Making Water Less Boring [Samejima]

[Koizumi Mao]

A whole ocean trapped beneath the surface. Personally she didn't really believe it was true when she'd heard about it from her sister, which sparked a little investigation of her own. Finding this place was much easier than she thought once she knew what to look for. It was quiet and tranquil; without distractions. Perfect for a particular type of training she's had little time to work on. Rather than remain by the shore, she threw herself into the clear water, swimming out a few hundred feet toward a grouping of rock that jutted out from the ocean to form a small island. She didn't mind being wet, as she hadn't had much time to learn the intricacies of walking along the water's surface just yet.

It didn't take her long to reach the portion of earth, climbing up to her feet in the middle of the empty cave in order to begin preparations. She reached back into one of her pockets, pulling out a long, soaked strip of brown cloth. Her head tilted downward, she took the time to cover her eyes, wrapping around her head multiple times and looping it through a few of the layers to ensure it wouldn't untangle itself without tying it too tightly. Seeing was sometimes a distraction when she was still trying to understand this new feeling - like her sense of touch extended past the soles of her feet, pulsing in the small section of ground around her. The girl took a deep breath, knees bending slightly to crouch into a firm stance.

Once her muscles hardened, it looked as if she were as unmoving as a statue, giving not even a single twitch until her foot rose to take a step. The movement was smooth and swift, evenly calculated. Once the sole of her foot touched the ground again, another pulse extended beneath the surface, even going so far as to gently ripple the surface of the water around her as if an unseen stone had been cast into the ocean. There was another step, and again another ripple, the loose pebbles at her feet shaking with the odd tremors. Water dripped from her skin, slowly raising her fists up from her sides before locking them in place again. The blindfolded girl waited a few moments for a calm silence to fill the air once again. Just as the quiet tremors came to an end, her right arm shot forward like a spring-loaded trap, knife hand jabbing at the air with enough force to cause an echo to vibrate along the cavern walls.

 

[Samejima]

She's been coming out to relax way too much, she keeps telling herself that, but it never really worked in her favor as it just made her want to come out here more. The lack of people this time of the day made her want to just lay there and extend the period of time where she 'patrolled' the Undersea area, despite nothing out of the ordinary ever happening here. It was one of the few reasons why she would ever spend so much time doing nothing anywhere; it doesn't change, doesn't demand her attention, doesn't start causing trouble, doesn't make weird noises...

Was that a weird noise she heard? Booms or... something, from the center of the water? There was another, then something caused an echo to reverberate through the cave, as if the very air shook from some disturbance originating from the center of the water-filled area. Hairs on the back of the genin's neck stood on end as she sensed a human-like figure when the echo bounced back, only it didn't seem quite... right. The echo had travelled quite a distance, and due to having been bounced around it was received after it was distorted by a bunch of mixed echoes. Wh-wh... what's in the middle there... Recently, she's heard some legends that the storeowners have been telling her about a deceased midget of a jounin, who practiced day and night in that very spot... And he died fighting some Sunagakurian crows up top but that wasn't the point. Some say that if you get there at just the right moment, you'll catch wind of the practice he's endured and the ghostly echoing of the jounin's training could not only be heard, but also felt. A chill ran down Naoki's spine as the echo told her the figure in the middle of the Undersea was a tall, buff humanoid who seemed to be floating off the surface of the island in the middle.

She approached the situation carefully, hiding behind a few of the rock formations on the beach and hoping another sound would be made, or she would have to go and investigate that all on her own... as a genin of Sunagakure, it was her duty to dispel urban legends! Or something! It wasn't like some ethereal thing could physically harm her, but she didn't want to be cursed or anything like that... She figured if she waited a bit the figure might just dissipate once more or something, but as she attempted to very slowly sneak her way a little closer to the source, she stepped on a piece of a discarded fishing rod and let out a little yelp of surprise, stepping back towards what she thought was where another rock formation was... but there was nothing.

Bottom line is, she tripped and fell on her behind into the water, back facing it, very much afraid to try and snap her fingers to better identify the source of the earlier echo.

 

[Koizumi Mao]

Her body came to pause after the thrust of her hand, as if she'd been petrified into a stone statue in that very position. She was getting better. She could feel it. In the back of her mind, Mao couldn't help but think that she'd be scraped or stabbed in some way if her body were to make the smallest twitch, even though she was completely alone...

