Errands and snowball fights [open!]

[puppypile]

Who: Hana and anyone
When: January 12th
Where: Training fields, then various parts of Konoha

Hana was dressed much more warmly than usual, her arms and legs fully covered and flak jacket zipped all the way up. She leapt from treetop to treetop, the Haimaru brothers trailing after her. Most of the training fields showed evidence of already being used that day. When she finally found what she was looking for, Hana laughed gleefully and dove for the ground, rolling and hopping back to her feet in the training field full of previously untouched snow. Mikai and Haru landed to either side of her, but Baishi, coming down last, tackled Hana to the ground again, licking her with a wet tongue.

She flung him off, laughing again, and quickly gathered a couple of snowballs before returning to standing. This snow was much too nice to waste on spars with weapons. Her dogs' thick fur kept them warm. They panted happily as all three of them began circling her.

Hana wouldn't say no to company, on her side or as an opponent.

--

After a stop at home to get dry clothes, it was Hana's turn to spend her afternoon off errand-running, since Tsume's usual victim was otherwise occupied. A visit to the Hokage's office, a trip to the Academy to drop off lunch for Kiba, and assorted other small tasks took her all over Konoha.

Hana was too friendly to be the ideal errand runner. She'd gladly stop to visit with anyone she ran into along the way.

Comments

[puppypile]

Hana shifted very slightly, ruefully aware that she was telegraphing her discomfort to any shinobi, especially one as skilled as the hokage. A ninja was trained to be observant, and awkward shifting was a dead giveaway. She smiled slightly as she answered Obito. "Well enough, thanks, Obito-sama. And you?"

She offered his given name in exchange for the courtesy of using hers rather than Inuzuka-ing her to death. No one should be Inuzuka-san except Tsume at this point, as far as Hana was concerned. There were too many of them to bother with constant use of clan names.

Pleasantries let her put off asking for advice a minute longer. She'd take the reprieve, however much she usually disliked small-talk. As long as they didn't spend forever talking about the weather, she'd be good.

[thebestuchiha]

"Not looking forward to a trip to Kiri later this month." He leaned both elbows on his desk, shifting his weight forward to examine her. "But well enough. What brings you to me?"

[puppypile]

A warm weight against the side of her leg had Hana smiling down gratefully at Haru before she returned her gaze to Obito and answered, "I know I've been taking fewer missions lately and devoting more time to the veterinary clinic. I'd like to shift my hours back to a heavier mission load."

A pause, and then, "I'm old enough that I'm concerned about village opinion of my clan if I don't make at least special jounin soon, if not full jounin. I'd also really appreciate advice on where I should focus my training to work toward that."

[thebestuchiha]

He looked at her thoughtfully for a moment after she said that, straightening up some in his chair. In many ways, this was a relief to him. "Tactical combat is something you're exceedingly good at, and your clan jutsu I understand you to be rather skilled at. If you have any elemental affinities, seeing if those are usable to be integrated into your talents would not be amiss, and making sure that you can lead those not attached to your clan and keep control of them is another point that you should make sure you have well in hand."

He paused, seeming to taste his words before saying them, making sure they were what he wished them to be. "Being a Jounin is about being the pinnacle of what your skills are. Start with your weaknesses and then continue past them." He realized he'd gotten... flowery and looked slightly chagrined about it. Too late now.

[puppypile]

"Had to be good at clan jutsu. That and the veterinary skill were really all I needed for my own clan. They couldn't care less about rank. You should've seen the look on Kiba's face when I mentioned other clans wouldn't look kindly on a chunin heir." It had been both entertaining and gratifying, seeing her brother's outrage on her behalf. "I'll look into combining elemental attacks with clan jutsu."

