When I had dreamed of becoming the Kazekage as a young girl, I had hardly expected there to be so much paperwork to fill out and file.  A lot of things about this job were unexpected and somedays it felt like I was barely getting out of the office at all.  Today, I made sure I had a break for myself.  The office was much too stuffy and cluttered with paperwork for my tastes.  So instead of signing various reports, I had made my way to the Tsumi Sand Grounds.  Suna wasn't very big in numbers, and the numbers they had were very young.  A lot would need instructing and decent training, which meant these grounds should be in constant use.

These grounds were well maintained, but the location wasn't shaded at all, resulting in a very hot and sun soaked area that would increase the amount of sweat one would lose during training.  It was for this reason that these grounds were dedicated to Genin and Chuunin, so that they could prosper through diligent training in a harsh environment.  I was hoping to use these grounds for a bit of training myself.  Pausing for a moment, I looked around and saw a blonde haired man training in the grounds.  His age took me slightly by surprise.  Most ninja started out so early and at such a young age.  I had only been allowed to become an Academy Student from my clan at the age of 18, but this man seemed a bit older than that.  I couldn't remember who he was, and as the Kazekage of the village, I should know al the names of the shinobi working under me.  I felt ashamed when I called him over to me.  "You there," I said, getting his attention.  "Come over here.  What is your name?"


[Training Raiton C-->B 308/2000]

The day was young, and was as bright and fresh as almost every other day in Sunagakure. The village in the desert, they were given the unique experience that no other village was able to have, they were in the middle of the desert so they rarely had any rainfall, and without rainfall they rarely had clouds. Because of the ecological basis of the village's economy, there wasn't even any clouds created from factories, with almost everyone creating things from hand. With these factors together, there was almost never a cloudy day. Whereas most people would complain about how wet and miserable there home was, the opposite was hardly any better, always being warm and sticky to the people that were forced to live under it's eternal sun. they suffered from the heat, and if they didn't wear appropriate clothing at all times it wasn't rare to see people collapse of heat exhaustion. That made the village strong, as those who were weak were unable to continue within the village. They either died or they toughened up, or in the very rare situation they became a missing nin so that they could go and live somewhere else.

It was the same with Konran, and even more so than almost anyone else that he had ever met. Suna turned those who were once weak into those who were strong, because of the necessity of being strong to survive their situation. Konran was one of the living examples of this, having once been a cute and innocent little child and now being the man that was towering over the other people who were currently surrounding him, his body naturally bigger than the majority of them and his aura only making him larger still. There was a rule about the village, people in the village were generally very short. Because of the way that the human body dealt with heat exposure and sweat, the larger the person the more heat their body would attract, and thus the more they would sweat. To be able to conserve water, clans that had lived for a long time within the village began to become short and stocky, although in that way Konran was as much of a freak as he was normally. He was a tower of a man, walking at 6 foot three and built with enough muscles to crush a man's head like a grape, which caused him to stand out in crowds, for better or for worse.

An example of him sticking out in the crowd was what happened today. Because of the fact that he had never truly dedicated himself to becoming higher-ranked, despite his desire to become a jonin of the village, he was still counted as a genin despite his years of service to the village. He was almost seven years older than the majority of his peers, something that people very rarely seemed to overlook. This area was dedicated to the training of genin and chuunin, and because of that he had gone here to train himself. Of course, he could have used the dojo to try and get himself stronger, but if he had done that he could only imagine the negative effect on the moral of his students. If they saw someone who taught them how to get better not being perfect, they would surely begin to doubt the legitimacy of his teaching and when that happened it was only a short amount of time until he had to deal with an annoying upstart who believed he ought to be the teacher. One hadn't happened for a while, so it was only a matter of time.

Of course, what else was only a matter of time was that he was called out by someone. At first he didn't pay attention to her, not having had any experience with this girl who he only knew by her name and her appearance, her voice just another one in the mass of voices that were calling out across the training area. However, the second thing that she said caught his interest, and in a major way. She wasn't asking him to come over to her, she was telling him. There was no request in her tone, although there was a fair amount of embarrassment, rather there was authority (that, unfortunately, was undermined by her embarrassment). Who did this woman think she was, he thought bitterly before turning around... and noticing exactly who this girl thought she was. Oh.... well, it was safe for him to say that this was unexpected.