Or was she alone? At this point, her lack of sight kept her from knowing for sure. She didn't see anyone when she made her swim out to this spot, at the very least. Continuing on with her training, another step was taken, which caused another rumble to gently pulse across the floor of the cavern. While silent, Naoki's sonar-like abilities could no doubt sense the vibrations that rippled across the water and reached dry land. This time, she bent forward, palm planting firmly against the stone she stood upon, her leg thrusting aside with the same unnatural force that swept an echo along the cavern. Flexibility was just as important as her strength. It has already saved her life more than once. Another deep breath, and she moved to stand up straight again, which sent yet another pulse to extend along the cavern floor around her.

The Genin certainly had the tools necessary to keep a rough idea as to where exactly the figure was along with each of the rumbling pulses and sharp echoes. Her training continued, switching between solid stances and quick, concise motions that her physical discipline had brought her. Her hands rose again, another deep breath taken as her left foot rose. The tell-tale sign of another mini-quake was brought along at the exact same time an unfamiliar yelp of surprise rang into her focused attention. Her head immediately perked and swiveled, as if trying to discern where the voice had come from. "Wha..." Her concentration broken, her body loosened up again. It wasn't until the tiny ripples that flowed across the water's surface finally reached the fallen Genin that Mao could sense the intruder's exact location, turning her head toward the source of the disturbance.

"Uhm...Are you okay...?" The girl's timid tone wasn't exactly the voice you'd expect to hear from a midget jounin spectre. She wasn't so sure whether the other person had come to her senses after the fall or not; the heavy cloth strapped over her eyes was at fault for that. Was someone else here the whole time? Or did they just show up? Maybe she was in trouble for bringing her training into this area. In her defense, she saw no sign or heard anything about restricting such activities here.

 

[Samejima]

Splashing backwards after turning to face the source of the voice as if it made a difference, Naoki couldn't do much more than hope the midget jounin spectre didn't have a thyroid problem that caused his voice to not mature past childhood, before realizing the voice was that of a girl. Then again, said midget jounin spectre could've just been masquerading as a member of the male species, before realizing that wouldn't have been necessary in the least and that it was far more likely that the stories she was told had no bearing on the current events than that those stories were somehow true but false at the same time. A good few seconds passed before she snapped out of it long enough to remember what the voice was saying to her, and she scrambled to stand up and dust herself off with all the wet sand now sticking to her clothes. "Uh, yeah! I'm okay!" she shouted in the direction of the not-a-ghost, and waved to show her okayness.

Still, she wondered what the girl was doing here in the first place. Not being able to make out any details, she decided to try and get a little closer. "I'm coming over there, is that okay?" She did have to ask, it felt like she had been intruding on a super secret special skilling spot and it would've been rude to just swim over there... Or, well, she did need to have her clothes dry for the rest of the patrol so she went ahead and just jogged over the water if the girl gave her the ok.

The only thing that would've changed if she hadn't been allowed over onto the isle of tremors was the volume of her voice, or the location in which they spoke, as Naoki was most likely to have just shouted over there anyway asking about "how'd you make the ground shaaake?" and "what's your naaaame?" if the distance was large. Otherwise, she'd probably introduce herself first to try and reduce any suspicions the girl might've had and explain herself as to why she'd decided to intrude that way. "Hi! I'm Samejima Naoki, longtime genin on patrol. Hope I didn't distract you too much? I was just here on patrol, didn't mean to barge in..."

[MFT]

 

[Koizumi Mao]

Those few seconds of silence were a little uncomforting for the girl, being momentarily left to wonder just what was happening. Her developing sixth sense did manage to catch the exact location of a body where the yelp and splash came from, even taking another step toward the edge of the tiny island she was dwelling on. Maybe someone was drowning? Not likely, as the water should be pretty shallow that far away. She certainly hoped it was another person, instead of some scary alternative, a few thoughts of a scary sea monster coming to get her flashing through her mind.

Good thing she heard a shout back before her imagination took too much control over her thoughts, though the blindfold stopped her from seeing the supplementary wave. "Yeah, it's cool." She had no reason to deter another visitor. Practicing her form could always wait; maybe next time she should make sure that she is actually alone before doing so. Once the Genin began making her way closer, Mao reached up to undo the bandaging wrapped around her head, freeing her eyes from their dark prison. She couldn't help but blink as she took in the sight of the other girl...jogging over the water? Wow, that's a pretty cool trick. She never payed much mind to the prospect of swimming across bodies of water, but treating it like solid ground surely has it's benefits.

"Nah, it's alright. Just keeping myself busy is all." She chuckled off any concern Naoki may have on intruding. Oh, wait, she introduced herself! She could already imagine her sister snapping at her to not be rude. "Koizumi Mao, just another academy student. Nice to meet ya." Just as she extended her hand for the other girl to shake, she finally took note of the headband that was obviously blinding her. "Hm, isn't it a little weird to blindfold yourself while you're out on patrol? Kinda defeats the purpose." She casually noted.

