CHANCE ENCOUNTER [PRIVATE]

[RYU]

"Ninety-eight, ninety nine..one-.."

No more, not one more. His arms collapsed and because they were bearing his weight his body followed. Now on the ground he rolled himself over to get onto his backside. A combination of sweat and dirt now covered his exposed upper body and his shorts had gotten just as dirty, not that he minded getting this filthy when training. It was the conditioning and the heat that had brought him into this state, with his home being the Land of Earth there wasn't much choice in where he could train. On the plus side he was granted privacy within the abundant rocky areas, which is how he preferred it. At least that's what he had thought until recently.

Ryu raised his legs and in one quick motion flipped himself into an upright position. The reason for his change of heart was the plateau for getting stronger he was currently stuck in. How long had it been since he had trained with someone else? The closest he had gotten was the odd skirmish that escalated into fights with people that disagreed with the things he had to say about them. Despite being the closest these did little to grant him any real experience and therefore didn't count. Choosing to get out of the sun, Ryu moved himself over to the shade provided by the higher rock around him. There was only so much he could do alone to get stronger, and without the constant challenge from others his motivation was beginning to dwindle. During his time in the academy the competition was abundant, but since his graduation everyone he had known had probably gone off to their own squads.

It was then that he had realized what he was missing, his own squad. Thinking back he tried to remember why it was that he hadn't found other people to join up with yet. Could it have been a lack of skill? Doubt it. Ryu sat down against the rock and wiped his sweat off with the towel he had brought from home as he continued to rack his brain for answers. There wasn't one single thing he could think of that would have deterred people from asking him to be in their squad..

[hisae]

"


Blonde locks frizzed to heck taped themselves to her cheeks, a annoyance to her concentration. Having left Ryu in the far back after a brief meeting with him, mutually deciding to meet later in a frequented training spot by many shinobi in the village. It would be an ideal for them to equate each other more intensively in each others skill sets, prepare themselves for future combat assignments. Despite being Genins, Emi wanted to somehow use her clan's influence to get them more significant missions. Whether they performed up to expectations or not, that was yet to be seen. The main goal was to get an opportunity and not to be looked over, it would be up to the team to take hold of that chance and make use of it.

She was "walking" on her hands, working on her balance with and spicing up her own day. It was harmless fun, having done it for quite some time in her life span. Improved coordination and amongst other things, a pretty chill thing to brag about. Oh, and useful in combat when evading enemies. Once arriving to one of the taller standing boulders, Emi focused her chakra flow to the tenketsu in her palms. They began to glow with a blue hue, attaching to the rock like linen sewed into sweaters. Continuing to "walk" up until she got to the peak, somewhat narrow. Flipping herself onto her toes, the emerging figure of a boy working out brought hope to her.

"Maybe we got our third member," was her way of thinking, distracting her from her focus. The mixed emotions flowing through her mental threw her off, disrupting the chakra to the soles of her feet. Already panicking as she slipped, falling feet first, Emi flailed her right foot back. It slammed hard in the boulder, shattering parts and pieces around it completely, almost clearing the top off.


BANG !

The recoil sent her shooting through the air horizontally, easily over the head of the Genin. It sounded like a bomb went off, startling for people near the vicinity.

"Wooooo--!" bellowed the blonde flying projectile, as she began tumbling across the floor rather sloppily. A few rolls before flipping herself on her stomach, looking at the boys own blonde spikes was something they had in common, an obvious observation she made. Quickly, embarrassment clouded her cheeks, red tint dominating the color palette. "Err--, I'm sorry for interrupting..." sheepishly apologizing, staring at the ground. Emi scratched the back of her heard, directing her embarrassment somewhere, or atleast trying to do so.

[Castle]

Moving through the village rushed a Genin frantically making his way toward the training grounds of Iwa. Today was an important day, he was suppose to meet with Emi Hayakuni again. Ever since that fateful day everything in his life seemed to hold more luster to it. His parents had noticed Ryou's mood had improved more these past couple days and not only that but the rut that he seemed to have halted his improvement seemed to have past. He had more at stake now than just living day in day out, without a squad scraping whatever D ranked missions he could get his hands on.

What had changed in his life was his meeting of Emi Hayakuni, a fellow Genin who shared his problem of a lack of teammates. It had been an eye opening experience to meet her, she was by far much more advanced Genin than he was and that drove him to want to work even harder than he ever had before.

"I can't be late! It's amazing..in just a few days how much I've improved." He smirked to himself as he finished his thought

"I suppose motivation is important to training after all...heh I can't wait to show my improvement to Emi-san."

As he approached the meeting spot he'd ponder his own excited feelings. Why did Emi's opinion matter so much to him? Was it because she was so much more powerful than him and he wanted to reach her level? Did her prestige as a member of an important clan matter? Maybe it was just the fact that she was a cute girl. By this point Ryou no longer felt comfortable questioning his feelings and decided to drop it before he lost his nerve to meet her at all.

As he approached the region there suddenly would ring a loud bang of shattering rock. For a moment Ryou thought someone had activated a paper bomb and looked around to find the source. At that point he'd see Emi in the distance, revealing her to be the source of this hard thud. He'd note the cracked boulder and easily put two and two together. Seeing her casually get up from this injury would lead Ryou to recall her clan's Kekkei Genkai a passive shield of what seemed to be material as hard as diamond. In any case she seemed fine as he noted another Genin in the area.

Rushing over he'd stop in Emi's view as he said in a casual tone, "I heard your grand entrance Emi. Heh you're not hurt are you?"

[RYU]

"Forget it, I'll just take a na-BANG!"

Having gotten tired of thinking for solutions, Ryu had just decided on taking a nap when the sound of an explosion suddenly appeared from above. Now if you were expecting to find amazing evasive movements to avoid the falling debris, you were looking in the wrong place. Ryu let out a yell, his eyes had barely closed when they instead shot open in reaction to the noise. He quickly got himself up and scrambled out of the way clumsily, nearly falling once or twice. Once out of harm's way he did a quick check over his body for any damage, which there was obviously none due to the small size of the rocks that had fallen.

"Oh wait, my stuff!!"

It was then he had remembered during his escape he had forgotten to get his possessions out of the way as well. With that thought he started running back over to the pile of rubble. He then kneeled down and began clearing aside the fallen rock pieces that had found their place on top his things. Not only was his towel which had fallen off when he got up now completely dirty, but also the only shirt he had brought along with him. He tossed both of these aside angrily and turned around to find the one responsible. Prior to getting out of the mess he had noted someone rolling on the ground in the area front of him and figured it was probably them. The shirtless youth stood himself up and turned around, already beginning to yell before he had even completely faced whoever it was standing behind him.

"YOU RUINED MY SHIRT YOU...giant?"

He pointed at where he thought the girls height was, which left him pointing at her neck rather than her face as he had intended. His arm began to shake in disbelief and his jaw dropped to display his obvious surprise. It was the closely followed arrival of another male that took his attention. He moved his finger to point at him, keeping his shocked expression. These two both stood easily half a foot taller than Ryu and didn't look much older if at all than he was either.

Ryu's shocked expression returned to anger as he clenched his raised hand into a fist. With that fist pointed towards them he began to speak again in his usual loud voice.

"What're ya' doing ruining MY training area you giants, huh?!"

[hisae]

"



It was comical to see the Genin roll around and flail. The falling debris was not even that serious, though he thought it was. Holding back her laugh, her anxiety was at ease once Ryou came into her view, bewildered at the whole turn events himself it seemed. He was concerned for her own well-being, rather nice of him. Secretly though, Emi did not believe he would of been able to find the place. Luckily, he passed the test, he was not a total dolt of a teammate. Smiles was all she showed, "Yes, I am fine. Felt good for my muscles," replying, bending over to touch her toes and then thrusting forward with her pelvic. Both hands on her lumbar section, a couple cracks was heard, a minor stretch session Emi did.

The gist of the guys personality was someone who over-reacted, didn't seem to brave, but was hella brash. Like, calling Emi was not going to fly in this pigeon coop. "Who you calling a giant--?!" she retaliated, slamming her foot into the earth. It broke away to her force, disappearing in a flash of rock and soil, leaving a minor about the diameter of her foot.

"This place is well known by about everyone in the village, shorty!" shouted Emi back at him, very uncharacteristic of her to speak in such a tone. But he had an uncanny ability to tick her off. Quickly reverting to her own self out of her self-conscious and guilt, "I mean, I apologize. My name is Hayakuni Emi and this is Ryou. We are looking for the last member of our Genin team, we were gonna meet here until we came upon you," pointing slightly downwards, reflecting the height difference. Her tone was tender, sincerity drenched in her dialogue. "Although your attitude is poor..." The last word trailed off into a muffled whisper, though easily heard by the blonde. It was purposeful to see his own reaction, though she expected nothing less than some outrageous comments.

[Castle]

Ryou honestly hadn't noticed the height difference until it was bluntly pointed out by the third person. Seeing this stranger get up on them like a angry little dog made Ryou smile, he was rather proud of his own height so he didn't particularly mind being called a giant. Emi didn't seem to take his comments as well though, he'd cross his arms and just watch as the girl busted this guy for calling her a giant. He was a bit shocked when her foot left a crater after having slammed it into the floor in anger.

"Yeah breaking the ground with your steps...definitely not what a giant would do." thought Ryou providing himself some mild humor.

