Escaping the Heat

[Takeuchi Kaito]

The suns bright rays shown down intensely on the large open ended field, located just a mile or two outside of Konohagakure no Sato. There were no birds flying in the sky, seeking comfort from the scorching hot sun in the shadows of their trees. Why it was so hot was a mystery, but that kind of fact was unimportant. The only thing that really mattered was that it was hot, and everyone or being was trying to escape the blazing heat. Though, despite the heat, the day was still a beautiful one. There were only a handful of clouds stationed above, and the sky was a bright hue of blue.

Sitting in the shade of a rather large tree was the brown haired jonin. Taking a swift swig of ice cold water from his bottle he leaned against the tree, and sighed. He wore the standard chunin attire of the village, except due to the heat he rolled up his sleeves - revealing two wrist guards surrounded in a black wire-esque item, these were his Kuroikamidzuna. His dark green flak jacket had also been opened as another measure to keep him cool.

His reason for being here was a simple one. He was meeting up with two newly appointed genin, who had managed to gain his interest. The two of them were troublemakers so he figured that he'd take them to an open field, guessing he might have been doing some potential victims a favor. If anything, Kaito was just going to teach the boys a few techniques that would allow them to be more prepared for the world of a true shinobi. Even though Kaito had been appointed the jonin commander of a genin cell, he still had yet to officially meet with them. In his mind, he saw this little meeting as a test to what he would do when he truly met up with his team for the first time.

[Kinezumi]

"Aiyaaaahn..." Kinezumi moaned, rounding a tree, he made his way into the open ended field with a look on his face that not even a mother would love. Turmoil was one of the many moods the young Genin was in. He looked up in the distance, then back down at the piece of paper that got him here. "'Think I took a wrong turn..." Kinezumi grumbled, bullets of sweat rolled down his face, he wouldn't have made it out this far or even tried to get out this far, heat or no heat, without some promise of something. It was just a matter of what that something was.

"That--that bastard said there'd be a seafood buffet out here." Sighed Kinezumi, obviously fatigued due to the walking. Kinezumi's brows knitted, a droplet of sweat falling from the tip of his nose. He racked his brain on how there was no buffet. He reached up, peeling back the cloth from his head and gripping the shiny plate that was stitched on the front and fanning himself with it. "Gaaah!" Continuing into the field, he had no choice but take cover in the shade. Staggering with his eyes closed, he approached the shade, wishing that the merciless Fujin denied him the slightest gust of wind this evening. Kneeling next to a tree, he sat down at the trunk of the same tree that Kaito was sitting, but on the adjacent side. He wasn't really stealthy, thus obvious to even the most hearing-impaired of shinobi.

"Where are the womeeeen? Where are the shriiiimp?" Moaned Kinezumi before slumping over onto the grass.

[Ðaio]

Daio grunted, his right hand going to the lock of hair that lay haphazard in the middle of his forehead under his hitai-ate. It was a source of much irritation; however, stuffing the bang back up past the metal plate was an instinctual move, as was the wiping of sweat from his temples. It was understandable-- the day was incredibly hot, no matter how pure the color of the sky. Normally, the genin would most probably be randomly beating up on a dummy at a training ground, of which Konohagakure no sato had plenty, but at that moment, he was outside of the village. In the middle of nowhere, to be exact, slugging through a field populated by long, coarse grass and various trees, mostly of short stature... except the one that he had stopped in front of. The trunk was unusually expansive, and he found no reason to spend excessive energy by walking around it.

"Why the fuck did I come out here again...?" he muttered, wincing an eye in irritation, trying to recall what exactly had enticed him to step out of the village. He remembered something about a buffet... was it seafood? "Che... ain't nothin' out here, man..." Daio slurred to himself, his eyelids drooping from boredom. He groped around at his left hip for a water bottle as he leaned against the bark, content at the chance to rest in the shade. "... Fuck. I thought for sure I brought that shit..." the genin growled loudly, equally vulgar in apparent solitude as he was in public. "Tch."