 

[Samejima]

And so the walk over to the middle of the cavern was made, and as the girl spoke, Naoki realized she wasn't scary in the least and cracked a good-natured grin. "Ah, Koizumi? Are you related to Koizumi Tsubaki-san?" The name clicked in her head immediately, having met the older Koizumi recently. She also tried to pick out any physical similarities they might've had, though she wasn't used to doing such and found it hard to pick anything out despite any similarities that might've been evident to a regular person. "Oh, um... Yeah, I can't really use them on a regular basis anyway so I cover them for... personal reasons." She didn't like thinking about those too much, but the constant reminder was probably something she'd decided on a whim. After that it just became her trademark, or at least that's how she saw it, and it got to a point where she figured it'd be awkward to just show up anywhere without her headband over her eyes. Image being important to the blind girl.

"An academy student huh! Days back in the Academy were tough, but it was all well worth it so good luck! What've you started to learn so far?" It was an attempt at tension-breaking, whether or not any was present. That and she was curious as to how the Academy was treating its students now. It wasn't like she couldn't visit, but there's been fewer and fewer excuses to head over there now that Sunagakure is slowly replenishing its manpower.

 

[Koizumi Mao]

During their conversation, she'd momentarily glance down at her hands, quickly wrapping the cloth she'd untied from her head across her wrist in a practiced fashion. The genin's connection brought her head to perk back up. "You met Tsubaki already? She always makes friends pretty quick." A smile crossed her lips as she confirmed Naomi's guess. While the blind girl couldn't easily pick up on the defining physical features shared between those in a familial relationship, she could at least tell that they had a very similar height and build for their age, though Mao was less twiggy than her older sister and had obtained some muscle from her physical activities. "She acts more like my mom than my sister, but she's the best. Just don't tell her that." Her smile evolved into a little smirk at her crack.

Naomi's explanation, however, brought her smirk to fade once she realized that her headband blindfold was much less of a blindfold than she originally thought. "Ouhh..." She's blind. Of course she's blind. And Mao had to make it sound like she was making a joke about it. If Tsubaki or that nameless jounin caught her saying something like that, they'd probably try and make her take those sensitivity training courses that apparently exist. She immediately brought her gaze back down at her hands, fidgeting with the thick brown cloth she worked to secure over one of the appendages. "I mean um...That's cool and all. It probably makes you look like a badass on missions and stuff." Was she making it worse? She was making it worse, wasn't she? Maybe she should just stop talking about it. And that was where Naomi's commentary was very convenient, bringing another smile across her lips now that the topic had changed. "It's not so bad. The worst part is listening to some of the other kids complain." When asked about what she'd learned, Mao made a pause. It wasn't so much that she had to think of what she'd learned since becoming an academy student, but trying to think of what would be appropriate or worth telling. "Ah...Just basic fighting forms; etiquette; that kinda stuff." Making small tremors in the earth and echoes in the wind wasn't that basic, and the most she'd learned about etiquette was a result of her altercation with a rather sensitive jounin.

[MFT][WC: 394]

 

[Samejima]

Naoki grinned a sizable grin as she nodded and kept herself from launching straight into question mode. "I think I remember something about you guys moving around a lot... Was it tough, packing up and leaving people so much? I can't imagine just up and leaving Sunagakure, but then again I guess you guys started while you were pretty young?" She caught herself before going into a speech and added, "By the way, lemme know if I start to ramble okay? I'm known for talking people's ears off if they let me..." Her head dipped slightly in apology.

It seems she had made the girl think her lack of eyesight was something she was still too sensitive about to speak of. Quickly, she tried to think of some way to defuse the notion in case Mao felt bad about it. "Ahh yeah, it does look pretty cool too! I mean, I don't care that much about how cool I look, but it scares some people when they see my eyes, so there's that... The others do complain quite a bit huh? When people used to complain to me it was pretty fun to listen to though, like weird instructors or dangerously broken floorboards... Useful things to know sometimes!" Nodding, she tilted her head in thought. "Etiquette is the one thing that doesn't come to mind all that quickly..."

 

[Koizumi Mao]

She wasn't so shocked by the standard question - it's likely she's heard it once or twice beforehand. "We've been pretty mobile since I can remember. I guess it's not bad when you know that you're gonna leave soon, ya know?" It meant she never made any lasting relationships outside from her family, which is what made moving around for so long so easy. "We're gonna be here for a while though with this huge project we got pulled into. Wouldn't have entered the academy if we weren't." Mao certainly didn't seem to mind Naoki's knack of going into tangents. She felt as if she did the very same at times.

