A Drunken Walk Through Konoha [OpentopeopleinKono]

It'd been quite the eventful past few months since Kurisu's vacation. He'd learned of Kumogakure no Sato's destruction and takeover that resulted in the deaths of Misaki, Yaju, Navi, and Echo. He met up with his sons Kasuga and Adam, though the reunion was tragic with Adam dying to poison right there. Following a trip to Sunagakure no Sato to meet with his brother the Kazekage Koroshi Uchiha he made his way to Konoha in order to find Kasuga's mother Ari and try to bring his family together and become a better man. During his time spent in Konoha he'd grown fond of the village and its people in a way he never did with Kumo, so when the previous Hokage Jason Senju passed away far too soon, Kurisu stepped up to take the place of Hokage during the village's time of need. 

Now he finally had a good home for his family, feeling comfortable enough with things to have another child with Ari, a daughter named Kyoto. He had just left his office to let Kyoto and Kasuga talk to each other and try to form a sibling bond. It was evening, the sun was nearly gone and the streets of Konoha were fairly clear with most of the residents heading to the homes to be with their families. It was much different from the days of Kumo when his villagers were afraid of his urges to slaughter people no matter who they were. So much had changed and he enjoyed the peace of the village despite his history with the village before Viper had become Hokage.

Taking slow steps and enjoying the near night peace of Konoha while drinking on his Jack he wonder if anyone was going to try and talk to him, it was something that had never happened in his old days but these were new and better days. Just in case he had a bag of many bottles of Jack Daniels on his back to make sure he could share with ours if need be.

Ari walked beside Kurisu, carrying a bottle of liquor in her left hand that she was merely taking casual drinks from. The decision to stay by his side was one of the best she'd made. With a life completely set up for them to continue on happily, she couldn't think of being anywhere else. Ari and Kurisu weren't holding hands or anything silly like teenagers, merely walking through the streets while he enjoyed liquor and she enjoyed his company. How things turned out was best for the family and surely it would benefit Konoha to have a man with family in charge. Too many Kage were loners with no connections besides their trusted soldiers. Ari fully intended to meet the expectations set for her by Kurisu, although she wasn't certain that matching his power would ever be possible.

For the moment, that didn't matter. The night air was too nice to waste thinking about other things. Ari turned her head to face Kurisu before holding up her bottle of liquor, "To the future of our family and this village." Offering her bottle for a toast, she would clink it with Kurisu's if he went along with it. Afterwards she would continue walking; waiting as always to see if anything happened. Having only killed a few people, she couldn't fully comprehend what would happen if she'd taken as many lives as Kurisu did. Not that it mattered, Ari's loyalty to him and their family was unbreakable. A soldier thought himself loyal, a right hand thought they were loyal; their loyalty was petty garbage beside hers. Ari knew she was in a position that could cost her life, it could cost the life of her son and her daughter.

Walking the streets at night was a fun way to spend time; the feeling of safety however, that was something she'd never have again.

It was a nice night out in the village of Konohagakure. The sky was clear and there was a cool breeze that made the usual heat not so intense. Jace loved nights like this. It was his habit to often walk the streets of the village on any occasion he had and this was a perfect night to do so. Of course he couldn't kick his habit of reading while he walked either. He normally payed close attention to where he was going while he read, keeping his sharingan active to do so, although he had come into the habit of nearly always having them active now a days. He had been being assigned to so many missions at random times lately he felt he might as well just use them every chance he got. It also made reading easier but that was beside the point. The sounds of the village evening were one of the few things Jace found very peaceful and enjoyed doing. Tonight was no different. He kept his nose to the page, scanning fervently with his eyes as he continued to read and just walk aimlessly through the streets. His mind filled with fantastic charactes and magical beasts from within the story he held in his hands.

