Encounter

[hobnob]

His forearms were gently skimming the grass around him. His gentle gaze was fixed on the small pond at the bottom of the tump. He was admiring the natural flow of things; the breeze gently blowing along the bank, creating small ripples in the water and the sea of green around him; there were ducks just bouncing from one side of the lake to the other. 'What an easy life...' He found it amazing how relaxed they were, how laid back they were about their day, not having to worry about what will happen the following day, or what happened in the past, they were present, fully in the moment, unlike Noeru, who's thoughts seemed to be all over the place. The life in the village was less that interesting for him, always struggling to get to grips with the the mundane, everyday life. 'How can people be happy about waking up everyday... and happily doing the same things, over and over again...' The fodder struggles of a genin from Konohagakure, they seemed fodder on the surface, but internally he was going through a rough time, for a little while now. Action were the times in which he prospered, those were the times when he really felt alive. Having something to do, something to keep his mind firing at the maximum capacity were the situation in which he loved. But village life had very little to offer in the prospect, the infrastructure was built, the defenses were in place, everything was based around old men talking at meetings to establish good relation between the villages and nations. The political life was the most boring of all, one he could not stand but one that he knew was awaiting him one day, being of the Senju came with responsibilities towards the village, sooner or later. And playing at shinobi would one day be something that he did once in a blue moon, and even now, real shinobi life was hard to come by, and he struggled to find something that would capture his attention or give him a real sense of purpose. And so, he spent his time simply pondering life, hoping that something would happen that would pull him away from this mundane, everyday life. Noeru let out a sigh as he led down on the grass and his gaze rose to meet the cloudy sky above. The sun was screened off by the dense white clouds, but there did not seem to be any sign that it may rain.

[Golnax]

How little Noeru could know that while he lay there in the grass thinking about his future, his future would come looking him in the face.

The clouds over the young genin's head would be obscured by the sudden appearance of Aimi Kaguya's face - well, his disguised face anyways. The structure of his bones had been altered in such a way that he looked to be a completely different person. Combined with his change in height by four inches as well and it was impossible to recognize him for who he really was based on any wanted posters or entries in a BINGO book. Such precautions were necessary, though, when you were considered a war criminal by the five Great Nations and attending an event hosted by them. The chunin exams, though, were something too enticing for the Daimyo to resist. He simply had to come and witness the budding future for himself.

Noeru had been one such future he had come to see and he saw him now, disguised as he was, looking up at clouds as though he had not a care in the world... or perhaps many cares. Tough to say. Aimi stood over the genin regardless in stolen clothes of red and white, though he was still bare footed. The look he gave Noeru was one of interest and a touch of concern. The two of them were off not far from the rest of those in attendance and Aimi was certain that they were being watched, but all the same, he simply felt he had to address this young Senju.

"You've put on quite a show today young man. You're a talented shinobi in the making. So I have to ask; why are you off by yourself and cloud gazing? Shouldn't you be off celebrating with your friends?" he asked, striking up a conversation with the young man. He could only hope that his words would be reciprocated. After all, they were perfect strangers to each other.

Jutsu In EffectShow

Death Bone Pulse • Master of Disguise
A-Ranked Taijutsu Maneuver
By ossifying bones throughout their entire body, the user is able to change their entire skeletal structure. With this jutsu, the user is able to drastically alter their facial structure, allowing them to change the look of their face. With enough practice, the user can even take on the appearance of others. In addition, the user may also change the skeletal structure of their body, allowing them to grow or shrink by inches. This kind of change is limited, however, as the user must be careful not to loosen their musculature from their bones too much or else cause sever damage due to severed muscles. Because of this, the user may only change their height by 6 inches in either direction. The user is able to make these changes at a speed equal to their [Speed].

[hobnob]

His cloud filled gaze was suddenly pulled away by an unknown voice; a man of golden blonde hair dressed in a samurai training outfit, consisting of a red hakama and a white kimono like top. 'Hm?' The youth let out after the man congratulated him, and finished off with a question. A good question it was, one that Noeru did not have a a good answer for, he simply did not feel like celebrating, or doing anything other than chilling. Noeru did not offer than man respect as he remained led down and simply gazed up at him without the slightest notion of interest. 'It's pointless...' The words left his quickly and his gaze suddenly returned to the cloudy sky above him. Noting what the individual was wearing, his mid too lazy to even consider the fact that this person could be a potential foe, and so he was leaving himself open to anything and not showing a single care in the world. Aimless, would be a word that well defined Noeru, and was not hesitant in showing it.

