[Hōzuki Keneō]

Training exercises going to the extreme, missions alongside others and by himself, as well as a lot of police work and patrolling, those were the bricks and blocks which Ken's life had been constructed with over these last weeks. Traveling to the land of storms had been something he had very much been wanting to do because he wanted to get an idea of what the place was like, and what the general area surrounding the Chuunin exams would be like. While it wouldn't serve to provide him with a massive head start or any kind of special benefits, it was the sort of thing that helped ease his mind to some degree. Luckily, there was a Jounin from the village that was fine with acting as his escort, likely because they too wanted to see what spectacle would be thrown at Kiri's Genin.

Truth be told, Ken did not know a whole lot about the Jounin other than a first and last name. He was aware of the clan too, as he had met with one of them some months ago that had requested his help with a training exercise, showed up in what seemed like a drunken stupor and proceeded to chase him down with clones and wolves made up of lightning chakra. By the end of it, Ken had been left miraculously unharmed, though he had also not managed to land a blow on the Gure. The only positive aside from not being hurt was that he had managed to dispose of a good deal of their clones with his own techniques and proper planning. It made him wonder if the two of them were similar, and just how closely related they were.

Under normal circumstances, he more than likely would have asked them about it head on, though recent developments had done a fair number on him. When his grandmother had passed away a few months ago, part of him had been sad, but the majority of him had been happy for her as she believed that she would get to see Ken's parents and uncle again in the afterlife after having lived a full life. The opposite was true when the only other member of Team 3 had been killed on a mission. It was the kind of thing that had left an invisible scar on his soul as being the sole member of the cursed team, the team that had never had any other members or a sensei to speak of, which had prompted him to just keep training and working hard on his own.

This had made for a rather quiet trip as he wasn't much of a conversation starter, though he was more than willing to answer when asked.

[Gurē Aoi]

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Here in the Garden

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S

he had missed going to the exams that An went to and this made Aoi feel bad. While she couldn't go back in time and watch her cousin participate again she could at least in spirit help the other genin who was going to this exam. One of which was a boy who seemed to never be able to keep a team together. They didn't have a sensei or other teammates which was a bit strange to Aoi, but whatever she was willing to help. Picking him up at the gate of Kirigakure the two would travel to the land of rain in rather silence. It wasn't like Aoi couldn't speak first, but she was a stranger to the kid and she didn't want to make him feel like an odd duck for just speaking his ear off so instead she waited for him to initiate the conversation.

Sadly they made it all the way to Otobe, the place where the exams would take place, without so much as a word. While she knew she was only a temporary escort at best and not his sensei she felt bad about this situation he was in with her. So she decided they would need to get things done correctly this time while in the land of rain. Stopping at one point she would turn to the boy and ask, "Tell me about yourself." A pretty straight forward ask if she could say so herself hoping he would be able to articulate an answer that would satisfy her.

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Date ♛ Outfit ♛ Tags

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[Hōzuki Keneō]

For so much as he had been able to see, he could tell why the lands here were dubbed 'Arashi no kuni', as the weather seemed highly untrustworthy and the amount of downpour made the name 'Hidden Rain' pretty on the nose. Luckily for the two of them, the trip so far had been relatively 'dry' as far as the weather went, only experiencing a little bit of rainfall shortly after entering the country. But it wasn't like damp clothes were really much of an issue for someone such as Ken, for reasons that should have been pretty obvious. With how quiet the trip had been up until this point, he had honestly not expected for them to take a break here and for him to be asked about himself now.

"Uhm... i'm not really sure where to start, Aoi-sensei."

Even though he fully knew that Aoi was not his sensei, as he had honestly never had one, he had also called Sora sensei, and would have called Toru the same if he hadn't already been Mizukage, and would therefore need to be approached by that particular title first. But he had been raised to address people with the honors their ranks and actions had earned.

"My name is Keneō, though most call me Ken. I'm from the Hozuki clan and a member of Team 3... the only member of Team 3."

Stopping where he did, he thought about bringing up the fact that the other member of the squad had died not that long ago, though he imagined most within the Hidden Mist would be aware of that by now, especially those who held a considerably greater rank than himself. It was something he very much held close to his heart as it seemed to mark the exact moment when he became truly alone in a way. But that realization had strengthened him to close out and cut off the parts he no longer needed and to focus himself on the future he wished to obtain, which all started with the rank of Chuunin.

"But I worked pretty hard by myself to be able to take part in the Chuunin exams, so I appreciate that you would take me there early."