[Yamamoto Shosuke]

At the core of their disagreement, it seemed, was a question about what it meant to be strong. If weakness was merely an absence of physical strength, both of them were weak - He would never be a taijutsu specialist or a swordsman like Uemon. Even should he someday pick up a sword or a knuckleduster, he would never be as strong as they were as they had dedicated their entire lives to the practice.

Even so, when he had fought Atagi, he had easily won against the other boy despite that apparent "weakness". Why was that? For the same reason, as far as Shosuke was concerned, why Ichi was nowhere near as weak as he considered himself.

Because he was smarter.

If one fought using one's raw physical power, one could achieve quite a bit, but using one's brain? Well, you could change an entire battlefield. It was that level of intelligence that he could see in Ichi, that he believed all great Lords and Kages required. Sure, almost every kage in the history of the five major villages had been among the greatest fighters of the village, but they were rarely the strongest.

Given time, and admittedly a lot of effort, Shosuke had no doubt that Ichi would become a great Lord, even if he wasn't there yet. But then nobody was born able to walk, let alone run. Time healed all wounds (or at least most), and time was just what Ichi required right now.

"Yeah? Well, I was never planning to be a Shinobi at all." Shosuke said, not dismissive but merely feeling the need to press the point. "I studied at, worked at, Kumogakure Hospital for the last five years, save for the last year I spent in the field. I graduated from the academy early, and enlisted to help my village recover from the after-effects of the Plague. If my life had continued as planned, I would have never had to step a single foot onto the battlefield, and yet here we are.

If all you can do is barriers, all you need to know is how to wield them properly. Redirect people's attacks onto themselves, get them hit in return for striking the barrier, trip people up with small, foot-level barriers. Think about the practical applications for what you've got."

It was a strange thing to say from a regular shinobi to the Lord of a village, but it felt like it needed saying anyway. Sure, Ichi was here to train him, but Sho wasn't about to let the man go on being cruel to himself.

When Ichi mentioned that he was unsure what Sho wanted to learn from him, Sho felt a little bashful, his hand moving to rub the back of his neck. After getting so heated earlier, it was a little embarrassing to admit so openly, but...

"Honestly? I don't know - Its not like I think I'm particularly lacking in any areas. Anything I am lacking in, I learn to cover. I've never had any problem learning or mastering any jutsu, and just recently I unlocked a whole new element. In the eyes of the public, I think many people would think that I'm doing enough as is. Even so...

... Even so, I want to learn everything you feel you have to teach me. I have no specific lesson plan in mind, nor do I expect you to have one either. But I didn't become a doctor by ignoring the resources at my disposal, nor by refusing to listen to my elders. If there is anything, anything at all, that you feel that you can teach me, even if its just how to strengthen my wood or how to make it more fire-resistant, I would ask that you teach me."

When one's desire was to "be better", to "become stronger", it wasn't as easy as one might expect to have concrete goals in mind.

653 words | @wispseny

SPOILER: Click to show

C-Rank EXP: 8/9
Jutsus Used: None

[Nakahara Ichī]

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Autumn

[attr="class","skulloverlap"]I will lead us to it. Definitely.

[attr="class","skullbody"]It seemed the actual topic was shifting again, and Ichi wasn't opposed to the turn it was taking either. Shosuke was stating Ichi's own sentiments back at him, and it was something that he was welcoming of. To focus on what you were good at was how you best assisted the people around you, and to suddenly switch to something other then the path he had been cultivating for nearly a decade now felt more then wrong in the eyes of the young man. He had been working on doubling down, and as a response almost in kind, the expanse of the technique Ichi had had around them seemed to grow out further, and further. More then doubling in size as if to show he agreed.
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Waiting for the young man to finish, the almost off-guard language of the young man next to him gave Ichi a hint of the general lack of plan that both of them had. That was fine, however, as Shosuke's words were just as good a substitute to what he needed to do in the moment as any. Inspiration sparking in his silver eyes as he raised his arm in a gesture of what was around them, "Then let what is around us be a lesson in itself my friend. You can always persist in what you are after and find a way to succeed. However, what is most important isn't persistance here. As you seem aware, Mokuton is incredibly flexible - to a degree I believe that what makes Mokuton such a power bloodline ability comes from that."
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"Expansive, restrictive, entangling, powerful, sharp and blunt, deadly yet not so subtly protective. Its traits are incredibly versatile, and to most that is the end reach of truly being a master of mokuton. I practice a very strange version myself given my barriers, but the traits I am able to display are the same, they are just less condensed by decades of practice and learning. My personal focus has been perfecting these techniques of mine, and as you can surely tell - expansion was the so called 'poison' that I have chosen to focus within," Ichi would speak like an orator in a lecture again, though the genuine calm and joyful cheer made it far less dry to listen. One could hope a young speaker such as he wouldn't get so utterly boring just yet anyways.[break][break]

"Unlike a lot of shinobi I do not focus in arts of subterfuge, I do not have much use for the more contained mokuton jutsu one can learn from the Senju. I seek to truly replicate nature's massive expanse as a way to shape whole battlefields. War is still always a threat and when you can't focus on firepower for fear of destroying your own kin in the process you need to get creative. For me it was to warp the earth to fit the role I needed it to, and my chakra and nature responded in kind. I believe that potentially finding an area of Mokuton that you can grasp and feel within both your intentions, when you use it, and your molding of chakra is where you should focus your efforts. To that degree I can certainly still assist, in either helping you discover your area of focus, or I can help you to also learn how to be expansive. The choice there is yours though Shosuke-San."