Calling him to her location was a girl who was around his age, maybe a year or two older if anything, with grey hair that seemed to be on her much too young. Her outfit was much the same as him, both of them wearing cloaks with their individual clan glyphs emblazoned on the back to show off to the world where they were from, although the rest of her outfit seemed a lot more violent than his did. He was wearing simple clothes, a dark purple shirt that was thin enough to let heat and sweat escape but was unfortunately dark enough to be pulling more heat than was probably wise in this hot sun, whereas she was wearing what was more likely to be expected among soldiers from the land of iron than from someone in such a high position of power. This woman, looking at him like he was some sort of anomaly, was the kazekage. She was his new boss, and he was wanted.

Walking over to her, trying to keep up an appearance of laissez faire whilst avoiding looking insubordinate, he looked at her. Well, more accurately, he looked down at her. Not because he was being snooty, but because she was a fair bit shorter than him, and it was noticeable. If he had felt closer to her, he might have snickered at the absurdity of this, him towering over her and looking much more powerful than her when in reality it was so much different, but he also had the mental reservation that was more like survival instinct at this point rather than simply enforcing his cold attitude upon the world. She asked for his name, so he figured that he had better give it quick sharp before she had to ask again. He had dealt with the last kazekage and knew how much people in thier position disliked being kept waiting.

"I'm Konran, m'lady, Karisuma Konran." He answered minimalistically, not caring to keep their conversation for very long. He knew how dangerous this situation was going to be for him, any misstep in her choice of words and he risked snapping at her, and snapping at someone like that would not only get him in trouble with the ANBU, it might actually get him expelled from the village, if not out right killed.

1150/2000 Taijutsu Proficiency (C -> B) Increasing

The blonde haired man turned and looked over at me, his face clearly displayed the shock of recognizing who I was.  My recent promotion to Kazekage was not something that was given a special inauguration, as that would feel too civilized and this village needed more work to be done than to stop and note this election of the new leader.  This was my decision, though it was still made sure that the news spread fast.  People need to know things like this, so it wasn't surprising that the man knew who I was, or rather, what I was.  I watched him carefully as he walked up to me, his body language telling me pieces about him.  He seemed to be forcing a casual manner of walking up to me, possibly trying to hide surprise from this encounter or something else, it was hard to tell.  A scar etched across his right eye told me he had seen some action, so my thoughts were that he wasn't a Genin or Chuunin.  Well, it was possible, but he did look to be just a few years younger than me, and he was quite fit, so it seemed more likely that he was a Special Jounin or even a Jounin, though I had yet to see his portfolio cross my desk.  Stepping up to me, I noticed that he was much taller than me and I had to look up a bit to meet his gaze, though I kept a confident air about me.

"Karisuma, eh?  You seem out of place here, this is usually a training grounds for Genin or Chuunin, you know," I said with a calm voice.  "What's a big guy like you doing here?"  I shifted my gaze to study him more closely.  Now taking in his features, I should've been able to guess he was Karisuma.  The name rang a bell in my memory, as I recalled being informed of the clan's residence area being burned down and most of the clan being massacred by a rogue ninja.  I had heard about it before becoming Kazekage, but I had never known the full extent of the damage that was done until I was given the report.  The shinobi that was the perpetrator had been killed, though the Karisuma clan was just a shattered piece in comparison to its former self.  I looked at Konran in a new light now, feeling sad for him, though I didn't show it.  Instead I kept an authoritative stance and sent my eyes back to the man's eyes.

I tucked my clan's cloak behind me, letting my armor shine, while I glanced around at the training grounds.  They weren't too busy, which was to be expected as Suna was still low on younger and lower ranked ninja.  Hopefully my coming here would help get those that were nearby a spark of encouragement to work harder.  Looking back at Konran while waiting for his answer, I wondered if he could possibly be of use to me in my training.  It could be beneficial for both as well as for anyone else watching.  I made a mental note to ask Konran.


[Raiton C-->B 844/2000]

One second, everything was fine. The next, he had a knife in his gut. Or at least that was what it felt like, with her words turning the knife in his stomach. The kage had asked him why he was here - He couldn't say that it was because he felt inept, that he felt like he wasn't strong enough, and the way that she talked about how this area was designed for the lower ranks of the village, he felt like he was being stabbed again. She assumed that he was a higher ranked ninja, for what? Because of his aura? Because of his height? Maybe she was calling him too old to be a genin? Was it an insult, was she claiming that he wasn't good enough and that he had to try harder? Wait... no. No, that was definitely not it. She was  new in the position, he doubted whether she'd have had the opportunity to check through the active duty roster of the village, and if she had he doubted that his name would have stuck out to her. He was just another genin, so he didn't really matter in the big scheme of things. He was a teacher of several dojos within the village, but because he hadn't done enough missions he wasn't trust enough to get a higher rank. Now he was going to have to explain his position to her.

