The night moon was hanging over the small grey tent that Asura had put up the day before, the moon's light shone on his camp while Asura was kept deep in sleep. Asura walked through the forest in his dream, scanning the Trees and bushes for any signs. He had no idea where he was, or even why he was there, the moment he looked dead ahead of his path, he noticed a glowing pair of red eyes creep out of the darkness and shadows. Asura remained in place as he watched a man, quite like himself wandering out of the darkness, approaching Asura, repeating a single verse over and over again, "Voices twist and turn the mind, changing the way we hear the vines, looking upon the earth below, where our empty beds will grow." The stranger kept repeating it in a sadistic voice, sending chills throughout Asura's body. Asura looked at the man, staring him dead in the eyes, "Let the voices be silent, let them be still, let the hordes of the lost sound their ill will." The stranger spoke in a low tone. Asura awoke, breathing heavily as he looked around in a panic, looking for those hellish red eyes that haunted his dream. Asura placed his hands on his forehead, "Gods, that was... I don't even know what that was..." He shook his head from side to side, trying to get the thoughts out of his mind, the image of that man. He looked almost the exact same as Asura; such a thought scared this once fearless giant. He fell back, heading back to sleep, placing his arms under his pillows as he returned to his slumber.

Asura yawned as he slowly raised his head off of his pillow. His eyes slowly opened, showing the blurry light peering through the tent. The blur started to clear as he shook his head from side to side, clearing his mind of the nightmares from last night, the sights of gigantic spiders crawling around him, vanishing, leaving his mind with the dream of a six-armed being, glowing with wrath. Asura tapped his forehead lightly with the palm of his head, his head aching, "Owww... Why today..." He quietly spoke in his low toned voice. He moved the blanket off of himself and tossed it to the side as he crawled out of the tent. He stood up and yawned, stretching his arms and legs, cracking his neck before throwing a few punches at the air. He packed up his things putting them away carefully before picking up his backpack and making his way back into the village.

Asura slowly walked into the Village, cleaning sweat from his forehead after sprinting half way to the location. He half-crouched as he took deep breaths, trying to catch his breath . He stood up straight and let out a loud sigh, "Phew, that was one hell of a long run!.. Again... I should stop running everywhere..." He said to himself as he looked around, his purple eyes scanning the area while his short white moved slowly in the wind. 'Well, there isn't much here... Yet again...' He thought to himself. He stepped forward onto the dirt, making his way into the village, leaving a trail of footprints from his huge boots. Asura kept his head down as he walked past the several homes between his and the market, hearing the villagers talk as he passed by.

Sasijmi was in a shop at that moment, talking over with a very rough looking weapon's merchant about prices and each one would get louder when they discussed two items in particular: a large Gunbai and a simple Kusarigama. The argument seemed to be going on for a while and the man behind the counter the weapons were on had a heavy irish accent and as such when he spoke it was somewhat difficult to understand him but you could still tell he was pretty angry about something by the tone of his voice. Nonetheless Sasijimi could understand him perfectly and yelled back in his own loud and angry tone, preferring to not be screwed over on the purchase and delivery of his weapons now that he had waited so long for them. "You no tell me of prices and weapons! I am make these weapons myself! You had changed plans to have weapons delivered to you in sand village. Once they arrive there they have be sent back to me, why? You changed the arrangement and that was double the delivery time! Is you who pays more now, not me!" Sasijimi shook his head, yelling back at the man, slamming his fist upon the counter next to the kusarigama."I told you! I needed to get to Kumogakure for the exams and I needed these weapons before then! They were late and now I refuse to pay over one thousand ryo! Take it or leave it, but you will not get anything more out of me, you crook!" To this the weapons' dealer laughed heartily and took the bag of ryo off of the counter, placing it into his apron's pocket. "Alright comrade, alright. You take weapons now and bring business back soon ya? We drink on that day to celebrate good times!" Sasijimi laughed in agreement, taking up his Gunbai, and tying a thin rope about it to slip it over his shoulder, having it sit upon his back in a diagonal fashion. The weapon was six feet tall, and was obviously taller than he so he needed to keep it at an angle to walk around with comfortably. After which he took the cuff from the Kusarigama and clasped it around his left forearm,  using the latch on the cuff to then restrict the chain to be three feet long, grabbing the handle of his other new weapon. With a wave he exited the shop.

