Her miss matched hues would flicker to his adams apple as he swallowed before speaking, listening intently to his word in taking his tone, sensing a touch of frustration lacing the Tsuchikage. She would take a moment waiting for she would part her lips to speak as the Tsuchikages arm shifted out to make his move catching her eye enough for her attention to shift back to the board as she began to speak, her voice still a mere droll as her accent slithered ragidly along each word, “Most of it, Tsuchikage Sama.”

Her gaze would run along the board taking her time to review his pieces and her what were left of her own. Her right hand would raise using her index to scrub over the side of her nose before shifting the finger to graze over her high cheekbone just below her eye running over the blood red coloured dots. Her hand would pause to tap the pad of her finger against her temple slowly, her attention remaining on the board before looking back up at the Tsuchikage. As she looked up she would withdraw her hand allowing it to return to her other hand atop her knee as she spoke up again, simply adding to her previous words, her tone remaining quite the same, “another clue then… that way I won’t give away the answer outright.”  She would lean forwards a touch forcing her leg to lean forwards; bending at the ankle, as she continued, “don’t think of the answer with a singular theme, take each part as its own, find an answer for each before placing them together to get the answer for all parts giving the basis that throughout all, this person has done no wrong.”

The fingers of her right hand would strum against the back of her left hand a couple of times before raising it and reaching over allowing her hand to hover like an impending trap, just for a moment before lowering to retrieve the king; her index finger would slide over the crown before pressing her thumb against the other side to pinch it. She would wait for just a moment longer allowing her hand to tilt the king diagonally as though she might move it to encroach upon his bishop before sliding it the opposite way forcing the king from its position at C7 to D8 allowing it for now to seek refuge behind the pawn. ‘why must the weakest of the army be protected… are the kings supposed to represent the players, each time stuck to a single move?’ her mind would slowly wonder along a meaningless tangent broken quickly as she released the piece having found it still in her clutch. Her miss matched gaze would slowly raise once again to rest with the Tsuchikage, again as usual not allowing her gaze to meet his. If only she could see into his head to watch there at how his thought process functioned, and not mearly seek out the signs of his body language and his verbal usage.



(Word count:512.)

Most of it... as if those words were some reassurance for his own inability to find the answer. How could he be warmer but still be missing most of it, it was racking against the walls of his brain more so now. He made his move and then turned his attention back towards her as she elaborated into another hint. Karumo nodded at first and listened in, the details of how to approach the problem, as if he weren't already trying to break it down.

Take each part on its own, unrelated then? But the basis that he'd done no wrong at all. That ended other pieces of his theories then, he couldn't have literally married his sister so his best theory was he was the minister then? He'd hold that bit for now, being born before his father? His first plan couldn't hold anything true since he was marrying his sister outright, his second relied on common theme so that was dead too. And killing his mother? What situation was there where he wouldn't be at fault for it?

His mind rattled around as she moved on to shift her king backwards a space, immediately Karumo's eyes widened as he questioned her decision but he saw the trap lying in it already. He would shift his queen up and call checkmate! But then she would reveal her knight at play and strike in the counter, like he'd fall for such an obvious ploy but what she had done was ensure that he had an easy path to checkmate. If only he could get her to bite on it, but it may require her to sacrifice that queen of hers, he needed to draw it out still. His mind had paused from the riddle and gone back to the game as he wondered about his next few moves again. His eyes would twitch around for a moment until he came to a decision, then slumping back into his seat he would bring a hand to his chin and scratch at lightly while thinking, what sort of killing could someone not be held responsible for?

He paused and let his hand drop, a sort of sigh leaving him as he gave up his wondering for a moment. "Each piece individually then I'll poke at it individually. He married his sister as the minister, the only bit that could work from my other pieces and be reasonable on it's own." he'd glance towards Taeru to see her reaction as he sat forwards and waited for a moment. Once he'd have his first answer, right or wrong he'd reach down to the board to make his move, taking his rook at F1 and shifting it to D1 to look up the single alleyway of the board.

