"So if I win, you pay for me again?" she smirked at him, Maigo grinned back and watched for a second as she felt out the kunai. "That's what I'm saying... but you know, if I win, then it's on you..." he held his smile and gave a half-hearted chuckle. The first kunai flew forward and hit straight through the bullseye, a bit better than he expected right out but he supposed he shouldn't have inspected any less. He then watched as she played around with the kunai, catching them with each other and juggling them through the air, a cheap intimidation tactic he wouldn't fall for but instead smiled at. "Another game of this, or did you want to try a different game after?" she smiled and seemingly zoned out for a short second.

Maigo paused and stepped back a bit to give her a little room, "Well, that depends on if I win or lose here..." he smirked himself in response, an awful lot of that going back and forth. Maigo placed another 10 ryo down and received his own set of five kunai laid out in front of him. It was then that an unexpected question rang out from Lin, "What... what do you think of the Raikage?" it caught Maigo a bit off guard as he picked up the first kunai, her tone and stature showed her uncertainty but he wasn't sure how to reply himself. He hummed to himself for a minute, looking to Lin and marking her facial expression before his gaze circled around the ground for a moment, then back to his hand.

He, well, he didn't really know what to think about any of it, his thoughts on the matter weren't clear or understood, he had a very... partial picture at best, but still he would offer what he could. "I don't really know much about him." He flipped the kunai in his hand rapidly back and forth, it wasn't even sharp enough that he worried about cutting himself, he would need more force for sure, he felt that much. Bringing the kunai up to his collarbone area and holding it, blade in hand and ring up, he let his arm extend rapidly, flicking it forward with two fingers at the highest possible speed his arm and the kunai could move at the target on the right of Lin's. It flew forward and rotated in the wind, spiraling to the right and landing just centimeters away from the bulls-eye. Maigo exhaled in disappointment, too much force...

Before grabbing another kunai though, he turned to Lin and spoke up again, "The Raikage is someone notable in history, notorious for being powerful, hot-headed, and quick to act. I think that describes the current one well enough, I know he imprisoned all the Kirigakure shinobi he could on essentially a whim, and whatever happened, well... afterwards wasn't good for anyone. Otherwise, I've never met him and don't really have any will or want to..." his eyes turned back and grabbed another kunai, feeling this one as well, noting the weights were differently displaced. A nice trick, making sure no one could get a feel for how any one knife traveled.

But before he threw this knife, his gaze glanced back towards Lin, waiting to see if she'd thrown anymore and how she was doing comparitively before asking his question, "Why do you want to know what I think about the Raikage?" he asked with a raised brow and paused to hear out her answer.


[607 words]

Lin picked up her next kunai and judged it to be a bit... a bit heavier than the last one? These were shoddily made of course, but she didn't expect it to be about half a pound heavier than the last kunai. She listened, and nodded at his words, they made sense. She didn't really know the Raikage all that much, but most people were mad at him for the recent events. She just knew him from when she was a genin, a ruthless, seemingly heartless man that was only concerned with power and prestige. She sighed and threw the kunai, distracted by her own thoughts it landed in the outside circle. Guess there was no big cat plushie in her future. She picked up the next one as she waited for Maigo to throw his. He asked her why she was asking and she placed the blade up to her bottom lip, pressing a little bit, feeling the weight of the steel against it. It was cool and refreshing and helped her think a bit clearer.

"Well," She said slowly, "At the risk of sounding a bit treasonous, I was just wondering what you thought of him and what his foreign policies were... how he acted as a person... all of that because i am not so sure of him myself." She looked down at the kunai and then back up at Maigo, "What I am saying is, that I am not so sure that I feel comfortable with him running this country... if you catch my drift." She blushed a bit, knowing that her friend Satoshi would die for the country and the Raikage, and all the Raikage would have to do is ask it of him. She sighed again, wondering if she was making a mistake on their first date about talking about this.

She smiled, "You know, I'm sorry about bringing that up. It's just that you are a foreign shinobi, since you don't show up on the Kumogakure roster, and I wondered what your thoughts about the Raikage were." She scuffed her foot against the ground, and if he had made his next throw by then, she would take her kunai and toss it at the target, hitting the bullseye once more.

