Purple eyes hovered over the sugar dipped flour cakes on the table while he munched on his wheat paste. It was the third morning after the first round of the second stage of the chuunin exams that were hosted in kumogakure this year. Fukai had once again emerged victorious and without a scratch but he was not pleased with himself in the slightest, in fact, he did not think much of his performance so far, it was just part of due course for the Iwagakure genin. Sitting opposite him was his elderly supervisor 'Old Man Kudaru'. He was a hardened ex shinobi and had been more than a little annoyed that he was tasked with baby sitting. His stern brow dominated his weakening body, arms crossed in front of him. He had brought the genin some pancakes as a half arsed congratulations. Fukai had noticed that he had started to soften up to Fukai a little more in recent days and he understood why. In the ninja business, results are highly valued above all else and a top four finish had managed to net him a minuscule taste of Kudaru's approval.

But the stubborn young man was not going to eat the cakes and instead kept chewing on the gritty paste. Fukai's eyes switched back to the old man and saw him shrug his head back in exasperation. Fine, don't eat. But I have to say, if you keep up this form, you will put our great village back at the top-. The younger male had heard these ravings too many times on this expedition and was getting quite sick of it. He interrrupted the man. Please shut up. The attempt at politeness with the use of the word please was nullified by his monotone. Kudaru, who was used to Fukai's rudeness and rejection of his speeches, continued to drone on. You have no idea the prosperity that can be brought by a victory at the exam final. People look to-. Fukai flicked his breakfast up into the face of the old man with deft hands and then body flickered out of the window, scarpering down the street. Kudaru moved quickly and managed to scoop the paste back up in the bowl in midair before it hit his face but lost sight of his rebellious charge. He sighed in defeat, pulling the flour cakes towards himself. It wasn't the first time that Fukai had skipped out from underneath his nose.

He strolled through the streets, heading out from the main resort and out to the back of the mountain. Fukai couldn't handle that sort of pressure from responsibility in these in between times and preferred to just take the challenges as they came. He had never shouldered this much responsibility before and his psyche did not seem to like the burden. His entourage did not help at all, the many people living in such close quarters gave claustrophobia to the young man who had been with too much space for so long. The large figure passed a couple of middle aged men, the men turned and exclaimed to him. Hey Fukai! Nice fight, you beat the shit outta that little girl. I will be betting on you next so don't fuck up! He turned to stare out of surprise but kept walking, his step only faltering a little. He had won the last round by defeating a small girl called Sakumi decisively and without mercy. It was something he did not feel guilt about, but others seemed to have hangups about his particular method. He kept walking, not sure where to go on this little mountain top.

His mind kept wandering back to the two men. They had been betting on and seemingly enjoying the chuunin exams like it was some sort of show. He had an issue with this. The ninja arts was something that was created and honed for a very serious reason and should not be made a spectacle in such a fashion. It was bad enough that they had a competition such as the exam but to take it and commercialise it in such a large scale way was nothing less than tacky. Although, Fukai would have to admit that he had been enjoying the resort in Mt Ikkyu so far. Ugh. It seemed quite silly, how did it even get like this? The Chuunin Exams were a long standing tradition in the shinobi world but Fukai was not the type of person to continue down a path just because that is what has always been done. Why was he here instead of working for Iwa, completing missions and the usual? He could not find an answer that would satisfy him.

A basketball bonked him on the head, giving him a rude awakening. He had managed to stumble upon a basketball court with a few young men playing about twenty metres away. The spherical escapee had taken a foothold on his head to jump up to a leafy net above. The young men turned to look at him expectantly. After the daze wore off, he realised that they wanted him to fetch their ball. He obliged, he may as well as he didn't have much else to do. Starting the supernatural walking practice, he scaled the tree a few metres until the ball was within reach, or so he thought. Stretching out to grab it, his control slipped and his jutsu faded. He began to fall at the same time as his flailing flicked his scarf up to entangle in a branch. He fell down to a foot off the earth, the scarf wrapped around his neck like a noose. He swung there spluttering for a bit, amazed at his own failure.

[963]

One step after the other, he had started to scale the tree. This particular genin was not so sharp at the constant control of chakra required to master the supernatural walking jutsu and found it hard to maintain something like this while he was doing other actions. His particular ninja arts and bukijutsu style was more about forcible chakra expulsion and exertion. It was indeed also hard for him to control chakra outside of a combat environment. Like his body recognised that he was not in danger or not requiring his jutsu. When he stretched out, his control faltered. His foot slipped from it's join with the tree and he dropped into his noose.

