the matter worse. Grumbling to himself he unzipped the vest and readjusted it, smirking to himself as air began to circulate through his shirt once more. Panning his gaze upwards, Akarui shifted his view from sign to sign, looking for his place of rest.

Ramen Shop? No. Jewelry Store? No. Professor Pallav's Pristine Pastry Palace? Hell no. The young shinobi sighed, closing his eyes and running his hand through the hair on the back of his head. He knew this place existed. Or at least he desperately hoped it did. The other chuunin he had been talking to back at the locker room had said they went to this place every Friday after work. Granted, it was not Friday, but Akarui was in desperate need of a relaxing drink. Working mornings was really taking the energy out of him.

After what seemed like an eternity of walking, a glint finally caught his eye. There it was: The Bazaar's Outdoor bar. Wooden tables dotted the raised platform. Waiters and waitresses carried jugs of beer and appetizers as they weaved between the benches and rowdy revelers. A wide grin crossed Akarui's face as he jogged up to the entrance; an old lady at a podium was all which stood between him and an afternoon in the sun with cold alcohol.

"Well hello there, sir. Welcome to Bazaar Beer Garden," The old lady smiled, her dull eyes framed by a pair of wiry spectacles. She was dressed fairly traditionally, in a kimono of all things. It seemed quite odd to Akarui that the way she was dressed was at odds with the nature of the establishment she represented. "Now, just in case this is your first time here, entry is 100 ryo. We bring you assorted appetizers and alcohol so long as your chip is green. When your chip is red, we stop. You can flip it as many times as you like, but just remember we'll keep bringing you food and drink so long as your chip is green," She smiled with a nod to Akarui as she exchanged a chip for the young shinobi's money. Pointing at the assorted tables behind her, she continued. "It's seat yourself this afternoon, so just sit wherever you like."

Akarui smiled genuinely at the hostess as he jogged up the stairs to the raised platform. A "Thank you, ma'am," mumbled from his lips as he eagerly entered the bar. For a few moments his view panned over the assortment of tables. None were crowded by any means, but only one was entirely empty. Humming to himself, Akarui slid onto the bench of the sun baked seating arrangement and flipped his chip to green. There was quite of eating and drinking he had to do, after all. He really did not mind the fact that this table lacked an umbrella. In reality, he had been debating whether to come here or simply head out to go sunbathing. Both options had enticed him deeply, but now he was able to partake in the best of both worlds. Sun without sand, alcohol without cigarette smoke, and relaxation without making a fool of himself. At least, that was what he was hoping for. The bar was not so crowded, but someone could always come and take a seat by him and find out for themselves what an idiot Akarui was. The red haired shinobi chuckled to himself at the thought. Nobody would sit by me if they had the choice.

701

Sasijimi was walking around quietly with his hands in his pockets. He would be wearing a long sleeved dark navy blue shirt with the buttons done up to leave just two near the top undone with his collar folded down. He was also wearing tight black jeans, also referred to as "skinny" jeans, black socks, as well as his black tennis shoes. The man had let his hair go a bit wild today, so instead of putting it back into a pony tail, he had the hair on his head draping down onto his shoulders, with his bangs in his face a bit. The jet black locks barely thin enough to see through when they fell in front of his eyes would make it rather difficult to perceive much of anything in a fight. Luckily the man wasn't planning on engaging anyone in any sort of violent activity today so that thought was able to be taken all the way to the back of his mind as he walked, before it was completely forgotten. After a bit of walking, he found himself in the bazaar district of Sunagakure no Sato and began to wander about before he noticed a red haired young man walking at a bit of a brisk pace.

'He seems to know where he's going, let's follow him.'

He did just that, actually. He began to follow the other male towards the inner bit of the bazaar district. They came upon something of an outdoor bar with chairs and the like on a raised platform, the sign read Bazaar Beer Garden or some nonsense like that. Sasijimi shrugged a bit and followed the male who, following brief introduction and instruction from the woman at the podium, received a chip and entered the bar. He walked forward ,looking at the woman dressed in the traditional kimono and smiled, speaking to her quietly while the other man was moving out of earshot.