"Umm.... m'lady?" he said, trying to think of a good way to phrase this. Unfortunately for Konran, it was difficult to know where to stand with this girl, she was cold and unemotional and there was something about her that made him very uneasy. If that wasn't bad enough, it wasn't exactly like he had a stellar track record when it came to conversations with people that he'd not met before. He was never good with conversations like this, he had never been exactly the social type. Ever since his academy days, he had had large amounts of trouble when dealing with situations like this, there was something inherently embarrassing about this level of association with someone. Not only that but he had never really had a normal home life, his parents dead a long time ago and his aunt and uncle some of the only remaining members of the Karisuma clan. Everyone else had been slaughtered, and there was a dark side of his mind that was a little bit sad that his aunt hadn't been killed alongside the rest of them. He had never really had the chance to meet his clan, but maybe if he had he wouldn't be so damned awkward.

"I AM a genin." He said, finally revealing his unique position to her. Then, deciding it would make sense to explain what he was talking about, he continued "You see, when I left the academy I spent around six months in active duty. But, after that, I was enlisted by one of the schools within the village's limits, and they kept me busy. So, I've got the same rank as an academy teacher, but because I've never done any major missions since I began to work as a teacher for my dojo, I've never been trusted with a higher rank. I've had three times as much experience as any of the grunts that you see running around the village, but since my working for the village doesn't technically count as "active service" your predecessor decided in her eternal wisdom that I should be kept as a genin until I did more dangerous work for the village. It's almost like she doesn't care if her students get taught or not." He said, a twinge of irritation and bitterness swinging into his voice. He had been a genin for the last thirteen years, he had never actually been able to mention what rank he was to his students, knowing they would most likely mock him.

However, there was something that she said that got his interest up. She had mentioned that this place was normally for genin and chuunin, right? Well, that explained why he was here, but why was SHE here? It was a training ground for the runts of the village, and that meant that the higher ranks often stayed away from it to make sure that they didn't endanger anyone else with their techniques. However, that being said, she was not one of those people apparently. She was here, and judging by her outfit she was looking for a fight. Unless, of course, she always wore stuff like that, and he could only imagine the complications that would arise from that. The people misunderstanding, the arguments, the insults, the residual anger.. he had to repress an outward shudder from imagining how awkward someone's life would be if they were to do something like that. Even with the kazekage, it would cause a certain amount of reproachfully. No, ESPECIALLY with the kazekage. She was the strongest in the village at the moment, that meant that she was even more of a threat to normal people when she wanted a spar.

"Miss.... I hate to ask, but what exactly are YOU doing here?" he said, trying to keep his tone as non-offensive as possible. It was a well known fact that if you pissed off your leader, you could end up doing some pretty nasty stuff. He had heard horror stories about things that Gin had made her ninjas do when they displeased her. Even Ayakashi only killed them, Gin had apparently broken their minds. "As you said, this area is for the genin and the chuunin. I know very well that you'd overpower every single person here if you actually tried, so what are you doing here? It's not like people aren't going to get caught up in your jutsus if you try one of your stronger ones." Of course, it was true. People seemed to stop caring about collateral damage when they got to her rank, the sannin tended to be a larger threat to people on their own side to those that they were fighting.

2000/2000 Taijutsu Proficiency (C -> B) Increased!
0069/3000 Electrified Water Release: Lacrima in progress!

[OOC: So sorry about the late post, been crazy lately in class work and midterms.]

As soon as I had let the last words leave my mouth, I could see they had done damage to the man. His little eye movements and jolts in his facial expressions told me it all.  Thanks to my training in the Eye of the Heart, my clan’s secret knowledge about human behavior, I could tell the emotions running through this guy.  The way we use these facial cues in battle for our advantage makes people believe it is some Kekkei Genkai, and it sort of is. The Eye of the Heart is more of a learnt knowledge of amazingly beneficial information, but that information is only known to our clan, so in a way it is our Kekkei Genkai.  Due to this gained knowledge, I realized my words had stung the man as I saw him struggle to respond.  I could see the gears of his brain turning as he thought over what to say and how to say it.  

