What'cha Want to Talk About? [Private]

[Kenroujima]

Team 11 had recently arrived at Tea Country and found themselves settled into a nice hotel room which would house them for possibly the remainder of their time here in Tea. Tatsuo had to lay out some ground rules upon their arrival and Yaboi had to get some nap time in after all that traveling. Although he would not sleep long, his curiosity for the new country would awake him. There was just so much to do, but there was an order to everything and Yaboi knew that. Before leaving the gates of Konoha Saito had explained that he wanted to speak in private and they never had much time to do that on their travels, so now was an opportune time if anything. Yaboi let Saito know where to meet him, a set of rolling hills they passed on their way into Tea Country.

The young shinobi would lay upon his back on the grass, staring blankly up to the clouds that passed by overhead as he mulled over a few idle thoughts. When Saito would arrive the boy hopped back onto his feet and stretched his arms up towards the sky before resting them behind his head "Hey Saito, so you wanted to talk? Whats up?" the boy asked curiously to the Cloudie and member of Team 11.

 

[Samsara Saito]

The young cloud genin arrived at the place Yaboi specified, a beautiful set of rolling hills they'd passed in Tea country on the way. The area smelled of grass and rich earth, and possessed an aura of calmness and tranquility that made for a perfect spot to while away the hours. There was so much to do in Tea, Saito would almost feel bad for lying around in any place for too long doing nothing, except Yaboi made the art look so inviting and seemed to have the ability to engage in it regardless of his surroundings. The cloudie grinned to himself as coming upon his teammate laid back in the grass and spacing out didn't surprise him in the slightest. "Hey, Yaboi! Thanks for meeting me," he replies with a smile, before seating himself in the grass right next to where Yaboi was and lying back. "The grass here looks really comfortable, actually..." the white-haired 10 year old says as he does so, wordlessly inviting the leafie to reassume his former position.

The clouds drift lazily overhead for a few moments before Saito talks again. "I wanted to ask you... about your clan. You're a Nara, right? That's what Tatsuo-sensei said at the gate when we left Konoha," the boy asks Yaboi -- rather bluntly actually, though without any sort of accusation in his tone. The Nara clan had been on Saito's mind ever since Tatsuo said Yaboi was a part of it, though when finally the opportunity came to ask the cloudie hadn't come up with a way to be more diplomatic. His own words echoing in his ears, the young exchange ninja mentally winced. Well THAT could've come out a bit better...

[Topic Entered]

 

[Kenroujima]

Yaboi paused for a moment as Saito laid back upon the grass next to him, rolling his shoulders in turn and once more lying back on the comfortable grass without much effort. His hands remained behind his head to act as a bit of neck support, his gaze once again shooting up to stare at all the clouds passing by overhead. "Well, you said you wanted to talk so of course I'd meet with you Saito." the boy confirmed with a brief nod, holding back a yawn that had been creeping up on him. Saito brought up a few moments later about Yaboi's affiliation to the Nara Clan; his blood which connected him to his late father. "Hm?" the boy began with a raised brow, keeping his gaze set to the sky as he continued "Oh, yup. I'm a Nara through and through. Why, whats up Saito?" the boy inquired, a glimmer of confusion on his features 'Oh, maybe he thinks I was hiding it?' the boy thought to himself. A small breeze rolled by over the two and the yawn had finally been released from Yaboi, "Not somethin' I'm hidin' if that's what you're thinkin'." the boy said aloud without much issue.

 

[Samsara Saito]

"Oh, I didn't think you were hiding it, I just didn't know is all..." Saito replied with a light shrug, also pretty blasé in his mannerisms as he nevertheless smiles, body relaxed. The last time he really had companionable relaxation time like this with someone else happened to be many years back, when he and his father watched the clouds go by on a similarly pleasant day. He treasured memories with his family, precious few they were, especially as he continued to move onward in life and adventure. He never wanted his parents' faces to dim in his memory, that could never be allowed to happen if he was to ever see them again... and occasions such as these, where he didn't have anything to do and didn't care to do anything at all, helped strengthen their place in his heart. He lets out a happy sigh as he allows the peace of the moment extend just a bit longer in silence, before continuing to speak.

"I would've remembered since I've kinda been wanting to talk to a Nara. Ever since Tatsuo-sensei told me about them," said the white-haired Kumo boy, glancing over to Yaboi for a moment. "He told me about them while we trained together in Kumo, how they use shadow jutsu. And then I did some research, and learned that they're basically the masters of shadow jutsu, and they're from Konoha. The Leaf library has a lot of info on them... unsurprisingly," he finishes with a small grin, eyes back to the sky.

Saito pauses again, watching the clouds drift by overhead once more as he gives space for Yaboi to respond, also taking the time to consider his next words with a modicum of care.

 

[Kenroujima]

"Mmm.." Yaboi hummed briefly in response, quietly relaxing beneath the clouds that would float by overhead. He didn't take too much time to respond, the young boy was just thinking a few things over in his head. He didn't really understand why it was that Saito wanted to speak with a Nara, though when he had brought up shadow jutsu and the clan's mastery over it the young shinobi believed that it had something to do with that topic in particular. "Yep! Every clan has something they are renowned for y'know." the boy began, bringing a hand over his eyes to shield them from the sunlight that poked out from around the clouds "Konoha Library has sooo much information, makes sense that it would have info on its clans!" the boy snickered. Yaboi rubbed his eyes briefly before stretching his arms up towards the sky with a small groan "Why the interest in Nara though?" the boy had asked, looking over to Saito curiously out of the corner of his eye.

 

[Samsara Saito]

"Well, the thing is... I may actually... be one?"

