Damn, Kenta and his group seemed to be pretty darn late, especially in the eyes of the young chuunin considering that he ran over to deliver the letter a little earlier than expected. Still they seemed to be traveling pretty slowly if they hadn't gotten here by now; Kashizudoto heard that Kenta was a speed god, so it was probably the genin travelling along to "guard" him that was slowing the group down. Still, it could've also been that random "Satoshi" dude that the Hokage had been talking about. He doubted it though, apparently that man was a jonin of some sort from Iwa. If anything, that guy would be speeding up the group.

As a result of the delay in them coming, Kashizudoto had taken up some missions in Iwa that allowed for foreign shinobi to take them; the Tsuchikage was nice enough to allow for this in addition to some great living arrangements. Most of them were contracted directly with the village as a priority mission; however, he did undertake one mission from a private contractor, more specifically the Fire Temple, that involved him protecting a priestess from an assailant who was jealous of her standing as the head priestess of the abode. After successfully apprehending the attackers and killing them (which he wasn't a fan of, but he kind of had to), Kashizudoto was approached by a monk of high standing, whose name was apparently Iriku.

The monk had noticed the chuunin's garb, a swordsman's robe gifted by Master Piandao after his apprenticeship, and had asked him who he studied under. Obviously, Kashizudoto had replied truthfully, saying that it was Master Piandao. The monk had then handed him a white lotus flower, telling him to meet Professor Ivan of Diamond Heights University. Kashizudoto, being inquisitive, would indeed investigate this mysterious thing.

"Do you know where Professor Ivan's room is?" he asked the registrar at the lobby. For a moment, he wondered if this guy was even a real person.

"Professor Ivan..." she said, flipping through several pages, "Room 268." Fair enough. He walked up the stairs, took a hard right, and saw the sign that said '268' on it. He was at the right place. He peeped through to check if there was a lecture; thankfully, there was none going on, so he gave a firm knock.

"Come in," responded the voice of a middle-aged man. The young chuunin did as was told, opening it to see a large room with a man sitting in front. Kashizudoto took out the white lotus flower from his pocket and presented it to the professor.

WC: 442

He walked in to see a man with medium-short white hair, wearing stiff black glasses that shined in the light. He must've been around forty years of age, definitely a lot more older and experienced than the young chuunin. He must have been very learned to be a professor here, indeed. A cursory glance on the chalkboard revealed that this was a math classroom, equations and numbers were scattered all across the board. Papers with all sorts of scribbles on them littered the floor underneath the students' desks (presumably a lecture had just taken place here); they stood in stark contrast to the professor's hyperorganized desk: everything was put away, color coded, and alphabetically organized five times over.

"Ah, a Konoha shinobi, eh? the professor inquired after seeing the white lotus, obviously noticing the Konoha hitae-ate that Kashizudoto had firmly adjusted on his forehead as a protector and an alert to all in this land of his nationality, "A student in here had quite the excuse for being late a day ago that centered around a ninja from Konoha and some annoying girls causing a damn ruckus in the hallway." After that, he gave a bit of a dry laugh. The young chuunin hadn't forgotten about that little... situation that he had the day before when he visited Diamond Heights for the first time. He went to visit it because it was a rather intellectual place as he liked it. Unfortunately, some girl with temper issues crashed into him and then started bitching about it, with another chick joining in on trolling Kashizudoto. They exchanged a few pranks in the form of jutsu, the chuunin clearly besting them (at least in his own eyes). The couple students who saw the exchange were told by the chuunin to go to their classes and give their professors the excuse that they had to give a foreign shinobi some directions, but no, they just had to tattle tale on him about having a fight in the hallway. Those rats.

"Errr... Ya, well, that was a little friendly mischief, that's all," explained the chuunin, "But more importantly, I have something I came here to talk to you about, according to Monk Iriku at least."

"Yes, yes, mused the professor with a light smile, You look like a smart kid, how about we play some Shogi?" He took out a box of pieces, all of them organized by their roles, and an extremely neat board, setting a game up on his desk. When Kashizudoto sat down, the professor patted him on the head lightly; the young chuunin didn't think much of this gesture and was ready to play a fair match. Luckily, Kashizudoto was pretty good at this game. He was confident that he could impress this guy, if not beat him.

WC: 916

They went face to face on the Shogi board: Kashizudoto had the first move. Damn, this professor was playing a really crappy opening, especially for a professor. Was this some sort of joke? Still, he didn't speak his thoughts out loud, as he didn't feel like hurting his feelings at the moment.

Twenty moves into the game, Kashizudoto was clearly in a winning position. They'd traded off a lot of pieces on the board at this point, and Kashizudoto was up the exchange by a lot. Still, the chuunin couldn't help but wonder why this guy was playing so horribly. Would he really challenge a young chuunin to a Shogi match if he himself was a novice at the game. This... This wasn't right. Hmmmmm... Perhaps there was some trickery going on.

