The Making of the Map

Musu, the Uzumaki Sand jounin of Sunagakure, was up really late. Usually when Musu worked at the gates he was normally part of the morning shift and ran the gates from before the rose and worked until the Sun reached its Zenith. This time, now that Musu was back in the village, he was more in the bottom of the totem pole, and he would have to work his way back into his original post.

Waking up early, Musu wouldn't know what to do with himself, he would be ready to start his normal shift, or rather his body was. Waking up this early still has it's advantages though and Musu would prepare himself for the day. Starting by making his bed, making some breakfast, and taking a quite shower Musu knew that he had several hours before he started his shift.

Now about ready to head out, Musu would take his gourd, put his Jounin flak jacket under his grey robes, and head out of his apartment. Since it was still so early and the sun was just about to rise there weren't a lot of people out and about. Musu would quickly make his way towards the center of the village, towards the grove, to spend some time reflecting and out in the nature that the grove provides.

Arriving at the grove, Musu would take one of the multiple tables that gave the Grove part of it's charm, the Uzumaki jounin would begin to take out a large piece of parchment out of his pack and some other drawing supplies.

(261)

Eliza was walking around The Grove. It was almost amazing that a place as desolate and detatched as Sunagakure was able to host such a vibrant area in its very center.

She could not help but wonder if it was perhaps nostalgia or jealousy that led to the creation of this space. It would make sense, after all. There is a beauty to forests. There is a beauty to deserts, as well, but it is a different beauty. A desert commands respect. Her and her brother may have had a way to disrespect it some, swapping off who was walking and who was holed away and sleeping, but they could not completely ignore it. Even in their decidedly "not prepared for the desert" clothing, they could manage by teaming up. Now that they were inside the village, though, with easy access to shade and water?

It was a small hell, if Eliza had to stay in the sun, but in the Grove, it was nice. And she got to stand out, which was fine by her.

Black hair, two black chokers barely fitting on her neck, a short sleeve shirt with what she could only describe as paint flicked at it from twenty feet from the end of numerous brushes of numerous colors, and her jeans. Tight, black denim, but with marks throughout.

This was not the attire of a ninja, though she most certainly was one. Leather boots and leather wristbands completed her apparel, leaving her with a certain aesthetic as she approached the table where an individual was unfurling something large and interesting.

Eliza approached from the far side, what would be easily in sight of the ninja who she did not yet know was one.

In stark contrast, Elijah sat in the grass, back against a tree, breathing in the air. His clothing was simpler, today. He was not as much a glutton for flair as Eliza was, at least not on the daily. Occasionally? Oh on occasion he could seem downright religious about his looks. Today, however, he wore a thin and simple zip up hoodie, currently unzipped, and a white t-shirt beneath it. The hoodie was a medium dark blue, and he wore simple blue jeans on his legs. He had no strong desire to look particular today, not yet at least.

Though if they did go to that party they had heard about... Eliza expected that Elijah would be much more willing to dress up for that.

Regardless, Eliza would walk up to the one preparing to make a map.

"Hello there," she would say, getting a closer look at the unfurled thing. "Is that a map?" Then, after a moment, she would continue: "Wait! I know you!"

The slight breeze coming from the southwest would prove a slight challenge for Musu, after all, maps can be difficult to do correctly, and the jounin of the sand still wanted to make sure it was his best work. After a little while the Jounin would look up into the entirety of the grove and then again onto his work: A gift for the new Kazekage.

Still, upon looking up from the paper and onto the horizion of the grove a familiar figure all dressed in black would make their way towards Musu. Musu recognized them, how could he forget such a unique technique, as well as all the black being worn. Musu would sort of cover his work, haphazardly, as the unit approached. Musu was a bit shy when it came his art, drawings, and sometimes even his sealing work, as he wanted it to be perfect before presenting it to the world. Still, with a little persistence any onlooker could see through the windows his body didn't cover and onto the parchment.

"Hello... you two?" Musu would question. He had no idea how this technique worked and wanted to make sure he didn't do or say anything to insult the young ninjas.

As the two got closer, they would see that the table Musu had acquiesced would be covered in various brushes and paints, a feint glow of blue chakra, seal writing, would, come from Musu's finger tips, even when he wasn't exactly putting seal to paper.


"Observant eyes, yes, this is a map that I have been working on for some time. How has Sunagakure treated you?" Musu would say following up on his previous statement.

[283 / 544]

As Eliza had approached the figure, he had scrambled to cover up the work.

