The place almost looked familiar to him.












Taede sat here, in the atrium of the Hidden Temple. What would be the ceiling in most places was the floor here. Engraved....美空れいかはここ死亡しし (Misora Reika-wa koko shibōshi - Here Died Misora Reika)

So this was where the Raikage was. What was she doing here, of all places...? Taede thought on it for a small time, but only came to the conclusion that it was a good place to think. It was so quiet....serene, even. A few clouds drifted through the open-air architecture. This place was visited so rarely...he could see it by the layers of dust on some of the more airtight rooms. Only a bit of wandering he'd done in the temple, as the atrium was the safest way to be aware of others and to exit....not to mention avoiding a semblance of suspicion.

So he sat, in the half-Lotus position, in the center of this tall room. It was almost empty here....a sad place to be, when he could have visited the densely populated Hidden Cloud and enjoyed himself. Feasted a bit, partaken in jovial activities with his peers (villagers and not). For some reason, he just felt like a sense of tranquil vacuity was in order. In-hale, ex-hale.....breathe in....and out. It was alright.

[240]

Deeper within the Hidden Temple confinement, in one of the rooms branching off from the main corridors, there stood Nanashi. Eye, serpent-like in shaped swept over priceless artifacts scattered across the room. Though they were not carelessly thrown to the waist side like a child does a forgotten toy, they, however, were arranged in a manner that held little meaning to him, but probably much to those who placed them like that.  Taking another look around the small room, having stayed long enough, Nanashi left it, the only evidence of him being there were the barely noticeable footprints left on the dusty floors.

Moving through the twisted hallways, remembering the way he came, he found his way back to the main hallway. Steps as light as a feather, and as quiet as an owl in flight transversed the dusty hallway; eyes being trained images depicted along the walls and columns past. The imaginary shown were all but faded by cruelness that's time with barely anything except a faint outline visible to the untrained eye. It's only with trained eyes could one seen the pictures in more details, colors, having thought gone was only faded, and visible, just covered in dust; aspects of certain depicted animals, people, and other objects, once thought had been eroded completely were there, just faintly so.

Once the stale air was no more as Nanashi got closer to the main, center room of the temple. Standing at the entrance of the hallway, his eyes locked onto the figure, a teenager, meditating in the center of the room.

"I'm surprised to find someone else found this place. ", he spoke leaning against one of the pillars at the end of the hallway he just came from. "Came to pay respects or just for meditation?"  

---

[310]

The atrium filled with more cloud-cover, near the ceiling (or was it the floor...?) as time passed for the young man. His mind was finally empty....yes, this was a state he could get used to. Taede had been meditating late-ly, but he couldn't quite grasp it until now. That is, he was un-aware of what, exactly, one was supposed to be aiming for. Zan-shin, an empty mind, was exactly the state he was longing to achieve. He liked people, he really did....but this sort of non-thinking was an interesting way to be. He was always pretty acute in his senses, but, as a Genin, that was....relative at best. So, naturally, he was totally inept in detecting the stranger that spake from his aft. He was still in the half-Lotus position, and upon hearing speech, he did not exactly jolt or flinch, but rather put down the leg that was slightly stretched, aligned across the opposite thigh; he was now simply cross-legged.

"I'm surprised to find someone else found this place. Came to pay respects or just for meditation?"  

An almost wistful sigh came from Taede; not dreading another's presence, but rather dreading the question, or, only perhaps, his own answer. May-be simply the lack there-of.


A fleeting chuckle followed that quip. He un-cross'd his legs and put his feet flat on the floor, lifting himself up with only lower-body, rather than using his hands to help himself to a standing position. His gaze drifted towards the higher reaches of this room, obscured by a thick vapor. It was only after this that he turned around to face the source of the dictation, his head's angle drifting back down to normal eye-level as he turn'd. A small, faint smile graced his countenance at that point.


[370~

Nanashi expected the stranger to flinch or jolt from the unexpected voice intruding on his meditation, however, it was mildly interesting to note not seeing any of such from the young man. If he, Nanashi, didn't know any better, he would've thought that the stranger was aware of his presence before the first syllable could come forth from his mouth. He knew that couldn't be possible, unless of course the stranger had a sensory ability powerful enough to eclipse his own stealth, he made sure to not make any noise during his walk down the corridors; therefore, he was left with the conclusion that perhaps the stranger just wasn't surprise about not being alone: Maybe he expected someone to show up?

"I....suppose one thing led to another, in any circum-stance, mm... I've just been looking for a place away from the Exams and related activities. Participating and all, I don't need much more immersion."

The stranger's statement gave Nanashi much insight onto who he had stumbled upon sitting in the middle of the larger room. First and furthermost, here was someone, a genin, who came here, to Kumogakure, for the Chuunin exams to participate in them. And sought out a place of solitude to get away from the commotion of incoming merchants, feudal lords, and other foreign dignitaries and shinobis that were converging onto the lands. The chuunin hopefully came here, to the temple, to get away from the distractions brought on by such an event.