Hearing how the blind girl didn't fret much on her supposed disability did help regain a little confidence in the student. "Scary eyes? That sounds pretty cool." She was definitely curious, but didn't quite muster up the courage to blatantly ask if she could see them. That whole ordeal with the ominous assassin really managed to throw her off of her game; speaking of which, "Really? I practically got my head bitten off by one of the big league shinobi." She may have embellished a little, but not as much as one might think. In fact, this seasoned genin might just have some unbiased insight on just how ridiculous that situation really was. Once that idea popped into her head, the tangent began. "There's this classmate of mine that's really stubborn when it comes to training, like he doesn't think he needs to handle himself in a fight to be a ninja. So our instructor for the class gives him this big metal spike at the end of the lesson and tells him that he's gotta punch it into a dummy. He thought it was totally impossible to do that without maiming yourself, so I bet him that I could do it no problem." Nothing out of the ordinary so far - in her mind, at least. She even raised her hands and made a few light jabs in the air to illustrate, only to realize that Naoki wasn't capable of witnessing the act at all, making it entirely pointless.

Turning her head back toward the genin, one of her hands idly rubbed the back of her neck. "Ehm...yeah...So I punch the thing through the dummy. I get a free snack at lunch the next day and he learns that it's important to train. It's a win-win, right?" One could only hope. Finally, she was getting to the entire point of the matter, looking rather exasperated while doing so. "Then this mysterious lady shows up and says I'm a psychopath, and I gotta take classes on empathy or something. Do those even exist?" It was quite clear that there was a mistranslation somewhere - the poor girl was obviously confused. "And Tsubaki even shows up and freaks out because my hands are bleeding, and pulls me away when I was trying to figure out what I did wrong. Apparently I didn't consider the boy's feelings when I made a bet about a lesson for him; something like that." It was still laying heavily on her mind, giving way a huff of exhaustion to signify the finality of her rant. Once realizing just how much she spilled out into the open, her gaze drifted aside. "Sorry. Looks like I'm the one talking people's ears off this time, huh?"

 

[Samejima]

Naoki was genuinely surprised at the detachment Mao displayed towards making lasting relationships, likely thinking every other kid her age would've wanted to make as many friends as possible everywhere they went. The idea of travel, at least for short periods of time, had always appealed to Naoki, though that idea of not knowing anyone in the area put her off it for quite a bit. It seems however, that her problems have been solved with that little realization... Of course, she wouldn't be making any of those sorts of plans until after she was sure she could handle herself out in the world, but it was a good thing to consider. She mostly just nodded in response, face in a neutral expression... Not that much of it was visible, but her eyebrows were probably the most expressive part of her face at that point.

"For... etiquette?" She waited for Mao to finish speaking her piece after hearing something about big league shinobi, not familiar with any idea of unspoken rules to follow besides don't be an outright jerk to your comrades. She nodded along as she listened, though she hadn't exactly encountered an instructor who would give their student such an impossible seeming task and not expect him/her to quit right away... After all, it seems the student in question wasn't looking to get any stronger, so the ambition wasn't there... was it? After a quick giggle at the boons gained from said bet, those eyebrows of hers furrowed more and more as the recount went on, not sure what to make of said mysterious shinobi and of the young student's hands having been bleeding. "Ahh, no worries! It's refreshing to be able to hear someone talk for that long for once actually, hahaha!" She could tell she was going to get along well with this one. Clearing her throat, she continued, "Well... generally you're not expected to handle anything that would cause you to bleed before starting training as an official genin, so Tsubaki-san was right to have been worrying about you then, but I've personally never heard of empathy classes... At least not at the Academy. Was that lady a Suna-nin? Maybe where she came from people were expected to take classes on empathy...?"

Naoki snorted a little in confusion, looking up and to the side to try and think, not sure why anyone needed to take classes on something that should be a basic human component. You were either bad or good is how she currently thinks of the people of the world, and those who were bad needed to be either reformed or killed. The concept of empathy was something Naoki hadn't learned much about, and she currently was assuming everyone had empathy in them while those who didn't simply weren't acknowledging it. "I doubt you need to take any classes on that though, you're nice... And you were just trying to help!" Thoroughly stumped, Naoki's head was almost fully tilted to the left in thought before she shrugged and shook her head, "As long as you're helping people, and making sure that they do it themselves too at some point, it should be okay to help them with stuff like that, so good work~"

 

[Koizumi Mao]

Making friends was all well and good, but when you knew you weren't going to be there long, there was little incentive to bond with strangers. Being kind and courteous to others was a virtue she was raised to uphold. Any further level of intimacy normally shared between close friends, such as learning to know their general thoughts or feelings, was something she'd never experienced outside of her siblings and parents. Probably strange to people who resided in a single place their entire lives, but often it was a quirk others had difficulty in noticing during their limited contact.