He struggled as the cloths stretched and tightened around his neck. His fingers clawed, trying to find some give and his toes waved around, trying to find the ground. Fukai heard laughter as his face reddened, half from blood restriction, half from embarrassment. A young man about the same age as himself approached. He looked like he was going to help him down from his predicament. Quickly scaling the tree, the stranger called down to him that he was letting him down. The cloth came free without ripping which was much to Fukai's gratitude, the the Iwa nin was ready and dropped down to the ground and absorbed the impact with his ankles. Rubbing his neck and re-adjusting his scarf, Fukai turned around to greet the kind stranger. He was of surprisingly close in appearance to himself, having white hair and purple eyes. He could tell he had a slight height advantage over him although it was hard to tell from the man's crouching position. He sat on the branch above and looked out at the game that was taking place. He made a joke about suicide but followed up with asking if he was ok. This young man, who was clearly a shinobi himself, seemed to have a kind nature. Yes, thank you. I was in quite a pickle there but thanks to you, it was only my pride that was damaged. He took a step forward, putting his foot in a little puddle of mud. He shifted his weight onto that foot and promptly slipped and fell face first into the puddle, getting an accidental facial. He was not having a good day.

He lay there for a few seconds, accepting his fate. Fukai had been defeated. He must have crossed under a black cat's ladder this morning without noticing. He slowly gathered himself and rose from the ground. He slapped his forehead with both hands and swept his face with one big flick. Ugghh he rumbled. My name is uh, Fukai Fantomusodo and the proud sole representative of Iwagakure in this year's chuunin exams. He felt obliged to try to increase his stature after it had just been guttered by his actions. A hopeless endeavor for sure. There was a howl of laughter from the boys on the court as they had stopped playing when they had noticed his unfortunate series of actions. They yelled over to the pair of new acquaintances. Yo! We need two more players to play full court, come 'ere! Fukai glanced at the young man. He was going to try to earn back some street cred, maybe make up for his embarrassment. The large man rose up to full height and puffed out his chest. He staunchly swaggered over to the court to meet the kids. They were a group of half a dozen males about a few years younger, the closest ones had a cheeky smile, the couple at the back chittered with giggles. He pivoted and sized up the hoop with an eagle's precision. A ball was tossed to him and he grabbed it with one hand and held it close to his chest. This was his vessel of awesomeness. He shall deliver the word of the ultimate being to all of the onlookers. Fukai took a deep breath in and steadied his doubt filled heart as a bit of sludge dripped off of his chin. The hoop was about five metres away and his height brought him even closer.

This was it, the shot that would determine his worth. Make or break time. Without any more delay, he fired it off. The orange ball hit the metal ring and rebounded straight into his face. The unexpected impact spun him round and sprawled him across the concrete. He lay there in a daze as the ball rolled towards the Seiryu...

[761] /1724

A series of unfortunate events? More like a reverse miracle. How such things happened to someone so coordinated was nothing short of amazing. It certainly impressed Fukai who just continued to lie on the floor of the court and accept his fate. The kids that surrounded them could not control the outburst of laughter that his goof generated. He lay outstretched on the ashfelt like a starfish. There was nothing left for him to do, he simply gave up. Today was not his lucky day. He had so confidently strode towards the court, sure to impress the onlookers with his wicked skillz but it just simply did not work out for him. The ball left his fingers with authority, gliding gracefully towards the hoop. And then everything went sour as it collided with the metal ring at that awkward angle where it rebounded so unexpectedly straight back into Fukai's face. The smack was disorienting, leaving him dazed after impact. His face was getting it's fair share of a pounding today, it was now a shade of red akin to a tomato. Embarrassment was a cause for most of the colour, although.

