The return of a man and his dog (Entry)

Page and sheffield strutted from where they had parked his boat into the town, anxious about what the future may hold. Page looked down in shame from the events of the chuunin exams, checking in with the gate guard in a somewhat shamed manner. Sheffield nuzzled up to his side in an attempt to cheer him up, but it was clear to all that Page was wearing his mixed negative emotions on his sleeve.

WC: 74

Honey Bunches smells the scent of a dog, and wasted no time sprinting to the source of the smell. It has been far too long since he has seen a wolf or beast of that sort, and he welcomed it with a great eagerness.

He would explain nothing as he ran to the guardhouse, sprinting at his maximum speed before leaping at the dog in an attempt to play with it. He would not injure it or be hostile, only act as if he were a dog himself.

As the large man would lock eyes with the dog, the targeted pup would bat its eyes like a deer in the head lights, Activating his puppy dog eyes, the approaching man would be considerably slowed and weakened, now traveling at a speed of 90 and a strength of 20. As Honey Bunches would barrel towards Sheffield, his intent clear, Page would quickly weave the hand signs Rat-Tiger-Horse-Ox-Ram on his right arm behind his back, making sure the man charging to his left couldn't see it. An invisible gas would spread out from him in five meters in each direction, catching the dog man as he passed, filling his nostrils with a scent so foul he would feel his muscles lock up, paralyzing him from the neck down with the disgusting scent.

Dropping his calm facade, Page would immediately spring to action remembering what his old master Raleth had taught him. Quickly closing the 5 meter distance between the two, Page would drop grip the paralyzed lycan's arm at the wrist, and drop his elbow on their shoulder to bring him to the ground, pinching it between his legs as Page transitioned from a fujiwara armbar to a double arm crossface, wrenching on the arms and neck while using his overwhelming strength to keep him pinned down. Sheffield would come over and lick the face of the stranger as he laid in the dirt. Turning him over with a half nelson, keeping the man pinned, Page would inspect the man and, seeing the sand headband around his belt, take a second to step back.

"Oh shit sorry dude," Page would start, lifting himself off the man, "Been a while since I've seen an allied face, yours is new to me, didn't mean to start anything just saw you running and my instincts turned up, few people get between me and shef here." Standing up and lifting himself off the man, allowing his technique's hold to drop, sticking out his hand to shake the fellow sand shinobi's hand. "Name's Page, and this here is Sheffield, pleasure to meet you, just coming back to handle some business, you wouldn't happen to be working gate duty today would you?" the large sand shinobi would state, trying to be welcoming after the less than optimal introduction.

Sheffield AP: 50-40=10 AP
Page AP: 795-30=765 AP
WC: 382, TWC:456

Honey smiles at the beautiful dog, the sweetness erasing any sadness that he felt. The random ninja started doing hand seals he didn't understand, and Honey quickly felt like he had picked the wrong company. Honey throws a simple sweep kick at his opponent's legs to at least knock him off balance, holding his hand over his nose as soon as he smells the disgusting scent. Damn, that dog smelled like shit. He feels the effects overtake him, freezing Honey that way for a moment. As the ninja throws him to the ground, Honey feels a strong sense of deja-vu as he hits the dirt, still trying his hardest to block any more of the smell.

It seemed it would not last for long. This ninja seemingly didn't realize that a ninja coming from Suna would be a fellow shinobi, but the absurd reactoin made sense. There were more people out to do harm than there were out to do good. In nothing but his tan trench coat with his weapons and headband mostly hidden, it was a normal reaction to be frightened by the tall individual, and so he took this reaction in stride.

Pulling his hand off his nose as he got off, the licks from the dog gave him enough emotional energy to not really take offense. After all, the assault was over, there was no need for Honey to cause a scene.

"No. I was following the scent of a dog. I like to patrol the village and look out for any wild animals I can meet. It's not every day you can find things like pups around here." Honey gestures to the oasis of a village behind the gates of the dome and guard tower. "It looks like it should be full of more animals, no? But wild animals are threatening to citizens, going against the purpose of walls in the first place."

He looks Page over, thinking. "Page you say? I don't believe we've met before. I'm Honey Bunches. I can't let you in officially, but I'd be glad to be able to play with, Sheffield here. It's been a long time since I've had canine company, and it's been feeling like something has been missing." Honey sighs, looking at the great village. "At least Suna is bumping..."

Glad to see he didn't cause too much of a problem, Page opened up, "Well that being the case I have to go check in and make sure everything is A-OK then go try and get a meeting with lady Miz-leth, I mean Mizuki. Nice to meet you sweet stuff, but I got some rather serious business to attend to, mind if I leave you with Sheff to play while I get signed in? Sure he'd appreciate the company while I handle the paper work, have been on a long voyage and expect I'll have quite a few forms to fill out." Upon approval, he would walk over to the gate guard and start filing his entrance. 

