Fukai had just finished a hard days training and had started walking home. The day had gone well for him and he was feeling quite strong, although not quite at his peak. The whole exam period had thrown him off somewhat in terms of keeping in ship shape. As it was a time that required him to not be fatigued, he wasn't able to train with his usual intensity. He had lost his edge a little but that didn't mean he wasn't strong. He should probably start coming up with new jutsus and movements while he trained. It used to come naturally to him previously but it looked like he was going to have to force himself back into the swing of things. His body felt supple and his muscles had the soft whine that came with pushing them a reasonable amount. Fukai was not a particularly smart man but he had a very deep understanding of his particular field. He set himself apart from the normal shinobi progression and this had enabled him to increase in strength in leaps and bounds compared to others. This also had it's own disadvantages too, this meant he had more or less been on his own for the last eight years with no reason to interact with others. He had never had a ninja sensei since joining the village nor had he had any comrades or squadmates. But then that changed almost a year ago.

Fukai wanted to branch out and improve his repertoire of skills. His experiences in battling the best genin in the land gave him good insight into his strengths and weaknesses. He had to admit that he was a bit stubborn when it came to learning new things, a little hesitant to deviate away from what he knows. But after his trip to kumo he realised that this sort of discomfort was not always a bad thing and could mean an improvement in the long run. His main flaws that he could see were that of being almost completely short ranged in aggression, having to move himself to the opponent, the other was of lethality in his attacks. He had always fought around his opponent's movements and used their attacks against themselves. This made staff techniques ideal. He had held on to his bojutsu for his whole life and it had worked out for him most of the time. But he could see the value of something with more of a biting edge to it.

As night came, he started to move off in the direction of the residential area. He had plans tonight, the type that may have a little more of a risk factor than usual.

Yesterday, he had been promoted to chuunin and had quickly made use of his rank to delve into the secret files that he was now privy to. He had a goal of gathering information but the problem was that he lacked both resourcefulness and the darstadly intellect needed to hatch plans. One step at a time, he went into the file room and looked around, pulling out papers and then putting them back. Mission reports, descriptions of criminals, information regarding the infinity gang, it was all pretty tame stuff.

Then he chanced upon a file cabinet that was a little rusty. It was hiding at the back of the room behind rows books and forgotten letters. He drew the drawer open and looked inside. There was one file at the very back of the drawer that sunk deep into the draw and looked out of place. The rest of the files were miscellaneous messages from the outskirt towns in the Land of Stone. Fukai took the file out and examined it. The paper was worn and a little old, looking through the pages, Fukai spotted one that had the photo of a small, green haired, familiar girl on it. He guessed that somehow this information had been lost due to book keeping and had wound up here. The report was made years ago and read something about the border guards chancing upon the small girl while they were on patrol. The girl was fleeing from a group who were engaged in combat by the border guards immediately. According to what was written here, little Jet then picked up a blade and saved the life of one of the guards. Fukai continued to read, this was the sort of thing he was more interested in...

He had pushed what he had learned about the enigmatic girl to the back of his mind earlier today but tonight he felt ready to go and find her. She would probably be expecting him soon if she had heard that they were back. After their exchange over in the cloud village, the young man was curious as to what he could gain from another meeting. He walked though the streets towards the street address that had been listed for the girl in the report in hopes that he would find her. The information was old so there was a high possibility that she had moved from there but he may as well try. Failing that, finding some other clues may be possible.

[871]

A young fellow came by and whispered in Jet's ear before being dismissed. Her grin grew wider at the new bit of information. She already knew that he was promoted and had been in Iwa for some time. That much was common knowledge since folk had been out congratulating him on his promotion and some bitter he hadn't won. But what she hadn't expected was to find that little tid bit about her. Jet was no fool, she expected for the young phantom eye to start digging around where he shouldn't. Not that it was a cause for alarm. The information about her was common knowledge, at least most it of since the ANBU and kage would have to keep some of it private for security reason since one of their own had died on her watch. Still she was not concerned. In fact she was quiet interested with the information he had found. How he would use it? After their altercation in Kumo, their relationship was on the rocks for sure. Jet heard a groan from the prisoner, who had grown weary after spending so much time in the Torture and Interrogation department. She had been helping around and offered to take on his case, something that set everyone on edge. Everyone knew Jet was unhinged, at least that was an understatement.