He idly lowered himself onto on the fertile soil that surrounded the roots, not noticing that there were others benefitting from the cooling shadow of the colossal tree. "Whoever wrote that shit's a fuckin' liarface... where the fuck's the buffet?" Daio complained to himself, hunched over while draping his arms across his knees.

He'd give it ten minutes, and then he'd head back to Konoha.

...

His stomach grumbled.

...

He'd give it five.

[Takeuchi Kaito]

Seafood buffet. Kaito must have been some kind of genius to think of this plan to get the boys out in the middle of nowhere. Seeing as they were young boys, probably in their early teens he simply played off of one of their basic desires - food, seafood to be precise. The messages were attached to kunai, which were thrown at their feet sometime earlier in the day. His intentions for this meeting were to simply judge how well his teaching skills truly were, and for all extensive purposes they were merely his guinea pigs for his training methods.

As he took another swig of his water the ice in the plastic blue bottle rattled within the water. "Ahh," Kaito muttered to himself as he placed the bottle next to him once again. A few beads of sweat glided down his face before being wiped away by his arm. It truly was hot out today, and he was starting to question why he bothered to even do this. Just as he thought about heading back to the village he heard them approaching. If they were trying to be stealthy, then both of them were doing a horrible job of it. Each of them taking a seat at the very tree that was providing him shade, and yet they seemed oblivious of anyone other than themselves.

...Pathetic.

"You two really are simple minded, only thinking about food," Kaito said, not bothering to move from his spot under the tree. "Suppose this had been some kind of trap. What would you have done then?" he asked before taking another chug from his water bottle, which was beginning to get rather low.

[Kinezumi]

"Ha?!" Kinezumi's hand slid across the ground, his feet shuffled across the grass below, uprooting, ripping and throwing some of the green blades into the air as the boy stood. He spun from his stagger to face the man who suddenly made his presence known, sitting on the adjacent side of the same tree. His long black hair whipped around, with a flick of his wrist and poking of his fingers, he slid his digits into the ring of two kunai on his leg. His dark eyes focused on the man standing before him, speaking insulting notions of Kinezumi and the other boy who at this point was still unnoticed. "Y-you!" Kinezumi growled, plucking the kunai from his pouch, throwing his hand up before his face, slipping a finger from one of the bandaged rings. A second hand came up and snatched the kunai from the air, taking an offensive stance.

He was jumpy, something that came with having to sleep with one eye open during overnight missions in the wilderness in the past. Ambushes were quite common, especially during the night, the worst were from other Ninja, but there were bandits, too. They posed a threat even without chakra usage, they were still skilled in weaponry, and knew how to get a quick kill on a ninja. The spotty lights that rained down through the leaves above caused the sweat on his face to glistened where it hit. "Yeah? Well, I think about girls, too." He kept his stance, edging back, "You said there'd be girls here, too. But now, I'm guessing this is some sort of ambush-- or, you're one of those child predators that are running around nowadays." The boy gave a toothy grin, shifting the grip on his kunai, thinking himself a handsome devil. So immediately thought it was the latter seeing as how the man could've easily picked him off in his sleep and wouldn't still be sitting there against the trunk.

[Ðaio]

"Che. I wouldn't be so fuckin' vulnerable as you make me out to be, man," Daio rebuked rudely from near the older man after an almost indecipherable, hyper outburst from some other loser (who he ignored without much difficulty), having made his move the instant the patronizing lecture ended. It was difficult to have moved from his casual crouch in such a swift and unorthodox manner-- but he was a master at adept footwork; the genin had learned from a young age that it was move or be killed. He gritted his left set of molars, gazing at the source of his current frustration and hunger with undisguised annoyance. Head tilted, Daio proceeded to thrust his right index finger into his weaponry pouch (which he wore with a great reluctance) and flipped out a dull black kunai with dexterity. He didn't like dealing with weapons, but he knew how to when it came down to it.

