Maigo left his room in the resort after going through his morning routine, wearing his normal clothing and keeping his ninja gear on hand he now had the existential struggle before him on what he should do; he could spend the day relaxing before the exams, but then comes the risk of getting soft just before it begins. On the other hand, he could spend the day training but that would tire him out before the exam, and possibly lower the quality of his performance. He continued his mental banter as he walked down the stairs, carpeted with wood railings, fairly nice as random people walked past him and he continued on. His feet landed hard against the steps with each step down but they were soft enough that nothing more than a patting sound against the floor. His head drooped as he watched his feet move across the ground. Exiting the stairwell and entering the lobby, he entered a well-lit area, at first he looked around to see if any of his fellow Kiri comrades had gotten up or gotten ready for today. As he looked around the area he found no one that he immediately recognized, deciding to go and enjoy breakfast instead. Once he sat down with his plate he noticed the time, 10:30 am, it was no wonder he saw no one, they were probably all long gone, and it also explains why there was only cold food at the breakfast bar.

He sat there for a moment sipping on his orange juice and eating his toast that he spread some butter and jelly on. People coming in and out, reading the newspaper and just hanging out around the area. Soon they would clear things out and clean up for the lunch crowd, and that would be all the motivation he needed to get up and leave. Headed for the door out of the lobby, crowds of people coming in and out, he tried to file in as best he could into the line of people exiting. He left the resort, a cool wind blew into his hair, after such a lackadaisical morning it was nice to be outside, for however long that may last. Now staring up at the mountain-side he sighed as he stood there to the side of the resort, his existential struggle of figuring out what to do today was now back in full swing. Today is the kinda day where I wish that something would happen, keep me busy. I wonder if I go back to bed if I'll be able to sleep for 20 hours straight? he said to himself chuckling at the last sentence as his eyes wandered over the edge of the mountain and he thought about what he was going to do.

[496 words]

Shinako had spent the morning in a tiresome but altogether necessary pursuit. With her wardrobe as it was, she would have a very difficult time protecting herself from the weapons and jutsu of the other shinobi in the chunin exams, as her clothing was nowhere close to the armor that some of her competitors would no doubt be wearing. So in order not to be wasteful of any chance at utility, Shinako had spent several hours that morning sewing hidden compartments into her kimonos, so that her weapons and tools could be hidden in them with ease. The difficult part was making padded pockets tight enough that the bells that she carried would not rattle. She had stuffed them with cotton to keep the tiny clappers still.

By the time she went for breakfast, dressed in one of the newly modified garments in red, all of the food was cold. She did not dine long, as it was very close to lunch time and the inn's staff was eager to get a jump on their largest meal of the day. Shinako bowed out politely, thanking the teenager who bussed her table. Making sure that she had her purse in her satchel, she made her way for the outside, planning to explore just a little bit more of Kumogakure today. The sun was out, and many guests were either returning from their morning activities or striking out for their noon-time distractions.

Shinako brushed her way delicately past the other people and out into the sunlight, immediately locating her shadow in the bright glare. However, in her distraction she bumped into the back of a young man looking up at the mountain. As she got a glimpse of his face she almost gasped. Dark hair and eyes, pale skin. A nearly washed-out pale complexion, and an easy, almost bored way of looking at the world that betrayed some secret behind those eyes. This stranger looked incredibly similar to a face that she had seen most recently in last night's dream. This young man, wearing the symbol of Kirigakure, looked almost exactly like Uchiha Tenzo.

"Oh...I'm so sorry, I did not see you there."

Shinako's own forehead protector was cinched around her waist. She had already heard of a few unauthorized scuffles between the genin that were to be participating in the exams. Some of them had already been disqualified for such behavior, so Shinako was as deferential to the other shinobi as she could be, bowing deeply with her apology. As she thought on all of the possible ways that the situation could go, Shinako realized that before she had so rudely interrupted the stranger he had been laughing softly to himself. She looked at him inquisitively, studying his features for whatever mystery might lie there, the sun shimmering in her own dark eyes.

"You must forgive me, but you look just like someone that I know."

After a moment Shinako realized that she was standing far too close to the stranger, so she took an awkward step backward, flashing a nervous smile and showing that her hands were empty.