Hana grinned, still a little more slowly and hesitantly than her typical easy smile, at the mention of leading others. "I tend to be better with kids than adults who aren't Inuzuka. They're usually less subtle." She made a face. Hana knew her weak points when it came to interpersonal relations. She was straightforward to a fault sometimes, whether as a leader, friend, or enemy. It worked perfectly for her clan. Not so much for people who had grown up differently, as was evident in the occasional friction within the veterinary clinic. That friction often got worse when her clan members visited, predictably enough. "I'd really like a team of genin if I do eventually make jounin."

"Start with my weaknesses as in cataloging them so I'm aware, or as in improving each of them as much as possible before leaving them be?" she asked, looking for clarification on Obito's last point.

[thebestuchiha]

"Both, actually. Take a full assessment of what they are, what you can improve, what you can't, and then take steps toward closing the gaps. No one is expected to be good at everything, but the difference between a Jounin and a Tokebetsu Jounin is very strongly in the specialization If you're not flexible, then you simply can't be a Jounin, usually. I trust you'll be able to figure out more from this? If not, you need only ask."

He spread his hands, then rested them on the desk.

[puppypile]

Hana nodded. She'd figured as much, her already existing tracking and veterinary specializations making her fairly confident of making Tokubetsu Jounin quickly even if Jounin proved more of a struggle. "I can do that." Hana could be flexible. Maybe. That's what she was here for in the first place; she knew she'd been throwing herself too heavily into her specializations for much career advancement unless she broadened her training.

On the note of some of his previous advice, she mused with a small grimace, "My primary affinity is earth, which is the hardest to integrate with Inuzuka techniques. I could maybe get..." she thought for a moment, "a sensing jutsu and increased accuracy out of it. Wind or fire would work well, though. I'll try to develop a second affinity that fits better, see which element comes more easily."

[thebestuchiha]

"I'd be happy to loan you any of my students depending which it is. Between the lot we have everyone, and among the three of them everything but earth, so let me know and I'll push them at you. Hope for fire though, Sasuke's the most used to teaching of the lot."

He shook his head, clearly satisfied with his solutions though.

[puppypile]

If the delighted grin that broke out across her face at the idea of a quadruple fire cyclone was any indication, Hana was clearly pleased with the notion. She liked potential for large-scale destruction. Hana had always been a brute force fighter. "Fire would be great. Only drawback is the smell." She wrinkled her nose. Charred flesh was the stuff nightmares were made of, if you had to smell it at thousands of times a human's normal capacity for scent.

She shrugged. "But then, I'm not tracking once I've engaged an enemy, so I'm not usually enhancing my sense of smell with chakra anymore." Turning it off conserved chakra, and her dogs had good enough senses of smell to identify any incoming attackers almost as quickly as she could with extra chakra flowing to her nose.

"I'd appreciate the loan of a student. They were from my brother's Academy class, right?" Nevermind that she was getting help from people considerably younger than her. Hana's pride could take that. She knew she was behind the curve in terms of age group, since she'd focused so heavily on specializations.

[thebestuchiha]

He nodded and knew, just from the look on her face, that she was definitely not a water user. So that meant Sasuke or Naruto it'd be. "They are, same graduation day. Sasuke's a jounin and the other two are chunin. That won't be any issue though right?"

From the look on her face he didn't think so, but he wanted to be totally sure.

[puppypile]

Hana shook her head with a reassuring smile. "Nah. I know I'm a little behind the curve in terms of general fighting style. I've been much more focused on tracking and veterinary medicine the past few years. I'm not so insecure that I'd be bothered by the idea someone younger could teach me anything."

Shrugging, she added, "I knew I was much more likely to make tokubetsu jounin at the rate I was going. I'd like to at least try for full jounin first. Direction, plus recommendation of a teacher or training partner, is useful. It's what I hoped you'd offer." There was no point being less than forthright. Obito had been realistic without dismissing her chances, and she appreciated the help.

[thebestuchiha]

He inclined his head in a small nod. "By all means. Make sure to get back to me so I can direct you at the appropriate student as soon as you know what you're working with."