Pretty Plants, Potent Poisons 2 [I/O]

Madrigal would listen to the boy as he explained what he had gone through in the first exam. Ethics questions? What they would do in certain situations? Interesting. The tall man figured that made sense in the end though. After all the entire point of the Chuunin Exams were to test your capability to become a Chuunin and one of the best ways to test one's mindset would be to ask such questions. The final question being some type of riddle was interesting as well and while Madrigal was in the same boat as Kouma as wondering when in the world they were supposed to be codebreakers he could chalk it up to the necessity of always being prepared for anything. As they spoke he would continue the task of picking hemlock, the motions of the job coming to him with metronomic precision now as he slowly began to fill up his basket. Madrigal began to wonder what it would be like to be in the Chuunin Exams. He was not prepared for such a thing yet, but it was amusing to consider. He knew of some techniques he simply had not taken the time to learn yet so if he added those to his repertoire he might actually be able to consider himself a threat in the exams.

Of course that was from his uninformed opinion on the types of individuals that might take part in such a thing. He could not really know just how powerful other villages genin were and how he would stack up against them in such an exam without trying so his assumption that he could hold his own might actually be fairly flawed and short sighted of him. That did not really bother Madrigal though, as he was not in the exams. Slowly he considered his next question, carefully trying to work out what to ask and how. Sometimes how you asked a question was just as important as the question you asked and he realized he found himself curious as to how powerful opposition was in the exams. He tilted his head to the side as he considered, still moving and picking hemlock as he did. The protective gloves he was wearing would prevent him from cutting himself or anything so he was not particularly worried about such a thing and thus he was able to consider what he was going to ask without worry of the poison getting into his system and proceeding to kill him.

Hemlock was a vicious little plant that could cause respiratory failure and did not actually have an antidote. Medical ninjutsu could probably save the recipient provided the medical ninjutsu user was skilled enough and had a strong enough medical technique to draw the poison out of the body of the afflicted individual. However hemlock was universally known as an extremely dangerous plant and one did not tempt fate when picking such a plant lightly. Eventually Madrigal would turn his head back toward the boy and ask, his curiosity finally settling on a question. “How do you stack up against your competition so far? Feel confident against the other genin in the exams?” He would ask, the question was probably the best he could do at the moment without more information about Kouma. However he could put in a little work to see what he could find out about the boy. If anything was out there to be learned in the village then he could get an idea of just how strong Kouma was and get an idea of how strong he would need to be in order to compete effectively in such an exam.

WC: 609
TWC: 2,397

As the group of shinobi entered the gardens so they could begin picking the hemlock, questions of the Chuunin exams began to be asked by Madrigal, these were questions that he didn't want to interrupt, so he simply awaited the answer to come through. Taichi thought of the Chuunin Exams and how he never got to participate in them when he was in Suna, and how he was unsure if the Chuunin Exams were the best way to test one's strength, or if it was simply better to send their children out into the world and prove themselves that way. The exams were far too guarded in his opinion, you never really get to know how strong you are until you come across someone unknowingly and have to win the fight that you never knew was coming. That was how he had learned and how he had gotten as strong as he was, but this was the way the village system provided strength to their underlings, and who was he argue with their ways. 

He wanted to say something about his opinion on the Chuunin Exams, but he felt that he was still on thin ice just being within the village and he didn't want to make any waves with the people within the village. So he instead decided to stay quiet about his opinions, and he just kept picking the plants.

He knew that years ago his goal was to destroy the village system, but he remembered what Kenshin had told him. The best way to take it down is to change it from the inside, and he still believed every word of that too. He would listen to the conversation being had between the two shinobi and he would listen with open ears. Picking the plants that stood before him, thinking of just how he was going to use the hemlock for his own reasonings. He was thinking of making a poison that he could infuse with his mist technique, that way even if someone was able to figure out that it was a genjutsu, they would still be getting poisoned while they were within it's reach.

Kouma was around three fourths of the way to packing his pouch full of the hemlock when Madrigal turned and asked a question, after a short period of silence, so Kouma listened up, slowing down his hemlock picking for a moment. Madrigal had asked how Kouma stacked up against his competition so far, and Kouma was not really sure, as he had barely seen what Page could do, and did not get to see what any of the others did, and the competition between them in an arena was still not going yet, so Kouma could not give a good answer to the question, but he still replied.

"I'm not really sure. The one on one fights haven't started yet, and I've only seen a small amount of combat ability from one of the contestants, and it was just that he could throw things really strong and fast." Kouma said, rubbing the back of his head with his hand.

He was unsure of whether or not he should have done as much research on his opponents as he could, but he was simply trying to see what he could do with very little information, as he would not have information on anyone if they suddenly attacked him out of nowhere in the field or when he was traveling. Kouma then continued on his hemlock picking, and he had finished a bit before the others, and so it was time to bid them farewell.

"It was great talking to you two, thanks a bunch for listening to my Chuunin Exam stories. I hope to talk to you again if I can."

Kouma stated in a happy but respectful tone while bowing to the two older ninja. Kouma then hauled his bag full of hemlock back to the building they had come from to wait for the assistant to take it back to the storehouse and give him a little as his share for completing the mission. Kouma would then simply take his earnings and leave, waving at the two if he could still see them or if they finished really close to him.

