Gaining Knowledge (P, Kozai)

The Uzumaki continued to watch as the librarian sat down, taking a seat before handing Akaboshi a scroll which contained the formula of a certain technique. Which one would become clear as soon as he opened the scroll to learn whatever it was inside of it. Of course he knew better than to open it when both of them were still talking, it would be quite the view if the redhead suddenly started learning it now. Akaboshi listened attentively to Kozai's advice as the man guided him in the right direction, telling the shinobi to apply whatever was in the scroll as results would surely follow. The red haired Uzumaki gladly accepted the scroll, believing it would enable him to gain both knowledge and power which he could then use to grow stronger and protect his ideals. "You have my gratitude, I'll take good care of it and make sure the result will be successful". Considering it was something given to him by Kozai could only mean that it had to be something incredibly powerful, regardless of the librarian keeping the true extent of his power still a mystery. A secret, if you may. But one Akaboshi would keep between them as he was asked.

Putting the scroll away, the man wondered if there was anything he could do in return. "Although you didn't ask for anything in return, it's my nature to at least try. Is there something I could offer you in exchange for your gift? Besides my promise to keep everything between us of course". Perhaps the librarian wouldn't see it the same way as he did, but for the Uzumaki it felt like at least some form of trust had carefully started to develop. 

(WC: 288, TWC: 5245)

Accepting scroll containing Kanade

What could you possibly give me that I could not already take for myself? Is what Kozai would have liked to say, but decided not to. In the old days, before he had even met Echo to begin with, he probably would have spouted off some nonsense like that, but being antagonistic would get him nowhere. Instead, he simply shook his head, displaying some facade of amusement, despite feeling nothing of the sort internally.

"No, that's all right. I'm not going to ask anything from you on the spot." Down below, two of his six paths reactivated and began moving. "But, if I ever need any help, I hope that you'll at least consider pitching in. An extra pair of hands never hurts." Kozai didn't like the way a lot of kages tended to talk about arrangements like these as if they were binding. People were remarkably unreliable, and Kozai wasn't about to hold him to anything base purely on a verbal agreement. A felt a flash of cold fury, not at Akaboshi, but at the hokage, or the former hokage, by now. A fool AND a madman.

"That being said, I really must close down for the night. We open promptly at eight tomorrow..."

As already expected there wasn't really anything Akaboshi could offer Kozai in return for his gift, there would hardly be something that a man like the librarian could want from someone like the Uzumaki who still had much to achieve before he could consider himself capable of offering something of value. But at least he tried and showed willing to pay a debt, if that was what you could call it. "Of course, if it's within my ability I'll answer your call for help, it's the least I could do". In all honesty the redhead doubted that he'd be of much help the way he was now, all the more reason to improve himself and what better way than use the scroll given by Kozai?

The night would start to fall down on Hoshigakure, the sign for Kozai to start closing down as it would be early day for him in the morning to come. "Ah yes, apologies for keeping you so long. It was very interesting talking to you Kozai". The Uzumaki would grab the scroll he received as he said "I'll make sure to pay you a visit once I made this my own, I hope to see the results soon". If there was nothing else to discuss Akaboshi would make his way out of the Archives and head home, the evening would fall and he had a lot of studying to do .. 

(WC: 235, TWC: 5480)

"Sure thing." Kozai watched as the man left, then sighed slightly, standing and wheeling the cart into the hallway after locking up. Down below, more paths activated, until all 6 stood up straight. Kozai didn't like speaking to them, now. It felt too much like talking to his own hands, which was bizarre and made him seem unhinged. He only did it when he had to, such as earlier on when he needed to present that facade to Akaboshi. Not a particularly clever lad, was he? Still, that remained to be seen. Kozai supposed that what he had given the man counted as "homework" in some respect, though he himself had certainly never been a teacher (at least, no officially).

Sure, he'd helped people from time to time. That child, Fenn, in Kumogakure, the ragtag group of brave souls refounding Ame, Agi-

No, that wasn't worth thinking about. He directed the six paths down through the tunnels beneath the Archives, to attend to their duties while he shut off some of the lights and made sure nobody could get in, at least through mundane means. It had been a while since any curious shinobi had poked any heads through his door, but he supposed that's what the Archives had been built for...

On his way home, Akaboshi made sure no one saw him leaving the Archives, nor that someone was following him. If anything, the Uzumaki wanted to avoid drawing unnecessary attention to him, Kozai or the Archives. Knowing all too well how news traveled fast, the redhead decided it would be best if no one knew about the unplanned meeting between the two men. At least not considering the hour it took place. With the scroll tucked away in one of his side pockets, Akaboshi took a brief moment to dwell on everything that happened that day. Looking up to witness the beautiful sky above Hoshigakure, the village he swore to protect even if it meant using ways one would consider to be dark. But the time where the redhead thought everything could be solved by talking alone had long since passed.

Having arrived back home after the interesting events that took place, the Uzumaki would hide the scroll before finally call it a day. Just like Kozai would have an early day tomorrow morning, such was the case for Akaboshi as well. Once he'd wake up, the redhead decided to start with learning whatever was in the scroll. 

(Exit)

(TWC: 5678)
Claims:
- 2500/2500 Chidori
- 2000/2000 Nature Chakra Proficiency
- 1000/1000 Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder
- 112 AP (using max stat discount)
- scroll with Kanade

Approved @Akaboshi Uzumaki

The dark master of the archives prioritized victory over everything. If history was written by the winners, if prevailing enabled someone to control narratives and information, then he had to come out on top, no matter what. Until then, however, he had to keep most of his cards close to his chest. While he had no love for this village and certainly not for its people, he had to keep in line with the responsibilities that it required of him, in order to seize every advantage possible. There was no arguing that the advantages of working within a system like this were vastly superior to the independence than working outside of it could provide.

His six paths entered the tunnels and began preparing the night's work. Several new samples from out of the country, again, as well as normal book work for the next day. Kozai himself, in the meantime, would ensure that all the encoding was done correctly for the morrow as well, incase any other curious shinobi decided to enter and seek knowledge. As evidenced by tonight, you could never be too careful when it came to security. Perhaps he should outsource a bit for things like that, too.

[TWC 4329
4329 WC toward fire element
exit]

Approved