Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Sai." Hajime repeated, "There's a name with history behind it." It was true. Hajime had seen that name show up again and again in his history books. Due to the nature of shinobi secrecy, it was hard to discern whether the same person had been present for so many major events, or whether there was an extensive lineage of like-named people with similar skills. To meet someone going by that name was an omen- a sign, Hajime felt. There seemed to be forces at work beyond his locus of control, and they wouldn't be ignored.

"Ah- yes. Our business has concluded." Hajime replied with a stern, studying look, "And I'd welcome our teaming up. You two are the first ninja I've met in town- and it would appear that we're of the same rank. My name is Hajime Takenaka."

Hajime addressed the drunk, "Yes, I once came with one of the elders to visit those same offices, to meet with your- rather- our Hokage. I come from the Fire Temple, in a part of Fire Country, far from the Village Hidden in the Leaves. I'm not sure how familiar you are with this country's history, but in a long-past age, our monastery produced one of the Fire Daimyo's Twelve Guardian Ninja." Hajime decided to leave out the grimmer aspects of it's history, like when a vile bounty hunter and a follower of Jashin broke through the Iron Wall seal and slew all but four of their number.

At the sushi house, Hajime removed his sedge cap and took as seat on the inside of the booth, and put in an order for a kappamaki- a maki roll filled with cool cucumber, instead of fish. While the advertised clam was likely very tasty, Hajime was vegetarian, like all practicing monks.

"How interesting. Two strangers to this town, now forming into a team. Sai, are you a stranger to the Village Hidden in the Leaves as well, or are you a local?"

1835 Words

Juugou watched as Grunnard prepared the desk by unrolling a large scroll with a jutsu formula inked in a circular pattern. The librarian then placed his palm in the center of the circle, causing a fish to appear with *poof* of smoke. The young Aburame was familiar enough with fish to see that it was more or less fresh, though the eyes weren't as shiny.
"Alright. Show me what you can do, young Juugou." said Grunnard, gesturing toward the fish laying on the desk. Juugou nodded and walked closer. The smell of raw fish met him as he took his place by the desk. Placing both hands on the wooden surface, the young Aburame closed his eyes and began to concentrate.

He focused on the hundreds of tiny insects currently laying dormant over the skin of his arm and mentally commanded them to start sucking some of his blood. Grunnard's eyes widened as he saw red bubbles the size of tapioca balls appear on the boy's skin, and widened even more when the bubbles began to glow with the greenish hue of medical chakra. The bubbles then sprouted insect wings and flew the short distance just to land on the fish. The insects then bit down on the flesh and inject the blood.

After about a minute the insects were all deflated and the fish was radiating green chakra. The glow subsided shortly and both Juugou and Grunnard looked down expectantly at the still body of the fish.
"Huh." said Juugou in a disappointed tone, "I was expecting something to happen faster." The librarian stroked his chin.
"Well, you just tried to perform a blood transfusion on a fish." he laughed. "I would be even more surprised if it had wor-" The fish's tail slapped Grunnard mid-sentence as its body began to spasm into life, causing Juugou to chuckle at the irony. The librarian quickly sealed the fish back into the scroll before it wreaked any havoc on the things on top of the desk.



After a short discussion and encouragement. Grunnard had given Juugou a written recommendation to take to the Ninja Registration office so he could formally become a Genin and begin his career as a field medic. The young Aburame was across the office when he noticed a man with a pony tail wearing robes sitting on a bench. His face and neck were bruised and he didn't look very happy.
"Hey, are you okay?" he asked the robed stranger.

As Juugou approached, the stranger rose from his seat and bowed, stating that he was alright and thanked him. The stranger also added that he had been trounced by a female proctor administering a combat test for entrance into the ninja ranks of... The young Aburame studied the stranger closely as he recapped a brief version of his story, cementing the fact that he had come from somewhere abroad when he asked Juugou if he was a ninja yet. Today's proving to be eventful Juugou mused to himself. The robed man seemed very embarrassed about the whole ordeal. One more chance to impress the proctor or he would be barred from attempting again...

"How is it that you fight?" asked Juugou, stroking his chin as he thought of a way to assist the newcomer, "Do you use martial arts, weaponry? How was it that you lost to the proctor?" These were questions that needed answers in order for him to provide any real insight to Haikyo's predicament. "No i'm not a ninja, at least not yet." he replied to Haikyo's inquiry, "My goal is to become a combat medic in the field. I'm not really good at fighting, but i do have some knowledge of the body's anatomy." There was something about the man's manner of speech, choice of words, and way he carried himself that prompted the young Aburame to ask, "By any chance, are your parents Samurai from the land of Iron?"

