Kashizudoto had foregone the usual disguise with the Transformation Technique that he had been using to keep a low profile around the village, as he had now left the perimeter of Kumogakure and no longer needed to worry about endangering himself in the midst of what could potentially become a battlefield at any moment with the war that he had learned about from the Tsuchikage during his diplomatic mission in Iwa, although, so far, he hadn't seen any kind of invasion force yet.

In all seriousness, he held the opinion that the Kiri-Kumo conflict held no merit for either side, as, at least from what he had heard from the Tsuchikage, it seemed to be a miscommunication between the two villages, if anything. That said, he didn't harbor any opinions on either village yet; the idealistic teen only wished for global peace and peaceful cooperation, especially considering his membership in the Order of the White Lotus.

He had walked through the wilds of the Land of Lightning with his pet messenger hawk, who he had dubbed "Hawky", perched on his shoulder until the two reached a cliff, both of them unaware of what was below their feet. The two were going to do some training out in the rugged terrain of the Land of Lightning, a lot of the light from the Sun being shielded off by the large clouds overhead.

"This looks like a great place to get some training done, the tokubetsu jonin told the hawk, "Let's get some training done." From the cloudy sky, the boy's persona could be identified clearly from the black swordsman's robe that he wore, a gift from Master Piandao after finishing his apprenticeship under him. He had a bamboo sheath on his his left hip; it contained the Tentetsutou, or the "Sword of Heaven", a blade which the boy had crafted himself out of a four billion year old meteorite during his apprenticeship under Master Piandao. Next to it was a coil of wire measuring fifty meters; the utility had multiple uses for the shinobi, including but not limited to: rappelling up surfaces, grappling an object or surface, pulling oneself towards a surface, extending the range of the Dragon Fire Jutsu, setting up traps, restraining enemies, etc; he had used this extensively during his adventures. Below it, on his left hip, he had a holster containing one kunai knife and three shuriken, just some basic projectiles used for various combat situations, although they paled in power compared to his Tentetsutou. He pulled out this blade, charged at the hawk, and swung it at him, which the hawk promptly blocked with its talons.

The two continued exchanging basic strikes, neither one being able to actually land a hit on each other; at one point, they both reached the edge of the cliff. Neither of them worried about it; as Hawky could fly, falling off the cliff wasn't a big deal for the hawk or his owner, as Hawky could easily swoop down, pick him up from the sky, and land him in a safe place on the ground if he ended up falling; additionally, Kashizudoto had a lot of experience as a shinobi, despite his age of thirteen, so he would probably be able to find a way to get to the ground safely by himself if he fell off the cliff anyway (the Supernatural Walking Practice, his wire, etc).

Then, Hawky quickly swooped down into the sky, obviously wanting Kashizudoto to face him in his own territory. Of course, the tokubetsu jonin obliged; he took out a kunai knife from his holster, tied up some wire around the loop of his kunai, and then stabbed it into the ground so that he could control his position in the sky and climb up back to the cliff if he needed to. In other words, he hung in suspension as he jumped off the cliff, supported by just the wire and the deeply dug-in kunai knife.

They both exchanged some basic strikes in the air, with Hawky clearly having the upper hand in the spar due to the fact that they were fighting in mid-air; however, after a few seconds of this, the hawk seemed to see something out of the corner of his eye and began flying towards it, leaving Kashizudoto hanging (literally). It wasn't long before the tokubetsu jonin also noticed this: a structure, which looked a bit like a temple, literally hung upside down from the bottom of the cliff. He decided to go investigate it, so he swung forward on his wire towards what he had all but assured himself was a temple.

His feet made contact with the bottom part of the cliff; he activated the Supernatural Walking Practice so that he could walk upside down on this surface. He gave a few good yanks on the wire until the kunai came loose, and he dismantled the structure. Damn, how did he not notice this temple before?

He and the hawk would open the creaking door of the ancient-looking temple. Only time would tell what or who they would see inside...

WC: 869

Energy swirled around Sanosuke as he was sitting cross legged in the middle of the inner chamber of the upside down temple. It was one of the few times he was able to escape the responsibilities of being Raikage and hone his craft of the sage arts. White makeup streaked his eye lids as he focused more on the chakra that he was absorbing from his surroundings and focusing that same energy masterfully into a different assortment of shapes and sizes that were made of purely senjutsu chakra. His chakra shone brightly in shades of silver that would have someone from the outside believe that a beacon was pulsing from within the inner chamber. Wisps of chakra licked his skin as he focused at the task at hand which was to continue making the chakra of his surroundings his own.

The shapes that Sanosuke was creating with the senjutsu chakra covered a vast array of shapes. From swords, to daggers, to flowers, and even kanji characters. He created them all as they stemmed above his head. His breathing was shallow as he focused more on the shape manipulation of his chakra. Mental commands were being issued with what should he do with his senjutsu chakra. Each order was exact and demanded that he couldn't slack with his training nor his focus. His mind was structured so the environment he was getting the chakra from knew he was the one commanding the flow of power. Should he not show some sort of dominance to the senjutsu chakra he was absorbing, it would eat him alive.

Sharper and sharper, quicker and quicker the orders were being given out to shape the chakra around him came into focus. Chakra blades that resembled harpoons made of silver aura were created around him. They were all leveled at the wall right in front of him that had nicks and chips in it from what looked like previous training exercises. Five harpoons were created; two on each side of him and one harpoon directly above Sanosuke's head. With each thought he gave in terms to the chakra harpoons, they got sharper with its manifestation.

Opening his eyes, a single command was issued to let loose the bolts at the wall. His silver hair whistled as the chakra missiles impaled the wall in rapid succession. From outside the chamber, each harpoon created small resonates where the sounds echoed and carried itself outward for anyone outside to hear them. Sanosuke looked carefully from where he was sitting to see that all of the harpoons hit the same mark where each harpoon smashed into the other one to split it down the middle. The previous harpoon once split by its successor vanished back into the environment that he had obtained it from.

Currently his body was suspended from the ground with his senjutsu chakra as Sanosuke continued his exercise. Sanosuke looked at the wall and noticed his mark was exactly where he originally intended it for. Mentally patting himself on the back, Sanosuke continued his training. He paid little attention to the sound of a hawk beating its wings in the air. He had training to focus on, after all there weren't that many moments where he could sit down and hone his craft. The Raikage intended on making the most of his time.

The ancient door creaked open as the boy and his hawk entered a large open chamber. They would wander through it quietly to observe an interior surrounded by engravings, paintings, and statues of antiquity; some of them would appear really darn creepy to the boy of thirteen, maybe even nearing fourteen if he had been keeping track of the date accurately (which, in all honesty, he probably hadn't been doing). Eventually, the two would pick up a quick succession of sharp, pointed sounds that resonated off of the walls of a nearby inner chamber. The tokubetsu jonin, along with his hawk, would decide to investigate it to see what or who was inside.

