[Yuki Kazu]

Kazu stepped through the gate of Yukigakure for the first time in what felt like forever. The snow on the ground, crunching beneath his shoes. The sound of the train. He was definitely home.

Not only that, but he'd passed the exams. He still needed to do a couple things before officially promoting to Chuunin, but each day he got closer and closer to that goal. Now, he'd finally be able to go back home. After months of being in the exams, he could finally see some of his friends and family again! Though, he did miss Jou and the friends he made at the exams. 

He stopped by his house, greeting his parents and dropping off his luggage from the trip. He showed them his smoldering jacket from the first fight of round 3 too, that got a pretty good laugh out of them. He didn't stay for long though, he wanted to go explore more of his home again! 

With that, he left his house and wandered around Yukigakure for a while, passing by places he'd been before. Everything felt different now, he finally found his motivation during the exams, so everything seemed new. He turned around as he heard footsteps approaching, was someone looking for him?

[Nakajima Taro]

Taro was a very determined working class individual, it was within his clan structure to help with certain labor. Today there was an important village project, it was quite the simple feat, blocks of wood needed to be chopped down into good fire wood bundles. In a place that pretty much knew cold more than anything, it was really important people had fire would. Especially as there was a report of a storm coming in the following day or possibly days. It looked big enough to take seriously.

That in mind the determined chuunin wasn't dumb enough to task himself with the impossible. There were quite a few missing from active duty and it'd seemed just miss fortunate sickness struck most people. He'd tried checking up on those he felt might be fibbing a sickness, but found himself discernably wrong. Thankfully though, he'd catch site of a shinobi he'd seen getting off the train from the chuunin exams. An able and capable body for sure, so without hesitation Taro just beelined to Kazu. About to reach out and tap his shoulders, but the perceptive boy turned first.

"Aye, big shot, your shows over we need all capable hands on a project. Can I count on you for Yukigakure's sake?" Taro would hastily explain, as he'd extend an axe to the younger shinobi. It'd practically be shoved into his hands, as Taro would be very quick to lead the Yuki member towards the task he had in hand. Unconcerned about whether or not this individual had any plans, he'd at first not even seem interested in who he'd asked for assistance. This wasn't true, but Taro's worries were on those who needed the timber. "I'll train you something or give you a good spar for your services. So don't dare think this'll be a waste of your time alright?!" Taro would command as he'd lead the other on.

Words. -- TagsYuki Kazu Notes. Grinning with the intensity of a madman.

Template by Kuroya of THQ & GS.

[Yuki Kazu]

Yukigakure always seemed busy, and that was still the case. He was told that he'd have a couple days to rest after the exams, but that mostly meant from training and missions. The individual that approached him clearly had no intention of asking for help on either of those. He simply handed him an axe and asked for help, forgetting to introduce himself in the process. "Uh, sure but what's your name? I'm Kazu. And what are we even doing with these axes?" Kazu asked, it wasn't something that seemed self-explanatory. Obviously, they would be chopping something, but what was that something. Were they chopping a whole tree down? Were they carving? Kazu wasn't really sure. But apparently, it was for the sake of their village. 

On the bright side, the guy offered to train him or spar. The chuunin exams had pointed out one thing that Kazu wasn't too good at: His reaction time. If this guy could help him improve his reaction speed, that would be amazing. "I appreciate that, are you able to help me get faster at reacting to attacks? That's something I wanna improve on." Kazu would continue to be lead, though he wasn't aware of the end destination. He definitely felt like this stranger was rushing him though. Why was he in such a hurry?

[Nakajima Taro]

"Nakajima Taro!" Taro was someone who had immense confidence and pride in himself. He was fairly true to the nature of a Nakajima, even if he didn't quite sit right with his immediate family or fit into the natural order. He still had a fighters will and thus spoke loudly with a purpose. "You can't tell from the axe?" Taro asked with a harsh tone and an estranged look of disgust, as though Kazu had possibly insulted the older shinobi. After a shake of his head in disapproval, Taro would quickly layout the actual answer.

"We're chopping up logs to make fire wood, there's a serious storm on it's way and not everyone has a chakra means to stay warm." Explaining the task at hand while simultaneously marching with a vigor to their destination. A whole line of people already chopping logs, as two very massive men seemed to be wheeling out carts of logs from a storage warehouse. A few kids taking from a pile of the chopped wood to create easy to deliver bundles of the wood blocks. Moving with a purpose, but turning to make sure Kazu wasn't lost Taro listened. Sorta.

"Yeah, oh-yeah, definitely. I'm most well known for my reaction speed training, but I only teach hard workers." Taro stated lifting a log stacking it on another, then lifting both stacking it on a third. Finally picking up all three to carry over to a good chopping spot. Placing down all three before knocking the top one down, then quickly and almost violently chopping and splitting the log. As he'd put in a little effort to really up his display of speed. Reactions for Taro were debatable, but he definitely had speed and the two were easily mistakable.

Words. -- TagsYuki Kazu Notes. Grinning with the intensity of a madman.

Template by Kuroya of THQ & GS.

[Yuki Kazu]

The boy introduced himself as Nakajima Taro, Kazu had met a Nakajima before: Ryunosuke. This boy wasn't nearly as gloomy as the other one though, he exhibited confidence like no one else he had met. Kazu didn't mind it, he'd gained a bit of confidence from the Chuunin exams himself. As far as the axe, Kazu could only respond fairly simply, "An axe could mean a lot of things. We could be chopping down trees, chopping wood, or using it as a weapon. An object doesn't really tell someone what they're doing usually." The boy would state. 