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Maigo stood staring up at the mountain-top, a blank expression on his face as he underwent his existential struggle. He had stopped kind of in the way of traffic to do his staring and he paid the price by having someone bump into him, he turned with the momentum of the bump to see who it was. The jolt bringing him back into a conscience state, he saw a woman standing there, she was observing him as surprise took over her face if only for a moment. She quickly gathered her composure, or maybe she had already had it, "Oh...I'm so sorry, I did not see you there." she said as Maigo stopped turning and began to focus in on her. Oh, it's not worry, it's my fault I stopped here... he said as a slight pause filled the air between them, "You must forgive me, but you look just like someone that I know." she went on, it made Maigo chuckle at the idea that there might be someone else out there like him. As he quickly stepped back and flashed her hands he saw that she had a Konoha plate around her waist.

As Maigo saw it and eyed in on it, he looked back towards her, So, you're from Konoha then? Here for the chuunin exams also? he would poise trying to act smooth and as if he had the intuition to assume why other people were where they were. But this assumption was well founded, since the Chuunin exams were a big deal. With Maigo competing in them, it was really all that was weighing on his mind as of right now, his inexperience, the uncertainty of the competition as well as how skilled the other contestants might be. He kinda rubbed the back of his head as he waited for her response, he didn't really have much else to continue this conversation with. As he stood there his eyes kept wandering back up to the mountain top as he continued debating, maybe this girl could help him solve his dilemma, or maybe she would laugh at him and call him a moron.

Weighing through the options and scenarios in his mind while he tuned in and out of the woman's presence. It would only be a matter of time before she took offense and said something about it, or there was always the chance she walked away and never said another word to him.

[417 words, 913 words total]

The resemblance between Tenzo and this young man was almost uncanny. Shinako tried to remember the history of the Uchiha can, scanning everything she knew about them to see if she could recall any mention of them in Kirigakure. Nothing came to mind, but after the great massacre not much had been recorded about the Uchiha. All she really knew was that they had a mysterious gift that was coveted throughout the Shinobi world. However, she realized that she may have been getting ahead of herself. If this stranger was competing in the chunin exams there was a chance that she would learn about his abilities soon enough.

"Yes, I'm participating in the Chunin Exams this year as a representative of Konohagakure."

She would have extended her hand to shake, but that was not something that one did with shinobi from another land. There was always the risk of being injured in some gruesome way. Plots of poison and tracking beacons raced through Shinako's mind as she offered another, shorter bow, keeping her eyes on the stranger.

"My name is Shinako. It is an honor to meet a representative of the storied Hidden Mist Village."

Of course, the stories weren't always flattering. She remembered hearing stories of a time when the Hidden Mist would hold its own Chunin Exams. It had earned its nickname of The Bloody Mist, as often only one of the year's Genin crop would survive. So far as she knew, that reputation had not changed much over the years. In Konoha, Genin were encouraged to work together, not cannibalize each other for personal advancement. Then again, many of them would go on to sit behind desks and push pencils for the rest of their lives, leaving the heavy lifting to a select few. Shinako couldn't fathom life at either extreme. Both the thought of killing another and the thought of wasting away in a cubicle were repulsive to her.

The other shinobi looked to be a bit younger than her, and there was always the chance that he too would be thrown into the violent mixing bowl with a chance of death and disaster. Looking into his dark eyes, Shinako wondered what things they had seen. She had never been to the Hidden Mist Village, and had a hard time imagining where this young man had come from. What did he know? Where had he been? Where was he going? If, in some tragic way, he were to meet his end in the coming days, what would the world be deprived of without him?

At that moment, Shinako determined that it was best to be kind to him. Even if she could not imagine what it was, he was headed for a hard battle. She smiled softly, a gesture that might have betrayed her thoughts.

"Will you be competing in the trials?"

Shinako ceased to take the measure of the young man before her. In some way she had made her peace with him and his identity, just by looking and wondering. Somehow she knew that, despite the incredible similarities in appearance, this stranger could be nothing like Uchiha Tenzo, whose hands had killed. If they were to clash, she would not have to be afraid. He was thinking, feeling human being, despite what her conditioning as a Shinobi attempted to tell her.

