[Itagaki Mitsumi]

Ever since Mitsumi had restarted her life, it seemed that she had gone from having nothing but time to not having enough hours in a day.

Exhaustion, both mental and physical dogged her. Between building her stamina, learning how to hunt, practicing the last few jutsu she struggled with on her own, building her combat abilities, developing her sensory abilities, pondering that strange offer of Tetsumaki's and keeping up with her regular lessons...

Who had time for sleep?

She was close to getting a grip on projecting out her senses, at least. Between the hunting expedition and trying to use it in a combat situation, it was starting to feel more natural by degrees. But she felt there was one key element missing. It required so much intentionality and focus, but that didn't match up entirely with what she had been read and been told. There was some trick to have the flow of chakra include the works beyond the body with the same naturality as breathing. Or perhaps it was just being aware of others disturbing the pool of water, even while she was not sending out ripples?

Whatever it was, it felt like the last missing piece. Not towards mastery, but so that Mitsumi could actually call herself a novice. Compared to what other people could do, she was still going to be a mere fledgling, even after she grasped this. If she could grasp it at all.

While she sat in the training area, feeling others move as they refined their own skills, Mitsumi felt, then saw, something familiar. A stranger to these lands that had helped her on this path to begin with.
Part of her wanted to leave him be. She had already taken advantage of his generosity once, and she didn't want to be a burden, or come across needy or desperate... but unless she could track down Jokyu-sensei with any speed this was likely her best bet. It had been a week and some days since then. Surely that was enough time to dispel that perception?

And... she was curious. Assuming the craftsman wasn't presently radiating out waves of detection, would he sense her approach? With a silent apology, Mitsumi slipped behind one of the natural stones in the cavernous training ground. From there she attempted to shadow and follow Muramasa, trying to get as close as she could without being detected.

She was careful to keep her hands away from her weapon pouches. No need to make the guy think he was actually being ambushed.

She just needed to see how an actual practicioner used these senses when they weren't teaching a lesson.

[Muramasa Uemon]

thoughts of future strife

---

Recent weeks had proven trying, and though he was making slow progress towards his goal, it still seemed so far.

At times, it felt as if he would never reach it... but for him, that was not an option. "Steel yourself, Muramasa." He thought, small trickles of blood dripping down from behind his left ear, collar bone, left arm, and nape of his neck.

In his bandaged right hand he grasped a small needle stained with ink and blood, his eyes staring at his own shirtless figure in the mirror of his rented room. "You are not done yet." More cloth bandages covered his left shoulder and wrapped around his chest, replacements for the uncomfortable ones he bore only days before. "Not by far."

For some time he remained, carving into his own skin the beginnings of simple, yet artful seals that would be host to his Karada Fūinjutsu. The actual sealing he would do somewhere isolated, where none could see what went inside.

Scribing these took a while, and once he was finished, he cleaned the brands as best he could and bandaged them as well. Covered in gauze like this he looked badly injured, but in truth his recent wounds were healing as well as could be expected. Sure to scar once they mended... but they would be at home among the others. He dressed, then left.

Taking only his journal along with him as he wandered the Kumogakure streets. "Ryūzaburō is nowhere to be found." He thought, placing his injured hand in his jacket pocket. "I may need to seek others." Away from this village and its ninja.

Kota was safe here— as was he, relatively speaking. And normally he would not have considered the trouble he might put a place through due to his actions. But... "Kizumi has been nothing but accommodating. Shosuke-san, as well." He would not feel right hiding behind Kumogakure no Sato's walls while he sallied out west and waged a one-man war.

Not after the village had been such an unexpectedly welcome haven to him. "Then there is the matter of the Jashinists— to the west in Hoki no Kuni." Dangerous, unpredictable allies, if he could even call them that yet. "Hm..."

One way or another, he would need to make a decision soon. "Perhaps I should write Yanosuke." His uncle had access to information he would not... but corresponding with a 'traitorous' Muramasa like him brought with it its own risks. As he thought on his predicament and continued to walk, he would have no reason to have his Sense active.

If something was further than one hundred meters from him, he would be unable to feel it. So he would continue about his stroll unaware of his being followed, making his way slowly and aimlessly through the village streets.

---

[Itagaki Mitsumi]

It wasn't often that Mitsumi got an opportunity to watch someone like this. She idly wondered what he was doing, as she crept closer and closer, seeing just how far she could get before she was detected.