"I'm his plus one, we're good friends, he and I"

"I assume he'll be covering your charge too?"

Sasijimi nodded eagerly and was greeted with the pleasant feeling of the double color sided chip in his hand as he stepped into the bar area. The man chuckled, flipping the chip up a few times as he approached the raised platform, climbing the stairs to them quickly and moving his form towards where he had spotted the red haired man moving to sit. He grinned to himself and eagerly shuffled over to the young man, sitting in the stool next to him while flipping his own respective chip to the position of green. His green hued eyes with gold flecks moved excitedly around the bar while he let his eyes slowly wander to the man he was sitting next to now. He leaned over, nudging the other man softly with his shoulder, clearing his throat a bit before he decided to speak up a bit, over the low buzzing of easy going consumers enjoying their drinks.

"Hey, what's going on man? I'm Sasijimi Mitarashi, and I saw you coming this way so I decided to come in and check this place out for a while, to take a break from training.  Seems like a great place yea?"

The man's slightly deep and soft spoken voice came out smooth and clear, each word enunciated to perfection. He was half nervous, as he hadn't drank in quite a while and usually never in a bar with others around, as well as half excited. He was hoping to have one last really good night of fun and merrymaking before having to travel out to the village hidden in the clouds to ready himself for the chuunin exams. He still hadn't received the order he had placed for his Gunbai, and that worried him a bit as he knew  most of his jutsu depended on having that weapon with him. He wouldn't do well in the exams if that weapon didn't hurry up and that worried him. So coming to a bar would definitely assist him in getting his mind off of it which is what he really needed.

Just as Akarui was getting comfortable in his seat for his afternoon alone, a wave of dissatisfaction rushed over him. The creaking sound of another sitting in the seat next to him was soon followed by an elbow to the shoulder. It was just his luck, really. Whenever Akarui wanted to speak to someone it seemed as though they did their best to avoid him, while when he wanted to be alone strangers seemed to seek him out. There was no fighting it, though. It would do him no good to be an asshole around a stranger, especially in a public place like this. No, he would have to endure and make the best of the situation. Putting a smile on his face, Akarui straightened his back the best he could and looked to the stranger sitting beside him, who soon introduced himself as Sasijimi Mitarashi. Usually Akarui was quite good at remembering the clans of Sunagakure No Sato, but this name slipped his mind entirely. He was not entirely sure whether he had even heard the name before this very moment, in fact. Then again, a sly smirk crossed his face as he thought, he probably would have remembered a family which produced shinobi who looked like this.

"Sasijimi? Nice to meet you. You can call me Akarui Kōga. Say, do you always follow interesting looking people wherever they go?" Akarui grinned widely as he crossed his arms loosely on the table, hands resting on the other side's forearm. Really, he did not mind being followed all that much. It was what shinobi did, after all. Perhaps if he had been a hooded burly man with a sailor tattoo and stubble covering his entire body indiscriminately he would have thought differently. But this? This was fine. What he was really aiming for was a little bit of teasing. It was not exactly normal to go following people around town, after all. A little bit of poking fun would be good entertainment and might even bring a little light to the situation.

A few moments later, a bald man with a beer belly and a walrus esque mustache arrived with a large platter. "Here you are, men. First round of yours, I believe. If you have any questions feel free to stop one of our waiters or waitresses and we'll see what we can do. Just remember: no refunds!" A hearty laugh emanated from the fat man as he placed two large clay beer mugs filled with pale ale before Akarui and Sasijimi. Akarui as well could not help but chuckle a little at the man's joke about refunds, Sasijimi's ploy to get Akarui to pay for his food unbeknownst to him. Beer was not all which was on the menu, however, and the walrus man placed a basket of parmesan crusted fried chicken wings between the two men as well. Eyes wide a the mountain of food before them, Akarui quickly flipped his chip down to red.