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Maigo caught bits of what she said, mainly that she was participating and that her name was Shinako, it wasn't until she extended her arm out to shake his hand that he was snapped back to the conversation completely. He took her hand and shook it like he normally did, smiling while he did so, And I'm Maigo, Maigo Mugetsu. And it's nice to meet a leaf ninja as well. he smiled and kinda chuckled at how silly the professionalism between the two of them were. After releasing her hand his golden eyes began to look her over, she seemed very well dressed in the Kimino, and Maigo walked around without a shirt on half the time. But it was interesting to meet someone from the leaf village, exploring new places is something he had always wanted to do. He was kinda curious about the leaf village, he wondered how many others from her village were here for the exams, as well as what kind of people they were. As she looked him over as well she asked him, "Will you be competing in the trials?" to which Maigo looked at her.

He paused for a second before carrying on in his typical ranting fashion, Oh yeah! Of course! I wouldn't miss them for the world! But I've heard there's lots of strong shinobi in it, and that the tests are fairly tough, so I'm actually kinda nervous. But I can't be because my sensei is a Sannin and when you learn from someone like that then you can't exactly lose so easily. So I've got no choice but to win! he affirmed to himself, his tone was bright and cheery, his existential struggle of what to do had, for the moment, worn off as he began to piece together everything in his mind. But I guess that's a struggle everyone's go to go through, right? he looked towards her for affirmation to his cause. At this point he placed his hands atop his head and was kinda pacing in a circle while his jovial tone went on and around, he wondered if Shinako had any crazy stories to tell.

Well, if not, you should tell me about Konoha, I'd love to hear about it. I hope to one day travel around and see all the villages, especially the Leaf, it's actually one of the first places I plan on going to. he said to her before she began. He may have mislead her in his reasoning for going to see Konoha. He really had a minimal interest in the sites and the people, although a certain people he did have a great interest in. His ancestors in the Uchiha clan, he didn't know until a little under a week ago that he belonged to, and he also knows nothing of the clan itself outside what is in a generic history book. He wanted to meet someone to find out more about the clan, then he would have time for sight-seeing within the country. His attention turned back towards their conversation as she began to respond to his questions.

[535 words, 1448 words total]

Shinako studied Maigo as he moved around. Perhaps he didn't share so much of a resemblance to Uchiha Tenzo as she had initially thought. Watching him shoot forth words so jovially, Shinako began to place him in a mental category much removed from where she filed Tenzo. He was competing in the exams, and admitted that he was nervous. There was no guile to him as there was to Tenzo. In fact, she felt silly for assuming. She had expected, in some odd flight of fancy, that when Maigo introduced himself he would remove all doubt that he was a member of the Uchiha clan. She dismissed her initial impression as silly; a simple result of having her new teacher too much on her mind.

Shinako smiled as she watched the young man pace back and forth.

"Yes, I think everyone is dealing with some measure of anxiety, myself included."

Maigo's cascading cadence scarcely stopped for her answers, but she was alright with that. Shinako was just glad to see that there was so much life in him. It was refreshing to her how animated he was, as most other Shinobi rarely expressed their emotions. Furthermore, he seemed to be interested in Konohagakure, just as she was interested in Kiri, though probably for less sinister reasons. Of course, she was not privy to the discussions that they had about her home village in distant lands, but she couldn't imagine that they were as bloody and gruesome as the stories that she had heard about Kirigakure. She decided that the polite thing to do was not to discuss any of that. If someone had told her that their stories of her village were so detestable, she certainly would have been upset.

"I don't know that there's much to be said about Konohagakure."

Despite her best efforts, she was not able to put her shinobi training out of mind and simply engage Maigo as another person. For all of his charm, and for all of the comfort that she felt in realizing that he was just a normal young man, she still felt quite a bit of trepidation at the prospect of revealing any important information about Konoha. Thinking quickly on her feet, Shinako thought of a few conversational deflectors.

"I mean to say...you never really appreciate the place that you grow up do you? We've got plenty of monuments that I've never visited, and sights that I've never seen. I suppose you always think you'll go sometime later."

