Briefly resting.

[abileunaspada]

Where: Konohagakure, at the banks of Naka River in Training Ground D.

When: May 14th

Who: Adela Milani (abileunaspada) & OPEN

Notes: Training just isn't happening, so instead Adela's just dipping her feet in the river and getting lost in thought over life in general. There's been so much happening, and although she's been keeping a low profile, how much longer can that last?

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The river water was still cold, even with spring shifting more and more into summer-like temperatures. The sweaty kunoichi just sighed as she looked to the sky, using her towel to wipe off her forehead and setting her shoes beside her before she let her feet rest in the river. That'd help her cool off, but she didn't feel right. It was weird, that training wasn't really clearing her head, but...

There were too many rumors floating about between shinobi for her to ignore anymore. Sasuke was in hospital for a while or outright not around, and she didn't know why (though she was partially sure it was mission related, there was likely a lot more to it than that). There had been kidnapping attempts in the village -- thankfully, those were thwarted but it still happened. Again. And the whispers of increasing defenses for Konoha, and political unrest in other regions... Maybe there really was war on the way.

Adela just sighed, her eyes on the sky. A war. She was probably lucky to have a moment to breathe like this, even if she was in Konoha. Her thoughts were interrupted when she picked up on someone approaching - even if she couldn't tell how she knew at the moment. That was when she sat up, looking around and calling out (though at that point not bothering to get to her feet just yet), "Someone there?"

Comments

[sensethis]

It's been forever since Karin was last in Konoha. If she had to guess almost a whole year. In which case, good lord where did the time go? Not like she'd been excessively busy in those eleven months so as to keep her from traveling to visit friends and family. She'd gone to Ame in April, so obviously there was room for her travel in between her missions assignments.

After checking in with her aunt and uncle (she'd see Naruto later most likely if he was truly in village too) Karin took to reacquainting herself with the village. A lot could change in a year after all. Not that Konoha ever seemed to change all that much after long periods of absence. It was oddly static and she found that reassuring right now as she sought out her favorite food stand. Ordering a small order of her favorite snack she paid and took it with her as she turned to walk along the river.

She was still having the occasional nightmare from when she had ended up in Juugo's body and she intended to drown out the memory of the nightmare with the soothing sound of the gurgling river. At least until she spotted a familiar head of red hair. "Hey Adela-chan, what are you doing out here?"

[abileunaspada]

"Karin-San... I'm resting a little bit. Training a little, you know?" She offered a weak smile, relaxing a bit at the familiar presence. A welcome face was always good, and hopefully Karin hadn't been dealing with as much crap as they had in Konoha.

"If I had heard you were in town I'd have looked for you sooner, but it's good to see you regardless."

[sensethis]

If her behavior is anything to judge by Karin has had very good time by comparison. She was still getting just about only D-ranks, but it kept her busy. And it was better than being idle for any length of time. "That's good," she smiles.

"It was sort of unplanned. It has been a while since I saw my aunt or Konoha. I'm glad I found you though. I was planning to stop by the forge before heading back to Uzushio."

[abileunaspada]

"Is that right? Well, I'm glad you're here -- glad to see you, Karin-san," She smiled, nodding to the taller red head as she relaxed by the river. Maybe she could get her mind off of current events for just a little bit, because at least talking to a friend would help.

"Surprised to see you wandering out this far though. Just followed one of the rivers or something?"

[sensethis]

"Mhmm." She missed her family. She was so far from them. Sure Uzushio was full of returning Uzumaki, but she wasn't as closely related to many of them as she was Naruto and Kushina. And that tiny little detail meant she missed them intensely now that Kushina had moved back to Konoha. "I'm glad to see you too. What have been up to?"

Settling on the ground she leans back on her hands. She doesn't usually come out this way no, but she had lived in the village for a year a long time ago. She knew her way around most of the village. And it couldn't hurt to take a walk around the village while she was there on a kind of vacation for a little while. "Something like that, I used to live here a long time ago."

[abileunaspada]

"I've been... Thinking, mostly," Adela just sighed, shaking her head as she looked back to the river, "Things have sort of gotten complicated in general, lately. So there's a lot to think about."

[sensethis]

Karin tilts her head and leans forward. "Anyway I can help?"

Gonna stick this sometime after Karin wanders off.

[thebestuchiha]

He'd found himself with quite the handful of things that needed to be resolved. Some were huge, and took much coordination, others... not so much, but definitely still needed to be touched on. One of these topics happened to be related to the silver haired man that one of his people was kin to, and his sudden promotion to a very important person due to the new leadership in Kiri.