"No wonder this place costs so much. It might as well be a buffet. You up for all this alcohol and junk food,  Sasijimi?" Akarui grinned devilishly at Sasijimi, taking a chicken wing and ripping into it with his front teeth. The food was not anything special, but it had just the amount of fat and oil he was looking for after a morning of hard work. The beer on the other hand he was not so sure about. If they were pumping out this much alcohol all day, it was likely to be subpar in quality. Then again, if he was going to drink his money's worth he would probably need to drink several rounds. A smirk across his face, Akarui drank deeply from the clay mug, a little bit of the pale yellow liquid dribbling down his chin. Yes, he would need to have quite a bit of this before it started to be worthwhile to drink. Thankfully, he was not on duty tomorrow. A hangover was more than acceptable.

"We're gonna have to get though this stuff pretty quick if we want to sample everything. How about a race? First person to the bottom of their mug gets...." Akarui frowned, wiping his chin as he attempted to think up a viable solution. They had already paid, he presumed, so that would not do as a reward. No, there was not really anything to bet on now that he thought about it. "Well... they get drunk faster, a guess." He smirked softly as he reached for another chicken wing, stomach gurgling as the volume of alcohol made its way through his body.

779 + 701 = 1480

Sasijimi took in the name and lost himself in thought for a moment. He knew he'd heard the name Koga, somewhere. They were a pretty prominent clan in Sunagakure no sato if memory served right. But why was the name so significant? He shrugged it off for the moment, looking up to the other male as the question he was expecting came out. "Well, I don't normally just follow those who look semi interesting yanno. You piqued my interest because you seemed to know exactly where you were going and what you were looking for. Which is quite rare for the younger ninja around the village so you could imagine my surprise when I see you walking along with such an intent  and looking as though you knew exactly what you were looking for. You seemed very determined, as I do when I'm training. So hey, why not?" The bartender, or who Sasijimi assumed was the bartender, brought over a couple of clay beer mugs full of pale ale and set one in front of each of the men seated at the bar next to each other. The joke about refunds was even funnier to Saijimi as he wouldn't be paying for anything he had gotten. He felt a little guilty, putting his bill off on a stranger, but he'd done worse and would probably continue to do worse so he ignored the feeling.

Almost immediately after receiving the drinks, his new companion had taken a long swig from his and so this prompted Sasijimi to do the same. True, he hadn't drank in a while or been drunk for a while but he could still knock them back, he'd had a good amount of practice. He kept this in mind as he cleared half of his mug with a mighty thirst and smacked his lips. It was awful compared to a lot of the beers out there, but for something served en masse, it wasn't the worst. The bartender brought over a serving platter of chicken wings and Sasijimi saw his companion flip his coin like object over to the red side, so he did the same. He didn't want to be the only one getting drinks and more food brought to him as he'd probably either end up getting way too drunk or puking up food chunks. Come to think of it, the food that was served didn't look or smell all that appealing to the genin so he decided to pass on them for now. "Alcohol I can handle, that food..Not so much. It doesn't even look or smell appealing man. You have fun with it, though."

The man finished his beer rather quickly, flipping his red sided coin back over to the greed side, and waved for the fat man to come back over with another large stout. This was served in a glass beer mug and was a darker and richer variety of what Sasijimi could only assume was a type of Kumogakure lager. Trade routes must be doing well if this sort of thing was getting into the village. Sasijimi was readying himself to take a drink of his lager when the other man began to make a bet with him. A race eh? And the winner would be more drunk? Sounded interesting enough and Saijimi nodded in acceptance, taking a large gulp of his lager, before tilting the mug and his head back slowly but steadily, opening his throat and breathing through his nose as he drank. He was enjoying the taste of the hops as well as what he could only define as a rain water residue within the lager's many different flavors. He finished the lager quickly and put the glass mug down, waiting for his next one, and turning to his companion. "You're on! Just going to let you know that I'm never gonna lose to anyone! Whether it be drinking, or the upcoming chuunin exams! I'm going to be the best ninja out there!" Sasijimi looked towards the bartender's direction, waving for him to bring over at least three or four more samples at a time.