Shinako forced a laugh, hoping that her skill as a conversationalist was deft enough that Maigo wouldn't notice that she was holding back. Konoha was not as strict as she had heard other villages were, but she knew that the secrets of Hidden Villages could be given away simply in dietary disclosures. It wouldn't do to spill the beans on the eve of an event in which several secret techniques would be exposed anyway.

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As Maigo paced around and made a fool of himself in front of someone who may be an enemy of his, she smiled at him and spoke backwards, "Yes, I think everyone is dealing with some measure of anxiety, myself included." which gave him some mental relief, at least not everyone was gonna try to kill each other. But it may have well been a ruse, maybe she was even planning to attack him now and take him out before the exams, he could never be too certain. Especially since both She and Maigo knew that they were both competitors, and that means from the day they signed up until the day that the exams end. There's a chance they may run into each other in the exams and have to face off, but for the time being he'd rather not think that's so.

As he continued on and asked his question about Konoha, she answered him, beating around the bush, it was fairly obvious that she didn't want to really talk about it, "I don't know that there's much to be said about Konohagakure. . . I mean to say...you never really appreciate the place that you grow up do you? We've got plenty of monuments that I've never visited, and sights that I've never seen. I suppose you always think you'll go sometime later." he pondered that thought for a moment. He had decided the best way to end his restless legs would be to walk around some, he offered for her to join him, Before we continue this, would you like to join me in the city? There's nothing to do here and if I'm not going to climb up that mountain today, then I'd rather see some of the sights around here, care to join me? he would pose to her, attempting to be as sincere as possible. He wasn't trying to do anything tricky and he hoped that she would see that, at his core, Maigo would prefer hanging out and relaxing to confrontation. Something that his village and comrades give him a hard time in being, always asking him to kill or push to the brink of death, or be pushed to near-death. He was beginning to get sick of it after all, an even greater crisis for him to deal with and formulate in his mind than his daily schedule.

If Shinako joins him he would start heading down the path towards the shopping center near the hotel, he wasn't planning on doing any shopping but he hoped that there might be some paths to any sight or tourist trap that he could get lost in. Her conversation would be a bonus, Well, I may have lied to you, rather mislead you, I'm not really interested in Konoha for it's sites or it's people, although I'm sure they're great and something I am interested in. I have a greater purpose in going, in exploring it. But it's kinda hard to explain and I don't know if I can trust you with that kinda information, so...in order to find out if I can trust you, we'll just have to see how it goes. he would say with a huge smile on his face as he walked through the droves of people.

As he thought quickly after, Sorry to be so rude, first, there must be something you want to know? Like what's Kirigakure like, what I'm like, where you can send letters to me? That kinda thing? Anything at all? he would pose with a bit of sarcastic flare in his voice. Not trying to insult, but merely jesting to see if she would open up at all and join him in his care-free style of things. He really wanted to ask her about the Uchiha, but that kinda information in the wrong hands could be detrimental, and he needed to guarantee that she wasn't a pure stickler to the rules, even the slightest glimmer og her giving would be enough to pry inside her mind and open her, if only for a few minutes. He would finish his talking as they reached the end of the trail and began to enter the shopping area/small village near the mountain.

[734 words, 2182 words total]

[OOC: If Shin doesn't want to join Maigo or you have something else in mind then just start from the second paragraph, before he starts walking, Maigo is laid back enough that he'd do nearly anything~]

Shinako decided on the spot that she was up for an adventure. She shot a glance back at the hotel and got a clear mental image of her bed there. For a few long moments she wondered where her mind's eye was taking her, before she finally came to it. Her bed was just like every other under the inn's roof. Where she lay her head a night wasn't terribly far removed from where her teammates, her teacher, or the kindly inn-keeper slept. As a matter of fact, she shared the same space with people who, according to the harsh world of Shinobi law, were to be her mortal enemies. However, despite all of the danger that they represented, she was not able to bring herself to fear or despise them. She could conjure up no true intent to harm, and looking at Maigo, she doubted that he could either.

