[PB] Allies Low and High - How Nice To Meat You

[Zangy]

A strange string of events lead to this point, with uneasy alliances and many new events to spring Kazouchi into an almost need to improve himself. Granted, being a missing ninja required that on an almost daily basis, as hunter nin would never stop coming after him.

Then again, that was the choice that he made, trading freedom from a village for freedom outside of that same village. Kazouchi had made his way trying to distance himself from the chaos that had ensued in Whirlpool Country proper. It was a nice change of pace, at least, to just work on his own puppets and himself, rather than having to worry about whatever a supposedly great village as Konohagakure no Sato would be doing in a pitiful place such as Whirlpool.

Whatever the case, this was a time to wander and become one with his art. Setting up a camp, he unpacked the little gear that he had and took out Kyuuki, working on fixing up the slight tarnishes that his puppet had received. After all, if a ninja attacked him, he wouldn't want any of his puppets to have faults of any kind. Then again, that would put him in a bit of a better predicament, as they might undervalue his own works.

Making sure to have the puppet connected to his chakra strings while working on it, he continued to improve it, just in case someone had decided to sneak up on him.

[Gara]

Kuma never knew the names of the places that he visited, it was one of the issues of not speaking. It was not that he couldn't speak, he could, just not very well. No, his problem was that he never decided where he went. Kuma lived his life just as he had within the forests of Fur Country, he followed the food. This had landed him in the country known as Whirlpool, though he would not have been able to tell anyone that. Kuma had been there for weeks, living in the outer most reaches of the country, away from most everyone else.

It was the fact that he had chosen to stay so far away from the other people that caused him to be suspicious when he noticed a man setting up camp near his favorite tree. Kuma was not sure who the man was, or what it was that the man had in his possession. It was curiosity that drew him closer to the man, though he did so by traveling through the branches of the trees around the man.

[Zangy]

A visitor?

He wasn't one to pry too much into his surroundings, unless it was actually related to him, but Kazouchi was definitely not one to be taken by surprise. While his skills at this point in time were not even close to gather too much information, they were adequate enough to tell that he was being visited by someone other than an animal. Well, if it was an animal, it was a rather large, human-like one. And only one, at that.

If this was a hunter ninja from Suna, or, hell, even Konoha, then they would not send someone this careless after him. They definitely weren't that stupid. That lead him to believe that whoever this was either had massive balls or wasn't aiming for a fight.

With how much had happened today already, he partially hoped that it wasn't the former.

Not quite aiming at anyone in particular, just in case it would scare whoever it was, he asked, "And who might I have the pleasure of keeping me company tonight?" His voice was rather soft, knowing that anything of volume would be taken as an aggressive measure, which was definitely not the goal here. Well, unless the other person was up to a fight, that was.

SpoilerShow

[Jiatu • Gather Information]
D-Ranked Taijutsu Discipline
The user will stop moving and take a deep breath, focusing on all the sounds they hear. So long as they are not moving, the user will be able to pick-up on the footsteps of anyone moving within 20 feet of them, unless they are using a specialized technique to mask the sound of their movement. Areas with loud noises or crowds of people will throw off the success of this technique.

[Jiatu • Listening]
C-Ranked Taijutsu Discipline
Any time the user is moving, they have trained themselves to be attuned to the sound of people moving. This passive technique allows the user to differentiate the sounds of multiple people to determine how many people are in a given area even if he can’t see them. Loud noises, or large quantities of people will throw off the success of this technique. This has a normal range for his hearing abilities.

[Gara]

When the man spoke Kuma froze, ready to bolt into the forest at the first sign of danger. He was not afraid of any man, but knew a weapon when he saw one, even if he had no clue as to what it did. When the man did not move, or even turn to look in his direction, Kuma dropped from the tree that he was in, and slowly circled the man's camp, until the looked eye to eye. He, as he had been told by the hunters who had found him, often scared people when they saw him, because of his wild appearance and nature. He had learned, however, that that was not the case with the people that the hunters had called ninja. Few ninja had been afraid of Kuma, though they had all been young like he was, inexperienced in the way of the world.

The older ones, the stronger ones, had treated him like a pest to be exterminated. This was the reason for his caution with the man in front of him, and why he kept himself ready to run back into the trees should he need to. Kuma smelled the air, and watched for any other people that might join the man in his camp. When Kuma was sure that it was only the one man in the camp, he approached, though he kept ten feet between them.

[Zangy]

The lonely boy stepped in front of him, after apparently sizing him up. While carrion feeds were rather common in Wind Country, waiting to pick up whatever scraps they could from those that couldn't stand the harshness of the desert. This kid's actions mimicked them to an almost animalistic degree. Upon revealing himself, he maintained eye contact, as a way, it seemed, of scaring the older man. While partially cute, and revealing of a lot of the male's character, Kazouchi wasn't truly affected by it.

Calming his own voice, he reassured the boy, "At ease. I'm not here to harm you, as long as you aren't here to harm me." While not perfected, Kazouchi's own voice was always a rather soothing bass, which helped soothe more people than not. Granted, it didn't work on everyone, but for how animalistic this kid seemed to be, it might help.

Taking a quick judge of the boy's build, it was fairly obvious that he wasn't a ninja at all, nor trained in the arts. His strength, to the contrary, was, however. Muscles were built up underneath the lithe arms and legs, marking this kid as someone who had truly been out on their own for quite a while. The story this kid must have had would be one that be quite one to tell.

"I'm alone here, if that's what you are searching for. You don't look like you are from around here, yet, you don't look like you are from Konoha, either. Would you mind telling me? I'm not busy doing anything else."

The Kouseki continued to work on his puppet, setting a more at ease situation, and calming whatever stress might be coming from his area, almost inviting the boy to sit down and watch. Whether he wanted to or not, however, was up to him.

[Gara]

Kuma watched the man as he worked on the item in front of him, remaining completely silent, other than the sound of his breathing. When the man had spoken to him the second time Kuma’s body noticeably relaxed, the tension draining from him almost completely. Though he had relaxed, Kuma’s posture had never changed from that of an animal ready to flee it’s attacker. While he watched the man work, Kuma had decided to crouch down, putting his knees in the soft grass. The feel of the grass on his knees, and palms, had allowed his body to relax even further, as a feeling of comfort had washed over him.

Kuma had learned much during his time with the hunters that had found him, including how people expected one to act during periods of socialization. That was why he had pointed to the forest when the man had asked where he came from, so that he would not be rude. Kuma did not care very much about being social, or about what people thought about him, but he did understand that some people got angry, and violent, when they believed that he was being rude to them. He did not want to cause the man to attack him.

While he watched the man, Kuma's curiosity had gotten the best of him, so he had decided to speak to the man. After clapping his hands together in order to shake the dirt off of them, he signed to the man, hoping he would understand. ”What do you have?” Though he had only just learned how to speak using sign language a year prior to the day, he was fairly well versed in it.

[Zangy]

Words, even if they were an unknown, were always a calming method, especially in animals. Tonal changes were much more important than what was actually being said, as any hint of aggression would easily scare the most tame beast away. It appeared as if this boy was much more comfortable as he started to sign at Kazouchi, but the meaning was completely lost on the missing ninja.

Granted, that did not mean that all hints of communication was lost, as it did seem that the smaller male understood his question about where he was from, even if the answer was nowhere close to exact by any means.

"I'm afraid that don't understand that form of speech," he replied, calmly. While it wasn't meant to be offensive at all, there was still something of a basic communication gap between the two, even if that base communication wasn't entirely needed.

"I know you can understand me, at least. If you don't want to talk, you don't have to."

Though, it did bring up that maybe Kazouchi should learn that language, as it would make hand seals that much more second nature, as if it wasn't already. Then again, he was already fairly good at that. Maybe this kid could teach him. That'd at least pass the time without any form of combat, at least.

[Gara]

The man's words frustrated Kuma, he hated having to actually speak, and he knew that he was going to have to if he wanted to converse with him. "What you have?" The words felt unnatural in his throat, and his voice was rough like that of sand paper. Had the man been able to understand his sign language, it would have shown that he was capable of much more eloquent speech when using his hands, rather than when he spoke aloud. Though he needed much more practice, and teaching, on how to properly speak, he knew that his question would be understood.

As Kuma waited for the man's reply a deep, booming, thunder sounded in the distance. Though the sky had begun to darken, it was obvious, to Kuma at least, that the storm would not reach their spot for a few hours. Unlike a lot of animals, Kuma loved thunder storms. Thunder storms brought Kuma excitement that he could not find in other places, and his love for them showed clearly on his face.

While he knew that he should be much more cautious, Kuma inched closer to the man, and his strange weapon. He wanted a closer look, and thought that he had seen something flashing from it. He had seen ninja use Ninjutsu before, but had never understood what it was, or how it worked. In Kuma's mind Ninjutsu was as powerful force as thunder, something that both terrified him, and excited him at the same time.

[Zangy]

Kazouchi chuckled as the boy talked, raising his right hand up, which, in turn, caused Taowu to stand up as well, in its full jade glory. "This here is a puppet from Sunagakure no Sato, the Land of Wind. I use strings that are connected to my fingers," he explained as he started to move his pinky finger and index finger back and forth, allowing the chimera of a puppet start to move back and forth, "in order to control it."

It was a rather simple explanation, but then again, puppets, in theory, were rather simple. Control objects with your chakra.
While the finesse of the art was much more precise and pristine, the basics were understandable to even those who were unaware of ninjutsu as a whole.