WC: 394

Maigo watched Lin throw her second kunai, landing just outside the bullseye, Maigo smirked a bit as he noticed her mind keep her off track. Maigo threw his second after asking his question, landing it in the bullseye this time now that he had his own balance for the kunai now. This left them both with one in the bullseye now, Maigo reached and grabbed another knife as Lin pressed one against her bottom lip. She spoke briefly of trying not to sound treasonous or anything like that, just wondering what Maigo thought about him and how he acted. Maigo blinked for a second, he didn't really understand any of why his opinion was so important.

She looked back to him after a moment, "What I am saying is, that I am not so sure that I feel comfortable with him running this country... if you catch my drift." Maigo tilted his head slightly as he was a little caught off guard by the statement, there were probably a lot more layers to that and he wanted to dig in but he'd leave the sentiment for now. Maigo nodded and threw another kunai, the third one hit the bullseye as well, much to the bewilderment of the boy at the stall, the two of them seemed so distracted and yet their kunai throws had better form and accuracy than most of the civilians that would ever approach it.

"You know, I'm sorry about bringing that up. It's just that you are a foreign shinobi, since you don't show up on the Kumogakure roster, and I wondered what your thoughts about the Raikage were." Maigo watched her throw another kunai and hit the bullseye again, leaving them at par again, her foot scuffed the ground and Maigo's eyes flickered down to it. Maigo spoke up quickly after her throw, "No, it's okay, you don't have to be sorry or anything like that..." he paused and threw the kunai again, his fourth actually striking a kunai in the bullseye and falling to the ground along with knocking the other one out. Maigo slumped in disbelief, he'd lost two kunai in that one throw, probably a bit much for him to assume that the target board was anything but low quality.

Maigo straightened himself up and chuckled a bit before turning back to Lin as he blindly grabbed the handle of the last kunai in front of him, "Just my luck... seems you might win this first one after all." he paused and waited for her to throw her kunai if she would now before he would ask again, "You said how he acted as a person... and you don't feel comfortable with him running the village, there seems like there's a story there or something deeper if you don't mind my asking?" he spoke with a bit of a raised brow. So much for trying to drop the sentiment, still, she didn't have to answer him if she didn't want to, he'd understand that of course. But he'd wait, for her to throw her fourth kunai and to wait to hear her response.


[537 words, 1144 words total]

Lin threw her fourth kunai, relishing the fact that she had actually made three out of five into the bulls eye. She looked at him and smiled, giggling a bit at her accomplishment. They were dull Kunai, and they were of differing weights, but perhaps she had preoccupied him. When the last kunai she picked up seemed lighter than she had thought, she threw it, it flew completely past the target, sticking into the backboard all the way up to the nylon grip. Lin's eyes bugged out and she smiled....

"Well." She started into a long story, and inhaled to get a good breath of air before she started, knowing it would take a while to explain. "At the time I was a genin, along with a boy named Satoshi. He was 3 years my junior. We were given the task of climbing the stupid Raikage tower, guarded by Chuunin and Special Jounin level guards." She ground her teeth before continuing, "We almost died twice from lightning that struck very near to us. Toshi continued on and didn't know how to get past the guards without fighting them. I used my walking technique to circumvent the ceilings and we had to use distractions to get around. There was a maze on the third floor, and it was a good thing that we had a guide for the latter half of it, seeing as it wasn't like we would have made it through without running into any guards."

She gestured for the boy to come over for more kunai when Maigo was finished with his tossing. She continued with her story after swallowing for a second and squinting at the bullseye. She didn't know what she could get for three bullseyes.

"We were escorted there by a.... he said her name was Navi?" She quirked her eye, "She was way faster than us, way stronger than us, and could take two Genin with her eyes closed. Toshi got tossed around like a rag-doll and somehow I made it out of there. I was almost completely out of chakra, and all because he said that he would demote me to an academy student if I didn't pass his test. And I was, at the time, almost as powerful as a Chuunin." She growled, "To be honest, the rest is sortof fuzzy because I was frustrated that he hurt Toshi on a whim, and wanted to take away my Ninja status as well in the same breath."