Of course, there was always the possibility that the young man was enacting an elaborate ruse to trick her, but she sincerely doubted that. There was so much deceit and paranoia surrounding the Chunin Exams that Shinako had grown truly tired of it. As Maigo began to walk, she nodded silently, breaking her gaze at the inn's dark windows, and began to match him stride for stride. With his particular method of speaking quickly and in torrents, like a river, Shinako figured that it was best to let him finish his thoughts before offering her own.

"I am very interested in Kirigakure."

Taking on a sort of dreamy expression, Shinako absentmindedly removed the spare hair-tie from her wrist and began stretching it into various shapes between her fingers.

"In Konoha we preserve our stories through oral tradition in many cases. We have a story about Sharingan no Kakashi, the Sixth Hokage, and his great duel with Kirigakure no Kijin, Zabuza Momochi."

She looked briefly for a sign of recognition in Maigo's eyes. She was sure that any Shinobi who had been through academy at least knew the names of their village's great heroes.

"Zabuza was a wicked and cruel man, and set upon Kakashi's team as a mercenary, using one of the most famous jutsu in the world; the one, in fact, that your village is named after: the famous Hidden Mist Technique."

Shinako waved her hands in front of her in a gesture simulating the formation of a thick mist.

"I've always wondered what that looks like. Of course, Konohagakure has the Will of Fire to embody the spirit of our nation, but..."

Shinako's voice trailed off as she searched for the right way to phrase her admiration.

"...to so thoroughly possess the soul of your village that you can wrap it around you like an armor, summoning it at will. I don't have words for how impressive that is. A shinobi like Zabuza Momochi took his village with him everywhere he went."

The end of the story, at least, was as uplifting as the point she was trying to make, if not to Maigo, at least to herself. Bit by bit she tried to dispell her view of her companion's home as some den of horrors.

"Of course, in the end, Zabuza Momochi redeemed himself, working arm in arm with Naruto and Kakashi to save the day."

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The pair began to walk the spiraling path down the mountain, people with happy faces and bland faces passing them by, like mindless drones. Not a single one of them would have anything distinguishing about them nor would their actions force Maigo to take notice of them, instead he focused heavily on Shinako's story, "I am very interested in Kirigakure. In Konoha we preserve our stories through oral tradition in many cases. We have a story about Sharingan no Kakashi, the Sixth Hokage, and his great duel with Kirigakure no Kijin, Zabuza Momochi. . . she went into detail about her image of Zabuza and how she viewed him, painting a mental picture of the man who was once the Demon of the hidden mist. A mere relic of the old days when Kirigakure was far more deadly than it is now and how it had earned it's title as the Blood mist village through it's ceremonies and practices. She continued on with an ideology that stunned Maigo for a moment while they were talking, A shinobi like Zabuza Momochi took his village with him everywhere he went." it resonated in Maigo's mind as he thought about it.

As they continued into town and entered a friendly looking area with lots of shops and people around, the background noise expanding around them and becoming cumbersome to Maigo's thought. Speaking rather blatantly Maigo would respond to her tale, When you say took his village with him, what did you mean by that? It sounds like an interesting ideology to go by, but Master Zabuza left the village before his death and became a rogue ninja. So, if he carries his village with him, then does the rest of the world see Kirigakure as a breeding ground of criminals and missing ninja? he would pause for a second and collect himself. I mean, Zabuza was a relic of the old Hidden mist, and one of the original seven swordsmen and a very powerful foe indeed. But since he left the village there is a lot of dispute over who killed him and when, I guess that may be the story handed down by the Leaf village then. he said while looking up towards the sky, trying to remember what he could of that tale himself. It wasn't a huge deal but out of the seven swordsmen both original and those come after, Zabuza and his executioner's blade were Maigo's favorite of the group. He had even hoped to one day find the blade and wield it for himself, wherever it may be.

As they continued walking, Maigo would without warning stop in front of a bench and sit down, really for no reason what so ever. Another question playing on his mind, You said your Hokage had a Sharingan, Kakashi was his name? waiting for her response he would sit there with his eyes and ears perked up. Have you ever seen one before or know someone with one? he would ask, not caring what sort of answer he got, realistically, he just wanted to learn more about his hidden heritage and find some answers on what may have happened and answers on who he and the people of his clan are. I've read about the Uchiha in textbooks and things but it's very vague and doesn't explain much, I've heard they're a very powerful group and historically the strongest come from there. a pause came into the air. Maigo coughed to clear up his voice and then asked, I bet it's a lot of pressure, being born into that lineage, to become great or even strong and carry on their legacy and what not. I've never met any or any like them. he let his voice trail off and looked down towards his feet as he thought about himself.