He didn't seem to be on edge or at all looking for her, but she had heard that those who actually attained some mastery over the extrasensory technique never really completely turned it off. But how did that work, exactly? Was it just a mental habit? Another skill she hadn't been taught yet? Surely there was some kind of tell.

If not... well, she did need to practice her tailing skills as well. Mitsumi darted from cover to cover, group to group. If she got called out for it, she had the very believable excuse of being a student practicing her skills. It wouldn't even be a lie, exactly.

Muramasa seemed engrossed in his thoughts as he strolled. But he did appear to be doing precisely that - strolling. She crept ever closer, trying to bring him within the small bubble of her own awareness. A feat that would culminate in her 'winning' the game that only existed in her head. A bubble of awareness that was barely twenty-five meters on her best of all days. Would she be picked out of the crowd, even as she tried to stay in his blind spot? Only one way to find out.

It was kind of exciting, in its own way. And childish. But... she was working towards her goal, so what did it matter if she had a little fun along the way?

[Muramasa Uemon]

create a small blindspot for

---

Passive awareness of the chakra surrounding him was a unique phenomenon, similar to other senses yet distinct.

To feel the presence of living beings was something he could not turn off, but not every signature was potent or different enough from those nearby to recognize. Usually, he could tell if someone was trained with his Sense.

But like other senses, it was not infallible, and could be fooled provided enough stimulus. "I wonder what that overeager fool is doing now..." He thought, recalling how his uncle acted towards his companion, Ryujin Shina, when they last met. In all the world, they were among the few who could coax a smile from him. However slight. "I miss him."

Sanjō no Yanosuke was nothing if not entertaining. Words, like joy, had always come easy to him, and he always knew how to turn a sour situation around. Not like him. "I miss them all." Thoughts of his sisters, his brother, and his mother came to mind next. Still in Sake no Kuni from what he knew... but as to how they were, he had no idea. 

As his soft footsteps carried him through the sparse crowds, he eventually became aware of something unusual. Of all the signatures coming and going... one in particular had been trailing behind him for some time. Only becoming aware of it from the sheer persistence and consistency of it. "...am I being followed?" He thought, glancing to the side. 

Whoever it was, they were behind him and shifting around at a distance. Uemon made sure not to look back, lest he give away his knowing. "Hm..." An interesting development. He had enemies sure, but he doubted there were any in Kumogakure at the moment. "I suppose I should find out for certain." If only to be safe rather than sorry later.

A moment later and his pace had quickened to a more brisk walk, the wanderer weaving around some passing citizens in his path. Just enough so that if he was being tailed, they would have to speed up to match his gait.

Once he determined whether or not someone was in fact following, he would decide what to do next from there.

---

[Itagaki Mitsumi]

It seemed that she may have alerted Muramasa, as his gait suddenly lengthened and accelerated. Despite the harmlessness of the situation, Mitsumi felt her pulse quicken. It could be that he was merely trying to make haste. But if he had been alerted... how? It didn't look like he had chosen to actively 'ping' his surroundings, as best as she could tell. And his eyes had never looked in her direction.

So there was something passive there. If her hunch was right.

If her presence and tailing was irritating, she could apologize later. This kind of impromptu self-examination was better stealth training than anything she'd experienced at the academy. And she felt she was close to understanding something. There was a method to feel the world around oneself without putting one's mind to it. So how did you get to that point of automatic awareness?

Mitsumi was forced to quicken her pace to keep pace. She tugged her newsboy cap lower, trying to be another face in the thin crowd. But now that she had gotten closer, and she had a feel for where Muramasa was, she didn't need to track him with her eyes. As long as she stayed close enough...

Fighting the urge to stare at him, she kept pace, walking rapidly as she endeavoured to keep Muramasa within her current twenty meter radius. But he had stepped around that small gathering, so there was a moment where she had to pass into the open. Mitsumi wasn't the most skilled of spies, but she did know enough to avoid having her tail be a straight line to the craftsman.

[Muramasa Uemon]

a tail through the streets

---

With each and every hastened step, the signature behind him seemed to pick up its pace as well.

Having tailed people before, Uemon could tell from the way they were repositioning themselves that he was almost certainly being followed now. His eyes shifted to the side once more as he walked. "I wonder..." A trailed thought.

There was no sense in letting this continue unabated for much longer, so one way or another, he would force a confrontation. "Somewhere secluded." He thought. "Just to be safe." Another quickening of his footsteps, still light as a feather as he moved through the crowd, scanning the street in front of him. Thirty paces or so ahead was an alley.

