“Yes, I definitely will, have a good day sir!” Kumogakure had quite an interesting amount of talkative people; at least, that’s what I had noticed based on the little time I had spent in the village. Despite having quite an active population who spent more time doing things than not doing them, chill places where people usually socialized were always packed, no matter what time of the day we were talking about. Elder men would come in groups to play board games usually destined for sharper, younger ones, though those people were usually playing tag outside those same social areas; women would come alone or with someone, but strangely rarely in large groups, who knows why. Nonetheless, it seemed as though having such a prestigious, high-profile event taking place in the village stimulated activity in social areas, where other people like me liked to hang out. Truth was that I did not come to Kumo for the coffee, or for tourism, or anything of that matter; I was asked by a higher-up in the village to come down and see what experienced genin and future chuunin fought like, and the obedient person I was did not disagree to that idea. “Of course, yes, sure, anything you say.” The latter were some of the words that often came out of my mouth when asked to do something by someone who had power over me.

But I didn’t really follow through those instructions. It was true that I spent quite a bit of time observing and interacting with shinobi that I deemed to be much more capable than I was, but I spent most of my time here, at this coffee shop. Again, normal people were just so much more interesting than shinobi, who were often either one-dimensional or a bit too outspoken, although this is a bit ironic coming from a shinobi who’s neither one of those things. I did meet a few local ones during my time at Daisuke’s, a nice coffee shop where I went mostly for their tea, which I considered to be pretty bad but still decent enough to go down my throat. Nothing better to wake oneself up, to be completely honest. Many people actually enjoyed it though, but most of Daisuke’s ‘loyal customers’, so-to-speak, did not eat much down there. I do remember one time I met this one chapess (nobody uses that word anymore, but it sounds even more classy than its masculine counterpart, fellow) down at the shop, on a Monday evening. Our conversation wasn’t ridiculously meaningful or anything, after all we were shinobi and not scholars, but it was fun to just talk about nothing every now and then; not every conversation needed a meaning in order to be meaningful. Shit, that was pretty deep. Might keep this one for later, it could definitely be a good thing to say in 40 years or so, when I’m old, rotten and not-that-wise. Anyways, back to the conversation. It started with a pretty conventional “Hey, there, what brings you here?” coming from none other than me, who tried to sound as casual as possible. If you saw what happened to the other guy yesterday, you would try to sound casual too in my opinion.

540

Masu sat herself down, looking upon most of the crowd she spent her time studying the crowds of people overloaded with heaps of new comers from the recently destroyed Land of Wind and the fact that the Chunnin Exams was being hosted here meant even more people flooded the streets. Masu just closed her eyes trying to surround herself in silence from all of the noise and smells peaking into her ears and nose. Masu could sense the smallest movements and steps and could feel the wind brushing against her gentle skin, she quickly noticed an aroma of green tea something for her to die for.

She entered a small little shop which seemed to be packed with elder men playing old board games and trying to test some of the new kids with a smaller social areas around, by the looks of the area there barely seemed like any women where near by if any at all. Eyes flocked around and she noticed the few stares of either flirtation or judgement from people who she deemed as regulars or just perverts. Masu didn't care she sat herself down and ordered a green tea, having herself one of the first times of her being able to relax from her massive amounts of training and exploration she had done from the Land of Wind. Masu re countered her traces and steps from the past few days of travelling and numerous amounts of target practice and fighting and mainly using her eyes in a new manner for better usage. She closed her eyes and re-opened her eyes lightning up with red sparkles in a blue tinge overflowing through her eyes. A huge slam arrived in front of her from a single man placing down a tea pot seeming upset by Masu's presence, yet she quickly lifted her head and smiled and tilted with her glowing eyes and the man quickly change his tone and mood and seemed to smile and lighten up a little. "Thanks for the green tea sir!" Masu thanked the chef paying extra Ryo towards the chef who seemed pleased.

Masu slowly noticed a boy sitting next to her, seeming intriguing and enjoying the life like environment around him, the boy turned towards Masu and asked her a generic and casual conversation starter. "
I mean what brings everyone else here at the moment, the Chunnin Exams, take a look around you, everyone is so involved in it the whole village has been parading over it." Masu took another sip of her green tea looking back into her cup, asking the boy a question. "What about you huh, are you partaking in the exams?" Masu smiled and a small smile rose from her face listening for the boys answer. "Before,
you answer that question, let me deal with one thing first" Masu's eyes quickly lit up in the bright area even more, a man kept pressing up against her seeming to voluntarily either trying to rob her or trying to touch her in a sexual manner, Masu quickly turned around hitting the man in the head who quickly hit the floor in a swift motion just from one punch.
The crowd stopped in the heat of the moment the crowd going silent until he hit the ground and quickly cheered, it seemed the man had already been known for being a rat already.
"Anyway, sorry to keep you waiting, but what brings you here?" Masu looked at him twirling her hair and drinking her green tea.

WC = 590