It meant that he couldn't leave the dangling rift that was Adela without prodding to resolve whatever the current issues were in her particular corner. She wasn't the only one he'd keep an eye on in that particular situation, but she was important enough to seek out, that was for certain.

It didn't hurt that it gave him an escape from his office for a little while to do it either, though he knew he could have just summoned her.

Instead, he made his way along the riverbank, following information that had led him this way, and finally came to a halt standing beside the girl. "Hello."

[abileunaspada]

"... Hokage-sama," Adela nodded, relaxing upon recognizing Obito and leaning back on her palms. She didn't bother getting up, not with how Obito was holding himself -- there didn't seem to be any emergency where she'd need to be up straight away, and he was too relaxed for there to be any perceived threat nearby.

Even so, the Hokage didn't usually just leave his office to go to training fields without something in mind, and she couldn't help keeping that in mind when she tilted her head at him and asked, "Taking a break?"

[thebestuchiha]

"Sorta kinda." He turned, settling beside her in a swirl of bright cloth and movement. "I was looking for you so I'm not sure if it counts, even if I did get to go outside."

[abileunaspada]

"Looking for me?" It made her more alert, and she sat up at attention while she just looked at him, "You could've sent a missive for me, Hokage-Sama. It's not like I was in the middle of a mission or anything that couldn't be interrupted."

[thebestuchiha]

"Yeah, but then I wouldn't have been able to go outside." He laughed and shook his head, hitching up a knee to lean forward on it, looking out over the water. "The office gets claustrophobic when you never leave it, no matter how big it is."

[abileunaspada]

She nodded with her understanding, letting the comment hang as she made herself more comfortable again. If she became Hokage, she'd probably feel that way sometimes too... And it'd be doubly stressful during a time like this. The thought made her stomach flip.

But, he had wanted something from her didn't he? After a moment she turned to face him more fully, pulling her feet out of the water and letting them rest on the grass for the time being, "So what do you need me for, Hokage-Sama?"

[thinhammer]

Naruto came wandering down the meandering course of the river, his feet splishing and splashing on the surface of the water with each of his footfalls. It was unclear whether he was doing this as some kind of training, or if he simply thought it more entertaining than just walking on the ground, but if it was training he was certainly being very casual about it. He was without his hitai-ate, his jacket tied about his waist and his hands behind his head, and only opened his eyes when he heard Adela call out.

He didn't think anyone would be training at a time like this - it was waaay too hot, the least they could do was wait till the early morning sun had got to its peak and the wind had begun to blow properly - so he was pretty surprised to see her out here. His sage training had put him wonderfully in touch with nature and the various cycles it took, so he himself was waiting till the cool breeze became a soft wind to start any kind of training.

"Hey!" he called out when he saw her looking around. "S'just me. Didn't mean to disturb you. You were zonin' out there, huh?"

[abileunaspada]

"Oh, it's just you Naruto," A sigh and she nodded with regard to him, turning to pull her feet out of the water for the moment. No, she wasn't going to get up on his account, but she could at least face him while talking to him. She'd heard the village buzzing about him being back in the village at long last, but honestly she hadn't seen him around until now.

Kind of surprising, considering the personality of the loud Uzumaki boy in front of him.

Still, it was nice enough to see him, and it reflected in her body language even if she couldn't bring herself to smile at the moment, "Taking a training break, I guess. The water's nice too."

[thinhammer]

"Yeah, water's good on hot days.. Everywhere I've been lately has been kinda cold, so comin' back here is like goin' to Suna." He laughed like he'd told a funny joke, and came closer till he was able to plonk his butt down on the grass beside her. Then, he set about unfastening his sandals to follow her lead and soak his feet. It looked like a nice, refreshing thing to do.

"What's the deal anyway, huh?" He nudged her with an elbow once he'd got one sandal off. "You're all quiet and stuff. Somethin' got you down?"

[abileunaspada]

"Sorta... It's just been really busy here lately," She frowned at the river then, leaning back on her palms as she looked to the sky, "I'm sure you've heard about some of it, including the attempt on Rin-san and Hyuuga-san. I was on the rescue team for that, but that's just the most recent thing."

A beat, and she sighed before shaking her head - Naruto was never into the doom and gloom stuff, but it was stuff that was too serious to be ignored, "Apparently there are civil break-outs, now. I've heard that there have been huge political upheavals in both Wind and Water, and we're gonna have to re-open peace talks with them to see if there are any changes. One wrong move, and it could turn into war. Kinda hard not to think about it, you know?"

