Time To Relax [Free/Open]

[Tsuki Shiro]

The doctor recommended that once Tazumoto's wounds stopped opening that he should visit the hotsprings to relax his aching body. He left his cloths in a locker, Tazumoto put on a pair of blue shorts and grabbed a towel from the receptionist. Once he was ready, Tazumoto made his way into the area, he had a choice between the only male section or the unisex bath, he decided to go to the Unisex bath. He approached, it seemed like he was alone, he slowly dipping his toe in the water, it was hotter than he expected. Tazumoto unwrapped his hands and feet, revealing a jumbled mess of stitches and bruises. He slowly made is way in, adjusting to the water as he went. Finally he leaned up against a corner and let out a sigh of relief. He was starting to relax.

WC - 142

 

[Hourou Akujin]

R&R: One of the most important things for anyone in any profession, but doubly so for the men and women who hold the title 'Shinobi.' These people, the tools and representatives of the political agendas of their beloved leaders, put their minds and bodies to the test everyday. Exercising, sparring with one another, missions, studying, teaching- the list goes on and on.
Without a proper amount of downtime, it was far too easy to lose oneself to the madness of the world. The hotsprings in the Nimbus Delectatio district were just one of many methods of relaxation.

Inkosi Moro, one of the latest recruits to join the ANBU training program, was in dire need of some R&R. Kumogakure's ANBU didn't become the elite warriors they so famously are without the most intense training imaginable.

Moro navigated his way from the locker room towards the unisex area of the springs, clad only in a black speedo and a white towel that just seemed slightly too short. Arriving at the water, he saw he would not be alone. He observed his fellow hot spring enthusiast as he lowered himself into the soothing warm water in the opposite corner. He noticed the fresh, but sutured wounds of the man across from him. This.. was probably some sort of health hazard, but Moro's mysterious control over his own blood dissuaded any fears of a blood-transmitted disease.

In an attempt to bring liveliness to this quiet atmosphere, Moro spoke, "So, does the other guy's face match your hands or what?" The tired shinobi cracked a playful half-smirk as he awaited a response.


[WC:267]

 

[Tsuki Shiro]

While enjoying a nice refreshing soak, Tazumoto noticed a man approaching the unisex hot spring. He gulped, the man was rather intimidating to the eight year old boy. He looked like a man that had seen and done many things. As an academy student, he could only imagine what this man's life had been like. He looked dangerous in Tazumoto's eyes, and didn't want to say anything to upset this scary looking man. To his surprise, the man asked him a question "So, does the other guy's face match your hands or what?". He gulped again, he didn't quite know what to say to the man, he didn't even expect he would talk to him.

Tazumoto decided to be respectful to this man, because he didn't know his temperament, and he knew almost certainly that this much older man could crush him like an insect if he wanted. It took him a few seconds to get up the courage to even say anything, he finally replied "No Sir, these wounds are from training. I'm going to be a Ninja someday". In his mind, Tazumoto thought he sounded a little stupid. He always tried his best to act more mature for his age, but the way he said it he sounded like a stupid little boy that dreamed stupid little boy dreams of glory. It didn't matter if this guy was a ninja, or some thug from the street, he was a scary guy in the eyes of this child.

WC - 251

 

[Uchiha Arata]

Sora stripped himself down to only a black pair of trunks with the Uchiha emblem down on the left leg. Storing his clothes within a locker, he didn't really know which way to go, and randomly chose one, this one being the unisex. As he walked in, the heads of a few girls peeked around the corner, and when he got in the water, after noticing the people there of course, he casually looked about, before spotting them by the doorway. The girls' faces flushed before the squealed and turned to run away. Sora never understood why they always had to run. But alas, that's the way it was. He sunk down into the water with a sigh, closing his eyes for a moment.

 

[Hourou Akujin]

"No Sir, these wounds are from training. I'm going to be a Ninja someday."
*Those* wounds were from training? Jesus, what kind of training was he doing, punching statues of cacti?" A bit shocked, but also impressed with the boy's dedication, Moro spoke again. "Well shit, man. You might wanna take it down a notch. You won't be of any use if you end up permanently injuring yourself. But hey, kudos on the hard work." Around this time, a third party joined the two. Judging from his clothes he was either a member of the Uchiha clan or a total creepy fanboy. There was a sudden squealing sound as this new character emerged. As the piercing noise faded, Moro felt a slight tremble in the ground. There were ripples in the water, reminiscent of a small earthquake. Were there some Raiden damned buffalo stampeding nearby?