Following that, the boy would actually answer his question. There was apparently a storm on the way, likely from the direction opposite of where he had come from. They didn't see any storm or have to stop, at least. So, they'd be chopping wood to help keep people without a means to use chakra to keep warm. So much for resting when he got back from the exams.

Kazu kept following the boy until they reached the area where people were chopping logs, delivering said logs to others that were chopping them, among other things. Kazu followed Taro's example, stacking three logs before proceeding to a good chopping spot. Taro confirmed that he had really good reaction speed, something Kazu definitely needed. "That'll definitely be useful!" He stated before finding an unused tree stump, likely the tree had been cut down before hand to get logs from. He placed two of the logs on the ground next to the stump before placing the third upright on the stump. He looked for Taro, trying to make sure he was doing the task correctly.

[Nakajima Taro]

Tree's were wood, at least in the mind of the Nakajima. Heck some people and threats were wood too. Taro wasn't the type to fight semantics or think too deeply, he agreed the axe could chop a lot, but wood was the obvious answer wasn't it? A battle axe would make more sense for war and surely Yukigakure wasn't that desperate for armament to resort to standard tools. More though the Nakajima wasn't about to put into his day or force the genin to listen to.

Instead Taro would procure himself three more logs to see that Kazu had valiantly done the same. As feats go for a chuunin honed into a physical art and used to weight training, breaking down three logs wasn't too bad at all. Hpwever looking over at the genin who truly hadn't endured the toughest physical training, Taro didn't think it'd be possible. He'd look at the obstacle and the challenger. Grin positively and give the younger shinobi a thumbs up. "That's the spirit!" Spoke the Nakajima with his usual confidence as to encourage the Yuki ninja.

What right did Taro have to doubt Kazu after all? This would be a learning experience and there was a tall order of wood to deliver in the name of security. So it'd be a lot nicer on him if this kid carried his weight too. That in consideration, he wouldn't watch further for failure or success, he'd merely focus on dialing in on his effort to complete the task as quickly as possible. The faster it was done the earlier they could do anything else truthfully.

Words. -- TagsYuki Kazu Notes. Grinning with the intensity of a madman.

Template by Kuroya of THQ & GS.

[Yuki Kazu]

Taro would opt to not respond further to Kazu's statements, it was a little obvious that they'd be chopping wood. However, seeing as how he'd just gotten back from the exams, Kazu didn't know what to expect anymore. He'd been poisoned, gone up against the terrain of Mizu no Kuni, and survived three fights. Not everyone could say that. 

Taro encouraged the boy a little bit, but that was all he did before honing into his own task. As far as first impressions go, Taro was pretty loud. Other than that, Kazu had no issues with how the guy acted. He even trusted Kazu to complete his task enough to not continually watch him. He wasn't like Masahiko, consistently giving instructions despite how easy the result was to reach. In all fairness though, some tasks seemed easy but were actually quite the opposite. 

The boy had placed one of the logs he'd grabbed on the stump in front of him, vertically. He raised the axe up, aiming for the middle of the log and slicing it in two before looking over at Taro. He was still in his own world, of course. It was nice not to feel like he was being graded on a task.

[Nakajima Taro]

Focused to the task and mostly keeping to himself. It wasn't exactly the reaction most desired, but Taro recruited the kid for a task. It was getting done, but there was a rush. If his antics of cutting three logs wasn't enough, he'd begin shifting the split chunks and quickly dividing them further. Roughly eight wedges formed from a stump and each swing coming down from Taro with an intensifying pace.

Taro hustled with such intensity he'd break a sweat and be back to working twice as hard as some of the others helping. He had no right to really yell at anyone to move faster, but perhaps he could work something else out. Another type of motivation. The genin wanted some reaction speed training, "You know. Half of reaction speed is just in fact speed. If you're not able to out chop those around you, then you're going to struggle pulling off the reacting part if it's their attacks." The chuunin explained as to try to make this choir feel like training and perhaps invoke a bit more ambition.

Knowing he'd possibly be the measure, Taro wouldn't give much pause beyond explaining this fact as he got more stumps. He'd try to carry over more than before so they could take from the same pile. He'd not try to show off as much in power, but instead just try to be tedious in his task. Maybe Kazu was in fact giving his all, the Nakajima wasn't going to press harder than light antagonization.

Words. -- TagsYuki Kazu Notes. Grinning with the intensity of a madman.

Template by Kuroya of THQ & GS.

[Yuki Kazu]

Kazu was definitely a social genin, but there was a time and place for that. There was too much at stake for the time being for him to split his attention between Taro and the task at hand. He did mirror Taro though, splitting the logs into the same number Taro would. After all, Taro was obviously more experienced than him, why wouldn't he follow his example?

At Taro's advice, Kazu laughed a little bit, "I'm already going at a faster pace than most of the people here. Plus, if I exhaust myself here then I won't have the energy for our training." He smiled, Taro's intent with the comment was pretty obvious. Kazu didn't mind though, his intentions were good at least. It wasn't like the boy was asking him to steal or anything crazy like that. 

Taro, leading by example, would pick up his speed at chopping wood. Kazu would avoid picking up the pace even more, as he wanted to conserve his energy. The day had just started, after all. He still had to check in with Lady Yuki, more than likely. Masahiko-sensei wouldn't do that for him, since it was his Chuunin Exams. He continued chopping the logs at an above average pace, waiting for more instructions from Taro.