Wind and Rain [solo,nk]

Human beings were disgusting, Kozai thought, as he walked down the street in the evening. This time of the day was when he got to observer people in Hoshi the most, as this was basically one of the few times in the week that he actually was outside. He was usually cooped up in the library, or in his rooms doing research on this or that. Even that, he noted with chagrin, had lost its luster slightly. He didn't have any leads, and it frustrated him. So, this time around, he needed a change of plans. Self betterment was still well within his reach, and was quite determined to follow that goal.
And a worthy goal it was. He had been neglecting himself as of late, so he decided to force a lifestyle change and waste a bit of time. Heading home first, he diverted his thoughts back to what he had seen. Humans were terrible creatures, and it was that kind of limit that he wanted to transcend. By attaining immortality and eternal life, he had gotten halfway there, but it was probably the easiest half. How would he be able to cast aside the sentiments and inclinations of humanity? Even Kozai had no idea.

At any rate, as he reached his residence, he unlocked the door, checking the surrounding area. This apartment was cheap housing, and as such, it attracted many kinds of people, both good and bad. Since Kozai's sensory range was so large, it could easily scan all the relevant parts of the building. Kozai would sometimes ignore the things he saw, though, out of respect for Akihana. He knew that she probably didn't want him peeking in on the people around him. Still, he didn't see any issue with it. It wasn't like he interfered with some of the possibly criminal things in the building, and didn't use any of the information he found maliciously. 
Peering into his refrigerator, Kozai noted the cooling unit. 
...
Something hit him at that moment, and it sure wasn't physical. He realized that there was something interesting he could do with wind release that might be on par with that earth spear technique he had just learned. As before, there wasn't anything really effective that he could use it with in straight combat, but at the very least, he could try. It might be cool to use against people, and-

Wait, he remembered something like this from that manual he had picked up in his youth. The Gale Palm technique, it was called, and for a technique of such low calibre, it was certainly most useful. He remembered some one else in his far past using this technique to block and knock away a variety of rather intimidating projectiles. Hmm, very good, Kozai thought to himself, pulling a fruit from a bag of oranges out of the refrigerator. He'd have to work on learning that one then, and quickly. He'd look bad if he didn't know as many jutsu as he could. Well, outward appearances didn't mean much to him directly, but they would affect how much influence he had in the village. Even something as small as this could be important in the long run. Optimization, he thought to himself again, as he started to peel the orange. There was something that he needed to do here, though he didn't know what quite yet. Perhaps if he waited for Denkiteki to come to him again, he might get another flash of information that would allow him to proceed. But for now, he would wait and watch to see if anything arose.

This reminded him of when he had hung around outside of Hoshi and within its country borders, just waiting for something to happen. And indeed, it did. Though, to be fair, there were more people inside Hoshi than outside, so the chances of him meeting someone with what he needed were actually quite high. Or at least, higher than it had been before. He still didn't feel quite accepted in Hoshi. People glanced at him as if he were some kind of oddity, which he supposed he was, but there was something else. The spiteful eyes of the elders and the clerics were always on him. Kozai suspected that they were regularly spying on him. Pff, well, that was fine. It wasn't like he was doing anything wrong. At that, Kozai checked himself. Ah, that wasn't the issue, now was it? Powerful men like these could easily bring up something against him that was spurious.
At any rate, he tossed the orange peel up into the air and channeled his chakra outward, kneading wind chakra in an effort to create the effect described within the manual. Of course, nothing happened. Hmph, as expected, Kozai thought. He'd put barely any work into it, and he expected to learn something like this already? No, that would not do. He needed to try harder, of course, as much of a pain as it was. The pain, to Kozai however, was nothing. Not if it was for the sake of self betterment.

At this point, Kozai picked up the orange peel and threw it away. No need to use trash to practice, he thought to himself wryly. No, he could probably go out somewhere and practice himself using actual materials. But where...? Ah, well, there was one place he could try. The training grounds. He thought that it might be humorous to hop right in there during the evening practices and blast away all the genins' projectiles. Kozai quickly reconsidered this. That probably wouldn't go well with the people that he needed to manipulate, he thought to himself. No, he needed something more convenient. 
As if nature itself heard his every word, it began to rain. Ah! Kozai smiled slightly. Each raindrop was like a tiny projectile, especially when it came to Kozai's detection and surveillance sensory abilities. The roof, he thought to himself, would do nicely. Opening the window, he would leap onto the roof, bending down to close the window afterwards. The rain wasn't dense or intense, but the raindrops were large and heavy. 

He remembered something else in his life... Ame. He shook his head, clearing his mind and getting ready to cast the jutsu. Ame wasn't something that he liked to remember either. He had slipped, back then. Kozai had let himself fall into apathy in Amegakure, something that he abhorred. He had stopped working entirely, and had fallen into inactivity. Shameful, Kozai thought to himself. The rain, though, brought back those memories. Cursed subconscious. He would just have to deal with it. Rainfall was good, though, it meant that he might be able to find that reservoir of water that Akihana wanted so badly. With weather changes came geological changes, he knew well. 
At any rate, he clapped his hands together. Hmm, several jutsu that he had learned rather recently used hand claps. What a coincidence. Kozai casually calculated an approximate for that probability, and kept going on with his life. He had no time to dwell on whether or not this was something from providence or not. Kozai didn't believe in such a thing. The divine simply did not exist.

With that, a pulse of wind chakra would come out from Kozai's body, shooting into the area in front of him. BANG! It was stronger than he had expected, until he took into account the fact that he had enhanced himself. The wind was quite strong. Down below, though, someone gasped. Kozai suddenly became alert, his sensories checking over a hundred times per second to see who it was. 
Oh...
It was that girl who kept coming to the library, the little dark-haired one that had blushed when she first saw Kozai. That had been on the day Akihana had brought him into the village.
What was her name again? Shehzaadi. Kozai found the name cumbersome, so he had just shortened it to "Sheh-chan", whenever he saw her. She didn't seem to mind, which was good. He took a leap off the roof, and landed in front of her.

"Mr. L-librarian... you're a demon??" She seemed really scared, which wasn't a good sign. Kozai sighed, and suddenly, all the intimidation left him. He was just a tired young man who seemed much older than he actually was. 

"No, Sheh-chan. I am... or, I was a shinobi. Well, since Hoshigakure has hired me on, I guess I'm a ninja once again. Let's get you home. By the way, your book is due in three days. I hope you didn't forget." A quick blush on her cheeks confirmed to Kozai that she had, indeed, forgotten. He chuckled, and walked the girl home. She kept sneaking glances at him, which made Kozai think that she might try to assassinate him, but a quick scan revealed no weapons. Good, he thought to himself. He was probably just being paranoid again. People had been telling him a lot about that recently.

[WC 1500
with discount, 1500/1500 toward Gale Palm
CLOSED]

Kozai with the oddly fishy word counts.

Trial approved.