Hotaru had just gotten out of the administration's office. He, and others of chunin and higher rank had been called in to the grand meeting hall for an emergency meeting. Evidently, Kiri had been engulfed in a bloody civil war of sorts between a missing ninja known as Seven bells and his army against Kirigakure and her defenders and allies. Sunagakure was evidently on of her allies. The meeting was an hour or so long, information from reconnaissance mostly. They had first informed us of how the war came to be, the missing ninja tried to overtake the Mizukage, with no success. That, in turn sparked the war. Apparently all, or at least most, of the enemy forces where native to Kirigakure. An extreme criss-cross of underground politics and betrayal Hotaru was sure. After all the basics where told, they where ordered to travel to Kiri to assist in the war.

Dismissed, all shinobi where given slips of paper pairing them with another fellow Suna nin. The slip on his paper gave him the name of Chikamatsu, Malacanth. It also gave him a few hours to prepare for the travel and a time to meet at the gates of Suna.

Hotaru went home and gathered whatever belongings he would need, his traveling pack, hat, and cloak and headed to the Suna gates to wait for his new partner. Only being there twenty minutes early Hotaru could see ninja already showing up. They where decked out in all their equipment. Swords, axes, knives, clubs, scrolls, puppets, he seen all of this and much more adorning the various ninja that waited on their own partner. Hotaru only sported his usual wear,a long black Shihakushō worn over white undershirt. This is all held together by a red sash, his bottoms is a white hakama with the lip of the under shirt hanging over it. As accessories he wears ninja mesh, bandages over his forearms, and golden arm bracers on his biceps. Over this he wore a cloak and straw hat that he used for traveling. The only other detail that was slightly out of the ordinary was the small black coffin that was strapped on his back, his iron sand container.

After a half an hour or so most ninja had already embarked on their journey to Kiri, where was his partner?

390/600

Malacanth's first assignment as a recently inducted chuunin would prove to be an interesting one. For some odd reason the Kazekage thought helping the Mizukage in her petty war for the village. Malacanth felt like laughing at the odd request from a group of shinobi with no connection to the situation but the general feeling from his other chuunins and shinobi in general was of seriousness and worry. Malacanth whispered to the chuunin beside him " Why does this matter." The shinobi seemed shocked and almost outraged at his question and told him to shut up. Malacanth shrugged and returned to listening to the briefing.

At the end Malacanth was told to prepare for a trip to kirigakure. He let out a huge sigh which could of been heard by everyone in the administration office and took his slip. A shinobi by the name of Hotaru would be the poor soul traveling with him. As people dispersed and he tried to move he was shoved around a couple times by some angry shinobi for no reason whats so ever. Did he do something to piss them off? When he finally reached his house near the Chikamatsu compound, he started doing maintenance for Perfection. He didn't know when he would see combat and didn't want to die because he was unprepared. This also helped him relax from the tenseness of the situation. The conflict itself didn't worry him at all but the chance of dying did. Perfection was far from perfect and he couldn't die before making it so. When maintenance was complete he put Perfection on his back and left his house.

He was a half hour late by the time he got to the rendezvous point for partners. He showed up in his usual garb of a lab coat and jeans, making him one of the odder dressed shinobi still left. He could of looked at one of the few people left who didn't seem to have found their partners but that would be to hard. Far more easy to just scream out " Hotaru! Hurry up and come over here!" He got a couple of side glances from the shinobi and even one or two looks of disgust. Why did people find it odd for him to be looking for his partner?
388/600 words

From out of nowhere came a stray voice, "Hotaru! Hurry up and come over here!" He gave a few glances and found the source of the outburst. It was from a shinobi that appeared to have a puppet on his back. Hotaru recalled a clan that centered strictly around puppets but had forgotten their name, Chikamatsu seemed to be it. The boy sported a white lab coat and a pair of glasses, a black shirt, blue pants and closed toes shoes. A rather unusual garb for shinobi but he payed it no mind. As long as this Malacanth could carry his own weight and lend a hand if needed, he could dress up in whatever garb he wanted.

Hotaru walked over to his new partner, "You're rather late, Malacanth. Lets go." His tone wasn't hate or spite filled, annoyed or pissed-off, it was as if he was indifferent and bored sounding. So with no more words spoken, he pivoted and began crossing the vast expanse of the Sunagakure desert.

