[Sarutobi Kaho]

All you have is your fire
And the place you need to reach
Don't you ever tame your demons
But always keep em' on a leash

The sound of screeching and Sarutobi Kaho landing flat on his back echoed through the Forty-Fourth Training Ground, or Valley of Death as it was so affectionately named. Birds screeched and fluttered away, nearby creatures snorting and barking their calls as they scattered at the sudden surge of activity. Kaho's vision seemed dazed as he looked up at the canopy above him, until his single eye focused on the delicate features of Emi as her face appeared above him. Her eyes glittered with amusement and he was sure if a fox could smile, she would be beaming.

"I suppose you found that funny," he replied with a sigh, pushing himself upright and rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh I did, but I'm sure it will pale in comparison to what comes next," Emi replied as she danced away and expertly up a tree to perch on a low hanging branch. His eye followed her, until snorting and the sound of churning earth brought his attention back to the Giant wild Boar that had sent him flying. Giant was an understatement, Kaho thought as the creature sized him up, grinding the dirt below with it's vicious looking hooves. But Kaho was more worried about the tusks that were the size of his arm.

The red haired Sarutobi couldn't help but groan as snorts began to fill the forest around him. He was no stranger to the Forest of Death, he would often train here. From combat to stealth, the creatures of the forest often made for a decent challenge or a useful distraction if he were training with another. Today he had simply been working on his fitness, a casual run through the forest of deadly animals. Until he had literally run head first into a grazing boar, that had knocked him flat on his ass.

As the first charged, Kaho deftly avoided it with two well placed steps but knew that the rest would come charging out of the foliage around him and they were damn faster than they looked. He jumped, using one's head as a springboard to reach a tree before performing another jump to the branch where Emi relaxed. Hooking both legs over the branch he hung like a monkey, upside down with his arms crossed.

"Big, bad Tanganryū got knocked over by a pig," Emi chuckled delightfully in her usual sing-song laugh. If it was not such a heartwarming laugh, Kaho would have scowled daggers at her. But he could not help but laugh with her as the boar snorted up a storm below him. There was a stark truth in her words, one they were both acutely aware of but they laughed nonetheless. He truly was a far cry from the man who had earned such a name, the Shinobi who would only seen the beasts below as a hindrance and used them for target practice. Whether that was for the better, he did not know. It was a question he seemingly been asking himself every day of late.

Arimura Kasumi

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0