WC: 832

Maigo lazily threw his last kunai into the board as he lsitened to her story, barely sticking into the bulls-eye, leaving him with two inside the board. Her story sounded tough, having to climb the Raikage's tower while under threat of higher ranked (though not necessarily more capable?) ninja reining down on them, sounding like the slightest fall or failure could lead to serious injury if not worse. Maigo nodded along, letting Lin call over the boy again for more Kunai, he'd lost so Maigo reached around to grab more ryo from his pocket, not knowing what either of them could win.

Lin continued on and unraveled a few more details about their guide who took them through the maze and the finish of their... well, test or training? She hadn't really delved into the purpose behind it all but in her words that wasn't what truly bothered her but rather the consequences of it all, her teammate injured and the threat against her own status as a ninja. Truth be told Maigo knew a bit about it, though he was never directly threatened or anything of that nature, but he had been subjected to a lot of harsh treatments and training back in Kirigakure.

Maigo would turn towards her as the boy would be approaching to replenish more kunai, Maigo's face held blank as he nodded at the end of her sentence, Maigo would let Lin choose whatever prize she wanted with the two kunai he landed. Still, when it came time to go again Maigo would speak up, "One more to win, then move on to something else or another game?" he continued after Lin would have taken her prize(s) if she wanted any so far, but Maigo was determined to perfection on the next round, leaving more ryo on the counter as the boy continued to set up and tend to things.

When all was said and done, if Lin agreed for one more, the kunai would lay lined out for each of them again, Maigo would take the first one in his hand and flip it around a bit as he hesitated for Lin to make her first throw, he would speak up again referring back to her original story. "But, it sounds like the Raikage is a tough man to deal with, but he had to have had his reasons? I can't imagine he would have put you in so much danger just for training or something like that?" Maigo would tilt an eyebrow and glance towards her for a brief moment before back to the target, with a fierce eye he would release the knife and let it whistle through the air at the target, hitting it exactly dead in the center. "I think it would be rash and irresponsible of a leader to endanger and threaten those under him... that sort of negative reinforcement doesn't help motivate people or make them better in any way." he continued on and smirked at his bulls-eye.


[510 words, 1654 words total]

"I uh... want a... I want the big cat but it's too many bullseyes in a row.. I guess I don't want anything." Lin said, grumbling about the cat that she had her eye on and the faulty Kunai that they were throwing. The new set was set in front of them and she smiled at Maigo, "As for another game, I think so. Perhaps we could catch a goldfish? I have always wanted to raise one, though I think that I should keep it away from Gora.. somehow. Perhaps if I put it in a small enough bowl she won't be able to get her big paws in it." She speculated before he sank a kunai with much relish into the bullseye.

She blinked and looked at it wide-eyed for a bit before tossing hers, Her kunai hit the ring of his, driving his deeper and making hers fly off and over the straw-bails in the back. "Oy, don't throw them over the hay, do you want to kill someone?" The kid grumbled at Lin, "Yes, the maker of these Kunai." Lin grumbled back, too quiet for the youth to hear as he retrieved the one that she had thrown.

"The reason wasn't clear, and we were already exhausted, both from using chakra to get to him, and from our climb and having run through a lightning field. He said he wanted to "test us" but really... it felt like a cruel joke of a test. Satoshi was quite broken when he was hit by that blue-haired woman. And threatening to send someone back to the academy is not a way to motivate anyone, or at least I don't think it is." She chewed her bottom lip and waited for him to throw his next one, "All I am saying is that if I were Raikage I would do things differently... like foreign policy, and the like. But that is just me." She sighed shortly, grumbling something at the end akin to 'but that'll never happen.'

WC: 1197

Lin grumbled and turned down the prizes for now, she wanted the bigger cat and Maigo smirked at it, it would take perfection for him then. Her next suggestion was to go catch a goldfish, a fine idea, but Maigo blinked at the name Gora... oh right! Her cat... yeah, maybe a fish would be a slightly bad idea? He still shrugged it off for the time being and picked up another kunai himself as Lin threw one as well.

