Ah, the Small South Forest, a lovely little grove to relax and take a stroll in. Kashizudoto really enjoyed the peace and quiet there; as much as he liked talking to people, a little isolation every now and then was useful in order to self-reflect upon the state of his life and the world. The air was filled with the fresh, resinous scent coming from the pine trees, which really relaxed the mind and the breeze was subtle, very calming.

Even though this was just a walk, Kashizudoto was in his full ninja attire; he even had his Konoha hitae-ate on his forehead. He also had on his green jacket, showing a little bit of his white undershirt. He wore average shinobi pants with a pouch on the right side to hold one kunai knife and three shuriken. Not that he was expecting a battle, but a shinobi was supposed to always be prepared.

"So... Looks like I'll be a chuunin soon," thought Kashizudoto, looking forward to what he'll be doing the next few weeks, "My ninja skills have remarkedly improved; however, I'll need to take a few more C-rank missions to prove my worthiness for the rank. Then I can actually go on serious missions."

Suddenly, Kashizudoto heard a feminine giggle coming out from right above his head. As quickly as he heard it, he picked his head up to see a girl perched upside down on a tree branch; from her use of the Supernatural Walking Technique, she was definitely a ninja. Whether she was friend or foe was not yet known, so Kashizudoto grabbed the kunai in his pouch just to be safe...

WC: 282

The girl giggled again and then threw three senbon down heading straight for Kashizudoto. He quickly took out his kunai knife to deflect all of the senbon. Ok, so she was probably a foe... By the time Kashizudoto looked back up, the girl had disappeared from the tree and was now standing about 5 meters away from him, with a mischievous smile.

Now Kashizudoto could get a good look at who this girl was. She was... infatuating... Her brown hair was tied up into a medium-length ponytail with a red string knotted into bunny ears. Right below her bangs were cute brown eyes which complemented her look. Resting atop her ears were strands of hair that sat on her shoulders. On her neck was a long red scarf with two golden flower pins attached. Then there was her impressive rack, covered by a skimpy white brassiere with a red outline; it was a good thing Kashizudoto wasn't one of those people who got a bloody nose whenever seeing something really sexy. Her lean stomach was left completely unexposed, which - no doubt - gave her extra agility but also made her more vulnerable to attacks there; however, that could also be serving as a distractor for male shinobi such as himself. She was wearing white short shorts with a red outline, matching her top. It had a red pouch on the left, most likely holding E-rank weapons such as senbon, kunai, and shuriken (it seemed that she preferred senbon judging from their encounter so far). She wore long red gloves with metal arm plates on the side, meaning that she was most likely a Taijutsu specialist. Her upper thighs were left exposed like her stomach, but the rest of her legs were covered up in tight red leggings which led into open-toed white boots. Now Kashizudoto really hoped that she was a friend, but, judging from the attack, she probably wasn't; he had to stay on his guard.

"Who are you?" Kashizudoto inquired in a demanding tone.

WC: 622

"Me?" the girl said coyly, putting her right index finger on her mouth, "How about we have a little fun first?" Wait, what did she mean by a little 'fun'? Kashizudoto got the answer to that question soon, as the girl charged at him. As he noted earlier from her gear, she was most certainly a striking Taijutsu specialist, so he got his kunai ready to fend off her attacks.

She was really quick, much faster than he was for sure, and charged right at him. She threw a punch with her right arm, to which Kashizudoto responded by trying to stab her fist with his kunai; however, her left hand struck the kunai, allowing the punch to strike him in the face. He coughed up a little blood, suddenly realizing that her gloves were more than cosmetic: they allowed her to move weapon blades out of the way without making her hands bleed, although he was sure that the gloves would rupture if he ever directly stabbed at them - which is why she would have to push away the kunai from the side rather than at the tip when deflecting it.

She immediately went for another punch with her left hand, which Kashizudoto swiftly blocked with his own left hand as he attacked her stomach with his kunai. With her right arm's metal plate, however, she blocked the kunai attack directly, moved it out of the way, and went for a punch with her right hand, which Kashizudoto swiftly dodged with his reaction time and perceptive abilities. Dammit, this girl wasn't just a pretty face...

WC: 890

Kashizudoto proceeded to let go of the girl's left arm and jump back a safe 10 meters away. As soon as he began weaving his sequence of the hand signs Dragon → Rat → Horse → Tiger, the girl began dashing after him. Just as she was 3 meters away, he finished the series of hand seals. Suddenly, 10 branches on the ground were compressed into kunai knives and levitated in the air, until they were thrust at the girl all at the same time.

She dodged the first, second, and third easily, but the fourth scraped her left arm. The fifth missed, the sixth and seventh were doged, but the eight scraped her right knee, and the ninth and tenth knocked her off her balance completely. Meanwhile, Kashizudoto was preparing something else...

WC: 1021

Chakra: 140/150

Ninja Art: Tile Shuriken:

As the kunoichi completely lost her balance due to Kashizudoto's shuriken onslaught, he leaped in the air, formed a tiger seal, breathed deeply, and exhaled a great fireball with a five meter diameter heading for the girl at 20 m/s. The girl let out a squeal as she fell backwards and suffered minor second degree burns on the bottom of her legs. from the fireball.

"Sheesh," said the girl impishly, "You win. I'm a ninja of Konoha." Although she got battered by the fireball, she was still in a playful mood. But was she really a leaf shinobi or was she just pretending?

"Uh huh..." said Kashizudoto sarcastically (he still wasn't fully convinced), "Show me your headband."

"You don't believe me?" said the girl kittenishly before chuckling, "Here's my hitae-ate." She reached into the back pocket of her shorts. Was she getting a weapon? Kashizudoto decided to stay alert if that was the case. But she, in fact, pulled out a real Konoha headband. Still, that could have been stolen. Further prodding would be necessary to confirm her true allegiance.

"So," said Kashizudoto as he begun his interrogation, "What's your name?"

"Ashlee," said the girl, with a hint of flirtatiousness in her voice - as usual.

He cautiously held out his hand to help her get up, and she gladly received his help in going from lying down to sitting.

"Don't worry," said the girl a little bit more seriously, "I can treat them." And with that she began charging her hands with medicinal chakra, having them hover over her wounds to treat them. So not only was she good at Taijutsu, she had Medical Ninjutsu in store as well...

WC: 1309

Chakra: 135/150

Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu:

She hovered over the wounds another time with her hands and pressed firmly. When she lifted her hands and released the jutsu, all of the burns were gone. Medical Ninjutsu really was something indeed... But Kashizudoto still had to press on; he still wasn't sure whether this girl really was from Konoha. He helped her get up - much to the flirtatious girl's satisfaction - and then decided to question her as they began to stroll towards a gentle stream.

"So..." said Kashizudoto as they reached the water's edge, "You told me your name was Ashlee, right? What clan?"

Those two words were all it took to make her playful face drop into one of despair as she stared down at the stream. A tear rolled down her cheek, followed by more, flooding into the stream. She must have been... an orphan. That's why asking about her clan was such a sensitive topic. While Kashizudoto was well aware that a kunoichi's greatest weapon was deception (which could take the form of fake crying), he still couldn't help but feel bad for the girl. He took a look at the stream for a good half a minute - trying to think of what to do, until the river of tears suddenly stopped. He turned his head around, only to see that Ashlee had fled without him noticing. She must have been looking to have some alone time after being reminded about her past as an orphan, and maybe she didn't want anyone to see her so sad. After all, she seemed to be a very positive girl and seeing her down also brought his mood down as well. But he wouldn't just leave it there. The next day, he would return to the Small South Forest: to seek her out and perhaps give her some solace, or maybe even a person to vent to.

WC: 1627

Back to the forest.