After a rather long pause, Noeru's attention shifted from the clouds and back to the man who had suddenly appeared in the field. '...how come you're here and not enjoying the town?' His tone was brisk and flat; showing his lack of emotional motivation to deal with the daily activities, and so resorted to this flat cloud gazing.

[Golnax]

"Pointless?" Aimi asked quietly.

He didn't expect an answer from the young ninja who immediately turned his face back towards the clouds leaving Aimi to ponder the statement in silence. It didn't take him long to look up at the clouds himself. The freed Kaguya was still getting used to the color of the sky being blue, so he felt it just as much of a use of his time to join this young shinobi in his cloud gazing. Stepping around the laying young man, Aimi would take a seat in the grass beside him and turn his head skyward to look up at the clouds himself. Cloud gazing, after all, was an effective form of meditation.

That is how Noreu would see him when he turned back to the disguised Aimi who took a moment or two of silent pondering before answering the question. He didn't think that the listless ninja would mind given his own pausing. "Oh, I didn't come here to enjoy the festivities. I'm here purely to keep an eye on the next generation of ninja. That and I'm not a people person, you could say." It was only half a lie, front-loaded with genuine truth. It was easier than trying to explain that he was wanted by most of the people at this event.

Turning his gaze away from the clouds he would look down at Noreu and ask a more direct question. "Why do you think it's pointless to be with people? What has you so dreary?"

[hobnob]

As the sound of feet brushing on the grass reach Noeru, his gaze shifted to the source. The man was beginning sat down on the grass beside him and join in the entertaining activity of cloud gazing. His words sparked Noeru's curiosity and questions rose in his mind, as his gaze returned to the sky above. There was time to ask questions, there was time to listen, and this was definitely to listen to this newcomer who has just stated that he is keeping an eye on the next generation of ninja. Not an activity that people announce to be doing on a daily basis, but a very interesting one.

Noeru let out small sigh following the mans question. He was slightly misunderstood, but it was his own fault for not making himself clear. He took a deep breath to supplement his words, his sleepy eyes still mesmerized by the sky above him as he began to speak; 'It's not the people, its the activity... I like celebrating, but to me all that will happen now is we are going to begin heading back to our villages... Back to the routine. Back to the same old boring village life that we shinobi lead. Best way to put it is... I'm more interested in exploring and doing new things on a daily basis... I hope that makes sense...' With that little speech concluded, he sat up and his gaze shifted to the golden haired man and awaited his response.

[Golnax]

"Ah yes, monotony. A unique challenge for every individual," Aimi replied with a nod. The soft tone of his voice conveyed that he understood completely what it was that Noreu was getting at and as he turned to look at the young ninja there was an aged wisdom in his blue eyes that his young looking face didn't let on. His eyes very much showed his true age and, if Noreu was clever enough, it would be easy to see just that.

Aimi took several seconds to say anything further. He spent the time figuring out just the words to say. "I hope you don't think me patronizing, but you should trust me when I say that the novelty of the new experience, of the adventure, does take it's toll. It may take years for you to feel it, but eventually you'll crave the regularity rather than the unexpected... of course, you're young. You'll get to that point eventually and there's no point in trying to tell you otherwise."

The golden Kaguya smiled, turning his gaze back up towards the sky. Shifting his weight he laid back on the grass and propped his hands behind his head. "Help me understand from your perspective. Tell me the specifics of your day to day life that you find so boring," he insisted.

[hobnob]

'Yea.. That's it, monotony. I hate it.' The youth said following the mans initial response, his eyes still fixed on the golden haired man watched as he turned his head and their gaze met. When looking into the mans eyes, Noeru felt something was off. Not sure what it was, only that his eyes seemed to not fit in with the rest of his body. His body was young and glowing, his eyes seemed tired of their age. Which he did not understand as this man appeared a few years older than himself. After a moment, Noeru turned his head back to the pond down the hill, committing those tired eyes to memory he would return and try to make more sense of this in the future.

As the golden haired, tired eyed man spoke, Noeru listened to what he had to say. Usually he did not have time for strangers preaching, but given the circumstances and the lack of will do do anything else, the boy decided to listen and absorb everything the man had to say. 'Regularity huh? I don't see any reason why... Doing makes people more adaptable. And adaptability is fun.' He said after the man took a short break between sentences, and followed by insisting on the day to day life.