Lin's throw was... more entertaining? It hit the kunai already there and flew away behind the hay, the kid yelling at her and her grumbling about it under her breath. Maigo laughed at her for a moment, finding it all a bit funny to say the least. She continued on with her story, all that for a test... Maigo blinked for a moment, the boy away and retrieving the lost knife. The boy turned the corner with the kunai, Lin had paused, he retracted his arm and let this one fly, whistling through the air and landing just above his first kunai in the bullseye. Though the boy was a few feet away, he still jumped a bit, not expecting Maigo to throw it while he was still down there. Maigo smiled a bit, between that and Lin's flying over their barrier, they might get sent off soon enough anyways.

Lin made one last comment though, "All I am saying is that if I were Raikage I would do things differently... like foreign policy, and the like. But that is just me." she grumbled again under her breath, this time though Maigo missed the words, not really catching anything but the noise itself. He smiled a bit and took a step closer to her while/if she were grabbing her next kunai, bumping into her with his arm a little, "That's just you, huh?" he turned his smile into a smirk and moved back a bit.

Reaching for a kunai himself and commenting again, "So does that mean you want to be the Raikage yourself? Walk around and make decisions, wear the big funny hat and all?" He laughed a bit, imagining a hat much too large for Lin's head and a robe way too long given her stature compared to the Raikage and those of legend. He shook his head a bit, giving her a chance to throw the kunai if she would while he would toy with another knife in his hand and wait to see how she would respond.


[426 words, 2080 words total]

"Well, what's wrong if it is just me?" She lowered her voice and took a look around, it was basically treason what she was saying at the moment, and she didn't want to be arrested in her own city. Wait, wasn't there something that was... oddly disturbing about that? Just speaking out against the Raikage could land you in jail. What gives?

She grumbled something, and tossed her Kunai half-heartedly at the target. It landed, weakly, in the wood, tilting downwards. Part of the reason that no one could get anything to stick was there were so many perforations in the wood that they just slid out, the second part was the grain was actually facing down, like a tree, instead of to the side, which would make for maximum grip. Whoever this kid's dad was, he had thought of everything. She balanced the kunai, tip toward her fingertip, on her finger, and looked over at him, "The big hat and robes would have to go, but yes, I would like to be Raikage someday. I just... I think that the people here deserve someone who is around, doesn't take vacations every damn month for about half of the month, and doesn't stir trouble on a whim. The foreign countries are still wanting to kill all Kumogakure citizens because of his mistakes." She said sourly, then imagined herself in the robes and Hat and started to giggle, a little bit at first, but then it turned into a giggle-fest, making her clutch her sides and look at Maigo.

"Could you imagine me in those huge robes and big hat? It would be like I was a mushroom! Everyone would wonder where the Raikage went, and why she put a sack of flour or something like that under the robes." She wiped a tear that came from the giggle-fest out of her eye.

WC: 1572

Maigo smirked a bit as he watched Lin look around, "There's nothing wrong with it, just a little surprising you've thought about it is all..." Maigo flipped the kunai in his hand and threw it as well, watching it wobble in the air before lazily sticking into the bulls-eye again. That was three kunai total for Maigo! Which was a good start but left a crowded board to say the least.

Lin continued on to a scathing review of the Raikage, Maigo's eyes widened and he raised a brow. Part of him never imagined that she would be so... critical of her leader like that, but then again, she was plenty intelligent and understood probably way more than Maigo ever did. Perhaps the criticism was fitting, at the very least, Maigo never wondered about those sorts of things, even an exercise in ethics and morality often gave him a headache from the confusion. Better to leave those things to others, but Lin giggled on at herself, the same mental image of a hat and robes far too big for Lin popped into her head as well. Maigo chuckled along with her, urged on by her own laughter, once he finally calmed down a bit, he would grab both his remaining kunai in hand and throw them both, each splitting away and faltering outside the bulls-eye, he groaned a bit as he couldn't hit the target.

Looking to Lin with a smile to throw her last few kunai or whatever she would have left, Maigo ignoring the boy running the stand to step a bit closer to Lin. His hand lightly falling down to the small of her back and urging her on, "Come on, let's finish up and go to the next game, or event, or... thing..." he spoke with a smile and would step back for her to throw, Maigo would defer his prize to Lin again if she wanted it, otherwise, it would be up to her to win and claim anything if she wanted it. After all was said and done, Maigo would hold out a hand, palm up in front of her, "Lead the way." he would pose and let her take his hand to drag him onto the next game.