He would grasp the handle of the door with little fear, pulling on it ever so steadily until it would fully open up to reveal a levitating man. Wait, how the hell was this man frickin' floating in the air while sitting cross-legged, as if he was meditating? As the boy had no experience with senjutsu, he couldn't even see the nature energy swirling around the man to keep him afloat; however, he could see the white makeup that streaked the eyelids of this man's black face, which seemed to sort of complement the silver hair in a strange but effective way. Clearly, this was no ordinary man, and he probably had a lot of power too. Judging from the man's appearance, he was probably a native of Kumo by blood; as a foreign shinobi from Konoha (which had aligned itself with Kiri), Kashizudoto had to be very careful of the thin ice that he walked upon by interrupting the session of what seemed to be a legend. Of course, nobody would be able to guess the boy's nationality with too much confidence, as he had on no forehead protector; however, the messenger hawk and the boy's skin tone would clearly be an indication that he probably wasn't from around here.

"Uhhh..." the boy would stumble as he would try and search for words that would be non-provocative, suddenly noticing that the wall had holes in it that seemed to be newly formed, "Nice temple you got here. It's... upside down and stuff. Pretty cool." There also existed the option of leaving without saying a word; however, that kind of passiveness didn't appeal to the boy, even if being active and making his presence known had extreme danger to it. He had no qualms about endangering himself in order to prove a point, and many of his superiors, including the doctor in Iwa, had encouraged him not to put himself in too much harm, as he still had a lot of years left to do that kind of stuff. Still, it was tempting for a boy who had only lived a bit more than thirteen years to strut around in it carelessly, interrupting what seemed to be the training session of an immensely powerful man.

"Soooo... The walls," he would continue on, as if simply interrupting a stranger once just wasn't enough for him, "I see you've made quite a bit of an impression on them indeed. Impressive." Afterwards, his hawk, still perched on atop his left shoulder, would let out a loud screech of approval for this statement; clearly, Hawky would demonstrate his desire to give his two cents on the matter.

WC: 1438

The boy's presence in the temple was something that the Raikage had already take into account while he was meditating. Of course his sensory abilities would notify him that he was not alone in the vacinity. But seeing as he carried no malicious intent, well from what Sanosuke could take from him, he paid the boy little mind. During his exercises of chakra manipulation, Sanosuke could sense the boy getting closer and closer to his immediate area. What had brought him here? It didn't take long to notice that his training was creating quite the monsoon of colors so easily spotted that anyone could chance upon. Steps could be heard as the stranger got closer and closer to Sanosuke.

It was already noted that the boy was already in the temple area during his preparations for his next exercise, so it was now the fact that Sanosuke had an audience. Perfect. Sanosuke had originally came here for he isolation and the tranquility. But apparently that wasn't the case. The first part of the boy's words fell upon deaf ears as his training of was keeping him from talking again as he released another round of harpoons into the wall. When the dust settled, new impressions from his chakra projectiles were formed before disappearing into the environment.

The second part of his words however, was heard as the help of s screeching hawk did gain his attention. Well at least his audience member himself had quite the sense of humor. A small chuckle could be heard from Sanosuke as he turned his body physically, while suspended from the ground. He looked at the boy to take him in. He didn't look like someone from his village, but he didn't carry the appearance of someone in a village like Kiri. That was good as it was less likely that he was a Kiri loyalist who was attempting to end the man's life in protest to the current conflict. Maybe he was from Iwa or Konoha?

Scratching his chin while floating, Sanosuke inspected the shinobi before him trying to decipher who he was. After what seemed like minutes of starring, Sanosuke grunted in frustration. "Okay I'll bite, what brings you to this temple? Not many people know it exists." It was true. Not many shinobi knew about the existence of this temple. Even a few seasoned shinobi from his village had knowledge that this temple existed. Yet this outsider found it, with what looked like relative ease. How was he able to do such a thing? This boy was interesting to say the least.

While the boy talked, the floating man created a bunch of chakra harpoons out of thin air; admittedly, the boy worried about whether the man intended for those harpoons to hit him, but he soon noticed that the harpoons did not point towards his direction, fortunately. Instead, they pointed towards the wall, and the man released them. Now Kashizudoto knew how the man created those impressive dents on the wall in the first place. So his answer to the question was a physical demonstration? Interesting. That or perhaps the man didn't hear Kashizudoto's question in the first place and was just doing his training as usual. After the hawk's screech, however, the man let out a bit of a chuckle, it seemed, as he turned to the boy, examining him from head to toe for what seemed like minutes on end almost as if he were an alien. Finally, the man scratched his chin and spoke.

"Okay I'll bite, what brings you to this temple? the strong, floating man inquired, "Not many people know it exists." Luck and luck alone provided the only reason that Kashizudoto and Hawky stumbled upon this temple in the first place. If they hadn't been training on the cliff, Hawky wouldn't have flown off the cliff into the sky to dodge Kashizudoto's onslaught. If Hawky didn't do that, then they wouldn't have found this hidden temple.

"I guess Hawky and I sorta just hit the jackpot," the boy of thirteen would admit, "I'll explain. Hawky and I were out training here, and we chose the cliff above as a good location because of its spaciousness." Hawky would let out a bit of a screech once more as a sign of approval, as part of the reason that they decided to train out on the cliff was because the open airspace nearby gave Hawky the advantage in terms of environment for their sparring.

"So anyway. We were sparring, and Hawky was being pushed to the edge, literally, by yours truly, Kashizudoto would continue, "So he took to the skies as a result. Of course, I used my wire to follow suit, hanging in the air from the top of the cliff. Eventually, while we were fighting, Hawky spotted this temple hanging down from the cliff and headed off there! Obviously, I followed suit. So now we're here, doing a bit of exploration. Obviously, when we heard the noise and saw the fireworks show, we came over as fast as we could to check it out."

"If you don't mind," he asked, "Could you show me how you float and make those harpoons and stuff? Floating and stuff makes the list of one of the coolest things I've seen. My name's Kashizudoto by the way, who are you, if you don't mind me asking?" While he'd just uttered quite a mouthful there, a lot of ideas all at once, the idea of floating in mid-air like some sort of mystical guru seemed interesting to the boy, if only he'd be able to pull off that kind of stunt himself. He couldn't help but be giddy, especially since this guy didn't seem hostile towards him so far.

WC: 1987

So it was a bird wasn't it? Sanosuke thought as he looked at the hawk that was resting on the boy's shoulder. The hawk looked at Sanosuke with its piercing eyes as though it was curious of who this man that was before him. As the boy talked, Sanosuke wasn't paying attention to the boy as much as he was with the hawk. Sanosuke's eyes lined up with the hawk's eyes as blue clashed with the glare of a predator. The bird was very strong. Its senses rivaled that of even Navi's own. A thing, undetectable strip of chakra began to form from Sanosuke's body and then attached itself to the hawk. It wouldn't be detectable by the boy name Kashizudoto since he seems to not be familiar with the energies that fuels senjutsu techniques.