All was going well on this beautiful night so far. That is until the boy came to an overly exciting and dramatic part in the book and stopped looking where he was going. That was a mistake. THUD! It felt like he had walked straight into a brick wall. He had fallen backward from the impact and dropped his book on the street next to him. He didn't know it yet, but the boy had just walked straight into the Hokage himself as the woman walking with him had just finished speaking, though Jace hadn't heard that part. Scrambling to pick up his book and get to his feet, his cheeks began to redden as blood flowed to them. "Sorry about that. I wa-" The boy stopped mid sentence when he finally looked up to see who exactly it was he had bumped into. The signature hat of the Hokage rested atop the man's head and the robes he wore were clearly that of the village leader as well. Jace had never met the Hokage himself before and this was certainly an embarrasing way to do so.

Now flustered with his cheeks reddening even further, Jace hastily did a half bowing salute thing, not sure what exactly to do. "Lord Hokage sir I didn't see you there. Please forgive me."

"Feels soooo good being back to normal now don't it?," Kasuga had been standing on a nearby rooftop looking over the village. The male had been rather happy since his father kept up with his end of the bargain, his old body returned to normal. Long strands of pepper colored hair hung towards the depths of his back, his black kimono hanging loosely as the breeze took the bottom of it into its gentle embrace. He felt as if he could finally do more with his time, his training going better but first he had something he needed to do with his father. Jumping into the crowd he tucked his hands into the sleeves of his kimono and walked about. Though he still kept the Raikage hat tucked under bandages he kept the memento within his reach, Kasuga never really wore it until now.

Moving with swiftness he had finally caught wind of his father's signature and walked over to him, tilting the hat so that it was just showing his lower mouth he smiled and nodded," Well father it would seem you have caused quite the commotion with you-," looking down to his mother he smiled. He thought it would be odd for him to appear as he was before he had met her, but now at least she could see her son all grown up. Moving over to her he would attempt to hug her while speaking," So what are the two of you doing about on tonight?," his eyes lowered to look at the young male that hat been bowing to his father, though that was none of his concern he took the hat from his head and placed it onto his back.

Risako's messy haired self could usually be found wandering the village whether the weather was agreeable or not, either assisting those that needed her help, training, or doing missions for the village. To her, even in down pours and blizzards the village was scenic enough to warrant a daily walk, at the very least. Today was a departure from her normal routine however. For the better part of the afternoon and evening, she had spent her time slumped on a bench, staring off into the sky, watching as it went from blue to orange, before finally darkening. Occasionally the passing bird or individual would catch her silvery gaze. 

To her discontent, this was becoming the norm. More and more often Risako would find herself lounging around, consumed with the what-ifs of her life. She just so happened to be so out of it, that she had no qualms when a child drew a little swirly scribble on her cheek with a black marker. (The boy's mother apologized profusely, but Risako's only response was a shrug. That was her response when he had asked if he could draw the scribble as well.)

For the first time that day, something caught her ear rather than her eyes. A familiar voice, and one she'd be right to recognize. Shooting the voice a quick glance, she saw the Hokage strolling down the street, Ari by his side, both headed her way (though not intentionally.) She'd have thought it cute, if not for the boy that was heading for an all too familiar collision with what Risako dubbed, "The Brick Wall." Come to think on it, the boy seemed familiar as well... His head seemed stuck in a book, while her's happened to be stuck in the clouds when she bumped Kurisu.

That didn't matter, she averted her eyes to the other direction seconds before the incident. While staring off into the distance once more, she remembered her first encounter with the Hokage. It was uncannily familiar to the incident that was about to play out, and a slanted smile came over her mouth. 

After a few seconds, her eyes fixated on the darkening sky once more. If for some reason, Ari or Kurisu failed to stop the boy from running into "The Brick Wall," her lips would curve into a smirk when she would hear "Lord Hokage, Sir, I didn't see you there. Please forgive me." Either way, Risako would recall her similar introduction, and try to suppress the laugh. Key word: Try.

After a few more seconds, her boredom got the better of her, and Risako went back to spectating the group through quick glances any time she'd heard something interesting.

