[Uehara Shin]

As much as Shin busied himself with being a businessman to varying success, he did not neglect his training as a ninja and made sure to both keep his body in shape and his chakra control in shape. His mind was being tested on a daily basis anyway and knowledge was added too, though one could say that when it came to fights, he had a unique way of understanding them and the approach he took was vastly different too from most ninjas. Shin liked to make a little show-off them and wanted to be the dominant one without ever approaching them with proper seriousness or a mind for fairness. He was already rather quick, but his biggest confidence came from the combinations of his chakra control and the acuteness of his perception.

Today he'd found a rather secluded spot between a few trees to practice. For one, he'd hung a bunch of small, dirt-filled bags up on the various trees' branches. And right now they were swinging around wildly, but as if they were being controlled by someone, the bags never collided or got in each other's way, even then they all had a common spot that they would swing by and at exactly that spot stood Shin, a blindfold over his eyes as he kept dodging one bag after another. The catch to this training was that these bags all had a different rhythm to their swinging so that he could not just figure the pattern out after one round of dodging. These bags had different length of string that tied them to the trees and different weights too. This training was not the most draining physically and not the most difficult to keep up mentally for Shin, but it helped him get into the rhythm of training and to keep him aware and thinking.

With as little movement as possible did Shin dodge the bags for close to a quarter of an hour before stepping out of his training point and a few steps away from the swinging bags, that, even though he was blindfolded, he'd often tapped on to apply new force to keep them swinging. Next up for him would be grabbing his Kunai for some target practice, so he pulled up his blindfold to walk over to the tree his jacket and tools hung on.

393 words

[Honō Yoshitaka]

Honō Yoshitaka

As part of his process of refamiliarising himself with his home, Yoshitaka found himself wandering around the village just casually observing the goings on. Dressed in rather simple, road-weary robes still caked in dust and a bit of mud from long journeys on foot, the man was simply wandering through the area seemingly looking at the various plants with intent.

Dressed as casually as he was, with his usually well groomed features somewhat askew, he was able to appear somewhat like a wandering civilian and not the elite shinobi he actually was. That was, after all, the whole point. If people recognised him too quickly he'd never be able to get a good look at what was going on in Kusa. Thus when he heard the sound of something swinging through the air and feet sliding across the ground he meandered slowly in that general direction, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings.

Eventually coming across a young man dodging sand bags swinging from the trees while blindfolded. A solid way of improving perception and reflex skills he supposed, especially when training alone, though perhaps somewhat simple for someone who, if he had to guess, was around chuunin in skill. Either that or an older Genin of reasonably high skill. As the young man came to a stop, Yoshitaka began to clap, a broad if simple smile across his face.

"That certainly was impressive young man," he declared, years and years of infiltration allowing him to appear as little more than a random lower class civilian.

Word Count: 254
Tags: Uehara Shin

[Uehara Shin]

While Shin had felt he was being watched at pretty quickly, he had not even reacted to the onlooker even as he'd taken off the cover on his eyes. When this stranger spoke to him he had already picked up a Shuriken and with his back to the swinging bags where he'd practiced before, he threw the Shuriken at one of the back, which it it square in the middle and stopped most of its momentum. In no time the bag stopped swinging which caused the other still moving bgs to one by one bump into the first and quickly all of them came to a stop. Shin picked up his tool pouch and fastened it to his belt as he spoke up to what the new arrivee had just said. "Really? I am not so sure that anything I can do would be counted as all that impressive, although to someone who knows nothing about being a ninja it might." Shin glanced at the man and felt a little unsure how set his expectations. This man was by all accounts a civilian that had per chance walked in on him training, there was just that little gut feeling that told him he'd seen this man before, but his mind told him that they had definitely never met before. Maybe the older man had been some sort of business man or helper of such a partner and that was why he seemed familiar.

"If anything I'm trying to have a breakthrough here in trying to create my own ninja technique, or well, maybe I can do something unique, THAT would be impressive." Shin completely turned around to face Yoshitaka and asked, "It doesn't matter if you haven't had any ninja training or if you did, tell me what you think the most important sense in battle is." This was in some ways a test for this man, but also Shin was just curious to talk with someone who might have a different perspective. When it came to getting inspiration or a sort of enlightenment, sometimes it didn't matter how strong the helper was.