Leaning back again, he'd comment again in a tangent from his first statement, "I fail to see how killing anyone, especially one's mother keeps them from being responsible. Unless you mean it was accidental? But that's a matter of perspective even in the best case..." he began to verbalize his thoughts for a moment as he continued to wonder about the riddle.


[541 words]

She would notice the shift in the Tsuchikage at her move simply waiting to see if he would walk down along the lines to losing his queen, though almost sure that he wouldn’t fall into something so obvious, another might have but not this man. Her attention would flicker to the board looking tactically for what moves he may play before allowing her miss matched hues gaze to flicker back up the Tsuchikage as he spoke up again.

She would nod her smile soft in the process before speaking up herself “Correct Tsuchikage Sama” Her smile would however grow a tad more as her gaze shifted back to the board watching him take his move. He hadn’t fallen into the trap, such giving her a little more comfort. It wasn’t so much the game itself her expectation of winning a game or calculation and wit being nothing even from the beginning she would however continue to push in all the ways she felt were available.  The structural state of his mind interesting her, for how could she follow blindly the orders of someone that would run head first into the mouth of traps? A form of ease had begun to settle in the pit of her stomach drawing her miss matches hues back up to the Tsuchikage.

She would nod again before speaking up as her attention returned to the board looking out at her limited selection of moves, “That part is of course always down to an individual’s perspective, so Tsuchikage Sama, in what instance would you say an individual could be classed as having done no wrong in this situation?” she would peel her hand from its resting place before reaching out to take up her king once again, simple shifting him over from his previous space at D8 to the space of E8. Ending her turn as she peered back up at the Tsuchikage as she had done previously.


(Word count: 326.)
(Total word count:838.)

Correct... he'd gotten at least that much right but it didn't matter much, he made his move and let his piece end. She continued her nod afterwards and began to muse up about the nature of killing and its perspective. He twisted his lips, curious about the point she was trying to make underneath her words, the point about death and killing. Was any form of taking another's life ever justified? The sort of moral ambiguity of the situation was one not taken so easy, he wasn't the kind to revel about in it but the thoughts did run rampant through his mind so often. Almost constantly, but was that really different for any ninja that lived like they did? Fighting and killing for their living, for their stance in the world and society?

Karumo hummed for a moment as he watched her make her move, shifting her king further away and back on the side she controlled, the small zone that he'd had left to truly encroach upon. He blinked for a moment and spoke up as she withdrew her arm, "I'm not inclined to think that any death is truly innocent..." he paused for a moment to see how she would really react to his words, if she would fidget about or how she would act with the information. "Would you say there is ever a truly innocent killing yourself?" he threw the question back at her for a moment as he reached down to the board and made a move of his own. Rather mundane to say the least, gripping his pawn at F2 and moving it up a single space to F3, leaving the board to Taeru to make some form of action of her own. With the question turned back and his move done, he would lean back again and wait to see how she would respond.


[318 words, 859 words total]

Her miss matched hues would watch the Tsuchikage carefully as he seemed to ponder upon her words before speaking up himself. She would pause to think carefully about how to mould and form completely her words for a suitable reply, allowing her lips to part her words would seem to flow freely, “Tsuchikage Sama, I personally believe whilst killing regardless of your reasons is a part of human nature, weather killing is innocent or not, it all depends on each individual’s perspective.” Her vision however would cloud briefly as a flash to the sight of blood dripping down to pool around her knees, and calves dripping ruby droplets from a once white bed sheet, only for it to pass as quickly as it came. Her clouded gaze had shifted with his movements to the board though only catching his hand retreat from the pawn after making his move.

She would continue to speak almost as though she had never paused, “Picture this if you will, Tsuchikage Sama. Behind you is your sibling and before you an individual whom you know nothing off, their intent clearly to first wound and then kill your sibling, do you kill in defence of your sibling? You know nothing of the individual weather they have family or not but they wish to take away yours. Your reaction comes down to perspective on weather killing the individual or not is the appropriate thing to do or not. If you kill them and are judged as innocent of the act of killing in the eyes of the law your village hold, are you truly innocent?” as she finished speaking her hair would raise from her knee scouting forwards to take up her king once again, simply shifting the king over a space from E8 to F8, ending her turn. Her gaze would return to the Tsuchikage simply waiting upon his answer.



