Just Zeroes and Ones ~P, NK~

Ezra stood in the workshop, his hands caked with powder, his face wet with sweat his hair tied high in a ponytail, his jacket cast aside by the door. Christ, why was it always so hot in here? Standing fully and cracking his back, Ezra would wipe the sweat from his forehead and grab the bottle from the table, wiping away the sawdust before heading out the door, ignoring his overcoat hanging from the rack by the door.

He didn't stray far, the man simply leaning against the shutter of the building he resided in. He had come to Hoshigakure after hearing it was a place of great study and progress, hoping that the place would enlighten him and further his progress and creations. It was a nice place, stocked with people and knowledge. However, it could get a little...hot. And he couldn't exactly afford a nice residence, so he was based in a slightly rundown, ragtag workshop. It was better than nothing, though.

Sighing, the man would take a drink from the bottle in his hand, the lukewarm water doing little to help. However, it was better than nothing. The man would put the empty bottle down, wiping the leftover sweat from his brow and clapping his hands together to rid them of the dust and powder before heading out to take a stroll around the block, stopping in at a small stand to grab a snack before continuing his walk.

Her first job likely would have earned her the ire of her entire family, if only they’d known. It wasn’t a particularly hard gig, just keeping some poor old fool safe on an extended journey through her home country. She’d only just left home, and while her parents were likely seething with rage at her unexpected departure, Natsu was quite enjoying the change of pace. Living on her own was empowering, and finally getting to put her abilities as a self-taught Kunoichi to the test was more enticing to her than she could say. Though this journey likely wouldn’t pose much trouble for her, indeed, she doubted she’d even see any action, it did give her plenty of time to study the fuinjutsu scrolls she had brought along. The reason her family was likely to be so angered, should they discover her current task, was that she was to be escorting a member of the Wasabi family, a family that had, for generations, held a strong rivalry with her own. Natsu didn’t care at all, as long as the coin was good. After all, would she really have wanted to leave this poor fool out here all alone? She couldn’t sleep with that on her conscience, regardless of what family he came from. No not serve him based solely on his surname was, frankly, shallow and immature, especially when she needed so much for coin. He was currently stocking his cart with all manner of trade goods. The old man sure did seem to need a lot of baggage. Of course, he was trading, but did one really need a portable water heater and shower curtain attached to the freaking cart? He lived in the lap of luxury, even when he traveled. She supposed he just couldn’t stand the idea of roughing it out in the wilderness.

As he continued to gather his heavy baggage into the cart, Natsu sat at the front, by the horses, running her fingers along the edges of her kunai knife. She hadn’t had much time for training with these sorts of things, and had instead opted to place her focus upon her own chakra, which was quite impressively developed for one who had barely scratched the surface of Ninjutsu. She supposed it had something to do with her Uzumaki heritage. She knew very little of her own family, but she’d learned that much from hearsay and what little she could squeeze out of her mother. What she knew was, well, the very basics. The Uzumaki are a small, yet prominent clan in the leaf village, ever since older days, like the Senju, the Uzumaki have been part of its core.  Despite this the Uzumaki never truly stood out politically, remaining rather average, their clan was utility based, producing an excess of Fuinjutsu users, and Medical ninja for the village.  This was the main part in which they shined, most Uzumaki being put in the villages Fuinjutsu core for villages defenses, or crafting unique weapons for high class shinobi, due to this crucial part in the villages inner workings the clan has remained an important part of the leaf, and retained their higher political standing which is equal, if not slightly greater than that of the Senju after their recent decline.  The Uzumaki are extremely loyal to the leaf due to their symbiotic relationship, due to this they are primarily a leaf village clan, others however are born in other locations due to the clans scattered heritage.  The Uzumaki is a rather peaceful clan, preferring to fall back on defensive arts, and trapping with Fuinjutsu to win a battle than engage in a direct confrontation.  Culture wise the Uzumaki are very friendly, valuing comrades and strong bonds, appreciating the smaller things in life, the morning dew, a warm cup of tea, and a good book. A very simplistic life style.  Those that do not become shinobi normally become artists and great painters due to their natural gift with drawing Fuinjutsu arrays, such works of art can be seen in exhibits around the world, fetching very high prices.

While the concept of becoming an artist was one that appealed to Natsu, the draw to becoming a Shinobi was one that she could not ignore. She’d found a scroll through intense bartering that supposedly contained some secrets of her clan, secrets that she was eager to unravel. While her client kept her waiting, she decided to take just a peak. The technique contained was known as the Uzumaki Sealing Technique, and, as she was told, is a signature technique of her clan. Mastering it would be the key to becoming a more prominent and respectable ninja. Rolling the scroll open, she glanced at the writing on the rolled cloth:

“After forming the necessary hand seals, the user slams their hand on the ground after which a sealing formula, that originates from the user's hand of about 1/3 of a meter in width, forms towards the target and forms a circular seal of about three meters in diameter around them. When the seal activates, anything above the inscription of a range of ten meters is sealed within the formula itself. Once the target is above the seal, they cannot escape unless their chakra is more potent than the jutsu’s power. Sealing someone in this manner can cause the target to be effectively considered dead, unless the user decides to unseal them after a short period. To unseal the target, the user must use an unsealing technique where the target was first sealed. If the user contains a unique scroll, the formula of the seal can be inscribed within it, containing the target as well.”