353 words

[Honō Yoshitaka]

Honō Yoshitaka

"Compared to the average person, much of what a shinobi can do is impressive," Yoshitaka said with a shrug in response to the younger man's answer. It seemed he was that kind of shinobi, the one with a stiff attitude to their job or perhaps one that wasn't quite in touch with what civilian life was like. Either way it was worth knowing so Yoshitaka could better interact with him and get the sorts of responses he wanted. 

"Oh? Creating your own technique, is that hard?" he asked curiously as he sat himself down beneath the nearest tree with a pleasant smile, continuing to play the simple civilian. One hand went into his sleeve to pull out a bag of rice crackers that he began to casually munch on as the two-toned boy asked him a question. Blinking slightly, he couldn't help but grin at the query,  it was certainly an interesting one.

"The most important sense in battle?" he began, crunching on another cracker for a moment in thought, "I suppose that would be common sense!" And with that the stout man began to laugh dryly, one hand slamming on his knee a few times to fully express his mirth at his own cleverness. But it was a true answer as well, it didn't matter how good your eyesight was, how strong your nose, how crisp your hearing was, if you didn't have common sense you'd be dead before you could blink.

Of course, he wasn't about to go into detail without prodding, not yet. He wanted to know how this shinobi would take such observations.

Word Count: 267
Tags: Uehara Shin

[Uehara Shin]

"Maybe it is like that, Shinobi do spent a lot of their time trying to become stronger, and they all have their own reason to do so, but I honestly do admire civilians just as much as my colleagues, they do not have the opportunity to be strong, yet have to live in the same world as Shinobi." Shin looked over to the dirt bags he'd dodged before, that now hung limply on the various branches, unmoving. Maybe he should take a different approach to training, this method hadn't worked until now, so a shake-up would be in order. A different training of chakra and mind instead of involving the physical body as well, it was not his strong suit after all.

Shin looked back at Yoshitaka at his question of how hard it was to create your own technique. Shin smiled and explained, "Well, you can look at it this way, many ninja only ever learn special techniques that have been in refinement for hundreds or thousands of years, and they may still take weeks or months to learn an optimized jutsu, let alone me trying to learn something that has not been done before." Shin waved his arm sideways and in the same instant a wave of harmless, formless chakra was scattered out that a civilian would not notice, but by how obvious it was cast out into the surroundings, Yoshitaka would easily notice it, just as he would notice that it immediately disappeared. Shin shook his head as he again did not reach anything close to a complete jutsu.

Hearing the older man speak about common sense being the most useful of the 'senses' Shin couldn't help but let out a laugh, "I think it's interesting you mention it, because fighting me would surely challenge someone's common sense." He grinned, but didn't intention on mentioning any further on his own fighting style. "I think you're making a good point though sometimes keeping a clear and calm mind can be everything, in the same vein I think that 'common sense' can never be good enough to really win you a fight, there are too many factors. Of course, the best way to win a fight would be to crush your opponent through sheer strength, but that's a luxury, I'm afraid." Shin was of the opinion that no singular sense could be the best or most important, even taste could play a vital role in a fight, the problem lay in never knowing what could happen in a fight. "I think if you want to stand at the peak of strength, there is not a single sense or technique you can rely on to be the best, and I am afraid especially common sense is often being thrown out with Shinobi."

463 words

[Honō Yoshitaka]

Honō Yoshitaka

"And what sort of technique are you trying to create?" he asked curiously, watching the wisps of undirected chakra flow from the other's arm and into the air. It was practically impossible for him to figure out what it was that the young man was aiming to achieve with such a basic demonstration, and yet he was still curious about where he might be taking such a technique.

He couldn't help but laugh at the younger man's boastful claim, shaking his head slightly as the purpose of his words seemed to slip just by the two-toned youth. "And what would you say is the peak of strength?" he asked curiously, golden eyes curious but relatively open as he waited for a response. Yoshitaka could be considered strong, though he often didn't show it, and yet he wouldn't consider himself at the peak of strength. Perhaps simply high enough to be able to see how much further it actually was.

"Strength can be multifaceted after all, so where do you see it?"

