[attr="class","arubody"] His efforts were for naught, which honestly he expected. It was a tea shop in the middle of the village after all. Once can give the air of loyalty to their superiors without actually killing anyone, if a civilian were to somehow get past the wall of wind, the most Higa would've done is usher them to leave.
He only half-watched what Tokoro was doing, curious enough to see how far he'd push himself but otherwise uninterested. There was little helpful knowledge stemming from genjutsu or dojutsu that would aid him at his current stage. Instead, he used this opportunity as a glorified training session to push the limits of his chakra control.
By the sounds of it, there were some semblances of success, Kurotori praising Tokoro, obsessing over his eyes and training. She seemed pretty excited about it. Azuma stepped in and seemed to make it formal, giving her charge the first genin. "Congrats on your new protégé." he hummed to Kurotori. While Azuma motioned for him to stand down, he kept his puppet up, making small precise motions and movements while straining the flying kunai above them.
After a hysterical laugh echoed in the small tea shop, he disappeared along with the wind wall, exposing them to bewildered customers. While the other two probably looked normal, whereas Higa would look manic, moving his fingers over and over with a flying kunai and a puppet that could be mistaken for a person that seemed like it was spasming.
Every one of the revealed eyes of Itaru Tokoro and his natural gaze shifted to look down and to the left as a wave of bashfulness mixed with a dash of unease crept over him.
“I will be more careful,” he promised softly under the breaths of their sensei’s laughter. When he finally looked again their jounin had departed, and Higa looked as if he were about to show himself out as well.
A man now wearing several layers of bandages around his burnt arm cautiously walked by, sitting down the cup of tea that he had ordered since they had arrived here. Itaru took it and quickly took a sip, scalding his tongue but not caring as the steam helped to relieve tension hiding at the back of his throat.
The pain finally caught up with him and he brought the cup down and gasped. He looked over to Higa, who seemed to be asking Naoko if she was heading out, he presumed. He moved his eyes back towards the kunoichi and spoke. “Thank you for any help you can provide, I don’t think I have much left in me for today though,” he admitted.
He took his seat again and resting the weight of his exhaustion was immediately soothing. It looked like he wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon. He wasn’t even sure if he had it in him to walk, but he wasn’t going to burden anyone.
He’d be around if Naoko wanted to speak to him more, but seemed to expect she was going to leave with the other chunin.
[attr="class","addy2body"]"Mmhmm," the kunoichi hummed, only half hearing Shoichi's words. A platitude, really. She would fill out all the necessary forms, but there was no way Higa would fight her over her choice in Genin. It would make his life miserable.
If she noticed how awkward the atmosphere had become now that their little scuffle was over - or noticed the eyes of other patrons darting toward their direction - Naoko gave no recognition. She was still peering at the many-eyed boy, who was now shyly looking away. With a short laugh, she stood up and gave him a little space. For now, the boy needed it, but she did not intend to let him stay so reserved forever. No, no. His potential was too great even if he was starting a little delayed from the rest of the pack.
"That's okay. You take some time to rest and restore those chakra reserves because the next time we train we shall go all out~ Safely, of course. Your new mentor is a medic and we can't have you dying!" She patted her chest once, to make sure he.. remembered she was talking about herself, I guess? She indeed planned to leave, even parting to lips to heckle Higa out of the building, until the server was noticed. Head tilted to the side and the chuunin stepped in front of him, blocking his path.
The bandages on his arm piqued her interest. "Oh my! That's right. You burned yourself earlier, huh? I should be able to heal that for you, if you give consent." The man stammered a little as if embarrassed to accept the request. "It's no trouble. Burns are a nasty thing to heal from naturally, I can at least speed up your discomfort.. a bit."
She held out her hand, waiting for his arm. After some additional hemming and hawing, he unwrapped it and held it out for her. Purple eyes narrowed slightly, a hiss pushing through her teeth while studying it. "Very unpleasant. Yet, fixable, with time." Naoko ushered the server into his own seat before going through the motions of two handseals, green chakra sparking to life around her hands. It gave her face an even more ghostly appearance, though she was at least attempting to give the man a reassuring smile. She placed her hands over one patch of the burns, the chakra flowing between them - beginning the process of repairing flesh.