She read the jutsu’s description to herself, excited at the prospect. She’d only been able to uncover the basics in the past, merely the arts of Cloning, Substitution, Transformation, and Surface Walking, which, while they were quite entertaining, weren’t quite as substantial as this. Indeed, the techniques that her scrolls described were infinitely more interesting to her, perhaps because they were of importance to her family, and perhaps simply because she was fascinated by Fuinjutsu of all kinds, to a somewhat unhealthy degree. The Uzumaki Sealing Technique, which she was currently studying, was a somewhat advanced fuinjutsu technique, and while it was probably best that she simply start simple, she didn’t exactly have the means to find every little Fuinjutsu technique that she could. She was making do with what she had.

”Excuse me, miss, but I think that’s about everything.” Came a voice. Startled, Natsu sat straight up, glancing around to see her employer stepping up into the carriage. Nodding, Natsu shifted in her seat, hopping down to the ground as he took the reins.

“I’ll follow you on foot.” She told him. He shook his head.
“You’ll be fine up in the carriage. Come, sit with me.” He said stubbornly. Natsu was rather uncomfortable being near this old guy, so she just shook her head in turn.
“I stay on foot until we’re safe. I’m not messing around with this job.” She told him. He sighed, defeated, before commanding his horse to begin pulling. She followed alongside his cart, her arms folded.

It wasn’t that she thought they’d be ambushed. On the contrary, she saw very little danger ahead of them. No, on the contrary, she merely wanted to remain professional, and, well… Quite honestly, the man was a tiny bit creepy, and she didn’t want to deal with that right now. She walked alongside the carriage as the horses began to pull, her hands in her pockets, observing their surroundings. Even as they left the safety of the small village, she kept her eyes focused on the area around her, searching for any trace of an attacker. The journey would continue like this, aaaall the way to Hoshigakure. She spoke to the man very little, and was not all that interested in conversation, though he tried and tried to get her to speak. After they arrived, the man promptly disappeared without paying her. She searched the city for him, but was unable to locate him.

Pissed off and now unpaid, Natsu decided that she needed a drink. She purchased some sake from a nearby outdoor bar, downed it almost immediately, and decided to go for a walk.

As Ezra continued his stroll, he noticed a cart enter the village, an old man atop it and a girl beside it. The girl, seemingly lost in thought, or perhaps blind, lost sight of the cart as it slowly and creakily wheeled it's way away from her, the old man cackling violently.

"What...the hell..." Ezra would mutter under his breath, watching the cart make it's way away from the girl, the old man snapping the reigns hard against the horse, resulting in an almost laughable increase in speed.

This is the cart btw:

Well, after watching that debacle, Ezra needed a drink. A good one. Like, really good. Luckily, he knew a place. Finshing the snack in hand, he decided to take the scenic route there, making his way around town. Upon reaching the outdoor bar, Ezra would throw some ryo at the bartender, receiving a small glass filled with a dubious liquid and ice for his trouble. The man would turn quickly, the glass in his right hand. Of course, his right arm was the one impacted. By turning without looking beforehand, he had knocked into a girl at his side, the drink in his hand flying upwards, well out of his grasp. Stumbling back, the man would catch the glass from the air, however the drink was on the ground and his clothing. Sighing, he would rub the back of his head and slide the glass down the counter towards the tender. After that, he would look back to the girl he had bumped into.


"Sorry about that...this damn heat makes my head swim, knocks me off my balance. Are you alright?" the man would say, his airy voice drifting heavy against the humid air.

On her way to the, uh, outdoor bar? That was a thing? Well, anyways, on her way to the outdoor bar, some careless asshole bumped right into her, which would have knocked Natsu flat on her ass had she not been a complete and total badass. As the stranger impacted with her, her arms would both fly behind her back, and from her hands, two chains made entirely of chakra would erupt, shooting into the ground and pushing back against Natsu. Using her backwards momentum from the careless piece of shit that ran into her, the chains would push her up, and Natsu would do a backflip, landing on her feet, and catching the aforementioned glass before it could reach the aforementioned jackass's hand. 

She slid the glass across the bar, leaving the guy in the dirt, probably feeling like a fool, before walking right towards the bar, as if he weren't even there. She'd sit down at the bar and throw some coin down on the table.
"Bloody Mary, please." She said to the bartender, who looked at her dubiously. 
"Aren't you a little young to be drinking here?" He asked her doubtfully. Natsu nodded as if it were obvious.
"Yes, yes I am." She said.

Bartender looks like this btw:

Shrugging, he mixed her her drink, stirring the tomato juice into the vodka with a pickle like a real fucking bartender, before sliding the glass her way.