"Now, what we should really be talkin' about," Daio put forth, " 'S'the fact that-- I 'on't see any buffet." He spun the kunai with his lower lip jutting to the side as he contemplated his next sentence, stomach growling once more. "I 'on't like liars, man, and that ain't a threat. I'm'a just ask you this-- why the fuck am I out here?"

[Takeuchi Kaito]

It only took a matter of seconds, but the two of them had done exactly what Kaito had expected them to do. Instead of trying to put distance between them and their supposed opponent they not only exposed themselves, but figured yelling would be the best solution to the problem. As the first boy maneuvered his way around the tree to face him the jonin simply picked up his water bottle once again, and brought it to his lips. Noticing the kunai drawn as he drunk from the bottle a faint smirk threatened to emerge, but he surpressed it. No sooner had the first boy finished his senseless tirade the other boy made his appearance, having drawn a kunai just like the boy before him. However, this one, though still rash was at least somewhat sensible.

As he drank the last of his water the jonin simply looked back and forth from the two boys casually. "Ahh," he said as he tossed the bottle to his side, and looked directly at Kinezumi. "Before I start, I need to tell you this...," Kaito said to him, his voice holding an air of complete seriousness. There was a brief moment of pause, and then he spoke again. "You're a moron." With that said Kaito turned his attention to the brighter of the two, Daio. "Well, it's good that you weren't threatening me...," he said as he channeled his chakra to his wrists, and a single hair from the Kuroikamidzuna shot forward at blinding speed. The razor sharp hair then cleaved through the dull kunai without effort before returning to his wrist - all happening in a moment's time. "Because something like that could happen to your arm," he said as the blade side of the kunai would fall to the ground. "Now, as for why you're here. I just felt like I wanted to train you two. Is that a problem?" he asked, not really caring for their answer. From what they had displayed to him so far only further proved his point that they needed training, which he was offering.

[Kinezumi]

"Moron?!" Kinezumi growled to himself, watching as the man easily sliced the kunai the boy was holding clean through, the shiny black metal dropped to the ground with a soft thud. Kinezumi looked down at the kunai's edge with a frown, his black hair sprayed forward as he pushed off the ground, hopping back a few steps before repositioning himself several feet away. "Tch, don't you think it would've been simpler if you'd just asked and had me say 'no' then trick me to come all the way out here?!" Cried the Genin, his stance was strong, he was still in no shape to fight after the seal broke. His chakra was still stunted and somewhat recovering since the incident even now, days after returning.

Throwing his kunai down, they stuck into the earth below with a thud. He tilted his head to the side, gripping the bottom of his shirt, he quickly slid the shirt up over his head before tossing it aside, revealing his slightly baggy white tanktop. "All right, all right. Guess that guy's stuck trying to fight this guy with me, too. So, he's not an enemy at the moment." Thoughts raced through his mind a mile a minute as he bent over, sliding his fingers through the looped kunai and plucking them from the ground. Slightly moist soil dropped from the blade's sides. He fixed the handles in his hands once more, preparing to engage in battle, the only form of training he knew.

[Ðaio]

Daio stopped spiraling his finger as the wire shot out, surveying the brief view of the weapon with keen eyes, eyes that didn't bat an inch as the kunai was cleanly halved; the freed piece of metal horizontally shot through the air a mere centimeter from his skin, whistling off into the distance. Such was the whirring speed with which the genin had spun the kunai-- and such was the almost surgical manner that the kunai had been cut with. A frown grew on his face as the remaining kunai ring lazily wobbled down to his knuckle. "A friend o' mine got me that shit, man..." the genin muttered, not bothering to answer the reason why he was out in the field. His frown grew deeper, his dissatisfaction apparent.

He cast his eyes to the side, noting the weight shift of the other kid. Daio moved at the same time, letting himself fall back and pushed off his heels. The effect was a smooth reverse somersault, and as one revolution finished, he popped up, gracefully swaying up and backwards as he channeled the momentum into a short leap to distance himself from the jounin.

The genin's eyes idly traveled down to the ring still on the knuckle of his index finger. His lower lip jutted out to the side once more.