It would tell him a lot about the other shinobi, to know what aspects of strength he considered important. Would he look at it from certain angles, or just consider all-encompassing power? Would he perhaps have a perspective that Yoshitaka himself had not yet considered? That would certainly be interesting, the man was always intrigued by different viewpoints after all.

Word Count: 231
Tags: Uehara Shin

[Uehara Shin]

Shin grinned, looking at Yoshitaka like he was about to to sell him the devil, it was likely quite discomforting to look at for most. He put his hands up and made a motion as if to indicate his head blowing up. "All I want is to have a dance with the senses and this technique, well, you could say I am trying to create the ball room to have this dance in. Something like this could only erver be a trump card though, if I succeed at all it's gonna be such a bother using it. So Instead I am spending more time trying to invent some funny 'cursed items'." He said, without directly explaining what he meant. Well this was another jutsu or maybe set of jutsus he was trying to invent before even what he just showed. Since Genjutsu could have visual triggers, why not make it a theme to fight with. Would it make him a sort of bukijutsu ninja if he relied on items to apply genjutsu as a sort of curse? Who knew or cared, all that mattered was that fighting in this way would give him an advantage of possible forcing his opponent to fight eyes closed, so why not? Also having a genjutsu be triggered by touch seemed like it would work as a great surprise technique.

Shin listened to Yoshitaka's words, quite curious who this guy was, but the answer wouldn't come to mind right now, so he could only treat him like a fool and play a long for now, tho he was guessing that this guy was not just a commoner, he could not be fullly sure. Since they had this conversation now though, he did not intend to disrupt it for little gain. The identity didn't really matter. "I sometimes wonder to myself if a single Shinobi can grasp what the end of the strength path can look like. Then again there are the tailed beasts and people seem able to fight them in some ways, so who knows. Hm, if I am truthfully speaking, strength depends on too many factors for a single person to truly be the strongest. People like to discredit luck, but that's sometimes all it needs, taking the right gamble. There's also connections to other Shinobi, birth, determination... So I agree with you that there's many factors playing into what gives you strength. Life is a constant battle with the world, a struggle for survival and in the end, in my oponion, the strongest are those determined enough to fight the world until the end." There he went with his impish smile again, talking around it a lot and still keeping the answer vague, but he instead decided to put Yoshitaka to the test, or maybe he just felt like teasing him. "I think you're quite strong. You're looking all dirty, but I feel like you're still going strong and are healthy enough, to the point you can sit on the floor and pry into a ninja's secrets. If nothing else that's daring and quite the strength of mind. So, you are powerful in atleast this one regard. Power or strength is not just the ability to hurt others."

536 words

[Honō Yoshitaka]

Honō Yoshitaka

A genjutsu user then, possibly utilising weapons? An interesting direction, and the younger man's attitude definitely aligned with the sort of people who practiced those sorts of techniques. Granted, every shinobi was different and had varied responses to things, but when you saw enough of them you could start to pick out behaviours common to at least lower level practitioners. Swordsmen never carried things in their dominant hand if they could help it, ninjutsu specialists rarely covered their hands, and almost never their fingers, Katon aligned shinobi tended towards a short temper... stereotypes or clues, it took time to push oneself out of them.

And genjutsu users... well, they were usually more odd than your average shinobi, to say the least.

Yoshitaka chuckled slightly, bowing slightly in the other's direction at the compliment "It is good that you would not discount someone due to their profession, sometimes people will surprise you after all. That said, the thing about fighting is that eventually you will lose. Regardless of how strong you are, you will eventually lose. How does that figure in to your view on strength? Does loss make you weak? Is fighting what makes one strong?" the golden eyed man paused for a moment and reached into his robes, pulling out a small teapot and cups, setting them up in front of him as though to prepare to make tea.

"I propose that perhaps strength comes from no longer needing to fight, to become part of the world and thus accept all that it has to offer, rather than struggle against it like a fish in a net. What say you to that shinobi-san?" A jug filled with water came next, filling the teapot as he fished a few stones out of the grass to start to put together a little firepit.

