Hanza had been in this new land for a while now. The exchange program between the Hidden Leaf and the Hidden Mist was one of great benefit for both villages. Hanza sat at the edge of a winding river, evidence in himself of that benefit. It was something of a journey, adapting to an all new environment. Already he had grown so much, not in age, but in maturity. He had left Kirigakure initially with a peculiar frame of mind which played seemingly only one track: Ice. As he had spent time among these shinobi in the Leaf, and had the profession he had trained for tossed onto him finally, the young man had been forced to grow.

This life was no longer his alone to command, there were quotas to meet. Superiors to answer to. He was now making money through the missions he was assigned, however menial they seemed. This was adulthood. Just like the Naka river flowed, everything, including time, had to move forward. It had been many months now since the Kōri clansmen had been home. And as his family likely knew would happen, he had never taken the time to send out a letter, meaning they had no address to write to. In that regard, it was Hanza’s fault he had cause to sit alone at the river. His physical prowess had grown since the academy, though it could still have been toned more.

That was part of the reason he had come out to the river today. To train himself. He was allowing himself to sink into a focused state, deeply analyzing his surroundings, sounds, movements that disturbed the natural order of things. He looked out into the river, spotting the movement of the small fish. These were not his prey. A true test of ones physical skill would be seeing and securing a much larger fish without the use of chakra.

The white-haired young man sat at the edge of the river in deep focus, a small thread tied to his kunai. His green jacket, white tee shirt, and jeans were far more casual than what he would normal have worn on official business, but they suited him well for a day of quiet self-teaching. It was in his deep focus that the moment of truth would reveal itself. A large fish, scales shimmering against the sun as it passed the clear shallow spot in the river. Hanza let fly his kunai which made its mark. He pulled the thread, just strong enough to hoist the fish onto a side embankment. Hanza wouldn’t waste the poor thing. He closed his hands together and bowed in thanks to the fish for its sacrifice.

“And now I must eat you, big fish.” He would say as he brushed channeled a negligible amount of Hyōton chakra into the dead creature, keeping it cool so that he could do the thing he had the most trouble with - starting a camp fire.

It was true, being able to stake out was more than sssential for a ninja. Sleeping out in the cold was no issue for Hanza. But for some reason, he could not seem to get down the art of fire making. Perhaps it just was not in his blood.

He would stand next to a gathered pile of dry sticks and bramble, trying to ignite a spark with flint and steel.

WC: 571

Samuru had been spending most of his day walking around the village. He figured that it was time to get away from all the hustle and bustle of people that roamed the streets. The day had been unproductive. He didn’t accomplish anything nor had he even bothered to eat. Today had mostly been spent watching people from inside of a coffee shop. He forgot to eat anything. Forgetting to eat was something that happened regularly. He could never feel the pains of hunger and didn’t care for taking time to eat. His lips were a bit dry and his eyes were a bit droopy. His body was mostly tired, but it was nothing that he could tell. It would probably have been a good time to go to the hospital for a check up. That was something he had to start doing because of the lack of feeling. Getting a medical opinion was always for the best with his lifelong condition.

He started to wonder out into the wilderness aimlessly. The fact that he needed training was nothing exceptional. The past four years had been almost practically wasted. His body had pretty much diverted into a lesser state than what it was. It was time to get back on the grind and push his body back into new heights. Though, he wasn’t sure where he was to even get started. There was lots of places he could have started. Bukijutsu was probably a good start. He had been relying mostly on his ninjutsu to bridge the gap as he waited on his weapon. It took him time to realize that he could of sealed his weapon in a scroll to transport it, but it was too late to even worry about it.

As he moved himself forward, he noticed a young man a bit younger than himself. The young man had white hair and wore a green jacket. Samuru was going to keep moving, but he figured that he would stop and find out who this person was and what he knew. The young man had been attempting to start a fire and wasn’t succeeding at it. Samuru wondered why the boy struggled with the simple task of starting a fire. He couldn’t tell if it was cold old or not, but he noticed the fish and assumed he was probably trying to cook it. Samuru would have probably eaten it raw to avoid causing any noticeable traces. He found interest in the man’s struggle and walked toward him to offer assistance. Maybe he could even catch another fish to add the cache of fish corpses. The red headed man walked up casually in his traditional attire and announced himself before approaching.

“Stranger, looks like you need some help,” said with a raised hand.

470

Hanza glanced up at an approaching voice. A head of red hair adorned a pale man wearing a mix of greys and blacks. He looked to be dressed for the cold. The man came to Hanza with a raised hand and an offer of assistance. That was enough to diffuse any sort of strange feelings about someone approaching randomly so far out in the wilderness. It also sparked up enough anxiety in Hanza, being rather embarrassed at his ineptitude for a basic survival skill. The Kōri clansmen would look up toward the approaching man and say with a nervous smile “As you can see, setting fires is not a skill set I seem to have a grasp on. A wonder that they let me through the academy at this rate.”

