Desert winds battered Nobu's face as he wandered the sandy wastes. He wasn't far from Sunagakure's outer limits, just a few miles, but the village proper had already disappeared beyond the dunes. Village hidden in the sands, indeed. He knew the way back, of course. Navigation was easy as long as you had landmarks, and there were plenty of rocky outcroppings and lone shrubs for Nobu to form a good image of his surroundings.
There were other things on Nobu's mind, though. He was a scion of the Domen family. That was a simple fact about his existence. As a scion of the Domen family, he had the blood of the First Men in him, far more strongly than others in the village. Another simple fact. Lastly, his blood meant he had more potential than the average Shinobi. He was of better breeding, really almost a race apart - another simple fact in the eyes of the misguided boy.
Still, during his time at the Academy he hadn't done anything particularly outstanding yet. He was already eleven years old, but still he didn't have a power worth noting. His books had mentioned many powerful jutsu types. Kekkei genkai, most prominently, existed within the blood of powerful Shinobi clans. Members of these families that unlocked these bloodline techniques were granted abilities no other Shinobi could even dream of. The Domen blood was powerful, extremely so, at least according to the elders of the family. Surely they had some kind of bloodline technique?
A thought for another day, really. Nobu had read about a very different type of jutsu in one of his mother's books. Much of the material inside had been above his current level, but there was one that had caught his eye. A type of power that had to be found, not learned: a contract. There was also something about a summoning jutsu in there, but Nobu figured he could always read up on that later. It hadn't sounded too important at the time, anyway.
Either way, it had sounded pretty interesting. The information had been very wordy, going deep into the theory of chakra manipulation, mentioning only the need to find some kind of creature and make a contract with them. Nobu didn't expect something like a Sandworm or one of the fabled Carnasaur to be wandering this close to the village, so he expected to perform his search unmolested. It hadn't popped up in the boy's head that if those powerful beings didn't wander near Sunagakure, there was a chance that the beings that might offer a contract wouldn't either.
As Nobu trudged across the dunes, a white keffiyeh protecting his head from the sun above, the boy figured the only way to find such a contract was to keep looking. The book hadn't mentioned where or how to look, only that one should search a contract out themselves. Pausing at the top of a dune, Nobu used his hand to guard his eyes from the glare of the sun and took in his surroundings. Nobu soon spotted an interesting-looking outcrop in the distance, spiraling oddly into the sky with dark dots implying the presence of some kind of cave system at the base. As good a place to look as any, he figured as he wandered off in the outcrop's direction. Oh, the optimism of youth.
[WC: 559] [MFT]
There were other things on Nobu's mind, though. He was a scion of the Domen family. That was a simple fact about his existence. As a scion of the Domen family, he had the blood of the First Men in him, far more strongly than others in the village. Another simple fact. Lastly, his blood meant he had more potential than the average Shinobi. He was of better breeding, really almost a race apart - another simple fact in the eyes of the misguided boy.
Still, during his time at the Academy he hadn't done anything particularly outstanding yet. He was already eleven years old, but still he didn't have a power worth noting. His books had mentioned many powerful jutsu types. Kekkei genkai, most prominently, existed within the blood of powerful Shinobi clans. Members of these families that unlocked these bloodline techniques were granted abilities no other Shinobi could even dream of. The Domen blood was powerful, extremely so, at least according to the elders of the family. Surely they had some kind of bloodline technique?
A thought for another day, really. Nobu had read about a very different type of jutsu in one of his mother's books. Much of the material inside had been above his current level, but there was one that had caught his eye. A type of power that had to be found, not learned: a contract. There was also something about a summoning jutsu in there, but Nobu figured he could always read up on that later. It hadn't sounded too important at the time, anyway.
Either way, it had sounded pretty interesting. The information had been very wordy, going deep into the theory of chakra manipulation, mentioning only the need to find some kind of creature and make a contract with them. Nobu didn't expect something like a Sandworm or one of the fabled Carnasaur to be wandering this close to the village, so he expected to perform his search unmolested. It hadn't popped up in the boy's head that if those powerful beings didn't wander near Sunagakure, there was a chance that the beings that might offer a contract wouldn't either.
As Nobu trudged across the dunes, a white keffiyeh protecting his head from the sun above, the boy figured the only way to find such a contract was to keep looking. The book hadn't mentioned where or how to look, only that one should search a contract out themselves. Pausing at the top of a dune, Nobu used his hand to guard his eyes from the glare of the sun and took in his surroundings. Nobu soon spotted an interesting-looking outcrop in the distance, spiraling oddly into the sky with dark dots implying the presence of some kind of cave system at the base. As good a place to look as any, he figured as he wandered off in the outcrop's direction. Oh, the optimism of youth.
[WC: 559] [MFT]