As good a place as any to find out who this was. Relying on his skill in stealth and his own sensory abilities, the wanderer moved in front of a small group of civilians, hoping to break line of sight with his unknown pursuer.

Once he had, he would remain there until they passed by the entrance to the alleyway... before slipping away unnoticed between the two buildings. Now that he was off the street, he moved even quicker, turning his eyes upward as he made his way into the alley. "There." A hand raised and fingers pointed to the edge of one structure.

Faintly, the tips of his fingers began to glow blue, and moments later several translucent threads emerged. They shot upwards, latching onto the lip of the building's roof with the Kumu Ito, and quickly pulling him into the air.

It took only a few seconds to grapple to the roof, and Uemon promptly hoisted himself up and over the edge into a crouch. Now far above the pavement below, he crouched and stared down from his vantage. Hoping to spot whoever was tailing him if they followed into the alley. Recent injuries slowed him down, and it still hurt to move...

So he did his best to ignore the pain as he rested a bandaged hand on his thigh, near his kunai holster. "Now, to wait."

---

[Itagaki Mitsumi]

Muramasa was definitely alerted now. The pace continued to quicken, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep pace, to keep him within that fuzzy twenty meter radius, and to remain inconspicuous. But she was seeing the practical value of the sensory ability for tasks like this. Not having to rely on any of her traditional senses to keep track of her 'quarry' opened up some new routes and possibilities. It wasn't what she intened this impromptu training exercise to accomplish, but it was opening her mind up to some new possibilities.

Now, if she could just grasp the concept of expanding her awareness without it requiring constant vigilance and focus, she would actually be close to achieving something resembling mastery.

Pride begin to swell up within her, until she felt Muramasa move up. Her heart froze, and some guilt rose up within her. She was... really inconveniencing him, wasn't she? She shook her head, and forced the dread and hame at bay. Better to ask forgiveness than permission. Especially since she wanted to see how someone used a sensory ability when they weren't aware that they were being tailed.

She knew there was a method to climb up walls as easily as one walked on flat ground, but she was a long way off mastering that. And the notion of trying to scale a building, or climb another to leap between rooftops... Muramasa would give her the slip. This had gone on long enough, and she would admit defeat.

She stepped into the alleyway, hands up and empty, gaze directed upwards in Muramasa's general direction.
"My apologies, Muramasa-san," She offered out. "I just wanted to see how you used what you taught me." She kept her movements slow and deliberate, hoping that he remembered her.

[Muramasa Uemon]

between two buildings

---

Not long after his rapid ascent to the rooftop, the signature followed into the alleyway as expected.

Uemon's eyes narrowed on the figure... and upon finally realizing who the chakra belonged to, his hand fell from his thigh. "Well..." He thought, relaxing a bit as he heard the girl address him by name. "That is two questions answered."

Due to her vantage, Mitsumi would likely be able to see the top of his head peek over the edge of the rooftop, just a hint of suspicion in his mostly-neutral expression. "Itagaki-san." Came his quiet reply, squinting a bit at her. A moment later and he was gone back past the roof's edge, casually standing and repositioning to a nearby building.

A bit of chakra channeled to the soles of his feet was all it took, and he slowly began his descent down one of the alley walls via the Kinobori no Waza. Walking vertically down a wall did not make for the most comfortable of angles..

So the wanderer kept his eyes forward until he reached the bottom. "I wasn't sure who was following me for a moment there..." He said, placing his hands in his pockets once he was back on flat ground. Days had passed since he last saw her, and his new bandages made her parting wish of recovery unlikely. "You've been practicing."

Acknowledgement, though decidedly not forgiveness of her following him. Being tailed was not something he typically enjoyed. "I suppose it is mostly harmless..." He thought, his brow unfurrowing just slightly. "...in this case."

Truthfully, he was a bit curious as to how she was advancing. Some people were naturally gifted from birth, but everything he had seen about Mitsumi pointed to the contrary. "She was out drilling late, last time." Not unlike him.

So rather than berate the girl, he decided to inquire about her progress. "Has your training been coming along?"

---

[Itagaki Mitsumi]

Some shame was burrowing away at her, but Mitsumi was glad that Muramasa wasn't berating her. She may have taken things a little too far, but... it had been good practice. And she had apologized, even if he hadn't explicitly accepted that apology.

What was done was done.

Seeing him walk down a wall caused her thoughts to change, as she wondered how such a thing was possible. It clearly was, but she didn't see any hand signs from her angle. Some kind of technique. Was it like the sensory technique? A simple application of chakra? Or something else?