[attr="class","arubody"] There didn't seem like much left for Higa as he led his spasming puppet out of the tea shop. He gave them both an elaborate half-bow. It did seem like a Naoko move to just openly lay claim on a genin. He wasn't too bothered, though.
Unlike Azuma, he did not have some flashy technique to leave the tea shop, Kurotori was busy healing people now, and Tokoro seemed spent.
"Well, that was fun. We should do that again sometime."
Opting to walk out back onto the street. He would jump back onto to roof while leaving Kishi walking on the ground. He was no longer toying with his chakra control of the puppet, instead practicing its movements and realism again as he stealthily traveled across the top of the village buildings.
With Higa’s departure and Naoko turning to tend to the burns of the unfortunate server, Itaru managed to ease up somewhat in his seat as he continued taking sips of his tea. It had a sweet bite, but a bitter aftertaste, which seemed to be pleasing to him. The steam of it fogged up his glasses, but with his other eyes already exposed he didn’t bother to take them off to clean.
He watched the chunin for a few moments as she took care of the server’s burn, observing the way the wound started to grow less severe with each passing moment. He closed his every eye, the sounds of an infirmary playing in his mind before he opened them again seconds later.
When she was finished he straightened his posture up in his chair and set his tea down on the table. There was less nervousness about him now, though it may have just been tiredness finally catching up to him in its entirety.
“I should have checked in with the platoon properly,” he said. “I wish the captain would have seen you had already corrected me, I’m sorry if I’ve caused you two any trouble.”
He didn’t pause, letting out a small huffed laugh that he cut short. He reached for his tea and brought it up to his lips, speaking again before taking another sip.
“I’ll try not to apologize so much, either. It’s a bad habit of mine.”
simplicity
Last Edit: Sept 30, 2021 23:49:30 GMT by Itaru Tokoro
[attr="class","addy2body"]The green glow dissipated from her hands after the last patch had been fully healed. The skin was pink and new, but after a few moments of hemming and hawing as she inspected it, Naoko nodded to the server. "It shouldn't scar, but you will need to use a cream daily to keep the area moist. I would still keep it wrapped up as a protective measure until the wound has a bit of time to settle." He went to thank her for it, but she waved her hand to stop him and inclined her head. "It is the least I can do when my Jounin has caused so much trouble."
He stood and went back to his work, which she found admirable; Itaru's voice caught her attention immediately after. She turned to face him, posture a little more relaxed and generally less on guard now that it was just the two of them again. Shoichi always had a way of showing up when she was out in public, but the owner looked angry.. they probably had a safe haven here now from his eccentricities. With a yawn - maybe still sleepy from his genjutsu attempt, huh? - the chuunin slid into the seat she had been occupying across from him.
"Don't worry about it too much. Shoichi means well, he just expresses himself differently from us," she tried to explain as vaguely as words would allow, one shoulder lifting in a shrug. "If he sees potential in someone he will push them, and often that means outside of their comfort zone. I admit that I can't find fault with him. Part of being a shinobi is doing a lot of hard and dangerous things, so we do not have the luxury of saying 'I don't like that' or 'I can't do that'. There's some nuance, of course. Even he would tell us to run from an enemy we could not defeat - he isn't looking to have us killed. He wants us to flourish."
Funny. Naoko was not usually one to compliment someone, especially not out loud. Itaru was now being taken under her wing and she felt a sense of responsibility for his progress; unfortunately had realized in reflection that Shoichi's method was smart. His not being around to hear the words just made it easier to say.
"Enough about that though, I think both of us are exhausted. Tell me more about your goals, Tokoro. Genjutsu is obviously one of them, but there are so many things we are capable of. What excites you?"
Itaru closed his eyes for a moment to contemplate the question. He was too tired to try to smooth over his response to sound less like a pipe dream or hero worship. His voice was firm as it spoke, in contrast to his stammering when surrounded before. Perhaps emboldened by the change in Naoko’s posture and taking a seat making things feel less formal for him.
“I want to be like the Tsuchikage,” Itaru said as he tapped a knuckle against his chin. His face was straight and he looked at Naoko with his murky green eyes without the usual hesitation. There was a pause for a few moments before he took another sip from his glass, relaxing himself again.
“Not exactly like him… but he is someone who overcame his limits and did things his own way. I owe my life to Lord Fourth, I want to become a weapon worthy of repaying his generosity.”
