Touring like a Tourist [Open for any and all]

[Junan]

It was still early in his stay. Arrangements had been made for a meeting with the local village leaders and formal preparations had begun towards it. Or so he assumed. Either way there were a couple of days wait and Akira felt that this would give him the time he wanted to be able to relax after a long journey and get to explore some of the places that Stone had which he couldn't see at home.

Asking the people working at the place he was staying he heard about this place, the Isle of Man. Getting directions he headed down towards Arcadia. There seemed to be a reasonably thing trail of people coming and going between Arcadia and the main village above it. A strange tingling sensation could be felt as he passed through a certain depth, it made him feel uneasy as it was something that was both familiar and different.

It took only a couple of moments to register what it was. The earth seemed to be made of a similar element as that found in the cavern of a thousand deaths, the prison for Kumogakure's most wanted.

He received glances from the occasional person who he passed, which wasn't unusual. He received those looks wherever he went, it was his size. At a distance people thought he was normal, but then they would get close enough to realise that actually he was massive. Only in Kumogakure was he mostly free of this, where he was well known, and where his master was known to be even taller, though lacked the width that Akira possessed.

Reaching Arcadia he arrived at the underground landmass. Walking around he did some shopping, he entered a store which held items created from the black mineral that made the landmass here. First he bought a rather large chunk of the mineral and sealed it away in a scroll for transportation, he figured he would do some research on it back in Cloud and perhaps sculpt something from it. The other was a coffee table, inlaid with precious gems and with a design which seemed peculiar to this particular place as he hadn't seen similar in Cloud or in Stone above. Again he sealed this within his scroll.

Leaving the store he continued his walk.

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

Kurokawa had heard that people from Kumogakure had come to visit stone but she did not know who, how to approach them or if it was even her place to do so. Nevertheless she elected to stake out the important areas in search for unfamiliar but powerful chakra signatures. One such signature had just appeared. He or she seemed to be headed for Arcadia and Kurokawa followed at a distance. Being a sensory type ninja she had no trouble tracking such an immense force, so there was no need to get too close. Even if her quarry was of similar skill her chakra would not stand out compared to other shinobi in the village due to it being so weak. She stationed herself in the street and overheard him talking to the villagers before he walked past her. Definitely a man's voice and with that accent he was definitely not native, or at least heavily influenced by difference in linguistic environment.

When he went underground she knew that it would be harder to hide her presence. From what she had heard, people in Arcadia had no shinobi, since the few who showed promising talent went above ground for training, so down here she would stand out like a lighthouse to a sensory ninja. She kept her distance thinking of something to greet the visitor with but since she did not know who exactly it was she couldn't figure out what to say. He could be a normal guard or regular ANBU or he could be some big shot sennin. She had heard infamous rumours about Royalty from cloud with a stick up their butt, but there was no reason to suspect this person to be one of those. As she followed him around she found, that he interacted politely with the inhabitants and that he mainly went around buying stuff for sentimental value. Didn't seem like the type of person who would be overly formal or stuck up. For now she would just observe him whilst coming up with something to say.

 

[Junan]

He continued walking through the small shopping area that this underground island seemed to have. The people here seemed very polite, they would greet him as he entered the stores, after hearing his accent they would ask where he was from and he would answer the questions they had. They weren't overly inquisitive, just asking small inane questions which Akira would answer while he perused their goods. It was simple enough. He would ask them questions in turn and so the conversation would be had.

It was an unusual situation for him to be in really.

He was both aware and unaware that he was being watched. Aware because he was a Raikage, he was in a foreign place, he had a bodyguard, and in Cloud he knew that ANBU would be watching any visitors they had, so he knew most certainly that he was being watched and made no attempts to make it difficult to follow him. Unaware because he didn't know who was watching him, from where, or how. Though then there was always that issue with Akira where if he were attacked then the biggest issue he felt he would have would be dispatching his attacker before damage was done to the civilians in the area.

After finishing his shopping he entered a small store with poor labeling. He'd been told to come here by one of the other shop keepers when he asked about where to go for a tour of the place. Paying his money so began his guided tour.