Sheffield would stay back with the lycan, playing with him as a dog would play with one of its own. Eventually, Page would get all the things in order, call for Sheffield and attempt to enter the village.

WC: 155, TWC: 611

Spending a small portion of an hour playing with this dog, he appreciated the chance he could get to meet a new ninja. Well, new to him. If he was familiar with the Kazekage, then he was fine by Honey Bunches standards.  He couldn't quite figure out what that horrible reeking odor was, but he finally felt less stiff and more in control of his body.

Honey rolls around for a little bit but soon takes to chasing Sheffield in a circle within the confines of the gates, just behind the entrance. He takes to a bush, trying to catch Shef when he pops in and out of the different areas to hide. This was a good respite, the only thing left to do would be get something to eat to celebrate.

As he starts to leave, says goodbye to the familiar and calls towards Page; "It was nice to meet you. If you ever run into me around this great city, you've got an ally." Honey grins, making his way towards a great tree. "Just don't throw me on the ground!"

Finishing their conversation, Honey would crouch down, activating his lycanthropy form as he started running, a 190-speed black blur vanishing back into the village so that he could continue to patrol for animals.

[EXIT]

And just like that, his short lived break was over. 

Guren had just arrived back in Sunagakure following his long streak of missions outside the village. He was able to get in a short break which consistently primarily of eating and sleeping, yet still felt fatigued. Although he had thought he would at least have a week off of missions, today's assignment read differently. Nevertheless, it would be a relatively easy day as he was assigned to gate duty. There was never much going on in all honestly. Han always kept the gate well monitored, and his presence and reputation alone were enough to keep any aspiring miscreant at bay and compliant. Guren serving as his partner today would be more than enough to deter any nonsense from occuring.

Several hours had passed, and not a single visitor had approached the gates though. Such a drag of a day made it difficult for the weary Guren to be motivated. Instead, it was quite the opposite. It made him long for his bed, pillow, and blanket. A feeling he truthfully was not used to. But then, it all changed. A glimmer of hope. Finally, some activity to pick up the pace of the day. A visitor. Strangely enough, a genin would dart from the gates in an effort to go greet the man. However a small scuffle broke out, which was quickly subdued by a dog petting session. It would seem as if Guren's hiatus from the visit resulted in a slew of abnormalities to the typical protocol of gate shinobi. After the tussle, one of the men would dart back towards the direction of the village in a werewolf form. This was the genin that had booked it out of the gates to greet the visitor's dog. Strange, very strange indeed. But Guren had previously been warned that unique personalities made up some of the new genin of Sunagakaure. 

"Genin..." he sighed to himself internally as he scratched his head.

When the man would further approach in an attempt to enter the village, Guren would halt him by extending his dominant hand's pointer finger straight up into the air. "Hold it...gonna need to see some identification. As silly as that scuffle was, I'll need to make sure that you entering the village won't result in any additional...mishaps. And tell me, what's your business here?"

Guren would take the time to observe the man, his behavior, and his attire. He was older, and a man of a large build. Yet not so intimidating, from his demeanor he seemed calm. Perhaps just a bit edgy when approached so...abruptly, by someone with the intent of coddling his canine. Guren remained cool under the shade of the guard tower he was leaning against. If all was well, this would be straight forward and simple. Yet still, he kept his guard up in the case of any unforeseen circumstances.

"All is well, I tell you," Page would start, taking a brief pause in his speech to crack his back, moving his shoulders back before assuming a straight up posture, "The genin these days are a weird fucking bunch, I should know, I am one, at least for the time being," Page would continue, ending his thought with a hearty laugh. Page would point to his headband, wrapped around his shoulder, before pulling out his identification papers, placing them on the table, pointing towards the headband his accompanying dog, Sheffield, was wearing before the dog would retrieve their own documents from the back pouch of Page, hop its front paws on the table and spew out the documents. At this point in history, Shef's documents had already been laminated several times over to avoid any holes, but a bit of dog slobber still sat on the shiny sheet of paper.