The words came a bit slowly, as though he were testing the them on his tongue for the first time. For as long as the boy knew or wanted to know, he was nothing more and nothing less than a Samsara -- Koho and Ragyo's son. When Tatsuo saw Saito's affinity with shadows back at Kumo, the Leaf ninja immediately said Nara clan, which stuck in the Kumo kid's mind from then forth. So when Tatsuo offered to take him to Konoha, Saito immediately saw the advantages. Going to the village where shadow ninjutsu lives... sensible. Definitely sensible. If he wanted to get stronger, that is.

"My dad taught me some of it... some shadow jutsu. Way, way back. It's been a while since then but I've done my best on my own to go further. I think he had Nara blood, my mom used trees in her jutsu like Tatsuo. It's always come rather easily to me... But dad never mentioned anything about a clan, so... maybe he didn't even know? Or, maybe it was a secret?" Saito shrugged, his telling of a small part of his story to Yaboi recited with the same chill tone as always. The cloudie sighed, staying quiet for a moment, lost in his memories as the unfeeling, aloof cloud formations continued to drift lazily overhead.

"But yeah... it's all some sort of muddle to be honest. I do know that my shadow jutsu isn't like my others, and that Dad said it was my heritage. So..." His words trailing off into another shrug, the white-haired cloudie fell silent, blue-green eyes entirely on the sky.

 

[Kenroujima]

The young shinobi's brow perked at the admittance by Saito, 'Saito is a Nara too?' the boy thought to himself. He began to connect the dots himself and it made sense in his head that Saito would venture out of his village and head to Leaf for a field trip, afterall he did mention the use of the konoha library. The boy turned his head to face Saito as he explained his story in regards to his family and heritage. Yaboi couldn't connect with the story personally, having his own family issues thanks to the leaf civil war. "Hmm.. So that'd make you like my far off cousin or something?" the boy voiced out, turning his head back to look up at the clouds passing by overhead. 'Its not impossible that my clan is spread out. Could very well be a Nara' the boy thought to himself quietly before speaking out "So you use Shadow Jutsu too huh?"

 

[Samsara Saito]

"Definitely far off, but... yeah, I suppose it would," Saito replied with a grin. "And yeah, I do. I don't think I'm too bad at it either, my dad was pretty skilled. Though an actual Leaf Nara would certainly have an advantage." The cloud genin gave a light laugh, before allowing his smile to fade. He sighed a touch, memories swirling in his mind while his eyes remain on the sky. "Tatsuo-sensei tried to help me improve my technique once, but he himself said his experience with shadow jutsu was really limited so it didn't get too far. He helped me with some of my other jutsu though."

Another thought followed that, its logic undeniable, had Saito lightly gasp with revelation. White eyebrows furrowing for a moment, the cloudie slid a glance over to the Leaf genin. "Hey, now that I'm putting it all together... Tatsuo-sensei knew we both used shadow jutsu even before we each knew the other did. But he didn't even tell us, he let us find it out ourselves. Ya think he has some sort of plan or something? He likes to be sneaky with us, you know... what's he thinking?"

 

[Kenroujima]

"I'unno.. Maybe?" the boy said in response to the statement of Leaf Nara having an advantage. Yaboi had a bit of trouble accepting the compliment as he believed that everyone had the potential to be better than him and push their limits. The young shinobi's eyes slowly closed as he listened to Saito explain that Tatsuo had attempted to help him with his shadow jutsu, bringing a small grin to his face "Tatsuo tried to help? Thats sooo him.. But I think his expertise is with his Wood jutsu and stuff, at least thats what I can tell." the boy said expressing his thoughts on the matter. Saito looked over to Yaboi and spoke of his revelation with Tatsuo's involvement with the two boys, though in response Yaboi let out a quiet yawn and peeked out from the corner of his left eye. "I don't think Tatsuo-senpai thinks that far ahead.. But I think he wanted us to figure it out for ourselves, y'know being Shinobi and all that. As for his plan.." the boy paused briefly before letting out a small chuckle "Don't think he plans much either.. I think of it all as coincidence.".

"You came to Konoha to learn more and adventure. You've found a Leaf Nara too. What's the next step to your plan Saito?"

 

[Samsara Saito]

"Don't underestimate Tatsuo-sensei. Having spent nearly everyday with him training or traveling or whatnot since we first met in Cloud, I've found him to think and plan ahead relatively well when it comes to me, and to us since we all became a team," Saito responded to Yaboi's thoughts about their sensei's forward-thinking ability. "He's a more reliable planner when it comes to all of that, I believe." Saito definitely had his own suspicions about Tatsuo's motivation, if Yaboi didn't realize it yet then the cloudie wouldn't raise it right now. The day was too peaceful and the two boys certainly felt too lazy to do anything. "I don't think you can make Jounin by being random all the time."

"You came to Konoha to learn more and adventure. You've found a Leaf Nara too. What's the next step to your plan Saito?"

"Hah -- well when you put it that way, it sounds like I really do have a plan," the cloud genin chuckles lightly as he closes his eyes. "Honestly, Tatsuo-sensei disrupted my original plans by knocking me over one day and then training me nearly everyday since. My new plan, which isn't much of one, is to stick with Tatsuo-sensei and Team 11. I'll have to go back to Cloud to take my Chuunin exam at the end of the year, and then I'll come back and we'll be a Chuunin team. If I can find a suitable teacher, I'm going to squeeze in some training as a med nin as well since our three-man team doesn't have one. That'd be useful."

Reciting what passed for plans to Yaboi and hearing himself say them aloud helped solidify things in his mind. The in-between details would work themselves out in time, the young cloudie knew.

"How about yourself? Any special plans?"