'Well... it's pretty simple. Wake up, missions, training, home, repeat. There is not much to it. It's fun when the missions take a span of a couple of days, and make us go to other places.' The boy said before taking a short pause, and going slightly off topic; 'Where did you come from by the way?'

[Golnax]

Such naivety.

Aimi listened to Noretu give a brief explanation as to why he found village life so boring and... well yeah. It was typical genin stuff really. All of his complaints could really be boiled down to his rank at this point it would seem because Konohagakure of all villages was the least likely to send their genin out of the village to do anything more dangerous than a short escort mission. He simply didn't understand that, with a bit of time and higher rankings, more of what he wanted would come. There would be stents where he was gone from the village for weeks at a time if not longer, where he would have to fight and possibly kill for his very survival if not for the sake of a mission, he would come to know the feeling of longing for your own bed.

Of course, all that came eventually, and much like there was no point in trying to tell such a young man that they would grow tired of adventure with time, there was no point in him saying that if Noreu just waited, he'd get everything he wanted and more. Patience was so seldom a virtue of the young.

With the arrival of Noreu's question Aimi paused still further, wondering how he should answer that. There was many a cryptic answer he could give, plenty of ways to dodge the question entirely, but, well... a quiet voice inside was just barely making itself known. Some would call it insidious and, in truth, Aimi wasn't even fully aware of it's influence by the time he replied, but as of this moment going forward Aimi would have an agenda. An agenda that was growing in scope. Following his answer, this meeting was no longer one of casual curiosity of an elder picking the brain of a new generation, but instead more like... recruitment.

Turning his head, Aimi would smile at Noreu and look him dead in the eye as the words casually left his lips as casually as one might leave their local grocery store. Who could guess at the ambition laced in so humble a tone and so simple a truth? "Gold Country," Aimi replied. Given the vast scope of the Great War, the Daimyo was certain that even a genin like Noreu Senju would know of his country. At least a little.

[hobnob]

After a brief moment of silence, gazing , and waiting Noeru turned his gaze back to the man who was sat in a similar state, he seemed to be thinking about something, probably processing everything that Noeru had just said. And the boy waited, waited to hear what the man had to say in response to his troubles, he wondered whether he would get a response in terms of his troubles or whether then man would simply skim past them and answer his question. the youth was interested in both, but did not worry too much about the man preaching, after all he wanted to figure out life for himself, by making his own mistakes and fixing them.

With no headband anywhere upon his person, the youth was curious where this man, who claims to be keeping an eye on the next generation of ninja, has come from. With eyes that should be among the elderly, the mans body gleamed like a twenty year olds. For a moment the youth believed in his own thought that this man could be from this very country, where the elderly seem to be full of vigor despite their old age. Patiently he waited, after all there was nothing else that the youth could do, other than gaze at the man, sky, or pond.

The mans response came to Noeru as a bit of a shock. 'Gold country...?' The boy repeated with a short pause that followed. 'Is that not the country that was created during The Great War?' the youth questioned the man who was the first ever person he had known to be from that very country. A land that is fairly known to the world, but a newly established nation that came to be after fierce battles during the great war of nations. During his time at the acedemy, nearing his end there, they were taught a little about it. Mainly the geography, a little about its lands that now make up the country united under a Daimyo of a name that Noeru could not call forth from memory. Remembering all this, sparked even more curiosity into who this man is, he was too young to be a Daimyo, and so Noeru decided that he was a simple scout sent by the military to gather knowledge on the current state of affairs in the military world.

'Are you some sort of scout?' The youth questioned the man further as his suspicions grew, and he became a little more alert, readying his body if things turned sour.

[Golnax]

Aimi nodded in response to Noreu's question. He'd gotten it right, though his reaction told him he didn't quite know the whole story. That wasn't surprising, really. It was quite possibly that not even Konohagakure knew the whole story of the rise of Gold, so if the elders did not know, how was this genin to know? Simply knowing that his country was known to genin of a village once his enemy was enough for the golden Kaguya.

"Of a sort," he said in reply to the second question. "You shouldn't be surprised, really. What do you think events like these are for, anyways? I understand that this is the first time that the Great Five have come together to host a chunnin exam together, but this isn't the first time that they've hosted events together. Not so long ago there was that tournament in... you know, I don't recall what country it took place in. And before that there was an event in Fur Country... or... what used to be Fur Country... Funny, I don't know if it exists any more!"