Was I wrong with my guess that he wasn’t a genin or chuunin?  He seemed to be embarrassed, which meant that something I had done was the reason for this.  Should I not have asked him why he was here?  I mean, he was so big, I couldn’t help but think he was higher ranked.  Silently, I berated myself for not getting more familiar with the village roster.  This wasn’t the best way to make a greeting to a ninja of the village, stumbling into a blunder like this.  Konran began to speak up, telling me he was only a Genin, and immediately I felt bad for what I had said earlier.  He spoke up to explain things for me, saying, "You see, when I left the academy I spent around six months in active duty. But, after that, I was enlisted by one of the schools within the village's limits, and they kept me busy. So, I've got the same rank as an academy teacher, but because I've never done any major missions since I began to work as a teacher for my dojo, I've never been trusted with a higher rank. I've had three times as much experience as any of the grunts that you see running around the village, but since my working for the village doesn't technically count as "active service" your predecessor decided in her eternal wisdom that I should be kept as a genin until I did more dangerous work for the village. It's almost like she doesn't care if her students get taught or not."

Hearing his words, all I could feel was shame.  Shame for not having been more knowledgeable about my own shinobi, but also shame for how the village had put aside such a capable young man.  Indeed, the village needed its teachers for the academy, but not putting him in active duty seemed a mistake when numbers were so low.  Academy teachers was the only thing we had plenty of, and if there were more cases like Konran’s then that would explain more about the situation.  ”I apologize, you looked more capable than the others so I had assumed you weren’t a Genin or Chuunin.”  I paused for a moment before continuing.  ”You’ll report back to active service from now on.  The Academy has enough teachers as it is.”

"As you said, this area is for the genin and the chuunin. I know very well that you'd overpower every single person here if you actually tried, so what are you doing here? It's not like people aren't going to get caught up in your jutsus if you try one of your stronger ones."

I chuckled at the man for his rash thinking, ”You honestly believe I came here to spar with some of these ninja?”  I continued to laugh for a bit, not in a way that would make Konran think I was laughing at him, but more at the idea of sparring with a Genin.  ”I came to these training grounds to just do some simple exercises.  I prefer working here, at the Tsumi Training Grounds because it’s always hotter here than the other training areas.  Makes for good conditioning.”  I began to walk around Konran, searching for an open spot where I could train by myself.  After a few steps, I looked over my shoulder to Konran, ”Train hard, Karisuma Konran.  Maybe one day people will be questioning your choice of training spots.”

I thought about how I would train.  Usually I would focus on my chakra nature for a while, letting it resonate throughout my entire body, making sure I kept my chakra flowing unhindered throughout my body.  After meditating on my chakra resonance, I would typically channel it outside my body for simple jutsu aimed at various wooden targets.  There was no plan or intention to get anyone involved, this was a purely solo training session.  I was mainly out here to ‘train’ just so I could get the council off my back from reading all of the paperwork, but after meeting Konran, maybe I should’ve stayed in the office to read the rest of the roster.  While searching for a spot, I was struck with an idea.  I turned to face Konran again, ”How about I help you train something?  Not with a spar, but maybe guide you along, if you want?”  It didn’t matter either way, but I did feel that being the Kazekage and meeting up with a ninja of his potential that I was obligated --or even required-- to at least offer help.  I’d rather train alone like I normally do, but that was the old me, and being the Kazekage meant I needed to change myself to better suit the responsibility of my new role.

[Training Raiton C-->B 1822/2000]

His face turned to rage as she told him that he was essentially fired and had to return to active duty. However, a second later his face turned back to a normal expression. There was no point in getting angry with her, even if she was abusing her power like a despot. The fact of the matter was that he was not employed by the village, but rather for someone who worked for the village, and whilst she might be able to force his boss to close down the dojo or he might be able to order him to leave his job for active duty, she had no idea who that was and since she appeared to care so little for other people, he doubted very much if she would take the time to look up who he worked for and then go out of his way to do something like that. He was beginning to dislike this kage already, but perhaps he was just biased against the position since he had been treated like crap by her predecessor. He was glad that she was unable to make that judgement call, and since she was not going to be able to pull those strings he had no reason to get angry. He had no reason to punch above his belt just yet, and that fact allowed him instead to simply say.

"M'lady, I'm not disrespecting your rank nor your personage when I say this; that little decision isn't in your power to make. The dojo is privately run, and is something that teaches kids taijutsu since the academy's tutorage in that area is so pathetically poor." Once again he let his opinions slip into his tone of voice, it was why he had never gone into teaching for the academy, not only did it feel like paying patronage to a ruler that he didn't like, but they had never taught well in taijutsu, his specialist area. Every part of his body seemed to scream his skills in taijutsu, from the muscle to the scar that he appeared to have gotten in battle. She might not take too well to him insulting the academy that she sponsored, but he knew that he didn't care - She had tried to get him fired just so he could fill up the ranks of her little armed force. Gin might have refused to give him the recognition that he deserved, but at least she had never tried to control him like that.

