Iwa[ open]

[Kakkan Keppan]

Kakkan walked aimlessly around Iwagakure, trying to memorize the streets of the still growing city. He had a short time before he was to start his studies and he had nothing better to do. His lazy travels led him past a clearing playing host to a group of children's war games. Paper shuriken and fake kunai flew back and forth violently as the youngsters tried to simulate battles they had heard of or, in the cases of some of the children his age, seen themselves. Ceasing his wandering, Kakkan reclined against a nearby fence post as the children played ninja with a zeal most adults would find somewhere on the line between endearing and overbearing. They reminded him so much of the children he used to play with back home. The way they all had tried to recreate what miracles they had seen their parents perform at home. They wrestling matches to prove who was strongest in the Keppan clan's children and they tossed about small dolls pretending they were summoned Falcons. Lost in a bit of nostalgia he didn't even react when a stray missile flew towards him and collided lightly with his chest. It had been a clumsy throw and the "blade" of the weapon had not even remained facing forward. Startled from his trance. Kakkan brushed at the spot on his loose fitting white shirt as if the impact had stung him much more than it had and shouted.

" Hey! That isn't very appropriate to attack people not in you game!"

The teen was clearly amused however and thought for a moment of joining in on the play until one of the boys walked up to him and took back the paper throwing star, a bewildered look on his face.

" you're supposed to fall over!" the child exclaimed, his seriousness ill befitting his boyish looks and wild brown hair.

" That's the point of ninja games. When you get hit you have to die until the next round!"

Death....murder... the concepts seemed to come all too easily for these children. Raised as they were in this culture of violence and depravity that was the "ninja" world, they seemed to hold so little value for permanence in life. The Kakkan couldn't understand how even in play there could be a child so comfortable with the thought of killing his peers. Lord Hayabusa would be disgusted by this scene.

Kakkan moved wordlessly from his place on the fence and walked away. He could not begin to explain to this young boy that he was wrong. That the point of ninja should not be to kill your enemies ruthlessly and without provocation. he would never be able to get through to him that murder would place a burden on his soul heavier than the earth itself and drag him further down the ladder of ascension to heaven.

The boys ranting continued behind him as he walked away, a small invokation on his lips. "Hayabusa, please lift them from their ways before it's too late."

[theultimate3]

As Kakkan walked in thought, he didn't notice Hiro moving quietly behind him. A wide smile grew on his face as he slapped him on his back, hoping to knock him out of his no doubt religious stupor.

"Hey, Birdman!" He yelled, loud enough to turn some heads on the street. "Why didn't you join in on that game man? Pretty sure you could have beaten them without trying...or..." Hiro donned a face of clearly manufactured shock, "maybe you're scared what Hayabasa would say?" he finished snickering to himself.

[Kakkan Keppan]

The sudden jolt of contact broke Kakkan's train of thought and ended his evocation of the great being. Having his prayer interrupted was aggravating. Hearing the voice that was behind the contact and offense was infuriating. It seemed that Hiro never missed an opportunity to poke at him about his religion. Ever since they were in academy together the youth had always been a constant bother to Hiro and was always belittling the significance of Lord Hayabusa. This naturally angered Kakkan but the two had not come to blows......yet.

He grasped his prayer beads in an attempt to calm himself, their cool and familiar forms sliding between his fingers. This worked....and then Hiro kept talking. Upon specific mention of The high Lord's name Kakkan whirled around in a fit of anger and shouted in almost as loud a voice as he ever used.

" Hiro! Why do you insist on spewing your blasphemies to me at every turn! You are so low on the ladder of ascension that you cannot even see it's bottom most rung yet you criticize me!"

The grip on the shiny steel balls around his neck tightened as Kakkan resisted the urge to wrap them around Hiro's neck. This was why he never talked to anyone in Iwagakure unless he had too. They were all intolerant heathens!

" What do you want anyway?"

[theultimate3]

Hiro flashed another big grin. "We're supposed to be training. I hear we're getting an actual teacher soon. Got to get our completely unsync abilities and whatnot in sync, you get me?" he followed up by slapping Kakkan in the back again before walking down the street.

"So far out of the two you're the only one who even kinda knows some good ninjutsu. All I got are an impressive amount of weapons and my awesome good looks, so we have to figure out how to make that a completely functional unit." He said before turning to Kakkan. "And I would like to be a unit before we get a teacher and he finds out you're an antisocial religious nut and I'm a a dashing but almost completely kenjutsu expert with a bad money habit."

Despite his dour critique of his friend and himself, he continued to smile as if today was the best day of his life.