Word Count: 302
Tags: Uehara Shin

[Uehara Shin]

This man is definitely not normal, Shin could see in his mannerisms and general demeanour that he was someone with vast experience and he did not want to believe that this man, having this type of conversation with him right now, was just any civilian. He did not even react to the compliment, or maybe he had figured out that Shin was playing around. "Of course I am not underestimating anyone, I am not just a Shinobi of this country, but I am also aspiriing to find my way as a business man and help the country that way. As I said, civilians don't have the same means of a Shinobi, but I'd argue in this world they have found their own ways to fight and survive and some know how to fight and survive better then any Shinobi." He walked up to where Yoshitaka was sitting and sat down a few feet away from him. "I do think loosing to someone inherently makes one weak in that instance for being the one who lost, but loosing also does not inherently mean that someone is weak." He shrugged before continuing. "It's all relative, to me being truly strong is being able to survive and stand up to fight again. If you're truly a strong fighter, you can take on a loosing fight and figure out a way to atleast survive, well, if the power levels are relative. There just too many factors that can play into a single fight, so of course I am just generalizing.

As he watched the older man do whatever it was he was doing, apparently preparing tea, Shin did not have to think much to keep this conversation going, this was also a form of training of the mind after all. Again, Shin had a more friendly smile on his face before, but now he was showing a rather impish smile again as he replied, "I think there is no world for a human to never need to fight again, even if there's only one human left, they'll struggle to survive 'til the end of their life. Becoming part of the world is the dream of some old men and monks that have either experienced too much loss or are following a codex that they think will provide them with a clean mind. Nobody needs to purposefully interact with you and still, you might find yourself jealous of someone else for just living their life at any time." Still eager to talk more, he continued, "I think we have the same fundamental idea, but instead of trying to live in harmony, I think we, as humans, are forever doomed to fight alongside the world and will have to contend with another. The goal should be to find your own way in the struggle and experience the least loss and highest gain." He reached over and rolled a stone next to him over to the firepit to be and closed, "That is to say, your idea is more noble and ideal, but sadly not realistic in my eyes." Funny that he was a prolific trickster and liar who confused people with literal illusions, but he was talking about being realistic and not even masking his real ideas.

[Honō Yoshitaka]

Honō Yoshitaka

Deft hands set up a small fire to rest his teapot over, the little blaze contained safely within a ring of stones. "So you would place resilience as the marker of strength?" he mused as he waited for the water to boil, clearly preparing two cups of tea for the two of them, "survival above all else, to continue when others would fall. An interesting perspective." Pragmatic, a bit literal though, and perhaps a point of concern were the younger man asked to chose between mission objective and his life. Granted, the loss of a shinobi who was capable of reaching chuunin was a large cost on the village, so ideally they wouldn't be sending someone on a suicide run, but still.

Something to keep in mind going forward.

"But if you are strong enough, it is no longer a fight, ne?" he retorted with a slight smile himself, "overwhelming power can potentially prevent fights before they have started. A civilian wouldn't think to attack, say, a Kage after all. Or perhaps, rather, so strong you no longer need to advertise such strength, for nothing can harm you." There were naturally flaws in his statement, but Yoshitaka wasn't trying to win anything here, he was trying to see how the other thought, and maybe challenge him a little mentally. "I myself hope to one day reach a level of 'power' where I may be confident to live as I please without fearing that others might do me and mine harm."

Pouring tea into the two cups, Yoshitaka offered one out to the other man with a respectful bow, waiting for it to be taken. It always interested him to see how people reacted to this sort of interaction.

Word Count: 288
Tags: Uehara Shin

[Uehara Shin]

Shin kept his eyes on the fire that rose below the teapot as he weighed the words the older man spoke to him. "I think that is a fair assessment of what I would count as the basis of strength, yes. Some people would maybe call it having heart and an indomitable willpower. I think that is the basis of strength, as even someone with little talent can find a way to become strong with determination. Stand back up after 50 failures and become a hero, wouldn't that be a dream? Well, as I said, there are way more nuances to it. Age, heritage, gender, health, culture, belief and luck. I'm sure we can find many more factors, but these are a few big ones that can influence a person's strength." He looked back up at Yoshitaka and said, "In the end, strength isn't just strength. The one who wins is who matters, even if not strong in a conventional way." he kept his eyes on the man as he prepared the tea and sighed, but quickly turned the corners of his lips into a teasing smile again. "Do you think I'm a coward now? It's true, if possible I would like to stay alive as long as possible, but you shouldn't judge me based on this conversation. I'm not going to put energy into trying to convince you I'm a model Shinobi, I am definitely not, but I'm concerned with way more than just myself. Hahaha, at this point, my words don't mean much, I'm sure though you'll hear about me again." He chuckled and shook his head. He knew he sounded quite arrogant when telling other to remember his name, but that was just his confidence. Furthermore, he could lie and act crazy or be perfectly calm and unreadable, but his confidence in himself always carried with every action he took.