The need to pause caught back up with him and he hid his mouth behind the teacup as if it were a shield from having to speak more. After taking a moment to think he spoke once more.
“Taijutsu. Jiujitsu to be more specific, is the other thing I’ve been studying,” he told her. “To detect incoming enemies and defend platoon members so that they can practice ninjutsu freely is the role I intend to fill.”
He should have asked her something about herself, but he had rambled on about himself too much. Oh well.
[attr="class","addy2body"]Her eyebrows lifted as he spoke about the Kage, waiting patiently for a break in his speech to respond. She was listening intently to his words, studying his posture, attitude, expression - a very different Itaru from the one displayed earlier. This was the one she wished to foster.
"I have never met the Kage in person, at least not one-on-one, but I owe him my life as well. You may not know this, my father and I were from Sunagakure," she cringed a little, leaving some things left unspoken. It was better that way. "I don't know why he accepted my father's request to join this village, but I'm glad he did." His words, 'to become a weapon,' gave her some pause. Was it healthy? Perhaps not, but now wasn't the time to dwell on it.
Head tipped down so that her gaze could linger on the table, the pad of her index finger drawing circles and squiggles, mentally taking notes. "Being the shield for your teammates is noble. I have to admit, I wouldn't have expected you to go for anything related to hand-to-hand combat. Your eyes do put you at a significant disadvantage for retaliation, and given your interest in genjutsu I expected you to be more inclined toward the backlines. Of course, no one says genjutsu strictly has to be long-ranged." the kunoichi hummed. "Taijutsu is one of the things I am studying. My abilities tend to lean toward agility rather than strength, but jiujitsu is far more tactical than the average punch. I should be well suited to help you get closer to that goal."
Unless Itaru continued speaking, Naoko would allow silence to linger between them. For her it was a comfortable silence, but perhaps not for him. She continued to write something on the table, words visible only to her, capturing her full attention. It would drag on for minutes, until finally she sighed and sat back in her chair. "Is it too personal to ask what the Kage did for you?"
He knew that pain was a risk, but he had a strategy to overcome it using wrist locks and illusions to disarm his foes. He prepared to defend his choice- but the last sentence she spoke left him pausing at the moment he was about to speak, stopping his breath and making him withdraw a bit.
“I figured that they assigned you because they were worried about it…” he said, twiddling his thumbs. He took a deep breath and decided to tell her. “This kekkei genkai begins as cancerous tumors that cover the body, and without extensive medical treatment, most don’t survive the transition.”
He decided to bring it back around and tie both conversations into a neat bow, one really determined the other. “I guess that’s why I don’t mind taking the risk. If an opponent underestimates my tolerance for pain, it can only be a weapon for me. I spent most of my early teenage years getting well acquainted with it.”
The air hung silent again. The last sip of tea went down luke warm.
“I’m sorry about your village,” he said with an empathetic inflection behind his voice that betrayed the two tones he had already revealed: stammering nervousness and dry monotone. He knew little about Sunagakure beyond the rumors everyone spread.
simplicity
Last Edit: Oct 2, 2021 0:12:59 GMT by Itaru Tokoro
[attr="class","addy2body"]Ahh. Yes - her mistake, she had forgotten how his clan presented. To be fair, it was merely a case study when she was doing her apprenticeship, not something that had been discussed at length. Purple eyes locked on his face again but she felt more comfortable letting his platitude about Suna go unmentioned, internally filing it away as his attempt at kindness. She would not have been surprised if his assignment to their platoon was intentional, but no one had communicated said intention to her. Was she even strong enough to help him? That concerned her.
"I think that you and I are more alike than I thought at first introduction," she mused out loud, flashing him a small smile. "I have a lot of experience with pain and I don't feel it as easily either. Yes, it can be a blessing in combat, but I don't think it's entirely so. There were a few times when I was training as a genin that I received a wound and didn't realize until it was infected, which - training around medics - was not a big deal here. On the battlefield it's a different story entirely. Like I've told Higa, it's important for us to know our weaknesses. Perhaps more than our strengths."
Naoko slowly unwound from her chair, uncoiling like a cat and stretching. The drowsiness was wearing off, replaced by a sudden hunger that the snacks here would not sate. "I'll be in contact soon to go over your training regimen," she promised, giving him a half-wave before leisurely making her way out of the shop.
