[Ōorigami Asahi]

SOMEDAY WE WILL CONNECT THE DOTS AND UNVEIL THE WORLD

Asahi listened to Daichi talk about his own exam experience, and offer some insight. As he listened, he intermittently reached over and gave Mushi a couple of scratches, while keeping his attention on Daichi.

Asahi nodded, "Yeah that makes sense..." he said and paused to gather his thoughts. In truth, Asahi wasn't concerned about passing or failing for the sake of his village, or clan, or whatever. His reason for being concerned about it was a little more selfish.

"Failing would be alright I guess, but I don't know if I can say it would be fine. Becoming a chuunin comes with a lot of freedom...freedom that I need. As a genin, it feels like there are a bunch of walls around me that becoming a chuunin will tear down." Asahi added, the smile on his face fading and his words carrying the weight of a boy who felt a little stuck. But they were true.

As a genin, you couldn't freely travel the world. As a genin, some of the things he wanted to research, he wasn't allowed access too. As a genin, some of the missions he felt ready to pursue weren't even considered for him. "But thank you. Hopefully I can prove your words about me being well prepared to be true." Asahi said with the smile returning to his face.

"You said yours was in Yukigakure? I think I remember seeing that on the map. That's far north right?" Asahi asked with curiosity. Like most of the land he hadn't seen yet, Asahi's imagination ran wild with what life there could be like.

Then, his face revealed a lightbulb going off in his head. "Wait! If you're one of the Mizukage's bodyguards, then you'll be watching the exams rounds, no? Maybe you can help me with that assessment, regardless of if I pass or fail. Let me know at the end where I can improve?" Asahi proposed.

Notes: 

Tag: yamaguchi daichi

MADE BY MINNIE OF FTS & GS

[yamaguchi daichi]

I COULD EAT THE WORLD RAW

Daichi remembered what it was like, before he even enrolled in the academy—stuck at home in Hoka no Mura, waiting impatiently for the day that the Pathfinder and his mom allowed him to travel to Kirigakure. As an academy student, frightened of every interaction, terrified of accidentally revealing clan secrets with his mistake of a right eye. As a genin, traveling back to the clan every month to report on his progress to the Pathfinder, his ambitions as a shinobi constantly at odds with his responsibility to the clan—and even now as a chuunin he felt the strain, the weight of his status as heir to the clan clashing with his fierce, urgent devotion to his role as Lord Mizukage’s bodyguard. He made a small, sympathetic noise. His words failed him, but he understood intimately where Asahi was coming from. "I think you will,” he said encouragingly. At Asahi’s next question, he tried to picture a map in his mind, recalling the path they took to get to Yuki no Kuni. "Way up north, yeah, kinda northwest of Kaminari no Kuni,” Daichi said. He gestured vaguely to the air in front of him. "If Mizu no Kuni is here, then Kaminari no Kuni is here, and Yuki no Kuni is all the way over here. We took a ship. It was… cold.” Obviously, D. He scratched the back of his head. Asahi lit up suddenly, and Daichi listened to his proposal. He hesitated before he responded—he was pretty sure he would be on duty for the entire length of the exams, at least as his direct orders were concerned, he was going to be Lord Mizukage’s constant companion while the rounds were ongoing, and at least in a one-kilometer vicinity during downtime. He didn’t need to share that, though. Asahi was nice enough, and they were having a good conversation, but he knew better than to share anything close to the Mizukage’s protection details to a foreigner. "I can… try,” he said hesitantly, scratching Mushi’s back. "I don’t know how much help I’d be, and I’m not really sure how much of the exams I’m going to be directly observing, and I’m not exactly a sensei or anything, but… I can try?” He grinned, patting the pouch where he had tucked away Asahi’s address. "I’ll be writing anyway, right?”

Ōorigami Asahi -- 399

LAIKA OF THQ

[Ōorigami Asahi]

SOMEDAY WE WILL CONNECT THE DOTS AND UNVEIL THE WORLD

After Daichi gave his response to the additional proposal, Asahi waved his hand and if shooing away the comment he was about to address. "Nonsense. Anyone can be a sensei, even if for just a moment," Asahi said, believing those words as truth.

He knew that one could learn from almost anything in the world around them. That's what made living so fun! There was so much all around them. A vast ocean. Before he got to lost in thought, his own words brought him back to the moment. "And yes, suppose you will," Asahi answered the rhetorical question with an excited smile.