The chakra communicated using the basic telepathic senjutsu technique that he uses with Navi, was being done on the hawk itself. The technique will allow Sanosuke to communicate his own emotions to the hawk, and thus give his own introduction to the hawk to make it feel welcome. The technique doesn't work in reverse, unfortunately, as it's only one way connection. If the hawk wanted to communicate the same way, then it must be able to do the same technique. With his message received, Sanosuke outstretched his hand for the hawk to come to him. The message he gave the hawk telepathically should have communicated that he was a friend So if the hawk chose to, it could fly on Sanosuke's arm and sit there comfortably.

During this exercise, Sanosuke decided to wear something rather light in case he wanted to do some more physical exercises while he had the time. Wearing gray swears and a black tank top, Sanosuke didn't have a single piece of armor or weaponry on him besides his gloves that when commanded can revert to his gauntlets that he could use to summon his swords. But that wouldn't be necessary at all for his training exercises. Kashizudoto, quite the strong name young man. I am Sanosuke Flynt, it's nice to meet you. I" The Raikage said with a smile and an outstretched hand. The boy's question in regards to how he was doing was no easy answer to come up with.

But after some thinking, Sanosuke did figure out some way to break the concept of senjutsu chakra to the boy. "In regards to your question about how I'm able to create those blades, it's not I that create the blades. I employ the environment itself to create it for me as I'm not using my energy to create it, but nature itself." Sanosuke began to explain. Floating higher up in the air so even while in a sitting position Sanosuke was looking eye to eye with the boy. "If you don't believe me, try to focus chakra in your finger tip and try to focus enough of it to be visible and touch the air itself. Think of the space in front of you, the air itself, as a solid object itself." If the boy did as he said correctly, then the spot itself where he would touch will leave a visible markup of chakra in the air itself. Similar to a stain on a piece of clothing. It will shine until it fizzles out of existence.

"What you have just witnessed, was senjutsu."

The man seemed to have taken a liking to the boy's hawk, or, at the least, quite an interest. Perhaps he liked animals a lot? Or maybe birds specifically? He could never know. After the boy finished speaking, no doubt a little confused about the fact that the cool floating man was looking at his hawk, not him (and no doubt a tad bit jealous, as he wasn't used to his messenger hawk taking up the spotlight), the man extended his arm towards Hawky and the hawk flew off his shoulder, both actions to his surprise.

"RAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" the hawk screeched in delight as he landed upon the arm of the floating man, leaving the boy's mouth agape. He would peck lightly at the man's arm, as if to try and gauge this man's scent and appearance accurately; he had done that often with friendly people that he had met, as a messenger hawk, he had to know people very well so that he could fly over to them later to deliver messages if requested by his owner. The boy could only wonder, how did this man seemingly form a rapport with Hawky just like that? Was it... brainwashing? No, he really hoped not. He wanted to keep his hawk, thank you very much. Perhaps this guy had a special sense for animals that made them like him. Something along those lines, at least.

"Kashizudoto, quite the strong name young man, the man spoke with an outstretched hand, which Kashizudoto would shake firmly before he added, "I am Sanosuke Flynt, it's nice to meet you." Wait... Sanosuke? This was the Raikage's name, was it not? The boy would recall the Hokage Kenta Inuzuka, back in their rendez-vous in Iwa, referring to "that bastard Sanosuke" as the Raikage. Though he had great respect for his Kage, no doubt, he would feel that, so far, the man in front of him had been very civil and kind to him and, especially, his hawk. Was this man really the Raikage? It definitely wouldn't be what he had expected. The man did not mention his title specifically, but given this man's great power that was apparent in his floating, Kashizudoto would deduce that this indeed had to be the Raikage, as he would doubt that there were two powerful people in the village both named Sanosuke. Besides a widening of the eyes, he would try not to display any external reaction to this revelation. Either way, he would determine that seeing the Raikage would be a good thing; after all, he might observe this man's behavior and try to understand why the Raikage's village was being attacked in the first place and why certain foreign leaders such as his own Kage and the Mizukage had seemingly cast this man in a negative light. He had come here to find out more about what conflict truly was, and part of that certainly entailed finding out how existing peace can break in the first place.

"In regards to your question about how I'm able to create those blades, it's not I that create the blades," the Raikage answered his earlier question, interrupting a pause in which they both seemed to be thinking, no doubt about two different things, "I employ the environment itself to create it for me as I'm not using my energy to create it, but nature itself." Eh? So the Raikage had the ability to draw some sort of energy out of the environment? Was that even possible? The very thought would excite Kashizudoto, as he would wonder whether he could learn such a great art. He would already begin to imagine himself pulling all sorts of stuff out of the environment to screw over enemy shinobi. It sounded so sweet!

"If you don't believe me, try to focus chakra in your finger tip and try to focus enough of it to be visible and touch the air itself," the Raukage asked him to do, floating up a bit more so that they were eye to eye, "Think of the space in front of you, the air itself, as a solid object itself." The space being a solid object? Wasn't that a bit of an oxymoron? Still, perhaps there was free-floating energy out there, just waiting to be employed in some way or other. Either way, he was always open to trying new things; besides, he could focus really well. As such, he would concentrate quite a bit of chakra to his right index fingertip, enough to reveal a visible blue hue. This would certainly be enough chakra, he hoped. He would lift his right hand up into the air and wave his right index finger around a bit, trying to get a feel for things, until he would poke a specific spot in the air with all of his chakra focused onto it and then would pull it back to witness a mark of chakra left within the air that he had poked. It would shine for a bit before fizzling beyond his perception as the energy would disperse.

"What you have just witnessed," he would hear the Raikage speak afterwards, "Was senjutsu." Senjutsu? He had heard of it before in Academy classes when they had discussed about the sages known as Jiraiya and Naruto. This was the art that sages like them used? That only made this whole thing sound even cooler to the excited boy.

"I gotta say," the boy would speak, "Senjutsu seems really cool. I don't know too much about it, but I know that it's what the sages used back in the day and sages like you use today. I wonder, how exactly do you harness this energy from nature on a larger level, like what you did to create those harpoons? I'd love to learn this skill if you could please teach me. It'd be a huge help, Lord Rai- is it ok if I call you this: Lord Raikage?" He would be 99% sure that this was the Raikage based on the name alone; however, he couldn't just assume such stuff without clarifying first, or it could lead to an awkward moment for sure. Anyway, he would hope that this man would teach him the ropes; Hawky would let out another screech as a sign of approval. The boy would suspect that the bird wanted to see some epic sage training himself. Who wouldn't? Hopefully, this man would teach him senjutsu further in depth than this demonstration alone; the boy suspected that senjutsu wasn't something that he could really teach himself, as he didn't even know enough about it to begin with.

