Pebbles & Diamonds

[Versesai]

Jinseie's daily routine was simply enough to understand. Get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, train. That was usually how he found himself in places, walking until he found a good training spot and then, well, training. His iijutsu was coming along nicely and so was various other things, and to make things even better he had just come back from one of his first missions and used the money to purchase a few things...Most important of which was the new weapon strapped to his back.

He stepped into the park that morning not really expecting to see anyone there. It was a desolate place with a view of the main Iwagakure town center and several areas like the Tsuchikage's building and the tips of the mountain across from it. It even had a small water fountain. These parks always perplexed Jinseie when he visited...Their only purpose was to increase the visual and aesthetic appeal of a place that's only purpose was to be ignored. Shinobi usually didn't spend a lot of time admiring the natural world.

A brown kimono-coat hung off his shoulders, green edging making a contrast of sorts to how he looked. Black body-suit underneath that clung tightly, fading into a cloth belt wrapped around the top of a waist to thigh length brown cloth. More body suit and sandals, his basic form was something like a ronin. Save the forehead protector sewn into his kimono's shoulder, obviously. Long orange hair on a soft face, the strands and locks completely unkempt. He had the basics of a ponytail in the back but even that was little help to keep it out of his face. And he of course had weapons to train. Pouch on his right hip, wakizashi and sheath under his belt, as well as what looked like a ridiculously oversized pipe hanging off the back of his waist, horizontally. The most prominent feature of it was the length, over four foot, and it's head. It was shaped rudimentarily like a hammer, but there was a spike opposite the hitting head and the 'head' of the hammer was shaped like a pipe bowl, held up by various carved tengu. All metal.

He wasn't particularly paying attention this fine morning actually, he seemed to be more interested in just getting here and getting things over with. He had Eikei on the brain, again...The chuunin medic-nin was getting to him. He hadn't seen her since she'd given him the scroll and now he was thinking about her. Sometimes his mind didn't make sense at all...

[Punslinger]

From a spot up top a sight rise in the park under a largish tree, Oushi watched with hooded eyes as a lone genin walked into the park.

Wonder what he's up for this early. Doesn't look like he cares about the sunrise. Shame.

The big man sighed quietly as his eyes scanned the horizon. The sun was just cresting the giant wall in the distance, and the pink sky was steadily growing brighter.

Oushi himself was an almost indistinguishable part of a pile of bodies that lay around him. He was laying back against Patsu's side as the goat dozed, his head rising and falling as his old friend snored gently. The bannin's feet were propped up atop Shuu, using the wolverine's broad frame as a footstool, and by his side, Habi was curled into a shiny sphere. Up in the tree behind him, Fubuki had his giant head tucked under one wing, perched just above the spot where Oushi had laid his massive hammer.

[Versesai]

It really was a beautiful morning and before he'd gotten so swept up in his training, he would have taken the time to admire it more carefully. Instead the Genin moved over to one of the benches in the park and took his weapon's pouch off his side, setting it on that bench instead and moving to open it before a soft sound caught his attention, like a cough. Sounds of movement, a snore, various things that told Jinseie he was no longer alone at least. He wasn't the jumpy type thankfully, he just looked up casually and began examining the park, looking for whatever was there...And finding a pile of animals. Literally. He stared with one eye tilted upwards as he tried to figure out exactly what each one was. There was a goat. Some kind of bird...A big furry creature...A shiny...ball...thing...A guy...A big hammer- Wait, a guy? His eyes went back to being relaxed as eh saw a person amongst all the animals, not wanting to stare too badly.

Now there was a dilemma of sorts. If he trained now, he'd be training in front of someone, which is what he usually avoided doing...So he sighed softly and tilted his head, looking up into the sky a little. It was still early, maybe he'd take a bit of a break? Or...He could go to another park? Either way, he was delaying his training a while...Sighing, he leaned against the park bench a bit and tried to shake the odd feeling of intruding out of his chest, but at the same time it -was- a park...Oh well. He'd wait. Sitting up and pulling himself onto the bench, he reached around to the weapon's pouch and opened it, pulling out the collapsible pipe he had. He thought about lighting it, but...Well, Eikei. He sighed as he pulled it apart and stuck it unlit between his lips, holding it there as he watched the sky for a bit.