Thinking especially on his own eyes and the powers both unlocked and hidden within him. He wondered if there was anyone that could help learn more and explain some of the history and lineage of his clan. It may even help him figure out why he ended up in Kirigakure instead of Konohagakure and what happened to his family wherever they were. He hoped Shinako would be able to help him out but given the time of the exams and the scenario surrounding, he doubted that he would learn much of anything useful.

[744 words, 2926 words total]

Shinako stopped alongside Maigo as he sat down suddenly on the bench. She paused pensively as the two of them sat down, taking a position on the bench that left just enough room between them to converse comfortable, but trimmed the space enough that a stranger would not feel appropriate taking the seat between them. She did this mostly out of instict, as her mind was very far off, thinking on the nature of history.

As she had given her story about Sharingan no Kakashi, she had scarcely paused to consider the veracity of it. For quite a while now Shinako had been aware of the particularly ethnocentric mindset that came along with living in Konohagakure no sato. Her father had told her all of her life that the ways of thinking that existed outside of the village would not always be the same as theirs, but this was the first time that she had truly been confronted with that reality.

Shinako imagined herself traveling around the world, hearing and telling stories, never sure if they were true, but always telling them just the same. Perhaps the memories that her village had of Naruto and Kakashi were not exactly accurate, but had been colored by emotion and time. Perhaps they had been distorted. She doubted if they had become clearer, remembering the 'radio' game that had given her and her girlfriends to whispering in each other's ears. If the story could not make it, unchanged, down a row of four girls, she wondered how different it would be once it had made its way to Kirigakure.

The children of the Leaf, even those who did not endeavor to become shinobi, were often told Zabuza Momochi's story as one of redemption. It proved to all of them that, despite how far a person might go, there was always that last drop of hope if only they carried the spirit of their village with them. Perhaps even the old wisdoms that were passed down were different in the Hidden Mist village. She was brought back to present by the question about the Sharingan, and decided that questions of truth in history were best left for another time. Maybe she would get there herself someday.

Without truly realizing it, Shinako had begun a conversation about one of the Hidden Leaf's most powerful weapons. The Sharingan had a long and storied history, but again, the the stories might not have been the same everywhere. The young woman had never seen the eye technique herself, but had seen drawings and rough descriptions of it in books. Honestly, she doubted if she knew any more about it than Maigo did. However, that did not quite get to the full extent of his question.

"I know someone who weilds the Sharingan."

Shinako's voice stayed level as she looked at the ground before her feet. She felt the familiar cold at the thought of her Sensei rushing down her spine, but just as quickly as it had begun it passed.

"It's an incredibly powerful weapon, but the knowledge of it lies mostly hidden in the Leaf Village."

At Maigo's final statement about burden, Shinako thought of Tenzo-sensei's comments back in front of the hospital. Her immediate thoughts of the Sharingan had only confirmed his deepest regrets. In her thoughts and words, she had relegated a man, complete and whole, damaged though he may have been, to the status of a weapon.

"But that's not the entire story of it. The history of the Sharingan is the history of the Hidden Leaf. Passed down from the evil of Uchiha Madara to the ultimate redemption of Itachi and Sasuke."

She looked at Maigo and smiled, finding herself and her mind going almost in circles.

"That's another one of our stories of redemption."

The kunoichi was not sure where Maigo's curiosity about the Sharigan stemmed from, and she was even less sure that she should be talking about it. Mostly she had heard the technique described as a mirror, and she pictured it held up to the Shinobi world, showing it's reflection back in all of its ugliness, allowing it to destroy itself, perpetuating a cycle of destruction; that is, until two men, with the help of their friends, had the bravery to look away.