-----First Stop: Building of the First Lords------

He was allowed to ride in a sit on top carriage as they made their way along the narrow streets to a location Akira would never have found if he'd not gone on this tour. They arrived at a kind of gate. There were no walls to be seen on either side, nor any sign that walls had once existed there, but rather there was a frame of a rather large gate, at least ten, probably twelve feet high and wide enough for four horses to ride abreast through it. He was informed that traditionally visitors would stand here and wait to be welcomed before they could enter. The welcome would be sung by the woman who lived there, the wives, mothers, daughters of the lords. The singing would both begin the welcome ceremony as well as alert the lords that someone had come to visit them.

The lords would then make their way to the great hall and take their positions on a raised platform, seating themselves on traditional matting which was laid there for them. The visitors would progress towards the hall where their welcome would then include being guided up by armed guards to the doorway of the hall. The idea being that should they be seen as violent they would be struck down, if they were not then they would be allowed to enter, but before they could enter they would strip down to nothing, this would show that they were not there to cause harm, and that they had nothing to hide. As part of the tour Akira was asked to remove his shoes before entering the hall, an agreement between those who descended from the old lords and the man giving the tour. So he did without question and entered.

The walls were carved ornately, and the guide continued to tell him about the origins of the carvings, how they were added to over time as new family members were born, and old members passed away. Akira couldn't help but be impressed by the skill shown in the carvings.

 

[Mizutsune Mira]

Within the shadows, Haruichi formed with a grand smile on his face. He could just feel it! The raw amount of energy he felt in that one moment was not even comparable to the Gate of Wonder! This man, whoever he was, had a strength that just looked above his own. Haruichi watched as the giant of Cloud went around shopping, sealing away the goods within scrolls. The energy within Haruichi just couldn't be contained, he just had to meet this man. The inner child that he pretty much showed all of the time made him utilize his transformation jutsu to form his own ANBU mask. A pure white mask with pitch black eyes and cracks formed from pure chakra. The skeleton mask would hide his sharingans from sight hopefully.

Utilizing his immense speed from his intense Taijutsu training, he would drop from what looked like the ceiling into the Building Of The First Lords. He entered in behind Akira, but would catch up hopefully soon. He silently removed his shoes and followed after the Kage while enjoying the sights himself. A thought proceeded to run through his head as he stalked Akira out in the open. He couldn't even process the thought as the mask just vanished from his face and he walked up. He attempted to speak to him even publically, but trying to be as polite as possible. He offered a hand before saying, "Howdy! I am Haruichi of the Uchiha Clan. I saw you on the way in and I must say that I just couldn't help myself! Your very presence oozes with royalty and strength, so I must ask if you are a betting man."

Haruichi's pure energy and charisma radiated out of his like a flame. Maybe he could even manage to squeeze out a battleSparring Session from this man! He was kept cooped up to long, and his blue bracelet only told that to well.

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

Kurokawa was way behind. She had taken the roof top approach to following the mystical stranger from a foreign land but now she had to get out in the open. The Building of the first Lords was not a place she would want to sneak around in before she had mastered at least one viable stealth jutsu. She went to the gate and was greeted by the customary song. She bowed to them and decided to use her transcendent voice inherited from her mother to join in on the song. She did not know if it was customary or not but she liked the sound of the song and wanted to show that she knew it.

Kurokawa was then escorted towards the main house and searched for hidden weapons as always. Apparently taking her gloves was not part of their job but her shurikens and kunais were willingly offered so as to not give the appearance of one who had anything to hide. Lacki9ng the status that Akira had, Kurokawa could not circumvent the strip search which involved a fair amount of embarrassment but finally she was let through absent weapons and shoes. When she got inside the stranger had already been approached by someone, so she waited nearby for a chance to greet the cloud royalty.

 

[Junan]

His hand reached out, but he didn't let himself feel the grooves in the wall, that would be disrespectful and Akira had only the utmost respect for those who created these. He could see that there was no chakra used in their formation, only skill with tools, and yet at the same time he couldn't see that. It was a strange combination of perfection and imperfection. Something about the way they were told him that they were formed with a skill honed over decades of training, and then utilised. The skill level and techniques used changing over the course of hundreds of years.

Akira couldn't help but love what he was looking at, and understand that his own skill in the smithy was nothing compared to this, for he needed to utilise chakra to create the weapons that he created.

A young man moved up next to him and spoke, introducing himself as Harauichi of the Uchiha Clan.

