sunshineverse | [Closed] Walking a thousand miles

Where: A Library in Earth
When: May 9th, Year 68 (AGS 1)
Notes: He wasn't the only one eying those specific scrolls it seemed. So was a girl named Tenten.

He didn't have his hitai-ate on, nor was he wearing anything that would really constitute as proper armor. Instead, he was dressed in a red shirt and a sand colored vest, his staff and a pack slung across his back. He had armor mesh under the shirt, but it wasn't visible, and he ambled instead of moving with the proper grace.

In all, he looked like a civilian curious about the library more than a shinobi coming to check it out. It wasn't as far off from Iwagakure as it could be, but he was pretty sure that it being tucked so far into the mountains meant that the village proper didn't fuss its security as much.

Then again... who wanted to brave those mountains?

He only had because he really wanted to check out this scroll he'd heard about and see what others actually made it out here. The last thing he expected was for some Konoha girl to have beaten him to it.

"Ah... excuse me?"

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"As long as your best is better than the day before, hm?" Chuckling softly, the kunoichi shook her head at the comment, realizing just how influential Team Gai had become in her life. And just how clueless the young man might be of all the sentiment that came with the mantra. "It's all we could ever hope for..."

"My best has always had to be better than the day before. I've come a really long way." He gave the seal a wry look, letting out a breath. "My parents were civilians who didn't like shinobi, so no one else was going to get me anywhere but me."

It was a familiar story, certainly, memory suddenly recalling a similar situation in Lee. Both of his parents were civilians as well, though they mostly remained out of his career and that part of his life mostly due to not quite understanding it, rather than fearing or loathing it. Still, it was something that she could relate and sympathize in.

"I have to say, I'm a little impressed. If you're seeking out this scroll, then you certainly have gone a long way on your own. "

"Completely on my own until I tracked down my teacher at age eleven, give or take some chance encounters." He laughed softly, then glanced around to see if he'd drawn attention to them before looking back to her. "It got easier after that. Not easy, but no way will I be useless, you know?"

"You must've did pretty good on your own to gain the interest of a teacher, though." It was a familiar story she was more than acquainted with. After all, it was nearly the same one that had been written out for Lee, hadn't it? Much like this young man, Lee had to learn and train on his own in those early years when no one believed he would ever succeed as a shinobi. And then, when Gai had taken an active interest, the rest became nothing more than history. "I'd be interested in hearing your methods and training sometime. Maybe it'd help me with mine?"

"I just hounded the nin that came through town enough that they showed me things to make me be quiet, I'm pretty sure. As for my proper sensei..." He looked thoroughly sheepish. "I think he just took me on because I found him."

"That's one way to do it, and not the worse that I've heard." Not that she's heard a lot of methods of finding a teacher. New genin squads were given instructors at the start of their careers. And somewhere along the line, when chakra natures came into play, it was always encouraged to seek out others who could better aid in development. "Whatever the reason, you still managed to better yourself and your skills."

"Well, yeah." He tipped his head toward his staff. "It's not like I'd just stop improving, even if the margin tends to be fairly small."

Better than you were the day before...

It was a concept that she knew intimately. And the idea of this stranger from a distant land would and did follow the same principle to improve himself as well - that he reached as far as he did because of it - was enough to give her smile a little sparkle. "I'm familiar with that idea, yes."

He flashed her a small smile. "That's really good. Too many people seem to think that it's not important."

"Not a lot of people ever have a need to become better than they are. Or, at least, they never think that they do." Reaching out, the kunoichi spread the scroll a bit wider so that it spanned across the table for both of them to read over comfortably. "That's been my experience, in any case."

"Mine too. I'm lucky I had people to show me enough to get even as far as I did." It was a murmur, but pleased, and he turned his attention to the scroll, starting to look it over.

And to that, Tenten could not help but shift her own thoughts towards the formation of Team Gai and all that they represented. At least to her. In the end, despite her initial thoughts or opinions on each one of them, Neji, Lee, and especially Maito Gai had been exactly who she needed at the time. "The universe works in mysterious ways, sometimes, huh?"

That ideal ever at the forefront of her mind, the kunoichi resumed her casual reading of the text, starting off a few lines further down in the manuscript than where he began.

"It does. Without certain people, I might very well be a merchant or shopkeeper right now." He shook his head a little, eyes moving down the page without trouble.

Tenten knew that she would have faced a similar end if fate did not intervened. Truth be told, there was a time, years prior, where she had considered it. Ownership of her father's shop had, naturally, been rolled on to her after his death. And Tenten, wearing and lost with life, weighed her options carefully. It would be easy work. Simple. Safe.

Reading over the scroll and looking to her new companion, the kunoichi was confident in her decision, now, as she had been then. Taking yourself away from the danger did not save you from the aftermath. And at the very least, this way, she could ensure that no one would die needlessly under her vigilance.

Strange, how a moment of happenstance and coincidence would garner such a deeply rooted conversation with a complete stranger. And reawaken similar thoughts that had inspired Tenten to begin her career as a kunoichi of the Leaf.

Perhaps, she thought, fate was still weaving its mysteries. And as they resumed to share the knowledge in the scroll in perfect silence, Tenten could not help but feel curiously excited to see what it would unfold.

[Closed] Walking a thousand miles

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