Aimi let out a laugh then, a dry, short thing. He hadn't thought about the Fur Country gathering of villages in decades, and the contest where he first faced Kasai in an equally long amount of time! The memories were dredged up like soggy kelp from the depths of his memory. What tragedy it was that most of his memories were from a world with a red sky anymore...

He continued. "It's not for comradery or sport. They do these sorts of things from time to time to keep an eye on their enemies. Don't think that there aren't agents from each village in the crowd watching everything diligently, taking down names, noting capabilities, sizing up the competition so to speak. The real purpose of these events is to keep an eye on one another, so that no one village can knowingly exceed the grasp of the others, lest another Great War break out!"

"Is it so surprising, then, that Gold, a fledgling nation, would send someone to keep watch on such things as well?" he asked, turning to look at Noreu from his position laid down in the grass. It was a hard truth he just dropped, certainly not one that most genin or boys his age cared to think about. How would he react to such a revelation?

[hobnob]

The golden man struck a very good question. Noeru had never thought about why the military had ever found the need to host exams alongside other countries. It would be very unlikely that this though would ever cross his mind, not during his adolescent years anyway. When the man began talking about other tournaments that were held by the nations, Noeru began thinking back to the history books he had studied in the academy, but not a great lot of information had sprung forth, and so he decided to patiently listen to the man and see what he had to say, nodding occasionally in acknowledgement as proof that he was paying attention.

Neither did Noeru. Fur country was a place that did spring to mind, but he had never kept up with the the modern political map. He was not sure how exactly the borders have changed since The Great war, but he did know that it went through a big re-arrangement. The man continued with the point he was making, and the youth sat the for a moment, not knowing what to say or do. This was very eye opening. Never thinking about the decisions behind actions of villages, other people, sometimes not even his own. Usually he did things on a whim, and usually those things brought him into a better place, so he never found the need to thing about what exactly he was doing, or should be doing. A form of intuition that guided him through the decisions he was making without realizing he was doing so.

Eventually the youth nodded once more. What the man was saying was true, it was better for the villages to gather information on one another, and stop things from escalating before they get too far and another war breaks out. The Great war cost many lives, and he hoped he would never have participate in one himself - subconsciously he believed about dealing with threats silently, no big battles, just smart silent maneuvers.

'I've never thought about any of that... I never would have thought that this was the reason behind it... It kind of makes it all pointless... And you're right... I think since Gold is a new and a developing country... It will most likely be doing more reconnaissance than any other nation.' The response came amid a blank gaze that faced the pond. It was as if the boy was still processing what he had been told and his body was acting without any input from his conscious mind.

A moment later they boy blink a few times rapidly and his gaze - now back it sharp, normal self - shifted to the man. A feather of perspiration began to form on his forehead as he realized he was in the presence of someone who had most likely had killed people in the past for their information, and for a moment was not sure how he should behave. His hand pinching the grass beneath and pulling it out as a form of quick stress relief, as he made up his mind on what he should do. And simply decided to go along with it.

[Golnax]

"Relax," spoke Aimi, "You're in no danger from me. No need to be so tense!"

By his words and the sharp, poignant gaze of his blue eyes that had never left the young genin it was obvious that he could see the boy tense up which once again spoke to his experience in ready body language. It was up in the air whether Noreu would understand this or if he would just think that the man beside him at simply noticed him plucking grass, either way the thought brought a smile to his cloaked face.

"It's not pointless, though, you know. These events are some of the only opportunities you'll have to be close to your fellow man, experience new cultures, meet new people, see new jutsu, learn, grow, get promoted, all sorts of things really. It doesn't matter that people who are running the show have a secondary agenda, what matters is what you yourself as an individual can get out of such events! Try not to be so pessimistic, you're among your fellow man! That counts for something," he said, pushing himself up from his laying position and pulling his knees up so that he could relax his arms on them.

"On the subject of Gold, though, and what it needs... yes, reconnaissance is nice, but the standing military is quite large for the size of the country and it's borders are constantly being patrolled. There are some elements out and about, like me," he paused briefly, mentally correcting himself that he was the only scout for the time being, "who are gathering intel and bringing it back, but it's really nothing more sinister than what the Great Five are doing here. Gold is just keeping an eye on things like the rest of the world. Nothing more."

"What it needs is development! Architecture, infrastructure, trade routes! All sorts of economical advancements that I don't expect you to understand. To say that Gold is behind the rest of the world in terms of development would be a bit of an understatement. Don't tell your superiors, but we're pretty rapidly catching up!" He chuckled, knowing full well that the other villages likely knew to some degree the progress that he was making behind his borders. It wasn't really a secret he was imparting to Noreu.

[hobnob]

The Tension that kept the youths body at the ready quickly dissipated as the man addressed it directly. With a deep breath the youth let go of the grass clenched in his fist and looked back at the man. Although the tension had mostly dissipated, knowing how perceptive this man was kept him alert, however he knew full well that he would be able to do very little against this man if it came to a fight. And so, he listened attentively to the man, nodding in acknowledgement as he spoke.

'I am trying, its just so very draining, especially that it doesn't matter all that much at the end of the day. All I really want is... action I think.' He said when the man came to a natural break in his speech. The idea of doing all those things that the man mentioned sounded more fun in his head than actually doing them. And so he ended up spending his days doing absolutely nothing, things that he should not be doing, or training. Subconsciously he was separating himself from his fellow man, and it was very likely having an impact on him that he did not know of, but being a youth that he is, he did not know any better.

Noeru continued listening to the man, still offering the man a nod in acknowledgement every now and again to show that he was paying attention. He took note of what the man said and did but did not know how he should take the pause in the middle of his sentence. Something he would again revisit at a later day as he stored it away in his memory. As the man continued, Noeru's curiosity in the country grew. It was only new but it already seemed to be doing very well for itself. He already had a list of places he would like to travel to, and he just added Gold Country to it in his mind.

Once the man finished speaking, Noeru quickly responded; 'Gold Country sounds like a bit of a power house considering it's only been around for a few years. Building all those will take time, I think that's exactly where the Great Five struggled... How are you guys planning on catching up?' He was brisk, and even seemed a little excited. Thinking about another country building itself from the ground up, to match the Great Five was fascinated him and he eagerly waited for the man response.

[Golnax]

"Ah, well," Aimi began, clapping his hands together and looking out towards the pond for a moment. He shrugged his shoulders and as he began to speak again, the wind began to blow, sending ripples over the water and bending the grass around them. The sound of rustling leaves could be heard in the not-so-distance. "Not as long as you'd think. With the right people in the right places, nations could be built practically over night. The Daimyo of Gold has quite a few connections and is pretty resourceful. He'll get the job done in oh... less than a decade for certain. The more help they have, the sooner it'll happen."

Stroking of his own ego aside, Aimi would turn back to Noreu and smirk. Now was when he started to really lie. "'Course that's just an estimate of mine. I'm not privy to that sort of planning. I just go about and gather information is all. No big deal, I'll leave the construction of Gold to those higher on the totem pole than me, just like you'll leave the scouting of the other Great Four to your superiors, eh?" Some harmless fun, really. What was the point of going anywhere you wanted and effectively being any random individual if you couldn't play ignorant from time to time?

The truth of the matter was, though, Aimi couldn't tell the young Senju what he had planned. How could he? If anyone chunnin rank or higher got so much as an inkling that he was Aimi Kaguya, well, it wouldn't end well for anyone really. Noreu would probably get a visit from his local friendly neighborhood ANBU agents to be interrogated over every little thing that he had been told and Aimi, well, the golden Kaguya would have to beat a quick retreat which would be entirely counter intuitive to this little recon of his. Best to let state secrets lie.

[hobnob]

'Less than a decade!?' The youth echoed in surprise. A decade to build the infrasturcture of a country of any size was very ambitious and Noeru began to believe that other forms of construction, than simply by hand, be be required to achieve that goal. Following his little outburst right after the man said what he said, Noeru remained quiet and listened. Beginning to doubt what the man was saying about achieving that goal even sooner than ten years. But he was not the one to judge, after all he knew very little about building an infrastructure. After a brief moment of gazing onto the land before him, Noeru simply nodded in agreement to what the man just said. Scouting was not his forte, and so the village would not have him involved in such matters, although he was always interested in that line of work, and so was a little inspired by this very person, and chose to find out more about this man and his line of work.

'How did you end up being a scout?' The youth said with clear intrigue in his voice.