Still, yapping off about the problem that had been mulling around in her head to a new acquaintance was rather embarrassing. Mao couldn't help but chuckle somewhat bashfully at Naoki's response. Regardless of how she felt on the matter, though, the outside insight into the confusing situation was valuable to her. "Really?" She couldn't help but feel both relieved that any dreaded empathy schooling she'd been threatened with really didn't exist, and confused by the presumption that academy students shouldn't face any amount of rigorous training. "I mean, she looked like she was. Had the headband and everything." She briefly gestured toward the headband covering the other girl's eyes. While her nonverbal communication was presumably worthless in present company, Mao was used to having to resort to other methods of speaking her thoughts, for the sibling that Naoki had already gotten to know. "She was showing off some pretty flashy moves, too. Crazy anti-gravity stuff, and these weird red eyes. She told me that she could make me experience exactly what she could...after she already did it. Just by looking at her eyes." Even trying to explain that made the girl's head hurt. To her it seemed like a feat only an incredibly experienced kunoichi could accomplish.

A small smile tugged at her lips with the compliment she received. Normally others would describe her as assertive or brazen. Her older sister was usually prioritized over her when any praises of kindness were mentioned. It was surprising that the genin could see something like that about her after seeing the contrast between her and Tsubaki. "Heh...Thanks. I don't think I really helped him like I thought I would, though, or that he'll really talk to me anymore after that." It didn't bother her that much, but she still felt a little undeserving of Naoki's positive estimation of her character. Rather than dwelling on generous words, her previous moment of confusion called back to her. "Hey, so, is it really that weird for a student to bleed?" Realizing that her question could've been phrased a little better, she struggled to try and expand on her thoughts without revealing the intent behind her curiosity. "I mean, with training and stuff. Aren't students supposed to get stronger before they become a full-fledged ninja?" When thinking back to some of her own training, there was a little more than just bleeding involved. It couldn't have been that uncommon to come across, would it?

[MFT][WC: 509]

 

[Samejima]

Brow furrowed, Naoki scratched her head absently in confusion, head tilted upwards. Sounds like she was really good at it too. Pretty sure I hadn't encountered anyone like that thoughout the time I've been here though... Was she a recent addition or something? Or maybe she's just so good I haven't been able to meet her anywhere! Part of her little overconfident mind didn't want to believe it, but she couldn't dismiss her suspicions on the matter. "Never heard o anyone being bale to do that actually," she admitted, facing Mao once more. "Then again I'm still a genin myself, she's probably at jounin level or higher with those eyes... If I'm understanding what they do correctly."

Genjutsu. That forbidden branch of the ninja arts, at least that was how it seemed to the blind one. Her parents weren't fond of it at all, and neither was her aunt or even anything that seemed to hint at genjutsu from the storybooks she's read. Granted, the only books she's ever really remembered were the ones following the 'friendship, effort, victory' formula proven to work well with many a young student, and would thus denounce any sort of win that relied heavily on deception or anything ninja-like, so it created a paradox whenever she remembered something a book had said was taboo but that she was allowed, even encouraged, to do when facing enemies. The one big thing she was never able to resolve was the usage of genjutsu, and every illusionist, trickster and liar without fail met gruesome, untimely deaths... Up until the G rating of said books of course. As Naoki understood it, anyone who could use what she perceived as genjutsu that well must have trained and experienced a lot.

"Hmm... I'd say it depends on the instructor. If it's bleeding outside of the instructor's expectations, that would be bad. And yeah, students are supposed to have been taught how to take hits and all that kind of stuff, the basics y'know?" She paused, thinking how best to explain the rest. "Just that the bleeding shouldn't be a common occurrence with them, or at least that's how I think it goes... If you're bleeding a lot, or often enough, you wouldn't have time to regain energy for the next day after all," she finished, nodding.

She's heard enough spiels from the hospital staff to know that though bodies do have a remarkable healing speed, it wasn't good to push one's luck. She hasn't had much experience with actual bleeding, but she knew that losing too much made one rather lightheaded, after an unfortunate experiment with aiming her knife to try and throw it, missing spectacularly. "Just be careful, and make sure your instructor isn't pushing you too hard... Of course, the whole point of training is to be able to take things in stride, and you do seem pretty sturdy, what with covering for someone's training and all, so I bet you don't have any problems there, ahahaha!"