He had taken to whistling a jaunty tune and began to spin his kusarigama around by the chain, just far enough out not to hurt him but not far enough out to hurt others should they not wander too closely. The perfect length to play with as he walked. It was about this time he turned to notice a rather large male with his head down go walking past, and this prompted a very strange curiosity within the genin. He had met a manner of strange people in his time so far since he had began to ready himself for the exams but this man seemed to be a class all his own. Continuing to spin his weapon, he walked in the foot steps of the larger male, looking around as people spoke in hushed whispers about his size and boot prints in the dirt. He was slightly confused to be admittedly honest. Why would such a large man be here in Kumogakure no sato? Was it possible that he himself was here for the chuunin exams? Or was he here to simply observe and nothing more? Would there be fighting here or was this guys simply a gentle and misunderstood giant? There wasn't much that Sasijimi could say about the giant save for he seemed quiet, was of a strange stature for those that he'd seen and had snow white hair the same as another man he'd met back in the village hidden in the sand. Maybe they were related somehow? Or maybe this was just a coincidence? In either way he was tired of following the man without saying anything or noting his presence. But in the time he had spent sauntering behind the giant male, spinning his weapon in thought, he had been left behind quite a ways and moved to quickly run forward to catch up to the man who was inspiring so much curiosity in him.

"Hey! Hey big guy! Where ya going?" He had caught up to the other man and moved to have his pace match that of the rather tall man, still spinning his weapon around as he walked. He could look up at the other man and have the sun be blocked from his vision, keeping his eyes from suffering irritation due to the burning orb in the sky, currently peeking out from a large bundle of clouds. He yawned a bit, stretching and then after doing so he began to spin his kusarigama again, looking back up to the other man, speaking to him once again. "You wouldn't happen to be going to the exams or have already signed up for the exams would ya?  If so, maybe we'll be pitted against each other, or even be put on a team yanno? I think that would be interesting! Ah sorry if I'm a bit too talkative for you, I"m in a rather good mood. My name is Sasijimi Mitarashi and I'm from the village hidden in the sand!" He pointed to his belt with his free hand which he had his hitai-ate integrated into for purposes of ease of access or just to have it displayed proudly without interfering with his pony tails when he put his hair back. He continued walking alongside the giant listening for the answers to what he had said or any inclination that he was not willing to part with information or was simply annoyed and confused by the smaller male coming up to talk to him. Sasijimi was looking around the village excitedly, waving with the hand not twisting and spinning his kusarigama around by the chain, to wave to all the villagers they passed who seemed to be whispering about the two walking together. A man with weapons larger than he, and just a large man. They were quite the pair.

Training:

Asura stopped just after the strange man named Sasijimi started talking to him. Asura turned to him and looked at him, with cold dead eyes, staring seriously at the shorter man as if he were angry  at him. In an instant, Asura's face shifted, his seriousness turned into a smile and his eyes became light hearted in an instant. "Well, Sasijimi, pleasure to meet you." He held out his hand for Sasijimi, smiling bright, offering a handshake, "I go by the name Asura, Asura Senju. It's a great pleasure to meet another Ninja. And to answer your question..." He spoke, pointing down to his belt that had his headband there. "Yes, I am here for the Chunnin Exams" He laughed lightly. Asura is a tall, muscular man with sharp features, short white hair and bright purple eyes. "I'm from Konoha, a Genin, and I will never be put down." He wore a light blue T-shirt with a white trim, in addition to blue jeans, black combat boots, and a pair of black leather fingerless gloves. He also wears Gray shirt over his light blue shirt keeping the top three buttons undone to show his shirt that is located underneath. He wears a strap from the top of his right shoulder to his lower left rib which he uses to carry his equipment and supplies. And to his side was his leather backpack, holding his food and the book his brother gave him to read in his spare time. Asura's head band was placed around his waist, keeping it out of the way for when he went into combat. "You appear to be rather interesting, and really strong, and your village is completely new to me, I've never been out of Konoha before, I might end up visiting Suna soon." Asura gave a honorary bow to Sasijimi, "Good to see that you're in a good mood, so am I, well, now I am in an even better mood, I almost never get to meet anyone new, so, it is my honor to meet you, friend." He rose back up, standing straight.