Of course Hanza knew he was deserving of having passed the academy, he was only making a lighthearted advance at his own expense. Light humor had a tendency to dispel insecurity for him.
He gave the man another look before contjnueing to try and ignite the flame. Finally, he dropped the flint and steel gently to the ground and stood up from his kneeling position, walking over to introduce himself to the red haired stranger.

“My name is Hanza. I brought myself out here to do some training in the fresh air and found myself with a rather large catch. There’s no certain way I can eat this entire fish on my own. You wouldn’t happen to be more skilled in setting fires, would you?”

He had hoped maybe the man could enlighten him on how to do this effectively. It was only as he made it closer that he realized this man appeared quite unhealthy. On top of being pale, his eyes were incredibly tired and he appeared dehydrated. If nothing more, perhaps the man was in need of a meal and by helping Hanza set a fire, he would feel it acceptable to take some of the fish and eat. That was the plan now, anyhow.

He waited patiently, gently brushing the dirt from his knees as he would allow the man access to his fire pit and the tools needed to create a cooking flame.

WC: 371
TWC: 942

From what he could tell, the man that introduced himself as Hanza definitely needed some help. The young man dropped the flint and steel on the ground and walked over to him. Samuru just stared at him with slight contempt. The man even offered some of the fish. That would work for Samuru. He did think about waiting around for a bit while the watched Hanza struggle, but it seemed to be worth it. A free meal for starting a fire? What more was there to ask for? Samuru didn’t really care for interacting with others, but sometimes you had to do what you had to.

“I can set it for some of your fish. Though, I may need to catch another one. Didn’t know that your academies taught setting fires,” he responded.

Basic survival was something he was good at. It was one of the few things he learned before anything else. Starting a fire was just a simple task. He still wondered why the guy couldn’t start it himself. Samuru sighed slightly as he walked over to the campfire. He visually inspected it to make sure that it wasn’t wet. Sometimes starting a fire was near impossible because the kindling was too wet or the branches were too fresh. It would be most important to feel the kindling, but that would be a lost cause in his case. The rains haven’t touched down for a few days, but it was a bit muggy. It still wouldn’t have been too hard to start a fire in these conditions.

Samuru picked up the flint and steel and started striking it close to the fire. After a few strikes, light embers started to appear. He bent down with his face close to the fire and blew on it. The flames started to grow as more oxygen started to fuel it. Samuru sat back and looked at the young man. The flames strength would need to increase before they could use it to cook anything with. Fish didn’t usually take that long to cook and it wouldn’t bother too much if they went ahead and started. Though, it wasn’t his meal to deal with.

“The name’s Perun. Good to meet you, Hanza,” he said with a low voice.

Samuru looked back down at the small campfire he started. The flames were taking their time moving up the pile of wood and kindling. He wasn’t sure if he should start a conversation with the boy or just sit quiet. The question he wondered was what would they even talk about. Conversation starters weren’t generally his thing. There were plenty of things to ask about, but he wondered what land the boy hailed from. His skin was slightly paler than his own and Samuru had mostly stayed in frigid temperatures throughout his life. It could be that he was from somewhere cold or something else entirely.

“So...where do you hail from? I’m from the Land of Demons, but my clan is Natake.”

There was no hiding where he was from. The tattoo on his left shoulder under his turtleneck and the clan emblem on the back of his hooded sweatshirt had stood out loud and proud. He kept his name hidden from strangers. The paranoia he had didn’t allow him to freely give away details he felt important. Telling Hanza that he was from the Land of Demons, was just to see if he could get his head around who or what the young man was.

597/1067

The low speaking man identified himself as Perun. A nice gentle name from one with a very low grumble of a voice. Hanza was glad someone would be here to ensure he didn’t let any of the days catch go to waste. It was apparent in this instant that Hanza had not thought much ahead when he decided to use his abilities to secure a fish of that size, despite being a very thin young man without much room to gorge. It was best in most cases for Hanza to forget why it was that he had brought himself out to train.

The chunin exams were a very big deal, villagewide. It was an event that attracted prospects and spectators from every single ninja village. Within the bounds of one village, they would all gather and compete for honor and a chance at a promotion. Hanza, a young man without much self confidence, still to this moment could not gather why he would enter himself into something like that knowingly.

He looked over at the over man Perun and smiled as a question was directed at him. Where was Hanza from? “Oh...goodness. Well, it’s a rather unpopular thing among some within the Leaf I’ve come to find out unfortunately. I am from Kirigakure no Sato. The village Hidden in the Mist. Part of the exchange program, you see.”