Ryou was definitely enjoying himself at this moment, he felt relieved that he hadn't done anything to tick Emi off during their first encounter. Eventually she seemed to cool off as she reverted to her regular enclosed and apologetic personality.

Although he had already been introduced Ryou felt the need to speak up, after all thus far Emi had been the voice for both of them and thus far it seemed she may very well scare the poor guy away.

Nodding his head to the guy he'd say, "Yamauchi Ryou, giant number two." He'd pass the guy a toothy grin hoping it'd lower the tension in the scene. He'd wait for a response from the guy not having much else to say that Emi hadn't already said.

[RYU]

Seeing her foot break into the ground forced Ryu to drop his arm and take a step back. It was evident that she was strong and shouldn't be taken lightly if she was intent on fighting him. Hearing her call him "shorty" however caused his anger to ignite again and of course forget the previous thoughts, veins becoming more apparent in the side of his head. Before he had a chance to do something about it the female had began to speak again. Ryu was expecting another insult, but it didn't seem like it from the change of tone she had taken.

"A third member huh?" Ryu spoke loudly, choosing to ignore her last insult despite it nearly leading him to get angry again.

It seemed to be too much of a coincidence. His pride might've prohibited him from teaming up with someone who had just insulted him, but he was well aware that he didn't have much freedom in his choice of team mates especially since he was so long removed from the academy. Genin his age with no squad were few in number which meant he probably didn't have a choice if he wanted to quickly get out of his plateau and become stronger. With those above reasons in mind, he made up his mind on what to do. Ryu planted his feet, gathering himself before leaping backwards to get on top of the boulder behind him where the female had come from.

From this position he made sure that he stood in way of the sun to the ones below him, illuminating himself in it's sunlight. Crossing his arms, he aimed to look as cool as possible. This probably looked a million times better in his head than it did to others, but he didn't care.

"Well you giants, you're just in luck. I, Ryu, am one of the best genin currently without a squad. I'll join you since you asked so nicely." Ryu yelled, the arrogance obvious in his voice. His title was self-proclaimed, nor did they even ask yet, but he spoke as if they had regardless.

[hisae]

"


On one hand, Emi had been glad to find someone interested in joining their team. But then again, his attitude was not the most savory. Were they really so desperate for a teammate? Even if he was the best Genin available, it could not substitute for chemistry. From her own perspective, none was being created. Emi thought of it as, if someone had lesser skill but could operate better in the team's concept, then it would not matter. As a team, they could cover each others weaknesses and capitalize on strengths, no matter how small they might be. So, this joker would have to change his act quick.

"I'd prefer to have weakest Genin whos humble than the most strongest and rude," she said to him, showing her own doubts, rethinking things through. If he yelled and flailed at the site of her entrance, what would he do in the face of a real situation? Her own confidence in him was ebbing, but Emi wasn't too quick to turn away from help.

"Chemistry is most important, but you seem to be the lone wolf type, huh?" mocking him slightly, hands on her hips. Tilting her head to the side, tit was a provoking stance, see if he would bite.

"What you think Ryou?" she asked for his input, foremost.

[Castle]

Ryou would watch the dynamic flair Ryu put into his acceptance speech, he certainly didn't like this sense of overt pride that radiated from the Genin's actions. Not only that but their interactions hadn't given the best results, Emi and this Ryu seemed to clash in their personalities-Ryou himself seeming to only be an extension of this conflict. The issue of teamwork definitely came up and Ryou would ponder it while he heard Emi openly voice these complaints that they both shared.

At that point he'd hear Emi ask him for his opinion of this Ryu. Having had the chance to gather his thoughts he'd say in a sterner voice, "Hot heads and loudmouths are troublesome, all they're good for is giving away our position and getting themselves needlessly killed fighting battles better suited for a team." He'd look at Ryu, thus far he seemed to have been left in the sideline because he hadn't spoken up negatively to this stranger. Well now it was his turn to agitate the lone wolf.

"Historically, the only time brash loudmouths succeed is when they're blessed with outside sources of power, or from being born with excessive natural talent." His comments would bring up the written documents he had read about the Second Great War that had ravaged their lands. During that conflict many of the Jinchūriki took up the mantle of a solo hero working to save the world from a great lone threat. The most famous of those being the current Kage from Konoha Naruto Uzumaki.

Pointing to Ryu he'd accuse him saying, "And considering I've never heard of you I doubt you have either of those things!"

At that moment Ryou regretted saying such negative things about their potential third member. He realized he was only further ostracizing the guy and risked leaving them without a full team for even longer. It was true that they were desperate for a third member, and so he'd try to retract his attacks as he said more calmly.

Speaking to Ryu more diplomatically he'd say, "However if you can follow orders and work as a team during missions, then you can be as loud and prideful as you'd like when our lives aren't at stake." He'd stop at this offer, not willing to apologies for his prior comments. He meant what he said about brash loudmouths but as long as this guy could work with them when it mattered then he couldn't care less what his personality was off the battlefield.