WC: 3119

It seemed as the boy showed some skill in the art of chakra manipulation as Sanosuke watched the boy place his mark of chakra to be visibly seen in the air. It was like a bright light that was shining brightly from its stationary position. Sanosuke smirked as he began to pet Hawky's head. The hawk would coo at his touch as he was looking at the boy do a rather difficult task of chakra manipulation using senjutsu itself. The boy had talent. Normally one would be there practicing for hours trying to have the chakra spec developed from the finger stay in one place and visible. But Kashizudoto had somehow did it with rather ease. Looks like Konoha shinbi were still quite the hot spot for developing strong shinobi. It was good thing that somethings didn't change in this day in age.

At the boy's questioning for more instruction, Sanosuke began to think. Should he train someone else in the art of senjutsu? He had trained some well known sages in his time. From one of Ayakashi's lap dogs(that she calls the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist) and technically his step-son, Ren, and the Suna jounin Toraika. Pursing his lips and scratching his chin, Sanosuke began to think aloud. "Hmmm, I don't know. Training a sage isn't some easy task you know?" Sanosuke said with one eye peaking at the boy with a lazy eye to gauge his reaction to such uncertainty of instruction of the sage arts. He did look rather excited to learn. "What do you think Hawky, should I teach the boy?"

There was silence as Sanosuke fed more chakra into Hawky for knowing his decision on the matter of whether or not he should teach Kashizudoto the basics of senjutsu training. As Hawky has now understood the situation, it looked at its master to look at him. The hawk would be eyeing the Konoha shinobi with more interest. This time the animal was analyzing its master to see its worth. After a rather long inspection, Hawky hopped from Sanosuke's arms and let out a loud screech. In fact it was a much louder screech than Sanosuke could hear as it flew back to its master. Sanosuke laughed to himself. "Well we have our answer, don't you think? " Sanosuke walked up to the boy and plopped his heavier hand on the boy's head to ruffle the young man's hair a bit.

"Yes, I will teach you Kashizudoto. But drop the honorifics. Sensei, or Sanosuke will be okay substitutes for my name. I hate being addressed like that honestly." Sanosuke added as he took a step back for the boy to take in the news he had just received. Once the boy was ready, their next step of teachings will begin. Animals had an innate sense of danger. The reason why Sanosuke had chosen Hawky to determine whether or not to teach the boy was the hawk would know if the boy was ready for this sort of training of using this art. If it was too much for the boy, then Hawky would have indicated otherwise. But he didn't, and therefore Kashizudoto just may be ready for the next step of chakra manipulation.

"Hmmm, I don't know," the Raikage mused, much to the disappointment of the young tokubetsu jonin, "Training a sage isn't some easy task you know?" The boy would slightly clench his teeth upon hearing such uncertainty, really hoping that the Raikage would teach him despite the hassle. He already felt like he was buzzing with energy, so excited to learn how to start floating around like a sage and pulling off awesome stunts like the Raikage. For a moment, he would ponder on whether he would become the youngest sage ever if the Raikage were to teach him; the most famous sage, the Seventh Hokage Naruto Uzumaki, had apparently learned Sage Mode in his later teenage years from some frogs, according to popular folk myth at least. Only time would tell whether the Raikage would accept the boy as his student despite his age and the amount of time he would have to invest in such an endeavor.

"What do you think Hawky, should I teach the boy?" the Raikage inquired to... his hawk? Why would he ask Hawky about whether the boy could learn senjutsu? Kashizudoto would suspect that the Raikage had some special bond with animals of some sort, or he wouldn't have asked such a question casually to a bird. Still, the young tokubetsu jonin would have confidence in his bird's judgement, considering that Hawky was a great friend of his, there was no way that he would just let him down like that, right? He would look at his hawk, who would gaze at him as if performing a complex analysis. Eventually, his wings would open, and he would leap off of the Raikage's arm.

"RAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" the hawk would screech loudly as he would take off and land on the tokubetsu jonin's arm. The boy would assume that the hawk had found him worthy of learning the art of senjutsu. Indeed, he was probably right about it too.

"Well we have our answer, don't you think?" the Raikage spoke as he approached the tokubetsu jonin on foot and patted his head with a heavy hand, ruffling his hair a bit. A sudden burst of excitement would rush through the boy, apparent in his facial and bodily expression. He was gonna be a sage! He was gonna be a sage!

"Yes, I will teach you Kashizudoto, the Raikage announced, stating the answer that the hawk had reached directly, "But drop the honorifics. Sensei, or Sanosuke will be okay substitutes for my name. I hate being addressed like that honestly." The boy could understand why the man didn't want to be called by a ton of fancy titles; it made perfect sense, really. Honestly, he would feel a little relieved that Sanosuke Flynt wasn't one of those people who stilted the environment around them with formalities. It gave a nice sensei-student feel if the student didn't have to address his teacher as "Lord" or "Kage".

"That's great to hear," the boy would speak honestly, "Honestly, I'm quite relieved that you aren't particular about those honorifics, Sanosuke. Thanks so much for being willing to teach me the art of senjutsu, and I promise I'll try my best." He would have considered addressing him as "Sanosuke Sensei" right before he would utter the words, but he then would decide it'd be a little unnecessary and just settle with the man's first name.

"So, Sensei," he would continue, "What are we starting off with?" From there, he'd let Sanosuke lead the way in training. What would this entail? Only time would tell, but one could guess that it would likely present challenges anyone who tried to learn it, including the young boy.

WC: 3748

Sanosuke would nod at the boy as he was getting excited about training under the art of being a sage. He had taught others in the way of being a sage, and the training of it was what made it so difficult. It was amusing to see that the Konoha shinobi had looked rather disappointed at the musings Sanosuke was putting on the boy. He was really that worried that Sanosuke would change his mind at being his teacher. His hawk may be his comrade in arms, and they may have known each other for years, but that is the exact reason why the hawk would be that careful in his answer. If the boy certainly did mean something to the hawk, then he wouldn't send Kashizudoto to his death by having him learn the arts of sages. Even animals can know this power was dangerous and can kill anyone with ease. But the hawk let the boy pass, and that was all he needed to know before proceeding with thinking about exactly how to teach the boy. There were numerous ways for the boy to understand the pull of senjutsu chakra, but he would try one way for the boy to be exposed to the raw chakra of nature itself. That's when he thought of a way. Making eye contact with the hawk, Sanosuke nodded as he was going to explain the first task of the boy before him.

"The first task kid is to get your body accustomed to what its like to take in chakra from the environment." Sanosuke began to say as he got closer to the boy. Putting a hand on his shoulder, he let the hand drift over to the middle Kashizudoto's back. Before the boy had a chance to react tot he sudden touch, chakra was pulsed into the boy's bag thus layering on a body seal on the boy without him noticing it. The body seal would sink under the clothing leaving a warm touch of the seal being applied on Kashizudoto's part. Once the warming sensation was cooled off, then the boy would experience a kind of pressure being exerted on the boy's body was though gravity itself was attempting to tear the boy's body apart. If he didn't keep his mind focused on using his own chakra to control this pressure from ripping him to shreds, then Sanosuke know the boy wouldn't last long as the chakra would be the death of him. Taking a step back, Sanosuke would let the boy struggle with this force being pushed on him. "What I did was have your body act as a lightning rod to the chakra in the environment itself. This is the chakra that we sages have learn to cultivate for months. But by the end of this training, you too will have this ability to feel the forces of the environment. It's rather taxing on the body if you haven't deducted that already. Your task is to not let this chakra convert you to nature chakra itself."

