The sun crept through the cracks of the towel that was tracked over the window in the small apartment. There were clothes splayed across the floor and on the desk and dresser. The young man's eyes began to creep opened, reaching an arm out to feel for the familiar presence that should have been beside him. Normally it was this person who would have woken him up, and his absence explained why Shigeki hadn't awoken yet. He looked around the room to see if he could figure out where he was, but all he saw were a pair of underwear in a place where they really shouldn't be and the fact that the room was a little more trashed than usual. Last night had been a good night, and while Shigeki enjoyed his games that he played, he enjoyed the nights that he spent with Kensai even more. He ran his fingers through his blonde and pink hair, shaking his head and walking towards the shower to get himself clean. He had a plan for today, and that plan was to introduce himself to the new Tsuchikage, a man who he hadn't really had a chance to talk to as he hadn't kept up with the happenings of the village since Kazu had defected, something that had upset the young Kanetsu greatly.

Once he was clean, which took a little longer than usual because he actually wanted to be clean for once as opposed to somewhat clean with a side of shame, he made his way towards the closet, his slim body exposed to the elements as he tried to figure out what would be appropriate to wear to a meeting with the kage. He decided to go simple. Knee high platform black boots with white crossing laces, a pair of black tights with a strap around the thigh under a red plaid mini-skirt. He wore a black belt that was studded around the entire length and a grey shirt with a design that fell below his shoulders, showing off a white and black striped tank top underneath. He wore a black collar with the Iwagakure symbol on it, and black leather with iron stud wristbands. On his ears he wore a pair of headphones, pink neon with cat ears that he would always blast whatever music he was listening too through. He topped it off with some black eyeliner for effect to match his black nails. It was the perfect outfit for a meeting with the kage.

When he left his house he looked around and saw that is was quite a beautiful day outside. The wind gently fluttered through his soft hair as he walked with a purpose towards the Tsuchikage's office. He knew where it was oh too well, as he had spent a lot of time there when his cousin was in office. He missed Kazu, but he was also very disappointed in the fact that he had defected from the village, causing Shigeki to spiral a little bit into depression. He had avoided interaction entirely with Akira, even though Shigeki was one of the Jounin of the village, and he might have done the same with this newer Tsuchikage had it not been for the fact that Kensai had told him it was time to get back to work, because he was getting a lot worse and he was worried about him. He was curious to see what the new Kage was like, but at the same time he was a little bit nervous.

Upon reaching the Tsuchikage's office, Shigeki noticed just how early he was. It was something along the lines of seven in the morning, and there was literally nobody around. He walked into the administration building, taking a look around as he walked the familiar halls, and made his way into the Kage's office, looking around and deciding that he probably had a bit of time. He took a seat in the Kage's chair, putting his platform booted feet onto the desk resting over one another. He looked for something in the office to put over his eyes and found a convenient hat with a symbol on it that was big enough to cover his face. He put on some relaxing music and started to doze off, sure that he would wake back up before anybody showed up to notice...

738

The early mornings were... a drag, both in terms of their length of time, going from the relaxation of slumber to the clarity of life brought everything into a slowed crawl. That was usually until the caffeine would circulate into his system, varying frames of time at varying degrees depending on how much he would consume at his own home and then again arriving in the administration building. Today, was pretty normal thus far, it was a quiet morning in which he was awake far earlier than he wanted to and en route to his office just as early. Typical black pants and a black shirt, his grey armor from the ANBU on, the symbol of Tsuchikage painted onto the backplate and the symbol of the Oracles on his right shoulder. Normally he wouldn't walk around in this, but he had a habit of leaving his cloak and hat in the office itself, and remained as low key as possible in everything else. In addition, his headband was tied around his forehead, not a common sight for most Kage to admonish the plate of metal like every genin would, but he did it as a sign of equalizing himself with everyone else.