He finished that statement and admired the campfire, which had now grown to an acceptable state for the purpose of cooking the large fish. They would be eating this like a true stakeout meal, as Hanza had no seasonings or even a knife capable of fileting the fish. Hanza picked up a stick and pressed it through the large fish, then fixed it onto a spit, which he also put together himself. The fire bagsj to immediately lap at the meal, gently cooking it.

The man mentioned the Natake clan. It was a lineage Hanza had never heard of. He reached into his bag and brought out a bottle of water for himself and his friend, carrying the extra over to Perun and carefully offering it to him.

“I may be ignorant as I am not much of a scholar in the area of clans within the nations. Natake does not ring any bells, although I’m sure you have much you could tell me to educate! I can tell you that I descend from the Aisu. My particular lineage being the Kōri. Same thing though. If you’ve heard of them you will know our ability.”

Hanza kept an eye on the fish, ensuring to be ready to remove it when it reached adequate temperature. One may have wondered why Hanza had not just prepared the fish raw. Well, that was actually quite simple. Hanza was not a sushi chef and had no ability to do what they do. He preferred at least to enjoy his food.  

Hanza would wait patiently to hear about the man’s lineage with genuine curiosity and attention. Meanwhile, he would leave Perun with a final question. “What brought you into the woods today, Perun?”

WC: 524
TWC: 1,466

“Well, where you’re from is where you're from. There’s nothing you can do about it. Same thing for your parents. You can’t change who your parents are.”

He paused a moment as he reached for the bottle of water from Hanza. From what he could see, Hanza had a kind heart unlike his own. Samuru didn’t care for spending time with others, but he wouldn’t take too much advantage of Hanza. Like him it seemed like they weren’t really popular. Samuru would be accepted by Konoha just by the nature of his clan originating from this land. Even famous shinobi had hailed from his clan many moons ago. Samuru knew a great deal about his clan from his father who always spoke highly of them. Though, sometimes he couldn’t tell if his father was telling stories to peak his interest as a child or telling him truths. His father wasn’t someone who told lies for the hell of it.

“Our clan had more or less disappeared. I’m not even a full blooded member of the clan. At this point, a full blooded member would probably be a pipe dream. My father told me that a lot of us died in combat years ago trying to protect Konoha. It was said that maybe a few of them, like my father’s parents, moved to other lands trying to keep from getting wiped out completely. Though, I’m not sure how much truth that holds. Anyway, you don’t want to hear me blather my mouth. I originally came into the woods to spend some time alone, but mostly for training.”

Samuru took pride in training himself, but didn’t feel it appropriate at all times. Getting food before training would be essential. He didn’t have his axe after all and would probably just do calisthenics. The young Natake should probably have gone to sleep, but it is what it was. No enemy would wait until you’re fully rested to attack. Whatever fully rested meant or felt like. It was one of the first times in awhile he didn’t mind having company around. There was nothing wrong with being a loner, but sometimes a little conversation or two didn’t hurt. Though, he did find interest that a hidden village would have an exchange program with another. In his mind, anything could set a village off to war. That was from his experience, but the hidden villages in this land seemed awkward to him.

“How does this exchange program work? Is it to build relationships or just to keep a village from attacking another? To me taking out the enemy’s forces while they’re young would be strategic.”

He didn’t mean any harm by the question. It was pretty blunt, but it was totally true. Taking in the enemies genin and striking them down would be a plan that he would have come up with. There didn’t seem any war brewing which kind of made his thoughts invalid. Samuru wasn’t quite sure of the relationship between the villages. It would be something he would look into later. He started to think through a variety of situations how the plan could be ineffective as he started to down the bottle of water. Now really wasn’t the time to think through those questions. He gave up seeing that the idea was quite pointless since he didn’t have that kind of power.

586/1653

It was within those few pertinent lines of conversation that Hanza had felt a warmth. Something about being told in some sort of roundabout way that it was not his fault he had been targetted the way he was when he first arrived within Konoha.

Circumstances of birth and all. Hanza was well aware that the idea of patriotism could at times lead to extremely unpleasant encounters and interactions. In a perfect world, all of humanity would cooperate as a single, functional entity. No area of land with artificial borders bullying another based on ideological stances alone...but this was no perfect world. It never truly had been. Mankind had always waged wars. In the name of resources, in the name of glory, or some feeble sense of honor.

Hanza had been able to tell himself all of this over and over again since those events, being targetted with Hakara on the streets due to their identity as ninja of the Hidden mist. Hearing it from another person just finally nailed the message home and drew a closed-lips smile across the young man’s face as he brought the finely seared fish off of the flames and placed it on a clean looking slab of stone. No plates or utensils during a stakeout. They’d have to really show themselves in this event to get any food in their stomachs.

