sunshineverse | Well, somebody's got to get stuck with the boring parts. [OPEN]

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Well, somebody's got to get stuck with the boring parts. [OPEN]

Who: Hoshigaki Kisame
Where: Various places around Kirigakure
When: First week of February
Notes: Mostly day in the life things, with a little bit of Chuunin exam fallout. Mingling, for Kiri-folks and visitors! Posting character toplevels and threadhopping encouraged, or respond to Kisame's prompts.

The problem with the Chuunin exams being held in Kiri was that there was always so much to do after they were done, and that was when he hadn't spent the whole time proctoring. Luckily, Kisame wasn't alone in cleaning up after the spectacle, but there was still a lot to do, and most of it was the dry, lifeless work that he hated, so Kisame made sure to spend ample time doing more interesting things, so he wouldn't take someone's head off out of frustration.

Pretty close to literally. These next few days were going to be long ones.

Cypher Headquarters and T&I:
The first several orders of business were to debrief all the Cypher members he'd had out all exam, watching the crowds and visitors and gathering information. Most of them had been posing as visitors themselves, to get at things visitors wouldn't say around Kiri-sympathetic ears, but there'd been more than a few out and about as civilians, or as their public faces, so Kisame would get a good look at everything that could be discovered.

He'd already put in his reports about his meeting with the Hokage, and the others he'd ran into or been pushed into escorting for the third portion, and his observations of candidates during the first portions of the exam, and that at least, saved him the tedious job of sorting through everything. Kisame already knew what was strictly necessary to report from his own observations.

Their jutsu made sure nothing was missed, but it also left the task of wading through it all and picking out what was gold and what was dross. He'd pared down about a quarter of the preliminary reports, and already he wanted to take a break.

Well, a break wouldn't hurt, and perhaps some of the more enjoyable company in T&I or Cypher would be taking a break too. If nothing else, comparing notes and findings with another person who hadn't turned themselves into a living recording device for the duration would break up the tedium a bit.

Kisame left his office, teapot in hand, and went out into the greater area that held most of Kiri's most sensitive information and secretive ninja.

Public training grounds:
At least training could combine two tasks into one. Keeping himself in fighting form, and doing a little bit of scouting for Seven Swordsmen potentials. How he always got this task put on him, Kisame didn't know, especially since he wasn't officially the leader anymore, but at least he didn't have to deal with the fallout if one of the members chose a controversial apprentice. That was on the official leader's head.

That aside, it was fun to put his sword skills to the test against all comers, and some of the kids actually made it easy to focus, and sometimes even pushed him a little.

Kisame knocked his current opponent back, and nodded. "Not bad, kid. Train more, and we'll make a decent swordsman out of you yet. Now, who's next?"

Eagerly Kisame looked through the crowd, hoping for someone with a different style, at least.

Mission office:
The mission office was the perfect place to work on improving his patience. At least, that was what Kisame kept reminding himself as he tried not to grind his teeth. There was almost as much paperwork here as down in Cypher, and for some reason, he'd been "recommended" for a shift handing out and filing missions.

Handing the missions out was easy enough, as most ninja didn't have any particular restrictions on the missions they could take, and it was usually as simple as handing out scrolls, but taking reports of completed missions and making sure everything was complete was dull.

But at least there was one benefit to working the desk. Kisame could look at the missions available at his leisure. None that he'd instantly jump on right now, but there were a few that would at least get him away from the village, once he was finished with all the extra work.

At least, if it was dull, there were opportunities to size up the ninja he rarely got to interact with, much less anything more. Kisame waved the next in line waiting for an assignment forward.

"Rank and clearance, please."

Hoshigaki training grounds:
The training grounds outside the clan compound were technically public, but so often used by Hoshigaki, that they might as well have been private. This was where Kisame worked on his more sensitive training, mastering new kata and jutsu.

It didn't mean he wouldn't be interrupted, but fewer people passing through meant fewer accidents if a brand new jutsu slipped outside his control. It didn't happen often, not anymore, but if Kisame injured someone, he wanted to do it intentionally.

Right now he was working on a new Wind Release, and the training logs were taking quite the beating. It wasn't fine-tuned enough yet that he'd use it in a fight, but Kisame liked the feel of forming the air around him into blades. Kisame went through the seals again, and gathered chakra, and this time the training log toppled, cleanly sliced right in half. Better.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Less a lie, more a lifting of obligation." He shook his head once, focusing his full attention on the topic at hand. "Many new jutsu have grand motions. Admittedly I've never attempted a new element but my theatrics in battle isn't all for playing."

Kisame nodded, laughing. "They do! Some have motions that tell our opponents exactly what we're planning seconds before we can execute it. If our opponents are good enough, that is. Sometimes the challenge is a welcome one, but the less my opponent knows about my plans, the better for me, eh?"

Maybe it was because he'd been in Cypher so long, surrounded by secrets and surprises, but he had less patience for the grand motions and long strings of seals than he used to. Condensing them could only be to his benefit, and in doing so, he could use the grand motions when he wanted to misdirect, which wasn't very truthful, but if a ninja hadn't learned to look at all the layers, the deserved a defeat.

"Mmm. I tend to make sure that no matter what my jutsu happens to do, the gestures are similar enough that it's impossible to tell what it would do unless someone is very intimately aware of my abilities. Rarely do I actually use strings of seals, so that leaves it more difficult to read." He shook his head once.

Using his bloodline had some dramatic upsides so far as he was concerned.

Kisame dipped his head in open acknowledgement and admiration. “My hand seal work isn’t quite that advanced! Something to work towards, I see. But it does make you so much more deadly on the field and interesting in a spar.”

