Kisei had just about finished the new shop location, lacking only a sign and any form of reputation to his name. But who cares? He was on an assignment given to him by the Hokage himself. Saying goodbye to his resident legal guardian, Shouto, as he took his sealing scroll and swept his signature umbrella over his shoulder. Propping it open when he stepped out the door. “Watch over the shop while we're gone. Alright Shouto?”

The red headed Sumiko nodded his head. Pausing, he took a double take. “We're?”

Kisei shrugged it off like he hadn't heard the jounin. Closing the door promptly in their face, already moving through the village towards the camps outside of the Konohagakure.

Shouto had been a great help keeping company and all but he doubted that they could help him with his current troubles. To his a few moments before, a memory stood by the Ushinatta. A sweet one, but the visage was coated in tragedy and 'not to be's'. A reminder of what he lost and can't Kisei shook his head violently. Now wasn't the time for self pity, he still had people he had to interview, and more importantly; protect.

The Ushinatta waved a greeting to the wall guards as he left the village hidden in the leaves.

Kisei had to admit that the sand refugees had done pretty well for themselves, so far. Building sizable homes capable of housing multiple families. Sturdy stuff too. There was an abundance of small shops and stands lining the sides of the road. Something like a semi-permanant market. Anything from hand crafted clay statues to bear dolls could be spotted around. The sheer abundance hiding what everyone secretly knew.

They were falling apart.

Despite being welcomed to the Hidden Leaf Village a good majority of the former sand residents had trouble blending in well with their new environment. The skills they possessed in the harsh desert environment not completely meshing well with the abundant forest. Most didn't even know what kind of jobs there were to be found here. Sure they were welcomed here, but they were mostly left to deal with the situation on their own. Relying on their will power to get them out of this situation. The struggle was starting to wear down on both sides here.

Though that was why he was here wasn't he? To help create a bond between Sand and Leaf? Sorta. He was just the interviewer. The guy they hired to listen to people's grievances, sadly he didn't have much patience when it came to missions like this one. He'd just have to bear with this for now.

Walking to his old advertisement stand for his, at the time, nonexistent shop, Kisei seated himself behind the sad wooden mimic of a lemonade stand. One by one the usual customers piled in, checking in on orders they placed in earlier last week. One by one he explained that he just finished building his shop and that all the orders have been bumped up a day or three while he finished polishing up the equipment. They'd nod their heads understandingly, though they were a bit disappointed that their roof or the high tech screw driver wasn't going to make an appearance just yet.

He'd ask them before they left. "Before you go though, mind sharing your thoughts on how the Konohagakure could help a bit more? Anything that comes to mind."

A number of responses came. A good chunk of them wanted proper housing but were willing to let Kisei handle that part. The food rations were another, understandably, popular one. Kisei shivered at the memories of the food he had while he still lived here. Not that it wasn't edible... Just that no one's stomach was used to food from an entirely different continent... So many soggy nights, my gosh.

But mostly what these people wanted were jobs. That pay check at the end of the week that said that they were still useful, that what they did mattered. A feeling he could emphasize with. Despite the dread empathy Kisei felt for them he waved each good bye with a reassuring smile that their input could change the conditions around them. By God did he feel like such a liar.

He hoped that someone else would stop by so he had an excuse to take a break early. 'Compare notes' and all that. Anything to give him a break from the guilt.

762

In the midst of his thoughts he had nearly overlooked a visitor approaching his stand. They seemed muddled by the sheer volume of adjacent people around them. Obviously new to this area. Kisei noted wearily. They were young, probably younger than he was at second glance. They moved closer as the crowd forced them forward. Please no, God no, I don't wanna deal with cut- and they're here. Right in front of me. Nervous and flushed. End my life.

Kisei watched tiredly as they complemented his stand. "Thank you. It took a considerable amount of time, theft and patience to craft." He answered blandly. Not bothering to correct his lie of theivery.

The Ushinatta boy tried to keep his face neutral as he studied the new comer. Trying to keep his usually insatiable desires on lid, was surprisingly easy when the subject of his attention was a child compared to him. Kisei glanced a spare look to the river of people behind him and back to the boy again. Seems for now they'll be tagging along. Ugh. He left the spare seat at the house. Rolling his eyes he moved off his pedistal and took a seat on the side of his stand. Legs crossed and umbrella opened above him, resting the pole on his shoulder.

"Well judging by your looks you're a Konoha native." He gave a hearty pat to the tall stool behind the hand crafted stand. "Take a seat, and we can take for a bit until the crowd dies down. Maybe if it clears up enough we can get you a light lunch. No worries, I don't bite." He finished, hiding his small smirk with the shade of the umbrella.

"Ah. It's one of you dragon people." Kisei hummed, a bit more interested than before. When he had come to the Konohagakure in his tiny caravan with Shouto, Kisei decided that he needed to brush himself up on the unique chakra bearers of this land; i.e clans. While he had familiarized himself with the vast majority of clans in the village it didn't guarantee his depth of knowledge about any of them. The Kimura was an easy case however. Their history deeply engrained with that of the village, much like the Uchiha and the Senju, although not quite as extensive as that. Though they were still integral parts of the Hidden Leaf Village. Keeping close ties with the village after generations after all this time. 'The foresty mountains house a den of dragons' he mused. These Kimura folk were originally inhabitants of the lands in modern day Iwagakure. They were introduced to the power of chakra, which, coupled with their ritual of self immolation, was believed to develope their modern Kekkei Genkai. Comparing this to other antromorphic clans wasn't an equal comparison but it did validate his earlier belief that chakra greatly accelerated the evolutionary process. Even within one's lifetime. Something impossible without the use of chakra. Ah. While he could honestly go on with on his train of theories and musings he had a customer, not customer(?), to deal with.

"And that, you are correct I am not a native to this world; and yes, you rather do stick out quite a bit here especially considering the local population of this area." Kisei answered slyly. The recent musing of his theories on chakra helping to lighten his mood. Though the Ushinatta still had to hold himself from snapping at the boy when he tried guessing his name. "The name is Kisei Ushinatta, please just call me Kisei though, I'm not that old." He motioned dismissively. "Also don't go looking for my clan anywhere, you're not going to find it's history from any books here and I'm not going to tell you. Today that is." Kisei finished. Shrugging. Truth be told he wasn't even sure if Alpha managed to save the collection of books he was writing about their history. He had managed to write down what he knew from their time in that world, but the funny thing was how easily fire could erase all of that. Speaking of fire...

The Ushinatta raised the umbrella slightly, making eye contact with Kimura boy and giving him a good scan over. 'Hm... I wonder how dragons are in the be-' alright next question, he interrupted himself. Besides the Kimura heritage this one had, it was a bit disorienting to even see one here, within the bowels of the Sunagakure refugee psuedo-village. Now that he thought about it, this was pretty suspicious. After all, who actually comes here of their own free will unless they weren't already a refugee or administrative ambassador? It was worth a question. "So what brings you so far into refugee territory? Most don't come here without good reason, the scent of desert is usually enough to keep Leaf villagers away."