[Punslinger]

Oushi's head cocked slightly as he watched himself being watched. From this distance, the kid probably couldn't tell he was awake, and had opted to sit on one of the benches below. A lazy smirk crossed the big man's face as he realized what had happened. The kid didn't want to wake him up with his training, and was going to wait until he woke up and left to begin.

Not one to intrude, Oushi formed a halfhearted series of handseals, and popped up cross-legged on the ground next to the bench, hopefully not fast enough to scare the kid.

"You know, I can find someplace else to nap if you don't want anyone around while you train."

Meanwhile, his sudden absence had caused Shuu's head to pop up, and the massive animal began lumbering toward him, assuming that because Oushi was awake, it was now time to play.

SpoilerShow

Iwagakure Shunshin no Jutsu

Hidden Content

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C-Rank Ninjutsu
An ability developed by the Hidden Rock Village. By using this technique the user disappears beneath the surface of the ground and appears somewhere else. The user has to have been to the area before, and be able to sense the location with his own chakra before being able to transport him there. This means that the distance is limited to about one mile.

[Versesai]

Jinseie wasn't easy to startle in any form or fashion. He was quite a calm kid. So it was a testament to the suddenness of the technique that Oushi's popping up sent the boy jumping a little, head whipping around so fast his pipe nearly flew from his mouth and into orbit. His eyes opened wide for a second as he processed the appearance of someone so suddenly next to him and before a moment he sighed out, relief flooding him at the man's words. It could have been about fifteen other things, but he was glad it was a friendly face...The large creature's lumbering also caught his attention and he turned his head to it, shaking his head now.

"It's alright. I was more worried about training in public anyway...It's never good to show too many people your secrets, I guess?" he said, chuckling a bit as he moved back to his position on the bench, sighing. "I've been training so hard lately anyway, I don't think it'd kill me to relax a bit I guess."

[Punslinger]

"Alright. A genin after my own heart." Oushi stretched luxuriously, just before he was bowled over by Shuu, who promptly perched atop his master's chest looking quite pleased with himself. For a moment he looked like he was planning to give Jinseie the same treatment when he was hoisted off the ground, flipped over Oushi's head and dropped unceremoniously.

"Ignore him, he's deranged." Oushi chuckled, leaning his back against the bench and pulling out his flask, offering it to the genin. "You drink?"

[Versesai]

The genin smirked a bit as the man spoke of him being after his own heart, nodding gently at the implication of that and saying "Well perhaps, but that might not be such a good thing. I don't know your heart." softly, as if probing the man's reaction a bit until the wolverine barreled over his own master, giving Jinseie a bit of a start...The creature was almost adorably huge and when it looked over at the Genin, the young man almost stood up and attempted to run away.

Thankfully the older man was better at wrestling the creature off him then he looked and before long, he had returned to his seat. Jinseie sat back down, again, and when offered a drink he nodded and reached out, taking the flask and taking a small sip before returning it. He wasn't a heavy drinker by any imaginative leap, but he'd had a few drinks in his somewhat short life. His father had given him his first when he'd become a Genin, saying that his lifespan had officially been cut in half anyway. Oddly comforting words, really.

"That's good...Bit of a nice burn. My name's Jinseie Zoukane." the young man said, reaching out to the man again and offering his hand to shake it.

[Punslinger]

"Sekitan, Oushi" the bannin said, taking his flask back with one hand and reaching his other across his barrel chest to shake the genin's.

By this time Shuu had recovered his dignity, only to lose it again as he flopped over on his back at Oushi's feet. Obligingly, Oushi propped his legs up on the animal's stomach and leaned back against the bench, averting his eyes as the morning sun blazed up over the wall. As he did, he saw the hammer sticking out from behind the genin's back. With a touch of nostalgia, he pointed.

