Yasutake wasn't really one to be extremely active, but with the ever looming Chunin Exams to be starting any day at this point, he knew he had to be prepared for anything. It was why he had gone on a journey to try and locate his new sensei, Nozomi.

Compared to him, she was fairly short, but then again, a lot of people were, so it was hardly something that was worthy of being documented. From what he could gather, she was a Special Jonin, common information again, but what had interested him the most with a bit of prying back in Kirigakure and tentative questions on the road to the Land of Lightning, he had eventually figured out and realized she had taken part in the last Exams.

How far she had gotten? The top two, and from that alone, Spc. Jonin Nozomi had his utmost respect. Although she hadn't won, it was the fact that she had gotten all the way to the end, and even though with most people he'd come across as rude and abrasive, those who had achieved higher rankings got his respect...

So since she had been in the Exams only a year's past, he hoped that she could help him. After all, the Exams couldn't change that much from year to year, right?

That's why he wanted to find his team's sensei, so that he could ask a few questions and hopefully be even more prepared for the Exams at hand. From what he had gathered from his parents it was a multi stage event that involved dozens upon dozens of genin and D-ranked shinobi battling it out in an array of team fights, head to head duels, and...

Well actually, the last type of trial he had forgotten and he stood around for a moment in confusion before he continued on his way through the Market Place! He was there so that he could gather some food, but when he had set his sights on some rather fresh looking applies, he couldn't resist.

Now heading towards their predetermined meeting point, Yasutake had gained entrance to a public park and sat atop a bench, resting his bottom along the top of the bench, leaving his Odachi where one's arse would normally be. And once he had comfortably sat himself down, he waited. He had learned to arrive at places a few minutes earlier so as not to be late like he usually was back home, and so, he drew out an apple from a bag and took a bite from the ripe fruit.

WC: 440

Nozomi's days weren't too busy. It's not like she had many orders while she was here. Apart from spending time with Kaekio, there was little else to do. However, she had promised her students that she would give them some one on one training and advice before the exams had started, as she was one of the semi-finalists, and had made Special Jounin in less than a year. While that may seem quick, it probably wasn't up to standard in the Himitsu clan, where anything less than 1st place was a disgrace when it came to people in any position of power.

Outwardly, the young girl scowled. The thought of her clan and family really ticked her off at times. She didn't really want that life, the life that came with leading a clan, so when she was disowned, it hadn't bothered her as much as it should have, although that wasn't to say it didn't bother her at all. She was immensely heartbroken at the time. Now she only looked at her former clan's leaders with disgust and disdain, the only communication she maintained with the clan was her little brother on occasion, who had taken up the mantle of clan heir.

Anyhow, she broke herself out of her own thoughts, and came up to where she was supposed to meet Yasutake. She'd gotten to know him a little bit over their travel here, but not too much, because they hadn't had all the time in the world. So she only knew what she'd gathered so far. He was already waiting for her as she got there, a little bit early, as she herself was. So he'd probably only just arrived himself.

She wore her usual attire when it came to being a kunoichi on official business. That of her uniform, her flak jacket, and her tanto's being strapped to her back. One at her left shoulder, and the other two in the small of her back. Her headband remained on her head like usual. "Hey Yasutake. A little early aren't you?" she asked playfully. Her mood and demeanor was very light and happy, considering the time she'd been spending with her girlfriend lately. It was something she seldom got to do for any real length of time. Well, to be fair, they had only met last Chuunin Exams, and hadn't really seen each other since then, although Nozomi had of course, done her own fair share of letter sending, and Kaekio had received them all.

"Okay, so first off. Strengths and weaknesses. I need to know them. I need to know your fighting style, and skills and such as that. But that's for later things. Questions first, any you have for me in particular?" Nozomi asked, getting the preliminary line of questioning out of the way. "I mean, it'd be easier for me to find out where your talents lie if I fought you myself, but I can just as easily ask you, and get the answer, now can't I?" she said.

WC: 507

His love of apples was something that couldn't be tamed. The young shinobi shredded the apple in no time with his eyes closed and from where he sat on the bench, he had a higher plane of view and when he had located it, he had thrown it at the nearest garbage can, not really caring whether it had entered or not. Less than a minute later, he had heard feet approaching him, and before actually opening his eyes he wondered as to whether it was some Cloud Ninja Official who was about to berate him, and in that case, he didn't see a reason to open his eyes as he relaxed in wait.

The footsteps approached for a few steps more and he knew that it couldn't be a regular passerby, so he cracked an eyelid open and then, when he had set his gaze upon his sensei he closed his eyes again before sighing and straightening out his posture. He wasn't sad or mad that ti was her, he had only wanted a few more minutes of lounging time before it got to the serious stuff, but alas, there was no more time that could be wasted and within moments of closing and opening his eyes a smile took over his face.

"Nozomi-sensei." He didn't bother to move from his spot on the bench. His politeness and manners only went so far. "Being early gives you a bit more free time." He said with the faintest of smiles while he looked her up and down. He wondered as to what she had been doing before she had begun her torrent of words and he was of course, forced to listen... At least he was able to tune out what wasn't important and what was.

