I've Fallen, and I Can't Get Up! (p, Minato)

Atop a training pole some several feet tall was Suzume. A surprising sight for anyone who knew of her. Since when was she out in the open, instead of finding a far off corner of or near the village to hide in? The likelihood of somebody coming across such a scene was low. Although, it was unnerving to her that a random man did find her while she was mucking around in the snow a mile or two in the surrounding woods not too long ago. Random to her anyways. She figured that if people are going to show up regardless of where she goes, she may as well learn how to deal with them. What other way could she bring forth a change in the shinobi system that she found to be so flawed, if avoiding others wasn't it? Originally, it made sense to simply push away those who were so fanatic about it. That only solved the issues she perceived for herself however, and that just wasn't enough. Might her supposed comrade who died early on, so long ago during her first chunin exams, still be breathing today if these nicks and dents in this society of shinobi were brought up before he was killed?

Adrift in thought from how to go about this, Suzume lost her footing while practicing a kick technique of sorts. Her heel slid over the post's edge. She didn't notice any injury just yet since she didn't expect this to happen, although it was fair to say that she should have. Due to improper weight placement in her legs she too went down, also painfully scraping her back as she fell. Luckily, the wood was managed well with some sand paper so no one would get splinters. Her body slammed against the dirt with a thud. "Oof!"

The impact of the ground against the momentum of her flailing body was enough to make her become dizzy for a moment. Suzume laid there, realizing that once again she had fallen. Looking up at the sky, through the leaves and branches of the Konohanian trees, she said to herself that this quite potentially could be the way she dies. From a fall. Hopefully not one as pathetic as this one. Taking a woozy glance around, she was pleased to see that no one was there to witness this. At least, she didn't notice that anyone was there. Being temporarily impaired might have had her miss something, but she enjoyed the thought that no one saw her mess up for now.

[WC: 425]

It was yet another peaceful day for Minato as he had gotten up early to have a look around the village. Nothing much was going on so he figured he should take this time to go out and pay a visit to the Training Grounds. After all, it wouldn't hurt to get some exercise in. On his way over his mind started to deviate at certain thoughts he was having lately. The last couple of days there was some kind of anger boiling inside the young Uchiha. He was getting sick and tired of the lack of change in the people of his village. It was not purely anger he was feeling, but rather disappointment with the citizens and shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato. It was as if they were missing the resolve to change, not even after they were invaded by Kiri. As if they were okay with how things were going. But Minato wasn't. Not even close. The boy wanted his city to become powerful just like it once was, a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately it looked like he was the only one feeling this way. So he could do with letting off some steam at the Training Grounds. 

When he arrived at the fields there wasn't a single person out there but one. Standing on top of what seemed to be a pole there was a young girl, acting carelessly as if nothing could happen to her. He decided to head over to see what it was exactly she was trying to accomplish. When he was closing in on her it felt like he recognized her from somewhere but failed to remember. Just about when he wanted to greet the kunoichi she started to lose balance and Minato suddenly got a deja vu. "You have got to be kidding me." 
Soon after losing her footing the young girl ended up falling on the ground and the Uchiha couldn't help but laugh at the view. The gentleman inside of him decided he would go over and help her up. He didn't believe in something like fate, but this couldn't be just a coincidence. A couple of weeks ago something similar had happened to him and now he had witnessed this beautiful spectacle he was sure of it. It was the same person from that time. "Why do I get the feeling we've been through this before?" He would say not hiding his smile as he was greeting the young girl. "We really should stop meeting like this" he would say while offering his hand to the girl, leaving it up to her to decide if she was going to reach to his hand and let him help her up.

"Hello Suzume, fancy seeing you here." 

(WC: 459)

Once her vision came into focus, she found out that someone had been there the whole time. The double pictures merged into one, and she could she the features of the person's smiling face. It wasn't until they said her name did she figure out that it wasn't just crazy voices in her head that she was hearing, but a real actual person...who also saw her fall. Suzume, not knowing how to react, continue to lay. At least crashing so harshly to the ground didn't cause the damage she thought. That is, if she could think clearly. 