"That's quite the potato masher you've got there. Where'd you pick it up?"

Now that the sun was up, Patsu rose, shaking himself and looking over to where Oushi was. At roughly the same time, Fubuki pulled his head out from under his wings and flapped lazily over toward the tree behind the bench. Behind him, Patsu nudged Habi. Awake but unwilling to move, the pangolin began rolling downhill with the old goat following behind him.

[Versesai]

The man had a nice grip, Jinseie noted. In fact, all the things he had seen and heard from the man so far was that he was something to be respected, which came out in how he responded and reacted. "Pleasure to meet you, Sekitan sir." and pulled his hand back a bit. Once that was done, he glanced over to the creature that so willingly, well, collapsed in front of the other man and made himself seem so passive, when just earlier he'd tackled the man...Jinseie shook his head a moment and decided not to press the issue any further. He just leaned back a bit, until the man spoke about his hammer. He glanced to Oushi and reached around behind his back, pulling forth Goukai Ekikan and turning it upside down in his hand, showing it in all it's glory really.

"I had it made after my last mission. An old man reminded me that ninja need all kinds of tools, for all kinds of situations." he commented, grinning a bit as he spun the hammer in his fingertips a little. "The design was my own idea. I didn't have much else to model it after, and a plain hammer wouldn't be quite what I needed." he said, setting it down on the bench. As if to add to his 'shinobi need all kinds of tools' idea, he reached down to the waist of his outfit and after a quick flick of the string around it, he pulled forth the wakizashi and he set it next to the hammer.

"Though I have to say...You've got quite a collection of friends here." the young man said, glancing behind Oushi to the trio of animals coming down after him. The giant wolverine at his feet, the bird in the tree, the goat now trailing down after him and..Well, it looked big, armored and imposing, but he had no idea particularly what it was just yet. "Interesting lot though"

[Punslinger]

As Jinseie was talking, Patsu flopped down on the ground next to Oushi, wholesale ignoring the genin on the bench, while Habi rolled anxiously back and forth, unsure of where exactly his spot was.

"Yeah, I guess it's not something you see every day, is it?" Oushi chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "Here, lemme introduce you around."

Patting the ground on his other side, Oushi smiled warmly as the armored ball rolled around the end of the bench Jinseie was sitting on and up into his lap, unrolling before climbing up on his shoulder to nuzzle his ear in an attempt to get himself a treat, which was successful.

"This here's Habikuro. Pet merchant in the market district gave him to me as a gift for saving him from some thugs." he put a big hand under Habi's belly and sat the animal in his lap where he scratched the back of his head. He laid his other arm atop Patsu's high backbone, scratching between the big goat's shoulder blades, causing it to sigh luxuriously.

"This is my brother Patsu. He's been around since before I was even born. Stubborn as hell, but I'd take him over any shinobi in Iwa in a pinch." Oushi shifted his weight against the bench before continuing.

"You've already met Shuu, and..." he leaned backwards until he was looking back at Fubuki, albeit upside down. "Fubuki up there could easily be older than the old man Tsuchikage for all we know. He's not even sure himself, are you buddy?"

The bird ruffled his feathers in answer, but didn't seem to be interested in putting on any kind of show for the new acquaintance. Returning to an upright position of sorts, the bannin looked over at the genin next to him. The kid was pretty well built for someone his age, although not quite the gangly, all-feet-and-hands build that had haunted Oushi as a teen.

"What about you, Jin-san? You got a team yet?"

[Versesai]

The introductions were interesting. Despite the fact that he well knew any one of the animals could and probably would kick his ass. They just had that air about them that it would be stupid to underestimate a single one of them, plus this man he was talking to gave him the impression of age, which more or less meant 'Strength' in the Shinobi world. Age was more or less directly tied to your abilities as a ninja. Weak ones didn't live long. Otherwise, your age was only limited by your will to survive. The animals gave the same impression, especially the bird that the man introduced and Jinseie glanced over to. He briefly collected their names in his mind and he actually looked over to the giant Pangolin a second, reaching over to pat it's head softly. He wasn't afraid of them, they seemed docile as long as he didn't make any false movements.