"Very well." He paused as he summoned to the forefront of his mind all the questions that he had been planning to ask. He didn't want to waste her time, so he had made sure to scrap the ones that weren't that important anyway. "What are the stages like in the Exams? Do Squads face off against each other?" It was an important question to him. Considering that they had been put together recently, Yasutake still had yet to meet them all officially, not to mention go over formations and how to combo their techniques together... He could only imagine as to how they'd fare in the Exams vs another squad. "I want to know what happened in your Exams, and what you think could potentially happen in this year's."

It was well known that she had become a Special Jounin within a year, something that Yasutake wished to live up to. The Apprentice was meant to surpass the Master, he couldn't simply be the average shinobi.

He didn't want to assault her with questions just yet, so he swapped to her initial request to figure out another question. "My strengths are close to medium ranged combat." His eyes flickered downwards to the Odachi at his feet on the bench. That was obvious enough. His jutsu were close to medium ranged ones too, therein was his strength. "My speed, strength, and my reflexes are as sharp as can be." Those were his strengths without a doubt. They had to be if you were going to be a close range combatant.

Weaknesses, huh?

"My capabilities at seeing through genjutsu, and to defend against ranged attacks I think." There was no practicality in carrying around a bow and arrow in Yasutake's mind, but the fact that the amount of users were so few, the participants who had never combated against such a style of fighting would all be at a disadvantage.

WC: 633

Nozomi smiled. It was good that he did have some questions. Willingness to learn and accept that he didn't have all the answers showed a promising young talented student. After all, she'd met too many people last year who knew for a fact nobody could beat them in the Chuunin exams, and yet she'd managed to beat most of them, and she herself had plenty of work to go, even then, and even still now. She even found herself falling behind when it came to keeping up with her girlfriend, the person who had beaten her. Perhaps had Kaekio not been there, Nozomi might have won the exams. But she didn't, and she'd met a wonderful person because of it, and she was glad things worked out how they did.

Taking a seat on the bench, Nozomi sighed. His questions were all pertinent to the exams of last year, seemingly to get information that might be able to help him out with this year's exams. And she was all too willing to divulge anything he might ask about them. After all, her job as a teacher was to pass on her own wisdom. "Last year's exams, huh? Well, no, I can't say last year we had any squad battles. Then again, I was in one of the only actual squads from kiri last year, because Ayakashi doesn't use the squad system all too much anymore. So you probably won't have to worry about learning your team composition for the exams. Not that you won't have to, trust me, I've got some things planned for you." she said, answering his first question.

She paused for a second after that, to recollect everything that had happened last year. "Last year's chuunin exams was pretty straightforward. The whole thing was only 3 parts, although some only had to do two of them, or less, if they failed. The first part was in a labyrinthine forest. Each person had their own path, and nobody crossed anyone's path. The first 4 to make it through to the center and having passed the tests and challenges, of which each path had two, got a free pass to the final round of fighting. Everyone else would then immediately be sectioned off into groups of two, and had to have fights. The losers were eliminated, and the winners advance on to the final round. The final rounds were just a repeat of the second one, only in a bracket fight." she said, offering up a small summation of last years 3 rounds.

"I'm not sure what you can expect as far as your first rounds this year. I can almost guarantee though, that the second and third rounds will be the same. The first few to clear the first round will skip the second. The remainders will fight to clear down the amount of fights in the third round, and to weed out the weaker members." she sighed. It was always difficult to answer such questions about her own predictions. Nozomi didn't have a lot of knowledge in that regard, after all. She was a veteran of only one Chuunin Exams, as she'd passed on her first go around, and hadn't been around for the previous year's exams.

"Okay, your skills. Obviously, you use the sword, and you know Ninjutsu. That much is in your file. I'm not interested in hearing about things I could read, to be rather blunt. Ummm, more is there anything that wouldn't have been in your file? Any secrets, something that sets you apart from the common fold? Your physical skills may be top notch for your rank, but are you proficient in combat, or only mediocre? Just because you wield a blade, and can use one, doesn't mean you're good at it." she said pointedly. Gesturing to her tanto's, she spoke a little more. "I mean, I have these little blades. Each are 18 inches long, from the hilt to the tip. 6 inch handle, foot long blade. But I can use these as extensions of my body, as if another limb. Can you say the same on your Odachi, long as it may be?"

WC: 698
TWC: 1205

Silence. That was all there was after he had given out all of the information that she had requested of him. Her silence was what he expected, was she choosing from how to answer, what to answer first? He couldn't guess, he barely knew her so there was hardly a point in trying to read her facial expressions, but he tried anyway. While he did, he made sure to not look so obvious about it, but since he wasn't really asking anything specific there wasn't really a reason to be visually scrutinizing her so he soon stopped. All in all, the silence had only been endured for a few moments as she recalled past information.