Arriving in the administration building, waving at everyone as he went through the hallways, being approached quickly with a manila folder and an urgent woman. He smiled and waved and took the holder under his arm as he poured a cup of coffee for himself. And like that, in the daze of early morning un-clarity, he suddenly had himself set up for an afternoon meeting he had no idea whether he had the time to actually take or not. And the subject... well, he wasn't coherent enough for more than a few words on the subject and the contents of this... folder of papers.

Making his way through the stair well and up floor by floor, occasional waves to the few there that early in the morning and some short lived greetings. He arrived at the doors of his office, the coffee steaming out of the white ceramic mug in his left hand, his left elbow held the folder under his arm as his right hand tugged at the door handle and pushed it open.

His office opened up before him and... there was someone here already? Someone... sitting at his desk, with their feet propped up on the desk, and... his hat on? The small muffle of music gleamed lightly as he could hear it emanating? If they would have heard him come in, then that would certainly be the catalyst for the entire flurry of questions he was gonna have like if he were being replaced, why go through this route? And if they didn't awake? Well, his hand would reach down to his kunai holster, grabbing the little piece of steel and letting it fly suddenly and quickly through the air. Aimed for just past their face, it would cut a bit of his hat and tear through it past the head before digging into the back of the chair and stopping there, with a visibly irritated Karumo if they hadn't noticed yet. Hopefully, with his hat cut, he would also get a better look at who was behind his desk outside their rather eccentric boots that rested on the wood of the desk.


[564 words]

Have you ever had one of those moments where you are having a fantastic  dream and then something absolutely terrible happens to completely snap you out of that making you an extremely angry person? Imagine, then, that this is happening while you are listening to some relaxing music. As you are doing this your music all of a sudden dies, you feel the weight of your headphones, which had previously been all one piece, falling into two at your sides and hitting your lap, and then at the same time you go to look up and see that someone has thrown a Kunai at you. Shigeki's eyes snapped open and gave the man in the grey armour standing in front of him an extremely dirty look. He had been dreaming about...Hot breath on my neck...his flesh against mine...pressure in my... Well it wasn't really important. HE gritted his teeth together, hissing between his teeth slightly before speaking in a voice with quite a bit of malice in it.

"Hey, what the fuck man. YOU BROKE MY HEADPHONES!" His voice was more angry than he had heard himself get in a long time. He wasn't generally a particularly angry person, but he loved his music, and he didn't have a lot of money. A pair of headphones like that weren't cheap either. The man in front of him wasn't particularly impressive. He wore a familiar body armour that seemed to belong to the ANBU from the village, which of course Shigeki had seen in the past when he was with Kazu. He wasn't sure if this man was attacking him because he was in the Tsuchikage's office or not, but he didn't particularly care. When the new kage got here, Shigeki would be filing a complaint about this agent, but in the meantime he was going to get revenge on the man in his own way. While their eyes were locked in Shigeki's angry stare down, he would activate one of his favourite genjutsu techniques. It was one that was extremely simple, but tended to be surprisingly effective. It didn't matter what the outcome would be, but it was not a malicious attack, and Shigeki wouldn't attack him after either.

The man, once the jutsu was activated, would see the person of their desire walking towards them from behind where Shigeki was standing. He would move out of the way as soon as this started so that it would make it better. In this case the person would step onto the desk, seducing the shinobi in front of Shigeki. They would begin to strip naked in front of him, ideally causing a distraction. Generally Shigeki would use this ability to make someone distracted enough for him to get into better position for a more serious attack, but right now it was simply to send a statement; you messed with the wrong person and I'm going to humiliate you for it. He, of course, had no idea that the man in front of him was the Tsuchikage, but he didn't particularly care at this point. He was too upset about his favourite pair of headphones to concern himself with such minor things. He could only hope that the man didn't get angry and attack him afterwards, as he had very few ways to protect himself in a brawl and this man certianly seemed like he could hold his own better than Shigeki could. Just because Shigeki was a Jounin didn't mean that he would simply win any encounter, and he certainly wasn't ready to fight someone who was at least as powerful as him, if not more so...