Jumping from his position to float once more in mid air with his legs crossed, Sanosuke materialized a book from his back pocket to read. "The body seal itself should disintegrate by sunrise the next day. If you can go that long without having your body fade into existence, then you'll pass. But in the meantime, let me know when you think you can do 100 pushups with this pressure, 300 one arm push ups, and run 10 miles around the temple." Sanosuke snorted as he continued his reading. Taking a quick peak from his side view of his eyes, he could see the boy's left arm beginning to fade out of its physical form. "Brat! Your left arm, focus your own chakra around your body unless you want to see yourself vanish before your hawk!" That was the only warning he would get from the boy. There won't be a next time as if this happens again, the training will be halted permanently.

"The first task kid is to get your body accustomed to what its like to take in chakra from the environment," the man explained after nodding to the boy's hawk. He approached the boy, putting a hand to the boy's shoulder and letting it drift to the back. He would have no time to react to the sudden touch on the back before he felt a great warmth. What was this? Soon, it cooled off, exerting huge pressure on Kashizudoto's back, a force which would seem to the boy almost as if it were trying to rip him to pieces. As if instinctively, he would try and control this force with his own chakra; however, the tug was more powerful than any force he had felt internally. Even though he was an extremely focused individual and could channel his energy in the right proportions with enough concentration, this was definitely no easy task. He began almost spasming a bit, trying to resist the pull of whatever was trying to destroy him. The boy would close his eyes and clasp his arms together to bring his body parts closer to one another, making chakra control a little easier for him. Because of this, he would eventually counteract the pull with his own chakra, seeking to control whatever external power this was, probably nature energy, with his own chakra. Slowly, he'd open his eyes again and release his arms from their clasping; he had sort of gotten a feel for controlling the chakra entering his system, although it still took an immense amount of concentration and could rip him apart if he ever fucked up. He knew that he'd need to get more used to this feeling until it became second nature (no pun intended), but that was just a passing thought, as most of his mind was absolutely dedicated to the task at hand right now.

"What I did was have your body act as a lightning rod to the chakra in the environment itself. This is the chakra that we sages have learn to cultivate for months," Sensei Sanosuke explained, "But by the end of this training, you too will have this ability to feel the forces of the environment. It's rather taxing on the body if you haven't deducted that already. Your task is to not let this chakra convert you to nature chakra itself." So this was his mission? He had to make sure that this nature chakra didn't rip him apart to shreds. He found it harsh that the sensei would give him a deadly task without warning; however, Sanosuke had never said that learning senjutsu would be easy. He began to idle on these thoughts, slowly releasing some of his concentration dedicated to the control of the nature chakra without even realizing it, an unconscious decision that could have serious ramifications.

"The body seal itself should disintegrate by sunrise the next day. If you can go that long without having your body fade into existence, then you'll pass," he would hear the sensei speak, "But in the meantime, let me know when you think you can do 100 pushups with this pressure, 300 one arm push ups, and run 10 miles around the temple. So just last until sunrise? Sounded easy enough. He didn't like the idea of doing 100 push-ups, 300 one arm push-ups, and 10 miles around the temple, such exercise seemed a little excessive to him. Little did he realize, he was barely able to control the task at hand: concentrating on not being converted to nature chakra itself. He would instead watch the man take a book out of his back pocket for reading.

"Brat!" the sensei suddenly screamed urgently, "Your left arm, focus your own chakra around your body unless you want to see yourself vanish before your hawk!" What? His frickin' arm was disappearing? He would look to his left and, indeed, he could see the arm fading before his very eyes, his hawk also observing the scene. This was scary as hell!  The boy would have a look of sheer surprise before clenching his fists indignantly and getting back into the concentration required for control over the nature chakra. Within a few seconds, the arm would begin to restore its corporeality. Phew. He would take a breath of relief now that his arm was back to normal. He needed to be more careful with this for sure.

"Woah," he would speak after heaving a deep sigh, "This is intense, but don't worry, I can handle it! I just gotta get through sunrise, no biggie. Within no time, I'll get the hang of this!" Meanwhile, he would keep his concentration on trying to control the nature chakra using his own; he couldn't risk getting ripped apart by the very thing he was trying to tame.

WC: 4568

Concentration was the key for this exercise. If he, for even a second, forget that important aspect of controlling senjutsu chakra it will be his life that is lost in exchange. As being a sage, they are beings that have their eyes open to the power of the environment themselves. They walk through this intense and seemingly limitless power every single day of their life. This is the level of control that all sages can muster up, and has that control passively. It's something like that of a muscle that is always being in use to the point where when one is skilled enough or proficient in the art of senjutsu mastery that they can do so without thinking. Hence sage mode was the concept of being able to access more of that power by being consciously aware of what they are doing with the senjutsu chakra.

The boy was distracted from the workout he would have to do in order to fully demonstrate that he indeed had taken the first step of being a a sage. And that was to be able to passively move his body while being exposed to this force. At first it's similar for a newborn baby attempting to walk for the first time. It was a rather archaic and crude manner to teach those the basics of senjutsu chakra. It wasn't as risky as the training exercise he had put his former student Kaekio under, but still it was an exercise that had its own degree of danger to it. By his estimate, if Kashizudoto can control his body despite being exposed to the environment, then Sanosuke can say without a doubt that he was ready for the next step of training.

But in the meantime, Sanosuke would focus on the reading of his book as he was rather behind in it. The time for the invasion had divided his attention, and thus left him behind schedule for him wanting to finish the book. As he turned the page, Sanosuke would peak at the boy from time to time to see how he was holding up. Sanosuke wasn't lying when he said that he would end the training again should the boy prove he couldn't handle the control of the chakra. The reasoning behind his words wasn't just to give the Konoha child some freight in case he thought of slacking. Senjutsu chakra is lethal if not controlled properly, Sanosuke will not be the reason why the boy will lose his life or become horribly disfigured because of his training. As the sun was getting close to setting, the fruits of the boy's exercise will come into fruition should he have control over the first stage of his training...

The force that tugged at him from every direction had impressive strength indeed; however, with every passing second, he felt more and more able to control it with less and less attention. Not that it was easy in the slightest, no, it was taxing indeed; however, he felt like he could get the hang of it in time. He knew that if he wanted to be able to do three hundred one-arm pushups and one hundred mile laps around the temple, which required a lot of energy and attention indeed. So somehow or other he would have to slowly get himself accustomed to using less and less attention to almost passively control this outside chakra with the same amount of focus that he used for breathing and other subconscious bodily functions.