Eventually bringing herself to sit up, after going cross eyed for a short moment, she replied "Hey..." ever so softly with an attempt of a friendly smile. The girl was still in pain, some parts of her even had a pulsing sensation from it. It was enough for her to not recognize the easily familiar face in front of her. It wasn't until she finally took his hand did she recall who he was. 

"Oh, you're the guy from that other day I fell..." she giggled, slurring her words. Her laughter was mostly to hide the fact that such a tiny fall did her any harm. She didn't exactly expect to meet him again, but that didn't matter now. Maybe it was better that this guy, out of anyone else, had seen her mishap, since he already was exposed to her true clumsiness. There was no need to hide it, he was past judging her with it...for he already did from before. Suzume wasn't worried about that at this point, she knew that he knew about this "secret". 

Tugging on his arm to get up, she thought to try to befriend the guy on this meeting. He already knew too much. It would be better for someone to know about these things and be friendly with the other, than to be hostile. As a friend, maybe he would look out for her. But as an enemy, well...obviously he'd take advantage. "Yeah, I do remember you. You're, uh, Nematode, right?" In her head, she said his name right. Did she get brain damage from that fall after all? 

[WC: 364]

To his own relief the young girl accepted his stretched out hand as she reached for it to help her back up. Seemingly still shaken up by her fall and in more pain than she probably wanted to admit it took her a while to respond to Minato. When she finally came to her senses and got back up to her feet it looked like she had recognized the young Uchiha. Giggling as she remembered him from the first time she fell. There was this innocence she was carrying over her, the same from when she claimed to like sweets. As much as she tried to uphold a nonchalant demeanor where she seemed to not care about anything or anyone it was still impossible for her not to act like the young girl she actually was. But even though she tried to convince him of her careless act she wouldn't be able to fool Minato as he was able to see through it. The dark haired Uchiha knew something must have happened to her in the past to cause such a change in her. But instead of prying into her past he would decide to become someone she could look upto someday. After all it was almost his duty as he was her superior by age. "You really need to be more careful where you're going." 

Now that she had regained her full conscience he hoped they could talk some more. About why she was standing on that pole for example. For a second he thought he could hear her call him something, but he probably heard wrong. Or not. Did she actually call him Nematode? What the hell is a Nematode? Well that would be a first. He's been called names before but nobody actually compared him to a worm. Did she hit her head when she fell or was she just messing with him? "Eh, close. It's Minato." 
He would give her the benefit of the doubt and let the weird name calling slide given what just happened. But he wouldn't be surprised if she was actually messing with him. Hoping this time she was completely recovered he would ask his question.

"Were you out here training? That's not like you at all." From what he remembered of their first encounter she just stumbled upon the shinobi life, rather than actually wanting to become one. So he was surprised to see her out by herself and even training for that matter. "Last time we spoke you didn't strike me as the person who would put effort in her training, what changed?"

(WC: 433, TWC: 892)

"Tch," was the black haired girl's initial response. The guy acted as if he knew everything about her from the first meet. What a red flag, she thought for a moment. Suzume could have sworn she said the right name, as well. But, she ached too much to bother. "Nothing ever changed. I simply figured out what to do...to an extent," she gracefully brushed an excuse. 

Maybe it wasn't the best response, because if she had it figured out then she wouldn't have needed a hand to pick her off the ground just now. Though, just to go the extra mile and cover it up, she figured challenging the guy to a spar could prove a point. "Heck, I could spar you right now!" she sneered. Suzume was aware of how risky such a move was, but she wouldn't deal with the outcome until it came about. If she lost, then yeah, Minato had a point. If not, well, she would manage to make her point and Minato would have to take her word for it. 

[WC: 176]

It seemed like girls her age didn’t like it when people try to give them advice or tell them what to do as it looked like Minato had hit a nerve. His intentions were not ill natured but maybe the young girl took it that way. She claimed that nothing had changed but that she found out what to do. “That’s too bad, change is inevitable. Standing still is going backwards.” The young Uchiha would say since change is necessary for growth. But it might be a good thing that she finally figured out what she needed to do.
 
Determined to prove her point the young girl decided to challenge Minato for a spar. To his surprise she believed she was able to take him on. Taking into account that she had been a Genin longer than him and had more experience it would be quite the humiliation if she wasn’t able to beat him in a spar. “I accept your challenge. I hope you don’t fall over again when you can’t even defeat someone like me.”
With those words he hoped he had provoked her some more as he was telling her to follow him to the Training Grounds.
 
