If you're weak... [P, NK]

... you just become stronger.

He didn't know when he would stop. Continuously disappearing during a lesson in the academy... at this rate he would never become a shinobi. But, there was no way he could help himself. It was drilled into his mind to never stay in one place, to keep moving. It was drilled into his mind to follow his instincts and move like a stream, move like the wind. However, such things would never get him anywhere in life, especially when it came to serving the village.

And Rinto knew this.
But the real question was: did he care enough to change things?

Change... The word echoed throughout his mind as he sat in a clearing, one situated near the village training grounds, simply looking up to the sky. Change... ? Did he want to change? The village didn't have a problem with doing such a thing, it wasn't the peaceful shimagakure it used to be. But, perhaps he could accept that. Perhaps he could accept that he'll never change along with the village and grow.

Although humans were known for being able to adapt quickly...

Rinto lightly shook his head back and forth before sighing. He didn't know why he bothered to have those thoughts. But, they were always there in the back of his mind. He slowly pushed himself onto his two feet, soon standing up straight and tall. Then, he made a fist and brought it up close to his face, staring intently at it. He shouldn't care, and he didn't think he did. Getting stronger was a must though, and he could barely manage a fight. Just take a hit. How could he get stronger without caring to change?

Mitako was beginning to revert back to his lazy self. Which really, in the scheme of things, didn't help much. It didn't help the village, it didn't help him, it didn't help the bandits he slaughtered yesterday, it didn't help old man Jenkins. It literally helped no one. Well, not that the bandits mattered. I mean, I guess they matter as very small part of the big production, which was Mitako's new weapon, the sand gourd, but I mean, they were kinda like back ground characters that no one really pays attention to. Moving on, Mitako Made his way to the make shift training ground near the Mizukage monument to practice both with both his sand and sword. Both were beginning to feel like extensions of his self at this point, but the sword he was using was way too cumbersome and long. It was sharp, and it was good to learn the basics with, but like his sensei Youta, he needed something shorter. Something faster. Something that was capable of not only rending flesh, but allowing fluid movements. 

What he really needed, was a change. Two shorter blades would be much more efficient, as everyone knows, it's a universal rule. If you have more of something, it gets better. Okay, maybe not everyone, but certainly the smart people know that if you have more of anything, its value increases. Like, if you have eight swords, that's suddenly eight things to cut with rather than seven, and seven rather than six, and so on. I guess, maybe this doesn't apply to dirt. If you have to much dirt, you really have nothing. So lets get back on track. This sexy, fine, four foot tall, lithe, long haired, rag wearing jinchuriki was at the training ground, just kinda using his sand and covering himself with it. He had hoped, that he could use it to make himself stronger, but so far, that wasn't the case. It needed to be harder, and look more life like for discreetness. Now, it looked like a literal man made of sand was walking around the training ground. 

After a while, a being caught his eye. Had to be one of the ninja, or at least he assumed. Black hair, black clothes, and sandals. All trademark signs of traditional shinobi. Of course, it could have just been someone with a really bad fashion sense, but Mitako wasn't one to judge. In fact, despite Kirigakure's extremely harsh outlook on things, Mitako felt more like he would be more at home in Konoha. Sure, he was violent, and a little insane, but he liked to help those that are weaker, despite him also swearing off helping the weak due to that one time he lost his arms and shit. Which sucked, but habits and personality traits are hard to break.

Mr. Sandman would approach the dude in the clearing near the training grounds next to Xyxer's monument, and allow the sand to drip off of his body until it was back into its gourd. When it was off of the upper half, revealing a normal looking torso and head, he would call out to the guy, "What are you doing out here? Don't you know Xyxer's reputation?" Hopefully, this wasn't some psychopath, he had enough of those lately.

It had been a while since he first came outside, hopefully by now the academy was close to ending. He wasn't sure if they sent out anyone to go after him... probably not considering this was a normal occurrence. Plus, they didn't care. They never cared. It was similar to how he was most of the time, just not caring about things, even if they somehow managed to catch his attention. Rinto clenched his fist and almost glared at it. If they didn't care about him, why should he care for getting stronger to protect those same people? What good were they? Suddenly, he shook his head again, this time with a bit more effort.

Why was he still having these thoughts?

It didn't make sense... Then, out of nowhere, someone called out to him. Or, at least he thought that was the case. Rinto looked up from the fist, his eyebrows risen in curiosity and surprise. His eyes wandered the area only for a handful or seconds before they landed on another individual. Someone with half of a normal body and... half of a sand body. Well, that was certainly a sight you didn't see everyday... But, sand in what was originally an island village made sense, he guessed. However, Rinto simply blinked in confusion at the question. What was so wrong about him being outside? He didn't get it. Then again, he didn't "get" a lot of things.

"No?" he returned before smiling, "Is it bad for me to be here? I was just resting..." It was a thing he did all the time, and no one bothered him until now about it. But maybe... did they send this person from the academy for him? No, that couldn't have been the case.  Based on the stranger's features, they were young, only a few years younger than him. Looks could be deceiving though... Rinto abruptly brought up his hand to scratch his head, as if it was going to help distract him from his thoughts. In a way, it did, and this stranger could help even more in that regard.