Juugou wasn't entirely surprised when the robed man revealed that he wasn't able to fight. To be honest he wasn't any good at fighting himself, but he was agile for his age. The young Aburame listened intently as the foreigner told his story. Apparently his parents were some kind of Samurai Priests that held ceremonies over battlefields aimed to save the souls of the fallen. The next bit did, however, surprise him a bit.

"To combine your soul with your chakra..." Juugou repeated slowly to himself. He never really gave much thought to the topic of spirituality having been raised in a household of medics. The sciences were his strong point but there were things that science couldn't explain fully, like consciousness and everything related to it. He continued to listen until the foreigner was done speaking and at length introduced himself as Haikyo Yomi.

"I believe," began Juugou thoughtfully, "that chakra and what's considered to be the soul are two opposite sides of the same coin. Chakra would be the physical aspect because it can influence the material world, whereas soul is the spiritual and can influence the internal. If you were to find a balance between those two you may be able to activate this power of yours." The young Aburame hoped that his explanation would be enough to give Haikyo something to help fill in the gaps left by his parents' seemingly inadequate teachings.

"Here in the leaf there's always someone joining the ninja ranks for some reason or another, though meeting you has been quite interesting." Juugou truly was warming up to Haikyo's presence. It was like having an older brother with personality, not a clone of his parents and their ideals. "Old? You can't be much older than nineteen, twenty at most. I'm currently fourteen." Hakyo went on to explain how his father was a sword user. but didn't personally like it and entertained the idea of being a martial artist. "Why not try using kunai? They're versatile and small enough to swap between them and your fists." It was when Haikyo got to his origins that his disposition changed momentarily. "Sorry, i didn't mean any offense. It's rare to hear of active Samurai in a predominantly Ninja country."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Haikyo-kun. I'm Juugou. Juugou of the Aburame Clan. You don't have to be so stiff. Breathe!" said the young Aburame with a chuckle. "I think you can do anything you put your mind to. After all, the 7th Hokage fulfilled his dream of being recognized by the villagers, and he started out as a trouble-making orphan." That story, among others, was behind Juugou's drive to join the ninja ranks. The chances of anything world-changing happening in the confines of some clinic were very slim. He frowned at Haikyo's self-doubt. "You need to have some more faith in your abilities. Sure, a proctor is a hurdle, but you can take what you learned and use it to your advantage for the next time."

Juugou was happy that Haikyo was beginning to feel at ease around him. As the conversation progressed the older teen seemed less tense and even smiled. Haikyo laughed when the young Aburame overshot his age, revealing that he was in fact eighteen years old, adding that his facial hair did make him look slightly older. "That much is true." chuckled Juugou, "But it suits you."

The young Aburame watched as Haikyo began to really think about his suggestion about using kunai and hand-to-hand combat interchangeably. The Yomi seemed lost in thought for a few moments as he ruminated things that could be. It was when the conversation reached the point when Juugou had inquired about his family's origins that Haikyo's demeanor changed. He paused, as if unsure of whether to say something, took a deep breath then leaned closer to Juugou with a hand covering his mouth. It turned out that the Yomi family was essentially a fugitive clan from the land of Iron, and returning to their homeland would essentially spell certain death. All because they refused to cater to their own corpses. Haikyo stated that these details were some he really kept secret. If his family was that notorious just for their ceremonial practices it wouldn't be a far stretch to assume there were bounty hunters out there keeping an eye out for the young Yomi. "Your secret is safe with me, Haikyo." whispered Juugou with a smile.

"You're very welcome." replied the young Aburame when Haikyo had thanked him for his input. The older teen then offered to show Juugou what it looked like to merge the soul and chakra "Alright, let's see it!" The young Aburame watched as Haikyo held out his hand in front of him and seemed to concentrate. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary after the older teen finished whatever preparation he had done, but he smirked and asked Juugou to do him a favor and strike his forearm as hard as possible. Even going as far as rolling up the sleeve of his robe and pointing at the target area. "If you're sure of this i guess i can show you a bit of what i've been working on as well. It's not ready for trial on others, but i think i could use this situation to see how effective it currently is on me." With that said, the young Aburame raised his own right arm so Haikyo could see what was about to happen. "Just so you know, if you're squeamish about blood or insects you may want to look away."