(Word count:315.)
(Total word count:1153.)

A part of human nature... It was a sort of nihilistic view of things to say the least. That people are so flawed that the destruction of their own humanity and the removal of life of others was wired into them. Karumo exhaled sharply at the notion and looked down almost immediately after she was done speaking. It wasn't disappointment in her, nor in her mentality or the answer she gave, but rather, a disappointment in the standard of the world that brought her to that point. The cruelty that made a point seem logical in her eyes and at the same time, if this was the reality that a child came to, the most innocent among humanity. Then was it not the true case of the world?

Her scenario shot through his mind though, an assailant and his sibling, Karumo's gaze faded out as he brought his hands up towards his face and leaned in. Looking at the board through his hands as he tapped the ends of his fingers together one at a time, letting them roll in harmony against each other. Yeah, he had a brother once, and a family on top of that. They were dead, he neither killed his assailants or avenged them, his brother's body never recovered either... his vision had faded out as she made her move and leaned back to watch him. Immediately he took in neither action, instead kept rolling his hands and thinking to himself, trying to remember back to his family.

With a small pause, time lapsed, he wasn't sure how long. He snapped, blinking and shaking his head for the briefest of moments as he spoke up sharply, "No. You're not." he let the words fall between them as he reached down to the board and grabbed his next piece. He quickly grabbed his rook up and moved it from D1 to D5 before letting it rest next to her pawn, leaving the move open for her knight to take the rook at the cost of her own knight. Another bit of bait to see how quick she might be to react or break their stalemate, but with only a few pieces left on the board, it was an incredibly risky move.

He leaned back and spoke up again, figuring that he should offer a bit more exposition to his point. "That's what I was arguing to your riddle. If I kill in defense of myself, a loved one, or some other reason that could be justified. You're not innocent of the action. Anyone else can judge a person as they want, there are too few if any forces in the universe great enough to say they deserve the right to judge anyone but themselves." he continued on and let his gaze glance back to her to see how she would respond in turn.


[483 words, 1342 words total]

As she watched his reaction her gaze would soften enough for force her gaze to drop to the board before looking off to the ground, a touchy subject not only for herself but it seemed it were also for him, the last thing she would have wanted to do were to bring up such bad memories. She would bite down on her bottom lip, the colour of it immediately discolouring as she chewed down on it, working on replacing her calm to smooth out the small creased in her composure.

Her composure and miss matched hues would return to the Tsuchikage as he spoke up tough as he reached out to take up his rook her gaze would flicker back down towards the board, his move stopping sort of what she might of expected though saw the draw in his move before realising that at a cost she could remove the threat of the room from the game completely, however it would cost her not only her knight but the nice position it took up protecting the surrounding area. Her brow would arch as her vision moved to her queen, she could easily shift the piece over and out them both in an odd predicament but after a short thought on the process it would simply lead to her losing more than the Tsuchikage and quickly scrapped the idea before allowing her gaze to fall onto one piece, flickering however back up to the Tsuchikage as he spoke. She would simply nod, agreeing to his words, innocence were something that so quickly left the hearts of children, leaving their minds sour with the truth of life.

“I guess Tsuchikage Sama, you could look at it this way, the riddle posed he had done no wrong, not that he were innocent of murder. Without giving the answer I do not think I can give an more clues on this part.” After speaking she would again reach over allowing the pad of her thumb to scoop the pawn up trapping it with her middle and index fingers as she shifted it from its position at D7 moving it to take up the space at D6, right before the Tsuchikage's rook, as though facing it down.



(Word count:373.)
(Total word count:1526.)