390+169=559 /600

Malacanth smirked as his apparent partner showed himself to the crazed puppeteer. The man seemed to be a normal shinobi, wearing what Malacanth assumed was traveling garb. while he scrutinized his partner, the other teams quickly left, for some reason this would happen wherever he went. Maybe people were in awe of his very presence, he couldn't think of any other reason. " So Hotaru, thanks for keeping ME waiting, lets go and finish this stupid civil war." He then laughed at the idiotic idea of helping people fighting themselves. With some more side glances from the few shinobi left, he left for the wide open desert. It was going to be a long journey.
503/600

His partner was trying to make small talk, he was a rather odd fellow. Outgoing, weird, a bit annoying, nothing Hotaru had not dealt with before. Hotaru was a patient, studious, cautious ninja with ample reserves of patience. Dealing with the kid was no problem, if he had to keep him out of trouble, that would be another story altogether.  As Hotaru pivoted, he heard his partner make a comment about 'finishing the civil war', it was rather arrogant of him, and a bit rude to think that a war, be it civil or not, could be ended so easily. "Although it may be a civil war, no war  ends easily, especially for the parties involved. Us being ninja, there is a strong possibility that some of the shinobi going will not be returning home to Sunagakure. It is shameful that Kirigakure could not put down their problems single handedly and asked for aid. In my opinion, we owe Kirigakure nothing, the same way i owe Sunagakure nothing. But as a ninja of the village, i'm obligated to follow an order." Hotaru would let that sink into Malacanth's skull, he had given him a small bit about himself. No more would be said from Hotaru until the war torn walls of Kirigakure where in sight.

600+/600

Malacanth's compatriot proved to be a quiet one, just listening to the occasional ranting of the mad puppeteer. When Malacanth was finally able to get a burst of thought from the man, it was interesting. Most people would hate his cynical attitude and tell him something about duty or loyalty to Sunagakure. Hotaru though, simply wanted to follow orders and even seemed to share his view of disgust about the inability of Kirigakure to not being able to solve something as petty as civil war. The man's lack of will showed though as he refused to speak about politics further. " Following the will of a village isn't very healthy dear Hotaru. Be a bit more free thinking and liberate yourself from being a common foot soldier. Otherwise you'll just end up weak and imperfect!" He said the last part a bit more eccentric than usual and then returned to the great expanse of sand.

After a couple of days of travel, the two finally reached the border between Kirigakure and Sunagakure. As they had made good time, other shinobi of their village were near and crossing the border too. Malacanth, bored as usual, tried to strike up another conversation " So Hotaru dear, want to take a break or go straight through into the broken village's land? "
724/600-ready to leave
(tell me if you didn't want to skip those couple of days)

"I'd rather go straight through the gates." Hotaru said nonchalantly. As he and his partner began the walk to its gates, Hotaru could not help but come back to their previous conversation." Following the will of a village isn't very healthy dear Hotaru. Be a bit more free thinking and liberate yourself from being a common foot soldier." The kid was right in his statement, but not of Hotaru, he did not care for the will of his village, but he was not a delinquent. "You're wrong you know", Hotaru would let a moment pass before he continued. "I don't pledge any allegiance to Sunagakure, nor do i care to do its bidding. But i am not stupid either, defying an order results in death. It would be a shame for one to die before reaching their apex, don't you think?"

Malacanth absent mind-idly listened to his partner while studying the architecture of the gate. From what he knew of Kirigakure it fit well. Intimidating towers and the gate itself looking like it holds more than its fair share of secrets, he almost considered for a second to explore the area to waste some time. When his partner was done speaking about it being suicide ignoring the Kazekage, he finally spoke up. " The best shinobi of old didn't listen to every order you know.Often times the free thinkers would prove to make the most difference. So many say loyalty is the only way through life but sometimes chaos is so much better, not to mention fun. This war brought in chaos which mobilized hundreds of ninjas and many will die. The couple who make the difference will be remembered in time immortal to be great ninjas and war heroes. They will be hailed as heroes for their quick thinking and people like you and me who followed orders will die without anyone caring. That is why not listening to your village isn't suicide and waiting to reach apex won't work. The people who reach their apex are the ones who will disobey and follow their own path to perfection, ok Hotaru dear?"
(word count reached and sorry for the wall of dialogue)

Hotaru listened to his partner while still continuing his walk to the battle scarred gates of Kirigakure. His viewpoint was intriguing to say the least. Although it differed from most ninja, Hotaru included, it was not like the usual banter of patriotism that most spewed out of their maw. It was a nice change of pace. But in Hotaru's mind, his reasoning was flawed, incomplete in its layout. "I see our viewpoints differ and you have still not fully grasped mine. I do not say it is suicide to oppose orders, simply idiotic. Yes, the shinobi of old did deviate from their orders from time to time, but they held irrevocable patriotism to their village; something I, and apparently you, lack. I will not wait to reach my apex, i will achieve it on my own, regardless of the leash Sunagakure has placed on ninja like us. I will oppose them, but like all things, they come in good time."

Malacanth didn't like the idea of waiting but otherwise, it seemed they were similar in ideals. Both wished to oppose the current order in some way, the reason behind it fairly different though. " I guess in the end we both want some form of chaos in the world, you not specifically saying it but rebelling against a village would create it. I won't pretend to understand the reasoning Hotaru dear, but do know if you are ever going to create some chaos, let me know." Their talk on philosophy seemed to be over sadly as they stood in front of the walls. " Seems abandoned, guess everyone is trying to defend the inside, lets join the cannon fodder and end this quickly." Malacanth unlatched his puppet and walked in, hopefully with Hotaru following.
-exit-