The blind man stopped playing his tune and immediately the whole atmosphere of the mountain quietened. In that same moment the last explosion of the fireworks display illuminated the clouds from below, accompanied by a late bang and a short sizzling sound. The commotion was enough to draw the Sannin’s attention for a little while, before he returned his gaze to the boy before him - his space still surrounded by women - in time to catch his transfixed glare that insisted his interest. "Ahem,” the boy opened his mouth to speak. “Thank You Han-Sama, and that is quite the feat to achieve, and it is an honor to meet someone of your status.” Han didn’t think much of the title - it was simply what the Raikage had chosen to class him as, one of the village’s strongest shinobi - but although it didn’t phase him the least, he could at least understand what it meant to someone much weaker than he. The title hadn’t changed the fact that he was still a Jounin-level shinobi, but it did cover his identity with some odd air of importance and uniqueness, which he had easily spotted in the young man’s eyes. “Which leads me to this question; would you happen to have a pupil or such that you are training?" The question struck his cerebrum at the softest parts and dragged out his memories of Kazui - the young child who once looked up to him as her mentor and guardian - and it forced him to momentarily reflect on the kind of person he had become. He had travelled to Kumogakure ahead of her, leaving his feline companion Cerberus behind to watch over her as she followed behind. From the moment he had entered the village, to this time tonight, neither Han or Binsu had thought to check up the young girl to see how she’s getting along in the village. ’Another failure,’ Han thought to himself, but he didn’t venture too far into his thoughts before finally addressing the boy’s striking question.
”I don’t,” but he felt as though the boy demanded more from him. ”Between my own personal training schedule, my frequent meetings with important political figures and the time i allow myself to unwind, i don’t see how i could make up time for mentoring a student.” If the boy knew anything at all about the man, he’d know that he was blatantly lying. But he didn’t know Han like Han knew Han. Heck, up until he read the files he received from the Raikage - containing details about his new identity, codenamed ‘Han’ - even Binsu hadn’t known Han like Han knew Han. Nevertheless there was some small speck of truth in his plea; Han would never dedicate any of his ‘precious’ time towards training a student even if he could, and Binsu was already training someone he shouldn’t be. But Oshobi had all the time in the world, and was more than willing to train a young, promising kid who had the heart to learn how to fight, but only fight for his cause.
A few days ago Han had received a letter from an unfamiliar source that introduced himself as “Ni the treacherous”. The strange man explained how he was the founder of a clan - or as he had described it, a guild - of highly trained assassins that worked together to manipulate the criminal society and black market forums in order to direct their earnings to them. The guild offered its members a chance to work together in order to share their combined strength and increase their shared intel, as well as offering it’s weakest members protection and the chance to increase their strength with the support of a global network of highly skilled shinobi. Binsu signed up under the alias ‘Oshobi’ in order to gain an insight into the activities that occurred in the criminal world and he thought he would be able to use the guild as a way of acquired third party intel from around the world, which he otherwise couldn’t acquire alone, but a guilty side of the truth that he had signed up to extend his eyes and ears past his village’s boundaries to increase his chances of finding his lost friend Tenmei. ‘Ni’ didn’t care what one’s reason for joining was, nor did he care if you decided to leave; as long as you abided by his rules and kept as many outsiders as possible from learning about it’s business, he didn’t care how you used the guild to whose advantage. Binsu knew the boy had asked him that question hoping the answer would be no so he could change that himself; not many people asked if there was a job opening just for the sake of asking. And although he was more than happy to mentor the kid, he couldn’t do it as Binsu or Han. Not Binsu because Binsu was dead, and not Han because it’d look bad in the eyes of his people if he accepted an outsider as his student but said no teaching a squad or any village shinobi that asked.
With his gaze now darting from each girl’s face before the next, Han cleared his throat and quickly fixed his gaze on Suutei, who he wasn’t sure if he had gotten the subtle hint. Nevertheless he still spoke, saying ”However if it’s combat training you seek,” ’cause that’s what you want right? ”...I might know someone who can help.” He’d let the boy juggle the thought around in his head before he realised what the Sannin was trying to say; “i can’t tell you in front these strangers”. As if the man played to the tempo of their conversation, the blind man in the background began strumming his instrument again, this time playing a tune with much sharper tone and faster drive. It was time for Han to leave, very soon he'd need to get up early for his weekly full-day scout of the village. After giving the man one last smile and a shallow bow of his head he'd say, "Forgive me Suutei, but I have a big day ahead of me tomorrow and i want to start it early in the morning. Once again, it was a pleasure meeting you and I wish you all the best," before walking off towards the tallest mountain in the village. Hands tucked inside the sleeves of his shirt and ears listening to the fading tune of the lonely man's instrument.
"Not a bad way to spend an evening"
:Han exits thread -
Total Thread WC: 3339 (-3339 training Truth Seeking Balls)