He would then muse on what was more taxing than walking and less than sprinting and push-ups. Naturally, that would lead to him doing a light jog around in the room; however, after two laps or so of the light jog around his sensei, he would feel ready to move on to the next level. Still, he didn't think that he'd have it in him to do a push-up or go full-on sprint with this energy pulling at him from all over. Perhaps there was a middle ground in between a light jog and sprinting? Maybe increase the speed just a little, but, honestly, that seemed a little too boring. He would feel the need to spice things up. That's when he would get a wild idea.

He would lift up his foot, holding back the nature chakra that was tugging at it with much less attention than he had given previously to move, and then stomp on the ground with force, channeling doton chakra throughout the ground around him to make a tiled area with that was roughly two meters by two meters, with him at the center.

He would then hum a tune before transitioning into some really amateur vocal percussion that would assail the eardrums of anyone in the temple, including his sensei and his hawk. There would be no doubt that the "Toshi" kid could probably run laps around Kashizudoto in terms of music; however, that was irrelevant, as the quality of the beat he produced didn't really matter to the tokubetsu jonin: all he needed was a beat of any kind to get started with what he really wanted to do.

He would move along with his own beat across the tiled area that he had created earlier, pulling some really terrible, if not comical, dance moves while working simultaneously to control the nature chakra around him. To the bystanders nearby, Sensei Sanosuke and his hawk, he would look absolutely ridiculous, but it didn't matter if it was helping him to learn how to move his entire body quickly and spontaneously while controlling the chakra around him without the strenuous labor of sprinting miles across the temple or doing push-ups with one arm while still trying to avoid getting ripped apart.

After a few minutes of doing this obnoxious activity, assuming that his sensei wouldn't interrupt him in the middle, he would feel ready to divert even more attention away from controlling the energy around him until it could become second nature. He would stomp his foot on the ground again to remove the small tiled dancing floor that he had made out of earth, this time not even having to think about the energy tugging at his foot while he moved it as he had gotten better at it through the "exercise" he had just done.

He would then get down to the ground and perform push-ups with two arms first just to make sure he could do them. He would do about twenty five with relative ease, with no issues except for the chakra pressure pushing at his back which he would have to consciously work to straighten out. He would then take off his left arm and place it on his back, continuing the exercise. Alone, one arm push-ups were very difficult and were one of his least favorite exercises (he hated strength exercises to begin with), but with the pressure pushing all across his sole arm and his back, he would feel almost like he might get crushed at any second, yet he would continue to persevere in his endeavor, taking quite a bit of time with each one arm push-up until he would count one hundred.

A hundred one arm push-ups under this kind of pressure was good enough for him, though he would recall his sensei having said three hundred. With that, he would fall to the floor for some temporary respite, not sleeping but merely resting with the chakra pressure still tugging at him. He wouldn't think much of it by this point; it was, at this point, a function almost like breathing that he acknowledged was there but didn't pay all that much heed to other than that. He'd gotten the hang of holding his own against the environment itself, almost passively though perhaps it'd take more training to master this part of his senjutsu training to the point that Sanosuke and more experienced sages had.

"I think I got this thing down, Sensei," he would tell the Raikage before yawning and stretching a little bit, "Getting the hang of this whole thing was tiring, no doubt, but I'm sure it'll be worth it." The hawk would let out a screech of approval, realizing that it had not interjected for a while by now.

WC: 5517

What an interesting read, the Raikage mentally said to himself as he turned the page to the book he was reading. It was an ancient book that his mentor, Guru Pathik, had given to him years ago on his travels. It was said to have been centuries old. However, the book was in relatively good shape. Out of the eyes of the general public for years, Sanosuke Flynt had his hands on one of the few copies out there of Make Out Paradise, written by Jiraiya former Sannin of the Hidden Leaf Village. The book was skillfully written as the eroge had entrapped him in its spell of captivity. His attention only partially to Kashizudto as he skimmed through the pages one after the other to fully immerse himself in the story.

The teenage boy, from what Sanosuke could tell, was starting to get the hang of the training as the chakra that was around him beginning to feel more natural to his movements. It was until a plop on the ground had Sanosuke look over at his book to see that Kashizudoto was resting on the ground while talking about how he was becoming accustomed to the pressure that Sanosuke was exhibiting on the boy. He thought he earned himself a rest now did he? "Get back to work! No breaks!!" Sanosuke shouted from his elevated position of the temple. With a snap of his fingers, Sanosuke had increased the pressure of the seal so more natural chakra was being exerted on the boy. It would make the training that much harder. 

The whole point of the training was for the boy to have full control of his body despite the chakra pressuring his body through nonstop movements. Him stopping right now would put the training back tremendously. The sun was close to setting. It would be in about a couple of hours before sunset was upon them. The boy would have much work to do in order to make it to the deadline. That was if he didn't think he absolutely needed another break.

"Get back to work!" his sensei barked, "No breaks!!" No doubt it sounded harsh, but he realized that this was a complex and sacred art that he would have to train just as seriously as he had promised to the sensei earlier. Although, he had one problem. Once he was lying down and fatigued, it was hard to get him back up. That is, without a little... push. He would stretch out his arms and yawn again.

"Sorry, Sensei!" he would speak before the sensei snapped his fingers, suddenly causing an increased amount of nature energy to start tearing at him from all sides, something that he'd need focus for. So... this was how he was gonna make Kashizudoto get up: by adding more force that would tear him apart if he didn't focus.

"Ah, what'd ya have to do that for!" he would whine before tasking himself with getting back up and off the ground, which would be difficult due to his fatigue and the new energy pulling at him. With plenty of difficulty and taking lots of time, he would focus his energy onto pushing himself off from the ground with his two arms, each move of his muscle came with having to control the nature energy tearing apart at it. Eventually, he'd get his body off the ground, breathing heavily and sweat rolling down as he spent an enormous amount of concentration to the new surge of nature energy that his sensei had tasked him with controlling. He wouldn't give up.

He would then sit in criss-cross applesauce position, closing his eyes and clasping his hands together as if he was praying, trying to control the energy pulling at him with a calm and focused mindset, taming it with his own chakra. He would not let it dominate him, that was for sure. Now that he was focused, he was ready to get back to movement. He would stand up, with difficulty; he still had to control the nature energy pulling at him.

"I'm gonna try a few laps around the temple, sensei," he spoke to the sensei, still engrossed in that book of his, "Hawky, you can come with." The hawk would fly over to his shoulder, adding a little more pressure to him at a time when he was already overloaded with all this force from the nature energy around him. He would then run out of the room and start doing some laps around the temple with immense difficulty, every muscle aching as he tried to tame the nature energy to work for him rather than against him. After running for an entire hour, he would return to the room, exhausted and sweating all over. He would fall to his knees almost unconsciously, still trying to control the new burst of nature energy that Sanosuke had tasked him with mastering.

WC: 6000

The added pressure of the environment itself seemed to be having its effects on the boy as he was struggling to control the added stress to the training. For a single split second - probably a fraction of that time provided - Sanosuke had considered maybe the task maybe too much for the boy. But seeing the boy struggle to master it, and not completely failing dramatically shook off those doubts from his head. The amount of chakra he attracted to the boy's body was enough to even give Sanosuke himself the slight work out. But the fact that the boy didn't disintegrate to anything meant that he could handle the pressure. Nature chakra worked kind of like all or nothing. If too much is given at a single moment beyond the user's capabilities, the chakra would take very little time to swallow the user whole. But even if just barely the boy was hanging on.