Of course, he wasn’t entirely sure he could streamline things quite that far—the Milani bloodline did have some extreme benefits—but it was worth experimenting and finding out! And if he did manage, he could pass on what he’d learned to others.

“Care to train with me? I should get some practice in against moving opponents.” Kisame grinned, looking forward to the challenge. If he could get in even a scratch against someone so fast and skilled at dodging as Sephiroth it would be all but battle ready. And if he couldn’t he would learn what needed most improving.

"Of course." He flashed him a wicked smile then. "If it's simply training it will be interesting to see if you can tag me. Presuming that's what you hoped to work on of it?"

"That's the goal. If I can catch you, I don't think there will be many ninja in the world who would be able to dodge it."

Kisame grinned, and waved a hand. "Shall we?"

He lifted his chin, then gave a single sharp nod. "It sounds enjoyable. Here?"

"Unless you have somewhere better suited in mind?"

Kisame was open to suggestions, but otherwise, didn't particularly care one way or another.

He looked around thoughtfully. "Here will do. I often prefer the stilt field. It demands more precision."

"Now that could be interesting as a future exercise, but for now, we're both here!"

Kisame doesn't announce that they're starting. He just flashing fingers through the seals and sends one of the air blades at Sephiroth. He expects to miss, but he's curious to see by how much.

The first movement of Kisame's hands had him turning, and he didn't even bother to replace himself, instead pivoting away and moving by the time where he'd been was touched. "True."

Kisame grins, moving himself, and aiming on the fly. This way is something he's had a little less practice with, so his aim isn't as perfect as it could be, but a lesser ninja would probably still be bleeding.

Sephiroth, of course, he doesn't expect to be hit, but he's watching for how much time there is between the seals and Sephiroth moving. If he can increase that time, somehow...

He casually fell back to stillness, watching, waiting. He was rather dramatically still actually, which only made his next burst of movement seemingly more abrupt as he once again danced away instead of using his quicker methods.

Kisame took a moment longer to observe when he noticed the stillness. He doubted he could use it, but he could learn from it. So he fired off two blades of wind as quickly as he could manage. One aimed at Sephiroth, and another aimed along one of his avenues of dodging, at least based one what he’d noted from the previous dodges.

He smirked with the movement, vanishing and appearing in a different direction, once again at rest. He knew how to be effective target practice. He also knew how to make his movements unpredictable. It might be a point of vanity, to have cultivated the playfulness of stillness, but he did not regret it in the least.

Another miss, but more information. Sephiroth was unpredictable, and each miss was improving his control, so this wasn’t a loss. It was a challenge and Kisame thrived on it. He laughed, fingers flicking.

And the blade of air came from behind Sephiroth, courtesy of Kisame’s water clone, emerging from where it had been hidden in one of the frequent puddles on the training field.

He leaved forward and down with a flourish, the attack sailing harmlessly past. He never took his eyes off Kisame proper though, and it was clear he was using his senses to their most focused degree to be exactly the challenge that Kisame had proposed.

Admittedly, he was having fun, and a smirk pulled at his lips.

Kisame spared a moment to nod. As expected of Sephiroth, and ah, the challenge got his blood up. So he tried again, using shunshin in between, three blades of air in quick succession from vastly different angles. Dodging all of them would be beyond many, especially as Kisame had to carefully plan the angles to keep from getting hit by his own attack.

This time Sephiroth simply vanished in a small fistful of water which splashed down, reappearing to the far left of where Kisame had been aimed and the area around it where the attacks might have struck. He inclined his head in acknowledgement. Kisame had made him step up his dodging.

Kisame licked his lips, shivering in pleasure at forcing Sephiroth to dodge that way. It was progress. So he tried shunshin again, but switched it up. On two attacks, he used his non-dominant hand to create the blade of air, creating a different angle. And the last was a leap to fire the blade down and this time, to the right of where the original blades had been aimed. It was a one in four chance, but if Kisame got the direction right, even if it was a miss, he would call it progress.

Well, that was a pretty maneuver, wasn't it? He didn't even try to give the impression he'd manually dodge that one, immediately going to where Kisame had started with another little splash, cocking his head. This was going to get intense quickly now, he could tell, and he was all loose limbs and ready alertness.

It was respectful attentiveness, coming from him. He'd almost gotten clipped.

Ah, clever. Kisame was already firing another blade as soon as Sephiroth appeared in the spot he'd started from before he even touched the ground.

He changed things up again with a charge. Two at once was difficult and the strength was lacking, but one advanced ahead, and the other behind and slightly to the left. He was getting closer!

He scanned the maneuver quickly with his eyes and gave a sharp tilt of his head toward where it looked weak to him before dropping to the ground and vanishing, reappearing tot he far left with thoughtful interest. He saw no reason not to help in more than just dodging after all. Training was for improvement.

Kisame saw the nod and made a note to voice his appreciation when this was done. Pointing out the weaknesses that needed improving was important to getting stronger, and Kisame was already running through scenarios as he put more focus into his next use. The chakra-use was almost negligible; Kisame could keep going all day.

The next attempt involved two water clones spring up to throw their own blades of air, in the spaces where Kisame’s attack could push Sephiroth to move to. A shunshin at the moment the first attack was away brought Kisame to another point in the field, and he released another two blades in different directions. More focus this time, so they were stronger and more dangerous. They covered much of the field, and another of Kisame’s own wind-blades nearly cut Kisame as it passed. There wouldn’t be many places to move to this time. Sephiroth would, Kisame was sure, but it would be even harder than before.

He quickly calculated, then sprang straight upward, flashing him a smirk as he pivoted midair then vanished, landing neatly off to his far right in a crouch where he'd picked up a path of wather undisturbed by the turbulent air attack.

He quickly noted a cut along his calf. Kisame was getting better.

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