1366

Chakra 290/300:

The next thing that Karumo knew after his kunai caught their attention and tore a line through his hat... well, not irreplaceable but certainly not something to cut so non-chalauntly. But, the next thing that really came was anger in an irrational and sudden manner, "Hey, what the fuck man. YOU BROKE MY HEADPHONES!" Well, perhaps it wasn't irrational, and a small mistake of the crossfire within his attempt to be... brunt. Perhaps in hindsight, a knock would have been better or to slam a stack of papers onto the desk in the most abrupt of crashing noises, but he chose this route and had to endure the consequences of such.

With a bit of a widened stare and a raised eyebrow, Karumo's tone would escalate a bit, rising from conversational tone to match the stranger's, "Your headphones?? Why are you even at my... desk-" they had locked eyes and in an instant, things changed. It was less than subtle for a brief time, then... it struck him, an arm ran across his shoulder and lingered off as she came into view. It was... Emi tracing around and dressed in the thinnest grey lingerie, he didn't remember her coming. Dark black hair and the same purple eyes as his shone through, but her eyes hadn't unlocked the dojutsu in any form. She wrapped herself around him, Karumo had turned bright red as his other guest faded away in memory, her arms wrapped around him in the moment and his words cut off from before.

He gulped and was about to speak, his tone coming off a bit worried and concerned, "Wait, what are you..." but he was cut off as she placed a finger against his lips and hushed him. This is not how he predicted any of his morning would go, not in the slightest.


[312 words, 876 words total]

Shigeki smirked, clearly catching the man in his genjutsu. He listened to him speak briefly, asking why he was at his desk. Shigeki was always so curious as to who it would be that the person saw. He knew that at least two people out there would actually see Shigeki, but most people had some kind of person who they thought of in the kind of way that would make this jutsu the perfect distraction. He watched as the man became noticably uncomfortable, his face bright red and-wait. Did he say why was he at HIS desk? Oh fuck, this is the Tsuchikage! Shigeki panicked slightly. He honestly hadn't had any idea what the new Tsuchikage would look like, he certainly hadn't thought he would be this man in front of him. He made a hand symbol and quickly broke the genjutsu that he had ensnared him, standing out of the chair and moving around the desk so that he could stand beside the man.

"Oh, uh...I'm sorry about that. I didn't know you were...well...yeah..." Shigeki's own face was red form embarrassment, having a hard time meeting the man's eyes now. He hoped he wouldn't be angry at the next thing he had to say. "I came here to meet you...I'm Shigeki, a genjutsu specialist and one of the Jounin of the village..." He smiled weakly, assuming it wouldn't take long for the man to figure out that he had been trapped in a genjutsu, if he hadn't figured it out already. "And I really hope you're not mad at me! This used to be my cousin's office. Back when he was Tsuchikage he never had any issues with me sitting in his chair..." A flash of anger and then concern and then sadness crossed his face. "You haven't heard anything about...about Kazu Kanetsu have you? I miss him..."

1690

Her finger pressed against him and pushed his head back as she strutted slowly off towards his desk, his eyes continued to follow as everything else from outside her appearance faded out of focus. Reaching the desk her finger pressed off the strap over her right shoulder and left her only covering clothing hanging on by a thread as she started to speak up in the most seductive position.

The words hadn't but hardly left her lips as everything froze, a crack in the continuity as she was stunned and faded from view. Karumo watched a bit astonished as everything was restored, still red in the face he began to mellow out as he realized what was happening here. The stranger had started talking already but Karumo's thoughts ran over it, Genjutsu, huh? Karumo wanted to curse himself as he knew he was better than that, the sudden appearance of Emi, directly as she was, it was a childish and yet powerful genjutsu. It'd totally broken his concentration but he passively listened to the man and sighed, letting his shoulders slump a bit. "I came here to meet you...I'm Shigeki, a genjutsu specialist and one of the Jounin of the village..."