[382 words, 2462 words total]
[Exit Thread]

Training:

Lin gave up on trying for the middle of the board, and instead imagined that the board were a person, So the bullseye was the heart... let's aim for the... kidney? She took aim at the bottom left side of the target and let it loose, it flew and stuck to the board, the venom behind it making it stick deeply into the board. There weren't many pock marks where it hit and so it was soundly stuck in there.


"Well, I thought of it because I was wondering if you were going to stay here... with me. Really... because... well I think that you're a nice... er... well I think it would be nice for you to stay. But the Raikage is such an... such a... he is the sort of person that would rather prosecute would be immigrants and build a wall to keep them out than anything. If he could, I am sure that he would devise a way to brand every Kirigakure Ninja for life, and make them all live in a town dedicated to them, and only them. He would herd them into camps and set them all on fire, after working them to death in mining camps. We don't need a Raikage that treats outsiders as if they're criminals from the start. We need one to open up trade and communication, to help the Genin out when they falter, not have draconian methods and expectations that make their frames crack before they're Chuunin."

She smiled a bit at Maigo, a bit of worry behind her eyes as she did, "Though i don't know where you're from, I do know this, if he were to get a hold of you, you can be sure that he would do something like try to glean any information that he could about your home country out of you before letting you go any further with your stay here. It is lucky that he is out. On vacation somewhere."

She grabbed the last three that she had and tossed them, if they had been an anatomical person they would have hit the lung, the throat, and the liver of the person. She was satisfied with herself and looked at his, "Aww so close..." She snapped her fingers and clung to his arm, pressing her chest against him and giggling, "That's alright it is a rigged game anyhow." She giggled, and winked at him, playfully drawing him towards the fishing game. It was a good thing that she had him to help her through the crowd, since he was bigger than she was, and seemed to have a commanding presence in his new kimono. It was getting a bit cooler, so she pressed his arm into her chest harder, making her feel a bit safer and a bit warmer. She really should have brought a jacket, she thought, as she had a cold breeze blow up her dress, chilling her.

They walked for a bit, weaving in and out of people, weaving in and out of faces and places and really dizzying colors until they got to a fish stand. It said, "Goldfish, catch as many as you can before the buzzer, keep the ones you like! Only 100 ryo per play." it seemed a bit of a steep price, but then again, Koi were valued here abovemost other species of fish. Some were even priced at 2 million Ryo, something that Lin had not seen ever in her life, there were Koi that were, apparently, in the Raikage's palace that were so huge that they could swallow a man whole. Lin gulped down a bit of her fear of a fish that could swallow her whole, her bell in her hair jingling as she bobbed her head.

She looked at Maigo, he was really a handsome sight to behold, it was so nice of him to bring her to the festival. She couldn't help her face feeling warm, along with the rest of her body. She squeezed his arm, giggling and humming a bit of a tune that was in her head at the time. It was a love ditty that she had heard on the radio. Perhaps she would find true love here tonight, perhaps not, but she wanted to be in the limelight tonight, she wanted to be there beside Maigo. Perhaps, perhaps she could hook herself a boyfriend before she turned thirty. One that wouldn't run away to Kirigakure, or run off and not leave a note, or use her for just her body. Perhaps, perhaps Maigo was this man. One that could be 'prince charming' to an ugly princess like her.

She pointed to the sign, trying to get Maigo to look at it, "There's a bit of a trick to it, if you haven't tried it before. There are hoops with premade paper nets in them. if you let them sit in the water too long they get soggy and they tear from the weight of the fish, but if you move too quickly the fish swims away. So what you do is you hold it close to them for a while, until they tire out, and then you scoop the poor tired thing into a bag, it's harder than it sounds, and I have never caught one, but some people that have done this game have caught Koi that are now 100 pounds, and worth a fortune. Not that they start out that size." Lin smiled and nodded her head to affirm what she just said, "I wonder how tasty a 100 pound Koi would be. I have had goldfish before, but I can only imagine how tasty one that is a hundred pounds would be."

WC: 2558

|Exit Thread|

Using this to train Senjutsu.

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