"'Ey. You." Addressing the hyperactive boy, Daio's tone was calm, giving away nothing. His nature wasn't one of disguise-- he was only so used to his upcoming decision that it was second nature. "Don't get in my way."

His finger flicked forward, the kunai ring with its small remaining chunk of metal flying at a pace similar to the wire he had seen suddenly erupt out of the older man's wrist. At the instant the steel left his finger, the genin pushed forward at a remarkable speed, manipulating chakra towards his feet and holding the energy for a second, a feat that caused him to break into sweat again--

Daio broke off diagonally as he expelled the chakra, speeding up exponentially for a few moments (and most likely disappearing to the outside view), veering to the side and suddenly cutting in again, fist cocked back and ready to hurl forward a punch, the muscles on his lean frame showing starkly-- his wrist ready to rotate inward for added power-- knuckles ready to tighten upon impact--

Battle was it.

Battle was his nature.

[Takeuchi Kaito]

These two boys truly were similar, almost creepily in a way. Though their personalities were different they both had the same kind of aura to them - both of them were fighters. As both of them moved back to put some distance between themselves and him, and to his mild surprise they weren't freaking out over his piKuroikamidzuna. This fact was apparent as the loud mouth one started yelling again, so Kaito would return his attention to the boy. "Why not just ask you?" he asked, repeating the question. "Well, where would the fun be in that?" he asked him, a smile forming as he slowly stood from his spot and stretched.

During that time the loud mouth genin had removed his shirt, apparently some kind of statement that he was going to fight him. The other boy also seemed ready to fight him, having ordered the other genin to stay out of his way. Glancing back and forth for the two of them Kaito contemplated how he should handle this situation, and figured that he'd fight them without the aide of any weaponry. So, untucking his right sleeve he let it fall back into place at his wrist he glanced over at the calm genin, who had just flung the remnants of the kunai in his direction. Not feeling a need to deflect it the jonin simply slide his left leg behind him, and shifted his weight so that the remnants would sail past his head to find its new home in the tree - all the while Kaito was lowering the band around his left arm so that he could lower his sleeve.

Despite his attention to the kunai Kaito had not taken his eyes off of Daio, his eyes keeping up with his movements. "Hm," was all the jonin had to say to the impressive speed for a boy at his level. Nevertheless, Kaito would be a rock and would hold his ground against the attack. As the genin approached rapidly a smirk formed on Kaito's face as he kicked the water bottle infront of him forcefully towards the genin's face. If it collided then it would certainly disorient the boy, and if it didn't it would likely throw off his momentum. Either way, his attack would fail. It was just a matter of finding out how.

[Kinezumi]

"Get in your way--?!" Kinezumi hunched over, he darted forth just as Daio began moving. Blades of grass were left in his wake, as he pushed off the ground. His long black hair flowed behind him, his dark eyes watched each movement as carefully as possible. Thoughts raced through his head, scenarios played out, but all much too fast and not clear enough. He was moving in without a battleplan at all. Once he drew close, the boy watched as Daio rounded around one side, so Kinezumi did the opposite, attacking from the opposite end. He threw his weight back, falling onto his side. His momentum caused him to slid in attempt to barrel through and sweep the man's leg from under him. Kinezumi's leg extended upward [around Kaito's knee-level] in attempt to attack him low.

"You're the one in my way!" Yelled Kinezumi, leaves that laid on the forest's floor trailed after him, spiraling wildly. If he wasn't stopped by connecting the hit, he would continue out into the open field, recover and reassess his combat tactic. At the moment, all he could do was test Kaito.

[Ðaio]

Daio noted the plastic bottle flying at him in a detached sort of demeanor and dropped his right hand. It came up quickly-- his right foot shifted to the side-- he pivoted his weight around it, the water bottle crunching into his left shoulder as he wildly controlled the speed and momentum with eyes that danced with the aura of battle, ending the spin on his left foot and now diagonal from the jounin. The genin's cardboard soled Chinese slippers skidded viciously across the grass; he took to the air, attacking opposite the direction that the other had chosen, his right side twisting around fiercely, knee extended and swinging forth towards the head of the man with his left fist ready to close down the middle. It was the simplest of plans, to bar any possible escape.