Akarui chuckled to himself as his new acquaintance distanced himself from the food. Perhaps fried meat was not for everyone, but Akarui himself enjoyed partaking in it every once in a while. He needed something to go with the alcohol, after all. "Suit yourself, but don't come crying to me when your bladder comes calling." Even as he taunted Sasijimi about the food and convinced himself in his head that eating it would be better for him in the long run, he put down a half-finished chicken wing and opted for finishing his beer. It really wasn't the best food after all. Really, he should have eaten before he decided to go out to drink. It was a little late for reservations though, as he had already challenged his drinking buddy to a race.

Grinning widely, the red head continued, moving on to the Kumo beer. There was something about the taste that was odd to him, but he could not put his finger on the specifics of what it was. This was not really his style. To be honest, Akarui preferred high class sake more than beer, and he usually was not the type to get drunk on a whim. Today, however, he felt he just needed to have some fun. Chuunin work was far more demanding than he originally thought it would be. Just as he was about halfway done with the new beer, frowning slightly at the taste, Akarui was surprised to note that Sasijimi was already calling for more drinks, railing on about how he would never lose a fight. It was something of an odd site to behold, but Akarui could not help but smirk at the other man's energy. It was not every day that he met someone with such a passion for victory. He presumed it would either serve Sasijimi well or very very poorly. There was little chance for a middle ground with that attitude.

"Did you say chuunin exams?" The red head peaked an eyebrow as Sasijimi spoke, finishing off the Kumo beer in his glass mug as the waiter brought over six more mugs: three for each of them. The other man's confidence was a bit grating to Akarui, but he was glad to hear at least someone from Sunagakure No Sato was competing in the exams. It was a shame they were taking place so far away in Kumo, but perhaps he would need to plan a trip to watch his fellow village nin. "You sure seem to be confident in your abilities. What's your secret? Surely you have some hidden strategy or powerful family kekei genkai." Akarui smirked, nudging Sasijimi with his elbow much in the same way Sasijimi has nudged him when he first sat down. As much as he currently doubted Sasijimi's abilities, it would be foolish of Akarui to entirely count him out now. He did not know the Mitarashi clan name, after all, so anything was possible. Perhaps they had some advanced element, or perhaps they weapon experts. For all he knew, Sasijimi might even have one of those powerful eyes whispered about by librarians and theorized upon in books.

Akarui yawned, stretching his arms up as though reaching for the sky as he got comfortable. Just as he began to smirk as his muscles began to stretch and relax, the warm feeling of the sun on his body, Akarui let out a slight belch. Bringing a hand to his mouth he let out a slightly embarrassed chuckle, doing his best to forget about it and reaching for the mug he was on and continuing his drinking. It would do him no good to delay on a moment like this.  He presumed there would be quite a bit of belching going on with so much alcohol yet to be drunk. Akarui smirked as he looked at the mugs piling up. Three were empty now, but he still had two left full on the table. It would take quite a while just from him to get through these, and he assumed the bartender was going to continue bringing more and more. There was no escaping it now: Akarui was going to feel awful in the morning. Or, when he woke up next, at least. There was no way he was staying here until midnight. It was still the afternoon after all. No, he would probably crash for a few hours and have to spend the night awake with a headache.