She could learn, in time. Though Muramasa would have likely moved on, by the time she was ready.

"I have been," She affirmed, feeling a little sheepish, now that the thrill of the chase had vanished. "And it is coming along. Thanks to your guidance, and my teachers', I feel... close to understanding it. There's just one thing I don't get." Mitsumi spoke carefully, genuinely wanting some advice, but nervous about pushing her luck too far. But if she didn't get a little greedy, she wouldn't make any progress. Mitsumi clenched her hands into fists. If she had exhausted Muramasa's patience, she'd be refused. That was the worst that would realistically happen.

She pushed more fanciful and worse fates out of her mind. "When I started, um... t-tailing you, you didn't seem like you were actively using your sensory abilities. But you definitely sensed my approach. How did you do that?" Mitsumi felt awkward about this, but it was likely Uemon held the puzzle piece that might help everything finally click into place. "It feels like there should be away to just... always be receptive to one's surroundings. Is it just a matter of practicing until it's unconscious?"

[Muramasa Uemon]

another lesson takes place

---

The wanderer listened to the student speak, offering a small nod as she spoke of how her training was progressing.

Fairly well it seemed, and after she finished, he nodded to the street. "Let's get out of this alley." He said, slowly beginning to make his way as he continued to listen. Now that he was certain there was no threat, they could leave.

Aside from not having to hang around in some dank alley, it would help to have other chakra signatures nearby to reference as he explained. "There's a sort of... passive awareness that comes with sensory capability." Uemon began, answering her question about how he noticed her presence. If it sounded a bit abstract, it definitely was.

Trying to describe how someone processed this input was like attempting to put a color into words. At least to his knowledge, there was no agreed upon way to define sensory experiences. Sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste...

All relied upon implied shared experiences that were similar enough to converse with one another about. "As you train, you'll become naturally attuned to the chakra around you." He continued on, shooting Mitsumi a brief glance as they walked and talked. "In time." He added, as this was certainly a gradual process rather than instant.

Judging from her own inexperience, he imagined her overall range to be smaller than his own. "Personally, I'm able to detect chakra within one hundred meters from my body without focusing." He said, thinking about it, then tilting his head. "Give or take." A rough estimate, but that seemed to be approximately his current range.

As best as he could tell. "I'm no expert... but I imagine the range of yours will be smaller at first." Mitsumi asked about the process of this perception, to which he nodded. "That's exactly right." He replied quietly.

Thinking back to his time in Tsuchi no Kuni, he had come a long way in his own ability since then. "I liken it something near... breathing, or perhaps blinking." They were the closest functions he could think of to demonstrate how it worked. "You can exert control over these functions, but you don't have to." It wasn't exact, but he felt the comparison was apt enough for their purposes. Chakra was a strange, nebulous concept.

So of course feeling the substance would be the same. "With enough practice, sensing will become like any other natural reflex." Came his quiet assurance, shifting his gaze forward as they walked. "Try it now." He said.

Nodding towards the people around them as they moved. "Stop focusing and see if you can feel anything."

---

[Itagaki Mitsumi]

Mitsumi had hoped that there was some simple trick, some new way to think about the world or herself that would unlock further mastery. But it seemed that once one was put on the path to understanding, they were pretty much on their own. She followed Muramasa's lead, glad that, despite the lack of some hidden key, he was still willing to help her out.

"One hundred meters? Passively?" Mitsumi's eyes widened in surprise. "I can barely manage twenty when I'm trying." She had measured it out - after all, it paid to take measurements when trying to develop a skill, to see if one was getting closer or further away from improvement. Wouldn't do to reinforce bad habits.

"Like breathing..." Mitsumi considered that soberly, then nodded. As someone who had been taught breathing exercises, and had memories of recovering from smoke inhalation, that was an apology she could understand. Sometimes it was necessary to focus on one's breathing, but it usually came naturally and without thought. Maybe the sensory ability would even extend into sleep, if adequately trained. She wasn't sure what to think of that.

"Asking me to focus on my surroundings without focusing is..." Mitsumi frowned, then gave a wan smile. "I'll... try." She filled her lungs, and fought the urge to bring her hands up in a seal to regulate the flow of chakra through and out of her. Mitsumi's eyes closed, and her lips pursed in concentration. Her brow furrowed, and she fidgeted with her clothes.

"Feels like I'm trying to walk on my hands..." Mitsumi muttered to herself. "It's... I'm not sure if I'm sensing anything, or it's just my mind playing tricks on me. Everything feels... hazy. Small." If she wasn't focusing on that unusual sense, she would not have noticed it at all. As it was, it felt like a phantom. Was her brain just producing sensations based on what she could hear? She had been practicing hard, but maybe she wasn't ready yet.

"I think... I think I might feel something? But it's close." She realized that she was just standing next to a group of people with her eyes closed, and red began to spread across her face. It was a tolerable amount of shame. At least for now. A... thing moved past her. A person? "A meter? Two?" She guessed, a shaky finger subtly indicating the man walking past her, looking towards Mitsumi incredulously.

[Muramasa Uemon]

learned on village streets

---

A small nod followed the girl's words, keeping his eyes forward as he thought of a reply. "Range will come."

Uemon said quietly, recalling his own experience in training the ability. Like anything, it was a skill to be honed and refined over a period of years, not days. "It took me many months to grow accustomed to the sensation." He thought.

Many months more for his overall range to expand, then solidify as well. The student muttered something about breathing as she seemed to ponder his words, and he nodded again. Figuring this all out would be a process. Not something to rush, but a gradual broadening of her sensory skill. "Contradictory, I know." Uemon replied. To breathe without trying to breathe, to blink without trying to blink... as soon as she was made aware, she would instinctively try. "Just... let go." He said, closing his own eyes. Lights blinked in his mindscape, vivid blue on grey.

Guiding him through the crowd almost as well as if he were using his sight. "Your mind will do the rest." As they walked, he could feel the many signatures around him. Mostly the small, calm ones of civilians, but a few more potent ones popped into his range. Shinobi on patrol, likely. "It will feel like that, at first." He said, even quieter. So that he would not break her concentration. "Then..." A trailed thought as they came to a halt, Mitsumi raising a finger to point. "...clarity." Slowly, he opened his eyes to steal a glance at where she gestured, finding the man in question walking past with a confused expression aimed at them both. "About one and a half meters." He said.

Shifting his gaze back to Mitsumi, his face relaxed a touch. Not quite a smile, or even a smirk... but something approaching approval. "You did it." Of course the girl still had a long way to go... but this was a good start. More than good, actually. "As you hone your Sense, the passive component will grow more instintive." Like how a shinobi's training might activate under duress. "I expect I'll be leaving Kumogakure soon." He said, glancing to the crowd of people. "My search, it seems, was in vain." Uemon seemed to lose himself in thought for a moment.

His mind turning westward. "If we don't meet again..." A trailed word as he returned his gaze to Mitsumi. "I wish you good fortune on your journey." He said, some sincerity in his mostly dry tone. "Continue to train." At this rate, she was already on the path to becoming a skilled Sensor Type. Behind other ninja her age, perhaps...

...but the potential was there. He had seen it, firsthand. Uemon nodded to the girl— the lowering of his head becoming a small bow before turning to leave. "You're already further along than I, when I first began."

As his feet carried him slowly away, he had only one thing left to say to the girl. "Farewell, Itagaki-san."

---

[Itagaki Mitsumi]

It seemed she was on the path towards mastery. A long path, by the sounds of things. She could barely sense anything around her, and hardly had any range, especially compared to someone who had been doing this for a lot longer than her. Muramasa didn't look that much older than she was, but... at the same time, a lot of the genin of other countries graduated from the academy while they were still preteens, or in their early teens.

But she was making progress. Between this, and the invitation to join the Tetsumaki clan, some confidence was starting to build. Maybe she could do this. Maybe she could take this path farther than her mother had.

"Oh... you're leaving?" Mitsumi asked, a little disappointed. It was selfish, but he had helped her so much already, and she had so much more to learn. More altruistically, she was feeling a bit guilty that she hadn't done anything to repay the favor. "I... I will, Muramasa-san. Thank you." She dipped her head low in a grateful bow, then straightened. "If we do meet again, o-or if you're in Kumogakure no Sato again..." She fidgeted, sensing that she had truly been intruding on Uemon's time. Mitsumi pressed her lips together. She brought her eyes up, the small smile only a little forced. "Let me get you a meal, at least. My family runs a restaurant, so..." An open invitation, but it was possible - probable - that their paths may never cross again.

Then again, she may soon be genin, and the world would open up to her.

The last comment caught her off her guard. She laughed awkwardly. "I'm behind in everything else, I'm sure." It was almost certainly true. Especially since Uemon had a whole other skillset, that of a craftsman, in addition to his knowledge of the ninja arts. "Farewell, Muramasa-san. I... I hope your arm heals soon."