Karumo nodded, Shigeki... jounin genjutsu user. Karumo began to take a few steps forward and dropped the folder in his hand on the desk with a quiet slap. "Genjutsu, I put that one together already..." he laughed a bit. Karumo held off his own introduction for the moment as Shigeki ranted on and sent a barrage of questions his way, mostly dealing with a cousin of his, at first Karumo wondered if he meant Akira, one of the Kazako maybe.. but the name that emerged was different, Kazu Kanetsu. Meaning, he was also a lava style user? A topic for later on, perhaps.

Karumo looked up and shook his head, "No, I haven't heard anything nor had I the pleasure of ever meeting him either. From the stories and what I remember, he was incredibly powerful and built a name on that Kekkai Genkai of the Kanetsu, I'm sure he's alright wherever he is..." Karumo didn't know why he felt to reassure him of anything, but hoped that the small sentiment might offer some condolence. "So, can you use Yoton in addition to that genjutsu of yours as well?" he'd pause to ask, letting his curiosity get ahead of him when his attention should probably have been pointed at the reasoning for Shigeki appearing in his office. Well, either way, it was better than drawing attention back to those broken headphones of his.


[444 words, 1320 words total]

Shigeki's spirits dropped a little bit when he was told by Karumo that he had never met Kazu before. He sighed and looked back down at the desk, shaking his head. He missed his cousin, and there were horrible allegations against him that he was harboring criminals and had to flee the village because of it. Shigeki refused to believe those terrible things, he knew that his cousin Kazu wasn't a bad man, he was a great man and a great shinobi. When Karumo asked him about if he could use Yoton chakra, Shigeki looked around the office, trying to see how much of it was likely to catch fire if he decided to use any of his jutsus in here. He loved giving visual demonstrations of his jutsus, but he also didn't want to get into too much trouble with this man; he did have to work for him after all. He did have a couple of yoton based genjutsus that he could potentially show off, but he was pretty sure Karumo wouldn't fall for getting trapped in a genjutsu again. Shigeki was pretty good, but he knew that the Kage were supposed to be a cut above and he had no doubt that Karumo was no exception.

"I-I can use Yoton chakra, Tsuchikage-dono." He spoke a little bit more formally, realizing the man hadn't told him his name, and honestly he didn't actually know who he was as he had been so out of the loop recently. "But I believe it would be unwise to use one in here. Even my most controlled ability, which would not touch the ground, would likely cause your desk and all of your paperwork to catch fire, at which point the rest of the office wouldn't follow far beyond. I know nothing of suiton chakra, and therefore wouldn't be able to put the fire out with that. I mean I know a few doton techniques that could potentially stop a blaze, but even then..." He realized he was rambling and stopped speaking for a minute. He wasn't normally nervous, but this was the man who was currently in the position that was most important in the village. Shigeki had dreamed since he had first become a shinobi to become a tactical adviser to the Tsuchikage, and he knew that this would be a fantastic opportunity for him. He needed to not screw this up, and so far he was failing at that.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to rant. Yes I am also well versed in Ninjutsu, though it is not my preferred area of expertise. I consider myself better in reading battles, performing the perfect genjutsu for the job to keep it as bloodless for my side as possible, and then interrogating people if needed. I'm more of a support kind of person I guess you would say than someone who is more offensive, like most from my clan. I'm a bit of a special snowflake I suppose, which is hilarious due to the nature of my clan." He chuckled to himself, he was getting cool just from standing in this office, and it wasn't even cold. They were naturally warmer than other people. "I'm sorry, I don't know your name...or really anything about you." He extended a hand towards the kage and smiled softly. "I am Shigeki Kanetsu."

2267

The man seemed a bit dismayed by Karumo's lack of knowledge, he felt a little sympathetic as he should have been more knowledgeable but couldn't really offer any more. He went on to confirm his ability to use the lava style, but Karumo's ears and eyes perked up as his head moved up towards him in a more alert position at the sound of him demonstrating it in his office. "Oh no, you don't have to show it off, I'll believe you..." he shook his head and raised a hand with a bit of a nervous laugh. It also made Karumo think more about his own arsenal, how little he'd expanded on his new doton and suiton abilities himself, a note for the future to put together perhaps.