752 + 1480 = 2232

"Aye, I did say that!" The genin heartily drank of his third mug of beer, opening his throat more as he breathed through his nostrils to allow better consumption of the beverage. Once he had finished that beer he took a moment to let out a loud belch, patting his stomach after. He laughed and grabbed onto the other one, tipping it back, stopping when the male said something about his level of confidence as well as asking about a special kekkei genkai."I have to be confident, don't I? If I am not sure of myself winning or if I doubt whether or not I'll be able to do what I say I'll do, I'll fail no matter what. Doubting myself has never gotten me anywhere and if continuing to do so would help me get stronger, I'd do it. But it won't happen. Realistic or not, I have goals and I intend to reach them! As for the kekkei genkai part..No. I don't have one as far as I remember. When my parents were still alive we lived amongst a tribe of nomads. Each one of them was a Mitarashi but no two people specialized in the same jutsu or weaponry. Heck, none of us even shared a chakra nature. As far as I can tell, we're all pretty normal folk. What I have going for me is my quick mastery of the Gunbai, and how I use it. It's pretty unique, even to our village. I haven't met anyone else who uses a giant fan in battle and I've only read stories of those who had used them back when Kazekage Gaara was still around. You know, how history says his sister wielded a giant fan?"

Once again, his attention turned to the beer he had in his hand and he looked into his reflection within the goldenrod colored liquid. The hops smell was getting to his nose now and he began to feel a bit fuzzy and his cognitive abilities were sure to suffer. He had to shake his head a bit and focus though. He didn't want to back down from the challenge or even lose it to the other man but he would have to wake up early that next morning: he was heading out on his way to the village hidden in the clouds so he could ready for the chuunin exams. He sighed to himself and then continued to drink his other beer, downing the glorious liquid before slamming the mug down and belching rather loudly once again. This got a few claps and laughs and congratulatory "hey"s from the other members of the bar around them. It was alright, when you were drinking there wasn't much time to be polite, especially when you were in a contest to down more beers than your opponent. With a contented sigh, he smiled and reached for his last beer, his head definitely feeling a bit cloudy at this point, as he hadn't actually gotten to drink in a while and never forced himself to drink so quickly. He would have to make better decisions in the future, but for now, this beer was going the way of its predecessors. He nodded to the other man and quickly tipped the beer back, taking it in too fast to fully enjoy it. This one was one of his least favorites by far, though. He had tasted its like before when his tribe had made trade routes through Iwagakure. It was the hidden rock's stout, which tasted like they had actually put doton into it instead of just on the label. He set down the now empty mug and sighed, feeling quite tipsy, but over all still in control of his own body and mind.

He turned to his companion and chuckled. "I'd love to sit here and drink with you all night, Akarui, I truly would but I can't completely lose all control of myself. I'm heading out for Kumogakure no sato tomorrow. Even though I'm obviously winning this contest I won't be able to stay and drink too much longer. I suppose I can slam a few more back though and show you how drinking is supposed to be done!" He hiccuped and chuckled, punching his new companion softly in the arm, turning back to the bar as the bartender brought back a few more mugs for him and two for his companion. He chuckled and patted Sasijimi on the shoulder, going back to tend to the other customers in the bar area. "And what amazing beers we have here to end with! We have a great stout from the land of iron which has sweetened ginger in the mix, some nice chilled ale from a valley in the land of snow, and the village hidden in the rain always has this great dunkel in stock! There are so many good choices for alcoholic consumption here, so believe me when I tell you it'll be hard for me to leave even though I know I truly need to. Ugh" He sighed a bit and reached first for the stout, raising the mug up to his lips and tilting it back to begin ingesting the slightly sweetened beer, his stomach beginning to feel a bit too full for his tastes. Upon finishing the beer, he instantly grabbed for another, the dunkel this time, and proceeded to go ahead chugging that one as well. He was doing quite well, at least he thought so, and was going to finish these beers then head home for some much needed rest. The dunkel was a glorious refreshed to his taste buds with its dark but light texture and flavor, it almost danced down his gullet and into his stomach. Or it could be that he was definitely feeling the five or six mugs of beers now, each one being a different type and having a differing alcoholic content by volume. Nonetheless, he reached for his ale and held it up as a cheers to the companion sitting next to him and tipped it back.