Akira looked towards him, the single eye of Hyuuga heritage looking the man in his own eyes. Akira understood only too well the abilities of the Uchiha clan, he had trained for a decade under Shinbatsu, and he was the strongest Uchiha Akira had ever met, probably the strongest shinobi he had ever met.

Still the praise that seemed to be heaped upon him made him feel somewhat embarrassed. Bowing his head he replied in kind "My name is Akira Saito of the Saito Clan. Thank you for your praise, but I am nothing more than an aged shinobi."

He looked up and gave an apologetic smile, after all to Akira that's all he was, nothing more, nothing less, a shinobi who had fought a thousand battles, a shinobi who had led shinobi forces during wars, a shinobi who was among the last of his generation that still stepped foot on this plane of existence.

It was at this time that Akira heard a voice entangling itself with the voices of the woman of the house. It didn't overpower them, rather it enhanced them in a way only a Hashigaki could, he remembered Rei of Cloud and her ability to do the same. Then he remembered Rei and a pang of guilt and sadness hit him.

He pushed this thought away though as the question posed to him was what truly troubled Akira. Had this man seen Akira as a tourist and someone he could extort with a game of chance? Was he going to attempt to lure Akira into a situation where Akira couldn't act or react? He hoped that this would not prove to be the case, but he couldn't help but think these things when he was praised far beyond what he was used to and then asked a question about gambling.

"To answer your question, I am not a betting man. I like to make my decisions based on all information, though this does not mean I cannot take risks. Why is it you ask?

His eye moved to the doorway to see who it was that entered and saw the young girl as she entered. Two shinobi were in here now, both Stone shinobi, yet he didn't feel any negative intent from the way they looked at him or their movements. Looking back to Haruichi, Akira waited for his response.

 

[Mizutsune Mira]

Haruichi smiled before speaking himself, filled with so much joy, "I am a great fan of shinobi who treat their duty like your own! But the reason I asked good sir, is that I saw just how strong you look and feel." His eyes then glowed almost like a child's as he stared at this giant, "After your tour through here, would you be interested in sparring? I would love to learn the ways of a shinobi stronger than myself." Haruichi was literally asking for a world of pain. He had no idea in the slightest that Akira was the Raikage. He simply thought he was a powerful ninja and the perfect person to talk to. He did look foreign from his sense of style, and with that train of thinking, he thought that he must be special to be allowed here in Stone. They probably were the most lenient of all the villages on letting people in.

He silently stood there, ignorant of the young girl from his pure dedication to his question.

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

Kurokawa really wanted to ask the cloud royal about the country. She wanted to go there sometime and it would be nice to know her way around. It would also be a chance to learn how to act around higher ups in Kumogakure, while still learning it from the safety of Iwagakura. She did however begin to consider if this person was the right to ask. He seemed very nice and polite from what she could tell but that immense chakra suggested that maybe he was too high on the totem pole for such trivia. She didn't want to wait around though. She had already come into contact with a cloud mednin earlier and forgot to ask her questions then due to being injured, and she didn't like the idea of having to stalk another member of cloud so she went in closer.

The two people were still interlocked in conversation so Kurokawa chose to stand nearby, bowing to the cloud official and waiting her turn without speaking before there was a chance. She did however sport a mild smile to indicate that she did not mind waiting, but it also made it clear that she was not ignoring the conversation.

 

[Junan]

The young girl who Akira had noticed earlier moved closer as the conversation with Haruichi continued. The young Uchiha wanted to spar with Akira and asked such as the young girl bowed to Akira and gave him a small smile looking at the back of Haruichi's head, patiently waiting her turn. Looking back to Haruichi who was looking at him in silence waiting for his answer Akira frowned in thought.

I guess I haven't had a sparring session since I arrived... He mused, entertaining the idea.

I'll give it some thought. Akira finally said, not giving a solid answer.

Looking to the younger girl he nodded his head as a kind of bow Hello there. My name is Akira Saito, who might you be and how can I help you?

 

[Mizutsune Mira]

That was Haruichi note to go wild. He kicked the air, using his chakra to almost float there as he ran around like a gyroscope. He stopped a few feet away with a hand to his chin, thinking of all the possibilities of this mighty man. Oh it just gave him the chills thinking about it all! He smiled calmly before leaning back into the wall. He wanted to watch Akira and Kurokawa converse. He had his turn after all! He lifted up his left arm and began to fidget around with his blue med-nin bracelet.