Shigeki continued on though, Karumo smirked at his bit about the snowflake, a good bit of humor to go along before he asked about Karumo himself, catching him a bit off guard before offering his own name, Shigeki Kanetsu. Karumo nodded and spoke up, "Right, I kinda get ahead of myself adjusting to the position of Kage, everyone tends to know everything or keep the facade about themselves." he laughed a bit and motioned for Shigeki to take a seat opposite the desk if he wanted, as Karumo made his way to sit down at the seat behind the desk as well.

Once seated Karumo would go on, "Karumo Sekuro myself, but you can just call me Karumo. I was the Captain of the Oracles and Headmaster of Diamond Heights before I became Tsuchikage, bit of a controversy since Lord Akira appointed me rather than the Daimyo but he ended up agreeing with the choice I suppose..." Karumo tilted his head back and forth musing to himself, it was... more or less the truth? Karumo wasn't sure what else he wanted to know about him, so he'd muse a little further for the time being.

"I was also young heir and clan head of the Fantomusodo at a very early age, lots of controversy there too, but I stepped down from the position when I rose through the ranks and leave the clan to tend to themselves mostly. The dojutsu we carry is my main point of reference, though, hardly known within the village much less out of it, those whose eyes progress this far are few and far between and usually much older, and the clan tends to keep mostly to themselves. So not many of us get out and into the village, especially before my time..." he smirked, a small reference to his own efforts to bring the clan into prominence within the village, but they resisted that with gusto and even tried to kill himself and Fukai in exchange. A foolish bet for them in the end.

"Otherwise, I'm pretty generic, Ninjutsu specialist and I've been enhancing some fuinjutsu and taijutsu skills to the side." he smirked after a short nod, "Was there anything specific you wanted to ask or request?" he trailed off and waited for Shigeki's response or answer, he'd hoped he'd offered a good enough basis to begin with.


[536 words, 1856 words total]

As the Tsuchikage moved to take back the seat that Shigeki had been napping in, Shigeki absent mindedly rolled his eyes, not quite realizing that he had even done such a thing, before moving to the seat opposite of the Kage. He would get into it in such a way that his feet were standing on it and he was squatting with his butt nearly sitting on the seat. He liked the Kage seat because for the most part he knew whom had sat in it before and more or less where they had been. This chair had been the seat of many a miscreant and mysterious shinobi whom Shigeki didn't even want to think about. The ideas of the different diseases that the people could have had while sitting here or all kinds of different issues that they could have had went through his mind and it made him sick, so much so in fact that he would eventually simply elect to get out of the chair, push it back with his foot, and sit on the edge of the desk instead, feet on the ground, butt half on the desk and hands propping him up at the edge of the desk as well while he looked back towards Karumo.

There was a look on the man's face that seemed to be somewhat startled at the fact that Shigeki didn't know him, which was a fairly pretentious thing in his opinion. Sure the man was the new Tsuchikage or whatever, and yeah it was likely that a Jounin like Shigeki should have probably known that, but Shinobi fall off the map all the time, which was exactly what had happened with him, or essentially anyway, so of course they're going to come back with holes in their knowledge of current events. This Karumo Sekuro, as he introduced himself, seemed to be an alright person, though Shigeki also knew that anyone who sat in that chair had to be able to present two faces. There was the mask that you had to wear in order to appease the public and sway their opinion of you into a more positive light. This face was one that Shigeki saw when his cousin Kazu had been dealing with people such as Tsuyo Hyuga or Mitsuo Sarutobi or even the missing ninja Tame. It was a somewhat cold face, calculating and strong, and it showed none of the true feelings of the man's heart.