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[attr="class","skullinfo"]000 WORDS / @tags!!

[attr="class","skullcredits"]TAIKO!

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SPOILER: Click to show

Ichi's SA's and Techniques in Use:[break][break]

『Harvest Moon's Child』
Ichi was born to the Nakahara clan on the night of a Harvest Moon. Born with quite the green thumb he was assumed to be an inheritor of the clan's natural talents with plants. The roots ran deeper, however, as Ichi was born with a Kekkai Genkai, being a rare natural occurance of Wood Release outside of the Senju. In learning of this he has trained his kekkai to the best of his abilities. He is no master, seeing as he has no reference of Mokuton, but he has found a way to bring out techniques along side his own talents in a cohesive manner.

[Cosmetic Only: All Mokuton techniques Ichi uses appear as his favorite trees, though it has no real change as is.]

[break][break]
『Weaver of Wood』
Ichi was born with Mokuton, but he was not graced with the same level of chakra as the Senju would be in his situation. Being roughly average for an individual, Ichi instead focused on the skills his birth clan preferred. Practicing his medical skills, he has gained a higher quality of Chakra Control. Ichi is much less likely to leak chakra than the average shinobi because of this.

[break][break]
『The Festival's Atmosphere』
Having practiced his skills with extending his senses outwards with the use of mokuton chakra, Ichi is particularly adept at sensing life in an area. Capable of finding life through the very nature around people. Within [20 meters] Ichi is capable of passively sensing out plant and animal life in a general sense. Able to differentiate it between plant and animal, but no further. Unlike chakra sensory Ichi can not more or less readily sense others based on their chakra, but instead purely senses the 'vitality' in things, though even those with seemingly boundless vitality will read the same as the elderly or a newborn to him. Also unlike usually sensory to actively search out individuals Ichi requires Mokuton, or the use of his pipe (though using it makes his position much easier to locate), as a catalyst to extend his senses, only going out as far as the technique's range, or twice his passive range in case of the pipe. It is also notable that the deceased, and those that feign death in some fashion, as through a poison or a jutsu, are completely invisible to Ichi. Notably the furthest he can extend his senses is [100 meters].[break][break]

『Master of Festival Games』

Ichi is incredibly smart for someone his age, but he lacks the qualifications to be a scholar. This is because his intelligence is not found in understanding of principles and anything so magnificiently deep. It instead lies in his observational talents and ability to react to everything that is going on around him with an absolute calm. Being able to plan and act with just minute details to go off of, Ichi is best described as a schemer and a diplomat rather than a genius. This makes him perfect for roles that are heavy in Tactical and Diplomatic Decision Making, as he grasps larger images and can put together clues better than others. Effectively allowing him to take in the wider picture of everything going on and piece together practical responses in mere moments with little to no hesitation or error.

[Yamamoto Shosuke]

Despite their many similarities, it seemed that on some things the two couldn’t be more different – Ichi’s dedication to his barrier techniques was amazing, even if it bordered a little bit on an obsession. It seemed like the idea of Sunk Cost fallacy was very much in play here, though he supposed it wasn’t actually hurting anyone. To switch after all this time… well, it would probably be better for him in the long run, but it wasn’t like he could rise any higher in the village – he was already their Lord after all.

Though, now that he thought about it, Sho had once been a lot like Ichi – His dedication to medical techniques had once been second to none, if he had kept his dedication up for the last two years he might have even found himself the head of Kumogakure hospital after the current head stepped down. But, of course, all that changed when he went back to leaning more on traditional ninjutsu when he rejoined the Shinobi corps.

It was his desire to protect people rather than patch them up after they had already been hurt that caused him to walk away from that obsession. What, he wondered, would it take for Ichi to have that same revelation? Whatever it was, he had to hope it wouldn’t be too high a cost to pay.

"There’s something funny about you talking about versatility before talking about what has stolen most of your attention.” Sho said, almost more to himself than to the man he was actually speaking to. He hoped it wasn’t disrespectful, especially not after his earlier meltdown, but the irony just demanded to be pointed out.

"I have to admit, this is impressive – Given a few more years, you could probably even create a barrier that would be able to wrap around all of Kusagakure. I would say that’s something even Kage would be jealous of, let alone lords like yourself.

That said? You’re forgetting something pretty pivotal – Of all the things that Mokuton is, it isn’t exactly subtle.”

The other man talked about how he had never had to rely on subterfuge, though Sho somehow found that hard to believe. Their job was one of subterfuge, whether they be backhanded deals, manipulating the pieces on the chess board that was politics, or taking out threats before they truly presented themselves.

Even lords and Kage had to wield stealth tactics at times, there were certain things they simply couldn’t do in the open. Being unable, or perhaps unwilling, to embrace those tactics would only hold Kusagakure back in the long run.

Even still, he couldn’t quite ignore the offer that was being put in front of him. It may not be as direct as learning some secret technique the Lord knew, but his generosity was nonetheless acknowledged. Sho, for his part, merely nodded quietly.

"I am in your hands, Lord Nakamura. However you want this to work, I will follow.” After all, few Senju would be as jealous as a fellow outsider.

518 words | Nakahara Ichī

SPOILER: Click to show

C-Rank EXP: 9/9
Jutsus Used: None