Sitting on top a tree hidden by a misty grove on the early morning here in the training grounds, Jet swung her leg while keeping a wandering gaze upon the area. The sunshine peeked through the grey clouds as if teasing the natives, and make the earth rumble in anticipation before the ever elusive sun ran with a fury in its step and hid behind the sheets once again. Her eyes glowed ominously in the shade of the tree as if the ghosts of the fallen still roamed this earth, two trinkets flying through the air with a piercing gaze as cold as a frosty winter night. Recently she heard news that her comrade, Karumo, had become Headmaster of Diamond Heights and had a legion of loyal pupils at his beck and call. While Jet was not normally jealous of others, there was still a pang in her heart. She was his senior although he held his rank longer but still she had not a pupil to her name, no one to call her sensei, no one to look upon her for guidance and it made her feel incompetent. Akira himself had called for her and told her he wanted her to take up students of her own. She was taken aback really, no one had trusted her with students after several fiasco with academy students much less herself. It seemed that she had impressed her superior in some sort of way and it made her feel accomplished. For the first time in a long while, years in fact, she wanted to impress someone. Although the little voice, the more cynical ones in her head, wanted to use it to rise through the ranks, gain their trust and stab them in the back later but let's ignore those for now. Right now we are focusing on the here and now and honestly? There wasn't much. Not long after her promotion she was sent off to guard Akira as her journeyed to Kiri for aid in the Kumo v. Kiri conflict though not much has happened aside various spies trying to penetrate the borders and the pirate gangs rising up but they cut them down without much effort. Her side mission unfortunately wasn't going so well so now she needed every little thing that can make her look good again. And that was why she was here at that training grounds, like a panther stalking its prey she was watching and waiting for some young shinobi, iwa or kiri, to train in the art of war. It would be a mutually beneficial relationship for both parties. And it seemed she observed there was someone here. Without a word her steps were like ghosts as it fell to the ground and glided across the ground before stepping behind the unaware lad. The mist departed and gave way to her person before she finally spoke "A bit too carefree are we?"

492~

The young boy kept on thinking. He had been squatting this place for what seemed to him like way too much time, and he was not quite used to being left all alone in a place where so many had fun training with their respective sensei. He saw kids that were still in the academy training with jounin quite seriously not so far from him (actually it was still at least 200 meters from, but whatever). He saw other that were maybe his age, training with experienced tokubetsu that seemed like their parents, or maybe they just had a really close relationship. Anyways, it was not his job to spy on people, that was simply not the reason why he came here. He came here in the quest of finding a sensei, or at least someone better than him to teach him some jutsu, and eventually make contact to get him or her to teach him for the rest of the week. But even if it was just for one day, that would still be perfect for him.

And there he was, laying his back against the large, tall tree that was dominating the horizon, his eyes scanning the area in front of him yet not really paying attention to the movement that was behind him. He did not notice the women coming in closer to him, addressing him right by surprise as he walked and stood a few steps away from the Hatake's back. The young boy turned his face and shifted his look on the other side of the training grounds, facing the woman who wore a piece of clothing that identified her as a shinobi from Iwagakure. Did she mean any harm? Based on the way she spoke to him, the tone she used to address Ryu, she seemed like just as much of a carefree person in the eyes of the Kirigakure genin. He stared at her and examined her from head to toes with only one quick glance. She wasn't too tall but definitely not too short, had striking blue utopic eyes and a discrete smile could be seen on her face. She was kind of cute, but she was probably a jounin or someone near that rank based on the attire she was wearing. He smiled back, and put his hands behind his neck with little embarrassment.

"Well, that's quite an understatement, though you are quite right in a way. But my question is, what is an Iwagakure shinobi doing in the Village Hidden in the Mist at a time like this?

Surely she must have a reason, he thought. Not a lot of people came at Kirigakure for tourism or stuff like that as it just was not the way stuff worked here. The village had became a dangerous place ever since the Seven Bells stroke the village, and no one ever was the same ever since that day. People saw Ryu's village as a hostile place, even shinobi. That was pretty much why he was impatient, and couldn't wait for her answer. And hey, maybe she could teach him a few tricks, he who needed so desperately a sensei or at least someone to train him a bit.

WC: 536 (996)