...But it was bigger than him, or at least bigger than his torso, so...

Missing failed successfully?

He recognized her before Eliza recognized him, though, greeting her as "you two?". Honestly one of the better attempts she had heard from people.

"'You two' would work, but Elijah is parked under a tree awhile that a way," Eliza would say using her thumb to point behind her. Elijah was leaning against a tree somewhere, taking in the fresh air.

"And... before I answer that... Are you gonna keep leaning on your drawing to try to hide it? I get if there's, like, some super ultra special secret sect-"

Eliza's eyes lit up for a second, as a thought came to her mind. All she was seeing was the stuff around what the man had hidden. "Oh my gods you're drawing smut in public aren't you?"

She was pretty sure that was wrong. But it was a really fun idea. And she was fairly good at lying. Well, at least the mundane parts of lying. And she would look genuinely please with the question, as the very idea was hilarious to her, regardless of whether he was actually doing such or not.

Perhaps "pleased" was not the look a "proper lady" should have when asking if someone was drawing something like that in public, but come on now. Who legitimately thought she was a proper lady?

She would need to teach them a lesson.

---

WC 256

Musu would look towards the direction that Eliza pointed to their counterpart, from this distance the Uzumaki jounin couldn't quite make out who they were, but the ninja would assume that that indeed was Elijah. The sealing sand ninja would sit upright and raise his hand towards the direction of Elijah and wave.

Musu would chuckle a bit as Eliza asked if he was making smut. Musu had thought about making smut every so often, after all, he was a writer and could draw pretty well, but he never thought himself creative enough, intimately speaking, to make anything good.

"Not today, sadly. I have seen some pretty good stuff though. Are you even old enough to know what Smut is?" Musu would respond. Giving Eliza a smile. Waiting to hear what their response was, Musu would reveal the parchment and the half completed work that he was making.

"It's actually a map, I wanted to make something for the new Kazekage, as I know he doesn't have one yet. It's not the first map I've made but I'm putting a lot of care into this one." Musu would say as his fingers would twinge with a hint of blue chakra, Eliza would watch as the brush would quickly pass through the parchment, color being dipped and dropped onto the paper with precision and skill. As the conversation continued, the Uzumaki jounin would continue to draw, paint, and color the parchment into the various homes, shops, and buildings that made up Sunagakure, as he was hoping to get a lot of work done before his shift.

[254 / 798]

Elijah had his arms clasped behind his head, leaning upon the tree. One leg was crossed over the other, enjoying the very pleasant area inside this village in the middle of PURE DEATH. He watched as a butterfly flitted about, slowly following it on its wayward journey that led to... his raised knee! It really was a beautiful thing. Not a monarch, but similar in coloring?

Not a fake monarch, either. The pattern was completely different. Just similar colors.

It sat on his knee for a few seconds before he removed one arm from its imaginary holster behind his head, slowly reached down to his knee, and swooshed his hand through the air next to the butterfly until it flew off.

...What? He might be an asshole, but he's not a psycho.

---

Eliza, on the other hand, was continuing to talk with Musu. He seemed to have gone right along with the smut joke.

And he even had a clap back! Well done!

Eliza would put on her best old person impression, bending forward as if with a hunched back and pantomiming having a cane as she walked. "Oh thank ya, sonye. This old gal's not heard a compliment like that in years."

Then Eliza would cough, straighten up, and be like "Ok no but really, really? There's no WAY I look that young. Hell I'm pretty sure somebody's drawn smut of ME!"

If there was any side eye or other questioning/weird looks or gestures from Musu about that, she would clarify. "Look, I was really ...drunk..., so I'm just not sure."

Eliza was not quite as good at the whole "lying" thing as Elijah. At least, not in the moment.

"Can't deny though, it's a good looking map. Made with some jutsu I guess? Or well, assisted?"

---

WC 299

"I don't dare make assumptions about age any more. I've seen young men look old and old men look young. Now I've seen two grown adults somehow share a body, what's next? A ninja with 9 eyes? Who knows" Musu would conclude.

The sunny day would continue send rays of light through the grove it reached midday. Musu, now thoroughly entranced in the conversation he was having with Eliza, would put down his  brush, clasp his inks, and let the light breeze begin to dry the work that Musu completed for now. There was still so much work that needed to be done, that's for sure, but progress had been made. The Uzumaki had already been able to clearly detail the ridges and mountains that surrounded the village, the cleft and all its massiveness had been carved out, but the village itself was still just sketches. Still, the Uzumaki could envision in his mind what the result would look like, and now more than ever he was excited to see it completed.