[RYU]

From where he stood, Ryu took into consideration everything they had to say. He was arrogant, but not close-minded so he figured that he should listen especially if they were going to be teaming up later on. It wasn't until Ryou challenged his future that a reaction from Ryu was seen. He took on a significantly more serious look, something rare from someone of his personality.

Ryu leaped off of the boulder and into a space no farther than a few feet away from the two. He landed in a kneel, slowly raising himself out of the small dust cloud that had risen from the impact of his landing.

"I don't need either, I'll be successful on my own strength alone." Ryu spoke in a low, serious tone of voice. He would then begin taking slow steps toward the two until he was directly in front of them. Instead of keeping his serious demeanour however, his expression lightened up.

"I can't change who I am, but I am willing to try to make it work for our team." Ryu spoke calmly, outstretching his hand towards the two in aim for a handshake. Taking this hand would be acceptance of their new team. He liked these people, ones who were strong in their opinion rather than being submissive despite needing a third member. Things could get really interesting indeed, and this excited him.

[hisae]

"


The confidence he spoke with was less of arrogance, more of truth to his own being. They were both maturing in the eyes of the world, Emi becoming more vocal and opinionated as her mother soon became, less shy of the world but instead tackling the challenges head on. Ryu, in the image of Emi, was someone who wanted to be understood. In that pursuit, his own brash actions and mannerisms reflected a rebel within him that was looking for a home to settle down in. A smile came to her face, subtle chills running down the spine. It felt good to have a complete team, for which each other was willing to work for, to make things happen for their own well-being.

"Haha! Welcome to team Ryou-Ryu!" her own creativity sparked spontaneously, thinking of the name for their group. With names that were irritably similar, it was preferred to turn that into a good thing. Her own surname's absence was of least importance, it had enough fame to it, as the village had helped built the Hayakuni district anyway. Pleased to have her own friends, put on the spotlight every moment their team name would be cheered or called, was a fine feeling all in its own.

"How will we figure out the names, Ryou and Ryu...?" she pondered out loud, hoping for assistance from both of them. To her, it would be a miniscule problem outside of real field work, like missions. Hopefully, things would be straighten out between the two.

[Castle]

Ryou watched for the reaction from their potential third member, while he had a base expectation of his reaction he would still simply hold out to see if Ryu met with what they expected from a squad member. Ryu would come down from his high point and land rather close to where Ryou and Emi stood his mannerism seemed to be rather serious as he took steps toward the two. His first words seemed rather bold claiming he didn't need the things that made the heroes of the past generation change the world in such a magnitude. As he got closer his stern attitude seemed to revert to a smile as brought his hand out in acceptance to their offer.

Ryou would crack a half a smile back as he gripped Ryu's hand and gave it a strong shake to symbolize their new beginnings. He already liked this other Ryu, his self-determination was something that impressed Ryou, and it was nice to have a lively member of their squad. He wasn't sure how their team would turn out or if they'd ever be remembered in the annals of history but Ryou liked the first steps they seemed to be taking. Letting go of his hand shake he'd turn to see that Emi was also taking this rather happily, he couldn't help but smile at her comment about calling their team Ryu-Ryou the fact was he hadn't even realized the issues that came up due to their very similar names.

Hearing that problem brought up by Emi left Ryou stumped. Secretly he considered the different options available. They could always call Ryou by his Surname, however Ryou never liked how long his last name was and it attracted the idea that he'd become the cold distant member of the group that everyone spoke formally with on the battlefield. For a moment that idea became rather appealing to Ryou as he imagined himself as a powerful Jounin known for his surname like those great clans of Iwa. However what mattered right now was learning more about these two people who had now entered his life, deep down he didn't just want comrades-he wanted friends but he'd never admit it openly. These two would be his firsts friends if they reached that point, right now he didn't want to blow it with unsure ideas.

Shrugging Ryou would respond, "I haven't a clue, I suppose if all other options fail you guys can just call me by my surname Yamauchi." That was as far as he'd voice his concerns as he left this task of developing a name system to the new member.

[RYU]

"That could work gia-Yamauchi." Ryu said, grinning after. He coudn't help but be overwhelmed with excitement, there were so many possibilities that lay ahead now that he had been able to join up with other people. It was definitely worth putting aside his pride for momentarily, despite how weird it might have felt at the moment. The only thing left was for them to find a Jonin leader, something that would probably prove more difficult. However, that was something he'd figure he would leave mostly to the two others, seeing as how they had been able to find him. Ryu raised both of his fists in front of him, eager to begin the journey. He didn't know where they'd start, but it was only forward from here.

"No time to waste, let's go!"

[Thread end]