Unless Daichi said something to fill it, Asahi would let a brief silence settle between them as he went from his leaning sit, to laying down in the grass, head and attention still turned to Daichi. It didn't take long for the green haired boy to find something to break it. With a sudden change in topic, he turned his head to look up at the sky.

"What are your thoughts on immortality? Or at the very least pursuing the extension of our lives beyond the accepted average length right now, even if not indefinite? Do you think it's even possible?" After bringing it up, Asahi turned his head back to Daichi with eyes just as curious about his thoughts on the matter as they were about his chuunin exam experience.

So far in life, he had met a man who convinced him it was possible, and a man who scolded and forbade him of it. And the one who had convinced Asahi of it being, also got him to agree to help him pursue it.

Right now Asahi was more inclined to go with that man, despite it being forbidden of him. But where would Daichi land on the spectrum of opinions this topic had?

Notes: 

Tag: yamaguchi daichi

MADE BY MINNIE OF FTS & GS

[yamaguchi daichi]

I COULD EAT THE WORLD RAW

Maybe there was some truth to Asahi’s words, logically speaking, but it was hard for Daichi to connect the idea to himself personally. He could help academy students get the basics, maybe, teach a genin a jutsu or two, but… he couldn’t claim expertise in anything, not really. For every skill he practiced, there was another shinobi who had practiced it longer, someone else with a deeper understanding of the material or more experience in practical applications. If anyone came to him directly for tutoring—there was almost definitely someone else more qualified. Something to think about. Asahi had given him a lot of that over the course of one conversation. And then the other boy hit him with another hard question: immortality. Daichi followed Asahi’s gaze to the sky, his eye lingering briefly on the other boy’s profile before looking up into the cloudy beyond. "I dunno,” he said, his brow furrowing deeply as he thought. His fingers trailed lightly over Mushi’s stomach, dipping into the crevices of her extra legs to massage the joints there, calloused fingers rubbing over thickly corded scar tissue. "It’s probably possible, right? Chakra isn’t magic, but there’s so much we can do with proper control and training that’s miles beyond what any regular person can achieve. I think it’d be pretty arrogant to say that it’s impossible, but…” He trailed off, taking some time to carefully pick his words. "I mean, would you want it? To keep going after everyone you know is gone?” Daichi’s hand slipped to the other side of Mushi’s belly, giving her other extra armpit the same tender care. "Kids usually outlive their parents and grandparents, but… outliving your own kids? Your parenter, your friends, your neighbors, all of their kids? Their grandkids? It just sounds… really lonely, I guess. And tiring.” Death was a constant in their lives—in every shinobi’s life. Risk was omnipresent. The residents of Kirigakure knew this better than most: that one day, everything you know and love could simply vanish in a haze of fury and rampant destruction. Persisting despite it all was just the way of things. But how much grief could one person bear?

Ōorigami Asahi -- 375

LAIKA OF THQ

[Ōorigami Asahi]

SOMEDAY WE WILL CONNECT THE DOTS AND UNVEIL THE WORLD

Asahi's golden eyes stayed on Daichi as he answered the question. A slight smile spread across the Konoha genin's face as Daichi confirmed his own opinion. It was possible, or at least, even if they couldn't say it was certainly possible yet, calling it impossible didn't seem right either.

Chakra had given their society their society the ability to do incredible things over time. Who was to say, that wasn't next? Daichi continued with carefully picked words. Words that made the smile from Asahi's face go back to neutral as he thought about the question returned. And it was one he hadn't ever really considered.

If it were possible, would he want it?...

Asahi had been pursuing immortality for another, not for himself, so he hadn't even considered that. But Daichi was right. If an individual gained immortality, but those around them didn't, they would have to face those consequences. Asahi looked away as he considered it. "That does sound really lonely and tiring..." Asahi started, still looking out ahead of them. He let out a hum as he considered his own words.

"I- Hmmm. I'm torn. Think of all the things one could experience, outside of that loss. There are so many things to learn and see in this world, and not only is our time here limited, but as we age, our ability to do so diminishes. Maybe not living forever, but if there was a way to delay that degrading, or extend that cycle, I think I would be inclined to take it..." Asahi answered honestly, looking at Daichi again.