The large man cleared a path for himself through the draping veils of the restaurant he had been in. As he stepped outside, the gleaming moonlight exposed his light blue skin and intimidating white fangs. Isobu could not help but look up at the Konoha night sky and admire the peace that the Moon reflected onto the village. After a moment of admiration, he turned his head back to great the owner of the shop for his hospitality. After that, Isobu was on his way. The man who stood at about 6'5" towered over most of the villagers, making him the odd man out. Even a blind man could point him out in a crowd. Making his way through the village, he could see several shop owners ending their business for the day and closing up shop. As he walked past, he greeted the handful of villagers who were out and about enjoying the night life. On the occasion that an attractive lady walked past, he would stop to make lewd conversation.

After about the third consecutive rejection from the maidens that wandered the village, Isobu dragged himself along, trying to hide his shame. When would he find love suitable for a monster like him? Perhaps the day would never come. Or...perhaps the answer lied deep at the bottom of a bottle of Konoha's finest liquor. Moments would pass Isobu by as he walked aimlessly through the village. He felt lonely ever since he became a citizen here. Not one friend made since his days at the shinobi academy. Not even a clansmen to call "brother", since his entire family and clan had been killed. For most people, this kind of circumstances would cause any man to go insane with thoughts of anguish or revenge. However, Isobu didn't care for any of that. He was too busy focusing on obtaining what he cared the most for..

Isobu's train of thought would be interrupted by the sound of a young boy's voice calling out. "Lord Hokage, Sir, I didn't see you there. Please forgive me." Isobu was surprised at who the young man was addressing and had to take a look for himself. He turned the corner so he could do just that. Standing about 5 meters away, Isobu had just walked in on an entire scene. His eyes immediately pinpointed the conical hat in the center of the crowd with the mark of the Hokage. He had not seen that hat in years, largely due to the man's separation from the rest of the village. The Hokage seemed to be enjoying his evening much like Isobu had been, bottle of liquor still in hand. To his side, was a woman doing the same. The boy whom had spoken earlier stood bowed before the Hokage, and finally, two other shinobi, one male and one female, both of whom Isobu also did not recognize, were to the side enjoying the exchange.

Isobu was quite curious at spectacle of the gathering and wondered what could possibly had brought all of them together, especially the Hokage himself. Isobu instinctively gave his salute to the leader of his village, letting out a short, yet strong-winded "Huh" sound. The force of his salute made his kimono blow slightly with the breeze. Other than that, Isobu would remain silent until he himself was addressed. It would seem there was enough action in the mix without his input.

Looking up towards the night sky, Ayumi walked aimlessly down the road. It has been a long day and she felt somewhat tired. There was, however, this urge to stay up late and enjoy the night. After all, it has been a while since she has been able to fully enjoy her free time without a care in the world. Having decided to wonder around Konoha, the girl slowed down her usual fast(ish)-but-not-really pace. Closing her eyes, she took in the night air, feeling the breeze tickle past her neck as it slightly lift her long, dark hair up and separated her blunt bangs. How attractive; she now has a 5:5 part going on. Holding her bangs flat against her forehead, the girl stared into space. Of course, it wasn't the best plan of action; walking aimlessly whilst staring into space. She'd probably end up walking into a pole or wall or some random person, but that's okay~ that wouldn't matter tonight. It has been a while since she has had such a peaceful night. The kunoichi has been quite busy recently. No, really.. that totally wasn't a lie. She has been rushing to Sunagakure and getting back to Konoha, meeting up with her students, and got some other stuff (ehem medical-related research) done. Sounds easy, but honestly, it was more hectic than expected. Oh well~ the past is in the past—she couldn't turn back the time now, could she?

Humming a happy tune, the girl continued to walk around aimlessly because... well, you never know, she might bump into some random person who may spark her interest. That would actually be quite interesting. Circling her neck, she could feel the presence of chakra—something which she didn't detect up to a second ago. Stopping in her tracks, the girl was warped back into reality as she stood still. The chakra was quite strong and it was... nearby. Interesting, the girl thought to herself as she smirked. Suppressing her chakra, the kunoichi then continued to walk leisurely (aka slowly) towards the chakra presence. The sudden rush of adrenaline hit the bottom of her stomach as she got closer to her target. How exciting.