Alas, this new boy seemed to have a way with the buffa- erm, women. The hoard of bigguns' made their way out of the springs in an exasperated hurry. The object of their affection lowered himself into the water, sighing. Was he disappointed that they left? "Ayeeee, don't sweat 'em. Big girls come and go, bud."

[WC=201]

 

[Uchiha Arata]

Sora looked up at him a bit surprised at the remark. He was confused for a moment before he realized what he meant. " Err, no you got the wrong idea. I just don't understand why they run away whenever I see them. They follow me around a lot, they could at least say hi. I just don't understand. " he looked off towards the other person here, before closing his eyes, releasing a sigh. " My name is Uchiha Sora. "

 

[Tsuki Shiro]

Moro's words rung his bell a little bit. He may have needed an adult who looked experienced to tell him this, after all he had been self taught. The boy from the other day was saying this, but in a much ruder way. Still Tazumoto did not like the boy from the other day, in fact he wanted to kick his ass. Tazumoto's expression turned into a smile as the fear left him, this guy was clearly a nice one. He laughed and scratched the back of his head "I was punching trees all week to toughen myself up." he stopped and looked at his hands. They were not going to open up, unless he did something stupid like punch a tree again. Still with a smile on his face he said "Maybe I over did it. Perhaps next week I'll try another form of training that doesn't end up with me in the hospital". Just as Tazumoto finished he noticed the boy from the other day, and his band of giggling idiots were not far behind. His smile turned into a cold look "Hey number one in the academy, you aren't stalking me are you?" He clenched his fist in anger, he did not like this guy at all "We still have some unsettled business after you ran away when you were running your mouth." Tazumoto wanted to beat the snot out of Sora, the guy was rude to him before for no reason before, Tazumoto would not back down.

WC - 251


[[P.S - Sora, typically what happens here is we go in Rotation. Since you joined 3rd it would be Myself, Moro than You. Also, when you are leaving a thread, always make sure to put something at the end like {Thread Left}, the reason for this is, in the future people can actually prevent you from leaving if they want to fight you.]]

 

[Hourou Akujin]

"I was punching trees all week to toughen myself up."
Moro cracked a smile as the boy replied. "Heh, this kids pretty hardcore."
"Maybe I over did it. Perhaps next week I'll try another form of training that doesn't end up with me in the hospital."
"Well the thing about trees is, they don't punch back. So they're not the best thing to practice on. Heh, maybe I could show you a thing or two. Although I have to warn you, I might punch back." Moro punctuated his statement with a wink. The more Moro looked at this guy, the more familiar he looked. Had they met before? Hard to say, shinobi see so many faces; they start to blend together. Yet still, this boy had an aura of importance. Something that had already passed or even something yet to occur. Either way, Moro would keep an eye on him, feeling the desire to satiate his curiosity. Lost in contemplation, Moro missed some of the conversation between the two boys. Suddenly, the peaceful air of the hot springs passed, as the potential rise to violence came forth. "We still have some unsettled business after you ran away when you were running your mouth."

"Oh..?" Aggression. Anger. A need to dominate. The hostility between these two had peaked the future ANBU's interest. His mind consumed by the possibilities of what could potentially occur here, he ceased trying to remember when or where he may have seen this boy before. For now, he would remain silent, watching. If things became violent, he would step in. Eventually. Nothing wrong with letting out some of that rage every now and then. Of course, as a senior shinobi it would be his responsibility to stop any form of fighting, so if anyone else showed up, he'd act immediately. But if not, he'd play it by ear.


[WC:311]

 

[Uchiha Arata]

Sora closed his eyes, letting out a brief sigh. He was beginning to get annoyed by him bringing things up, running his mouth? He was merely saying it takes more than punching trees to be the best. Though Sora wasn't one to in position to take anyway. His legs and arms were bandaged, that weren't shown earlier from under his jacket and pants. He then turned his gaze to the boy getting ticked off at him. " Look, all I was saying is punching trees all day won't get you very far. Now calm down. You trying to tell me off is starting to bother me. "

 

[Tsuki Shiro]

Tazumoto's expression turned from anger, to calm. He gave the boy an arrogant smirk and said "Tsk...Yeah whatever number one." Completely uninterested with the rude boy from the other day, he turned his attention to the older man. The hot water of the unisex hot spring was causing his scar across his brow down too his cheek to turn a light shade of red. Tazumoto listened to the man speak "Well the thing about trees is, they don't punch back. So they're not the best thing to practice on. Heh, maybe I could show you a thing or two. Although I have to warn you, I might punch back." The though of this man punching Tazumoto scared him a little, but he didn't show this. Instead a spark peaked in his eyes, excitedly Tazumoto stood up and said "You could show me a thing or two? That would awesome!!!" When Tazumoto got excited his voice had a bit of a squeak to it. "My name is Azuma Tazumoto sir," he said very formally, still excited. "I'm going to become the strongest Ninja in the world some day." he looked at Sora and continued "Nothing but death will get in the way of my dream." He threw a couple kicks and punches into the air, which was a rather poor idea in the hot spring, but he was too excited, too enthusiastic to care. However his final kick caused him to slip and fall back first into the water, he resurfaced and coughed out some water, he scratched the back of his head, a little embarrassed at the slip up.