[Golnax]

A direct inquiry about his person, huh? Well, Aimi was going to have to think up a lie to tell the young Senju fairly quickly... although... stacking more lies on lies was somewhat tedious, and not something he was in the habit of any more. These days he was much more open and honest. The only reason he'd lied to Noreu in the first place was to protect himself which, so far, he seemed to be doing a pretty good job of. They were well into their little conversation by this point and the genin was only just now beginning to ask questions that dug into who he was in one way or another. So he could continue lying, or...

"Sounds like the perfect job for you, doesn't it?" he asked after a short pause, turning from the pond to look back at Noreu. "Going to new places, seeing new things, always on the job, always busy... a life of adventure and discovery, huh? Ah, but you're a Senju. You could do so much more than just be a scout..."

Here Aimi trailed off. He pondered the possibilities of what a Senju could do if they weren't restricted behind the walls of Konohagakure. Talking about building infrastructure, a Senju could make entire cities on their own in just a few days! They could populate land with forests and other woody greenery, create a constant supply of building materials for use and processing! If only they were free to leave, the good they could do for humanity...!

The good this boy could do for his cause.

Of course, the Daimyo in Disguise wouldn't dream of trying to spirit this boy away from his home. True he was bored, but taking him away from all he knew simply wasn't the way. For one it would cause an international incident, great or small! More importantly, though, it just wouldn't be the right way to go about it. No, they would have to come willingly or not at all. There was no other way...

"What if you had the opportunity?" Aimi inquired. It was his turn to ask Noreu some personal questions (even though he technically hadn't answered the boy's!) "If you could be in my shoes, a scout or rather an agent for Gold. As you are. What would you do?"

[hobnob]

With his question out in the air, Noeru eagerly waited for the man to give him an answer. And when he was met with a question rather than an answer, he was a little let down. Now however, he was even more curious than before. There must have been a reason why the man avoided his question, and he was eager to find out why that was. Knowing that his further questions would most likely be dealt with in the same or similar way, Noeru decided to just go with the flow, and instead gain information from this man gently, rather than head on.

'I won't lie... Being a scout sounds fascinating... But what do you mean I could do much more?' The youth said as his gaze scanned the landscape before them, as slight confusion set in. They spent all this time talking about scouts, and collecting information, and now this guy decided to throw in something that is even more interesting that being a scout? Noeru was confused, interested, and let down at the same time. A cocktail of feelings which he was too young to process correctly, at least when all showed simultaneously. And so he just sat there, awaiting a response which he hoped would arrive sooner rather than later. Before it did, the man said something else, something that was even more confusing and troublesome that what he said previously.

'Is this guy offering me to be a scout for Gold?' The youth questioned in his mind as his shifting gaze finally settled on one point in the grass, before finally shifting to the man to gauge him, and see whether he was saying what Noeru was thinking. 'Information gathering is important in this day an age... Let's see what happens...' His mind went on as he watched the scout before him. He took a deep breath and slowly let the air out as he formulated a sentence in his mind and a moment later said it out loud: 'I probably wouldn't say no...'

[Golnax]

Ah, it was a special sort of agony watching Noreu struggle with the emotions he was feeling. Poor thing. Aimi could vaguely remember being so young and having such conflicting notions in his brain. He remembered not having complete and utter absurdity in who he was and what he was doing with his life, aside from what he was told. But it simply wasn't possible to be direct with the boy. Not here. Not now. Not without suffering the wrath of every senior ninja and probably any samurai present. He had to keep playing this coy game for the time being.

At least he had the boy taking some of the bait he was leaving out. "You're a Senju, yeah?" Aimi asked rhetorically, shifting his body so that he was more on his side and supporting his weight with his elbow while looking at the young genin. "So you have a kekkei genkai, moukuton I believe, yeah? I saw you using it in some of your matches. You can control, create and manipulate woody plant life. Don't you realize what you could do with that - outside of combat? Forget restraining people, forget thorny barbs - think housing. Have you ever seen someone in need of proper shelter over their head? Someone homeless, destitute, desperate?" He paused, thinking back on the now faint memory of his parents. Of the Untouchable District in Kirigakure. He could scarcely recall their faces anymore...

"... A single Senju, given enough time, could make villages and cities single handedly. If the Senju felt like it, your clan could fight back some of the vast desert in the Land of Wind to provide better, more fertile land for their people to farm. It would be as easy as casting a jutsu to end any sort of hunger or the dangerous spreading of deserts, if only you were allowed. That's just a sample of what you're capable of. I'm sure there's so much more... I'm a bit jealous, truth be told. I can't do anything so spectacular."