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

Kurokawa tried her hardest not to look disturbed at the apparently young man's outburst as he got the answer he was waiting for. She had to though. It would seem that she was disturbed with Akiras question if she didn't keep it under wraps.

"Akira-sama? Sounds familiar. That family name is definitely one I have heard before. You must be quite the celebrity, even if I can't recall where I have heard it before. I'm Hashigaki Kurokawa. I'm just an academy student who's very curious when it comes to the outside world. I have lived in the inner and outer parts of Stone all my life."

She rubbed her left arm with her right hand while talking. Up and down. Clearly showing signs of nervousness now that she actually had to talk to this person she had been following all day.

"I was wondering if it would be possible to hear more about cloud? If you don't have the time then maybe a reference to someone else who came with you would be enough."

She smiled at Akira. Now she at least knew his name. She felt like letting her guard down was not a problem with him. She just blurted out everything without thinking to hold some of it back like she used to. He had an air of safety around him. Haruichi in the other hand was like a child in comparison. Easy to figure out but inconvenient at times. She didn't know him but that was the impression she had of him so far.

[MFT]
[WC: 257]

 

[Junan]

The reaction to Akira's lack of accepting and simply entertaining the idea was... interesting. The young man celebrated physically, kicking the air, a fist pump, Akira had never seen someone so happy to fight him before.

On the other hand the girl was polite, saying she had heard his family name before, she explained that she was a student and who was curious about the outside world. She then asked about Cloud. Akira smiled and nodded.

Turning towards the guide who was waiting on him he waved him on and led the pair out of the hall where he could speak without being rushed.

Once outside he found a bench and took a seat hoping the other two would follow suit. As they did he mentioned her clan name.

Hashigaki is a very famous clan name. I have had several friends even in Cloud with that clan name. When I was an academy student there was a girl named Rei, and then more recently one of my friends students is a man named Koumyou. Both were very strong shinobi.

Looking around himself he tried to figure the best way to describe Cloud, she would only know the land which was here and above ground.

Perhaps the biggest difference between the two countries is the location they are in. Cloud is on high among the mountain tops, cold winds blow through even in summer, often there is mist which others would think of as cloud. Snow covers the surface most of the year and the air itself is dryer, lesser. I don't know how best to describe it, but perhaps thinner? The air here is almost hard to breath, like it's almost a liquid for me, so dense that it makes breathing an effort, but at the same time it's harder to get tired down here.

The mountains are beautiful and dangerous, filled with hidden gems. The people of Cloud are hard, used to the environment they live in, but accommodating and friendly at the same time. Because of how hidden the village is we tend to be a bit more wary of outsiders than the other villages I have visited, which has caused more harm than good in its own way.

Our buildings are old, the village is over a thousand years old, and this is the third time it's been built after complete destruction in its history. So the buildings down here feel more familiar to me than the buildings in the main part of Stone where everything feels so... sharp and new.

 

[Mizutsune Mira]

Haruichi stood near the bench, afraid that the weight of his weights would maybe crush the poor manufactured thing. He would just listen and wait with nearly nothing on his mind. He just kept on digesting the words and meanings, hoping to find some speck of new information that would peak his interest. Most of what they spoke of was the same, though he did have to comment. He asked aloud, "Third time? Cloud has been destroyed three times?"

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

Kurokawa went and sad down. She didn't want to be disrespectful and she could focus more on listening.

Apparently Akira had heard of her clan. Not surprising seeing as her mother travelled here from a country close to cloud. They were bound to have someone from the clan or at least with the bloodline somewhere in every major country.

Kurokawa was all ears when Akira started talking about how cloud was different. She found it hard to believe someone could enjoy themselves whilst feeling like they were drowning in the very air they were breathing, but if one was used to it she figured she'd rather live a place where you wont get winded from exerting yourself a bit. Especially in her line of work. She was puzzled at how he could proclaim that cloud was friendly yet wary of outsiders. She let Akira finish talking before speaking about it however.

Kurokawa would go and feel the stone of the nearby building as Akira talked about old and new architecture. Most of the aesthetics were lost on her due to her lack of visual appreciation for art but she could definitely feel the difference. It was more rough but at the same time seemed to have more character and soul than what she lived in. It had history, and so did the one who made it.