There was a pause between his words and movement and when she would speak up next, letting that solemn moment sit between the two of them for a brief time. He had done no wrong but was innocent... that was a little less vague but still equally ambiguous. Karumo's mouth twisted again as he wondered on the idea, nothing more she could offer without giving the answer on top of it. He exhaled and began to think sternly on the idea of the riddle again, finding one third of it, it still seemed so vague and ambiguous to him. She moved her pawn forward at the beginning as he'd began to think but that was all there was to it.

Still thinking a bit, Karumo scratched his chin and wondered while making his move, taking his bishop at A6 and moving it back to B5 before releasing the piece and shrinking back. "Alright then, I'll make a quick guess at the other part," he paused, wondering on being born before father. "Is it a vernacular trick? Not before as in age to imply that he was older than his father but rather he was literally born before him. In front of him, like someone of a more... outdated or excessively proper dialect might say?" he left off with his small rant and looked to her for another quick answer, to see how he did, knowing that he was running out of proverbial rope with the riddle to hold on to.


[253 words, 1595 words total]

Her own brow would furrow as his lips twisted in thought, she hadn’t expected that this of all riddles would stump the Tsuchikage, maybe it were the part about killing, it did seem to be ever such a touchy subject when mentioned. Maybe her next riddle she would pose for him would be something of a different note, veer him way from the implications of killing. She would internally nod agreeing with herself only to have her attention drawn back to the Tsuchikage as he shifted to scratch at his chin before speaking. Looking back down to his hand she would closely watching his move. His move with his bishop cutting off yet another path her king might have attempted to take, a sharp ‘tsk’ sound would echo within her mind silent to all others.

She would nod along with his answer her soft sile one that could only be taken as an encouraging gesture, “Yes Tsuchikage Sama, so now you have this man became a minister and married off his sister, he were born before his father in the litteral sense… you are close Tsuchikage sama.” As she continued to speak she would again reach for her king this time raising it from the board to look at it before glancing at the board. Holding back a light sigh as she figured through the moves of the board knowing too well what the most likely outcome would be but more so irritated with the loss of her warriors. This only strengthening her belief of not being able to lean personally. She would place her king down in the space of G7 having moved it from F8 before placing her chin atop the hand already resting on her knee to shift her gaze back to the Tsuchikage.


(word count:298.)
(Total word count:1824.)

He was close... but he didn't feel close enough. It was like he had designed the doors to a house that hadn't even set a foundation. Finding the simple parts that weren't wracking against his mind were nothing but consolation and frill to the true moral ambiguity of the problem. Truthfully though, he loved the thought process of it all, even though he knew he was reading way too far into the problem itself, it was the philosophical discussion underneath it that challenged his mind and forced him to grow at the same time. Karumo watched as Taeru moved her king again, leaving it on the other side of the knight, meaning that Karumo almost needed to absolutely make a play towards her control of the board.

With a blink he would sigh, "Innocently killing..." he blinked for a moment and looked down to the board, thinking about what he would do for his own move. There wasn't much left on the board, nothing that immediately stuck out to him and nothing that he really saw furthering his plans immediately, so perhaps the more mundane move would have to suffice for now? He mentally shrugged away at it and moved his pawn from A4 to A5, making a pseudo mad dash towards the end of the board so he can reclaim one of his lost pieces. Though, nothing more than a plan to further guarantee his victory, there were paths to win now, but he needed her to react, to change the board just a little bit further if possible.

Karumo, however, was mentally stumped on her riddle, so he blinked and sighed, feeling the pit of defeat in his stomach. "Alright then," he hesitated in his answer and wondered just a little further on it, any detail he was missing... well, his pause was brief and he continued on with nothing else to add. "Fill me in, how does someone kill their mother but do nothing wrong at the same time?" he leaned back further than he had for sometime, not since earlier in their meeting and watched intently, wondering what the last little bit was, knowing that he would feel so incredibly dumb at the answer itself.