"That's right..." Musu would say, holding up his fingers still slightly blue. His long red hair pulled back into a ponytail, the sight glittering of sweat on his forehead, but all the while a tender smile with a friendly expression.

"As a member of the sealing corps, I used to make scrolls and seals all the time, now I use this ability to make sure the ink goes where it's supposed to, and stays there." The Sealing Sand Jounin would conclude.

[253/1061]

"Funny you mention that..." Eliza would say. A mischievous bulb had lit up in her mind. "I once met a guy who could see with his fingers. Like, each finger tip was basically an eye. Fucking weird guy, but he'd lost his actual eyes at some point."

Eliza turned around and placed her hands behind her, before leaning herself against the table. If she were much taller, she might have ended up sitting on the table. However, she was careful enough to not be sitting on the map. Why lose the good graces of someone so quickly after meeting them?

"'Cept he lost a pinky finger, too. So I guess you could say he had nine eyes."

Eliza had never met anyone like that. But it was exactly the sort of shenanigans she expected to be totally possible if anyone was insane enough to try.

After Musu talked a bit more, about being part of the sealing corps, Eliza's interest would perk up a bit more. She tilted her neck backwards so that she could look towards Musu. Well, mostly towards him. She was still constrained by physics and such, so she was looking a bit upwards.

And also Musu was upside down. "No shit? That sounds fun. Any cool stories you can share?"

Eliza would move her head so she was looking back forwards and push off from the table, enough to stand up and take a few steps before grabbing a chair. She swung it around to the table that Musu was at and sat down, her chest towards the back of the chair, which was itself backwards, so that she faced Musu. "Oh just by the by, I don't think I've gotten your name yet."

---

WC 288

"I don't believe you, I think?" Musu would say, raising an eyebrow towards the comments that Eliza made about eye Finger Man. The jounin wasn't the best when it came to sarcasm, either. He never really got the hang of it, never really having a sarcasm sparring partner as it were growing up with his straightforward parents, so he always took peoples outlandish comments with a large grain of sand. Regardless, Musu would infer from this conversation that Eliza was fearless in conversation, which meant that they could potentially talk about almost anything, and Musu did enjoy fun conversation.

"That sounds awfully inconvenient though. I would hate having eyes for fingers or even fingers for eyes. Very uncomfortable. Though I wouldn't know, my body isn't anything special" He would conclude.

The uzumaki jounin would begin to stand up and stretch right next to his map and the bench, should he not be stopped, touching his toes and overall stretching his body after sitting for a long period of time.

"When you're old like me, you need to stretch often, otherwise you get sore all the time." At this time, the Man would give a bow towards Eliza.


"My name is Musu, gatekeeper of Sunagakure, pleased to meet you both." The jounin would say. After bowing the young ninja would again return to his seating position, pick up his brush, and continue working on his map.

"What type of story do you want to hear?" Musu would finish, continuing his work.

[250/1311]

When Musu stated his disbelief, Eliza would lean a bit backwards, her feet still in place, and still seated on the chair. With a click or two of her tongue, she brought her hands forwards, though not together. Thumb and pointed would be extended parallel to her palm, while the other fingers would be turned inwards. On the second tongue click, she moved her hands, which had been pointing at Musu, to be pointing somewhat upwards.

After Musu had made his comment about being old and stretching, and even introducing himself, Eliza felt almost embarrassed! There was the possible slight of "my body isn't anything special" that she had chosen to ignore, but then he did such a grandiose introduction!

"Well," she said, returning her arms to crossing each other on the back of her chair that was actually in the front, "It is quite good to meet you, Sir Musu, Fifth of his Line." Her voice was elegant, but the look on her face most obviously was not. Poking fun, rather than malice or disgust or anything of the such. If Musu was bad at understanding sarcasm, then she would make it slightly less awful for him.

Well, for now.

Eventually, though... He might never see it coming, but she'd drop a BOMB the size of the moon made entirely of WORDS.

Maybe not today, or tomorrow.

But he'd signed himself up for this.

She just needed to figure out when to strike.

When asked about stories, however, she would be legitimate, as her interest was legitimate. "Well, I Dee Kay, any fun stories? Or times you and the sealing squad tackled some mega monster? Person or creature. Or somewhere in between. I'm not picky."

---

WC 286