The man then asked about his companions and he mulled over the idea a moment, grinning a bit as he shrugged his shoulders. "Well...Not really and yes." he said, shrugging a little as he motioned to his bag. "Officially, I'm just a solo Genin. But I do have a teacher. She's been helping me learn Iijutsu a little bit, which is what I've been practicing. I don't really like to broadcast it, it's not like I'm good enough to exactly save lives yet." he said, shaking his head. "Mostly I use it to recover from training." he added.

The animals around had stopped phasing him a while ago, though he did glance back to check on Shuu and Fubuki once in a while. He wasn't begrudging missing his training, it was nice to be able to talk to someone about something like this without putting up with Eikei's...Peculiarities.

[Punslinger]

Oushi watched as Habi leaned into Jinseie's hand, trying to get the boy to pet harder. He chuckled. Most genin that had been around his pets (as well as some of their higher ranked counterparts) were cautious around his entourage, worried that they might not be as well trained as Oushi thought.

"Iijutsu, huh?" Oushi gave the genin a sidelong glance. "I wouldn't peg you for the type. Don't get me wrong, I would have killed for a good iijutsu while my grandpa was training me as a genin."

For a second, he looked over at the sun, which was now blazing into the sky. His eyes narrowed, thinking about his genin team. Jakun was missing for the last five years, presumed dead, and Ita was somewhere in Rock Country, the leader of a group of slavers working for the village. The two had almost killed each other six years before. And Yasui...well, the less said about his dead jounin sensei, the better. For a second, his eyes glazed over, remembering. Habi's shifting weight as the pangolin leapt up onto the bench to be closer to Jinseie brought him back.

"I'll probably sound like one of the old men around here if I tell you this, but when you do get a team, watch their back for them. If you don't, you won't have a team for long."

[Versesai]

The boy picked up the pace on the petting, now patting the pangolin with his spare hand and keeping him docile, though he was almost sure one of the other animals were going to look at him and huff about not getting petted at all. He liked animals, but at the same time he wasn't quite the pet keeping type. Maybe if he found something that suited his style, or perhaps if he stumbled onto a particularly effective animal, he'd try his lick. The comment about him not being the Iijutsu type however made him glance over and he laughed softly, grinning at the accuracy of that statement. He -wasn't- the typical Iijutsu user, he honestly preferred using his hammer or his Doton techniques, even his slowly developing uses of Smoke was more suitable for his style the Iijutsu. Typically.

But at the same time, he didn't think the man would respond well to the idea of the young genin learning it to prove he could, to impress a woman who insisted on teaching him. That...Probably didn't work well in the mind of an elder Shinobi. "Ah...Depends on when I need it. I learned it because someone was willing to teach me, honestly. If not, I wouldn't know it. But if I can use it to keep myself alive longer or to keep someone else from dying, then it's worth it." he said, almost making a 'Ack' sound as Habi leapt up onto the bench, giving the boy more room to pet at the large creature but also jostling Oushi out of something, something important it seemed.

Then he spoke, and the boy realized just precisely how old the man was. He talked from experience, not some wish to push his knowledge on a Genin. To respond, Jinseie nodded as he patted the pangolin on the side again, smiling. "I know. I will. I'm hoping I'll have a team soon, actually. I've been doing missions and I'm rather hoping once I clear a few more they'll let me take the Chuunin Exams and assign me a team." he said now.

Then he blinked. And he looked down, glancing towards the spot Habi had sat and then poking the Pangolin on the side, reaching down to pull his weapon's pouch out from under the poor creature, though he was grinning even as he 'reprimanded' it, then it put the pouch under the bench and moved back to petting Habi's back.

[Punslinger]

"Well, best of luck with that. Here's to lifelong friendships, eh?" Oushi held up the flask, taking a swig and offering it back to the genin. Meanwhile, Habi was doing his best impression of a lapdog, and kept inching closer and closer to Jinseie. Seeing this, Oushi chuckled.