“Regardless where your clan stands now, or where it used to stand, be sure you keep your own heart and will at the center of your being.”

He would hope his words could offer some sort of encouragement as he beckoned Perun’s attention to the fish, insisting that he take the first helping of his desire of the fish.

As he did, he listened to the last bit of dialogue from the man and he wondered to himself the same thing. Was there some sort of untold reason behind the exchange program, a peace agreement within the shadows? Who knew. But one thing was for certain. Perun has the idea of someone very cold and calculating. The sort of individual capable of making the tough decisions.

“I suppose there is a bit of a mutually assured destruction going on. If either village were to turn rails on the young, the other village would be able to take hostages or worse.”

He made sure his response was not damning in any way to what the young man had said, as he was correct and his statement was completely understandable.

Hanza would wait until after Perun had taken some fish and would take a taste as well, savoring the rather delicious flavor as he picked through the bones for the nearly completely unseasoned fish and gobbled it down like the finicky eater he truly was.

WC: 465
TWC: 1931

“You maybe right. I guess I still have a lot to learn about the shinobi system. Did you like Kirigakure?”

Samuru wondered what Hanza meant by “keep your own heart.” The phrasing lost him. He wasn’t sure how strong his physical heart how to do with anything. That’s where his thinking was anyway. How could one be keep your own heart? Do you not let it out of your chest? Samuru was a bit taken back for a moment before his attention turned to the fish. He took a large chunk of flesh from the rear of the fish and began picking bones out of it. The fish smelled alright to him at least. Samuru took a bite out of the fish like you would an apple. He took his time as chewed slowly.

“Thanks for the fish, kid.” he said between chews.

The fish would be enough to keep him going for the time being. It wasn’t like he needed a lot of food to keep himself going. He had survived on less. Though, he would need to start treating his body better than he had been. Last time he survived on scraps, he almost withered away to nothing. It wasn’t like he was on a strict diet. He would eat anything that wouldn’t kill him in return for him swallowing it. The fish was tasteful. Lack of seasonings was something he had gotten used to. Taste wasn’t something that concerned him. No matter how bad something tasted he could easily consume it.

After he finished the bit of fish he had, he forcefully stretched his arms until he heard a slight pop in his shoulder. He stood up and bent down one knee. Samuru looked up to the stars and realized it was a bit later than he thought it was. Though he didn’t have anywhere to be, he had liked to make his way back from which he came from. The time he spent with Hanza didn’t seem wasted. He also didn’t want to seem that he was eager to leave either. Samuru would remain kneeling trying to think of something to say. He was lost for words as he didn’t usually didn’t care for communicating with others. Hanza at least kept his interest for a brief amount of time. He figured that it was probably best that he start to hone his skills alone for awhile.

“Looks like it’s getting a bit later than expected.”


[Thread Exit]
421/2074

Stat Training
Stregnth: E-3 -> D-0 [300/300]
Perception: E-3 -> D-0 [300/300]
Reaction: E-3 -> D-0 [300/300]

1174 remaining after stats training

Jutsu
Siddhartha's Negation Wave [900/900 w/ 10% word clan reduction]

274 words unused

Home was far removed. The chilling air that surrounded an even colder young man reminded him of his parents and his siblings. Perhaps it was so that the more content Hanza became, the more cool the surroundings became. If that were the case here, one could draw a conclusion that this young icy man was more than happy. Hanza knew it was perhaps one of the final nights he would have available to him for the purposes of dedicated training and honing of his skills for the chunin exams.

The fish was the only thing that could have successfully dragged his mind away from the looming worry and anxiety. The tasty freshwater creature brought a different flavor to the table than that of the saltwater fish often eaten in Kirigakure no Sato. It was, well, less salty. Creatures from the briney deep were a different beast altogether. But nevertheless, this fish was delicious, and it seemed his company, Perun, agreed with that. The man across from him ate the meal heartily, thanking Hanza for it.

“It was no problem at all, Perun. I am glad I was able to have your company and share a good conversation.”

The sun had really began to set on the two. Night would soon brush over the sky like a dark piece of artwork. A brush stroking starry skies into existence. Hanza looked up and acknowledged this, bidding his new friend, Perun, farewell.

[Exit Thread]

WC: 239
TWC: 2170

RT: D-0 ~> D-3 (1175 WC + 150 Ryo)
Spd: E-3 ~> D-0 (300 WC)
End: E-3 ~> D-0 (300 WC)
Perception: D-0 ~> D-1 (325 WC + 25 Ryo)

Total: 2100 WC + 175 Ryo

70 WC Discarded