"Who are you, anyway?" the question left his mouth before he fully processed what he was saying. Mindless words, mindless movements, reflexes, instincts. All the same thing with him...

The jinchuriki, Mitako, looked down at the guy sitting in a clearing by the makeshift training grounds, and furrowed his brow. It looked almost like he had just been slapped in the face, but before someone actually came along and hurt the boy, Mitako would fill him in on why it was a bad idea to hang around the public spaces in Kiri. "Listen," his voice was kinda stern and filled with a bit more craziness than normal. Not too much crazy, but enough to get the point he's trying to make across, unless this guy was just the densest fucking guy on the planet. Almost like a sweet, brilliant, smart, yet insane and morally corrupt man... WELL, I mean, Mitako was only like twelve years old I think? So take all that brilliant smart shit and slap it on a young man with a slightly below average pitched voice. "Kirigakure, under Xyxer's rule is to be known as the village of the bloody mist to outsiders. The Mizukage himself orders his underlings to fight among them selves in blood sport to prove who is worthy of being in charge." He would then lose the craziness, and switch it for a somber tone, raising his shirt sleeve to reveal the scars on his left arm.

"Both arms were torn away from my body during the first of these events." As I said, but just in case you forgot, that was supposed to be somberish. Back to the stern voicey voice. "Now, tell me why you are here." After that little threatening sounding non threat, the sand would begin to slowly seep from his gourd, scattering itself around the area. This sand would be a slightly darker shade than the normal beach sand, due to it being infused with his bijuu's chakra. This would hopefully intimidate the str Of course, he was hoping to get the boy to rush the conversation along and tell Mitako what he was doing out here, rather than ignore the question he was asked, so clearly, by the scary Mr. Sand man. By the way, the sand armor he was forming before would be making its way off his legs by now, scattering into the surrounding area much in the same way that the sand from the gourd did. Now, the jinchuriki crossed his arms, waiting for a response.

This stranger was confusing him. Badly. None of what he said, not even his tone of voice, seemed to have an effect on Rinto. If anything, it just made him pout from the fact he was not able to connect the dots here. Obviously though, they were trying to warn him about... something. He wasn't sure what it was exactly, but it had to be something. But the fact that the sand originally around this person traveled onto the ground, and more was slowly coming out of a gourd, made him confused all the more. It wasn't coming near him -- actually it wasn't even close to him. What was this guy trying to do?

"The fighting sounds kind of cool, but the part about your arms is a bit sad. Sorry pal," he spoke, his original smile faltering and slowly transitioning into a faint frown, "If you don't mind me asking, though, what does that have to do with me resting?" Rinto then tilted his head, adding to the effect of him not understanding where this conversation was going. The problem wasn't his intelligence, the problem was usually the person talking to him. Either they didn't explain things clearly, in his opinion, or just expected him to immediately comprehend certain topics. Sometimes, it takes him several minutes to realize what those type of people are saying.

However, with people who went straight to the point, he gets it immediately. That wasn't the case here.

"And didn't I already tell you? I'm here relaxing. The academy gets boring every once in a while, you know." he said in response to the stranger's final statement, or rather, command. Unexpectedly, though, he regained his usual smile before it grew into a childish grin, "Would you like to join me?" To be completely honest, the guy did look like he needed a nap or something...

Mitako's ears perked. "This has to do with you keeping your limbs attached to your body." He thought about it for a moment, really, he did. Mitako wasn't gonna harm the kid. Someone else might have though, most of the Kiri ninja were dicks. Basically, he was frontin' to try and get the guy to go somewhere else. This goal changed when he heard the words "ACADEMY" and "RELAXING." More extreme reactions would have been likely incurred from someone else. But our hero, the jinchuriki, just had one thing to say, his voice having lost any and all tones of seriousness. Well, I mean, he didn't sound excited or anything, just a plain, flat tone. "Do you know the academy jutsu? Or are you being lazy?" 

Being lazy was a beautiful thing. A thing that Mitako loved, but swore away from. It actually took him some resistance to ignore the offer to just sit and stare at the sky. Well, not the sky, but the mist that blocked it from view. Either way, the thought seemed to linger in his mind for hours, but in reality, those hours were but mere seconds. "If you're being lazy, I'll teach them to you." Forcing himself to work, he even tacked on, "They're not so hard." 

One thing began to bug him even more than passing on the chance to take a seat and relax. An ominous sort of feeling that crept upon the back of his neck like the reaper. Almost like a Mizukage creeping his way into a totally friendly training session, and turning into a blood bath. Oh, he felt it. He did. Xyxer had something new planned, which would likely have a similar result as last time. Mitako now discarded any and all desire to be lazy. Losing his arms, or any other parts for that matter, simply wouldn't knew. Now, he had no concrete proof that this was occurring. He could be starting to worry over nothing. Then again, it was better to be prepared in case the nightmare became a reality. 