[Kakkan Keppan]

A very long droning noise was playing in Kakkan's head effectively muting most of the words he heard. The intention of this mental task was an attempt to block out what the over-confident Hiro was saying to make him go away. When this ignoring did not work Kakkan sighed and payed attention just to the last bit about the two of them getting a higher level instructor. That was a nasty bit of work that Kakkan suspected his foster parents had had a hand in dealing him.

While it was true that their abilities seemed to be very disjointed, Kakkan suspected that a teacher would help them grow as ninja....even if he had to do it with this imbecile. The young Keppan needed to be stronger and more respected within the village. Only then would he be able to ask the important questions that his clan had sent him to find.

" impressive would be a massive overstatement I think." His tone was snarky and what he hoped was demeaning.

" At any rate I dont see how someone like you could work with me. You're just like the other misguided ninja, so ready to learn to weigh down your hands in blood."

[theultimate3]

Kakkan's tone wasn't lost on Hiro, but he smiled all the same.

"Birdman, you hurt my feelings." he said in a joking, whiny voice before dropping it entirely to speak in confidant certainty. "Like it or not, we're shinobi of Iwakagure. Our first and only purpose is to maintain the peace of the village, and the prosperity of the country. I'm not looking forward to mindless slaughter any more than you do. But we must do what we must."

He looked at for what felt like an eternity. He had faith that Kakkan could be an excellent ninja. But he knew his friend was soft. Hiro knew of the Kappan clan, and their pact with the the birds. The Tsuragi had stories of meeting summoners like them in the past. As a group they had so much potential but they waste it hiding in their mountain, praying to their god.

Hiro took a deep breath and his smile returned. Kakkan was ignorant of the world around him and he will have to learn that there is no nirvana here. But he doesn't have to learn it today

"We can train at the outskirts of the village. But first, I'm hungry! Let's go get some dango!"

[Kakkan Keppan]

There was obviously very little that Kakkan could actually do about the predicament he found himself in. His unfortunate appendage would not go away until he was dan well ready to or Kakkan drove him off and went home. The young monk had no idea as to Hiro's motives for pestering him so. He very much doubted that the boy had a legitimate interest in being his "friend" so that left him very little to go on.

" Fine...not like you won't just follow me anyway....let's go."

Somewhere in the deep center of his skull Kakkan felt a dull pressure starting...this was going to be a long day. As the two of them started down the roads to the nearest dango vendor, a random thought found place in his voice.

" I wonder how my cousin is doing...."

He felt no particular affection for his cousin the blasphemer. Despite his backsliding and his heathen ways, Shippu was family and honoring the Keppan clan required a certain degree of care for the man. He knew his cousin was strong and that even in his hereticism the great Hayabusa sent his angels to protect him...but at some point the Great Falcon may tire of Shippu and that may be almost a sentence to death in the life of a ninja.

[theultimate3]

"Alright!" Hiro cried out as the two of them started walking towards the market district. "I'm going to get the extra spicy today, never had that one before! I hope Mrs. Fan makes them today she makes the best!"

Hiro was lost in his own world as he led to the two to the dango shop. Ordering his extra spicy dango, Hiro took a seat on a stool outside and began to enjoy is treat.

[Kakkan Keppan]

Kakkan rolled his eyes heavily at hiro's antics. The young boy was always so excitable and distracted. It was hard to believe that the instructors at the academy actually passed him into the armed forces. If he spazzed out on a battlefield it could costs both of them their lives.

" make it two please."
He was not a huge fan of the snacks but he found them bearable. The easiest course of action was just to order whatever his companion was eating. He would regret this when he bit into the tip of the dango and his mouth was filled with a molten sensation.
" gaaaahh what the hell!?"

The white haired youth whipped his head back and fourth looking for water. He found a pitcher on a nearby table and dumped it into his mouth hastily, spilling some of it onto his shirt and prayer beads in his hurry to quell the burning his tongue. When he was done he fixed a harsh glare on Hiro.
Didn't matter. His fault. All his fault.

" why didn't you ell me it was that hot!?"

[theultimate3]

"Hm?" Hiro said as he ate another piece of dango. "It's not that hot. The really hot stuff is that mabo dango. I don't even think that's even a thing but that stuff will make everything taste like stone for a month!"

He laughed out loud before finishing off his dango and jumping to his feet. He stretched to the sky and let out a joyous cry.

"Meal done! Now time for some exercise! I'll met you at the Quarry, got to work this off. Don't be late!"

And before waiting for Kakkan to reply, Hiro jumped into air, kicked landing on top of the dango shop before jumping again out of sight. Once we was a significant distance from the market, he jumped back into the street and ran on foot towards the main gates of the village.