It was the second face, the one that hid beneath the mask that was the hat and cloak, the title of Kage, that Shigeki was more interested in, and it was that face that he always thought of when he thought of Kazu Kanetsu. Shigeki loved his cousin, whom had been there for him like nobody else ever was for him in his life. He was a kind and caring individual, and while he was indeed strong, he also has a side to him that Shigeki believed he might have been the only person to know. Kazu had taken a roll of father figure in the young shinobi's life. He wasn't much older than Shigeki was, but he also knew Shigeki's situation with his abusive father, the man whom had beaten, belittled and sexually assaulted the young Kanetsu when he was a child and young teen. He had taken it upon himself to be there for the young boy, teaching him that there was a life outside of his father's abuse and torment. He was the reason that Shigeki was still around today as far as the young Kanetsu was concerned, and when he vanished it became far harder for him to justify staying around this world. His roommate had somewhat filled the void that Kazu had left, but it was never quite the same and had led to Shigeki's more promiscuous nature that he had become somewhat famous for.

Karumo told Shigeki that he had been appointed to the position of Kage by the previous Tsuchikage, a man named Akira. Shigeki found this strange as the name Akira wasn't one that he recognized. While he had, of course, fallen into a bad way since his cousin's departure from the village, he had managed to skip the politics for the most part, finding all of the political issues he needed at the bottom of a bottle and in a married man's bed. He had spent so long on such a bender that most assumed he was dead, and those who knew otherwise thought he would be soon. Akira, however, must have either risen to power in the village more quickly than he himself had been promoted to Jounin rank, which was record time in itself with his cousin around, or he had to be an outsider. The second one made more sense, as it seemed that the man didn't know the proper way that someone was appointed to the position of Tsuchikage, which was through the word of the Daimyo and of the council of the village. Shigeki was a little apprehensive of hearing that Karumo had come to power in such a way, but at the same time who was he to question the powers at be?

He spoke of how he was the Captain of the Oracles, another fairly new organization. Shigeki had wanted to learn more about this organization, as it seemed as though they would be the most in line with his own personal goals from what he had heared. Shigeki was a master of getting information out of people, his genjustsu being strong and able to warp the minds of men into believing anything he wished for them to believe. If Karumo was no longer the Captain of the Oracles, Shigeki wondered if that position was one that was still opened. He would need to see about that after Karumo had his chance to speak. He said how he was a young heir to the Fantomusodo clan head position, which was something interesting to note. He had encountered very few people whom possessed a dojutsu in his lifetime, but this man apparently was not only one of them, but a man who lead a clan of people who had them. For him to be so opened about such a thing to a man he didn't know showed either foolishness or an extreme confidence in his ability, which intrigued Shigeki, causing a smirk to grow across his lips.

At the end of his small speech his discussed his particular specialties, which were ninjutsu, fuuinjutsu and taijutsu, the second of which Shigeki had some personal interest in. He had heard that fuuinjutsus were able to unlock any lock or seal away things that would be best forgotten. Shigeki couldn't imagine how voluble such a thing would be to someone like him, who specialized in the extraction and burial of information from his targets. He might have to see about learning this, if not from Karumo, maybe from another of the people in the village. He began to tap his healed boot on the ground, the toe of it making a noise as Shigeki then would turn around to face Karumo once more, not looking at his eyes this time, but simply looking down towards his lips and neck, a trick he had been taught when dealing with Dojutsu users, as there was always the chance that they could corrupt you if you locked eyes with them. He had heard stories that one of the missing ninja whom had been harbored in their village was able to completely stun someone with a gaze, and it terrified him to think of. His hands were still on the desk, elbows straight to prop him up and that smile fading from his lips as he began to speak.