Nanashi didn't bother in making a verbal reply to the stranger's statement, only nodding his head in understanding.

"And yourself? It's a rarity, apparently, for aught to inhabit or visit, for any amount of time."

Shifting his weight a little and getting more comfortable, as comfortable as one can get while leaning on a pillar, Nanashi answered the stranger's question "I had heard some rumors about this place. ", gaze turning towards the engravement of the former Raikage "That this was the resting place of Misora Reika. The last place to see her alive, and to watch her die. So, I wanted to see so for myself."

Tearing his gaze away from the engraving Nanashi spoke once more, introducing himself to the genin "I'm Guanyin Nanashi, Sannin of Iwagakure no Sato. And you are?. . . ."

---

393(703)

The person he spoke to was seemingly rather settled here; Taede would have guessed he'd been around for awhile. It was his hope, at least in some internal way, that he wasn't watching the Koizumi for his entire stay here. The atrium was far from the only place here, but the Genin had chosen to stay in here so he wouldn't get lost. There were some things that one simply needed to do, and these Exams were one of those things. He couldn't afford to be absent for them due a simple mishap like being trapped in a temple on the underside of a cliff. No, no, that would not do.

At any rate, the man, who had long crew-cut hair, almost pearlescent, stood as serenely as one could leaning on a support beam. He was rather lax in his body positioning, notably. It was a stark contrast, for sure, against Taede at the moment. He was a bit rigid from having been in a meditative pose (they were less relaxing to the body than to the mind). Not to mention, Taede's clothes were a bit unkempt, wrinkled; the man's were prim and crisp in looks.

"I had heard some rumors about this place. . . .That this was the resting place of Misora Reika. The last place to see her alive, and to watch her die. So, I wanted to see so for myself. . . .I'm Guanyin Nanashi, Sannin of Iwagakure no Sato. And you are?. . . ."

That explained things. He knew that Taede wasn't a threat, most like-ly. Either that was the case, or he was simply so sure of his own abilities as one of the strongest ninja in the Hidden Stone Village.


He stood now, completely facing the Iwa Sannin, looking as best he could up at him into the eyes or in the general facial area....he was completely dwarfed, to be honest. Most ninja in their prime were around his age, and to think that there was this much of a height gap....it was a bit absurd, to be honest. Almost an entire foot separated the crest of each of their heads. He started a small chuckle, but then burst out.


He put his hands and arms up in an almost helpless shrug, still chuckling a little.

[525~

How long had he been wandering the temple's other rooms, before stumbling, not by accident, the main hallway leading him back to the center room where one of the few visible exits were? Seconds? Minutes? Hours? Tim flowed together without pause, leaving him without any knowledge on how long he actually was exploring the deeper aspects of the particular pantheon. Although, he mentally shrugged, time restraints weren't important to him today. He didn't have any of importance planned for the time being, only to explore Kumogakure no Sato in full. He can deal with his personal problems later; when they show up. Despite not caring about the current time, he still glanced out of the architecture, trying to discern it; truly a fruitless endeavor due to the sun not being viewable from his angle. However, the rays pouring through the openings, illuminating everything within its reach, at least told him the sun hadn't gone down yet: day was still present.

Turning his attention back to the genin before him, Nanashi took the time to actually access the young man. Superficial appearance aspects aside, boy' body appeared to be a bit rigid, either from being on guard, expecting a sudden attack from Nanashi, or because of something else entirely, the Guanyin male didn't know. Eyes of a predator, yellow in coloration and serpentine in shape, scrutinized his stance, looking for any potential weakness and opens that could be exploited. He found them, quite a few of them exactly, easily exploitable by someone of a higher caliber.

What was the point in looking for the holes while in a none hostile situation? It goes back to a belief Nanashi held before his time as a genin of Iwagakure no Sato. Having seen the evil in man, him being one example of it, Nanashi came to learn to always be on guard, even in peaceful situation, for you might not be thinking murderous thoughts, those in the room just might be figured out how to get away with killing you. No matter how safe a situation might seem, there is always someone plotting your murder, and you need to be prepared for that at all times.

Those beliefs he carries is evident in him today. For while he's posture might be lax, his right arm, slightly hidden behind the pillar had one of his primary weapons, an overlarge senbon, lightly gripped in hand. His left hand, seemingly limp to his side, was actually incredibly close to a hidden weapon pouch that held the other senbon. So even if Taede wanted to act, Nanashi would be ready for him.

"M.mm....I have to say, I heard that she didn't really rest at all. I don't know if it's true, but rumors in the Sand say that she was murdered and never seen again even after she was kill'd. Ah...Incidentally, you probably may have guessed, but I'm a Suna-gakure no Sato Genin. My name is Koi...zumi Taede."