"Hey Teja! Bye Teja!" he called as he ran past one of the usual gate patrols. He ran down across the rocky terrain until he reached the a large rock quarry, that was dug out for ore and abandoned once finished. It has since became something of a playground for children of the village. It eventually got the name 'The Quarry', which Hiro suspected was because everyone was just as lazy with naming things as he was.

Hiro reached the quarry and took a deep breath. He looked over his shoulder and wondered if Kakkan would show up this time. Still in thought, Hiro absentmindedly took a summoning scroll from his belt and with a swift motion opened it and launched 6 kunai at old targets that were set up, hitting each one in the center. Hiro tilted his head a little as he noticed.

"Guess I have been doing this to often..."

[Kakkan Keppan]

Kakkan was faced with an immense dilema. Hoe could on eone hand just go home...like right now. He disliked spending large amounts of time with Hiro and today was already cumbersome with news of the looming war on the horizon. However, he knew better then to just brush Hiro off because that just made the boy try hard the next time....which was a god awful thing.

" He's truly is a terrorist of sorts. Hayabusa keep me."

As he started his somewhat reluctant trip to the heaven forsaken pit that Hiro trained in, Kakkan rationalized that he was going to be Hiro's team mate and that it only made sense for them to at least practice with each other from time to time. He ran his fingers over his prayer beads absent-mindedly as he traveled. The small action was quickly developing into a tell when he was irritated or stressed.

Catching sight of the fellow genin, Hiro walked into The Quarry with reluctance. he had never seen the real wisdom in making a place children frequently played a training ground but Hiro had never had any problems before....that Kakkan had heard of.

"I am here."

[theultimate3]

"Dah?!" Hiro turns around and stares blankly at Kakkan. "You actually came?!" he exclaimed, not even trying to hide his surprise. "Uh..uh...of course! Yeah of course you came! Uh listen, we need practice some formations. Yeah that's it!"

He said as he did a hand seal and the kunai he threw disappeared in a puff of smoke. He then took another kunai out the ground and drew a line of Xs in the dirt.

"Ok, not be a debby downer, but in a fight you will most likely be useless to me. You got the birds, but nothing major that can take out a target from a distance. Thankfully we have me," he said pointing his thumb to himself, "I can hit anything as long as it is in range. That is where you and the birds come in."

Crouching back down he drew two circles, in one he drew "Hiro", in the other "Kakkan".

"You have one of your birds pick a target, and I will hit it. Sounds simple enough right? Wrong!" he answered before giving his friend a chance. "Even if the birds are fast, we can't risk it flying in, tagging something, then taking a kunai to the gut. No we have to figure out how to get the bird to tag a target safely, and quick enough so that the target doesn't know he just became a mark. You feel me?"

[Kakkan Keppan]

All of the rudimentary planning and strategizing was leaving Kakkan in the proverbial dust. He was not a veteran warrior and could think of no way to accomplish exactly what it was that would help Hiro in this particular situation. This was already growing extremely frustrating and they had barely started. Small grumbles of some extreme effort wormed their way through Kakkan's voice as his fingers took a firm grasp of his beads and he recanted prayers in his head as he thought through the scenario.

"But if you are throwing projectiles wouldn't we need to be able to see the opponents in the first place? How would using my birds help in that scenario at all?"

Grabbing his own stick he started tracing in the dirt another picture around Hiro's original.

This time there were obstacles between hiro and Kakkan and then a third circle was added on the other side of what looked to be a very poorly drawn tree......or rock.

" Now here I can help. If you are in melee with someone and they are using cover then i can be an eye in the sky to keep you from getting ambushed and give you a leg up on the opponent."

[theultimate3]

Hiro looked at the drawing and nodded excitedly. "Yeah yeah that would work! This way I can focus on what's in front of me and have you watch my back from all directions!"

Hiro drew a fourth circle, and wrote "Enemy" in it and drew a line from his circle the enemy and put an "X" between them, signifying combat. He drew two more circles to his left and right and wrote "Enemy 1" and "Enemy 2" and drew a dotted line towards himself.

"Your bird will spot these two coming, and give me a warning so I can react accordingly. You don't have to worry about me not seeing the target. If your bird can fly to it, I can hit it. I would just have to get myself in range and I got a few methods of doing that." he said as he reached into a pack and pulled out a a hook and a rope. "I call it "Hiro's Hook Swing"! My grandfather used to say something about eating fish with it but I used to use this to to swing and latch on to stuff when I was a kid. Should help me get around in most situations."