If the other kid agreed to be taught, then Mitako would tell him to follow him back to the make shift training ground. If not, Mitako would held back anyway, to begin training himself to become stronger. The sand would begin gathering back to Mitako, and put itself in his gourd. Which was really similar to a real character's gourd for some reason, but I wont complain. It really makes the sand a viable option to fight with. While he walked back, some of the sand would begin covering Mitako again, attempting to take his form. This was by his own will of course, in an attempt to develop an armor of sorts.

So what he was getting from this stranger, was that if he was caught relaxing out in the middle of a clearing, he would get his limbs cut off. The thought wasn't a pleasant one, but it was apparently the reality here. Rinto furrowed his eyebrows at that. Had the village really turned to doing something so... unnecessary? Were they trying to gain respect through fear? Or was it forcing their ninja to get stronger through fear. Either way, those weren't the best methods in doing so. However, if he was going to be dismembered for his actions, why has he been safe for so many years?

It didn't make sense, and it somewhat hurt his head. He wasn't used to putting so much thought into things...

But, rather than bring that question up in the "conversation", he simply kept silent and listened as the younger stranger spoke to him once more. "Lazy? Well, I guess you can call it that," Rinto responded, adding in a small laugh for good measure. The word was a bit more negative in connotation... or a lot more negative in connotation than when he said he was relaxing. What happened next was strange, though. The stranger had offered up to teach him the academy jutsu... Why? No one had ever done such a thing for him before, why was it starting now? Rinto blinked incredulously for a moment, before a bright smile appeared on his features.

"Okay, that sounds great!" he stated, soon following the stranger towards the training grounds after being told to. As he walked, though, something occurred to him. Here he was, answering all the questions this person had asked him, but they weren't returning the favor at all. His own inquiries were completely disregarded. "Hey wait, you didn't answer my question earlier... Who are you?"

Mitako disregarded the question of who he was again. On purpose this time, and not on accident because I was in a rush to read that shit. Turning to the stranger, whose name he still needed to learn, he held up his hands and performed the dog, boar, and ram hand signs, and transformed into the stranger before him in a poof of smoke. Then he spoke, mimicking his voice, "Go on, it takes these three hand seals." Then he would preform them again, turning back into his self.

Either after he did so, or if the boy took too long, he would continue. "Try to hit me." Quite the challenge.


[Sorry on the length, will do better next go around.]

Yet again, the stranger refused to answer his question. Why? He didn't understand it. Actually, he wasn't understanding a lot of things with this person. If he was forced to, Rinto would've been able to make a full list of how the stranger confused him. Or, at least a half full list. Something around there. Suddenly, he was forced to stop walking as the younger individual turned to face him. What was it now? The question seemed to echo in Rinto's mind as he lightly tilted his head in confusion.

Then, he saw the stranger performing hand seals. So, they were already heading into learning the academy jutsu. He focused on the seals until they finally finished, watching as his temporary teacher transformed into... him. A look of surprise took over on Rinto's face, before he squinted his eyes and leaned forward a bit. So, that's what he looked like. It was a strange feeling to see yourself. Although such a thing was capable with mirrors, this case was completely different. After all, he was seeing... himself as a whole different person, if that made any sense...

Even hearing his own voice was weird, but he did process the words that his "teacher" spoke to him. He was supposed to try it for himself... "Uh, okay!" Rinto scrunched his face for a moment, recalling the hand seals used for the technique. Then, he performed them at a moderate pace. Dog, boar, ram. Mere moments later, a puff of smoke surrounded the teen, and when it dispersed left an exact replica of the stranger in front of him. But wait...

"Hit you?" he repeated the statement, or rather order, but in the form of a question, "You mean, while keeping up the jutsu?" That would certainly be harder than in his original form. But, if this person knew all the academy jutsu, they must have graduated from the academy, and therefore be a shinobi. That meant it would have been a challenge either way...

Mitako's mind blanked out for a second. Well, for several seconds, as he tried to process what he had just said to the boy... He remembered, that two jutsu in particular were necessary to graduate the academy. Was it substitution or clone? He began second guessing himself a great deal, and then started rubbing his temple. "Uhh..." he grunted, "Hold on one second and let me think." Guh, what was it? Seriously? He was beginning to give himself a head ache trying to remember. Then he decided, he would just explain why he wanted to be hit, and teach the boy all the basic jutsu he knew. "Okay, look, I wanted you to hit me so I could show you the substitution jutsu. Just do the handsigns, before you're about to get hit." Then her performed the tiger, boar, ox, dog, and snake signs, but nothing would happen, as he had nothing to substitute with. "Memorize those," Mitako said.

"Moving on," He then formed the ram, snake, and tiger seals, spawning two clones in poofs of smoke. The clones would mirror Mitako's movement due to the nature of the jutsu. "The clones don't really hold any use in combat, so I don't know why the academy has you learn these." Thinking about it, he redacted that statement, because shadow clones were useful, "Actually, no. I suppose if you prove good at ninjutsu, you could make shadow clones. I dunno if these clones have any relation to shadow clones though." Then, for reasons, he would dismiss the shadow clones, while waiting for a response/Rinto to perform the jutsu.