[Ikebana Kaname]

Standing near the waterfall laying down at the base of a tree, was Kaname. The boy's eyes were closed as his head rested against the trunk of a tree. From above streams of sunlight managed to penetrate the foliage and wash down on the young student. The slight rise and fall of his chest gave away that he was indeed asleep.

The hammering roar of water slamming into rock bathed the area, a foamy mist gathering at the bottom. Bits of water landed on the prone boy dampening him. With a heavy yawn and a stretch, Kaname sat up. His vibrant blue eyes scanned the areas as he waited for the person he was supposed to meet to show up. There was tales of a genin that was seeking more lessons in chakra, and while many of the others had ignored him, or even overlooked the boy due to the circumstances of his birth.

While Kaname was in no position to truly teach another, he could definitely offer to work alongside the other to help with the lessons they sought. It was better than staying home with Hajime or Kanako looking through books all day. It bored the shinobi out of his mind to always be cooped up, he didn’t know how Kanako did it. Standing up and brushing grass off his robes, Kaname examined the area.

[Saigo Shigeo]

Heat roiled off the base of the massive waterfall, scalding the surface of the water. The resultant steam made Shigeo's body feel less tense as he stood in place for a moment, gathering his thoughts. Many of his requests to work alongside other Shinobi were spurned or laughed off entirely, barring official training in Genin Team 2. After leaving the Academy, the supplementary lessons were no longer deemed necessary. Anything he needed to learn he was expected to learn on his own. So for a member of one of the more prestigious clans that resided in Takigakure to hear him out was a relief.

Even if the boy was still an academy student.

The Ikebana were renown as Shinobi for a strange talent that involved plants, somehow. Shigeo was hazy on the actual nature of the abilities, but he had heard that they required pinpoint precision and chakra control, and that was exactly the sort of expertise he was looking for. Even if it couldn't be called "expertise," someone who was constantly exposed to that kind of thing had to have valuable experience and information that he could use.

Unlike many of his peers, Shigeo rarely spent his days off at home. Instead, he was out and about learning or training himself, seeking a path forward. His dedication to success as a Shinobi had been a dream at first, but that dream was more and more a reality with every step forward that he took. It felt less difficult to throw himself into, especially after the loss of his mother.

His father rarely spoke to him anymore. Or maybe he rarely had the chance? Shigeo almost didn't want to know the truth behind that question. It was his father's stories that led him to train as a Shinobi. He didn't want to face him again until he managed to do something worthy of making the man being proud. He still remembered the weary smile that he earned when he told his father he'd become a Genin.

Beneath the bandages, Shigeo frowned. "Best keep moving. Don't want to keep this Ikebana boy waiting..."

Ikebana Kaname

[Ikebana Kaname]

Continuing to examine the area to no avail, Kaname began to feel the tell-tale signs of annoyance beginning to rise up in him. His forehead got slightly hot, or maybe that was the sun beaming down on his head, and the veins of his temples were pulsing. "What's the deal?! I’m wasting my day off waiting and he’s still not here?”

Turning towards the tree, Kaname gave it a swift kick, not focusing on the fact that he was wearing slippers. The impact was enough to send a reverberating shock from the tip of the shinobi’s big toe up and through the entirety of his leg. The tree itself? Completely unharmed. Nothing more than a few meager leaves leaving their perch to flutter down next to Kaname. Falling back onto his bum, Kaname held onto his foot nursing the throbbing toe, streams of tears retreating down his cheeks.

While slightly distracted by the pain in his foot, Kaname could tell someone was coming, glancing back and over his shoulder down the hill he saw an individual drabbed in… Bandages?

Scratching at the hair on his head, Kaname waived down to the individual. "Hey are you Saigo?! If not, this spots already taken! I have a student to train up here!” These words were said with a sense of pride as Kaname stuck his chest out, fist on it.

[Saigo Shigeo]

He found it amusing that the youth called him a "student" when those roles were pretty largely inverted. He could see the pride that the statement brought to the Ikebana boy though, and Shigeo understood that feeling. He wasn't going to tear the youth down in a small moment of triumph, especially when they got so few at that age. He wasn't much older- so he knew exactly what it was like.

"It's Shigeo," he introduced himself, though his smile was hidden behind the bandages that covered his face. " Saigo is my family name. You can call me Shigeo."

Family was presumably important to the many prestigious ninja Clans. They had complex relationships that Shigeo couldn't begin to comprehend, and so, he simply never gave it any thought. There were more important things in the Shinobi world than blood. It was pretty important, but it wasn't everything. Hard work meant a great deal more. At least, that was his take.

"If you're going to be kicking trees, shouldn't you already be focusing your chakra in your foot?" he asked of the youth, who had just finished attacking the defenseless plant when Shigeo happened on him. With slippers, at that, the Genin noted with an eyebrow quirked. Impulse?

Well, he wouldn't question it.

"So, Sensei... what are we learning today?"

Ikebana Kaname