[373 words, 1968 words total]

Though she knew in the dwellings of her mind, she were without a plan to succeed this game they held she could at least try to push him further watching hi shift his piece about the board, the Tsuchikage still struggling along with the section of the riddle that seemed to eat away at him. His reactions displaying a distaste yet a possible thrill as his mind were put to the test against her riddle and he game before them. She were thankful for the way this meeting had progressed, a small wealth, but a wealth all the same, of knowledge that she had gained about not only the man that would be guiding her in the shinobi world but also the villages leader. An honour at the very least, to even attempt to push someone of such a Calabar. Though she suspected that he could quite easily be the one pushing and acting out a display that she were eating up. He were after all still a shinobi, but at the very least the confusion and the shift in his attention down to his posture seemed genuine enough for her to fall into the hope and belief that this were in fact the true Tsuchikage and her Sensei, though she would continue to title him in the way she assumed were most appropriate.

A small shock however would follow his last words, having to run them through her mind once again, almost shifting her lips to mouth the words before blinking. She would bite down on the soft pale pink flesh of her bottom lip as she reached for her queen from F6 taking a grip towards the palm of her hand before dragging the piece backwards by a couple of spaces releasing it only when it sat skewed in the space F8, before speaking up herself, not voicing her show simply hitching a brow allowing the thin lilac brow to nestle under the lopsided fringe looking for any signs he might pull out of his question before speaking up to answer giving a single word at first, “Childbirth.”

Taking a moment her brow would relax turning her features neutral once more as she continued, “The child the cause of death yet barely even minutes old and it is already a murderer, though without intent it still cries out for its mothers warmth. The death accidental, unplanned and yet, still a kill. Tsuchikage Sama.”



(Word count:405.)
(Total word count:2249.)

Karumo watched the queen slide to the back row, perhaps a precaution now that his plan to start sending his pawns forward was readily obvious and still, he wasn't put off by it in any form. She raised a brow at him though, was it curiosity or concern? Karumo couldn't immediately tell but he raised his own eyebrow in return, questioning her questioning of him. Childbirth... he mentally cursed himself, it was such a simple answer in continuity with the first point and the third line meant to throw the guesser off. A fair riddle, he hardly listened to her explanation as it was obvious at that point.

A smirk grew over his face in defeat, he shook his head a little and reached down to the board, taking his rook at D5 and sliding it up to take her pawn at D6. It was nothing more than a move to continue cleaning out the board and throw her odds at making anything meaningful happen dwindle if but by a small and nominal margin more. He spoke up as he leaned back, "Alright, I see, innocence... it's a nice riddle though, not much continuity to it though..." he held his smirk for a moment longer before shifting in his seat quickly.

"I have a riddle for you then,

You can carry it everywhere you go, and it does not get heavy. What is it?"


[237 words, 2205 words total]

It would take her a moment to sift through his expressions as such twisted into a smirk once the dots all connected, not an expression that she had expected, but a reaction all the same. Her miss matched hues would shift down along his arm to his hand watching for his move along the board, more mentally preparing for a riddle from the Tsuchikage as a pose to his next move. As the Tsuchikage shifted his rook over her gaze wouldn’t this time follow to watch her piece be removed, instead it would shift along to her other pieces in turn. Finding her move quickly her gaze would return to the Tsuchikage listening as he spoke up.

Her brow would furrow as she reached out to take up her queen from F8 speaking up herself, at first just repeating his words, “You can carry it everywhere you go, it does not get heavy, what is it…mmn” She would rotate the queen along her finger using her thumb before placing the queen down in the space B8 speaking up once more, “I would say Tsuchikage Sama, the riddle is a trap. Subjective, completely so, of all the things it could be, it seems as though there could be an argument set against it…” Her mind would flicker through multiple answer each more off set than the previous causing her to nip down on the soft pale pink flesh of her bottom lip taking the time to think through as she discoloured her lip before releasing it, her gaze flickering back to the Tsuchikage before slowly shifting back to the board, her hand shifting away to rest atop her knee once more taking a little while longer to think before speaking, choosing her wording carefully. “Even a 'name' becomes a heavy burden if things are expected of you when given said name.”


(Word count:310.)
(Total word count:2559.)