"Karumo, it's nice to meet you. I may have one or two questions since you were so kind as to ask me here and welcome me into your lovely office." The smile returned, knowing of course he had shown up unannounced, but not particularly worried about such a thing. Something worthy of note in the shinobi world was it was unusual for anyone who got above the rank of chuunin to be particularly normal, more power people often developing certain quirks that would see them through their interesting and generally painful and disturbing lives. "Firstly, since I became a shinobi it has always been my goal to be an adviser to the Tsuchikage, as of course tactics are one of the things I specialize in. Another personal specialty of mine is the extraction, as well as repression, of knowledge from an individual. I don't know much about the Oracles, but from what I have heard it would seem that my particular set of skills would align themselves well with that particular faction. Now, I come before you as a jounin from a different time, and you don't know much about me, though I am fairly easy to figure out. I hope that you will allow me to join, and potentially even lead the Oracles, as I believe my skills and knowledge could prove to be extremely useful in such a group..."

He trailed off, pursing his lips and running his tongue over the rings that were there absent mindedly as he often did. He wasn't sure if it was a nervous tick or simply his body's way of filling empty space, but either way it was something that he seemed to be stuck doing. He would purse his lips once again and then continue speaking, asking his second question. "I am also curious about Fuuinjutsu. It was not something that anyone of note used in our village during my time of activity, though from what I have heard it seemed as though it would be something extremely useful for a shinobi like myself to use. I wonder if you could point me towards someone who might instruct me on how to use this particular skill, as I believe that I can put it to good use during interrogation and repression of information..." His voice trailed off once more, braving a glance up towards the young Tsuchikage's eyes and smiling. He was handsome, Shigeki would give him that, but still not someone whom he would risk trying anything with. He didn't know enough about this man to be able to do such a thing, which generally wasn't much of an issue for him, though at this particular moment, he felt as though being more careful would be a great boon to himself...

4049

Karumo leaned back a bit as Shigeki began to speak but it was quickly interrupted as Karumo lunged forward to a more appropriate sitting position, thanking him for his time. For a brief moment, Karumo was thinking that was it to this rather weird and chance meeting for now. But that was ended quickly as he gave way to his questions, the muscles of Karumo's that had pulled together to bring him to standing fell soft and relaxed as he sank slightly back into the seat but held himself from leaning back again as he listened. Offering his own nod and smile in return his purple eyes curiously glanced over him and listened to the first question, met with long and laborious backstory for how simple the very question was.

A story of a goal, to become an advisor to the Tsuchikage's advisori, Karumo's eyes would widen along with a smirk. Then he continued on to the Oracles, the division that Karumo formerly led himself. His smirk held and his gaze softened a bit as he continued to offer his skills to the divison, Karumo nodded along with each point as they came to their conclusion. The question, or was it a request? Came to an end and trailed off, Karumo gulped to swallow his own thoughts secretively, more that he was clearing his throat than anything.

His second question came about Fuinjutsu, a newer skill for Karumo but no doubt one that was very useful and not very highly touted among Iwagakure for sure. They were known more for Taijutsu and some of the more specialized earth based Ninjutsu arts. Looking for an instructor on the subject, a problem that Karumo had some time ago for sure, he relaxed a bit further and crossed his fingers as he rested his elbows lazily against the table. Karumo returned his smile at eye contact and nodded along, breathing in and out quickly as he cleared his thoughts to respond, "Right, the Oracles..." he trailed off for the briefest of seconds.

"Of course, they look for the brightest minds, and the captain of the division is still vacant. It only takes applying normally and I'm sure you'll make it in at the very least..." Karumo smirked and unfolded his fingers from on the desk and placed them down.

"As for fuinjutsu," he paused and tapped his fingers, "It's a skill of my own if you're that interested in learning. It shouldn't be a problem to teach at all, it's rather simple and if your mind is really as attuned as you say then it would be child's play to get through the soft details of the skill. If not, there are a few others around the village I'm sure but you'd have a better chance asking into the Cipher Corps or intelligence divisions." Karumo continued on and looked to him for an answer on the subject. Depending on what he'd say, Karumo could offer a very short brief on the subject or offer a chance to come back and learn another day, depending on how things went or how he felt. Either way, their meeting would soon be at a close unless he had other questions he wanted to ask aside from his initial two.