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The pair sat there, the brief moment of pause as they both gathered their thoughts. It was an interesting topic, and it was weirder for two people who were so different and from such different places to be talking about it. As she answered his questions and gave her story thinking of what to say, it was clear that hers, and Maigo's, words had to be chosen carefully, revealing too much of any one thing could be detrimental. Maybe not to them, but to someone they know, should they ever become enemies in any capacity. Maigo listened on and they continued their conversation, first looking down at his feet, then up towards the sky. Just pondering on the ideas of it, she left him with little to fill his appetite of curiosity but gave so much more creating the appetite itself. Trailing off with nothing more than, "That's another one of our stories of redemption." she said smiling at him. She was probably wondering where all of his questions stemmed from, initially his own personal want for answers but now, he was beyond searching for answers. At this point, he wasn't sure of the question anymore, intent on finding that first, then he could search for an answer. He tilted his head towards Shinako and looked at her out of the corner of his eye, he wanted so badly to flash a glimpse of his sharingan at her but knew that doing so might cause so much more trouble than necessary. Not that she could even help with his internal existential crisis to belong and to understand who he was and how he had gotten here.

He spoke quietly, to the point where she wouldn't hear him if she weren't paying close attention. So much....redemption. he said as he let his voice go cold and trail off into the air again. A sudden shift in tone and a total shift, turning his body towards her now and sliding his knee on the bench as well. He was now staring directly at her, All these stories of redemption and glory, they all revolve so much around that clan and those eyes. Maybe ended on the right side of history for you but to the Mist, killing Zabuza is a horrid offense to some. The existentiality of what we do is nearly unbearable when you think about it, how would any of those people who searched for more power to get stronger know that they would end up on the right or wrong side of history? the words he formed were choatic. He could barely pronunciate some of them as his mind was running faster than his mouth. I mean, how did they know that their path to power was right or wrong, do you think that they knew? Or were they just running for their own goals that happened to line up with the ideologies of the majority or on the side of the victor? How do we know that anything we're doing is any better or worse? Because in the end, it's all just a power-grab. For everyone, and anyone who denies it is a fool. he said, turning back out towards the crowd of people walking by on his last sentence. He gulped at his last sentence, it was a lot of inner dialogue to push out into words, and to some random person to another village, he knew that this was dangerous information to hold.

Sighing he leaned back and looked up at the sky again, I mean, there's got to be an endgame, right? All that power just to have? . . . I need an endgame, something real to strive for not just power. he said softly as he sat there. Maigo wasn't sure how Shinako was going to handle this information but it was a little too late at this point.

[654 words, 3580 words total]

The two held their conversation for some time, going on about more than personal topics and yet never divulging anything about themselves or their lives or what they do. It was as close to an intimate conversation as Maigo could have had with a foreigner and yet, at the end of it, neither of them really knew anything about each other. Though aside from that, he realized that he may have more in common than he imagined, and with someone from Konohagakure. Something that he never considered, and with the heavily xenophobic culture of Kirigakure, he had never really thought that he might connect so well with someone whom he was taught was so different. Sitting there, in town and on the bench surrounded by people he didn't know and may never know, he learned a lot about new people. Their kindness and their history, how they all had their own purposes and paths to follow, and that would manifest in his mind for quiet some time to come. Though how it would affect him, this self-realization, if it does at all, would also depend on how much further the world around him began to influence him.

If anything he could say that he learned people of any kind, are far closer to himself than he thought, regardless of their origin or where they are from, or what they do to survive. And that information could be very powerful, easily manipulated, for a blank slate like Maigo. As the day began to unwind, Maigo decided that he would take his leave, It's been fun Shinako but I'm going to head back to the hotel and unwind some. I hope to see you again at some point. he said smiling as he stood and took his leave of her. Waving as he took off, he turned his attention back towards the road after a second, taking a detour through the market.

Maigo grabbed his dinner, just some spiced chicked cooked to perfection, he grabbed his food and headed back to the hotel room he was staying at. There he began to unwind, abandoning his shoes, and his jacket, sitting shirtless in his room and eating his food before he would lie around and be as lazy as he could. His mind went from thinking about his conversation quickly back to the chuunin exams, and the dangers that would await him. And yet, he wasn't afraid of his future so much as he was excited, to see where he would end up, and the people he would meet along the way.

[434 words, 4014 words total]
[Exit Thread]

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