Karumo watched her shift the queen across the board, moving to place it in front of his bishop. Karumo blinked as he saw the three moves she'd built in front of her, what he needed to do to win was growing and diminishing at the same time. Musing about his riddle she threw out the idea that it was, a trap... Karumo would blink and tilt his head with a furrowed brow as he wondered where she was going with this bit. After a moment she gave her answer with even more commentary, Karumo smirked as the word left her lips and he reached down to the board to make his move, still listening in his action.

The burden of a name, he held his smirk as he made his move, taking the rook  he had left at D6 and shifting it upwards to D7. He left it to encroach upon her knight and to make it so that there was no way she'd be able to move her knight out of danger, not without saving her king first. "Sure it does," Karumo slunk back into his seated position and relaxed again, "But that's only really if you let it, or value it." he could understand that argument more than anything, his purple eyes glancing over her.

It was after all, Karumo, that was the young clan heir of his own group, lead it in darkness and strife before a coup against his life formed and he helped take the life of two elders before resigning away and leaving the clan compound for good.


[267 words, 2472 words total]

Her miss matched gaze would shift with the Tsuchikages movements as he himself leant over to the board as she neared the end of her words, though her gaze wold flit from his arm to the board, grazing over it for a moment before returning to his hand as he took up his rook shifting it over a space. A good move, one that she hadn’t calculated never mind made a retort for. Closing her eyes for just a moment as she grasped out within her mind for a retaliation to his move only to open and be drew back to the Tsuchikage himself as he began to speak. She would for the time being nod along simply with his words, agreed to some extent before drawing her gaze back to the board as a shift in her position became apparent on the board.

She would reach out taking up her king from its space at G7, speaking up as she did so though as she did it would seem more as though she were speaking absentmindedly aloud, “I guess it just depends on ones’ perception.”  her reaction feeling like she had spent the past few turns running backwards and forwards without real reason, simply just to put up a struggle before the inevitable were to happen, laying down completely just didn’t seem to be within her nature, not so rebellious but more so determined if such a term could be used, she wouldn’t go down without a fight to say the very least. Placing the king down in the space F8 she would speak up again but this time with a direction, “Another then…?”

She would give sufficient pause for him to stop her as she slowly looked back up to the Tsuchikage, still making sure not to make actual eye contact with him, “Many have heard me, but no one has seen me, and I will not speak back until first spoken too…what am I?”


(Word count:327.)
(Total word count:2886.)

Taeru reached out and grabbed hold of her king before she spoke up in response, depending upon one's perception. That was true enough but nothing was really exclusive of that tidbit, though Karumo wouldn't comment any further or push the issue. With her quick end to it, she seemed to want to move on and continued to push her king again, this time to a position behind the knight itself. Karumo would nod along and hum to a 'yes' as she offered another riddle, staying leaned back in his seat for a moment and listening to her riddle.

Heard but not seen, only in response... he chuckled into a smirk, it was a rather obvious riddle especially when simplified. He unwinded himself and reached down to the board, gripping the queen in between his fingers and shifting it up a single place from C4 to C5 before relaxing it. "An echo-o-o..." he chuckled to himself again as he imitated the noise a bit playfully. Leaned back again, Karumo would exhale in a bit of a sigh as he rolled his neck and looked onto Taeru with purple eyes.

"Can I ask you a question candidly?" he would keep his gaze focused on her for a moment with his head stopped mid roll and tilted to the side. Giving her plenty of time he would wait for her response, if she would accept then he would throw a seemingly random question out there, "Why didn't you tell more about yourself with the rest of the squad?" he would leave off and let his head continue its roll back to normal, hearing a few bones crack to himself before waiting to see how she would answer.