 

[Koizumi Mao]

The fact that Naoki couldn't put a finger on this mysterious kunoichi wasn't too surprising. This entire village was practically filled with ninja, after all. There was no way for one person to know everyone that happened to graduate from the academy. "She was pretty creepy. I hope she doesn't end up stalking me or anything." The thought alone was enough to send a chill down her spine, even thinking to take a quick glance behind her just to make sure the woman wasn't suddenly leering over her at this very moment. That would be something you'd only see in horror movies, and who knows what becomes of the poor victim when that happens. In fact, maybe she should stop thinking so much about it.

Luckily, the blindfolded genin couldn't visually witness her little moment of paranoia, doing her best to snap out of it as she quickly turned her attention forward again. Upon hearing that it likely depends on the instructor, she noticeably relaxed a little bit, feeling relieved by that conclusion. Of course, the instructor she thought of often left her in a little worse condition than just bleeding, but she always seems to bounce back just fine. Even if the training she had in mind was a little far-fetched compared to the routine of others, it couldn't be that crazy or unthinkable...right? "I don't think I've ever really been pushed too hard before." She sounded as if she weren't really sure whether that was true or not, which is a little strange, considering one could quite easily realized when an obvious line like that has been crossed.

At the mention of her sturdiness, she couldn't help but feel some pride, chuckling in response. "Yeah. Nothing's ever kept me down before. Punching a dummy a few times is no problem - I was even holding back a little bit. Here, let me show ya." Now she was starting to get ahead of herself again. A cocky grin spread across her lips, turning her back to the genin to face one of the smaller stone spires that jutted out from the water nearby. "I'll crack that rock over there open like it was made of cardboard!" Of course, at this point, Mao had completely forgotten Naoki's inability to actually see how much of a showoff she became at a little flattery of her strength.

As Mao crouched to prepare to jump, Naoki could feel another tiny tremor pulse beneath the surface of the tiny flat island they stood on, once again sending a little ripple rolling outward in the water around them. The student then leaped up in the air, getting an impressive amount of distance that allowed her to perfectly line up a punch at the stone spire. At this point, anyone without a great deal of taijutsu training would probably flinch, as slamming your fist against a rock is a great way to break your knuckles. Before she launched her arm forward, though, her palm flattened with her fingers pressed tightly together, pushing a knife hand forward at a rapid speed. Rather than faltering against the solid stone, Naoki could hear what sounded more like an explosion than a crack. Her hand tore through the earth as if her body were made of diamond, small chunks of broken rubble rolling down into the ocean, which only lodged her own arm in a hole she made in the spire. "Ouf!" She immediately stopped in the air, her body left hanging with her arm caught. "...Ehm..." Her foot pressed against the side of the spire, making quick work of kicking her arm free. Success! She did break that stupid rock! But then, now that she had separated herself from her target, gravity brought her back to the present moment. "Aagh!" The shout was all she could get out before plummeting into the water. Shortly after the small wave caused by her splash had settled, her head poked out to take a quick gasp of breath. "I'm okay!" Surprisingly, she didn't sound pained at all, but rather embarrassed.

 

[Samejima]

It is kind of a ninja's job to stalk, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't apply to academy students or anything... Still, it might be best for her to keep an eye out for stalkers anyway, helps with sharpening senses, yep. At the mention of not having been pushed too far before, she nodded in assent, feeling like her recent training menu has been pretty lax on her. Sure it was self-determined, but she was nothing if not careful, and the instructors' parting words to her were to keep things steady or she'd run out of steam. "Well that's probably a good thing, since that's what's been happening with my training too..."

Next was a demonstration as to what the student could do to solid stone spires, and Naoki watched carefully. The tremors in the ground and water were one thing, but the way the girl's hand seemed to tear through the rock made the genin freeze in surprise. Holy... did her palm just go through the thing?! Geez, I don't think even I can do that yet... Then again I haven't really tested it on anything. Should I give it a shot too? As she contemplated trying to restore her confidence in herself later on, after the younger Koizumi left, she noticed that the girl had fallen down after kicking herself free of the spire she'd gotten herself stuck in somehow. Jogging over after having heard the confirmation of okayitude, she reached a hand out to Mao to lift her up, for some reason expecting her to have the ability to walk on water down pat by now, at most weeks after entering the Academy. In the event that Mao did take Naoki's hand, the latter would be expecting Mao to stand up on the water. If the presumed diamondskin was unable to do so, the both of them would go splashing back into the water.

