Winds of Change [Open, Konoha]

Ashi informed Kotsuzui that he had to consider the possibility that Stein was 'long gone' as she put it. It was something he had to consider. In in world like this, one minute you could know someone and the next their gone. At that instant Kotsuzui thought of his first Yamanaka teammate and Kouse who he had gone on a mission with. Now both were gone. It was something they had to get use to, though was never easy. It seemed Kisuke was happy that he may be dead, stating he wasn't a nice person. From Kotsuzui's experience, he was nothing but a nice person. Instead of attacking a messily Genin wondering in the forest on his own, he decided to train the Kaguya instead.  

Ashi asked which team they belonged to and Kotsuzui simply looked over to Kisuke unsure of what to say. So he just went for a sip of his tea waiting for Kisuke to answer instead, which he did. Kotsuzui would have probably came up with something along the lines of what Kisuke had responded with as well. They had never really been given a 'team number'. "Yeah, Ayumi-sensei informed us he died of a heart attack. Strange for someone so young to die of a heart attack though" Kotsuzui said, confirmed what Kisuke had said. "The Uchiha's name was Kaze" Kotsuzui added in for Kisuke since he couldn't remember his name. He was Kotsuzui friend. It was a shame he was taking a break as a shinobi. He was skilled, and Kotsuzui enjoyed sparring against him.

Kotsuzui couldn't help himself but laugh at Kisuke finding Kirino a pain in the ass. "You must not like the fact you're not outnumbered by Kaguya's" he added in. It was one thing to be annoyed by Kotsuzui because he simply instigated everyone all the time. But Kotsuzui believed Kisuke was annoyed of their new teammate Kirino because there had been some tension when they first met which could have easily broke out into a fight. Kotsuzui was still waiting to see that fight. With that Kotsuzui would turn his attention back to Ashi. "You know of any quick way to become a Chuunin?" he'd ask her. "Doing all these missions are so tedious. And we're both skilled enough to be promoted. I'd rather just get it over with than wasting our time with mission after mission."

"People die all too young," She replied with a graver tone than intended. "It seems to be shinobi's lot in life."

She took a tentative sip of her tea contemplating her own words. Yes, what she had said was true; shinobi tended towards having a shorter lifespan than others. Though as of late, considering the unprecedented peace, such a fact was changing, but still, maybe, she had been too harsh? Was it really the mature thing for a hardened anbu operative to burden genin with hard truths? She probably wasn't the right one to ask.

"Though, it's not all bad. After all, you two seem to have quite the camaraderie and setbacks often serve to fuel an ultimate success."

Oh yeah, great caveat, just great...Real grade-A motivational speech there...

Playing off her all too cheesy attempts to cheer up the genin she flashed an apologetic smile before continuing.

"A quick way to become a chuunin, huh?"

Another pause as she considered the question; she had never cared much about her rank, it just sort of happened.

"I always rather enjoyed missions myself, though I suppose there are a few different ways to go about getting a rank in Konoha. The 'easiest' is to simply grind out missions," She put emphasis on the word 'easiest' as missions were never truly easy, at least in her experience. "Then there are exams, which normally involve a series of fights of some sort, always fun. Lastly, I suppose, one might better their chances of a promotion by impressing the Hokage or those close to him. Though, honestly, I don't think there is some magic way to climb the ladder without hard work."

Yeah, that sounded about right, no reason to sugar coat the truth.

Kisuke slowly nodded in approval to Ashi's words while he methodically sipped from his tea. She was right, death was the life of a shinobi. Even though the Yamanaka only died from a heart attack which wasnt shinobi related, the life expectancy was obviously lower than that of a normal civilian considering the dangers they put themselves through. 

Kisuke slightly chuckled at the mention of camaraderie . "I put up with this idiot because I have to." Glancing over at Ashi as Kotsuzui made a remark about not liking that he was outnumbered by Kaguyas, Kisuke made a face that said "see what I have to deal with." In reality despite Kotsuzui being an utter moron Kisuke did consider him his friend, potentially his only friend. Kirino was just an arrogant pain in the ass that he would love nothing more than to sock her right in the face. 

"Hmm, hopefully she knows of a better way than all these missions." Thought the Uchiha to himself, attentively listening to the Inuzuka. "An exam would be fun but I havent herd any news on that and given the Jounin exams, no ones probably planning anything so I wont place any of my chips on that." Kisuke thought to himself. "Last I saw the Hokage was real busy. Maybe I could ask his wife but shes probably just as busy. Damn." Getting to his feet, Kisuke strolled away from the couch and placed his empty cup into the sink. "Looks like were stuck doing mission bud." He said turning over towards Kotsuzui. 

Leaning on the counter, something Kotsuzui had said before came back to Kisuke's mind and got him wondering. Both Kisuke and Kotsuzui thought they were ready to become Chuunin and Ayumi was trying to get them there however were they actually worthy? Were they actually strong enough? "You think were both skilled enough to become Chuunin but are we actually? Other than our missions we've never really been tested by anyone."

Kotsuzui simply sipped at his tea when Ashi brought up the truth about being a shinobi, that it ended peoples lives all too early. Kotsuzui could not help but grin at Ashi's remark about their camaraderie. As Kotsuzui expected, Kisuke answered with a typical reply as though he didn't care about anything. "Enjoy this idiot while it lasts" Kotsuzui added in with a grin. "Once we get promoted we're no longer a team. You'll be missing me all too much." Though Ashi had the truth of it. Kotsuzui and Kisuke did have a strong sense of camaraderie, despite how they acted with one another. Maybe it was due to the hardships they've experience together? Or just something that developed through the number of missions they've done together.  The fact that their fighting styles complimented one another so elegantly was probably also a factor.

It seemed there was no other way to be promoted other than doing missions. They could impress the Hokage, but the man always seemed to be busy. There was currently a Jounin exam being set up off in Suna where the Hokage would likely be for the next month of so which meant no Chuunin exams would be happening anytime soon. Maybe Jounin exams are also open to Genin? Kotsuzui would have to check that out, maybe Ayumi-sensei would permit him to enter.

Kotsuzui finished off the last of his tea before placing it back down onto the table and taking up his original laying down position on the couch. Kotsuzui glanced over to Kisuke as he mentioned that the two of them have never been tested by anyone. The only "tests" they've had were mission. Kotsuzui understood where Kisuke was taking this, or so he thought. "Would you be willing to test us?" Kotsuzui asked Ashi. "See what we're capable of and maybe if there's anything you think we need to improve on." Kotsuzui smiled yet again. The idea of a potential spar always made him happy.

[Oh jeez, sorry guys; I completely forgot about this thread. Like super sorry.]

"A test?" She'd never had people ask for a test, refreshing. "I don't know how much testing we can do today considering the weather."

To accent her point she jabbed a finger over to the window. The trees were bent by the will of the wind into blurs of green and brown. The storm that should have passed over in the past half an hour or so had decided to stick around. If anything it seemed to be getting worse, so much for a pleasant day out on the town.

"Though, I wouldn't be adverse to it in better weather," Ashi stood and gave a shallow bow. "I really should go find Chairomaru, he shouldn't be out in the weather. Please, feel free to say here as long as you'd like. If anyone gives you trouble refer them to me..."

She paused for a moment, what would she do then?

"I-I'll set them straight. It was nice to meet you two; I loom forward to our 'test', farewell for now."

With that, the Inuzuka returned to the cold weather. Her hair whirled about her as she slammed the door shut behind her and then she was gone. Perhaps if the two genin listened carefully they'd faintly hear her calling Chai's name. That dog had to be somewhere...

[Exit, might I suggest we continue in a different topic at a later date?]

It appeared if they wanted to be tested by the Inuzuka it would have to be for another time. As she pointed out the weather currently was not suitable for any of them to do anything outside. It also appeared that it was time to head out. Nodding his head and giving a wave with his right index and middle finger, Kisuke would say "Next time." as his farewell to Ashi. Once she had left, the young Uchiha pushed himself off of the counter he was leaning on and said to Kotsuzui "Kisuke out." Walking out of the lounge Kisuke went to find his younger brother's school supplies which was his original reason for being here, before he went out to brave the harsh weather for his trip back home. 

Exit and I'd be down for that