At least that's one thing to not have to worry about. The fact that he still didn't know any of his squad's abilities left him wondering though. What if he were to encounter them in the Exams? Would he when he faced off against Suzuki Ryota be equal? Would there be a clear victor while he faced off against Uzumaki Riss? He had no idea, the lack of knowledge irked him beyond normal, but it was something that he was going to have to deal with until the time came to truly face them. But then she had made mention of having something in store for them?

Formations most likely. She has lists of our abilities surely. She'll come up with a squad composition that would best suit our needs. Or so he thought. He knew little of her strategic and tactical mind. For all he knew, he could be more of a strategist that she was!

Once she was done answering the first question he nodded in thanks. The only thing that really lingered was what she had said about having something in store for the entire squad.

What the first part of last year's exam consisted of seemed quite... Odd, at least in his opinion. There was no fight? Instead, they had to practically race each other to the centre of a labyrinth, interesting to say the least, and that much was evident in his thoughtful expression. It was probably dangerous though... No doubt there had been unseen dangers and tricks, and because of those thoughts, Yasutake had already ceased the arrogant thoughts of 'no combat.'

She got to that soon after though.

He nodded his head at her words. She had finally gotten to the information that was familiar to him. Of course he had asked his parents before journeying over to the Land of Lightning, but he had needed a more recent view, and answer on what the Exams could potentially hold for him.

Then she was done, and he inclined his head in thanks for the relatively quick summary of what had, and could happen in the nearing Exams.

He should have expected what was coming next, but it had instead come as a surprise. She would question his skill with his blade? Relatively little, it hadn't occurred to him that everything he had said was already in his file, and his nose flared in his shock.

While he had operated in Kirigakure he had made sure that in public he didn't seem more like the average shinobi, below average in some cases as well. Was there something to hide? Not so much, simply what every other ninja from a low rank to a higher ranking should be doing... Concealing their true potential until it was truly time to reveal their strength. Her prying was no doubt a result of what his file said... Relatively nothing. He leaned backwards a bit and sighed. "Hmph." A pause. "I know relatively few techniques with my blade, but I've come to know mastery of the techniques that I know... To the point that it's an extension of me, but a limited one."

He place a hand beside him as he leaned on the bench to try and gain a more comfortable position.

WC: 677

Nozomi nodded, and thought to herself for a few moments. She had precious few words after all that had been said. "It seems like you have already trained yourself extensively. Best course of action at the moment is probably just to hone your skills. Keep them sharp. Work on new techniques. Fortify your own weaknesses. If you know what skills you're lacking in, train them. The best way to improve yourself is to find your weaknesses, acknowledge them, and then remove them. Last year, I wasn't a good fighter. I'm not a prodigal kunoichi. I just had a good teacher and training regimine. You though, you have more potential I think. You should be able to surpass me soon enough." she said.

Standing up from the bench, Nozomi smiled at her student, and shrugged slightly as she prepared to leave. "Alright. I think we've minced enough words. Anything else before I go? Further questions, or anything? Or a challenge to a fight? They come at stranger times, so I wouldn't be opposed to it. But if not, then I've nothing further at the moment, and I'll get into contact with you and the squad about what I've got planned."

WC: 213
TWC: 1418

EXIT THREAD

Endurance: B-> B-1 | 700/700
Perception: B-> B-1 | 700/700

He hadn't really expected much else of an answer than what she had given him at her first answer. Yasutake had indeed trained him extensively. When he wasn't taking part in missions for the Hidden Mist Village, he was training, very rarely spending free time socializing and meeting new people. It was why he knew relatively few people in the Genin category back at home, or even here in Kumogakure no Sato rather. It was simply because he didn't really see a reason besides protecting the Village and following orders. Few times he thought about the clan, but even then he didn't think much more of it other than it being his duty to uphold it's legacy.

He didn't bother trying to contain the smallest of smiles when he thought of his family. The Hattori clan was spread thin, but he still had living parents and a sibling. He had no reason to worry about them, his father was a shinobi that was quite skilled he had come to realize.

"It's not necessary for you to try and raise my hopes with those words, Nozomi-sensei. You do not have to insult your past self." Even though it didn't really matter if one insulted a past self, some may still take offence and he didn't want the person who was supposed to be teaching him about the shinobi world to be falsely making themselves look bad in order to boost the ego of their student. Although, her words of being able to surpass her did leave a hint of a challenge in the air. He was most definitely interested in surpassing her in a shorter amount of time.

His target was to become a Jounin as soon as possible, and then apply for a position as one of the elite Kirigakure Hunter Ninja.

Yasutake shook his head at her next and final words. Based upon her words of battling someone at odd times, the first person that came to mind was Maigo. A Kirigakure genin, just like him who had no doubt come to the Chunin Selection Exams to test his mettle and to see if he was capable of becoming a Chunnin.

"There is nothing else, Sensei. Thank you for sparing what time you have with me." He inclined his head to her, a faint smile evident upon his face as within a moment later he seemed to have forgotten she existed, and he looked back up, seemingly admiring the sky.

WC: 421
TWC: 2171

--EXIT THREAD--

#AlmostDankThread