No matter she knew what she was doing, nobody could question her about that. It was sort of funny, how no one question her about it. How she was so skilled for someone of her background. How she knew things she shouldn't. Apparently her past was not important enough to be investigated. For now it would continue to remain a mystery, unless her companion tries to shed some light on it. Try only to fail. Hehe oh she would have fun. So with this information she figured it would be best to appear now. After she has gotten what she wanted from this gentleman of course. Bending now to his eye level Jet smiled warmly and held the man by his chin. "Now then dear, feel like warming up to us yet? We promise it won't take too long" Her hand glided up the man's cheek and caressed it softly, almost lovingly "This doesn't have to continue, you know that right. Just give it up now and this can all be over" The man only responded by trying to spit on her face. We say try because Jet anticapted this and slid her hand down to his throat jabbing it painfully making him gag and cough harshly. Seems like someone needed a lesson in manners. No matter she liked to have fun. For the next few hours Jet spent getting information out of him, she already have after an hour and half but to make sure she gotten it all she continued for another hour. By the time she had gotten everything she needed he was on the verge of death and her clothes were soaked in blood. Not wanting to cause a panic should she go outside, she took some offered clothes and a shower as it was pretty normal to get messy in this department. With a quick shower and a fresh pair of clothes Jet headed outside in search of Fukai, already having an idea of where he was. It took only twenty or so minutes to find him, by the time he would notice her she would smirk at him and walk into an alleyway into an underground bar. Come on Fukai, we are waiting for you hehe...

603~

He strolled down the residential lane to seek out the green haired girl. It had been a while since he had walked these streets, it felt a little strange to be here again. Everything was the same and yet, it wasn't. The small houses that were dug out of boulders stood next to each other with unnatural positioning, the work of the early shinobi terraforming the mountain into a base and a home. They stood as sturdy as ever. The late morning sun lit the dark red and brown hues in the rock, the same colour that could be found in the landscape all around this area. He passed underneath an overpassing path that stood as a sort of highway for pedestrians. There were usually numerous people walking above on their way into the village center or to the marketplace. Underneath the overpass was a tunnel for the street to continue on unperturbed. As the street went down  into the tunnel, the light was stripped from the road. The usual suspect characters were gathered around here. The same rodent like people that seemed to disagree with illumination of all sorts. A seedy congregation for all those that did not fit into society.

It was all thanks to the land that was made due to new residences being needed for the ever expanding population. Highways were built to naviagte to these new areas and soon the new areas turned into a rather desirable place to live. People with means flocked to them and traded in their own homes. In a short period of time, the old areas such as these turned into poor areas. The rich were able to bypass the slums below by using the highways to avoid contact. The situation soon digressed into the state of high and low: in both altitude and socio economic status. Fukai had been there to witness it all but had been quite detached from the cultural evolution for it seemed like in the past he had simply existed, instead of living. Without the support from his family and minor negligence by the state, Fukai had often found himself in places such as these and he was more comfortable amongst the dust that had been swept under the rug. In fact, looking at these groups of people that gathered beneath the overpass, he recongised a few faces. One man returned his eye contact and nodded. His life was now rather different than theirs, having been through the chuunin exams and been promoted, he felt more like an outsider here than he had ever been before.

He changed his pathing and walked over to the man. The thee others that were standing around him twitched up at his presence and eyeballed him. Fukai could see the fingers of one of the men were curled around the back of the wrist, probably concealing a knife. Fukai exchanged low key greetings with the familiar face and asked for direction so that he may find a certain girl. The mention of her name narrowed his eyes but he mentioned a tidbit of information regardless. The purple eyed shinobi thanked him and went on his way. He was only walking for another few minutes before he spotted Jet in the distance. She gave him a smug smile before walking down the steps to an underground room. She obviously wanted him to follow her, she was deciding the scene. If he followed her, what would be waiting for him? Would he be jumped by some goons? Despite the danger, he was still walking towards the stairs. He would descend them and enter through the door.

[606] /1477
~exit~

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