"You gotta be firm with him. He's probably stronger than you, but he doesn't know that. Don't be afraid to be a little rough." the flask hung in the air for a second as the bannin let go of it, reached over to grab the pangolin by the tail, pulled him back to a comfortable distance from the genin, and caught it before it fell, still held out to Jinseie. Laid back or not, Oushi was one of the village's taijutsu masters; even the mundane solutions to his problems were completely impossible for others.

Oushi put his free hand to the opposite side of his jaw, an unconscious gesture he used when ruminating on something.

"You know, I never really though of missions as a way to advance. They were just excuses to help out around the village. Not that being career minded is a bad thing, it's just...interesting to see it like someone else for a change. Little things like that can teach you a lot about people."

[Versesai]

"Ah...Agreed. To friends." the man said now, though he did his best to shift to accommodate the Pangolin now. The thing was getting awfully close for comfort...

He was doing his best to not be crushed under it but it was a strong thing and getting it this close was starting to worry Jinseie for the simple fact that any more weight and he'd lose his legs to the thing. But, soon Oushi solved that problem for him...In an oddly effective way. He had first re-offered him the drink and Jinseie was tempted to take it but was wary of the thing rapidly climbing onto him...And then the pangolin was roughly pulled away with what could only be a dust cloud forming and then Oushi's hand and drink returned, offered. Jinseie blinked and chuckled as he reached out for it, saying "Ah, well...I'll remember. It's just a little hard to be rough on him. On one hand, he's bigger than me, and on the other hand he's oddly obliviously cute." now as he took the flask, taking a sip of it.

Then of course Oushi commented and Jinseie laughed a little softly, pulling his legs up onto the bench. "Oh no...I'm not that heartless that I don't want to help. It's just...I've been a Genin for half my life. I'm nearly seventeen years old and I'm still a Genin. Until a month ago, I probably wouldn't have cared either. I was kind of...Lazy, I guess." he explained, taking a final sip and then handing the flask back to Oushi. "Just comes a point where you wake up and realize you can't protect anybody if you can't better yourself. In a weird way, me advancing would prove to me that I haven't been wasting my life."

[Punslinger]

Oushi took back the flask, draining the last of its contents and looking mournfully at the upturned container before addressing Jinseie with a wry grin.

"You have no idea how well I understand that. It's perfectly normal to want a purpose, and it's normal for a ninja to want to get stronger. You're just looking for a nindo."

He paused, scratching Patsu's back.

"I wouldn't be where I am today without people to protect. Then again, I wouldn't be where I am today if I'd protected the people I wanted to either. S'just how things end up. But no more. If I can't protect people by now, I'm not fit for the title the old man Tsuchikage gave me."

He paused again, returning the flask to his vest and standing with a groan.

"Hm. If you're really looking to get stronger, I'll tell you what. Anytime you feel like training and your sensei's not around, stop by The Wall and I'll see what I can do. The old man says I'm almost at an age where I can start taking students now, suppose it'd be useful if I had one that could patch himself up after I run him ragged. What do you say?"

[Versesai]

A nindo, huh? That make Jinseie smile a bit. His nindo to this point had been 'stay alive and make a life for yourself'. It was rapidly becoming something else, something different to what he had seen for himself. Get stronger and become someone worthwhile, someone he could respect personally. As Oushi spoke, the genin just grinned a bit and pulled his arms up, stretching them a bit. "I like that idea. A Nindo." he declared, looking over at Oushi as the man reflected somewhat, speaking about those he wanted to protect and had protected...It was an odd lot of pain for him too, though Jinseie nodded to him.

And then he stood, Jinseie looking up and shifting his legs as he listened to the man's offer and a nod came to his head, saying "Absolutely. I'll make sure to visit you at some point, but it will have to be after the Chuunin Exams." softly now as he too stood up, using the bench as a means to pull himself up. "I'm leaving for a spot I found outside the village for training. I want to be at my peak before I take the exams."