[289 words, 2761 words total]

The Tsuchikages’ almost immediate move instantly highlighted a dull move on her point, her gaze would run along the surrounding area, she was almost completely trapped by not only his moves but her own. A light smirk would tug at the cover of her lips causing her to look down for a moment to seek out some form of composure before looking back up, taking that moment to work through her best course of action, yet two paths seemed to set up before her now. Left with the questions, her mind would swim, should she continue as though there’s nothing to lose but a simple chess match or does she look at the board as though it were an army… each way of looking gave her two clean cut moves with motive and reason, the game just as itself called out to her want to push further, however little it were but the Tsuchikages words of treating this like a battle tugged like a child upon her sleeve knowing that another path if such were a real battle would possibly be better.

Biting down on the soft pale pink flesh of her bottom lip she would hold back a sigh, had she become too interested in pushing the man further and further for information and forgotten the conditions of this particular game? Her bottom lip would slowly discolour. Usually this moment would be no problem, she knew what she would have done so why now? Why is this moment did he feel such an odd tug in the other direction? An almost seducing sensation, drawing her in. As the Tsuchikage gave the correct answer she would simply nod, only tugging her bottom lip from the grasp of her teeth as he spoke up once again, withdrawing more of her attention, raising it from her thoughts and the board.

She would nod again waiting for him to continue before returning her gaze back to the board as she herself wondered about the first encounter of the squad. “I feel I have two reasons Tsuchikage Sama though it could easily be argued that they are not reasons at all. My first being out of caution, and my second being simply I didn’t know what were expected or wanted, other than the few abilities I possess what else could be useful information that I could offer up to this squad?” Her honesty would ring through her accented words. Looking back to the board much like a second thought that had been niggling at her. She would reach out taking her king in her hand for a moment palming it as she weighed out her options with the piece clutched there before mentally sighing, giving in to the tug she would place the king back down at G7 from its previous position at F8 before looking back up at the Tsuchikage.


(Word count:477.)
(Total word count:3363.)

She nodded in response to his question and continued on with her reasonings, two things that could be summed up to: She didn't trust the squad yet, and uncertainty that she had anything she could offer to the squad. Karumo would nod with a simple, "Hmm." as he watched her make her move, curious indeed, but perhaps a thoughtful answer on why was better than just her being shy in some form. At least this way he could work with the ideals from it and not some inherent character trait, not that shyness was bad in any form but this led to a more interesting approach.

Karumo spoke up in retort, "I guess I don't have any expectation of what more could have been offered, but it is good to know and open up to those who will help guard your life and vice-versa..." Karumo looked on with a raised brow to her, his words shifting more into the territory of a lecture than he might have liked. He quickly leaned forward and took hold of his own queen before shifting her at a diagonal from C5 to E7 to take her knight away from her and at the same time put her king into check.

He would retract his arm and lean back just like he'd done so many times before and waited to see her reaction and move. He'd continued speaking in the meantime, "Well anyways, I was just curious since you only offered a name, not that I did all that much more or anyone else, I was just curious is all." he would nod and offer a conciliating smile in return, waiting now for her move and response again.


[288 words, 3049 words total]

Her miss matched hues gaze would remain on the Tsuchikage, resting with him as he spoke, nodding lightly as he spoke knowing the reasons and truth behind what he spoke, before speaking up in turn, “I know I could have stated what abilities I have or aims but in the same breath telling someone outright of your abilities when you do not yet know them, at times can put you at a great disadvantage. Giving them the standing to be able to use such knowledge against you, I know that I am cautious to a fault at times. I will work on it.”

Her gaze would shift back to the board knowing its climax should have been a fair while back, allowing her gaze to survey each and every move that she could possibly make along with attempting to do the same with what he could do or how he could retaliate. She would take up her king, placing her thumb just behind it before pressing her middle and index finger against it from the other side to press it down against the thumb, resting it there before speaking up again, “Tsuchikage Sama… You said at the beginning of this game, to treat it like a war…” As she spoke she would draw her gaze back up to him once again resting her gaze on his lips as usual whilst she continued, “I feel I have failed in that aspect, moves I made out of selfish reasons put my pieces in danger down their loss, now if they were lives I could have shifted them differently, I also know that this move now should have been made a fair few moves ago, to possibly save the lives of some of the pieces.” Her thumb as she spoke about her current move would release the piece causing its crown to scrape down her thumb as she applied pressure from her fingers, carefully and quietly laying her king down against the board before withdrawing her hand.

