New Beginning

Kinzoku found himself leaning up against the outside walls of the Hokage's building just beside the two entry doors to the building. Draped in his usual black attire with the black cloak and black hat to top it off, Kinzoku starred up into the sky as he waited. With his steel hand he raised his cigar back into his mouth before taking a few more puffs. Unless training or in a fight, the Nazar member usually always had a cigar burning. He had arrived a little early to his meeting with the Hokage so he took a moment to enjoy the weather outside. Though a little chilly for him, he assumed it was simply due to the fact he was use to Suna's hot temperatures. So the temperatures of Konoha were quite the drop from that back at home. 

When he first arrived at Konoha which had been a few days ago, the first thing he had done was come to this building to meet with the Hokage. But as expected the Hokage was quite busy. So an appointment was scheduled to this day with only a few moments to spare before it was time. In the meantime Kinzoku had checked on his Nazar family/community who had also fled Suna and taken refuge up in Konoha. They had begun settling in pretty nicely, placed in an area that had most likely been designated for refugees. 

Taking a few more puffs of his cigar, Kinzoku tossed it to the floor before putting it out with his foot and entering the building. He took a seat at one of the designated chairs in the waiting area. Sitting there calmly the Nazar awaited to be notified when he could have his meeting with the Kage.

"She will see you now," The receptionist's voice carried through the lobby with the worn out tone of a person whose life revolved around serving others.

Ashi Inuzuka had spent the better part of the morning in a budget meeting. This one, in particular, revolved around the allocation of funds for a building project, not of a building or even a new gate. No, rather this project was meant for a statue of the man who pulled Konohagakure no sato from the ashes, Viper Uchiha. The designs had been drawn up for a while and the only point of contention was that of the building material. Ashi was no chemist, so she listened silently as her advisors argued for and against varying metals—the whole thing quite bored her really.

Thankfully, the meeting had ended, but Ashi's day was far from over. Sitting behind her desk she waited for her next appointment, a shinobi formerly of Sunagakure. For the first time in a while, she actually looked forward to a meeting. This one promised to be an interesting one, to say the least.

Waiting for the customary knock on her door, the woman busied herself with reorganizing her desk. She did this from time to time not so much because the desk was dirty, but because she craved variety. Sadly, in her current position, the most variety she got was moving things that needed signing from the left corner of the desk to the right and straightening a few pens here and there. Oh well.

If the man did indeed knock he would be greeted by the commanding voice of one still new to power.

"Come in."

Kinzoku heard the voice of the receptionists. He looked in her direction to see it was directed at him. With a friendly smile, the man pushed himself up from his seat and followed the receptionist. After walking up a swirl of stairs which probably wrapped around the entire building, Kinzoku was lead to the floor of the Hokage's chambers and eventually lead to the doors of the office. He thanked the receptionist and once she was gone he gave a couple of knocks on the door. The words 'come in' came from the other side of the door so Kinzoku did just that. 

He opened the doors to the office and closed it behind him once entered. He entered the room walking a few feet behind the seats placed in front of the Hokage's desk as he looked around at the office. The last time he was in the office of a Kage was before he had even become a Jounin back in Suna. Back when things were good and Koroshi was the Kazekage. But times have changed. He followed by taking his hat off as he believed it was the proper thing to do, and adjusted his long brown hair from falling in front of his face. He looked over to the Hokage sitting behind the desk with a friendly smile and took a bow. Reaching the peak of his bow Kinzoku would raise his upper body while saying "It is an honor to meet you Hokage. I thank you for taking the time to meet with me." He took a quick glance across the Hokage's desk, not so much as to observe that kind of material she had on them and what the content was for it but rather to see the amount of work she had. Time was a precious thing and Kinzoku did not want to be wasting the Hokage's time. If she offered a seat to him he'd take it. Otherwise he had no problem standing.

"As you are probably aware of" he began, "I've come from Suna hoping to join the ranks of your Shinobi. Whatever the do-process may be" he finished. She would probably have questions for him to see if she could even allow it first. He was prepared to answer any question and true as he could.

Ashi's face did not betray a single emotion save for a pleasant smile one might wear when meeting someone and wanting to make the best impression of civility. Perhaps were she more vain she might have considered the man's mop of hair to be a bit unprofessional, but who was she to judge? After all, she had her own bird's nest atop her head as well.

"Please take a seat," she gestured vaguely to the chair across from her.

She had been expecting this request. In fact, she'd processed more than a few refugee's papers as of late. Thus, far her impression of Sunagakure was a decidedly good one. In fact, the only two black spots on the village's record had come from one imprudent of the Sand's shinobi burning down the gates and a particularly grouchy merchant who seemed unwilling to say exactly what he was selling. Naturally, she didn't plan to hold two bad apples against what otherwise seemed like a kindly group of people just looking for a new home.

"Indeed, there is a formal application process," she nodded at an imposing stack of papers to her left. "However, for now, let's start with something easy, tell me about yourself."

Yes, a rather open ended question, but one Ashi enjoyed asking. One could tell a lot about a person from how they described themselves. And, in the end, this was what the interview was all about, getting a firm understanding of the person wishing to be admitted to the village system.

Now being seated after the Hokage permitted it, he glanced over to the stack of papers she motioned to when the topic of being admitted as a Konoha shinobi was brought up. "The down side of being a Kage I guess" Kinzoku thought to himself as he merely looked at the tower of papers. How long would it take for his to get processed if there were that many? But he wouldn't be filling out the papers just yet, for the Hokage moved onto to something "easy" as she put it. Tell the Hokage about himself. He should have expected such a question. It would give the Hokage a better feel for who he was and now jut whatever he wrote down on his applications. In all honesty, Kinzoku never liked this question. He never truly knew how to answer it. He wasn't sure if the person wanted to know about his history and upbringing, or if they just wanted to know who there were currently as a person. However he would spare the Hokage the details and long story of his history.

"I'm a people's person" he put it, plain and simple. "We Nazar group up in communities of other Nazar members. My family isn't just my primary mother, father, siblings. It is everyone in the community. I believe that has instilled in me the love of people in general, good or bad. Part of being a Nazar means we help other people reach what we call "Enlightenment". Essentially, I believe in giving people seconds chances, the bad people too" he would add with a hesitant smile. Helping people out was probably Kinzoku's number one thing, but of course the people who don't know they need help were the hardest to convince. "I guess having such a love for people is one of the reasons I decided to come to Konoha. After what happened to Suna I wouldn't wish that upon anyone else. I wasn't able to protect my people, but I can only hope to do a better job and stop it from happening to the people of Konoha." With that he basically explained his reasoning for why he wanted to be enlisted into the ranks of the Konoha shinobi. If the Hokage wanted to know more about it then he would gladly answer for her.

He would continue on a little more with himself, hopefully to give the Hokage a better feel of who he was. "When I'm not on the job I'm usually meditating or volunteering my services to help others. Which reminds me, If you need an extra pair of hands on those gates I'm willing to help. I also like to call myself an 'inventor'. I'm very keen on building new items, weapons, armor, you name it and I'll try making it. Like this" he said as he lifted his left arm and pulled back his sleeve to show half of his metal arm. "I lost it on a mission way back when I was a Genin. Instead of getting a new arm made, which Suna was fully capable of doing, I decided to experiment with this. So far it has worked out wonderfully. And my right arm" he would continue also lifting both his jacket and shirt sleeve revealing the 20 tattoo's swirling around his arm. "Each tattoo represents a significant moment each year if my life. Each one having a story. The next one, for my 21st year will be the lost of my home."

His smile had suddenly faded when he thought about having lost his home in Suna. The thought of being unable to defend his home and its people was one that stabbed Kinzoku in the heart. It sickened him. But now was not the time to be thinking of such things. Quickly shifting his thoughts around, he would place a smile back onto his face ending his (longer than he wanted it to be) speech by adding "oh, and I love smoking cigars."

Ashi nodded along politely as propriety dictated and even allowed a few understanding smiles to slip across her face. From what she could tell the man was both sincere and kind. More importantly, however, he made himself out to be useful. Naturally, Ashi would not have rejected his application because of a lack of usefulness, but it never hurt. Plus, Konohagakure could always use another good shinobi and the Nazar before her seemed just that, a good shinobi.

"We all have our vices," Ashi nodded knowingly at the man's comment about cigars. "As chance would have it I had the pleasure of meeting one of your clansmen a year back."

She paused for a moment recalling the boy who had so brazenly entered the village with a goal of enlightenment. Sadly, the boy had disappeared without a trace. Ashi liked to think he was still out there wandering about somewhere.

"Enlightenment, as you call it, is a noble cause," she continued as if she were talking about some triviality in the weather—nobility was so subjective. "I have also had the..."

She paused again searching for the right word.

"...experience," she decided still not happy with the word. "Of meeting, many from Sunagakure and it is my understanding that some shinobi left Sunagakure altogether taking their chances in the criminal underworld as rogue shinobi. What are your thoughts on this?"

She leaned forward in her chair ever so slightly. This was an important point in the interview. Sunagakure had been fractured and she needed to be certain exactly where the Nazar stood on the matter if she was going to trust him.

Kinzoku couldn't help but smirk at the Hokage's remarks about everyone having their 'vices' as she put it. That made him wonder if she were speaking from experience, and if that were the case what was her vice? But that's not the type of question he would be asking her. It could be taken as impolite or even rude and that's the last thing Kinzoku needed. "I wonder what he or she was like" Kinzoku replied to the Hokage having met a Nazar once before. "I haven't had the opportunity of meeting a Nazar outside of my own family." 

"I'm glad you think so" he answered in reply to the Hokage mentioning enlightenment being a noble cause, "people's opinions on the matter tend to vary quite drastically. But I suppose that's to be expected in world of such diversity." However the conversation took a turn Kinzoku was expecting but at the same time one he was not expecting.

He knew the matter of Suna was going to come up. Had the Hokage not brought it up he probably would have done so himself. But he was expecting it to be about the events that occurred in Suna. Rather it was about the shinobi who left Suna. What did he think about those who instead of seeking refuge in Konoha for example, took their chances as criminals. Whether intentional or unintentional, the question was closely tied to Kinzoku and his views of Enlightenment. 

Kinzoku took a moment to stoke his right hand through his long brownhair which pushed it back into a cleaner look as well as gave him a brief moment to think. What would be the best course of action when it came down to a question like this. Tell the Hokage what he thought she wanted to hear? Or simply tell her what is thoughts on the matter really were? He had been honest with her thus far, why try to screw things up now?

"these former Suna ninja who made the choice to go rogue may have had their reasons for doing so. Maybe they feared a repeat of what happened in Suna happening wherever they took refuge and couldn't bare to watch it happen again to their new home. Maybe they felt they could do more to stopping Kumo on their own. As i mentioned, I believe in giving people a second chance. If I were, say confronted with those who went rogue, I would need to get an understanding of their decision before jumping to any conclusions. Give them the opportunity to explain their reasons for doing so. Explain to them why sticking together and not going rogue will do more good. If they have truly gone rogue to commit crime and wish to continue doing so, then they should be punished, former Suna ninja or not." Kinzoku took a pass to think about the question a little more. "Pardon my asking Hokage, but do you know the whereabouts of those who have gone rogue?" 

"If I knew I would tell you," she paused for a moment and considered her next words carefully. "The only rogue I have met personally went by the name of Ryu Reinhard. I believe he said he was once a jounin of Sunagakure. In a misguided act of retribution against my village, he attempted to burn down Konohagakure's gates. We captured him but elected to exile him instead of executing him considering his status as a one-time ally to us."

She paused again and considered mentioning the group Ryu had talked about but thought better of it.

"Beyond that, I have very little idea where they might be. That said, it is good to see that you're level-headed when it comes to this matter, it's a rare trait nowadays. The last question I have is more of a personal concern than anything else: what do you know about The Will of Fire?"

The Will of Fire burned brightly in each and every Shinobi of Konohagakure. And though each flame burned in its own way it was always present; a common bond between members of the village. There was a reason Konohagakure had lived through hardship after hardship and it was this Will of Fire, the will to go on when all else is lost. This was what made Konoha great, not walls, not a forest not even its standing army, but an ideal.

Kinzoku had just learned the reason as to why the gates he entered by where int he process of being repaired. A former Suna Jounin, one he was unfamiliar with had apparently tried burning down the gates. Kinzoku could only wonder why he'd do such a thing. Why make an enemy of a village that was once his greatest ally? Now he was exiled. If he blazed the gates of Konoha he was clearly not coming here to seek refuge. Attack the gates weren't the actions a man took on a place he wanted to be his new home. Kinzoku could only wonder why he came in the first place. But his thoughts quickly shifted as the Hokage continued speaking.

She gave what seemed to be praise for the way Kinzoku handled situations and continued by asking one final question. What did he knew about The Will of Fire? In all honesty he had never heard the term itself, but he had a feeling on what it could be. He had come to Konoha a few years back during his Coming of Age journey that he had to take as a Nazar member. Though he never heard of The Will of Fire, he got a good feel for the people of Konoha. His answer would come based on his early encounters with Konoha citizens.

"The Will of Fire is the love Konoha citizens hold for both the village itself and the people in it. It's this innate aspect that I believe everyone here has where they treat Konoha as their family and they'll do anything for it. Whether that be protecting it by becoming a Konoha ninja, or becoming a craftsman to ensure Konoha's defenses are well supplied, or a farmer to make sure everyone is well fed. Everything you do is for the greater good of the village." Whether or not that's what The Will of Fire stood for, he felt as though he was close enough to the answer for that's how Kinzoku felt about Suna. If accepted into Konoha he would have no problem fitting in.

"That's an interesting take on The Will of Fire," a slim ambiguous smile slipped across the woman's face. "I like it."

She paused again as if considering her next words. In actuality, she was trying to remember what set of paperwork to give the man. There were about eight different visa forms and each one of them meant different things. After all, he would need some documents to show who he was while his citizenship was processed. The whole thing was politics really and Ashi hated every bit of it.

"Yes," she said triumphantly. "All you'll need to do is fill out these papers here."

She pulled out a packet of papers from the large stack.

"Fill these out and give them to my secretary and you'll be good to go. Many of the questions may seem unnecessary, but we like to know everything we can about those we admit to our village. Luckily for you, if this interview is any reflection of who you are, then you'll be fine. Naturally, you'll be reinstated at the rank you held in Sunagakure. Any questions?"

The stack of papers would take a considerable amount of time to fill it. It essentially asked for a life story along with personal information. Ashi had to be able to build a dossier from the ground up for the man with the all the information he provided.