"To me friendly and wary does not mix. You will always be friendly when it comes to someone you feel a bond to. To me friendly encompasses the the quality of kindness to whomever you meet, until they have proven unworthy. It's kind of like how my guardians were good to me after my mother passed. They are not seen as friendly people because they value their privacy too much. Maybe that's just my point of view."

As she waited for the answer Haruichi also posed an interesting question. The Cloud had been destroyed 3 times? Maybe by outsiders all three. That would explain the wariness at least.

 

[Junan]

There were a couple of questions which had been asked. The first one was to do with how many times Cloud had been destroyed and the history behind it. It felt as though he was about to give a history lesson at the academy, he remembered his sensei Numa attempting that once… before a fight broke out with various kids claiming to be various heroes of old. His classes were always chaotic.

The second question was a clarification of what he meant by friendly and yet distrusting. A question which someone of her youth would ask as someone with experience would understand the reality of the world wasn’t quite so black and white.

Cloud was destroyed twice in the past, this is the third Cloud village. The first founding was by Raiden, the Santaru, Chigokai and Kagetsu clans. Raiden is the deity most Cloud shinobi worship as he was the first of us, the greatest, and the one who we revere as being the strongest of all gods. The Chigokai and Santaru were the clans which held certain powers, awakened by Raiden and his offspring. The Kagetsu are slightly different again, they were a powerful set of warriors and one of the strongest military clans in all of the lands in the east.
Hundreds of years later there was a nation which invaded from over the seas. They destroyed all armies in their wake despite the ability of warriors from various nations to be able to manipulate chakra. There had been a college created to teach this, and so it was how various other clans were created and formed and moved to different countries. Some kept their name like your own Hashigaki, and others like my Saito clan did not.

Despite being hidden, and despite swelling in numbers and capable warriors the armies from this nation eventually found Cloud and through massive battles they annihilated the village, razing it to the ground. But they hadn’t destroyed all the people of Cloud as many had fled into the mountains, protected by Raiden himself, the mountains were a place where their soldiers avoided for too many tales were told of supernatural storms tearing down the mountainside under the feet of their patrols.

This nation waged war for a hundred years, and their focus on the mountain disappeared, they hadn’t had any sightings for decades, and the storms seems to remain permanently, no-one could live there. But my people lived there. And so the village was founded a second time, this time with all the clans which had moved there during the Chakra age. We call this the beginning of the third age in Kumogakure.

Skip forward another two hundred years and Cloud had gained strength in numbers once more, and retained a hatred for the country which owned the lands around it, remembering what they had done in times past. A group calling themselves the seven swordsmen waged a seemingly impossible war against this nation and for the first time in five hundred years someone was successful in attacking them. Cloud could see an opening that this presented, the seven were rumoured to be infiltrating to make an assassination attempt, and so Cloud acted in an attempt to give them the opening they were likely waiting for.

Kumogakure sacrificed its solitude and safety in the mountains to mount an attack which would eventually end them a second time. Our warriors poured down and lay waste to their people, innocent or otherwise, it didn’t matter. Death was our goal, and we made the vast networks of rivers run red with their blood. A huge army was formed to take on the now more militant village of Cloud, and so we fought, trying to drag more and more of their resources into fighting us, till Cloud was once more destroyed.

This is the pride of my village. Defeat isn’t found in simple matters such as life and death, who lives and who dies, for sometimes victory can be found in death. So it was in this instance. My people died with a smile on their faces as the seven dealt the blow that my people never could have, and perhaps they couldn’t have without Cloud’s help.

He looked at them and offered a small smile

Perhaps they could have and the lives of all those warriors were lost for nothing, the village destroyed for nothing, but we’ll never know, and we’re better off believing that they died for something.

As for your question. People can be both. I for example can sit here and speak with the two of you, I am willing to take time out of my day for you both and yet I still watch your movements to make sure that neither of you are pulling a knife on me. Thus I am both friendly and wary. Very few people even among other Cloud shinobi have my full and unguarded trust. I fear this is perhaps due to my age and the trials I have been through. But also I find that the most recent blood on my hands were those from my village, a shinobi who by all record was an amazingly loyal shinobi. She did everything for the village, for her people, for her family. Yet she killed my friend, the previous Raikage, and I found out that that was the case, so I killed her.

He frowned slightly at the thought.

I have killed many of my own kinsmen over the years, or sentenced them to a fate worse than death. It is the problem you have when you get old in this field of work. He looked at his hand which he had opened before him, the scars of a blacksmith had hidden much, but the wear of a killer could still be seen there, nothing could cover those up.