His eyes scanned the streets for a book store, remembering about Cero and the books he wanted to bring back for him from his visit. His mind wandered as he passed by each store. He smiled to himself before realizing they were standing still the entire time, right in the middle of the road. Asura laughed a little to himself before looking for a bench to sit on. "There is a bench over there, let's go have seat." He strolled off to the right and sat down on a bench, taking his bag off and placing it down next to him as he relaxed with a large smile across his face, leaning his head back as he stretched his arms and legs a bit, cracking his neck. Asura's mind started to wander, thinking about this Sasijimi, 'What elements he used and what style of fighting he used.' These thoughts repeated in his mind over and over again.

'Asura, Asura Senju. A giant of a man but he seems to have kind enough eyes. He must truly be misunderstood, because to me he doesn't seem so bad. A large and brutish man, if I had to say. I'd guess that he was more into physical combat than anything and he seems rather sure of himself. He might just be the type of opponent I'd like to face in the exams. Maybe he'd give a good challenge, and for what it's worth; taking him down could prove a boon to the village hidden in the sand, and have others telling tales of my prowess for felling a giant. But if we don't fight, then it won't be so bad. He seems to be an alright fellow and who knows? This could blossom into a great friendship whatever happens. Senju, that's the name of one of those larger clans though. They're said to be great and powerful in the old stories but that says nothing of how they fight or what types of jutsu and elements they use during their fights. Truly a clan shrouded in mystery for my village. Perhaps he could be of greater use than just a friend. I'll have to keep him in mind as I try to prove myself strong enough to become the successor to the current kazekage."

Sasijimi was admittedly lost in his own thoughts as he followed the man and hadn't noticed they were now standing in the middle of the road in Kumogakure no sato, people whispering and giving dirty looks as they passed and had to walk around the pair.  Sasijimi noted the other man had held out his hand and shook it with his own, before returning a bow later in the conversation. He wasn't much of a conversationalist when presented with new information and was deeply lost in thought for half of what they were talking about. He felt bad for a moment and noticed the other male speaking of a bench before he went over to sit upon it, taking his pack off and setting it down. Sasijimi nodded to himself and reached over to his forearm spinning the chain to his kusarigama. He flung the weapon in a circle around his body when others were not close enough to get hit with it  and then undid the clasp to the cuff keeping it on his forearm. The weapon spun around his body at the waist, tightening with each spin, before stopping on the left side of his left hip, the cuff falling to click back into place around the chain making a makeshift sort of belt on the genin. He reached down clicking a few links into the latch to keep the weapon and chain from falling off of his  waist and untied the rope from the top end of his gunbai; pulling it free. He then grabbed the staff partition of the Gunbai itself and pulled it from inside his new makeshift belt, reattaching the rope onto the weapon as he walked over to the bench.

Saijimi twirled the fan around a few times before stabbing the bottom end of the pole into the dirt next to the bench, having it come to stand next to the bench, with the fan being a sort of blocking mechanism to keep the sun out of his face and shield him from the rays.  Once that was done he quietly sat down on the bench next to his new companion being more than a head and a half shorter, even when sitting up straight. He sighed and laughed a bit at the strangeness of the pair and turned to see his companion seemingly lost in thought. He looked over at his Gunbai, then down to his makeshift kusarigama belt and looked the giant senju over a bit, for any signs of his own weapons. The only things that stood out were his gloves but many people wore those simply to wear them as fashion or to keep their palms from blistering up during training. What could be the significance of these to Asura though? He began to think about the many different speicalizations and fighting styles, namely physical ones, but alas he came up for naught as he wasn't too well versed in anything other than Onojutsu and Ninjutsu. He smiled a bit and cleared his throat, his soft spoken voice coming through rather clearly, even in the midst of the hustle and bustle of kumogakure.

"Well, Mister Konohagakure no sato ninja, I can't see any weapons on you so I'm not sure what to make of how you fight as of yet. If it isn't apparent to you, I use a style of Bukijutsu known as onojutsu. The use of unorthodox weaponry. I have my Kusarigama" With this he pointed to the makeshift belt he now wore around his waist."As well as my Gunbai." At this he pointed over to the six foot tall giant war fan. It was admittedly his favorite weapon. "Other than that I do practice Ninjutsu and I have a thing for Katon and Fuuton releases. It may sound pretty stupid, but I've always dreamed of using my fuuton element and my Gunbai and making a jutsu that allows me to fly into the clouds and soar above the land. It's always been my dream to fly as high as the birds do and one day even higher. The sky in the place for me, and growing up in Sunagakure no Sato, you see a lot of the sky. I used to take time off of training some days to look up at the sky and envision myself there, riding the wind currents high above the land..I dunno. Feeling..Free? Yea, free. I'm sorry this all must sound so stupid." He laughed a bit and laid his head back against the bench and looked up to the sky, namely at the clouds themselves.