He also heard the rumor of the former Raikage demise at the hands of an unknown assailant with her body never being recovered nor seen. Yes, Nanashi remember exactly when the reports of the incident came in some time ago. "You are right, I did assume such, but of course I could have been wrong,", he said though he doubted his early guess was wrong.  Pondering on the now named Taede's surname, Nanashi couldn't recall ever running into any with that particular name, therefore, until proven otherwise, the name was meaningless to him.

Staring at, more like down, Taede, the boy being a good deal shorter than him, although this wasn't surprising considering a lot of people were shorter than him, Nanashi wonder why he, Taede, started chuckling before bursting out in full-blown laughter. The unspoken question was answered momentarily. . .

M-hmhmmhm-hm....ba-ahahaha-ha! No wonder I focus so much on non-percussive attacks. I'm not made for any damage output...I'm barely made for taking punishment as it is. Haaah, so lanky and lithe, and yet specialized as I am. Sorry, you just made me notice a bit how ill-fit I am sometimes for what I'm supposed to do, e-he-he."

"You a taijutsu user?", this wasn't a question, more like a statement of sorts. The boy's explanation for laughter having hinted at him being specialized in physical contact "Sounds like an excuse to me. If your body is adept at taking the punishment than make it so. Any body type can be trained to take a lot of punishment, it's just up to the person to actually train it to. The same can be said for increasing the damage output of each strike. However, there are other ways besides the standard Hard Fist style favored by most specialists. Take the Hyuugas for example, they can cause a devasting amount of damage with the simplest of pokes. Or if you need another example, look at the Guanyin clan who does something similar to the Hyuuga's style" there wasn't any need to tell Taede that his clan, the Guanyin, had a taijutsu based on acupuncture for there were enough clues there.

---

884(1587)

This was pathetic, for him....he should have resumed training long ago. Taede was meditating, in part, because he needed to distract himself for a good while. Clearing his mind was the only way he could think properly, but the nagging thought came back....it was difficult to say that he was "ready", per se, for the Exams that were soon to finish their approach. It was nigh, and the young man from the Hidden Sand was thoroughly unsure as to whether he was apt-ly prepared for the trials that he was to face. That was even more trouble....he had no idea what the proctors were even thinking for this latest round. It could be exactly the same as last year....it could be complete-ly different. Then again, Taede had little idea of what actually happened in the Chuu-nin Exams of any years gone by. He had never really paid attention to them until now, when he was participating. His own personal guess was that this was due to the fact that he had no desire to do anything but help civilians and other people on his missions. D-rank'd missions were perfect for him, in that way. It would be a small wonder if he kept doing those as he advanced in rank in the village hidden-in-sand. A veritable menace to the genin....he would probably have chuckl'd internally at some later time, remembering this thought. He had been hoping to get some peace and quiet in order to get the silencing of his sub-conscious mind over with, but some-times things just didn't go the way he expect'd or hop'd them to. An unfortunate circumstance that the late-start Genin of Suna-Gakure often had to live with, but a circumstance nonetheless. It wasn't a big deal to him, if he was being honest with himself. Bad things happened to a lot of people...."this too shall pass" would come to the minds of most, but Taede manag'd time and again throughout life to simply brush off his misfortunes. Not necessarily effortlessly, but a matter of mind over....

Well, the moral there was obvious. At any rate, he was spending his time here chatting now, instead of getting on with whatever training he was hoping to do. The young Koi-zumi had a bad penchant for getting sidetracked....doing useless things simply to appease whims, or sometimes only due to an absence of thinking about his own courses of action altogether. There were so many things to work on....he sighed internally at his life's state-of-affairs at the moment. He was at the village location of the Chuunin exams, and he'd heard people wanting him for a future, next-generation Kazekage. He, deep in his heart, hoped that those were just rumors or motivation. Not only was he not the man for the job (r'esumé? see above), he wasn't good in constant high-stress situations. Taede was a person, even if he was under the constant burden of responsibility, that needed a break every so often. But training, to him, was therapeutic also, in a way....difficult, decisions-decisions.

"You are right, I did assume such, but of course I could have been wrong....You, a taijutsu user? Sounds like an excuse to me. If your body is adept at taking the punishment than make it so. Any body type can be trained to take a lot of punishment, it's just up to the person to actually train it to. The same can be said for increasing the damage output of each strike. However, there are other ways besides the standard Hard Fist style favored by most specialists. Take the Hyuugas for example, they can cause a devasting amount of damage with the simplest of pokes. Or if you need another example, look at the Guanyin clan who does something similar to the Hyuuga's style."

Taede pondered this for just a moment before responding. He....had been looking for other ways to incapacitate his opponents.