Furthermore, this woman appeared to be a major bitch. He tried not to judge his superiors like that, but she was mocking and she was cruel to the people that she had working under her. Talking about how she would never spar with these ninja, as if they were so far beneath her they didn't even deserve consideration. Sure, that might have actually been true, but the way she had said it just seemed so cruel, so rude, and so damned hostile. It was something a leader should never say about the people she leads, and what made it worse was the fact that she was laughing at him as if his ideas themselves were ridiculous. Like he was somehow doing something wrong by simply suggesting she might be able to put herself down to their level.

"And I'm also one of the few people that can be respected when it comes to academy teachers. You said it yourself, I don't look like a genin or a chuunin, I look like I'm tough enough to take on high level opponents like the jounin. People respect that a lot more about me because it seems like I could do it, and I've been training enough to know exactly what I need to do in the arts and thus what my students need to be able to do to follow my arts.

You might say that there are too many teachers, but how many do you really think are my level? How many do you really think are worth the shine on your kunai? If you want to get the village filled out more, then take them out into active duty, take the ones that have no right being in their positions out and get them to be the heroes that you want them to be. I was born for this job, so if you want me to throw away the job I have worked for for the last few years, at least give me a good reason rather than simply "do it because I'm your boss". Think hard, Lady Kazekage, or else people will start criticizing your decisions."

Then she offered to help him train something and... well, that was all the cue he needed. Forming around his body like five holy arms of a god were eight rather large balls of water, each one appearing to be filled within a second by invisible jugs held by invisible arms. Then a second after that, they suddenly lit up like fireworks, the water crackling with electricity. This was a jutsu that he had worked on for a rather long time, and one that he felt very proud of inventing. It was a style that he liked to call "electrified water release".

Whilst most people knew the basic fact about electricity being conducted by water, very few people went out of their way to abuse that fact for battle. He was one of the few who both knew about it and actively did it, and had thus even named a style after it, "Denka Suiton" or the thunder water. The moment five of them were made, he shot them forwards without giving her any cue that they were coming. She wanted to train him, huh? Well, let's see just how well she was able to dodge something this fast without knowing they were coming. He was sure she would be fine, being as high ranked as she was, but he wanted to see what she could do. Was common curiosity such a bad thing?

1000/1000 Electrified Water Release: Lacrima learned!
0078/1000 Lightning Release: Thundercrack in progress!

Konran’s face only scrunched up in an angry look, as if he could bite my head off at what I had said.  This wasn’t very common that I would make people angry without actually intending to do so and I was completely puzzled.  Immediately I began to think over what I had said, when it was Konran who spoke up and let me know where I had done wrong.  He wasn’t an Academy teacher but an instructor at a dojo that taught Academy students and I had either misheard him or just mistakenly assumed he had meant he worked at the Academy.  From his expressions as he spoke, I could tell the dojo was of importance to him.  Here I had thought he had spite against the previous kage for keeping him off active duty, but I saw now that I had read him wrong.  It wasn’t common to be this off-base, but I’ve been known to make plenty of mistakes.  I knew I needed to fix my mistake.

He talked a lot, but he was making sure that I understood him perfectly clear, which I appreciated even if his tone was harboring some angst towards me.  I had definitely struck a chord with the man and it just showed how much he was proud and content with his current situation.  This struck me as odd because I could see the potential within him and yet he was perfectly fine, even wanting, to stay as a Taijutsu instructor at the dojo.  My statement to move him back to active duty was clearly over my bounds as Kazekage as well as being something he didn’t wish to have happen to him.  Konran’s point on moving others from teaching that clearly weren’t good at it instead of those that are good at it like he was made me rethink things through.  He asked pointed questions that made me realize something about him, he was quite intelligent.  After making his points, it seemed he was still caught up in his anger and frustration that he misheard me when I asked to help train him as he shot off five balls of what looked to be electrically charged.  His jutsu was good as well as his quick shots to catch me off guard, however, my skill was much above his level.  I aptly bent backwards at the knees, letting my whole body from thigh to my head bend back until I reached a 95 degree angle at my knees, letting the electrically charged balls of water fly furiously past me.  I pulled out my tonfas and whipped them in quick thrusts as I shot five bolts of raiton that had been concentrated onto my tonfas and shot down the hazardous balls that Konran had shot before they hit anyone that lay behind me.

Bending back up to a standing position, I reholstered my tonfas in my pants’ belt straps.  ”Hold it there, Karisuma-sama,” I said, bestowing an honorific onto his name in hopes to make him calm down.  ”I don’t wish to spar with you.  I wish to beg your forgiveness.  I was mistaken when I spoke to you, I understand that now.  When you had first said that you were taken away from active duty to train Academy students, I had thought that you had been placed as an Academy teacher.  A private dojo was something I didn’t think of, and I also didn’t realize how passionate you were at your teaching there of Taijutsu.”

I paused for a moment in case he was still going to attack me so I could dodge the attack before continuing, ”If you truly are fine with your current position, then it is too imposing for me to make you switch.  However, I will most likely send the Academy teachers to be trained in the dojo as well.  I don’t like weaknesses or anything to be ‘pathetically poor’, as you say.  I do feel taht you could be more use on the field than as a teacher.  Not to say you aren’t a good teacher, but I can just feel a great potential in you that I don’t think teaching at a dojo could help you solely attain it.”

[Training Raiton C-->B 2000/2000 COMPLETE]
[Training Raiton B-->A 540/3000]

Jutsu Used:

If he was honest, he would have to say that he was a little disappointed in himself. That was one of his strongest jutsu, yet she hadn't even had to use a jutsu of her own to dodge it or to deal with it. Rather, she had just had to move her body into a better position to dodge them. It was infuriating, she was so far above his own level, that had been obvious from the start but it didn't need to be rubbed in his face like it was a mistake of his. He wasn't fighting her for personal reasons, although his resentment of her judgement call did play a large part in his willingness to spar with her in the first place, but rather what he cared more about was the fighting itself.

He wanted to prove himself strong, to prove that he was the kind of person that she wanted running a dojo, and yet that hadn't even come close to happening. Now she probably thought that he was a brash fool that jumped the gun. The kind of fool that would get into trouble and bring the trouble to his students, although that was perhaps not such a bad thing. Perhaps it would encourage her not to want to put him on the battlefield like every other mindless drone that the village pumped out. Not that he really cared at this moment, as he noticed the jutsu coming towards him. This was the jutsu of someone far beyond his level, but there was something about this technique... if she had been trying her hardest to take him out, she'd have used a jutsu that he wouldn't have even been able to react to. These, on the other hand, were so slow he could actually trace their progress with his eyes.

Lightning suddenly crackled around him, splaying out around him as if a new storm was forming from just his body. It was a rather worrying sight, something that could cause lesser men to feel terrified. Bolts of lightning from the electrical storm shot out, cutting through the raiton energy blasts that she had launched from her Tonfas. They blasted apart in a surge of energy, and despite blocking the attack the storm was still there, crackling around him. With the frequent and seemingly random blasts of lightning around his body, his face was suddenly lit up in a way that it hadn't been before. Despite being in the middle of a sunny day mere seconds ago, his face somehow gained shadows that hadn't been there before. The crackling light around him lit up the face, giving it an almost beast like look. Whilst he might have been adaptable and intelligent, his face now looked... feral, almost dangerous. Despite this, he stood and listened to what she was saying, trying not to let his quickly forming bias to interfere with what she was saying.

”Hold it there, Karisuma-sama,” She was giving him an honorific? Why? He was below her status, and "sama" was only to people that the speaker respected. It was more than evident that she had no respect for him in the way that she had acted so far, but still...  ”I don’t wish to spar with you.  I wish to beg your forgiveness.  I was mistaken when I spoke to you, I understand that now.  When you had first said that you were taken away from active duty to train Academy students, I had thought that you had been placed as an Academy teacher.  A private dojo was something I didn’t think of, and I also didn’t realize how passionate you were at your teaching there of Taijutsu.” Now, this just seemed stupid. So, it mattered different amounts if he was a private teacher than if he was an academy one? It only mattered to him because it stopped him having to deal with the minutia of his students' lives, and because she didn't have direct control over it, thus making her unable to place her whims upon it's staff.

There was a momentary pause where, for a second, he considered slamming some sense into her, but he knew getting close to her in a mood like this was just plain dangerous. He might do something that he would regret, and if she didn't want to spar then it would turn from training to flat out assault, something which was a crime against most people and flat out treason against the kage. ”If you truly are fine with your current position, then it is too imposing for me to make you switch.  However, I will most likely send the Academy teachers to be trained in the dojo as well.  I don’t like weaknesses or anything to be ‘pathetically poor’, as you say.  I do feel that you could be more use on the field than as a teacher.  Not to say you aren’t a good teacher, but I can just feel a great potential in you that I don’t think teaching at a dojo could help you solely attain it.” Whilst he was glad that she was redacting her decision to force him onto the front lines, there was something about the way she was saying it that seemed to belittle his dojo.

Moving forwards, he spoke as he ran across the area. "If you believe so deeply that I'm able to fight on the front lines like a normal soldier, then why not try to force some of that potential out of me. Come on, Ma'am!" he said, as he concentrated chakra through his entire body. If a single attack like this was to land, and with his slamming foot into her right leg, she would find herself in a rather unpleasant position. She wanted to make claims about him when she hadn't even seen him properly in action, let's see how she would deal with him after a quick spar like this. She wanted to prove her point, then she would have to show some backbone. Anything less would be an insult to him and a disgrace to her position.

1000/1000 Lightning Release: Thundercrack Trained!
0103/1000 Brutal Impact training in progress.

Jutsu:

[OOC: Sorry for the short and late post, technical difficulties forced me to rewrite so I just decided to post this instead.]

"If you believe so deeply that I'm able to fight on the front lines like a normal soldier, then why not try to force some of that potential out of me. Come on, Ma'am!" Konran said as he ran forward in a charge.  Maybe this guy was touchy, but I was getting the feeling he just didn’t like me.  I mean we did get off on the wrong foot and that was my fault, yet he didn’t care for my apology.  Here he still tried to fight with me.  This wasn’t what I had in mind when I wanted to train in these grounds.

Konran, now lit up as electrical bursts danced around his body, surged with his foot to slam into my right leg.  I cartwheeled to the right several times to roll away from his attack.  I had no intention of sparring today, and no matter what he tried to get me to prove, I wouldn’t fight him.  ”Stop this nonsense, Karisuma.” I said, trying to get his attention.  I didn’t know if he was in a rage from before or if he just meant to spar with me, but I wanted to just talk.  ”Like I said before, I don’t want to spar with you.”  I brushed my cape behind me after settling from the cartwheels.  The day was hot and as the training grounds were known for getting hotter than other areas of Suna, I felt beads of sweat rolling down my forehead.  Slicking back the hair out of my eyes, I tried to talk to him once more.  ”I don’t want normal soldiers and I don’t want to send anyone to the frontlines.  That’s not the way of the shinobi.  Shinobi are here to protect and serve the people to make things better.  You teach at the dojo to provide your students with the knowledge to save their lives in battle.  All that I’m saying is that with you’re strength and talent, you could protect the lives of the entire village if need be.  I’ll be open with you, I fear an old enemy is growing close to strike Suna.  Teaching at the dojo is helpful and crucial, and you can continue doing that if you wish, but I also ask that you think of those that live around the dojo, around you.  Your students, your boss at the dojo, and your fellow neighbors.  Being put on active duty would allow you to progress your skill and ranks at a faster pace than just teaching at a dojo.  I’m not saying you need to give up teaching, in fact you could continue teaching there while being on active duty.  It is up to you, however.  I will not force you too, I just hope you see what I mean.”

I was running out of time with my training and my advisors at the office would be questioning when I would return.  With a pleading look on my face, I watched Konran carefully in case he tried to rush me again or shoot me down with some sort of jutsu.  I would wait for his response, but nothing more, being the Kazekage meant I had responsibilities to take care of.  Those responsibilities were already being put on hold so I could take some time to get fresh air and train, but even so I couldn’t just train forever.  This meeting with Konran showed me how reading all those reports and roster lists were important to read and look over.  At first I had just seen it all as busy paperwork to keep me confined to my office.  Now I knew that everything had it’s value, even if it was hard to notice it at first glance.


[Training Raiton B-->A 1177/3000]

This girl was annoying. On the one hand, it became evident why she was elected to be the kage (She was strong, she was nimble, she was very well trained. Jack be nimble, jack be quick and all that crap), but she was also one of the most annoying people that he had ever met. He was trying to get her to fight, something that her clan was supposed to be more than willing to do at any given moment, and yet here she was being all awkward. He realized at this moment that he could do some pretty horrible things to her if he wanted to, but... she was new in the job. He shouldn't say it like that, that sounded patronizing and dismissive when he was trying to be anything but, still it was true. She was new in the job and didn't understand that sometimes to make a villager listen you had to get on their level, rather than staying high and mighty above them.

The problem with her pacifism was that she wasn't always like this, and that it seemed like she was constantly talking down to him. Sure, he was a genin, but he was a member of the village just like everyone else. In fact, he was one of the few active ninja who were around her age, and yet she treated him like he was an overgrown child. There was something inherent and snotty about that very concept that made him want to continue fighting, but every single thing that he threw at her was being avoided as if it was nothing.

Sure, what she had thrown at him so far had been very much the same way, but he knew very, very well that that was not all she had to throw at him. If she were to go all out and attempt to kill him, there would be no way to survive her. Not at his current strength. She was a kage and he... he was still a genin, despite how much experience he had had in the way of the ninja. He was a hardworking teacher and, if he wanted to be, a soldier for the village, yet despite all of that he was no where near her level... not yet. Maybe if he showed her that he wasn't just some pushover that she could dodge everything from, he'd manage to stop making her patronize him.

That being said, once his head cleared, he realized what she had said. " You teach at the dojo to provide your students with the knowledge to save their lives in battle.  All that I’m saying is that with you’re strength and talent, you could protect the lives of the entire village if need be.  I’ll be open with you, I fear an old enemy is growing close to strike Suna.  Teaching at the dojo is helpful and crucial, and you can continue doing that if you wish, but I also ask that you think of those that live around the dojo, around you.  Your students, your boss at the dojo, and your fellow neighbors" An old enemy... Sunagakure had no old enemies.

Okay, that wasn't exactly true, they had Madara and Obito and the Zetsu clones, but they had all been exterminated in the fourth shinobi war over a hundred years ago. There was no way they could be coming back (he said that, but people had resurrected corpses before, in fact that was how Madara had become a threat to the entire world the second time). So, who else could it be? He had heard rumors about something dark coming from Iwagakure but they had established a peace. A shaky peace but a peace nonetheless. He doubted if he asked her directly that she would answer him, but he wanted to know. All her little spiel had managed to do was to lure him into this situation, his interest fully engaged.

Despite the fact that it would likely be strategic suicide to give extremely valuable information like this to a mere genin, he wanted to know and she owed him that much. He was seeing her inability to do anything useful for him as a debt that she owed him, so he was going to use said debt to get the information he wanted.
"What old enemy? Throughout the years, we've only had four major wars, and three of those were against other villages. Everyone from the fourth is long since dead, and every nation is currently dealing with their own issues. I doubt anyone's willing to go to war with anyone else right now, so what is this threat you're talking about? It has to be something to get the great Kazekage quaking in her boots. Something's got you spooked enough to want to get every single valuable asset to your side as possible, so tell me. If you want my help to protect the village against it, you owe me that much. I want a name, who the hell do you think is going to attack us."

It was a fact that Suna had little tactical value to anyone who would want to invade them. The only asset they had ever had was the alliance with Konoha that Orochimaru broke all those years ago during the reign of the Akatsuki. They had nothing, very little clear water, their position was not tactical, and the main advantage of the village was not something an interloper could come pick up. You had to grow up in the harshness of the desert, to know that outside the city walls was nothing but miles upon miles of death to be able to be forged into warriors. Given ten or twenty years, that advantage could come to the new generation of whatever enemy might want the city, but he doubted they would be able to hold it that long, and he even further doubted that anyone would believe they could.

1000/1000 Brutal Impact trained!
0100/1000 B rank Karisuma eye in training!

OOC: Sorry, busy week and I just couldn't think of what else to write about here so I'm calling it quits for this thread that way you won't have to wait on me any longer.



I bit my tongue as Konran spoke his mind.  He seemed annoyed, infuriated, and completely bewildered by my words and actions.  It was my on fault for saying to much.  Here I was just trying to come to peace with the man and yet he still seemed to be against me just for not even wanting to fight.  Now he was asking me questions way above his pay-grade.  If he wanted to make me not like him, than he had hit his mark.  Furious with myself, I flung my cape around me to cover up my body.

”I apologize, Karisuma, but if you want that kind of information you’ll either have to work for it or give me a reason to trust you with such sensitive knowledge.  Next time you feel like fighting me, however, feel free to make an appointment.  Until then,” I said, preparing for a big leap.  I soared well over his head, using my full speed to fly past him and out of the Tsumi Training Grounds.  I was needed back at the office and was late as it was.  My free time for the day was all used up and I wasn’t about to stay another moment longer after revealing too much already of sensitive information.

Training Raiton B-->A 1391/3000

[Exit Thread]