"Sure sure, if you can crush others with the wave of a hand or even just a look. Why would you need to fight? But even being that strong will drag out the parasites who'll try to profit off of you. Strength can benefit you in many ways and hurt you in others, again, depending on who you are and what's important to you. I agree though and appreciate your view on life, if you could protect what you care about without fighting that would be ideal. You know what, I think each country can find a balance to prevent a war, just have someone actually become strong enough to threaten to destroy a whole country, haha. Though, would he still be a protector then, or a danger to those around him." His grin wide, he was curious about what Yoshitaka actually thought about this, surely this was not the kind of power he wanted to 'protect', but if he was strong enough, would he suppress others beneath his heel? He also didn't seem like that type of man, by Shin's assessment, he was probably still thinking too small. "Heh, very well then. I am curious to see if such a person can exist, someone who can protect all that he cares about, I am rooting for you." By now his smile went back to a normal look, his appearance a more gentle than before, though with him, it was difficult to tell what he thought either way.

As the older man offered him a cup of steaming hot tea, Shin let the aroma spread for a few seconds, looking at the bowing Yoshitaka, his face blank of any emotion. It was rather rare, but Shin had developed a bit of respect for this man, so seeing him bow before him felt wrong. "I am still blanking on your name, but I do believe even as a courtesy, someone like you shouldn't bow before me." Shin took the cup of tea, but he only held it close. "Feels like you talking to me about all these ideas is already enough courtesy, let alone serving me tea." He cheekily added, "Your strengths as a man just keep piling up." Shin decided that now was the time to test this man out. He didn't give any particular assertions, but gave his doubt about the man's identity.

707 words

[Honō Yoshitaka]

Honō Yoshitaka

"It is not wrong to want to live," he assured the younger man, to survive to fight another day did not automatically brand someone with shame, "what is important is that you can live with your decisions. So long as you can look into a mirror and not hate your reflection, then who is anyone else to judge you?" He was otherwise quiet as Shin spoke, listening with an open face and an open mind, but internally building a profile for the man as well. It was important to know the people under your command, even nominally, and the more he knew of Kusa's current forces the better.

"You keep hinting at something, and almost flattering someone such as myself, I am curious as to what I have done to give you such a positive view of myself, beyond being an open ear and a source of tea." At this, he took a small sip of his cup, savouring the flavours as he appeared to close his eyes, his attention on the other shinobi. He wondered which clues had been picked up on, and which ones had been missed? How attentive was this chuunin to the inconsistancies in his disguise and his persona. It helped Yoshitaka properly tailor his disguises after all.

Word Count: 212
Tags: Uehara Shin

[Uehara Shin]

Shin rubbed his chin and then nodded. "I think you are speaking some wise words, it's important you can live with your decisions..." His thoughts seemed to drift as he felt a slight sense of nostalgia he couldn't quite explain. "Well, my Uehara family's people have defended this village in generations past, so I'll keep their memory in honor, but I'm not like them, so I'll do it my way." He smiled before shaking his head and adjusting his seating position. Sitting on the opposite of Yoshitaka, he wasn't really making mental notes of the man as much as the other, unbeknownst to him, was taking of him. The world view wasn't that exciting to Shin, but he could keep in mind that this guy liked to drink tea and eat crackers. He was like an old man. As he thought about it though, he estimated that this village and country might just be really into their tea.