“I surrender.” Her position would shift drawing both feet down to rest on the ground as she sat up straight. Placing her hands together on her thighs, allowing her index fingers to touch slightly before drawing her head down enough to arch her position giving a light bow from her position, “Thank you Tsuchikage Sama.”  A high significance would stand within her words weather such were understood or not.


(Word count:403.)
(Total word count:3766.)

She would work on it... Karumo sighed lightly to himself as she shifted back to the board and kept her gaze on it, he didn't respond to it immediately. It wasn't anything he meant for her to work on or get through but rather, he was just curious about the mentality in itself. She continued on to grab her king and hold it for a moment, before continuing on and musing about the basis of their game, how she should have been treating it and thinking about the pieces. Karumo saw it, a bit of innocence in seeing how her own selfish moves and sacrifice should have been avoided, his mouth would twist as he mentally wondered to himself. How he'd done the same, left so many traps and moves to switch pieces back and forth.

Any great general knows that strategy on a game board is no different than strategy on a battlefield but it so heavily removed the human aspect of it. He would have smirked at her quick understanding of it if it weren't for his own failure to think it through, but in the end, she would lay down her piece in surrender. Surrender... a notion that was so villified and righteous in the same movement. For a ninja, there was no surrender in the end, only the mission or failure. As she bowed and thanked him, Karumo snapped back from his brief musing and nodded into a bow in return while shaking his head lightly.

"Oh, no need to thank me..." he spoke up hoping to catch her attention. But with the game over and a small amount of time wasted that afternoon, Karumo would stand up from his seat and speak again, "Well, unless you have any more questions you'd like to ask, then you can head off and get some rest before the squad gets together again." he would speak up and look towards her to see her response, beginning to wrap up their first meeting.


[338 words, 3387 words total]

She would slowly raise from her bow, her gaze returning to his lips as he spoke, of course catching her attention immediately. As he stood she would do so too just moment later her actions falling just behind his own. She would take one last glance at the board before retuning her miss matched hues to the Tsuchikage once more. With a smile gracing her lips she would dip into another bow, her flexibility showing vibrantly in her movement before raising as she spoke in response, “I feel I may always have questions Tsuchikage Sama, but for today I thank you for your time, the knowledge you have shared, the game and the slice of peace you have shared with me and bid you a farewell for now. I look forwards to our next squad meeting.”

With her part having been said and the dismissal she would incline her head once more before stepping to the edge of the building looking out over the village, turning to look back at the Tuchikage before stepping from the edge tilting her body on the movement as she dropped from view, pumping a stream of chakra though her hands and feet at a controlled rate allowing her to slide down the wall after falling at the very least of half way down before effectively grazing down the building at the aid of her chakra coming to a stop around three meters from the ground where she latched fully to the wall, suctioning her chakra at a stronger rate so that it would catch her, only for her to leap from the wall landing in a crouch placing her free hand against the ground as she cut the chakra from the movement. Standing she would look back up at the roof with a smile placing her hands into her pockets before walking from the area, taking her time on her way back to the orphanage, the time spent musing on their encounter.


(Word count:328.)
(Total word count:4094.)

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Taeru bowed again and smiled towards him, Karumo having moved to stand up in return at the time, she spoke on in her thanks and ended. Karumo responded immediately with a small bow that ended as more of a nod before commenting fully, "Right, well, until then..." and gave a small wave of his hand before she took to the side of the roof and began her descent down it.

Karumo shook his head afterwards, looking down to the board and sliding the pieces away, moving them into a pile before collapsing the board and letting the pieces rest inside. Placing it under his left arm and tucking his right hand into his pocket, he slowly made his way to the wall of the roof and walked down it, keeping a steady pace down he descended to his window before gripping the top of it and sliding in. Returning back to his normal duties as the Tsuchikage, whatever that would entail...


[161 words, 3548 words total]
[Exit Thread]

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