Getting all the official stuff out of the way, Page would relax a bit and take in the guard in front of him. "Don't think I've seen you around the village, you knew like that guy, or someone I missed along the way," Page would look him toe to head, before settling on the eyes, taking in the younger man, still capable of seeing the experience written on his face, "I assume if you are new, you must have come from another set of training somewhere, I know I sure as hell wouldn't want to be locked in a room with ya, assuming that's a combat situation that is." Page's cheeks would blush as he worried his fellow suna shinobi may have taken offense to his remark, "Not to say that I wouldn't enjoy being forced to have a conver-, er, I mean not to say that I wouldn't enjoy having a conversation with you, my volition or not, just saying you look tough is all," Page's eyes would shift as he scratched the back of his head, a nervous tick of his. "Anyway," he would say, restoring eye contact, "I have come because I don't think I'm really built up for this whole ninja life, figure I may as well retire, and I heard something about a stipend I was supposed to be collecting? I was gonna check in on that too. Really I'm just coming in to hang up my headband, so to say, although I may still stay in the village, Mizleth-er Mizuki permitting, I really don't know where I'm going to go, but I feel the ninja life just aint for me, I was happier as a farmer," by this point in his ramblings, the jovial demeanor of Page would seem to fade revealing a much sadder nature, one filled with a feeling of both inferiority and a wish to avoid being a burden on anyone. He took a second to note the somber tone his voice had shifted to, and like the changing from buskin to sock, appeared cheerful once more. "Anyway, I'm Page, this is Shef, here is our documentation and we are here to resign as shinobi of the sand, I think thats all you asked for right?" the stouter man would ask, trying to recollect if that was all that was asked of him.

Guren would offer a light smile at the confirmation of the man's good intentions. He even relished the fact that he too had an understanding of the obscurities of the new generation of genin. Still though it was surprising that the genin was in fact a genin. At face value one would have thought he had been a jounin. Beards and burly bodies were typically uncharacteristic of underclassmen; yet rank know no age. It is then that Guren took to distinguish the Sunagakure headback which the genin bore proudly on his shoulder. And then it made sense to him. The symbol encrusted upon the metal plate, an hourglass, was specific to Old Sunagakure. New Sunagakure was represented by a star. 

Upon presentation of his identity card, Guren took several steps forward and retrieved the documents from the table. Having seen so many identification cards, Guren had memorized exactly where on the form to look for the fields of interest. Name, age, village, rank, and so on so forth. Guren lifted the paper just barely off the table to glance at the card, and then lightly dropped the paper down and slid it back towards the man. Page. Taking a step back, he softly flashed his eyes towards the pup. An Inuzuka and his best friend. Seeing how wholesome the two were brought a friendly  smile to Guren's face. Perhaps the jounin's first impression of the man had led him astray. 

Guren folded his arms and lightly furrowed his brow upon Page revealing his lack of familiarity with him. The confused expression of Guren's face just seemed to grow further and further as Page became to ramble while describing Guren's intimidation. With a chuckle, Guren just said, "Please, I understand. Although I am more friendly than anything. You don't look like a pushover, yourself. However I suppose the reason we are unfamiliar with each other is more related to timing than anything." Now pointing at the headband on his neck, "See the Sunagakure logo here? This is a design of the new regime. Based on your symbol, I suppose you were a shinobi of Sunagakure before the destruction of the village, the origin of New Sunagakure, and Kenshin's time as kazekage. Thus, we wouldn't have had a way to know each other. Nevertheless, I am glad that you escaped that destruction in one piece."

Hearing Page's response alongside his melancholy tone when discussing his desire to leave behind the life of a shinobi brought a bit of sadness to Guren's heart. It would be a tough decision for the man to make, but Guren could understand. Upon Page formerly introducing himself, Guren would then extend his right hand foreward in a closed fist towards Page. "Guren, Jounin of New Sunagakure. Pleasure to meet you. I hope that your discussions with the Kazekage will allow you some clarity and peace of mine. And yes! Everything checks out here. Thanks for complying with our protocol, and welcome again. I'm sure that things may be a bit different from the last time you were here. I hope to see you around." 

Guren would then step aside and usher his right hand in a waving motion towards the entrance of Sunagakure. He truly hoped that Page could reconcile his doubts and perhaps reinvigorate his passions of being a shinobi. In the meanwhile, Guren would stand along and watch the man and his dog enter the village.

"Oh..." Page would say, his mood somewhat turning from the jovial preducation to a dour kind of seriousness, "No I was there when Old Sunagakure fell, but I was not a shinobi of the sand at that time. I didn't join until Mizuki came into power. I'm afraid no one came out of that destruction in one piece." Page would from this point on avoid eye contact, keeping his eyes low to the ground, an overwhelming deep shame washing over him. "Pleasure to meet you too, Guren. Thank you for the well wishes and I hope this isn't my last time around here. I hope the peace you seem to carry stays with you," the former farmer would state, before, keeping his head down, he would continue into the village proper, a terse note to end his ramblings. His regrets limited his ability to refer to even the events that triggered them, as the just seconds before lively Page crushed down into a ball of what he once was.

[EXIT]