[556 words, 2412 words total]

The young Kanetsu kept an eye on the Tsuchikage as he spoke, listening closely to the words he had to say to him. He spoke how one would go about achieving a position within the Oracles, and how the position of captain appeared to still be opened, which was something that interested Shigeki greatly. While he didn't necessarily enjoy being in a position where he would be a leader among others, he was still someone who believed that he would be able to take such a position on due to his tactical abilities. He would nod as Karumo said this, noting that he need only apply and that he would have to get whatever form it would take after this meeting, which appeared was about to come to a close. Shigeki couldn't think of anything else he wished to learn from the Tsuchikage, and he had a lot of things that he could go and do in order to prepare himself for what was to come.

He was filled on in the people who he could talk to in the village in order to learn Fuuinjutsu, which Shigeki once again nodded at before looking towards the Tsuchikage and chuckling softly once more. "Well thanks for the information...I expect a replacement pair of my headphones as soon as possible. Those weren't cheap." He smiled and walked towards the door of the office, turning his head slightly back for a sideways glance towards the kage once more. "For the record, it was nice to meet you. You're no Kazu, but you seem like a pretty good person so I can get behind that. I look forward to working with you again in the future." And with that he made his way out the door and towards the main floor of the building, where he would pick up the needed form to get himself into the division that would start him down the path to his goal...

{Exit Thread}

4378
Strength D-3 -> B 3100
Nonsensical Knowledge - 1000
278 discarded

There meeting was drawing to a close or so it seemed, Shigeki gave a smile and thanked him for the information, adding in a comment about the headphones. Karumo smirked back in response, chuckling at the idea of his headphones being brought up again but he was right, Karumo figured he owed him that much at least given his rather unorthodox reaction to someone sitting in his chair. Maybe it wasn't unorthodox completely as it was just seemingly at random, and extreme on top of it. Unorthodox would work then. Moving to stand behind his desk as he departed in a gesture of some form of respect at the close of their meeting and his departure. Karumo nodded back and planned to speak up before he added in another bit before reaching the door, a final bit of formality to be thrown into their meeting. Karumo couldn't immediately tell though, if it was a seal of approval or rather a notion at a solid first impression between the two of them. Either way, he wouldn't lose too much sleep over the difference of it and would have his chance again in the future. A chance to ruin that good first impression or to lower himself in whatever tier of respect he'd been placed in with Shigeki.

Still, Karumo found himself in a similar mindset about the Kanetsu boy who weilded some... interesting genjutsu. With ambition to join the Oracles and time on his side due to his young age as well, he certainly had a lot of potential and made Karumo glad there were some gifted ones in the ranks of Iwagakure. Or maybe he was just more glad that if he died, there would be others to fill in and keep the village going, not that Shigeki would be the one to replace him perse but the idea was there. It meant Karumo was a little less important to the survival of the village and that thought was enough to keep him contempt for the time being.

"Headphones, got it. It was nice to meet you as well, until next time..." he let his voice linger off and offered a small wave by holding his hand up as the door closed and their meeting ended. Looking back down to his desk he grabbed a pen and sat down, on the short notepad next to him he made one line of text sloppily at the top of the pad, Shigeki - Headphones and glanced across the room after setting the pen down before leaning back. His thoughts weren't across the room but he certainly hadn't thought this was how his morning would go in any form, it was always so quiet and dull at this time of day. The perfect backdrop for equally as dull paper and busywork. Oh well. didn't truly matter, he hadn't lost that much time really.

With a final movement he reached across to the coffee cup he'd neglected since he'd arrived, leaning back again and taking in the dark liquid against the white porcelain cup. He noticed that it was no longer steaming but the idea of the implication didn't hit him. Bringing it to his lips and taking a sip of it he was met with immediate defeat and melancholy. Cold already. He should have known. This morning was already too off for him to expect his coffee to sit nice and warm for that long, maybe he should have drunken more during their meeting. Maybe he was going to delay his morning tasks to get a fresh cup. Maybe... Probably.


[607 words, 3019 words total]
[Exit Thread]

Training: