Mark of a Fuin Novice [solo]

Satomi stretched with an obnoxious groan as he arose from another dead slumber, his attempts to improve his vitality was beginning to wear on his body. The young boy barely able to nudge the covers off himself before flattening out across his bed like a rag doll, his light blue and white polka dotted pajama on display in all their glory as he tugged his nightcap over his face with another groggy groan. The cap's sheep head appearance more adorable than the lethargic display apathy that was the young boy. Satomi fought the call to the wakened world as a soft tapping penetrated the barrier that was his cap to reach his ears, it turned out to be a short fight as the rhythmic was more than grating on his brain. Forced to face the day and sit up in bed, the bed zombie blew a few fallen locks of gold out of his face as his blurry morning video focused and fell upon his bedroom window and the source of the tapping. “You again?”

Despite his exhaustive state the young genin would make it to his feet and into his house slippers before shuffling over to learn over his desk and slid open the window on the wall in front of it to greet his increasingly more frequent alarm clock. The same as every morning the crow would nudge another shiny object towards the boy in exchange for a piece of one form of baked good or another. This time it appeared to be another shiny pebble, probably from the shore of Takiatsu lake or a local stream or river. Like the rest it would be added to the growing collection in his top desk draw, but unlike most mornings Satomi's avian associate wouldn't make its post-breakfast departure as it opted instead to roost on the windowsill and squawk contentedly. It was odd, but if the bird wanted to sit there who was Satomi to give it crap over it? Shrugging; the child followed the scent of his own morning breakfast being prepared by his father.

He'd return to his room shortly following breakfast a bit more alert, but still moving less than 100%. “Maybe I should take a break today.” Satomi lumbered into his room only to be assaulted by a shrill caw of the crow still comfortably perched above his desk. “What? Did you decide we're friends now?”

“CAAW!” The crow turned it's beak up at the mere notion of companionship with the human boy as it shuffled around to show his back to him.

“Really, the cold shoulder? From a bird?” Satomi scoffed as he pulled out his chair and took a seat at his desk. Situating his back pouch before him on the desk, he removed part of its content. Today was a book he'd had his nose in many times in recent months. “'Putting the Fun in Fuinjutsu', an old friend.” Satomi chuckled as he laid the book out in front of him before setting two other books off to the side. The first regarding the history of Hoshigakure relatively brief history and another on the history and geography of Kumogakure, he had picked them both up recently from a local shop, the latter was of particular interest given some of the rumors he had over heard the adults chatting about at his father's restaurant.

Opening the big book of beginner fuinjutsu, Satomi thumbed through the table of contents until something piqued his interest. His eyes sparkling for a moment before lifting to capture the form of the crow at home upon his windowsill. “I wonder-- I don't see many of your species around here.” Satomi tapped his finger to his chin as he pondered, his eyes falling upon the pages of his textbook as he flipped through it to an appropriate jutsu for his curiosity. 'Mark Seal: Put Your Mark on The World'. The genin groaned, the puns were relentless. The passage on the technique was barren as one would expect for such a simple jutsu, just a short layman's explanation of the mechanics of the technique and some basic tips. For such a short passage there were more than a fair share of awful puns littering the page, Satomi was forced to close the book to ward off any brain leakage from his nose before focusing on his performing the technique. Admittedly it wasn't difficult for the boy to grasp, his practice with creating lock seals and breaking them had more than prepared for something decidedly more basic than that. No, the real test was hitting his target.

The crow's eyes followed Satomi's hand closely as he leaned out of his chair, the hand slowly drifted towards a partially stale milk bread roll he had kept on his nightstand to feed his feathered not-friend in the mornings. “Oh you want some, pudgy budgie?” The child's voice sharp with song and tease as the bird failed to deny its greed and wobbled around to face the boy once more. “Oh I bet~” Satomi giggled as he broke a off a piece of the roll. Now he was pretty sure birds couldn't drool, but it certainly didn't stop his guest form gawking with a widened beak as the boy approached it with the small offering. It was all a distraction from the boy's true intent as he pulled chakra into his opposite hand, waiting just for the moment that the crow was too distracted by his own food lust to react before he'd strike!

A quick and precise poke to the back of the bird's neck with a quick surge of chakra from his finger tip, leaving a tiny glowing dot similar in color to his own chakra before it would fade from being visible to the natural eye. The crow was less than impressed to say the least as it let out an indignant squawk and snatched the morsel of bread from between the boy's before making its escape. “You can run, but you can't hide, silly birdy-- Wait, how can I track it if I can't see it!?”

For several days Satomi would let the remainder of the milk roll set on the windowsill and for several days his feathered acquaintance refused to visit. There was no real reason for Satomi to be distraught over it, but yet he was. Each succeeding morning a little worse off than the one before. His intention was never to hurt or offend the peculiarly cute little squawk box, in fact he was just growing exceedingly curious about her. Him? The more Satomi thought about it the more he was sure the bird was a she. Regardless, the boy had decided that if she wouldn't return to him then he would just have to find and apologize to her. With a mark seal in place all he had to do was figure out a way to track it, which if he would have bothered to read the footer at the bottom of the page on the seal in the first place he would have seen the list of related jutsu provided.

“Mark Seal, Mark Tracking. Who'd a thunk it~?” Satomi cheery voice a carol of sarcasm as he found himself flipping through the books pages again. His soft features creased as he skimmed through the introduction to the technique before the book was snapped shut and tucked away into his satchel before he tied it around his waist and positioned it in its proper place behind him as he stood up. It wasn't going to be as simple this time as he had discovered that learning to place a mark was only about a fifth of the effort needed to use it properly for what he had intended to and he was going to need a subject.

“A'yo, sunshiiine!” Takatoshi voice rang from the main room. “I'mma head out ta tha market for-a bit!”

Perfect! Satomi giggled as he rushed through the hall, he'd throw his arms around his father upon meeting him at the door.

“Whoa 'ey there, pumpkin, I'm not gonna be gone forever.” The scraggly gentleman let out a hearty chuckle as he gently squeezed Satomi in his arms.


“Oh I know, father—sir!” Of course the sneaky shinobi had other motives for the sudden burst of affection, not that hugs weren't nice on their own, but Satomi used the opportunity to place a mark seal on his father's lower back before letting go with just the most pleased smile stretched from ear to ear. “Have fun at the market!” For all his tooth-achingly sweet antics, the boy received a thorough mussing of his blond locks from his father before he marched out the door with a bounce in his step.

Satomi wouldn't follow immediately, instead opting to raid his father's secret stash of exotic candies for a few small pieces that he wouldn't notice. The genin wanted to make sure he gave the man enough time to get lost in the shuffle of the city square before he would attempt to track him. It's a common phrase that 'a watched pot never boils', but the same could be said for time moving when staring at a clock. Satomi paced impatiently around the main room, his eyes anxiously following the seconds hand around the analogue time keeper until he couldn't do it any longer.

Closing his eyes, the young ninja folded his hands before him as he raised them with the Ram seal locked in. Taking a deep breath he concentrated on the concept of the seal he had placed upon his father, his thoughts focusing on the subtle unique chakra resonance of the jutsu a task made harder by his heightened chakra senses as the local sources of chakra from neighboring and passing villagers was overwhelming to the young genin. One by one he managed to cull through the sources however, learning to be selective with his senses and tuning out the unimportant sources. Even so, Satomi wasn't having much luck detecting the mark he had placed.

Just have another piece of candy and relax, Satomi. The child attempted to curb his anxiousness as he unwrapped another chocolate piece and popped, savoring it as he let his body loosen up. “Where oh where are you, papa.” It was almost enough to give him a headache as he stood there in the middle of the room. Satomi slumped over to a large, plush chair and flopped down into it with a disgruntled grumble. It briefly crossed his mind that perhaps his father was simply too far away for the jutsu to be effective, but he also wondered how useful a tracking technique like the one he was attempting to use could be if you had to be tailing your target to begin with. Besides, this particular pair of jutsu was said to be used to track prisoners should they escape, certainly the ability to track escaped convicts warranted of broader range than the few hundred meters it took to get to the market from his house.

The thought also crossed his mind that maybe he was the problem, not yet experienced enough to use this fuinjutsu. That was nonsense of course, just silly thoughts. The missions, the all the training he had done on his own and with Miyamoto... that one grumbly guy with the sword, he could do this too! Satomi sprang up to sit upright in his seat as he formed the Ram seal once again with his hand, his brow narrowing as he doubled-- tripled his concentration and focus. Drawing in a long and heavy breath, he silently counted to 10 before releasing it slowly, repeating this excise as his mind expanded outside the walls of the room and beyond the housing block. It was quite the experience for the genin, he was aware of his physical body and surroundings, but he could feel himself reaching out through the city for something. It wasn't enough however, as like a dog leashed to a post he met the abrupt end of his lead. His awareness snapping back to just his immediate vicinity. “Oh no!”

Satomi quickly launched himself from the chair and towards the front door and swapping his slippers for his shoes before stepping out on the street, making sure to lock the door behind him. His eyes followed up and down the street for any sign of his father, satisfied by the lack of any indication that his old man had returned already the boy reformed the necessary hand seal to start again. This time there was no deep breathing, no closing his eyes, this was a real run this time as he recalled the feeling he had moments ago back in the house and focused on amplifying it. Like chakra sensory, it came as something similar to a gut feeling. A burning sense of intuition, offering a suggestive course than something tangible. At first it felt like following a compass, the needle pulled towards what Satomi believed to be the mark he had placed, but as he dialed in his senses it feeling became more precise. Not content to loiter, the shinobi took off in the direction his senses told him to go. That it was towards the market proved some initial success and boosted the golden haired boy's confidence as he picked up the pace.

It wasn't too long before Satomi had entered the village square and the outer rim of the market, only for his tracking to go a little wonky. His concentration becoming split as if... there was... another... “She's  here too!” Satomi grew a Cheshire grin, but which one was which mark. He turned to chewing on the inside of his cheek as he focused on the two mark seals. If he had to make a bet, as zany as his father was, Satomi would put his money on the more erratic moving of the two mark being his little crow bro... (broette?)

He was sure his father would be fine, probably placing orders for the coming week's restaurant supplies. Satomi, however, had an apology to deliver to a spurned companion and would take off in that direction post haste. He wasn't at all surprised when he tracked the avian critter to a row of street food vendors, swooping from one trail of crumbs to another.

“You really are going to be a fatty if you keep that up.” Satomi blurted out to a few nasty stares. Realizing his mistake the boy tried to laugh it off  and shoo off the aura of ire with a dismissive wave as he stepped towards the feasting crow. The bird's attention suddenly snapping to Satomi, it's beady black eyes cold as it returned to pecking at crumbs. He could imagine an indignant huff from the creature. “I just-- I wanted to apologize. I didn't mean to hurt you...” Satomi began the death stares from a few portly individuals he had inadvertently angered shifted to confusion and concern as he spoke to the bird. It wasn't every day someone decided to talk to a bird, at least in broad daylight in public. Satomi's apology was met with a dismissive caw, the crow having none of it. “I just put a mark seal on you. I was curious about you and where you're from, the places you go.”

Though the crow remained, the boy's apology continued to find deaf ears. Frowning, Satomi walked over to a neighboring food cart to purchase a fresh cake doughnut before breaking off a small chuck about an inch cubed and offering. “Really, I'm sorry!”

It was almost a heart melting moment as spectators watched on to the boy... or girl who could talk to birds. Of course he couldn't really speak to animals, at least not in the traditional sense. He did however know how to speak to this particular glutton. The crow cautiously hopped towards the offering, giving it a few trying pecks before fully clamping its beak around what it could before ripping it from the child's hand and breaking for the clouds.

“Does that mean I'm forgiven!?” Watching the bird disappear in the distance Satomi finally realized he had an audience much to his embarrassment. His cheek glowing it's own special shade of red as tried his best to mask how mortified he felt at that moment behind an awkward smile, shuffling towards where he last remembered his father—maybe he could hide in his shadow for a little bit until they returned home.