Hmm.. seemed like there were more people that she expected. Counting in her head, she could detect up to five different chakra signatures, excluding the one she initially detected. A male voice stopped her in her tracks, "Lord Hokage, Sir, I didn't see you there. Please forgive me." Lord Hokage? she thought to herself. Raising her left eyebrow, the girl felt the sudden incline to approach the scene. She has never met the Hokage himself, so she might as well go and greet him, right? Speeding up her pace towards the scene, she was standing 8 meters away from the crowd, hiding in the shadows. Peering towards the group, she could see a tall figure accompanied by a woman. In addition to the two, she could see three males and another female. Quite a big group, aye? This should be interesting, the girl gleefully thought to herself. The kunoichi would then keep an eye on the scene, waiting for it to unfold.

Moving slowly through the village to enjoy the night, Maloren had been walking home from his training when he heard the exchange of words, "Lord Hokage, Sir, I didn't see you there. Please forgive me." That was Jace? he thought as he turned toward the crowd and sure enough the hokage hat was sitting prim and proper on the mans head. Maloren had never met the man in person before, it looked to be quite the interesting crowd as well. His eyes scanned it before finding another person he recognized. He moved over to Risako and stood next to her while he watched the group, shooting her a small smile in greeting. He then continued to watch Jace make a professional idiot out of himself before the hokage and the woman at his side. He assumed that was the Hokages significant other, Ari he thought her name was. He'd never met her, but he'd heard her name in the village. they both had a bottle of liquor in their hand and Lord Hokage seemed to have a rather large bag on him as well. 

He gave Risako one last smile before walking over toward Jace to try and help him out, they were teammates after all, and gave the two most prominent figured in the village a deep respectful boy. "Lord Hokage, Lady Ari, I do hope you'll forgive my teammate. He tends to get caught up in his books at times, and stops paying attention to where he's walking." He explained before bringing his head up gave them a small smile and nod in a more informal greeting. He couldn't help it, he didn't like all the stuffy atmospheres that seemed to crop up when an important figure was around. They were people too right? Besides Lord Hokage was walking through the village, if he wanted people to be formal he'd be in his office, right?

It was a rather lovely night, the wind— oh screw it, too many people described the scenery to have to do it again once more. But on a more relevant note, Queen had taken to the streets to the streets for a little late night training. Her father had kept her busy with a variety of business meetings that he had lined up for her during the day. She still didn’t understand why she agreed to do them, but maybe it was because he had the power to shut down her favourite dojo if he so desired. She sighed to herself to the thought of that. T’is was a rough life. First world ninja problems.

Either whom the girl wore her usual training outfit. If one didn’t know any better, you would think she wore the same exact pair of clothing every single day. In actuality, she just had twenty sets of them. A simple white tank top with black legging, her hair was put in a high ponytail in order to keep it out of her face. The black combat boots that she wore was different than the typical ninja sandals, but she hated the feeling of dirty on her skin. Rich people problems. Doing some stretching, the girl started her jog, making her way towards the training grounds where she would begin her actual training.

It was rather quiet on the konoha streets. There was some questionable activity within some of the dark alleyways but nothing that Queen particularly cared to put an end to. Probable some lowly saps procreating. What should have been a rather uneventful jog took a quick turn as she spotted a small group of people begin to gather near the middle of one of the roads. Out of those people, two stuck out to her the most. “Jace…Malo?” She said softly to herself, still continuing her sprint. The boy was on the floor momentarily before getting up and bowing to the larger figure. Next to the guy in the funky hat was the girl she had trained with just the other day. Ari was her name? A fellow Taijutsu specialist. The others just seemed irrelevant. Was it sad that Queen didn’t even recognize the Hokage? Possibly.. but she didn’t much care about the high powers of the worlds. Sure, she knew there WAS a hokage, she just didn’t know it was the almighty fifi/Kurisu that stood before her, well until now that was.