He lay there for a little while, gathering his wits. He could see Seiryu approach out of the corner of his eye, casually picking up the ball and flicking it back with a trademark finesse of a ninja. The thing that Fukai seemed to lack at this moment. Maybe basketball just isn’t your sport. Tell me about it. He doubted anything was his sport today. He took the stranger's words as a gentle suggestion that maybe he should just stop doing things. His vision cleared and he sighed in defeat as the laughter started to subside. I guess you're right. He rolled onto his hands and knees and started to crawl towards the other young man. He did not trust his balance a this moment and would not risk rising to a bipedal stance only to fall once more. No, the ground was safe. The ground was his friend. The asphalt surface was unforgiving but his hands were rough and worked. Thankfully he did not bash the back of his head when he fell or it could have been a serious accident. Blazing through the exams only to fall victim to his own clumsyness. He could read the headlines already. That was certainly one way to screw his village's reputation.

Finally making it over to the man who looked so much like him (although arguably uglier), he joined him on the sidelines and sat down on his bottom. Sitting next to the curious young man, he watched the boys resume play. He would be avoiding any sort of antics for the time being. He dusted his hands off to the side, not wishing to dirty his clothes. He then sighed one last time while checking his ear for any brain fluid. He just sat there and his mind slowly went calm. Watching the others fool around and have a good time was soothing in it's own way. His thoughts were slowly pulled back to something that had been on his mind due to recent events. Slowly, the genin spoke. Hey, can I ask you a question? If there was something going on that may effect you or your people but it isn't your business to know about it, what would you do? Would you let it be or take action? It was indeed a risky thing to ask an outsider on a village issue but he kept the question broad enough so that nothing would be told. He would not expand on his question because of this either. It was the vocalisation of his own internal thinking and he was already growing feelings of resolve. Hearing what another would say on the matter may confirm his own views.

[647] /2373

It was a strange line of questioning, for sure. He could not divulge on the specifics of the thing that weighed on his mind as it could prove detrimental to him. Fukai sensed something going on, he had a strong nose for things like this, even if he couldn't figure out what it was exactly. For the first time, he wished Karumo was here. So he could talk things over with him. The small social gatherings that they had often eased his soul and made him feel at peace. But he would be in Suna by now so the genin was attempting to seek the same sort of thing from this guy here. He realised that it may not help him as it was too vague but he appreciated his silver haired compadre for trying. What Seiryu said was of great interest and value to him, his words seemed to somehow mimicked his own thought processes. He was talking aloud about this to help his own mind sort it out but the fact that his word's mirrored his current tendencies was greatly comforting.

One of the boys received the ball back from one of his teammates. He took it and rushed forward, keeping his dribbles low. His eyes darted around, taking in all of his surroundings. What allies were opening opportunities for him and what opponents were closing them. His brain quickly decided on the best plan of action, taking into account the pressure and positioning of the players on the court. He swerved left and managed to drag the defender with him, opening up a hole so that he could get a sneaky bounce pass off to his friend. His friend went low to receive and then stepped back and leapt upwards. His hands flew in an arc, one providing the power and one to control the direction. The defender was slightly too far out of position and could only jump to block after the orange globe had already sailed over his fingertips. The projectile arced and flew through the metal ring. A yell of accomplishment and excitement came from the offending team, they then proceeded to run backwards together while doing a rather gratuitous victory dance. There was a rather satisfying side to watching people enjoying little moments in life, they were sometimes few and far between. There was always work to be done but for now, these kids could rest easy and be glad of the company. After all, who knew what was around the corner?

Fukai smiled up at the nin and then slowly and steadily got to his feet. He wobbled a little as he stood, his balance still not quite back to normal. Apparently he had now grown inhibitions on the basic movement that toddlers were capable of. He dusted little stones off of his behind and then spoke one last time. Thank you, Mr. He turned his head to the horizon that he had come from. Somewhere far out of sight was his home. Soon enough, he would be returning. He had already changed a fair deal but he wondered how exactly that would make his life change. It seems like I have some work to do. And with that, Fukai started off in the way he had come, leaving the other shinobi by the court side. His mind was a lot clearer now, he could now trust himself to take decisive action if it should be required. Now he just had to figure out his plan of action.

After travelling twenty metres, he sighed one last time. He was not used to this kind of thinking, deception and covert operation was second nature to him, he was more likely to be the one in the front, conspicuously bopping plebs in the face. But it seemed that there was a need for his skill set to change somewhat, he would do whatever was necessary.

Take action.

He was lost in thought as he stood in that fateful puddle. His foot hit mud and made him lose traction, thereby skidding into an anchored rock. The sudden stop launched him off his feet and made him do a small somersault to land flat on his arse once more.

[711] /3084
~exit~