Taking a sip of tea himself, he smiled at Yoshitaka. "It's good", he complimented and lowered his cup before continuing, "I am afraid I can't quite give you a proper answer. Would you believe me if I told you it's gut instinct? I deal with many people on a daily basis and while I can't figure you out, my little gut feeling is telling me to be... careful of you, I guess that's how I'd put it. More then that though, I'm doubtful of why a civilian would interrupt a shinobi's training and even so casually serve then tea and a conversation like this." He took another sip of his tea and let the taste settle in inside his mouth for a moment, keeping his eyes on Yoshitaka, "Maybe it's the instinct of someone who likes to keep secrets and disguises himself."

300 words

[Honō Yoshitaka]

Honō Yoshitaka

"Hmm," Yoshitaka mused slightly on the answer as he placed his cup down, "perhaps that might be something for you to train on then, gut instinct is good, but it is no substitute for certainty," the older man said as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "If you like to disguise yourself and keep secrets, it helps to be able to tell where flaws are." Standing up, Yoshitaka brushed himself off and then stood before the other man, a slight smile on his features.

"So, I'll confirm that there's something not quite right, I am not what I appear. It's not impossible for a civilian to interrupt a shinobi training and have conversations like these, but it is uncommon. What else might make me seem more than I appear?" he asked, giving the Chuunin a chance to really think on the issue now that he had confirmation that there was something to see.

Perhaps he might have picked up on the fact that Yoshitaka did not make a sound as he moved, even though he was dressed in relatively low quality travel stained robes that should have rubbed together. A genjutsu specialist had to consider all the senses, so Shin may pick up on that quickly. He might, if he looked carefully enough, realise that Yoshitaka stood with the casual sort of grace and balance that indicated martial training, and if he was particularly familiar, might realise that the stance the older man was in had a foundation in the Kusa academy standard resting position.

Shin might also be able to connect the fact that the mud on his clothing was not the right colour for Nohara no Kuni's roads, and had the sort of dark, almost black undertones of Bonchi no Kuni's jungles, something that wouldn't make sense for a traveller in Kusa at this point, there should have been something that had been picked up from more local areas. 

There was also the fact that Yoshitaka appeared to have no bag, or any kind of case, so where did the teapot and cups come from?

These were just some of the discrepancies that the Chuunin could potentially have picked up on, especially as a Genjutsu expert.

Word Count: 367
Tags: Uehara Shin

[Uehara Shin]

Shin nodded, it was true that his gut instinct wasn't to be trusted solely, but luckily it hadn't let him down yet either. Shin remained seated and sipped on his tea as he watched Yoshitaka stand up. Taking another sip from his colled down tea, he put the cup down and stood up and took a few steps back as if he wanted to get a better look at the older man, but what Shin was really doing, was imitating some of the man's movements, reminiscent of the style of moving he had been taught in the academy himself a lot more recently then the Hono. Shin remained standing similiarly to how Yoshitaka was standing. "I'd say that the way you move is one giveaway. Even if they try, regular civilians will always have some clumsiness to them, even if it's just making unnecessary sounds." He presented his thoughts. Shin was confident he was right in this assessment above his following guesses.

"There's also that thing of, I'm curious where that teapot came from, you seem to have some truly magical sleeves old man. I've heard of civilians pretending to do magic tricks to amuse a crowd, but this is a new one to me." He decided not to speak further on this to prevent a misunderstanding, but he thought that Yoshitaka was the kind of person who would like to watch some magic tricks. Even if he saw through the trick, he surely was the type of person to appreciate the work. Shin sadly did not understand the difference in mud that this guy had coated himself in, even if he had carefully mustered him.

Shin then shook his head. "I really stand by my point though, that you are definitely not acting like a civilian. I can not sense and form of doubt from you when facing you, I could pull out a knife and speak threatening words, but I don't think you could convince me that you are actually sacred of it." Shin, in one quick, smooth movement pulled a Kunai out of his sleeve and swung it in a circular motion around his finger. "I am not trying to say that you are not very good at disguising yourself, but I have spent my time with and around people for aslong as I can think. I am pretty good at figuring a situation out, picking information up and working through it. It also probably helps that I am a skeptic by nature and our meeting may be coincidental, but it's not natural."

Shin chuckled, amused by the two of them playing this little game, "Let's say you are a Kusa Shinobi and one at a higher rank than me. If you truly wanted to I could not figure you out as I am right now. Though to be fair, I can still only guess what your reason for appearing like this is."

486 Words