"After all there's no guarantee that we won't outlive those people anyway right, if they are, or grow to be shinobi as well, right? If some of those people are civilians then that changes things a bit, but even then, civilians die in our conflicts as well as soldiers, no?"

Asahi's tone didn't match the morbid nature of his point. It wasn't that he was sad at the possibility of his statement. It was as if, even at his young age, it was something that his brain already accepted. "I guess it would be a decision I would make in the moment it was offered, based on all those things...or maybe I should just say I don't know..." Asahi concluded and let out a small laugh at himself. He hated saying he didn't know, and was laughing at how he avoided that here. Maybe not a satisfactory answer, but an honest one.

Notes: 

Tag: yamaguchi daichi

MADE BY MINNIE OF FTS & GS

[yamaguchi daichi]

I COULD EAT THE WORLD RAW

Or maybe I should just say I don’t know. Daichi huffed quietly, a not-a-laugh that acknowledged the roundabout path Asahi had taken to get to that one, simple little statement. "I don’t know either,” Daichi said honestly, scritching Mushi more vigorously now—trying to let go of some of the tension that was starting to wind through his body, weighted as he felt by such a heavy topic. "I guess it depends on what you value, right? Maybe you’d outlive all those people normally anyway, but… at least normally, you’d only have to bear it for so long. Maybe that’s easier for some people, but I don’t know if I could handle it. Even if it wasn’t immortality, just an extra long life… if I had to outlive the people I cared about, I think I’d be comforted knowing that it wouldn’t have to be for very long.” Maybe that was grim, but it was the truth. If his mom had died in the Sanbi rampage, or if something happened to his dad, or if Toru— No, that wasn’t a path worth following. It was his job to make sure nothing happened to the Mizukage. If anything happened to his lord, then it should be because Daichi was already in the ground. He glanced up at the sky—and noted with some surprise that the sunlight filtering down through the thick mist was coming from a completely different angle than it had when he’d first arrived. "Oh, jeez,” he said, gently pushing Mushi away so that he could get to his feet. She flopped over in the grass, apparently unbothered by this new bout of manhandling. "I should get going—I gotta make the rounds. Always on the job, you know?” He hesitated, that flush creeping up his neck again, then tentatively said: "Hey, uh… thanks. I, um—this was really nice. I hope—I mean, it’s probably not gonna, everything’s, you know—but if we get the chance—it’d be nice to, uh. Do this again.” Speaker of the year, D. Get this guy an award.

Ōorigami Asahi -- 340

LAIKA OF THQ

[Ōorigami Asahi]

SOMEDAY WE WILL CONNECT THE DOTS AND UNVEIL THE WORLD

They both spoke honestly, and Asahi listened as Daichi continued the conversation. The black haired boy's words, again, struck something in Asahi. It was clear that he was torn. Without the comfort that he mentioned, would Asahi be able to get over the loss of the people he cared about? But still, couldn't he be faced with that situation tomorrow? ~Is there anybody you care about that much?~ Self-reflective questions started to bombard the green haired boy's head, broken only by Daichi's reaction to looking up at the sky.

As Daichi spoke on how he should get going, Asahi let out a sigh through his closed mouth. Not a sigh of disappointment, but a sigh of content. He had enjoyed Daichi's company, this feeling that was flowing through him that he didn't have words for but knew it was...good. But, Asahi knew this interaction couldn't last forever. But hopefully they would talk again soon right? If the letter plan worked out, they would hear from each other again...

Still sitting, Asahi looked up at the Daichi that towered over him with a soft smile, as he expressed wanting to do this again. The Konoha genin suppressed the voice in the back of his head that told him Daichi's words before the expression were probably true. With the relationship between Konoha and Kirigakure, there was a chance they would never interact again after this.

Even if that was the case, Daichi had solidified himself in Asahi's memory in such a short time. Asahi didn't hesitate or stumble over any of his own words, and he didn't hide the desire and excitement behind them. "I would enjoy that, so I hope we do!"

Asahi held that smile and his look at Daichi until Daichi and Mushi would leave, watching the black haired boy go. "Take good care of yourself and Mushi until I see you next!" he called out in a whisper yell. Then, he laid back on the ground and looking up at the sky. More rays of sun were peeking through the mist, and it was a beautiful sight. The world around him seemed to glow, and he couldn't stop smiling.

Notes: 

Tag: yamaguchi daichi

MADE BY MINNIE OF FTS & GS