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Exit
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WC: 352
Total WC: 2,544
Claiming 6100 ryo from mission and rank
Claiming Hemlock
Using 1125 words for Bloodletting - max stat discount
Using 1125 words for Body Part Replication -  discount
Using 294 words towards Chakra Anesthetic - 294/450 with discount

Madrigal would listen intently to the younger shinobi’s thoughts on the matter of how he stood within the exams. Apparently the exams were not far enough along in any combat related fields for him to know yet. Which made a certain amount of sense he supposed. Such events was frequently done to a great deal of fanfare and observation. Tickets were sold, concessions procured, and all in all it was a fairly large event for the village as a whole. Even he, a newcomer to the world of shinobi, knew that quite well. The publicly promoted Chuunin of any given village was generally a show of force to the rest of the nations. ‘Look, this is what our potential Chuunin we’re willing to show you are capable of. What else might we have?’. It made for a fairly polite and tame political statement to the other nations for them to be careful. Of course that could easily backfire on any one nation. Have potential Chuunin that do not do well and you might send a message to the shinobi world that your village is weak and incapable of defending itself. With these thoughts coming to mind Madrigal would nod his head to himself. The truth of the matter was that the villages probably sent the best they could. Or at least the best they were willing to show to the exams. After all, the key words above were ‘willing to show you.’ Making too many assumptions in this world, was likely to cause one to get killed.

That was the bare bones truth of it in the end. Madrigal moved through the task of picking the hemlock, his basket filling up rapidly as he worked. He was almost done himself when Kouma announced that he was finished. He gave them a polite farewell and Madrigal shot him a smirk before speaking. “We’re Hoshi ninja, we will run into each other again I’m sure. Good luck in the exams hot shot.” He would say, giving the boy a polite nod in parting. Waving with hemlock residue on one's gloves was a tad risky. Sure it was only a minute risk, but why take it at all if you did not have to? Their second companion, Taichi, whom Madrigal had known from when they had dealt with a burning building together. Taichi putting the fire out and Madrigal getting out the people on the second story, would be silent through their discussion. Last time they had parted Taichi had offered a drink and Madrigal had declined. The large man considered briefly making a similar offer to the man. He did not want him to think Madrigal was avoiding him or anything. However talk of the Chuunin exams caused the amber eyed genin to want to progress. To want to increase his own personal power to the point where he could stand toe to toe against any of the individuals in the exams and come out on top with no questions. That meant he had some hard work to do.

He would quickly finish filling his basket before turning to Taichi and speaking. “Time for me to go, I gotta hit up a training ground. I’ve got work to do if I’m going to catch up to my peers and eventually surpass them. Good luck to you Taichi.” He would say before picking up his basket and leaving. At the entrance he would turn in his basket. When he did the woman behind the counter would take out some of the Hemlock and package it carefully before passing it over to him with a small smile. While she packaged the substance he would be stripping the gloves and other protective gear he had needed in order to safely pick the stuff and set them in a bin. He figured they would be thoroughly cleaned, or perhaps they were disposable and they would go directly into the trash. Either way it did not matter to the tall man and he took his package with a polite smile and a nod of thanks before leaving. Afterwards, the amber eye’d man would drop the hemlock by his home before heading to the training grounds. He needed to get things done.

Exit

WC: 704
TWC: 3,101

Claims: 6,100 Ryo from mission and rank putting me at 16,700 (That value is before I take out the 10,000 from my bet for Page in the exams. I wasn't sure if I should have just taken it out or waited.)
1 Hemlock
30 AP (total +60 from missions putting me at 400 before the below stat raise.)
31 stats, putting my total at 215, putting them all into Vigor, putting me at 65 Vigor total (New AP total 710 due to mission AP)
Claiming the last 300 words for Fourth Gate with the initial claims being from the midthread claim found here.
That leaves me with 2,800 words remaining.
Putting 2,750 towards Alder. Discarding the last 50.

Approved

The group seemed to go kind of quiet as they began to pick the hemlock from the greenhouse, both of the individuals that he was picking with were Genin from this village, but only one seemed to be in the Chuunin Exams. He was curious just as to why Madrigal never joined the Chuunin Exams, but before he was able to ask that very question, Madrigal had finished his work and said that he needed to head out. Taichi understood and he figured that he could ask his question another time, maybe the next time he ran into him in the training grounds. 

Taichi turned to Yamaguchi and he also bid him good luck in the exams, still curious how the fighting portion of the exams were going to go, it might even be enough for him to actually go and watch the exams, instead of wasting his time in the taverns. He picked a few more handfuls of the hemlock and he placed it into his pouch, after wrapping it in cloth so it would be safe to handle once he got back to the inn and could figure it out later as to what it was that he wanted to do with the hemlock.

After he was done grabbing the last of the hemlock that he was going to use for himself and he stood up from his kneeling position and he bid farewell to the others in the group. He was glad to have completed a missions with a group of others, it was always nice to socialize, even if it was for just a few moments before they were all done with their picking and he was about to be done doing the same. He walked back towards the front of the greenhouse and asked the ladies if there was any help they needed before he left. 

The ladies all said that there wasn't and he was free to leave with the hemlock that he had picked. He thanked the ladies for their time and he walked out of the greenhouse, putting back all of the protective equipment into the cabinet outside of the greenhouse. After putting the equipment away, he turned away from the greenhouse and he took in the sight that was the rest of the village. After thinking for a few minutes, he decided that he was going to get himself to the training grounds, his new eyes needed some work so he could actually understand them.

WC:414
TWC: 1695

+6000 Ryo
+1 Hemlock
+1695 towards V7 Wood Dragon (2111/3750)

Approved