Shifting his weight again, Aimi laid back fully on the grass once more and looked up at the sky. He let out a sigh and continued speaking briefly. "Gold Country doesn't have much in the way of forests. Easily worked with materials like wood are difficult to come by. Most people live in simple shacks made of grass or leather huts. The northern part of Gold is a desert, adjacent to Wind. That's how I know how useful your moukuton could be to the people there. Sure there's some stone that could be fashioned into infrastructure, but it's not easy. There's a reason that there's only a couple of major cities in the entire country that are made from stone; people don't have the tools or skills required to properly mine our a quarry and build stone housings and... well, I think you get the picture. You'd be useful to us, if only you could be loaned out..."

The Daimyo of Gold let out a sigh. So much to do, so much to figure out...

[hobnob]

Listening to the man agitated Noeru a little. The way he spoke, all these rhetorical questions bugged him. He felt that something was up, 'He seems to know an awful lot about me...' the youth thought as his gaze scouted the fields before him. With the man knowing so much, but the youth knowing so little, Noeru struggled to sympathize with all the homeless, destitute, and the desperate. If anything, Noeru was becoming more vigilant, more alert, especially with what the man said previously and was heading towards with his further speeches.

It was true, Noeru had seen members of his family create great constructs at a whim, but he was not up to that level yet, and it would be a while until he could create entire homes with simple waves of his hands. However, his adventurous side loved the idea of going to a land very few people know about and creating an entire infrastructure for it's people. The fire within him from which his motivation came slowly grew as the man spoke. Being there in the middle of a new country, helping it's people first hand was going to satisfy him a lot more than participating in mundane village missions for the rest of his life. There was also the thought in the back of his mind; with Gold Country so little explored, life there could only become more and more interesting as one task was completed another would arise.

His hand moved to his back of his head, and ran through them with some vigor as he thought about what he should do. The thought of heading back to the village, returning to his everyday filled him with dread. But the thought of leaving here and now with this man worried him, this could all be a trap; 'This guy could just harvest my genes for all I know...' The youth thought as the worries grew the more he thought about the potential outcome. His breathing intensified and his eyes clenched shut... He sat there pondering on what he should do, as he knew what the man was really asking him to do; to leave his village.

Noeru swallowed the little bit of saliva that filled his mouth, leaving it as dry as a desert. The nerves and fears drain him of his usual vigor and he did not know what to do. Gently, he brought his breathing back to normal and opened his eyes, he knew that he could not keep the man waiting too long and so he looked over at him, now a little relaxed, and with a gentle voice he said: 'I'm going to need some time to think about this... Give me six months... And then let's meet again.'

[Golnax]

Aimi Kaguya smiled.

"Alright, six months," he said casually in response, pushing himself up from off of the ground and standing tall over Noreu. It seemed to him that this little encounter had paid over more than he could have ever hoped for. He'd come into this conversation wanting to interact with a decades younger ninja from Konoha, to impart some wisdom and get some perspective as it were. He was leaving it now with the possibility of meeting up with this boy a mere six months down the road. What was six months compared to a century? The time would fly by with all that he had to do! With any luck, this boy, this Senju, would be the first he sways over to his cause...

"There's a small village in Fire Country called Tengaryu. It's tiny and out of the way, unlikely to have any ninja present. Meet me there in six months time, and we can talk again," said the Daimyo of Gold, turning away from Noreu and striding back towards the rest of the festivities. He lifted a hand and casually waved as he walked away. "Take care, Noreu Senju! I'll see you later!" he called and then he was away, putting more and more distance between them and eventually melting into the crowd around the Chunnin exams.

How fortuitous this expedition had become indeed!

[hobnob]

Noeru offered the man a wave as he disappeared into the distance. The strange feeling of uneasiness pulsated throughout his body with each heartbeat. He knew the price he would have to pay if he chose to go with this man. He knew what the ultimate price may have to be if the village had eventually found out where he was. This endeavor that may appear simple and easy on the outside would be a hard one, and Noeru had a lot to do before he was ready to do, what so very few of his clan did, but the ones who did, or rather the one he knows of, have achieved great feats.

Noeru stood up, looking in the direction of the man who was now gone from view. With a few gentle steps along the grassy field, Noeru headed bad to the town where he would begin planning how he would accomplish what he wanted, without being hunted for the rest of his life.