[Training] Oblivion Awaits

[Sia]

Deep in Iron Country, Ikanbi had been meditating for some time out in the forest. She was attempting to convene with the ambient sage chakra that permeated the area and to be one with the nature. It was, as it were, not an easy task for her in that it was raining horrendously. Yet still she persisted through the grueling chore and found herself eventually ignoring the feeling of the rain against her skin. She could only get but so wet after all, at what point did the rain stop affecting her? It must have been hours. Meditation was no stranger to Ikanbi in her old age of course, but, she was somewhere new and exciting, different. The chakra here was very much alive and vibrant in the forest, it was different than doing it in Wind Country.

Into the night Ikanbi had meditated slowly floating upwards from the water as the river flooded from the heavy downpour. She did so naturally and without meaning to, a passive response to the world around her. She began feeling out with her sensory chakra, permeating the wetness of the forest with her chakra and intermingling it with the sage saturation, and saturated it was. It was wild here, in abundance even in the raindrops themselves that fell from the dark sky above. The trees, the woodland critters, the insects, the snakes and the birds.

It wasn't quiet here, but it was peaceful none the less in the rain. After a while Ikanbi opened her eyes and stared upwards to the heavens before taking in her surroundings. It had rained for quite a while and the river had started flooding long ago though she'd really paid it no mind.



286/600 WP training

[Ace Trainer]

In the rain, the locusts native to the forests of Iron Country were quiet. They were inactive, resting as the downpour covered the landscape, though eventually it would let up and the swarm would come alive to dig through the dirt for free roots and to lay eggs and general behave as insects did. But despite the rain their chirping and calling would gradually increase around Ikanbi, not quite loud enuogh to drown out the sound of the rain but loud enough to join into it's medley. It was an interesting sound, one rare to be heard naturally and that meant indicative that something unnatural was occurring around her. Though, perhaps that wouldn't be concerning or even a rare occurrence for the unusual shionbi.

Mistaki, Shio, was another who was for too used to unusual occurrences. The title of Taishou was slowly taking a toll on his psyche. It was eroding away friendships and bonds that he held close to himself, and tested his own morality and belief systems. Every day felt like a challenge between polarizing desires: his own roots and to the roots of the people he was now beholden to. And there was no shortage of opportunities to be reminded of this dichotomy. The journey between Kemurigakure and Sanrou did not have to be a long one (especially for Shio) but when he chose for it to be it could and today had become one such day. He needed time to think, not that he was clear on what specifically it was he needed to think on. Perhaps it was better to say he needed time to not think. To escape from his title and responsibilities and instead be able to simply be himself. A twenty year old forced to grow up all on his own, reconciling a millennia of knowledge within his mind.

The locusts came to life around him. His chakra awakened and excited them, even in the rain. So as Shio walked, they sang. As the rain poured over him, they chirped to the beat of his steps. And as he approached Ikanbi, she would be forewarned of his approach by the gradual crescendo of their chirping until he laid his eyes on her. And with a quick and sudden motion of his hand...they would stop.

"Fancy that.", is all he would say.

[Sia]

The old lady took in the sounds of the tranquil forest. The rain beat against her pale flesh and she faded away from the world. At one point during the meditation she began to feel sorrow though she wasn't entirely certain as to why. She searched deeper and looked within herself and felt the voices of others crying out for help. There was so many things wrong with the world and Ikanbi was but one woman, a singular soul on a path of damnation, ruination, and righteousness. There was no redemption, there was no tragic horribleness to be redeemed from. There was no great burden of hers that needed lifted.

Was there?

No...She was wrong. There was a burden, a great weight on Ikanbi's shoulders. A life as a hunter had taken its toll over time. She was lonely. Isolated. Unloved. Unwanted. No one had wanted Ikanbi for a long time, it had never really felt as though she had belonged anywhere. Even her little farmland in wind country and the village there she had helped to establish for the other outcasts was not quite fitting for her. No, to Ikanbi the world had always been a strange and forbidden place for her. She wasn't accepted by Sunagakure even though they demanded work from her the way that they did. What then was the point of it all? What was the purpose?

Ikanbi hadn't even noticed the chittering and chattering of the locusts at first. She did pick up on it eventually though as the sound finally cut through the dull rain but she continued to meditate, paying it really no mind. She finally opened her eyes when she heard Shio's voice and her expression changed curled upwards into a smile and her voice grew slightly higher pitched with excitement.

"Well hi!" She had said as she uncrossed her legs slowly and floated just above the running water, her toes barely above the surface. "I hadn't really been expecting anyone, certainly not the Taishou. How have you been old friend?"



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