In which an arrogant prikk gets schooled? (I/O)

Jeisuta grunted with exertion. Wild ideas for training, this young one had.

Though he may not have looked it, the young adult was definitely newer to the profession of ninja-ing compared to compatriots in other countries. Probably because most people studied the ninja way beginning at 10 to 14. Heck, many ninjas died before they could survive to Jeisuta's age - 20. Additionally, people his age tended to have very stubborn mindsets, and Hoshigakure had only recently become a ninja place. Many people his age were not going to accept ninjas any time soon, unfortunately. He knew. Until relatively recently, he had been on eto cast stones upon the ninja followers, in a manner of speaking. Thats what he told people.

Sometimes he felt guilty about actually throwing stones. Becoming a ninja himself, and educating others on the journey might help sway the minds of others who felt similarly to him back then.

Bringing him to the present, lugging along a large supply of wooden logs he hefted over his back in a sack. His ninja tools were primarily stashed in weapon pouches around his belt, though one kunai lazily flipped its way through the air, before arcing its way back down. He was on the way to the training grounds, where people cared less if you made a mess, so he could practice using his blades handily.

The blade of the kunai arced down suddenly and swiftly. As per his usual wont, he wasnot directly looking at the blade, and it took him a few full seconds to realize that the blade had nicked his palm before his fingers had closed around the handle. His timing was off. A sudden intake of breath was all that happened though. He needed his other hand to hold the sack of logs steady, and it was really annoying to have to resettle the sack a third time. For now, he just held the kunai handle tightly to staunch the minor flow of blood.

(330)

Numerous hours ago, Ayato had awoken from his slumber and tended to his hygiene. That included taking a bath brushing his teeth, using a paste to fix his hair.Wardrobe wise someone had to be prepared, and Ayato was. He donned a high-collared, black jacket over his t-shirt. Black woolen pants for bottoms and on his feet a pair of dark blue sandals. His crowning glory was missing from his person. That would be the tattered rough dark red scarf was meant for colder days. 

On his belt were clipped two weapon pouches, one holding 5 kunai and 5 Shuriken and the other 2 smoke bombs and explosive tags. A scabbard across his waist held the humblest of bladed swords, a tanto, but it cut deep all the same. He was a Hyuuga of the Gentle Fist and that might have suggested that he had no need to hold weaponry on his person, but Ayato was aware that he would be at a direct disadvantage in case he faced a sword in close quarters. It would be wiser to not lower his guard even within Hoshigakure, the latest experience in the Water Gardens had thought him that.

Ayato walked around town, the motionless expression upon his face that defined him ever present. This was lyric known to all those who were his acquaintances. All of them shinobi, of course, Ayato found little love among commoners. He never did, but the nail in the coffin was not put till recently. The battle in the Water Gardens against the notorious Ser Axwell Florent his band of Queensmen made sure to destroy every last bit of chances he might have had. The tale of the event had changed significantly, it seemed. The vile werewolf became a hero of justice and Ayato and Kenshin sadistic freak shows who maimed others at their pleasure. Ayato knew that’s what happened to gossip it grows in excitement over time. 

And thus they hated him once again, even more than before.But there were times that Ayato hated them too, so fuck them all. This mistreatment  was where Ayato drew his strength from.  Every single day for months before the battle in the Water Gardens occurred, Ayato started his days with a ritual; Rising from the comfort of his bed, roadwork then taijutsu practice and finally weights. And there was also meditation more often than not. But none of those were the motivation, the trigger was the villagers. Written in all over their faces, expression full of contempt and eyes full of poison.  Hate was Ayato's own motivation, his own pat on the back, his own words of praise and even a mother's embrace. 

Today was not any different. A day to hone his skills. There was a training ground around he had heard, but he couldn't seem to find it. Ayato would activate his Byakugan, searching for the training ground with his bloodline, was unorthodox, but it would ease his new struggle. The kaleidoscope eye rocked back and forth searching for his destination, but instead of that, it caught a sight, that Ayato had to blink in surprise to understand it. A black-haired boy...no, a man standing with a bloody kunai on his hands. What is this criminal walking in broad daylight after gutting someone or an idiot flashing his weapon in public? Regardless of which he was a threat to the safety of the village and it was Ayato's duty to apprehend him. 

A good hundred meters distance of grass, rocks, and earth stood between him and Ayato.  Ayato would not go eye to eye with him and proclaim a halt, in order to give the impression he was honorable or even cool. No, he had made that mistake more than once. Being a shinobi meant first to be efficient and afterward everything else. He pushed his chakra to decrease at low levels, minimizing it down to a mere trickle of what it had been before. When he had first tried doing this earlier today, dropping down a gear to his chakra to mask his presence, he found himself facing difficult to even breath properly. But now it had become second nature to him. 

Once again, there was a 100-meter distance between Ayato and the black haired person of interest, but one cannot be too careful in regards to his presence. Evident from how most shinobi showed a likeness for the chakra sensory abilities. But there is an antidote to every poison, and for this one, Ayato happened to have it....But what if the man noticed Ayato presence before the Hyuuga activated the chakra suppression? That would presumably make Ayato's move useless as fuck. Well, that was not quite the case, the sudden disappearance would make him wonder if the one stalking him had left or simply hiding his chakra presence. Ayato aimed specifically for that misdirection rather than creating an imaginary fail safe, as in the shinobi never noticing him.

Ayato would put in front of him his hands and execute the Ram hand seal with a speed of 80. Unleashing all the chakra he had sealed in a quick stroke, he disappeared in a blur of speed traveling with 210 speed closing the 100 meters distance within an instant. Re-appearing behind the armed and dangerous man and slightly to his left, Ayato would deploy a right palm thrust to the lower back (right side of the spine), with a Speed of 53 and Power of 53. Successful land of the hit would send a stabbing pain through his body, knocking him off his feet, and a -5 chakra and -5 AP debuff. But other than that, no serious harm would befall upon the target. 

In the scenario where the adversary had noticed Ayato chakra being suppressed momentarily and turned around to check, he would be just in time to see Ayato. If that was the Ayato's right palm thrust would be redirected to the opponent's solar plexus, knocking the air out of him and bringing him down to his knees (As well as the aforementioned debuff). In either or even if the attack somehow did not land at all, Ayato's right arm would go back to his guard, his armpit stuck to the side of his body and his hand shielding his jaw and temple.

WC - 1050

Spoiler:

Let's not mince words. He had no way of knowing what was about to happen, since that would totally be metagaming. After all, Jeisuta was a noob when it came to being a ninja in this lifetime, despite any potential protestations to the contrary.

Rip Jeisuta, 2017-2017. Don't ask about the date, because its embarrassing to say that a 20 year old doesn't know how he came to be, or that he died a few weeks into his pitiful existence.

But seriously, he could have died from that.

The training ground slowly approached, Jeisuta's mind running over the different jutsu he would be studying there. Along side the physical exercise of course. With the wood he had, he could practice sharpening his kunai with chakra or something, using the enhanced blades to cut into the wood, and shape them. He could practice cloning himself at the same time, maybe the sticks too. Then he could light everything on fire, and dance like a happy pyromaniac, just to clear the training grounds. Many people still thought he was crazy.

Of course, his thoughts were cut short in rather rapid order. The first inkling he had that something was going to happen, was a prickle on the back of his neck. A sort of sixth sense. Not at all helpful, really. Looking around though, he felt as if someone was watching him, but he had no earthly clue who. He shrugged, and continued walking.

Of course, his prickle sense was proven right shortly after. Suddenly, he felt what could only have been a gust of wind from behind him, which was odd in itself, there was no wind today. Immediately after the gust of wind, whose source he would soon discover, a palm hit him in the back, near the liver perhaps, off to one side. To say that hurt, would be a severe understatement. In fact, he blacked out for a couple of moments, so strong was the blow compared to his constitution.

When he regained consciousness, after several painless seconds, his body hurt. He was lying on the ground, face down, completely comatose. He felt like he had had the wind knocked out of him, like that time he landed flat on his back, his body positioning not allowing him to dissipate the force through any kind of movement. This hurt, like that, but about twice as bad. Impressive, really, given that the previous pain record holder had come from falling off of the roof of a short building. Onto a pile of rugs, fortunately, but that only meant he survived. He wasn't sure if anything was broken now.

Judging from the lack of weight on his back, his burden of logs was no longer an issue, certainly not one that would prevent him from rising. The kunai he held in his hand was no longer there either, the clotting blood that had started to congeal around the kunai had been forcefully yanked off by the sudden impact. Most likely the kunai was behind him, closer to where he had been hit. His hands, palms facing to the sky by natural body flow, were slightly dusty, one holding more dust than the other, due to a small but noticable trickle of blood.

Crap.

Whatever had happened, he would need to disinfect that cut later. He sort of assumed that kunai, being primarily metal, would have fewer germs on them, but dust had no such qualities. Another thing to do when he got home. First ting right now, though, priorities first.

Much as he would have liked to play dead, he doubted that would help him. The occasional passerby would likely have noticed what had happened, the lack of screams implying that this assailant was likely not dressed as a bandit or an enemy ninja. Besides, if it was an invasion, there would probably be more screaming by now. So that meant it was a denizen of this place.

He carefully wiggled his fingers and toes, glad to notice that they all responded. Good. He had taken a hit near the spine, that could really screw up your nervous systems boi. Slowly, he got to his feet, and turned to face his opponent, wincing as he used some of the impacted back muscles in the process.

"Ow."

No accusatory inflection, no hurt tone, just a matter of fact statement. Followed by another.

"That hurt."

A smart alec might have said something like "I would hope so" or "Good" but Jeisuta left no time for a response, he didn't really care yet what the other person said.

"You know, the last time I hurt anywhere near that bad, I had literally fallen off a building. Thank god it was the rug store. Or I wouldn't have been here to be your punching bag."

He took a moment to look the other person up and down. A completely dark outfit. No gang affiliations, but Jeisuta already knew that they wouldn't be there.

"Alright, mind telling me what I did that warranted the attack? I know this isn't an invasion. You clearly are not one of the hooligans still trying to get me to mug ninja. For once thing, they don't wear sandals, and secondly, they would have kept on me, as opposed to just one attack. Which was pretty fast, by the way. You have to move quite quickly to displace air like that."

He stretched backwards, his hands on his hips. A distinct cracking could be heard, but this one was definitely nothing serious. He did that kind of thing before, his joints were a tad odd that way.

"That single strike was clearly from your hand, strikes from other blows feel different. Like, they aren't straight for one thing. If it was a lot weaker, I could have assumed you to be a civilian who was particularly indisposed to us ninja, but that speed and strength show otherwise. A certain lack of squawks of alarm show that you belong here, though a lack of encouragement implies that you are not a village hero. So you probably don't work directly under Denkiteki, Akihana, or Maku."

He stretched to the side, a little. He winced again, as a bruised organ sounded a complaint.

"Seriously though, that blow really hurt. So, what reason does one Star ninja have to jump another? Clearly, that was a warning shot, and I think I could spare you the details of my thought process there. Also, unless you try to stop me, I would prefer to pick up my (literally) bloody kunai, and those logs. They cost me a good bunch of Ryo, and I intend to get my full use out of them."

Unless stopped now, or obviously, any moment earlier, Jeisuta would walk over and pick up the sack, gathering the strewn cut logs and stuffing them back in. His kunai and his his hand would make a truly awkward pair now that dust had gotten in the way. He took a strip of cloth from his pocket, and wrapped it around his hand, covering the slowly congealing blood, some of which still showed through.. At least he wouldn't get dirt on it, for now anyway.

(ttl wc: 1200+330=1530)

The palm thrust exploded, and by the time the attack had settled the man rolled in the dirt, dented and black. Ayato wasn’t the one to taunt opponents or praise his own intelligence during combat. Savoring the outrage of the opponent is bound to breaks one’s focus. Besides, there is no guarantee that taunting will actually even work; words are wind and the wind blows away straw, not true steel. The man was back on his feet, followed by a grunt of pain. The landing had dented his physique and he was stumbling, and for Ayato thought his knees would buckle and he would fall down once again. But he did not. His brain appeared to be in place and everything judging from the pace his mouth moved.

"You know, the last time I hurt anywhere near that bad, I had literally fallen off a building. Thank god it was the rug store. Or I wouldn't have been here to be your punching bag." The man weighted Ayato’s frame closely with his eyes, before continuing. "Alright, mind telling me what I did that warranted the attack? I know this isn't an invasion. You clearly are not one of the hooligans still trying to get me to mug ninja. For once thing, they don't wear sandals, and secondly, they would have kept on me…

Hooligans, ninja, falling off a roof…what was this, a sob story? Well, no matter, this was clearly a bottomless rabbit hole but not one Ayato was willing to leap into.  Yet quite a peculiar story it was, especially the part about falling from a rooftop. Since the guy standing before him appeared to be just fine for someone who fell to his death, yes landing in rugs and furs included. If he was telling the truth, his last fight must have happened ages ago.

The man went on, and Ayato let him. Even though the Hyuuga gave the impression he was standing without his guard up, he was in fact on high alert. Not averting his eyes away from the man standing before him for even a second. Captivated solely on him, and at the same time, Ayato had a 360-degree view of the area around him. Of all the lines, the man in black spurred it was the following that picked Ayato’s interest. Thus, when the man finished, Ayato figured he would start by addressing this line. A certain lack of squawks of alarm shows that you belong here, though a lack of encouragement implies that you are not a village hero. So you probably don't work directly under Denkiteki, Akihana, or Maku.

“The village hero?” Ayato snorted “You are right not me. All that bloody speech about protecting others I wouldn’t be able to remember half of it. Your second assumption is correct as well. Even though others might take pride in service, believing to be someone's errand boy an honor, I have no such notion myself." Even if that person is Denkiteki Hayato, the Hogokage who ought to take for his personal sigil a man sitting on a chair, or Akihana, the person who has disappeared from the story altogether, being a thousand leagues away…and Muku? Well, Ayato might not know who that is but he knows who isn’t. Someone he gives a fuck about. But perhaps the man had ulterior motive to have Ayato flinching in disquiet after hearing those names. Hopefully, Ayato made it clear, he would not claim a drop of blood from him with that one. 

“Let us say I believe you are the world’s oldest academy student.” Ayato had considered that for the moment, it was that or the world’s weakest Jounin, and to be the truth they both sounded horrible. Ayato did not wander which one sounded better but rather which sounded worse.“You did showcase an outstanding knowledge of the Hoshigakure lore by mentioning briefly two of the most famous shinobi of the village.” Ayato let out with a tone that clearly suggested he was not impressed.

As the “shinobi” attempted to make for his kunai Ayato executed the rat hand seal and a golden glow appeared around the stainless black steel. With a quick stroke of Ayato’s hand, the kunai pulled away from the man’s grip and slide into the earth, 5 meters to the man’s right.  This wasn't Ayato messing with him, probably cautionary. It might not mean much but if he made for the kunai he would show any bad intentions he might have had.  Besides, to make for the kunai he would have to a role in the earth or try to pull another out of his weapon pouch but either of such actions would give more than enough time to Ayato to prepare himself. Let another pick his kunai and Ayato do nothing. No way. The smell of timeline and Ayato getting an unpleasant bite. A shinobi must never be caught off guard, or the next moment he will be dead in the ground with a spike up his ass.

“So, tell me, my alleged brother at arms, what reason do I need to jump someone who is flashing bloody weapons in public?

WC: 821


Mass Swift - 5 AP

(off to a flying start, are we? can't resist a chance to rack up the WC though )


Jeisuta couldn't stand it. It wasn't the way in which the other treated him with suspicion. What bugged him was that the other dude had white, pupil-less eyes. Or at least, that's how it looked. And those veins. It was odd, and Jeisuta, lacking knowledge of the ninja world, really, really wanted to talk and ask about that stuff. But for now, he would wait. Curious if he would sense anything much, Jeisuta observed the other person clearly. Partially because he was unsure if the other was having a rush of testosterone - that tended to make people do dumb things. Partially because he was starting to sense the presence of the other person. Not scent, not visually, and it wasn't sound. He could sort of feel where the other was. Not in a way he could put into words, or numbers, unfortunately. He concentrated on that sensation, trying to strengthen it, trying to understand it better.

“The village hero?” The other snorted “You are right not me. All that bloody speech about protecting others I wouldn’t be able to remember half of it. Your second assumption is correct as well. Even though others might take pride in service, believing to be someone's errand boy an honor, I have no such notion myself."

Welp, this guy was cynical. Cranky too, and it didn't seem that Jeisuta was the sole reason. Oh well, didn't look like they were off to a promising start anyway, given that it started with almost literally a bang.

World's oldest academy student. Funny this guy should say that though. With a slightly less unfriendly disposition, Jeisuta might have tried a wise crack, but that did not seem wise at the moment.

It was the last comment though, that made Jeisuta start laughing aloud. So THAT'S what the problem was. He doubted it caused the chip in this guy's shoulder, but it certainly explained how he got the fellow's attention. Unfortunately, he had been stopped from going for his kunai. Unfortunate, that. He made a mental note of the location of said weapon before speaking, though. Fortunately, he was able to pick up his logs. But as he did so, he thought back to the minor motion the other fellow had made, that resulted in his weapon

"Your sarcasm is much appreciated, though it does little to explain your reasons for nearly killing me."

He paused for a second. "Funny you should ask about me being the oldest Academy student. If you had been so fortunate as to catch me about two days ago, you would most certainly have been right. Actually, you probably would have seen me in an academy class, and this kerfuffle would not have needed to happen. You would have had a better chance to try talking first."

Jeisuta resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He was about to speak again when he noticed the earlier sensation he had noticed, becoming significantly stronger. He started to see two versions of the other person - one that was the normal kind that everyone saw, one that seemed to be a glowing subset. He could see blobs of a sort, fuzzy, that concentrated themselves around the hands, the centers of the body parts, and the heads. Turning his head to look to the side at other people, briefly, he observed that they also had that, in lesser intensities than this assailant. Looking back at the fellow he was talking to, he observed that there was a denser mass of this stuff around the fellow's skull, in particular, where the eyes were. Interesting.

"Let me play detective for a second."

He tilted his head sideways, just a few degrees, before bringing his head back to the normal position.

"Firstly, I should mention that "Jeisuta" is listed in the village roster of ninjas. Have a look-see for yourself there, maybe the academy records too. Pretty sure they still have a shot of my face in there somewhere. Secondly, you could try examining this blood, and see if it matches my DNA and chakra. That should tell you whether I am a ninja of this place, condescending attitudes or no. It obviously won't be quick, but neither should your conclusions be."

"What I'm really curious about, is why would you care if you saw me flashing a weapon covered in my own blood? Your sunny disposition and careful examinations had obviously stopped by the time you saw blood. Given that I was hit shortly after I started bleeding, you obviously saw the blood on the kunai or my palm, before it would have had time to spread much. If you looked much closer, at anything else besides the immediate blood, you would have noticed then, or now, that my hand has been bleeding, largely over the handle. Not over the blade which nicked it. That would only have happened if the blade stayed there. Given that I was casually flipping the blade in the air and it seemed to have nicked my hand, there would only be blood where my hand was making contact with the kunai. Which should be still clearly visible, if the earth you pushed it into has not wiped some of it off. Aside from that even you should have seen the bleeding still happening on my hands. Whatever trick you used, I don't really know, but your application of it is clearly flawed."

He paused. Speaking was a good way to run out of breath. "This means either you either ignored the obvious bleeding on my own hands in a good spot corresponding to the blood on the handle of my knife, stopped looking at the first sign of blood, or had a bone to pick with me, or whoever was unlucky enough to be in your way. Additionally, if you are referring to me as an academy student, well, I doubt other villages just send their students over. There is some minor disconnect between that and implying I'm not of this village."

Another thought occurred to him too, as he was finishing speaking. "Actually, here's a better question for you. If I was really up to no good, why would I be holding a bloody knife without trying to hide it or my injury, which could have warranted a quick checkup, and draw suspicion? Why wouldn't I have been slouching in the shadows, in disguise, instead of having my face exposed for all to see? And what the heck do you think that sack of logs was for? It would be pretty dumb to steal from someone's wood pile just to walk off in broad daylight without even trying to hide my new acquisitions, don't be silly enough to go there."

He waved his bag of wood around a little to help articulate his point, not much, but just a few centimeters of motion, enough to draw attention to it again.

"So far, I think your body may be strong, but your reasoning is weak. You are always someone's errand boy, whether you realize it or not. Being rebellious doesn't change that, unless you like getting and doing everything yourself. Doesn't matter if you like it or not. I doubt I should have to explain this. Likewise, getting a chip on your shoulder and taking it out on other people you don't know, won't make things any better. It just gives more people reason to not like you."

He set down the sack of logs, and stretched sideways, his body used to more movement than this. Just standing around was a little tiresome, frankly. Unless the other person started physically interfering somehow, he would drop to the ground and start doing pushups. Not particularly impressive, sadly, but he didn't think he could do much else at this time. Obviously the kid didn't want him touching his weapons yet, and doing chakra manipulation would be an open invitation to fight, given how their exchanges had gone so far. While it put him in a vulnerable position, he doubted such things mattered given the difference in strengths at this time. Maybe later, he would have a match with this kid, but not yet.

"One. Two. Three...." He wondered how many pushups he would get done while the other person spoke, if at all. He couldn't help but notice, though, that he could still sense the approximate location of the other person, specifically, that oddly blurry mass that was juxtaposed with the person's body. Was this the chakra sensory he had read about? He couldn't help but notice that his perception was becoming more clear.

(ttl wc: 1431+1530=2961. gonna get more training in there some time XD )

"Ah, ah, ah! We get to the crux of the matter!"

Jeisuta got to his feet to bow deeply, somewhat mockingly. "Your words do strike true. Except if I were to need to rely on my own eloquence, as you so eruditely put it, it would be because I didn't train enough. Possibly because I got interrupted on my way to a clear space out of the way of everyone else, making it vastly more unsafe to train specific ninja techniques, such as weapon usage, and jutsu practice. Fortunately, a few training exercises don't require space, and a few types are somewhat subtle." Jeisuta winked at the other person. Then he returned to his pushups, still trying to keep track of that weird mass in and around the other person.

"Also, you do realize that carrying around kunai as a public offense makes zero sense? I literally haven't heard of that one before, and I used to be in a position to see that stuff. Most ninja ARE carrying ninja tools, including yourself it seems. Unless the weapon pouches on your belt are filled with medicine? Even the academy students have kunai on them to practice with in certain areas. Unless you are one of those weird people who don't believe in using tools?" He quirked an eyebrow at the kid.

He stopped his pushups for a second. 50 so far, and he needed a quick breath. "Not my fault if you can't read reasoning or see the hypocrisy in your own statements. As far as I can tell, you are just justifying a strange action and avoiding looking at it too closely. Think over what I said before, before asking me more dumb questions. Who's the one who has faulty reasoning, pray tell? If you are to go down that route, how am I not supposed to think you are an invader interrogating people to prepare for an invasion, who has briefly assumed the form of a local? I would believe I have as much reason for that, as you do yours. How would you prove to me that what you say is true? That I shouldn't be yelling for help to catch an infiltrator? After all, I don't see a headband on you, either." He chuckled as he finished speaking.

Ok, that was enough pushups. Another twenty five and his arms needed a break. He rolled over onto his back, still keeping an eye so to speak, on that mass of chakra near the other. If he was going to get pummeled, then the position hardly mattered, given the vast difference in speeds. He started doing V-ups. He balanced on his bottom, as he brought his chest up as if in a sit up, his elbows sticking far out to the sides, while his head was held in a neutral position following his body. His finger tips hovered about a centimeter and a half from his ear lobes. His legs stayed largely straight, and he raised both them and his torso at the same time. Honestly, the harder part about this might be the timing of movements. After a while, the physical exertion became less important than maintaining one's balance, especially if they were trying to do them fast. Up and down, his body snapped back and forth, stopping just shy of the ground each time.

When the fuzzy blobs around the other suspicious guy had coalesced more evenly into an identifiable blood, Jeisuta could see almost literally the artistic depictions of chakra flowing through the veins. Ok, he guessed his chakra sensory was doing ok then.

He sat up all the way, dropping his legs forward and keeping his torso held up. His body quickly rolled into a sitting position. Reaching out for a stick of wood, he snapped it in half, and put one end of it on either side of his body, the length parallel to his legs, one end near his hips, the other extending towards his feet. Leaning back, he began exuding chakra from his hands, holding them a few centimeters above the sticks, and trying to reach out to cut them. The plan was that each time he dropped his body back down, or raised them up, his hands would extend over the stick's surface, pushing out chakra and attempting to slowly slice the sticks with each stroke. Of course, if he did it wrong, the sticks might get entirely obliterated, but that was part of practice you know. Practice makes perfect.

(2961+750=3711)

Mid thread approval

Jeisuta continued doing more sit ups, his body being used as a conduit for the chakra with which he was slowly cutting in half, with the chakra he was collecting. Since the chakra infusions seemed to be working on his hands, he began trying to extend the wind element into them. Attempting to sharpen it, without burning the wood through stuffing too much fire nature energy into it. That would require him to get up and get more sticks. Slowly, the wind natured chakra grew, a whiteish glow he could slightly discern from his peripheral vision. He kept his mental eyes on the other fellow, not because that that would do anything for him much, but rather, that he was busy sensing his chakra signature, memorizing it for reasons he would be bringing up later on. Honestly, his helplessness only made him feel bolder as the conversation wore on, knowing he wouldn't win a straight up fight, at this time anyway.

"Ok, now you are being weird, as opposed to somewhat objectionable. When did I say anything about Academy Students attending important meetings, let alone war councils? I do believe your zeal overcomes you, to say the least, confusing words I said, with those I have not. Bad enough you don't listen well, don't go twisting other people's words further. Unless you like being given the cold shoulder, as your current attitude implies. I'm sure you are going to wave this all off like earlier, but that doesn't change the truth."

The whiteish glow from his hands intensified. Rather than translucence, it was marginally opaque, a hint of what he was working on. At this point, the sticks had been cleanly sawed in half, and were now being eroded by the slowly expanding pools of chakra. The dirt below them started to get pushed aside, as well, and lines formed in a stone he had just unearthed.

He heard the rest of the person's argument. Definitely something weird about those eyes. Almost like they stared into your soul... almost. Eh. He started shaping the whitish chakra around his hands, slowly forming it into a thinner format. He was not going to make a weapon shape with this. Rather, he was going to make a pot out of his chakra, just to see if he could cut it. And thus, the pot's formation began - the chakra stretching up and outwards from the chakra attached to his hand, that became a handle. A tad amusing, if he admitted it to himself.

"That's a false equivalency now, if ever I saw one. If you were to make that a real comparison, the lightning user should be zapping themselves for fun. Or catching their lightning bolts, in the very least. Your example would make sense if I were haphazardly throwing the kunai down the street, perhaps duplicating them as well."

At this point, the pot was fully formed, and he tried pushing it into the dirt, to see if he could scoop any of it up. He was rewarded with what looked like a shimmering glass bowl Shaking it a bit, he tipped the pot of wind chakra over, and let the dirt fall slowly to the ground, before he spoke again.

" Additionally, your presumed high road is clearly flawed. Many ninjas, such as yourself, use their bodies as weapons. What makes that different from wielding a kunai? A strong ninja is stronger bare handed, than a weakling with a kunai. Especially since most jutsu don't seem to require anything but energy.... No, you just wanted a reason to strike, and you are merely rationalizing it with flawed excuses. That or your intentions are sincere, you just are rather bad at explaining them. Now, if you were to say that unsheathing a weapon was an act of obvious aggression, some what dependent on the context, I could see that. But that's not quite what you implied, eh? "

He did the same pot exercise with the other hand, forming the chakra into more of a frying pan shape, then using it to carefully cut some rocks that he could reach from his sitting position. Hmmm. He experimented with hitting the rocks - the ones he didn't cleave went hurtling back down to the ground. So his chakra held up alright then. He shrugged, a little nonchalantly.

Speaking of training grounds.... "You say I can toss these around at a training area? Then why interrupt me on my way there? Its right...." He pointed at a distant clearing, about 100 yards off. "There. Speaking of which, since you have shifted towards arguing WHY I look suspicious, rather than what I am doing in your town, it sounds like we are just arguing. Which is fine, its good exercise for the lungs. I'm going to grab my kunai, it shouldn't matter either way to you, since you can obviously stop me before I do anything wrong... like cut myself again. Besides, you made no movement to stop me from practicing some jutsu, despite the location."

Unless the other person tried to stop him, he would start walking towards his kunai, the sack of logs over one shoulder again. He couldn't help being a bit of a smart alec at this time.

Halfway there, he would pause. "Honestly, you might be a loner and this is just how you are - unusually careful. Later on, I might come seeking a rematch. Won't be hard to find you, I think I've memorized your chakra signature, and those eyes of yours are hard to miss." Jeisuta would wink.

After this, he would finish walking over to where the kunai was buried, excavating it carefully to avoid another cut, unless stopped... again.

(ttl wc: 3711+949=4660)