For a single second, Sanosuke saw how the boy's entire body was being transparent at first from his control being slackened to it being somewhat trained. It would take a while but Sanosuke was sure that the konoha shinobi would master this art as well. With that said, Sanosuke would proceed to reading his book. He could only get through a few pages before the grunts of the Kashizudoto struggling with the workout was starting to bug him and thus distract him from his leisurely activity. With a stretch from his levitating exercise, Sanosuke thought it would be best to close his eyes and rest while having his conscious some what awake in case something were to go wrong. At hearing the boy wanting to go for a run, Sanosuke grunted and waved him off.

With a squawk from his hawk, the Raikage was left alone to his own devices. If the boy was to master this added pressure to the training, it would show promise. A novice being able to sustain that much senjutsu chakra and not be overrun by it was a promising sage indeed. So it really was true of the old saying that Konoha does know how to bring about promising shinobi. At peaking through his eyelids, Sanosuke could see that the sun was beginning to set. It was almost time for the training to finish. Senjutsu training was rather taxing on the body  and thus uses a lot of energy of the body; especially to first timers. Food would be needed.

A growl from his own stomach indicated this as the man would leave the room momentarily to hunt for food and bring it back to the room. Before he left, Sanosuke would focus chakra on his fingers and inscribe a message on the wall of the room:

He would come back from the run, collapsing on the ground only to read a message inscribed on the wall.


An amateur-looking drawing of Sanosuke himself was inscribed nearby, almost as if it were a signature. Meditation? At least he didn't have to move. Gathering his remaining energy, he would reel himself back and sit down criss-cross applesauce on the floor, learning to control the nature chakra while syncing his breathing with the flow of chakra itself. He wanted to tame this energy for good, even as fatigued as he was. With all that said, he couldn't let himself fall asleep while this pressure was on him, it would eat him whole. He considered it a great display of trust to leave him alone with a force capable of causing permanent and sometimes even fatal damage, and he couldn't betray this trust by dying or losing a limb.

He would meditate for the next hour or so, controlling the chakra around him; soon, the sun would set, releasing the seal and all of the force that he was trying to control. Ah, relief... Time to catch some Zs... Soon, he would faint of exhaustion, his head plopping straight onto the floor of the room. If the sensei would come back anytime soon, he would find him in a state of deep sleep lying face first on the ground.

WC: 6243

Just as he expected from upon his return, Sanosuke saw that the Konoha shinobi before him was indeed sleeping from his efforts of the training that he went under. A rather large fox and a boar was being held over his head with both arms when Sanosuke had come in. Their skin was already flayed off and then seasoned properly as he had done the hunting while he was away. It didn't take too long to find the beasts that the two shinobi will have for dinner. However getting to the wilderness to find them was another matter as it was quite some way from this specific location. No exit wounds were shown on the body that would explain their cause of deaths. Using his powers of the environment as a sage, Sanosuke had detected the largest of the animals that were edible and manipulated the area around them so they would die from suffocation while he was far away from the creatures.

A majority of his travel time was just to get to each location of the animals he had slayed from a distance. And of course he had to find the exact plants needed to season the meats before they were cooked. Looking down at the boy sleeping, Sanosuke made one hand seal and the atmosphere before him created a small body of water of the same scale of a bucket of water. The only thing holding up the body of water was his chakra, and when that was let go it splashed on the boy to wake him up from his slumber. "Boy I have a question, you have katon as an element right? If so we need a fire to cook these meats up." Sanosuke said to Kashizudoto before the Raikage would stretch his conscience to Hawky and instruct the bird to come with kindle and other things needed to create a campfire.

All that was exchanged before the hawk and the man was a nod and the bird flew off. It wouldn't take long for the creature to come back with what was needed. Until then, Sanosuke would put down his hunted score on the ground and thus rest his back on the wall and return to his reading. As he turned through the pages, the man would peak through his reading just to see if the boy was looking at his master while he read. "You did good kid." Sanouke would grunt as he continued his reading. There was much more work to be done, but at the moment, this Konoha shinobi showed much promise.

He would have a relatively peaceful rest, no dreams, no nothing. Just utter blankness. Of course, he would wake up to a giant load of cold water splashed on him without warning, instantly making him alert of his surroundings. Yes, he was sage training with the Raikage Sanosuke himself. It was a great honor, and, even though he was exhausted from all this training, he had to give it his all: sleeping on the job wasn't an option. In a few seconds, he would realize that the man was holding a giant fox and boar, both having been flayed and seasoned yet none showing marks of killing. So he had been hunting for the duration that he was gone. Soon, Kashizudoto would realize his own immense hunger. Usually, shinobi were able to suppress their appetite for notably longer lengths than normal people due to their training; however, the sight of food would get anyone desperately hungry when they were running low on fuel and had just been training vigorously.

"Boy I have a question, you have katon as an element right?" Sensei Sanosuke asked, "If so we need a fire to cook these meats up." So he needed flames, eh? Quickly slapping his right hand into his left and channeling a minute amount of katon chakra between them, he would ignite his left hand on fire, nothing devastating yet it could certainly cook some meat.

"Yep," he would assure his sensei, ready to cook the meats whenever it was required. His bird flew off for some unknown reason to Kashizudoto; however, he wasn't Hawky's babysitter. If Hawky wanted to go out to fly or something without Kashizudoto, he was entitled to do so by all means. Soon, the Raikage put down the stuff he hunted and started reading that book, titled Makeout Paradise upon closer inspection. Seemed like an eccentric read, to say the least, but he wasn't gonna judge.

"You did good kid," the Raikage spoke while reading his book. Yet the boy had a feeling that there was more to being a sage than this first step. Soon, Hawky would return with all the supplies needed to set up a campfire; only now would Kashizudoto realize why he had left in the first place. If Sanosuke would ask him to do anything fire-related to help cook the meat or set up the campsite, he would do it readily.

WC: 6648

It was a good thing that the boy was a fire user, this made starting the fire for cooking the meats so much easier to do. Should there ever be the case where that wasn't true, it wouldn't mean the cooking wouldn't be done at all as the man is prepared to create fire the without the means of chakra; with the use of flint and other necessities to start a campfire. The sound of a single caw indicated that the hawk had returned from its trip. Rather quickly Sanosuke noticed as the were a rather large bundle of sticks, leaves and other flammables that could be used to help bring fire to the room of the hidden temple. Hawky let out one more cry as it dropped what it was holding in its talons.