WC - 270

[[Grats on Uchiha BL Sora]]

 

[Hourou Akujin]

The kid seemed down right jubilant at Moro's offer to train together. Good. The young piped up again, "My name is Azuma Tazumoto sir." In all the excitement, Moro'd forgotten to exchange pleasantries. "Ah, yes. My name is Inkosi Moro. The pleasure is all mine." Tazumoto continued, "I'm going to become the strongest Ninja in the world some day." "Hmm." Moro pondered the boy's goal as he turned his head to speak to the other youngling. "Nothing but death will get in the way of my dream." He was bold, Moro would admit. Following his adamant statement, Tazumoto proceeded to attempt some form of gymnastics, fail at said show of enthusiasm, and make a bit a fool out of himself. It was all in excitement, however, and excitement is what keeps people alive. "Heh. I dig your style, Tazumoto. And I can appreciate your goal. To be the strongest ninja in the world. That's quite a daunting challenge. I'd wager that there are a lot of people in the world with the same goal. I, however, do not share your goal. As such, I will not stand in your way, and will in fact, support you." Countless possibilities, new opportunities, Moro's mind was ablaze. His goal was unbeknownst to everyone, but the first step was to help many young shinobi fulfill their potential, creating powerful allies. Even if that hadn't been part of his goal, this Tazumoto's presence was still a curiosity to Moro. Why did he look so familiar?

The older shinobi turned to Uchiha with the lady problems to extend the same offer. "And what say you, Uchiha-born? What path of fulfillment do you walk?"

 

[Uchiha Arata]

As the Uchiha heard the conversation, he spaced out for a moment. He wasn't sure why, but the springs were pretty relaxing, and he enjoyed it. Until he heard the conversation switch to him that is. ' And what say you, Uchiha-born? What path of fulfillment do you walk? " His eyes shifted down at the water as he attempted to think about the question... What was his goal? Did he have one? Anybody could just say they want to be the strongest..

" My path? As I'm no fortune teller, I can't see down the winding path that I'll be travelling. It'll be full of many twists and turns, and branches onto other paths. But for now, one thing is set in stone. I will avenge my mother who died from sickness, and go out and find my father who went missing during a mission, only to never return home. From there, who knows how far I'll have gone. I don't need to be the strongest, only strong enough to protect those I care about, so I won't have to lose anybody dear to me again. If that leads me to having to become the strongest, then so be it. I'll become the strongest, a savior, somebody people can rely on. No matter what it takes. I guess what I'm saying is... I want to change the world. And if I have to make it shake in its boots, then that's the way it is, even if I need to be an enemy to society. "

Sora spoke nonchalantly. Judging by his coal colored eyes and his expression, which was staring up at the sky, is seemed he was rather spaced out as he spoke. His were that of which seemed full of a kind of sorrow, but that of courage, and longing, as well as the determination and tenacity that few others would be able to gather.

 

[Tsuki Shiro]

Tazuzmoto listened closely to Moro. "Heh. I dig your style, Tazumoto. And I can appreciate your goal. To be the strongest ninja in the world. That's quite a daunting challenge. I'd wager that there are a lot of people in the world with the same goal. I, however, do not share your goal. As such, I will not stand in your way, and will in fact, support you." Tazumoto looked quite please with Moro's words, "Finally someone who will support my goals, unlike that lazy old man of mine who spends all of his time selling Ramen", he thought. Tazumoto listened to Sora's words, he felt sorry for him that he didn't have a mother, and that his dad was a deadbeat. He wondered what it would be like if he didn't have any parenrts at all, and it kinda made him sad. However, what Sora said next really pissed Tazumoto off. "I guess what I'm saying is... I want to change the world. And if I have to make it shake in its boots, then that's the way it is, even if I need to be an enemy to society. "

Tazumoto stood right up, he glared at Sora. This was a new kinda of pissed off for Tazumoto, he got his scar defending a single person in the village, he would not let this Uchiha harm a hair on a single villager. Tazumoto piped up in an angry, serious voice and said "If you dare lay a hand on anyone in this village Uchiha-chan, I will give your dead beat dad someone to avenge. I don't care what your goals are, the cloud and its people are under my protection, I will kill anyone that dares hurt them, you got that? I don't care if you want revenge, just don't dare harm anyone in cloud, else you answer to me."The scar on Tazumoto's face turned a brighter shade of red. He had not been this angry, since the day he nearly got himself killed helping a simple stranger. He never regretted the actions of that day, he was serious when he said what he said, anyone that came into the village to harm another, he would kill in cold blood or die trying.