Once they had arrived at the location where they would have their little spar Minato would distance himself from Suzume at approximately 15 meters apart from her. Such a difference between them would allow some space the both of them could use to have some fun. It wasn’t anything serious after all, only a bit of harmless sparring.
 
It is often said that he who makes the first move will also be the one to win the battle. Keeping that phrase in mind the young Uchiha decided to begin his first move. Minato opened his mouth when a thick cloud of white mist appeared around him which would fill the battlefield up till a 50 meter radius. Due to how the mist was formed it was filled with the Uchiha’s chakra, meaning Minato was able to control its thickness with his chakra. Using this technique he would make it so that Suzume wasn’t able to see, that in turn meant that she wouldn’t be able to manage much defence against him. Having made the mist as thick as he did, the only way for the young girl to see through the mist was if she was a sensory type or had the Byakugan. And as far as he knew she wasn’t. But seeing as the mist had started to fill the area it meant that Minato was also influenced by it so he wasn’t able to see anything as well. But the fact that Suzume didn’t know if he had already unlocked his Sharingan also meant that she might think that he was able to see through the mist. So she would have to no way of knowing if he was able to see her.
 
With the area now filled with a thick mist it was time for the young Uchiha to wait and see how the girl would react now that her vision was completely cut off. He would already be thinking about his next move once she had found a way to counter his technique as he was getting ready to activate his next move.

(WC: 547, TWC: 1439)

AP + Stats::

Mid-thread claim:

- 1050 to finish off Suiton: Stormy Blockade (1500/1500, previous progress here)
- 389 towards Water Release: Water Needles
- 7 stats

Approved Minato <3

Suzume rolled her eyes at the elder shinobi's "wise words". As if she needed to hear it, because there had been plenty change for her. She hadn't gotten a clear idea what to do with it, but she figured there was enough time for now to not make it such a big factor. Although, his mockery was annoying. If it had been offensive to the girl, maybe it would have made an impact. However, it was more offensive for Minato to be talking about himself as though he would be easy to defeat. Suzume chuckled at this tactic to provoke her. She trailed along with him to an appropriate location for a spar. It wouldn't be her goal to do any real damage. Maybe a bruise at worst. 

The first move Minato made was to cover the area in a blinding mist. What a move. Suzume had no way to counter it, so the next option was to somehow find a way to take advantage of it. She could leave and he would never know, provided his sharingan wasn't activated. But games aside, Suzume made two clones. One in front of him, and one in his peripheral vision to the left. She placed them far enough for Minato to be able to notice their silhouette through the mist. With the clone in front, she made it appear as if she was running straight at him. Maybe he would think she really was dumb enough to charge as so right off the bat. 

[WC: 252]

Minato was wondering what took Suzume so long before she reacted to his first move. Suspicious about the fact that nothing had happened so far the young Uchiha changed the density of the mist to semi-transparent allowing him to have at least some view as the Hidden Mist Technique not only obscured her vision but his as well. With the changed density Minato was able to see that Suzume seemed to have made two clones as he could see their faint silhouettes. He figured she probably tried to confuse him as he couldn't be certain which one was the real Suzume and which ones were the clones. All of a sudden he noticed one of those silhouettes came running straight towards him. If it was only a clone he didn't have much to worry about since clones aren't able to attack and are only used in conjunction with another technique, but if it was the actual Suzume he could be in trouble.

Trying to come up with a plan he decided to change the density once more, this time he would make it so they weren't going to be able to see each other's position again. Minato wouldn't be able to know where Suzume and her clones were, but the girl wouldn't be able to know the Uchiha's position as well. With her vision completely cut off he figured she might follow sound this time and would run to wherever the sound was coming from. He would use Puppet Art: Ventriloquism to make it sound as if he was standing somewhere else. "What are you waiting for?" If the plan turned out to be successful she would come running towards the sound which would result in her coming out of the mist thinking she would find Minato in front of her but in reality he would be standing approximately 10 meters from where his voice was coming from. 

(WC: 318, TWC: 1757)
(Due to mid-thread claim I can only use WC from this post on, starting at 318)

AP + Stats: