Given his diplomatic mission to Iwa and the task that he had in the Land of Lightning, Kashizudoto hadn't seen another Sarutobi for quite a while. The tokubetsu jonin had always felt very disconnected from his family as a result of the terror known as his parents, so he didn't care much. That said, he didn't necessarily harbor ill feelings towards his entire clan; after all, he really looked up to his grandfather as a leader and a role model, although he realized the flaws in him as well. Little did he know, there was another Sarutobi in town...

The boy would trod through the outskirts of Kumo, his head held high up in the air to watch the clouds overhead. He would identify several cumulus clouds directly overhead that staved off the sunlight as well as a dark, sweeping cumulonimbus cloud in the distance with a towering anvilhead. There would be a storm soon, no doubt about it.

He wore his normal, battle-ready attire as he would head towards the main part of the village with his loyal messenger hawk, who he had dubbed "Hawky", perched on his shoulder and on the lookout. He had on a black swordsman's robe embroidered with gold patterns along the edges that covered the top half of his shinobi sweatpants; Master Piandao had gifted this matching robe to Kashizudoto once he had completed his apprenticeship under him. He had a bamboo sheath attached to his robe that held his Tentetsutou, the fine, black katana that he had forged out of a four billion year old meteorite during his apprenticeship under Piandao. He had a coil of wire measuring about fifty meters that was located next to his sheath; he had a colorful variety of uses for what had turned into an essential utility in his arsenal ever since the jonin council had promoted him to a chuunin. Underneath the wire, he had a holster containing three shuriken and one kunai knife.

The tokubetsu jonin would let out a small yawn as he would wonder what the rest of his day would be like - only time would tell who he would meet on the way, if anyone.

WC: 368

The Sword Saint of Konoha walked along the streets of Kumogakure no Kato with a look of contempt on his face. This place had made him feel lazy and he knew that once his business with the Raikage was completed here he would have to get out and ideally not come back. It wasn't that he disliked the village, not at all, but was more that he felt no need to do anything while he was here. He had become very lazy and lax on his training, which was something he really needed to be focusing on now more than ever since he had felt himself lose a step or two since his return to the lands of the Shinobi after three years of travelling the world while being on the run. His return to his new home in Kirigakure would be most welcomed as it would lead to a continuation of his training and the strive to become one of the best shinobi in that place, something that he was absolutely determined to accomplish by claiming the Seven Swordsman Captain slot.

He felt the familiar weight of the Sword of the Immortal Blaze sitting on his back, the warmth easily distinguishable through his clothing, as well as the new weapon that he had picked up since arriving in this village, Penance, giving off its own warm glow as the chain whip was wrapped around his upper torso. At either side of his waist were the twin blades Justice and Retribution, two swords that had never failed him since he had had them commissioned and that made his skill with the blade more apparent than any other, as wielding two swords effectively was no simple task. He could also feel the Chita no Kiba tanto strapped to his right calf, the tanto that had been giving to him upon his ascension to the rank of Captain of the Konoha ANBU Black Ops. It had saved him more than a few times and he never forgot about the small but irreplaceably valuable tool. Beneath his clothing the familiar feel of his modified ANBU armour comforted him and while he was not wearing the mask at this moment due to nobody in Kumo possibly being able to recognize him, he always took comfort in the knowledge that it was readily at hand in his bag along with his other useful tools like Kunai and wire.

The twenty nine year old shinobi was not looking for anyone or anything in particular today, as he was simply awaiting word for the Mizukage that it was time for him to strike, and he simply wandered the streets enjoying the lovely weather that Kumo had to offer. He had changed a lot since having left the lands of the shinobi, but he knew that most anyone from Konoha would recognize him, as he was somewhat famous for his contributions to the village, even having heard that there was now an entire division of shinobi named after him, the Sword Saints of Konoha division. He chuckled as he thought of this before noticing a young boy wearing a sword on his hip. Mitsuo nodded to the boy and flashed his trademark half smile at him as he walked on past, not knowing who the boy was but respecting anyone who could wield a blade. The walking armory that was Mitsuo Sarutobi was someone who always respected people who took time to dedicate their lives to the swordsman craft, and he was more than happy to acknowledge them when he walked by, even stopping briefly to talk to him.

"You there," his voice was stern but not in a mean way, simply hardened from years of his trade. "How long have you trained with the blade? Who is your master?"

(633)

From the distance, the tokubetsu jonin and his hawk would spot a frickin' walking arsenal from the distance. The man had armed himself from head to toe, literally, in a variety of swords of different lengths, breadths, and sharpness, all of which were probably sharper and better overall than Kashizudoto's Tentetsutou, an average B-rank katana whose only special quality was the fact that the boy had forged it out of a four billion year old meteorite (it was yet to see its true potential at this point). He could only wonder whether this guy was somehow affiliated with the war; after all, the thirteen year old boy himself (probably at least halfway through if he was keeping track of the calendar correctly, which he probably wasn't) had come here precisely for the war, although not to actually participate. He, as a member of the Order of the White Lotus and, thus, a supporter of global peace, wanted to spectate, to observe the fallout that resulted from conflict and miscommunication. He had been able to suck out most of the information that he knew about the Kumo-Kiri conflict from the Tsuchikage earlier back in his diplomatic mission in the Land of Earth, in fact. He'd heard most of it plain and simple: from the assassination of the missing-nin, to the imprisonment of all Kiri shinobi, to a frickin' declaration of war; the tokubetsu jonin expected armies to be charging into the Land of Lightning any time now, as he'd already heard of ships departing from the Land of Water.

Speaking of blades, members from Kashizudoto's clan, the Sarutobi, had gained much repertoire for their use of weaponry, more specifically their skill in the art of swordsmanship. A man by the name of Mitsuo Sarutobi was probably the clan's most recent legend when it came to the blade, one who people used to talk about a lot in the clan compound, although Kashizudoto had never seen him in person. Apparently, he had left Konoha at some point in time; he didn't really pay attention to the development, especially as he was extremely young at the time. Nowadays he wasn't discussed about often, although occasionally a Sarutobi would refer to one of the great fuuton-aligned blades of the so-called "Sword Saint of Konoha". The man even had a division named after him: the Sword Saints of Konoha; incidentally, Kashizudoto had been training for the day that he could one day hone his skills with the blade to the point where he could join that division. At this point, his skill in kenjutsu was unrivaled by most in Konoha, he would guess; however, apparently the actual blade that he had wasn't "sharp enough" according to the requirements. When Lord Kenta had heard of this bullshit requirement from Kashizudoto, he got pissed as hell at whoever had established the rules for getting admission; he hoped that it wasn't his own sensei Rippa, captain of the Sword Saints division. In fact, the Hokage had gotten so worked up about it that he literally bolted out of their rendez-vous once Kashizudoto had told him about it in order to vent privately. He had never seen Kenta that mad before, but Kashizudoto knew that leadership comes with stress.

The man, still decked out in blades, would pass by the boy, giving a half-smile, to which Kashizudoto would respond with a quick smile of his own. That would've been it, was it not for the man stopping along the way and questioning the boy.

"You there," the man would speak to the boy in a stern voice, as if he had figured out the tokubetsu jonin's secret, "How long have you trained with the blade? Who is your master?" Hmmm? This man took an interest in the blades of other apparently, and Kashizudoto was more than happy to divulge about all of that without revealing his identity as a Konoha shinobi.

"I taught myself to wield the blade with a wooden training sword since I was... uhhh.... I'll pass on that one. Anyway," the tokubetsu jonin would digress, "I studied almost a year ago, if I'm keeping track of the dates right, under a man by the name of Master Piandao. Under him, I really refined my swordsmanship. After the short apprenticeship under him, he helped me to forge my own blade; I only had to find a material to make my sword out of. So guess what I had used to craft it? I found a four billion year old meteorite and used to to create my sword? Pretty cool, right?" What he wouldn't reveal is where he found the meteorite: in the Dense Forest of Konoha. However, as Master Piandao used to work as a jonin before he retired a few years ago, it would be very plausible for anyone who had served in Konoha's forces to at least know of his name as being a jonin from Konoha, if not having met him before. If revealing a name wasn't enough, his Konoha forehead protector, which had been tucked firmly within his black swordsman's robe so that nobody would see it, fell out and into the air where the man could see; he would catch the hitae-ate in a split second and return it into the inside of his robe, but anyone with good perception such as the man in front of him would be able to make out his status as a shinobi of Konoha. His hawk would screech in surprise. Shit, he just blew his cover.

WC: 1315

[Exit]

Hanuman, Lord of Monkeys: 1315/6300