His attention back on the pair he found himself curious I don’t know what your village is like with embracing religion, in Cloud it’s very common, most shinobi in Cloud have a belief in something. Would you like to hear a story about my master and his passage to becoming a god among the people of Cloud?

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

Kurokawa listened as Akira unveiled a world of knowledge for her. Now it seemed to make sense that you can be both on guard and technically friendly. She did not however like the idea that cloud was so driven by faith, in a Ninja now revered as a god.

"Maybe some other time. Not really the right time for tales of deities if you ask me."

She then thought about someone just up an killing the Raikage only to be killed right after. Was the Raikage not suppose to respresent the strength of the village and therefore be strong enough to handle such threats to a point where he could get help from the ANBU? Kurokawa thought it over before trying to inquire as to how this man ascended to the position of Raikage.

"So your friend. Do you think she planned far enough ahead, and foresaw that you would take up the mantle after her act?"

 

[Mizutsune Mira]

(You guys can skip me, I don't have much to add on @_@)

 

[Junan]

[OOC: All good]

His offer to speak of Shinbatsu was turned down, which was fair enough, it would have probably been too preachy anyway. But such as it was when one trained under a living god. She didn't however answer his question which was interesting in and of itself. Still her question was plagued with issues which could only happen when one didn't understand what happened, or who he was.

She was anything but my friend. My friend was the man who she arranged to die. I don't know what her intentions were, I wonder whether she simply wanted change. After she killed my friend she became Raikage herself, but she fled from the position, I believe when she knew that I was coming for her that she chose to save her own life rather than face me. I became Raikage after that, I did so through force which had only been done once before in this age. I'm not proud of that, but, I'm proud of what I have achieved as the Raikage.

He nodded.

Of course this had been the first time he had mentioned his title.

 

[Hashigaki Kurokawa]

Kurokawa had jumped to the conclusion that Akira and the woman had been friends from how he described her. Clearly that was not the case. Now however she was puzzled by what was said. He had stated that he killed her but now it seemed she escaped with her life to avoid him. What Kurokawa could not fathom was why after assassinating the Kage, she would not just have used her new position to gather the ANBU under her and face Akira. Apparently the Raikage had to either be able to fend for himself or get replaced. At least now it seemed that the current seat was one who even without deception could walk in and take the seat. Such war torn environment. Maybe that was why Kurokawa's mother chose to travel to Stone rather than Cloud, even though the trip to Cloud would have been shorter and less dangerous.

Kurokawa took a bow.

"Meeting the Raikage is an honour. Sorry for my nosiness."

She then had a thought. With that many swaps, what number of Raikage was he? Sure he became strong by training under a revered Shinobi so eventually one would expect that he would take up the mantle but if he trained under someone that strong the line of Raikage might not be that far along even with many quick swaps. She figured that there would not necessarily be any record or it if it happened within the last few years so she knew she had to get nosy again to make sure the information was available. Being young meant wanting to know everything to not make the same mistakes as previous generations and even unrelated information could some day come in handy

"Some refer to a kage by their Succession number. If you don't mind me asking, I'd like to know your number"

[MFT]
[WC: 307]

 

[Mizutsune Mira]

Haruichi listened intently to the tale of the past. Twice destroyed, thrice founded. The first founder, the first raikage was considered a god. Those two facts stuck the most out to him, and he was only more pumped up for the sparring match! That meant that the man in front of him, who had stated that he was a Raikage himself, meant that he was a successor to Raiden's throne. It was a close enough statement that he didn't care if he was right or wrong in the simile of King and Kage. He danced himself over to behind Saito, and placed a calm hand behind his back. He surprisingly calmed down and spoke with only care, "Lay down your weapon then, oh Kage mine. I may just be speaking for me on this one, but the amount of things a Kage has to do in their line of work is staggering. The sheer amount of willpower and determination you must have from your tales is awe inspiring! You are a man above men sir. You have earned that right, but no one should have to be burdened with the death of a loved one. Its a sad thing, and it can overwhelm, for even I can see the sorrow in your eyes."

He took his hand off Saito and took a step back. His eyes wandered over to Kuro. He responded to them both then, "If you don't mind me asking on top of her question of number, how did your master become a god?"