There was a slight time of which he could be heard swallowing the beer quickly and loudly, with a gulp and gulp and another until the large glass mug containing the ale was finally emptied completely of all its contents. He slammed the mug down, with a loud smack of his lips and said, "AHhhhhhh. Well thanks for the drinks, man but I'm gonna head home to get ready for the exams. You should come watch me take down all the others genins." At this point he was slurring a bit but could still walk, if only by stumbling everywhere. He made his way, sauntering down the ramp after having grabbed his coin with the colors on each side, dropping it off at the podium lady on his way out. He made his way down the streets of sunagakure, humming to himself as he went home.

-Exit-

Training Speed and Perception D > D-3:

Akarui chuckled to himself as Sasijimi rambled about his skill and history. Sometimes he wished he had the kind of confidence this other man had, but hearing what it sounded like gave Akarui more amusement than envy. Then again, he might have to eat his own thoughts if Sasijimi did well in the exams. He himself would never be able test whether his worldview was best for the chuunin exams; he had opted to submit a quiet application rather than go through the exams. Hell, the anxiety of the situation probably would have done him more damage than any of the other competitors. With a sigh he shook his head, chuckling and moving on to the next mug of beer. There was something about the situation which made each sip more and more enticing. In his current state, however, Akarui simply could not put his finger on it. Surely the bartender was not bringing them better and better beer as things went on.

"Kazekage Gaara's sister? Do you really need to go to such obscure ends to legitimize yourself?" Akarui giggled more easily now, bending over slightly as he turned to Sasijimi with a slightly drunken grin. "No, no, I'm being too harsh. I'm sure you'll do well at the exams! You had better, in fact! There'll be no living this down if you do poorly!" His stupid grin getting wider and wider as he went on, Akarui took another deep sip from the mug in his hand. He really was hoping Sasijimi would do well at the exams. Sunagakure No Sato really needed the boost in prestige and confidence in its shinobi. He himself needed that boost in confidence brought on by being surrounded by confident peers. If Sasijimi could provide that, even with all this talk which Akarui found to be quite vulgar and arrogant, he could not complain. It was necessary, no matter the cost, that Sunagakure stand tall and proud once more.

Once more Akarui drank deeply from his mug, closing his eyes and enjoying the feeling of the liquid running down his throat. Of course, the moment had to be ruined when Sasijimi punched him in the arm lightly, and Akarui spilled his alcohol all over his lap. While at other times he might get intensely angry at this situation, now Akarui just laughed with Sasijimi, burping a second time. "You know what? You're not so bad, Sasijimi. When I first say you, I thought to myself 'Wow, this guy looks like an asshole' but you know what? You're only sort of an asshole.  I can respect that." Akarui hiccuped once again, a stupid smile on his face as he finished off a mug. With a satisfied sigh he licked his lips, looking back to Sasijimi with a smirk. "You know what? Maybe I will go to Kumo. We'll have to drink there too!" The red head giggled to himself as he reached for his final mug, taking a sloppy swig which spilled down his cheeks and neck.

Akarui barely noticed as Sasijimi left, and he was left mumbling to himself about what a great time he was having. He slowly finished off his drink just as the sun began going down. After an exaggerated yawn, Akarui rubbed his shoulder and began to walk out of the establishment, but not before a conversation with the hostess. "Pay? I thought I had already payed!" The red head looked with concerned eyes to the old woman at the podium, who looked back at Akarui in a grandmotherly fashion. With a sigh, Akarui continued, averting his gaze and scratching the back of his head as he felt a little bad for talking back. "Oh, you're probably right. Never trust a drunk's memory, right? Here you are, ma'am. 100 ryo." With a slight smirk he payed the woman for Sasijimi's drinks and stumbled back home.


658 + 2232 = 2890

Strength C -> C-1 (575/575) Complete!
Speed C -> C-1 (575/575) Complete!
Endurance C -> C-1 (575/575) Complete!
Perception C -> C-1 (575/575) Complete!
Reaction Time C -> C-1 (575/575) Complete!

2875 words total
15 words for the trash