[thinhammer]

"Yeah.." Naruto paused in unfastening the ankle of his sandal, and looked from Adela's face to the water. "It's all kinda heavy. When I was comin' home, the borders got really iffy about lettin' me through. It's a struggle to go anywhere right now, and there's way more ambushes on the roads and stuff.." It had been looming over the heads of many villages for a short while now, but it was only fairly recently that anything had come to a head. The attack on the women in his village, the attack on his other friends dotted about the world... Whatever had happened with Sasuke... It was a lot to deal with.

"Even Sasuke got caught up in it, an' he's usually the one who's sent out to deal with it, heh.." He finally got his shoe off and sunk his feet into the cool water. "It's not lookin' good, huh.."

[abileunaspada]

"No... It's not."

She frowned again, wiggling her toes around in the grass as she just watched the current of the river. After a beat she shifted to sit a little closer to Naruto, wanting to feel him being a bit closer to her there, "I heard he was in hospital over it, but if it's mission related it's not like we can just go up and ask."

A beat, and she added, "There hasn't been this much ruckus about security and politics in village since... September. And this is still worse."

[awokentospring]

It was a time for change. Lee had returned from his vacation and found that Konoha was on edge and tense with the news of all that had happened. To think, Kages had been killed and some attacked but managed to stay alive. That fight he had been in while visiting Ame had been part of a similar attack.

Was it all tied to what he had seen back in Demons? Likely. And all the more reason to refocus his course in life.

He was going to take the Hokage's advice, but so far he had not had the chance to speak with him about it since his vacation. And no wonder, considering the crazy changes to the political climate over the last half month.

Lee's thoughts were full as he walked along the perimeter of the training field. He caught sight of another shinobi resting nearby and decided a little friendly chat could help buoy his spirits. Putting on a smile, Lee approached the woman.

"Hello there. I hope you are well." Lee sat down on the bank, keeping some space between them in case she did not want him too close. "Taking a break from your training?"

[abileunaspada]

She blinked at him, unsure of what to think. The green jumpsuit was unmistakable for anyone else reputed to be a shinobi, so this had to be none other than the infamous Rock Lee. Still, at least he was friendly, and that had her relaxing a little bit more as she tried to dry off after her little 'splash fight' with Naruto.

"Yeah, I am... I've got too much on my mind to focus on it, sadly," A beat and she glanced back to the river, frowning just a little bit even as she watched little droplets of water falling from her bangs, "It's weird, usually it helps me take my mind off things. Anyway, if you need the training field I'll go - I need to dry off anyway."

[awokentospring]

Lee waved a hand, trying to discourage her from hurrying on her way. "Ah, no need to leave. I was only looking to clear my head as well."

He sighed, settling in enough to rest on his back, hands behind his head as he gazed up at the cloudy sky. At least there wasn't a barrage of snow and ice falling as it had been even just a month ago. That had been unpleasant.

"... Everything has changed so much the past few weeks. I am still a little dizzy from the whirlwind."

[abileunaspada]

"... Yeah. It's been really unsettling to hear about potential war on the horizen."

She still felt distant, her eyes on the river rather than the sky. It was nice to have someone to talk to about this stuff - someone who would completely understand it from the point of view of someone who had never experienced this kind of tension before. Maybe that was why she was comfortable talking about it, knowing for certain that Lee was at the very least a trusted ally.

"It's strange... I've trained to be a ninja since I was five, but here in Konoha... It almost seemed like war would never happen again, you know? Like we'd never be effected by it at all."

[awokentospring]

Lee allows her to talk and just listens. That's really what she needs right now, he thinks. Someone who can hear her words and accept them without prejudice or scorn. They were ninja, so the were expected to handle dangerous situations and the like, but war was something else entirely.

"It is strange," Lee agrees when she comes to a pause. "Private jobs are what we have lived for so far. The last war is not enough a thought in our minds. And while I have learned recently that the signs of unrest were showing, I did not expect it to escalate so quickly."

He turns his head, looking at her profile above a layer of grass. "We were too complacent. Or oblivious. But maybe we should have been more ready."

[abileunaspada]

"Maybe we should... But is it so bad to hope that things would be peaceful forever?" Still, she knew what Lee was trying to say. Hearing him talk it over just made it more clear, and she knew that there would be no avoiding it forever. They had to be ready for war, and that was what they had signed up for when they all became ninja. They were the protectors, the soldiers, the aggressors and the peace-keepers. They had to do it all, and for what?

For the village... And for the people of the village.

"It really is surprising that things are escalating so quickly, but you're right about one thing - we do need to be ready. Otherwise, we'll lose lives that could have been saved."