 

[Koizumi Mao]

The girl may have spent a sullen second or two in the water following the awkwardness of her recovery from the forceful blow, and then upon finally realizing that the genin wasn't capable of seeing what she had just done, which sort of dismissed the entire purpose of showing off in the first place. Still, Naoki was aware enough of her surroundings that she could rush to the side of the little island and offer a helpful hand, leading Mao to believe that perhaps she was underestimating the blind girl's awareness. She was a shinobi for the village, after all. Mao swam forward in the water to reach the edge of the island rather than walking on the water's surface. It's possible that the student simply preferred the activity of swimming as a form of exercise. By the time she finished her approached, Naoki could feel Mao's hand firmly clasp hers. "Thanks."

Even though she had just punched through solid stone, there wasn't a single scratch or blemish felt on the appendage. Somehow she managed not to break all of her fingers in the process. In the process of pulling herself up from the water, her other hand patted the genin's shoulder. "I hope I won't get in trouble for tha-" Her phrase met an abrupt end as soon as she realized Naoki had expected her recover to her feet before meeting solid earth, instead giving a small squeal as the both of them were tipped back into the ocean. That was even more unexpected than hanging from the spire, taking a moment to recover underwater, reaching out to grasp the blind genin's hands in hers in order to help her find her way upright and reach the surface again. With their heads above water, she took a quick breath before speaking up again, "Are you okay?" Mao felt a little guilty for soaking the acquaintance in the middle of her patrol.

 

[Samejima]

"Hwa!" And they both fell back into the water. While underwater, Naoki managed to de-scramble her mind and regain her understanding of the fact that students may or may not know how to stand on water. Spluttering back up, she took a few breaths and attempted to speak without taking too many pauses, "Whoa- Sorry! Haa... I forgot that you probably... didn't know how to walk on water just yet... Hmm..." She then bobbed her midriff up and attempted to float up to swim on her back to maintain her speaking ability while heading back on land. "Should we just head back for now? Might be better to dry ourselves off too. I haven't swum in a while though... Feels nice." With the amount of breaks she's been taking it was a wonder that she hasn't tried to unwind like this more, but it's probably just due to her dislike of doing the laundry and lack thereof of wanting to swim. Swimsuits in particular were hard to clean, but... Today's was an accident, so there's no helping it... Should I stay in here and swim after all?

If she didn't receive an immediate reply, she'd swim in slow circles around Mao, making sure that at least one of her ears was above water so she could keep hearing words spoken up there. Otherwise, she'd continue floating somewhat lazily backwards.. That is, unless Mao decided to take a faster style back there. She didn't want to keep the student waiting after all.

 

[Koizumi Mao]

There was the possibility that Mao was just too stubborn to walk on water and preferred to swim, but that was pretty unlikely compared to the alternative. Her gaze cast aside at Naoki's realization that she may not yet understand the basic technique. "It's not that I don't know yet. I just like to swim, that's all." So much so that she hadn't even bothered practicing the art of walking on water. She honestly didn't think it'd be that practical just yet, though this situation on it's own led her to think otherwise.

As the older girl lazily floated around, pondering whether she should get out of the water now that the damage to her clothes have been done, Mao began a few lazy backstrokes of her own. They didn't have to get out of the water, and it looked as if the blind genin were looking for an excuse to go for a nice swim. Her slow paddling continued as the kunoichi continued floating nearby, looking as if she were momentarily mulling something over in her mind. "Hmn..." Her attention eventually drifted from the distance and made it's way toward Naoki, a tiny smirk forming over her lips once she had finally reached an epiphany.

"Race ya!" The girl yelled practically out of nowhere, leaning forward as she kicked her feet, rapidly swimming toward the edge of another slightly distant island. There was a good chance that Naoki wouldn't go for the competition, or even realize where they were going due to her visual impairment, but Mao couldn't help but try.

 

[Samejima]

Ah geez, I just went and assumed! I hope she doesn't think I'm looking down on her or anything... The fact of the matter was that she was, and she believed she had cause for this, but she didn't want to admit to herself that that part of her mind existed. Instead, rationalizations like She is a student after all, there was a possibility, and I just didn't consider the others! helped Naoki get through her stages of recovering from accidental condescension. Due to that, she didn't register the challenge quickly enough, and though her lips did curl into a smirk at said challenge, it wasn't intentional. Definitely not intentional. Besides, she could take this student no sweat, she thought, and decided to let it seem like she had a fighting chance before busting out her full strength, swimming at a regular pace until she caught up to the girl.