Sanosuke stretched his right arm once more for Hawky to land on. Purs similar to that of a pleased cat came from Hawky as the man gave it praise for the job it did with the petting of the hawk. "Good job, and you got back rather quickly too!" With the kindle here to start a fire, Sanosuke gave a mental command and levitated the pieces into a nearby fireplace of the room the they were in of the temple. It had a some sort of pit that was made for a hotpot to be placed on. Meaning, this part of the temple must have been a kitchen of sorts.

"Now if you don't mind.." Sanosuke narrowed his eyes at Kashizudoto while indicating with his eyebrows to start the fire at the pit so they can start cooking up the food that Sanosuke had skillfully hunted.

"Good job, and you got back rather quickly too!" Sanosuke praised Hawky as the bird returned with all the materials for a campsite, letting the bird perch on his right shoulder as he often did with Kashizudoto. This guy must have had a real connection with animals if he could bond with Hawky so quickly; he petted the hawk for its work. The boy felt a little jealous that his bird was so close with his sensei, yet he wouldn't show any external signs of it as he was confident that Hawky still loved him more.

Suddenly, all of the materials that Hawky had brought levitated in the air, probably the work of Sanosuke's senjutsu; they floated into  a pit of some sort made for cooking. He could infer that this part of the temple was not originally made for sage training but for culinary purposes. Now, they were ready to cook.

"Now if you don't mind," Sanosuke asked his student, implying that now it was time for him to make the fire to start cooking the meat. Kashizudoto's stomach was growling, and his eyes could barely stay open; some nice, hot meat would be very much appreciated.

"Right," the student would speak. Though exhausted, he could easily create a fire with his hands and a little katon chakra, igniting all the necessary components to cook the meat. Soon, their food would be ready, a bountiful feast after such an exhausting day of training...

WC: 6896

With a fire now started thanks to the Konoha residents, Sanosuke used the chakra in the environment itself to levitate the seasoned hunks of meat above the camp fire itself. Each husks was at the right distance of the fire for the meat to start cooking without it being directly in the heat; thus increasing the likely hood of Sanosuke burning the damn thing. Ever since he was a young child on his own, Sanosuke had learned how to hunt and properly cook for himself. It had been something he was good at and as such would always take the time to practice his culinary skills despite him being a Raikage and could have cooks do that for him personally. However it had been some time since he last hunted for his own food. So that was very much refreshing for the man. With a flick of the wrist, Sanosuke commanded the hunks of levitated meats to start rotating as though it was on a rotisserie. Nodding of his achievement, Sanosuke materialized a bottle of sake from a scroll and popped the cork so he can begin drinking from the bottle. After a few swigs, the man let out a sigh of relief from the breath he was holding in with each swig.

"Now that's some damn good sake! I completely forgot I had a bottle on me." Sanosuke exasperated as he chuckled to himself. He looked at the boy who was probably waiting for the food to be served as the aroma of the spices were now suffocating the two of them with tantalizing flavors. A distraction would be nice until the food was ready. "So I take it that you aren't just here to have serendipitously find me training in the arts of senjutsu. What actually brings you here to my village then, young man? He'd begin to pour himself another saucer and when he finished, he would take small sips of it while waiting for the boy to answer his question

With his sage powers, the Raikage made the meats levitate in the air and, with the flick of a wrist, caused them to rotate to get cooked more evenly. Control over one's environment itself was certainly a handy tool. He then took out a scroll and unsealed it to reveal a bottle, likely having alcohol as its contents. The man popped the cork off and took a few swigs, heaving a sigh of relief afterwards.

"Now that's some damn good sake! I completely forgot I had a bottle on me!" the man exclaimed afterwards, confirming Kashizudoto's suspicion that this was alcohol before asking, "So I take it that you aren't just here to have serendipitously find me training in the arts of senjutsu. What actually brings you here to my village then, young man?" The Raikage wanted to know where Kashizudoto was from? He had decided earlier that he wouldn't reveal his identity to anyone while he was in the Land of Lightning, not wanting to possibly get tangled up in the conflict himself, yet, after all this, he had a good deal of trust in this man. Maybe he could tell him why he was here. It couldn't hurt.

"It's about the war, which I'm sure you're already making preparations for as the Kage of your village and all," he would speak after a long gap of silence, trying to collect his thoughts and determining that he could tell this man why he was really here, "I want to see conflict myself, with my own eyes. Only then can I understand the true weight of peace." After speaking, his stomach would growl rather audibly, and he would let out an embarrassed laugh.

WC: 7188

The first part of the boy's answer stop the man from drinking from the jug in mid swig. He had to stop drinking or else he would choke on his sake. It was good sake too, so him wasting it on the moment of surprise would be enough to make a man cry; similar to a child crying over spilled milk. He should have known thats what the boy was here for. Pulling the jug from his lips to let it settle on the ground, Sanosuke turned his attention to the flames themselves instead of Kashizudoto. Sanosuke hadn't have thought he'd have to give a political response while he was away from training. As Sanosuke thought about the words to say, while not to convey too much information about his nation to a stranger, he pursed his lips and flipped the meat on the other side of its back to cook it more thoroughly.

Letting out a sigh, Sanosuke had finally gathered the words he wanted to say to the boy. "Do you want the answer I'd give to a Konoha diplomat that's tied to his nation, or do you want the answer I'd give to a nation neutral spectator who only wants to know the truth?" Sanosuke sighed and smiled at the boy from the corner of his eye. Of course he'd choose the second option but then again, it would be curious to know how he'd struggle with the answer.

The Raikage suddenly stopped drinking his jug in the middle of Kashi's statement, probably surprised at hearing what he had to say. He turned away to look straight at the flames as Kashi continued speaking, probably mulling over how to respond to this kid. Kashizudoto just sat there, trying to collect his own thoughts on the matter.

"Do you want the answer I'd give to a Konoha diplomat that's tied to his nation," the man offered after thinking for a while, with a little smile on the side of his face,  "Or do you want the answer I'd give to a nation neutral spectator who only wants to know the truth?" For a second, the answer would seem obvious to Kashizudoto: the latter, of course. He wasn't here for his village, as things for him usually seemed nowadays. But as he would try to open his mouth and let out the words, his jaw wouldn't budge for him. His eyes would trace down to the bottom of the floor as he would give some more thought to what he really wanted. It was still obvious to him that the first option was no good, yet, something about the second option would prick him like the thorn of a rose. After about two minutes of staring blankly at the ground, he could finally look back at the Raikage and creak open his jaw.

"Neither," he would speak blankly and repeat after a short pause to confirm this, "Neither." After another momentary space in his words to collect his thoughts, he would provide an explanation.

"Look, I'm honored to be in your presence, I really am," he would affirm before expanding upon his response, "There are just some things which..." His voice would creak. He wasn't sure how to explain himself.

"I don't know," he would concede at last after another pause, "All I know is that I'm not really sure I want to hear a response from one side alone in the first place." This was his chance, probably the only one, to get some insight on this war directly from the Raikage himself (after all, he had so many unanswered questions). Even after giving his response, he still wouldn't be totally confident in what he'd just said, but he couldn't take back what had come out of his mouth. He just had to roll with it at this point.

WC: 7600