Training:

"I don't think it's stupid" Asura sounded with a cheerful tone, "It's great dream, it shows who you are for sure, someone who is free in spirit, however, for me, I am bound to my nightmares." He laughed lightly, looking up to the sky, "My dream, is to change the world, to free it from conflict forever, who knows what might happen between now and when I get strong enough to take on the world, but one thing will always guide me." He chuckled lightly, looking down to the ground, "My wrath." He smiled before looking to Sasijimi, "You're dream isn't stupid, you're not the one who wants to take on the world by himself, that is me, just for the sake of my family." He looked back to ground and shrugged, "As for weapons, I only need two..." He clenched his fists and held them in front of himself, "These are all I need, all I ever will need. No illusions, no swords or spears or anything of that sort, just these fists, and I can take on anyone." His thoughts turned back to his nightmare, the six armed beast with glowing red eyes, only seeking death and destruction. 'Comet... You'll never be free, I'll never need your help...' He sent those thoughts deep into his mind, hoping the other half of himself might see it, that the beast within might understand that isn't wanted, nor will he ever be.

His min shifted to creation, thinking of what Jutsu he had, and how he could improve on it, if he could somehow tap into his inner strength to bring out his true power. Training was all Asura was used to, no real fighting, it was all that crossed his mind after a hard day of helping out his brother with the book store, the thought of training almost excited his blood, but he always knew that a fight, with someone strong would make him stronger then ever before. Asura always believed that fighting is the best form of training, and no matter what, nothing could change that. He wanted that feeling that he hadn't felt in years, the feeling of the thrill of the fight, the feeling that he is the strongest, the feeling of connecting to his opponent as they exchanged blows, one after the other.

Asura remembered that the two were both Genin, another thought crossed his mind, one which he spoke out loud to his strange, short friend, "We're both Genin, and we are both in the exams... How about we spar, huh? See which of us is stronger before the exams, just in case we don't get put agaisnt each other." He smiled, looking back to Sasijimi, 'It would be fun' He thought to himself, remembering he didn't say a word about his fighting style except implying Taijutsu, "It would be a chance for you to learn how I fight before the exams too, I don't want to give away the secret to my power just yet" He laughed, leaning back against the bench, "So, what do you say my Sandy Friend?"

'See which of us is stronger? What is he getting at? Those fists are all he needs eh? Well, we'll just have to see about that. His jutsu is still a bit of a mystery though so I can't afford myself the luxury of knowing just what I'm up against just yet. Perhaps I should keep some of my jutsu in reserve just in case we do face each other in the exams. I can't afford to have someone knowing all of my tricks before I have a chance to formulate a proper strategy on how to use them against someone of his stature or perhaps even his strength. This would take a bit of planning to carefully fight him while keeping my jutsu a secret, and perhaps even defeating him here and now to make the exams that much easier on myself. How will this go? Will I need to completely take him out or is this a friendly spar? This is the time that I wish  I could read minds so I would be able to know exactly what this man was thinking and his purpose for asking me to a spar. Can't be helped, I guess.'

"Can't be helped. Let's get this on then, ya treehugger!"

Sasijiimi laughed to himself and stood up once  more, facing Asura. He wore a charming smile and slowly began to unwrap the chain around his waist. The cuff latch and chain latch were undone to allow this process to become easier and run much smoother than it would if he hadn't taken this step. Sasijimi yawned, clasping the cuff onto his left forearm, letting the chain hang to itself, with the handle of his Kusarigama in his left hand. He smirked to himself, looking the weapon over, before looking on to his gunbai. Would he need both of them? Or could he simply make due with the weapon he had so far? Time would be the answer to this question and he sighed a bit before he walked away from the bench a bit, beginning to spin his kusarigama in his hand. People around them began to take notice and started clearing out, or backing away in anticipation of the sparring match that was soon to happen between the two genin. Some people would cheer and yell at them to get on with it, others would hide in shops or their homes out of the way of the fight in case things started to turn ugly, or things began to get broken. Either way, most of the people that had been around seemed to want no part in what was going to happen while the rest stayed as onlookers.

"If we're going to spar, I suppose we can just stay in this area. o reason to move on anywhere else when the people of this village were nice enough to move away and give us the space needed for this. Now, how would you like to do this? With or without jutsu? Because I'm not strong in Taijutsu terms but when it comes to weaponry I think I'm the strongest genin. I have a few jutsu I wouldn't mind using, but for the most part I haven't had the time to train myself on any new ones. If that won't be a problem I can use what jutsu I do have, or just my weapons. Either way, I'm ready for this and I wish you good luck, Asura Senju. Ya damn tree hugger." He was joking with the other man, calling him tree hugger to poke fun at the village Asura called home. Konohagakure was known for its dense forests and many many trees surrounding it. There were legends and speculation of the first hokage using a powerful jutsu to create the village itself but Sasijimi knew no more about that than he did about the Raikage of Kumogakure no sato.  He kept spinning his weapon, staying within six meters of where his Gunbai was stabbed into the ground near the bench, twirling his kusarigama around his body in nice even circles. He was going to attempt to stay within the chain's length of his target and his other weapon, in case he would strike or needed to quickly pick up his war fan. His body moved and twisted with each pass the spinning sickle made near him while he spun it. He was entranced with his own weapon, doing a sort of dance along with spinning it to keep it and his body ready as well as staying in motion. He wouldn't be caught off guard and he wouldn't be caught without his weapon read with the momentum to cause some damage.

'I don't actually want to hurt this guy but I do want to assert my strength and dominance. If I'm going to be Kazekage some day I'm going  to need to show strength, patience, and even compassion to friend and foe alike. Sometimes I may need to use more compassion than strength and I suppose that's what I can use this exercise for as long as it doesn't get too serious. Though, why would it? It's just a friendly spar between two genin. I can't get myself down or begin doubting my abilities or his intentions. I have to assume that he is doing this only to test out his own strength and mine as well, to find his limitations and surpass them. Just as I do myself, from time to time. Hell, I do that quite often and I enjoy every time I get to stand tall, looking at my handiwork after a hard training session. Surpassing one's limits is the ultimate accomplishment! And imagine, doing it multiple times, never ceasing to surprise yourself!'

Sasijimi snapped back to reality, looking back to Asura. His inner monologue was getting to be a bit much. He smirked at this thought and shook it off, continuing his kusarigama dance, spinning the blade faster and faster, awaiting whatever his temporary opponent would do next. Whatever may come, the sand genin would be ready for it and would not want to disappoint someone who wanted to test his strength.

Training:

"Hmm... To live is to fight, to fight is to live. And there's nothing like a fair fight. It improves both competitors, you must love competition before you can achieve victory, and something I learned from fighting my brother... Your strength is equal to that of your will to win." Asura looked up to the sky, hearing a crack of thunder, dark clouds filling the sky as rain started to fall down. "This would be perfect for our fight..." He spoke quietly to Sasijimi, "Sadly, I cannot fight today... I have some gear at my camping ground to put away." He gives a bow to Sasijimi, "I must make my leave now, so I bid you farewell. I hope we get to fight in the future, Sasijimi." Asura smilled before getting up, off of the bench and making sure he has his backpack. "I hope we meet again, Sandman, I'll see you later." Asura let out a long yawned and started walking, leaving marks in the dirt as others watched him simply walk through the village, stepping on the stones or kicking them to the side without a thought as the giant of a man made his way past cafe and shop alike. He turned around and waved to Sasijimi as he ran off, running through the street and past the cafe, his backpack bouncing against his back. Asura ran out of the village, making his way to the river he normally camped next to. Once he had arrived he desperately looked for a cave of some sort, luckily he spotted the perfect place to put his tent up and keep it dry. He put his tent up in the dry place and sat inside it, waiting for the rain to stop, keeping himself warm with his blanket.



Training
Speed
E-3 ~> D, 300 words and 0 Ryo.

Speed, Strength, Reaction Time, Perception, Endurance
D ~> D-1, 325 words and 25 Ryo.

[Exit Thread](I was gone too long)