Having spent most of her life near water, it was no wonder that Naoki would have a good grasp of what she deemed "her" element, and as she managed to catch up she thought to herself, Hmm, swimming is fun~ in the most carefree thought-voice she had. Had she thought to use a Water-based jutsu to cheat, she would've gotten there in no less than mere seconds, but not only was she not a cheater, she also just had her mind full of the challenge issued and would see to it that she didn't fail in achieving victory. Unless of course, Mao had some kind of trump card hidden up her sleeve that allowed her to further boost speed up. Otherwise, it was highly likely that Naoki would reach the shore first, launching herself into the air with a well-timed kick on the shallow end of the water and landing with a soft thump on the sands, arms outstretched with her back to the water. At that, a half-turn and a little grin showing, "You've got a ways to go kid." Ahhh I've always wanted to say that! Quoting quips wasn't exactly becoming of her, but the opportunity presented itself!

However, if Mao had somehow reached the goal before her, she'd skip the showing off and just pull herself out normally, full of questions but probably standing there dazed for a few seconds.

 

[Koizumi Mao]

Her swimming attempt was rather jovial to begin with, obviously gloating over the headstart she received from her fortuitous timing and deciding to take it easy and let the blind girl catch up. She definitely just won this little competition - sure it was a little unfair at the start, but the shinobi has been training longer than her. A small handicap wasn't game-breaking. But little did she know Naoki's origins, so eager to gloat. "You ready to get--" She barely even had time to get her words out, much less turn her head and catch the genin suddenly speed ahead. The realization caused her body to finally kickstart, moving much more seriously now that she had lost her edge.

Mao's limbs tensed, kicking quickly picking up speed. It wasn't long before her legs impacted the ocean's surface hard enough to send waves radiating outward behind her, the surges of water going so far as to wash over the island they were rapidly gaining distance from like a tide before a hurricane storm. Her arms pedaled through the water firmly enough to keep her straight course, which wasn't too surprising after already showing the capability of cutting through solid stone. This burst of effort allowed her to begin to catch up to the other girl, making certain that if Naoki were to win, it would be no easy task. For a few critical moments, it seemed almost as if they were neck and neck. Sadly, the fisherman's daughter would still succeed; while Mao showed incredible strength and endurance, water simply wasn't her element. Naoki's technique shone through, allowing her to leap ahead onto dry land while the student continued her furious paddling.

Mao's approach to the shore was much less graceful, reaching an abrupt halt once she was able to stand knee deep in the massive pool. The sheer force that she exuded on the trip over didn't take long to catch up with her sudden stop, causing another wave to rush up the shore and wash up to Naoki's thighs in a last-ditch effort to soak her before slinking back. The student slowly caught up to the genin with a few deep breaths, turning back to see the distance they swam. The dull pressure of her straining body brought a wide grin across her face. Losing a competition was something she rarely experienced, and never before had she actually felt happy about it. She brought her focus to the victor, stifling a giddy chuckle between rough breathing. "That was awesome!" She managed to exclaim, slapping a hand on Naoki's shoulder. "Next time we'll race on the ground. Then we'll see who's got a ways to go." Mao's confidence surely wasn't damaged.

[MFT][WC: 451]

 

[Samejima]

The gloatbug turned to face Mao, "Hahahah! Sorry, I just really wanted to say it at some point..." Combing her left hand through her hair, Naoki raised her right to signal that she was going to stand on a rock over there before bounding off and shaking her hair dry. She then made her way back to a comfortable speaking distance in relation to the girl, and took off the headband to squeeze it as dry as she could before tying it back over her eyes, eyes remaining closed the whole time. "Hey, what were you doing over there anyway? Some kind of training? I thought I felt an earthquake or something like that, might wanna be careful..." She hadn't entertained the thought of the girl having had something to do with the tremors, and would likely stumble over in surprise or something to that effect if Mao mentioned it while she was drying her clothes out, squeezing any corners she could grab dry as well. Ah, I should probably get back to the patrol soon... Ehh, I've got time. "Still, that was some pretty cool swimming you did back there! I used to fish a lot with Father so I can swim well, but we probably might've had a more exciting match on land..." Naoki would mention after a pause, leaning on any boulders that might've been close by.

"Ohh right, here! Do you like sweets and stuff?" She located her bag a little ways off to the right, picking it up and bringing it over to Mao before sitting down and rummaging through it for a little can of hard candy. If Mao replied with a negative before she managed to find it, she would probably just give up on it and continue with any conversation that was happening at the time. Otherwise, she'd hold it up proudly: A bright pink can of individually wax-paper wrapped hard candies that each tasted like a little drop of either lemon, orange or honey. They had a bit of mint to them and were one of Naoki's favorite brands, but they were almost always sold out for obvious reasons.