WC - 269 (this is excluding stuff from Moro and Sora's post, everything I wrote).

 

[Hourou Akujin]

Moro waited patiently for both of the boys to finish talking before responding, himself. Their hormones were speaking for them, both of them rising to anger. Nothing unusual about that. You can't train children to become tools of war and expect them to remain passive through their pubescent years. But this was not the place to act on those feelings. "Gentlemen." Perhaps, the acknowledgment of their masculinity by an older shinobi would help quell their subconscious desires to express their frustration with themselves and everyone around. "This is not the place to act out on violent urges. I'm not you will, just a friendly warning. As your senior shinobi, I'd have to intervene. And I'm not that good at holding back. I understand, though. You're both young and eager to prove yourselves to the world. That's good! You very well should do just that. However, you both lack the power to leave an imprint upon the worlds you both so dearly wish to protect. I do see great potential in the both of you. I believe that you will both grow to become powerful shinobi, but you should know..." He paused, hopefully piquing the interested of both of the young shinobi-in-training. "You can only learn so much in the Academy. I'll be contacting the both of you very soon. I will send each of you a letter with a location. If you should choose to arrive at said location, I will impart upon you the knowledge of the world that the Academy will not. Things they're not allowed to teach. Things they don't want to teach. I'll show you how to accomplish your goals. Until then, I suggest you stay out of trouble. Our meeting will be in secret. Tell no one."

With his warning wrapping up his small speech, Moro headed toward the exit of the hot springs, not looking back. What did he have in store for the young shinobi? Why was he so interested in helping them? Was he just a kind Samaritan? Or did he have a secret ulterior motive. Alas, these questions would remain unanswered if the two did not answer Moro's call.

{Topic left unless stopped}

[[Ninja edit to fix broken BBCode]]

 

[Uchiha Arata]

Sora was amused by the other getting angry at him. He had obviously misunderstood him. Though when he was about to speak, he was cu toff by the other. What was he talking about? Things you can't teach in the Academy? Things that they don't want me to learn? This quickly gained his interest. Seems Sora had something to look forward to in the future. Though, at that the other left and then Sora looked back at that of the other boy. " It seems you're mistaken. I said I'd do anything to protect that of which I care about, one of those things, is this very village. And by enemy of society, I mean even if I have to become a Missing Nin, I will. " He then looked back up at the sky, going into a daze as he thought to himself about the man's words. They obviously intrigues him.

 

[Tsuki Shiro]

Perhaps Tazumoto was a little hasty in his threats, he was a bit on the hot blooded side. He listened to Moro's words, and was excited about the next time he would meet the man. He wanted to learn what this man was going to teach him. When Moro left the hotspring, Tazumoto had a bit of an embarrassed look on his face, he had clearly over reacted to what the young Uchiha said. Looking at the boy, he said "Hey, uh.. sorry about that. I'm glad you want to protect the village, but going missing is the wrong way of going about it. I think if you really want to help this village, you outta sick around. I can't protect these people by myself." He extended his scarred hand to the young Uchiha, their start was rocky, extremely rocky, but seeing as how they were both going to be training under Moro, he thought he would try to extend a branch of friendship "As I said before, the name is Azuma Tazumoto."

WC - 173

 

[Uchiha Arata]

He shit his eyes and sighed as the other boy spoke. Only to gaze upon him once more, extending out his hand, only to grasp his. He was going to continue on why it was a possibility he may need to be a Missing Nin, but, he decided that was best told at a different time.

" Uchiha Sora.. "

 

[Tsuki Shiro]

Tazumoto gave him a weird look. "Well Uchiha Sora, I hope we can get along in the future. I'll see you later." With that, Tazumoto stood up and got out of the hotspring. He exchanged the towel for his cloths, and changed in the changing room. On his way out, he thought to himself with a bit of irony "The doctor was right, this place is relaxing." He began to walk home slowly, wondering what the future held for Uchiha Sora. He hoped he didn't do something like try to get missing, people usually get killed at the gates doing that according to his father.


[[Topic Left Unless Stopped']]