One of the tiny insects on his skin bit down and began to draw on his blood and chakra. At first only its abdomen expanded, but then the insect also began to grow in order to keep up with its growing belly. Soon there was an almost spherical insect the size of a handball perched on Juugou's arm. It glowed with green medicinal chakra and its body pulsed with the young Aburame's heartbeat. The blood that was ingested by the insect then began to be injected back into Juugou's arm until the insect was empty and fell off. Unfortunately the bugs would die once he used them in this way, but this variety bred extremely fast and there were already hundreds of eggs in waiting. The muscles on the teen's arm and chest felt like they were becoming stronger, as the enhanced blood worked its way back into his system. These effects wouldn't last too long so once Haikyo nodded Juugou took a fighting stance and launched his fist at the older teen's arm. He was not expecting to hit what felt like a wall. The moment his fist connected with the Yomi's forearm, Juugou noticed what looked like a green web expand and dissipate from the point of contact like some kind of force field. Haikyo himself didn't even flinch. The older teen was visually overjoyed at his accomplishment while Juugou massaged his poor hand. Luckily nothing was broken, but it would definitely be sore for a while. "Sure thing!" replied Juugou when Haikyo asked if they could be friends. "I think we'd make a pretty neat team." he added with a smile.

Shiro sat up sluggishly in his bed, both hands planted firmly over both eyes. Even without looking he knew that any moment now his alarm would ring and that he would have to get up anyway. He rolls over out of his bed in one swift motion, landing square on both hands before pushing upwards to fling his legs above his head and back around to the floor. He throws his arms up over his head to stretch out the lingering remains of his sleep coma. Today was the day, the last day. After this no more academy. Assuming everything went well today he would be receiving a real headband and placed on a squad and sent out to do real missions. So far, most of his class sessions had been focused on studying. As a medical ninja in training, there was far more to be learned from scrolls than from chucking a shuriken at a dummy ten times in a row. Still, he knew that there was no way he would be making it out of the academy without some sort of physical display. The only and only thing that brought him event the faintest of worry. Still, Shiro wasn't one to dwell, the last thing he would do is psych himself out before he even got there.

After taking some time to get himself bathed, clothed, and fed Shiro heads for the entrance of his clans estate, waving back to his mother overhead as he makes his exit. He gazes up at the bright shimmering sky with a heavy grin stretched across his face. He wanted to contain it, to play it cool like it was just another day. But deep down in his heart, he was more than eager to get to class today to finally graduate.

Before too long Shiro rounds the final corner, reaching the Konoha ninja academy and scurrying inside to join what remained of his graduating class (a few others already having received their headbands and be placed on their teams already). Class would be starting soon, and he had no intentions of being late. Rather than hang out outside under the trees as usual, Shiro heads directly inside and takes a seat near the middle of the class. On the board written in chalk a general outline for today's final lesson. Written in big thick letters where the words "Combat Training!", just as he had suspected, in order to graduate he was gonna have to display some sort of combat prowess, medical ninja in training or not.

Shiro rotated in his seat just as the final students began to pour into the classroom. He had spotted her when she first walked in but was so focused on contemplating what the final test had in store that he hadn't made time to say anything to her at all. He seized a brief moment to do so just before the instructor made his entrance as well. "Good morning Nisha! After today we will both be real ninja ya know? Our comrades are sure to count on us a lot in the field. Do your best." He offered her a friendly smile. The two weren't particularly close but still, they were classmates and they were clanmates, which meant that ultimately he wished to see her succeed and hopefully she thought the same towards him.

"Good morning students. Though it brings me sorrow to see you all go, I am very proud to announce that today each and every one of you will have the opportunity to move on from this place. For those who succeed, I will no longer be your Sensei, but that doesn't mean that you can not turn to me in times of need. Now with that out of the way, in front of you should be an envelope with a number inside. For now please keep the envelope sealed. In a moment we will head outside and prepare for todays training. Afterwards a final test, followed by registration and info regarding team assignment. Understood?"

"Yes Sensei" Shiro proclaimed in unison with the rest of the class. Shiro's eyes fell to the yellow envelope sitting on his desk. If he really wanted, he could peer directly through the material to reveal what was inside but doing so discretely was out of the question. Surely Sensei would notice if he activated the Byakugan in class, doing such a thing could possibly result in failing the final test, a horrific outcome in his eyes.

"When we get outside I would like you to be sorted in parallel formation. That means one in front of another. Two even rows facing each other. Once I confirm that everyone is in their proper positions. I will provide further instruction. Move it!"


"Yes Sensei!"