He stared straight at Ivan's knight on the rim of the board, which was out of the action currently. Something was up though. The lettering on the piece was not the same as the knight on the other side. On one, the line was crooked and on the other, it was straight. With his above average perception, he figured out what was messing with his head. He was under a genjutsu. The man must've played different moves in Kashizudoto's head than he did in reality. Damn it! But when could he have cast such a thing. The man would've needed to get his chakra into Kashizudoto's system somehow in order to cast it. It must've been when he patted the chuunin on the head earlier! This man certainly wasn't playing nice.

Now that he had figured out the trick, the chuunin channeled chakra to his brain and broke the genjutsu. He looked at the board as it actually was with a grim look, as prospects were low for this position. He was down a heck load of material in the game. Not just that: the professor was extremely close to mate at this point. He couldn't possibly win this through "fair" play. Still, genjutsu wasn't against the rules pf Shogi, so he didn't have the justification to cheat outright.

"I see you've noticed the truth of your position," remarked the professor with his glasses pointed upwards. Damn this guy! Wait. If genjutsu wasn't against the rules in Shogi, then what about other jutsu? Surely, he could use his ninjutsu. However, it would be cobsidered cheating to actually move a piece on the board. Although, there was no rule that said that you couldn't set the board on fire...

He gathered katon chakra in his throat, turning it into a thick, flaming oil, while he quickly made a shit move on the board so that it'd be his opponenent's turn, then immediately spitting it out in the form of a bullet onto the board before Ivan could make his move. The Shogi board and all the pieces became enflamed but no pieces were moved; there was no way that Ivan could make a move now without his hand being burned and instantly retracting by reflex (after all, he doubted that this man was willing to set his hand on fire to move a piece). If Ivan had access to Suiton ninjutsu to put out the fire or a bucket of water, the water would move the pieces off the board, making it constitute cheating. The young chuunin had won this.

Kashizudoto Chakra:

WC: 1497

"Clever, remarked the professor with a dry smile, "I concede. The test was to simply notice that I put you under genjutsu; however, you assured your victory through a similar scheme." Wait, this was a test? For what?

"Let me explain, my young friend," said thr professor as if he had read the young chuunin's mind, "The Five Great Nations have been in a rather... precarious peace for a long time, although the recent declaration of war is going to break even that. What I am about to tell you is extremely confidential. You must pledge not to reveal it to anyone under even the most extreme of circumstances." With the literal snap of a finger, the door slammed shut. What did he have set up that could do that? And more importantly, what the hell was this dude talking about? The young chuunin nodded his head as an affirmation of a pledge to secrecy.

"The result was the creation of the Order of the White Lotus, a secret society of shinobi of high status that transcends national borders. Our daily work is to ensure peace all across the continent. We have intervened in several crises around the world, including the Third and Fourth Shinobi World Wars." Ensuring global peace? Transcending national boundaries? That was awesome! He had always felt a more global outlook on the world, rather than defining people by artificial lines drawn across maps.

"Every day, the stability of the world is threatened by evil forces," said the professor, "The lotus in your hand suggests that you were recommended by Monk Iriku. And your robe is telling me that you are most likely an apprentice of Master Piandao. Tell me. Will you join our cause?" A burst of energy rushed through the young chuunin, who couldn't believe the opportunity that he'd just been afforded. He could truly work towards his ideals of peace and freedom in a setting like this while still being affiliated with his village. He laid the lotus flower on the table, next to the smoldering Shogi board and slid it towards the professor.

"Count me in," he said with extreme brevity that contrasted with his deep and long winded thoughts of his future in the organization. The professor picked it up and opened his drawer. In it were pins, tacks, and clips lined up in perfect, aesthetically pleasing order. He took out a bronze pin and stuck it through the lotus flower. He handed the lotus sequin that he just made back to the young chuunin.

"Wear this only during meetings, instructed Professor Ivan, "Otherwise, it'll be suspicious. Bronze denotes a rank of Lotus, for lower members of the order. Silver denotes a rank of Master Lotus, given only to people like me who are of high status in the area and have served the public interest for a while. Gold denotes Grandmaster Lotus, or simply Grand Lotus, which is the title for the leader of the order. In the interests of preserving the integrity of the organization, we usually don't reveal the identity of the Grand Lotus; however, we can make an exception in this scenario, as you are his apprentice... That's right, Piandao is the Grand Lotus of our order."

Wait. Wait. Master Piandao, the swordsmaster who trained Kashizudoto and helped him forge his own sword, was the leader of this grand order? That explained why everyone affiliated with the Order looked at his robe, a replica of that which the Grand Lotus wore, with a very different outlook than one outside.

"Wow," said the young chuunin in amazement, "I'll be sure to check in with Master Piandao when I get back to Konoha. Is there anything else I need to know from you?

"Not much, only that we contact each other through messenger hawk, so I'll need to collect a sample that has your scent, the professor requested. The young chuunin handed the man a strand of hair, hoping that it'd suffice.

"That will do. You have now been inducted into the Order of the White Lotus," said Professor Ivan. With that, the doors immediately opened. He would soon leave.

WC: 2196

[Exit]

Bukijutsu: A -> S: 2138/4000
Leftover WC: 58