Despite it all, Daio found time to argue with the annoying punk below him. "Man--!" he bellowed, executing his flowing attack simultaneously. "Ya better fuckin' know what'chou doin', ho!" he roared, his face contorting in irritation. He still wasn't sure what their opponent was capable of-- but fuck it. He'd deal with any shit that came his way.

[Takeuchi Kaito]

Despite the fact that most of his attention had be put on the young street fighter Kaito had hardly forgotten about loud genin. The sound of his feet rushing through the grass and leaves towards him gave away any hope of a sneak attack, but stealth wasn't something that he expected from the two of them. As Daio spun to avoid the water bottle that had been kicked at him Kaito took this brief moment to glance over his shoulder to seen Kinezumi, who was now sliding towards him. Turning back to face Daio, who had taken to the air for an aerial attack. It appeared as if the two boys had pinned him into a tight corner, an attack from both the ground and sky. The most interesting thing about this is that they were acting as a team, even though they practically just met.

In the end, as the two attacks came towards the jonin he figured he would have to let one of the attacks hit since he was going to battle without weaponry. Feeling the kick make contact with the back of his knee his leg buckled, and with that he shifted his body weight back before extending his arms towards the ground. Once his hands were planted on the ground he pushed up his lower body in a backflip, which would also serve as a kick towards Daio. Whether the attack would be effective was irrelevant to him at the moment as he flipped two more times before landing in a crouched position. "Is that the best you two can do?" he asked as he stood up once again. This time assuming a simple stance, his legs spread, his knees bent slightly, and his arms brought up in a defensive manner. At the moment, he was going to stay on the defensive to judge their skill level. Only after that would he begin his offense.

[Kinezumi]

Once his kick connected, he threw his arm up above himself, digging the kunai deep into the earth, coming to a sudden stop. Shifting his weight, he kicked off the ground, inverting himself. His finger was still inside of the kunai's loop, using the kunai as his balance point, he easily balanced invertedly. His tanktop dropped, bunching up around his chest and drooping just below his mouth, revealing his slim frame.

He saw his reluctant partner take a recovery kick from the Jonin, causing Kinezumi to snicker. "Stop getting owned, noob!" Called Kinezumi, bending his arm, he ignored what Kaito was saying, it was nothing more than BS to psyche him out. As long as Daio was attacking, and Kinezumi was following up on those attacks, Kinezumi was confident that they would win. He twisted his torso, and with a push of his arm, his body shot upward into the air. He went into a spin, the kunai still in his grasp and dislodged, he hurled it at Kaito. The kunai cut across the air, aimed at Kaito's kneecap, looking to disable or stunt the man's movements.

He landed on his palm, spinning, he reached up with his second kunai and placed it in his lips. "Don't let up, noob!" Kinezumi yelled to Daio, sliding to his feet, uprooting blades of grass once more, he prepared to rush Kaito again.

[Ðaio]

"Guhaaah!" Daio grunted, his prepared sharp retort forgotten, air forcefully leaving his mouth as his knee hit nothing but a faint whisper of the man's hair. He clucked his tongue in annoyance, not having any time to block, only having to make do with what was out already-- to be specific, his leg, which received one half of the backflip kick, while his abdomen took the rest, propelling him up a foot. Sweat sprayed into the air, three small droplets flung out into the empty space-- they hovered for just a second as he did, suspended by adrenaline and sharp concentration-- his hands went to his pouch, flicking out four kunai onto his right thumb, index, middle, and ring fingers--

The sweat dropped just in front of the jounin.

The genin dropped, his right hand arcing around and releasing the kunai on his middle and index fingers-- not directly at the man, but on either side. His ring finger followed, untensing and releasing its kunai to his front. Again, a simple tactic of locking exits so that his next action would follow through without a hitch. Namely, to land on the guy's shoulders.

Daio'd go from there.