After a good night's rest, Kashizudoto was up early in the morning to head back into the Small South Forest to find Ashlee again. The truth was, he was extremely curious about her (and a little enamored of her as well), which is why he really wanted to seek her out and talk to her again. This time, he would make sure that she wouldn't flee out of embarrassment again. He made his way, jumping from tree to tree, to seek out the girl until he stumbled upon the same gentle stream where they were yesterday.

She was sitting down on the stream bank - her legs submerged in the water. Upon closer inspection, she seemed to be staring blankly into the stream, as if reflecting a little bit while redoing her ponytail. Kashizudoto slowly approached the bank without making much noise. She probably noticed him, as she was a kunoichi after all, but she made no outward sign or acknowledgement of his presence.

"Hey," he said as he sat down right next to her on her left.

"Oh, hey you!" said Ashlee as she turned her face to him. She had a big grin on, but Kashizudoto could still see the sadness underneath the fake smile.

"So I forgot to tell you my name yesterday," he said, "I'm Kashizudoto Sarutobi."

"That's a long name," she teased. It was nice to see her a little more positive.

"Well, I still don't trust that you're from this village," lied Kashizudoto (by now, he fully trusted her, for better or worse), "Tell me how you were trained as a kunoichi." His real intention was to find out more about people that were close to her in order to reassure her that they were her family and all that emotional stuff. Although, he couldn't really pretend to be an expert on the subject. He absolutely despised his father and mother, Ruki and Kaari Sarutobi, for their incompetence and vile nature, and, therefore, he hated the concept of the family unit. But, still, he realized that most people had some sort of attachment to the concept of family and understood that this wasn't a trivial matter.

"Well," said Ashlee - the grin off her face gone - as she again started staring at the water, "I was found right in this river by Boulder Lee. Lee wasn't an ordinary shinobi. He, like the other members of his clan, has no skill in Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, or really anything that isn't Taijutsu. So he perfected his art to become a Taijutsu master. When he found me, he took me in, named me, and trained me as his own. As you know, I also had skill in Medical Ninjutsu, so I trained under the medical ninja in Konoha's hospital. And... then they sorta gave me a headband a few weeks ago. So now I'm a ninja."

"So you do have a family," said Kashizudoto - hoping to make things better rather than worse, "Boulder Lee and his clan. They're your family."

Upon hearing that, she gasped, like it was a new revelation. Slowly, she rose her head and a genuine smile appeared. Finally, she turned her head and responded, "I guess you're right."

"Hey, can you take out your hitae-ate again?" asked Kashizudoto. She took it out of her back pocket and handed it to him. Her neck already had a beautiful red scarf on it, so Kashizudoto tied the headband around her neck with the scarf underneath.

"There," said Kashizudoto as he leaned forward to finish tying it, "Now people will know where your loyalties lie."

"Well, you sure like touching me," said Ashlee with a hint of playfulness and a naughty look about her. Looks like she was back to normal.

"What! No!"

"Why else did you come here, silly?"

"To help!"

And with that, their meetings on the stream bank would become an increasingly frequent occurrence, with Ashlee - or "Ash" as he ended up shortening her name to - continuing her mischievous antics with Kashizudoto being the butt of the joke. Of course, he also started bringing a few tricks up his sleeve and always had a counter-prank in store. Every now and then, they would indulge in deep conversation but this was generally overshadowed by Ashlee's constant flirting. Sometimes Kashizudoto would convince her to have a spar with him, but she would only kick up her constant pranking by another level for the fight. This was a sign of a beautiful friendship, maybe even a romance.

WC: 2396

[Exit]

Strength: E-3 -> D-1: 625/625 + 25 ryo
Speed: D-0 -> D-1: 325/325 + 25 ryo
Endurance: D-0 -> D-1: 325/325 + 25 ryo
Perception: D-0 -> D-1: 325/325 + 25 ryo
Reaction Time: D-0 -> D-2: 725/725 + 75 ryo
Leftover WC: 71