"Lord Hokage, Sir, I didn't see you there. Please forgive me." Queen heard Jace as she began to approach the scene. She slowed her run to a walk before stopping completely just a meter away. The girl would just sit there, letting her gaze fall from face to face, mainly on those she didn’t recognized. The man in the hat known as the hokage, the man with peppered hair… pepper man, funky hat, peppers. Hmm. “Hello Ari.” The girl would finally let out, not even acknowledging her own teammates. The brunette fighter had left quite the impression on Queen when they had met before, and there was nothing that the girl respected more than another female martial artist, that was until they started to become a threat. She would let a beat pass before turning towards the man formerly known as the Hokage. She would approach the man and place a hand out in order to shake hands with him. “I don’t think we have met, my name is Queen Yamano from Yamano Industries. A pleasure.” She knew it was a formality to introduce herself to higher members of society, and her father had always taught her to branch out in order to promote the company.

This past week had been a doozy. Ita had spent endless hours learning new techniques and jutsu; along with elements and so forth. Ita had even gotten to see his old Sensai, Sai, which was the result of Ita’s current situation. The two of them (prior to the events currently taking place) had met in their modest wooden home and shared a few drinks over the fact that Ita was now a Chuunin. Ita wasn’t one to drink for obvious reasons, like he’s only 13, but for some reason Sai had let it slide. This was actually the first time Ita had come into contact with alcohol and he might have over done it a little bit. The two of them concluded their meeting and Sai went on his way, clearly to do something important, leaving a young and inebriated Ita behind. Before leaving, Sai instructed Ita that he should probably go to bed, but he should have known better than to leave him alone.
 
Ita waited for Sai to leave. Once he left, Ita rose out of his bed and already dressed. Ita was wearing a gray shirt and gray pants, leaving his belongings behind. All Ita was basically wearing was what he would have worn to bed, a shirt and some pants. Ita then slipped on his sandals and exited the home. Ita pushed his hand through his messy black hair which was sort of long in an attempt to make some sense of it.
 
Off he was. Ita was now stumbling around the streets of Konoha, at night, on a drunken adventure. Ita hadn’t had this much fun in forever. Ita felt free. Alive. Drunk as shit. But not that drunk. Just like, you know, drunk, but could probably get his shit together real quick if he needed to.
 
Ita’s steps were not coordinated to say the least, and his words were a bit slurred. Ita stopped in the middle of the road when he heard the voices of some people around the corner. Ita then heard a thud and then he could of swore he heard a a familiar voice. Jace to be exact. The exact words were, “Lord, Hokage, Sir, I didn’t see you there” “Jace?! Buddy is that you?” Ita then started running towards the source of the voice. When he turned the corner his sentence was stopped mid blurt, “Jace what the heck are you doing out so la-“ Ita’s voice was cut off by a rather peculiar sight. A group of people in the street. Ita couldn’t see so well so he got closer. The closer he got, he could see a few familiar faces. Along with a few other unfamiliar faces. Ita tried to sober up a little bit before making his presence completely known.
 
In ITa’s drunken stupor, he felt the need to go apologize to Kurisu for burning down a proportion of the forest outside the village. And once a drunk person decided they were going to do something, they usually did it. And so the boy was off. Ita, 5’8”, headed straight towards the group in just a shirt, pants and sandals. His steps, less than coordinated. It was definitely a sight to see.

The liquid courage had caused Ita to walk right into the group. His eyes glancing from Queen to Jace, to inebriated to speak to them. Jace had gotten pretty beaten up by queen the last time he saw them two together, Ita was wondering how Jace was holding up. Ita’s eyes then for a moment met with Ari’s and then he immediately turned his attention towards Kurisu. His eyes shifting between his and the bottle of jack d in his hand. Ita’s creators mind swirled of the thought of honey and fire. Ita then for a moment in his drunkenness, realized what he was doing was quiet weird, but he said it anyways, “Sorry for uh- burning down the forest, I promise I don’t hate trees.” Ita’s eyes switched to the jack.