I hate crowds.

It was the first thought that came to the young Uchiha’s mind as he rounded the corner onto the street where the village’s Grand Bazaar sat. It was packed with people all bustling about, lost in their own worlds of thought. Each of them had their own goal, their own reason for being here that day; Kuno wished they had all just stayed home. Sighing, the nineteen year old waded into the sea of bodies that filled the large market area. He had come to the Grand Bazaar today with one goal of his own in mind: find a sword to purchase as his own. Kuno had spent a great deal of time and energy of the past nine years learning the art of Kenjutsu, and now that he was finally a full fledged Genin of Sunagakure no Sato, he had decided that it was time to purchase a blade of his own. That way he could stop borrowing the poor excuses for swords that the academy would have granted him for a nearly non-existent price. His mother had given him a decent sum on ryo as a graduation gift and he was ready to spend it; even if it did not get him a masterwork blade, at least he would have something to start his career as a ninja.

As he walked on, pushing through the swathes of people that seemed to saturate the entire area, he glanced up at the morning sun. It’s going to be another scorching hot day today…who would have guessed. He shook his head and chuckled to himself as he looked down at his outfit, a standard one for the Uchiha. He was wearing his sandals, which was about the only thing that made sense for him to wear. On top of that he had a pair of black pants on with a red strip that ran down the left leg. For a shirt, he had only a white sleeveless shirt on, which would have been alright on its own. But on top of that Kuno had donned his black, hooded jacket, which was currently open, for the heat of the day. He reached up and adjusted his forehead protected, hoping that hacing it out like it was would make people move a little it. After all, he thought to himself, I'm a shinobi of this village now...that means people will respect me a little more. Right?

The young shinobi continued his way through the crowd, trying his hardest to find somewhere that he could buy a weapon of some sort. He knew where most of the blacksmiths had shops on the huge market area, but as he glanced around, he found that he had become hopelessly lost in the sea of faces that swirled around him. I. Hate. Crowds. Now beginning to get ever so slightly angry, Kuno pushed his way past the people forcefully, hoping that he could simply get to the edge of the crowd somewhere. Eventually, he broke through the edge of where yet hopeful more people were forcing their way into the Grand Bazaar. Kuno shook his head and stepped over to a nearby stack of crates, hopping up on them to sit and regain his composure before venturing back into the chaos before him.

He sighed yet again, glancing at the crowd he had escaped on his left, and then over to the more empty streets on his right. And here I was hoping this would be a quick trip…


WC: 592

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“Tch." The child would click her tongue against the roof of her mouth, expressing obvious annoyance towards these kinds of overpopulated areas, such as the Grand Bazaar. Every inch of the place was crawling with civilian and shinobi alike, far too many people for her liking. If anything, a ninja such as herself should be granted a red carpet of sorts through place like this. She was considering the option of just jumping up on a rooftop and traveling that way, but that might have been a bit too extreme for something simple as this, even for her. Whatever the case was, she had two very important tasks at hand in the Grand Bazaar today. First, she had to track down a puppet hardware store to pick up a few things for her father. Second, was to find the absolutely amazing doughnuts her older brother was talking about yesterday. He didn’t mention the exact bakery, but if Aoi were to simply get a whiff of them being made, she would know right away.  

The crowd was relentless towards the Kunoichi, shoving and pushing her small body around as if she were nothing but a sand bag. However, this was not enough to stop Aoi’s pursuit, as she had important duties to fulfill. The child continued to push her way through the crowd, stomping her bare feet into the hot sand below and pushing at the waists of the countless people swarming around her. Eventually, she would find her way through the overly large crowd and pop out the other end, falling face first onto the ground and losing her sun-hat. As she picked herself up, she would spit out the sand that had gotten into her mouth and then fixate her headband. “I guess that takes care of that.” she would mutter under her breath, distancing herself from the mob.

A sigh of relief would escape her mouth as she finally had room to move around, that and she caught sight of her lost hat. ‘I wonder what that huge crowd back there was all about..’ Aoi would think to herself, placing a prosthetic finger on her chin, pacing towards the hat on the ground. Picking it up, she would notice that her white sundress had been sullied due to the trip back there, which was unfortunate, but at the same time it was her own fault for wearing white in the first place. Glancing up from the ground, she would meet eyes with a man that easily doubled her height. He had black hair with red highlights, a white shirt, and black pants. All that, and a shinobi headband to go along with it, revealing that he was also a ninja, much like herself. Her expression would instantly shift into a much more serious tone, not to show aggression, but to match that of how a ninja’s expression SHOULD be. At Least, that was what the elite in her clan instructed her to do. “Hey.” she would mutter under her breath, waving her artificial hand towards his direction.

WC - 513

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“All of this crap just to get the sword I need...why can’t anything be easy?” Kuno was lamenting to himself as he prepared to venture back into the abyss that was the churning crowd before him. He looked up at it once again, just in time to see one of the strangest things he had ever witnessed. Out of the crowd, being launched out as if from a cannon, was a young girl who landed face first on the ground while her sun hat fluttered off toward the young Uchiha. Kuno’s jaw dropped for a moment, appalled at what had just happened, before watching the girl stand.

She could not have been older than ten years old, but was probably younger judging by her height. She was petite to say the least. Her hair was long and blonde, falling down to the middle of her back, and she wore a while sundress that was now dirty thanks to the fall she had taken. But most surprising of all of the details was the Sunagakure headband that she wore, identifying her as a kunoichi of the Village Hidden in the Sands. Kuno could not help but shake his head and glace up at his own forehead protector. Here he was, a nineteen year old man that had just become a Genin; and before him, spilling onto the street, was a ten year old girl of the same rank. If that’s not humbling, I don’t know what is.

He looked back over to where the girl had been, and noticed that she had finally caught up to her lost hat. As she stood up and noticed Kuno for the first time, the Uchiha watched as her expression hardened to that of a serious nature, not like kid should have. “Hey.” She muttered quietly, waving a hand in his direction. Following the hand with his eyes, Kuno noticed that it was slightly paler than the rest of her skin, and that the fingernails were black unlike her other hand. A prosthetic arm? So she must be a Ningyou then. Well that explains a lot. But it was not enough to stop the stinging of Kuno’s pride. Finally, the shinobi responded. “Hey yourself. I hope you’re alright after that fall kid. Though I assume you’re fine considering that headband you wear.” He hopped off of the crate that he had been perched upon, extending a hand to the girl in greeting. “I’m Kuno Uchiha. It’s always nice to run into a fellow ninja. Especially in a place like this.” He shook his head, glancing back up at the crowd. “Are you having a tough time getting through that mess too? I mean I just came here to buy a sword and I can’t even do that much without getting lost in that mess. Though if you need some help as well, well maybe we could team up on this?”

He chuckled to himself, surprised that he was chatting like this with such a young girl. Thank goodness she’s a ninja or this would be an interesting conversation to explain to the people around here. That’s the last thing I need right now.

WC: 541+592=1133

OOC:

With the young girl seemingly not responding and staring at him very sternly, Kuno hopped off of the crate an shrugged. “If you don’t want to that’s col too. I’m going to try to get back in there though.” With that he walked over to the side of the crowd and began to push his way through the sea of people in the Grand Bazaar once again.

It took him the better part of an hour, but eventually he was able to force his way through the crowds until he found himself in front of a weapons shop, seemingly by chance. He took a moment to look over the wares, trying to decide what kind of sword would be best for his style of fighting. He was torn between a miao dao and a katana, weighing the pros and cons of both options for some time before finally opting to purchase the one handed blade. It was not anything special by any means. It was rusted and looked a lot more dull than some of the available swords. But it was the only one that he could afford, so without further ado, a paid the man running the shop and left with his brand new weapon.

[Exit Thread]

WC:209+1133=1342

Training

C-Rank jutsu: Silhouette Technique (影法師の術 ~ Kagebōshi no Jutsu) (1000/1000)

Unused WC: 342