The storm that was coming was a bit of a bummer, as Kazouchi really had wished that he could just stare at the stars as he drifted to sleep. This plan was quickly shattered, as thunder boomed in the distance. Then again, the amount of supplies that he had would easily able to survive the storm, but that didn't necessarily mean that he would like it.

"Do you happen to know anything about ninjutsu?" It was a rather awkward question, but pretty much to the point. If this kid knew about chakra, he might be a threat, but otherwise, there wasn't too much that the kid would able to do. Hell, maybe he could use the kid to train later. He didn't seem very weak, after all.

[Gara]

Kuma jumped backwards with a look of pure terror on his face when the puppet moved, grabbing at his chest in order to feel the beating of his heart. As the man spoke Kuma relaxed slightly, and began to examine the puppet as best as he could without getting to close. He had not expected that it could move on it's own, and wanted to run back into the forest as fast as he could, but it had sounded as if the man controlled the thing, and that it only moved on his command. When Kuma spoke his tone was one that indicated that he had not fully understood what the man had said, but that he was curious none the less. "Pup-pet?" Kuma had made the word sound as if it were two words rather than one, and had also made it obvious that it was his first time hearing the word.

When the man in front of him had asked him about Ninjutsu Kuma had simply stared at him blankly, not having heard of the word before. Instead of answering the man, Kuma spoke again with his hands, though he tried to use the words that he knew matched his sign language. "I am Kuma. I am Bear. Forest home." Once he had finished speaking he had pointed at himself, and then had pointed towards the forest, and said Home once more.

[Zangy]

The words that were spoken finalized Kazouchi's own ideas about the boy, having very little in the way of direct vocalization about them. This kid was probably abandoned and gone about on his own for a very long while. The minuscule amount of words were chosen carefully, making sure meaning was gotten across, without felling past what wasn't comfortable. Well, with the exception of asking what a puppet was.

That bit, along with the word choice, made it pretty obvious that this kid was not a ninja at all, nor one that had gone through direct training to become one. A kid of no worth, to some, but a gold mine to others.

"Well, then, to finalize the meeting, I am Kazouchi. The road is my home," he explained with a chuckle. The life of the city was long behind him, as choosing to become a missing nin meant the impossibility of settling down and attempting to have anything that would be considered normal of a family life.

Kuma's interest in the puppet let the missing ninja easily shift the discussion to it, as he moved his finger once more, letting the puppet react in its own way. With it sitting down, he explained, "Do you wish to learn about these?"

While he couldn't teach him the direct secrets of learning how to control puppets, he could at least explain how they worked. Might be above the kid's abilities, but the knowledge itself would be able to be shared to others. After all, what was a villain without some stories being spread?

[Gara]

When the puppet moved Kuma's reaction was immediate, and completely unintentional. His lips curled back from his teeth as he let loose a deep, guttural, growl from deep in his throat. However, when Kazouchi spoke of learning about the puppet, Kuma realized that the man had only demonstrated his control over it. Kuma had nodded vigorously when the man asked if he wanted to learn about them, his hair swinging around wildly. ”I like learning. Lot I do not know.” Kuma’s voice was rough, and often some of his words sounded more like growls than actual words.

The puppet amazed Kuma, and he wanted to learn everything that he could about it, but was scared to get to close. The puppet before him was strange, a mash-up of a few different animals, and a blank man’s face. This was not what scared Kuma, nor what made him keep his distance. Lika any wild animal, Kuma did not like sudden movements, and was extremely cautious when it came to interacting with new things. However, as he moved back and forth around the puppet, refusing to put himself between it and the man controlling it, he began to noticeably relax.

[Zangy]

Almost like a cat, Kuma's reactions were almost adorable, if not for the hint of power behind them. Granted, it wasn't like the child could actually harm Kazouchi in any meaningful way, even with a bit of an upper hand, but the thought was still there, lingering in the missing ninja's mind.

While not a teacher, nor even ever close to a mentor, Kazouchi wasn't quite sure what all that he could teach the boy. Puppetry, as sacred as it was, was not something that was just tought, like basic jutsu were. Maybe an equivilant could be reached, but the direct thing was outside of Kuma's bounds. Well, assuming that the kid wouldn't try to either join the Village Hidden in the Sand or attack it. Suicidal in each of their own cases, by different means.

"While learning is good, you have to follow the correct steps first. What I am doing here is a much more advanced art than any of the basic types of jutsu. If you are really wanting to learn, you'll have to follow me."

Kazouchi wasn't quite sure if he was ready to have an apprentice, nor if this boy would be an actually good fit as a ninja. Granted, with the amount of failures that he had seen in his life, he wondered sometimes if more strict regiments should be put into place.