No sensory skills or notable bloodline limits. Genin by how carefree he was even in his own village, probably hasn't been in the business to long, no where as long as she. This were the second kiri shinobi she had met in her time in kumo. Rei being the first of them aside from her targeted audience .It was not a pleasant meeting despite all concerns but there was no continued hostility after they parted way. This lad on the other hand appeared to be different. He acted too much his age, as if from civilian background, the only difference was he wanted to train if his presence at these training grounds were anything to go by. But did not have the right resolve as he just stood around here, sharpening his blade and did not focus on active training as if he were waiting for a comrade or sensei to appear to begin his lesson. Only academy graduates would think like that. Older folk understood that there was no time to waste and would train even without a sensei till her hands bleed and stung themselves raw. But she would not fault him for it. It were clear his circumstances differed from her own and did not have the same upbringing as she. So she was not going to tease him too much. Boredom was a burden that plagued her in this village. Mainting her spy network and keeping it out of wandering eyes in the hidden mist or massacring vicious hordes the local pirate gangs was doing little to occupy her time. So after the lad raked his eyes over her body he smiled blushing in embarrassment and put his hand on the backside of his head, any sort of danger or potential to be as ruthless as her went out the window. It would seem he needed time to experience true pain before he became a blade worthy to forge. For now however she would keep him company. She allowed a small shirk to grace her features as she kept her hands behind her back "Did you not hear that Kiri and Iwa were allies? Or that my kage, the Tsuchikage himself, Akira were in town meeting the lovely little Frost Queen Ayakashi? It's your village isn't it? Better keep a closer tab on it hm."

884~

He was only a small genin that completed his first mission not so long ago, and it was not really a proper mission technically. How could he know about politics and stuff like that, as patriotic as he was? He had lived the last three years relatively far from the village and did not really know much about the village's situation, other than the obvious stuff and of who were the best shinobi of the country; in fact, he didn't even know who his daimyo was. Nevertheless, he was still as patriotic, if not more, than anyone he knew in the academy. Not knowing too much about politics was not so much of a big deal to him, that he could learn just by listening to gossip people were talking about around him. Anyways, this wasn't the first thing he was supposed to be worried about; his training had to come first, and this ninja that was standing before him seemed quite good. She had a superior look but she seemed a bit cute, and like a nice person. Nice enough to train him, at least, that was what he had hoped coming from a shinobi that was from an allied nation, as she claimed earlier. He looked at the kunoichi from toes to head, before giving her a quick stare in the eyes, to try to estimate her strength. Yeah, she looked strong enough, he thought; let's show her some more respect.

"I'm just a genin you know, I don't know that much about the Mizukage's meetings. But I know enough to be sure that you're not supposed to fight me like an enemy.

He said that casually, hoping this would chill the atmosphere a bit, and sighed. He walked by her, and after a couple of meters were separating them he smiled playfully. He didn't really have anything to lose by asking her, and she seemed like a good shinobi too, what else could he ask for? He turned his head back to face the girl, who was not as tall as he expected her to be. Still, a decent height though.

"Say, I was looking for a sensei for the day, do you think you could teach me a couple of tricks?"

He would be interested in sparring too, but he did not want to start the conversation with that. Come on, everyone knew that this would be a terrible start, especially since he did not know anything about the level of strength of knowledge of the shinobi he would be fighting. He just kept his playful smirk taped to his face, as he hoped the answer to his question would be positive, or at least half-positive. There was no such thing such as half-positive, but something in these waters.

However, the lady did not seem like she really cared all that much about his request and simply acted like he did not ask her anything. Oh well, that must have meant that the Hatake would have to wait a bit longer now, shall he not? Still, that Iwagakure woman seemed like a really skillful shinobi judged on the discretion she had when making her way down the tree all the way down to him, all that while still being extremely silent, at least silent enough for a ninja with great sensory skills like Ryu not to be able to hear her. He sighed, and looked around. She really did seem like the last option he had and he hated the fact that he would kind of have to give up on her. Like, finally he met someone who did seem like they had a bit of skill and after two hours of squatting the best he can get is a foreign shinobi that made one single remark, and then left right after the Kirigakure blade wielder requested for a short (really short, that is) training session. Man, Ryu was sure an unlucky fellow, you had to give him that much credit alright.

The Hatake sighed one more time, like he usually did, and stood up after having been sitting on this lonely rock for quite a long time, and made his way down towards the other end of the field, slowly walking there and stretching both his arms and legs at the same time. Why did this always have to happen to him, he was one of the hard workers of the village, one of the most determined future chuunin most people knew of and had so much ambition and energy that was wasted just because of the laziness of some people. Or was it shyness? Nevertheless, he clearly was not going to give up on the fact he needed a sensei right here and now, and walking around, stretching, maybe switching "squatting locations" (if that was even a word, that is) would help him find someone who had at least an illusion of interest in training him. He had a mission to deal with, another one yeah, and getting ready for that mission was the least he could do to honor the Mizukage's will. She was in a couple of struggles and even if Kirigakure was flourishing as one of the (if not the one) greatest and militarily speaking strongest nations, they were still a bit short on genin and his duty as a low-ranked ninja of the village was to take care of these more delicate and boring missions, that no one wanted to do. But someone had to do them though, right? He was the one who had to deal with all these crappy missions, and so that was mostly why he chose to come here and do something useful. He would most likely not learn anything major or useful on the ground of these missions (you do not learn how to make an ice blade out of chakra while trying to catch a cat or helping farmers collecting rice for example). Nevertheless, he was quite tired for now, and mostly sick of all this useless waiting, and so he left.

WC: 1008 (2004)
[Exit]

REA: D-0 > D-2 (75 Ryo, 725 words)
PER: D-0 > D-3 (150 Ryo, 1175 words)