The Koizumi was looking up at the Guanyin's face the entire time; not quite at eye level, more at chin; it was rather impolite to look people in the eye for any extended duration of time, after all. Even a few seconds could miff someone. After a small, very brief pause following his dialogue, he sighed, closing his own lids around his scleras and irises, the latter of which were oddly opalescent in this foggy light.


He was switching his tone; from light-hearted to pensive to straight-up jocular, a cheesy grin on his face. Only Taede swapped up his conversations like this with strangers. Yes, only Suna's number-one oddity of a ninja. This was why others could be so confident that he was able to win....because he didn't care if he won.


[1065~


1500/2200 Trained a Taijutsu style, Acupressure.
675/700 Trained a D-rank jutsu, Mirage Screen.

"I have to say, I've only heard of the Guanyin in fleeting. The Hyuuga, I know, use chakra to the end of Jyuu-ken.....At any rate, my body is designed to take punishment, and less to give it. I'm more of a capture and subdue-type shinobi than an assassination-type. It's....not something I like very much to do, if at all. The killing, that is. That being said, soft-style and non-percussive techniques are something I very much appreciate....perhaps the most difficult thing in bringing back anyone in the - it's the Bingo-Book, yes? - bringing them in alive. It's relatively easy to kill people, sadly. Incapacitating them beyond resistance and such is what I specialize in, I suppose. A bit of mercy in this ruthless world."

Not entirely surprising that Taede or many people for that matter didn't know about the Guanyin clan and their ability to incorporate acupuncture; a seemingly harmless ability, outside of medical treatment, into a taijutsu style similar to Hyuuga's Juken strikes. It was only recently that the documents of the closely guarded secrets were unearthed and made public to even some Guanyin member, Nanashi including, that had no idea about this particular clan attribute.  Now that it was known, many, like Nanashi, were beginning to experiment with the unfamiliar art, testing out it's capabilities of disabling and completely shutting down different parts of the human anatomy with a few pokes here and there. Experimentation, at least in Nanashi case, had been going slow, but progression were being made at a tolerable pace.

From what he had learnt so far, unlike the Hyuuga's style physical contact isn't required, the ability to shut-down certain body parts were plausible with the usage of Senbons; something all Guanyin members were trained in and excel at. Being able to exceed one's arm reach with a weapon, in this case, a senbon, and while not hindering their taijutsu style, is a godsend in the grand scheme of things.  And it's because that reason why, Nanashi decided to actually divulge deeper into the art.

"Seems like you are different than most genins nowadays. You see that it doesn't take skill to kill someone, unlike others with the same rank as you, and sees that true skill comes in being able to capture someone, trying to kill you, alive and bringing them in. I applaud that about you, Taede. However, being merciful is indeed a good thing, make sure you don't allow it to hinder you. In this world, there are some people who just need to be killed no matter what. There will be times where the justice system doesn't do their job, allowing a missing-nin or captive free to run amok once more, terrorizing the innocent and continue on their path of wickedness. It is these people who need to be put down for good because your act of mercy can ultimately lead to another innocent person's death. "

It wouldn't be noticeable by Taede, but underneath those emotionless words were a hint of heavy emotion that spoke of some truths from Nanashi past so long ago. It was as if, the silver-haired male had experienced something that cause him to give to speak those words of wisdom.

"At any rate, I feel my chances in the examinations are fair, at the least. While I'm not offensive....I'm quite the adept at giving people battles of attrition, ehehehe....though I'm not much in it other than because I was asked so. What about you? Do you have a favorite, or a contestant that you're rooting for? Come to think of it, I didn't see many Iwa-nin at the primary briefing....hrm. Already graduated?"

Nanashi mulled over the questions the Genin recently asked. Pondering on rather he should fork over any information regarding the few favorites he might have in this little contest in strength. In truth, while there were favorites, he could have cared less about who actually won these exams. Seeing the so called event as nothing more than a chance for clientele to check out to the newest crop of each villages, evaluating each and every contestant, and coming to a conclusion if it was worth their time to invest in the contestant respective village.  

"No, I don't have any favorite contestant that I'm particularly rooting for. None of them so far interests me enough for me to put my faith within them. ", Nanashi spoke. His words being as smooth as the finest silks but lacked any distinguishable emotion except apathy. Taede wouldn't find out about the silver-haired male's lie. Nor would he know Nanashi had found an interesting contestant within time - Taede.

Dancing on the corner of his lips was a small smirk, it having formed there when asked about any Iwagakure genins participating in the exams. Having not been assigned any genins, Nanashi didn't know if there were any, however, Taede didn't know this "Trying to glean information on your competitors? You need to try better than that. ", he spoke with a hint of hidden mirth.

With a simple nod, Nanashi watched as Taede left, and albeit spoke loud enough for the genin to here "If you want, meet me at the plateau. . .", with the cryptic message spoken, Nanashi disappeared in a soundless body flicker.

---

[exit]


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