A Push Forward [Private | Kiri]

[Honnou]

”Hnnng…” A hum echoed through his bedroom in the middle of the day. What was Honnou doing there, again? Most would think that boys in his age would be out on duty or something else at this time of the day, but Honnou was busy with something else. On his desk, he was tinkering with metallic things and springs, discs and scraps, on the verge of inventing a weapon. It all came to him like a revelation in the morning - usually, a Hyūga like him barely needed a weapon, did they? Like, they’re famous and infamous for their high rate of kills by hand, right? Why would he need a weapon now, and why now of all times? What was behind this idea?

Well, he couldn’t reveal his plan yet. Not until it was finished… but here was the issue; the wrist bracer upon which the scraps were attached to was easy to craft - it was mere leather and small, square plates of iron for protection and decoration - but the string that was to attach to his finger upon equipping the weapon always broke by the flow of chakra that was supposed to trigger the spring lock that would release the blade. Not only that, but when trying to use it manually (without chakra), the spring lock wouldn’t release the blade. He had, accidently, made the spring lock a little too strong for his mere finger to release… also, he would have to retract the blade again, and he was desperate to find out how to pull it in effortlessly. He couldn’t afford to waste time in the middle of combat, right?

After a long time of low confidence and procrastination, he decided to walk around Kumogakure for a while. He needed some fresh air after having covered his hands in rust. And he got plenty of fresh air by jumping around the buildings until he could see the entire village - including the headquarters were Raikage worked. All the way up in the clouds, a place that reminded Honnou of his role back in the class.

Raikage…

Would he make a good Raikage? He had heard a lot about them - how extraordinarily skilled they were in practically every aspect of their duties. How excessively powerful they were in the battlefields. How knowledgeable they were in the affairs of the citizens. It sounded mythical, otherworldly… but it was also attractive to think about. It even left him on the roof for a while, just staring at the same HQ nearly a mile away…

 

[Kiri]

Kiri headed over back to the Tsuyoshi clan estate that morning. It was that time of the week, after all. An morning early spar was one of the promises he had made to Junko especially now that he moved about the village throughout the week that he needed to commit to something that would engage him in constant training to keep his battle form. That was aside from the normal duties he had at the hospital, being with the pediatrics ward, though it would sometimes be awkward to find the child Kiri checking up on the sick when he was… well, in a child’s body, but those who did know him didn’t really mind. There were just a few things he found having a child’s body as inconvenient and perhaps it was sometimes having to deal with explaining to new patients that he was a certified physician.

Anyway, he was on his way back from the estate, all done with training and even taking time to enjoy a morning bath with the kids there and a delicious meal, when he spotted a familiar face. Along the streets of the main thoroughfare, Kiri spotted that kid he used to pick on in class, well he was the teacher and the other was the kid, but the only reason he picked on him was that the boy was the only one in class who actually listened to him. Oh, don’t worry, it wasn’t like he was bullying him, but more of the literal “picking” in the sense that he would pick him to do the more important things.

“Hon!” Kiri waved as he hopped along the streets and settled next to the boy who was now taller than him. Now that he wasn’t a teacher to the latter, it didn’t have to bother him to be so formal. Well, given his current situation, it would be hard and seeing a bit of confusion forming in the boy’s face, he knew he had to clear it up. “Oh, it’s me, Kiri. You know, the proctor of the exam.” He tried to explain with Soe hand gestures to show the size difference of his height. “You know, the guy who made you mini-raikage and all.”

 

[Hotaka Kyo]

Kyo had been overworking himself to exhaustion lately, at least that was the conclusion the scored man came to as he suddenly pulled himself wide awake with a jerk of his head. He had been leaning against the side of a building pondering his next move, and then here he was waking up. This wasn’t a good thing, and something he would berate another for, he had to take the time to rest and not get carried away in pushing his plans forward. The young man sighed quietly to himself, there was so much to do, and so little free time to do it in between his missions and obligations to the Main Branch. That would change soon, once he acquired the ship and the materials he needed it would free up a whole lot of time and effort for other things, one of which was apparently going to be straight rest and relaxation. Not that he normally approved of wasting time like that, but in this case it seemed he actually needed it.

As he stretching something caught his attention, he wasn’t sure what it was at first, but upon looking closer it suddenly struck him, one of the two members sitting there were from the Chuunin Exam, something he hadn’t thought of for a sometime. It seemed so long ago, but it really wasn’t in the grand scheme of things. It might be a good idea to keep up with his fellow Chuunin, though the other seemed familiar, Kyo couldn’t place them in his mind, which helped seal the deal so to speak. Kyo pushed off from his position and quickly made his way over, as he closed the familiarity of the other one bugged Kyo, it floated around the corner of his mind, not quiet coming into focus enough to grab on to, he was sure the other one was a nin the same as them, was the young one a student? Or perhaps an MiT? While he didn’t spend a great deal of time in the hospital, most of his wounds having been treated by himself or what passed for a small villages doctor who was at times more accustomed to work on animals, he did go in for the more serious injuries, perhaps it was there he recognized the young gesturing nin from.

Either way Kyo would come to a stop before the two of them and towering over them he would give a slight bow, “Hyuuga-san, it has been some time since the exam.” Kyo paused a moment before asking, “How goes things for my fellow chuunin?” He would turn to and give a small bow to the other nin whose appearance continued to bug him, “I am Hotaka Kyo, pleased to meet you.” He would introduce himself. He set his jaw hard against a yawn that threatened to show itself before relaxing once more.

[Topic Entered with Permission]

 

[Honnou]

Huh? It sure shocked the Hyuuga to hear such a young, strange voice call his name out loud. Quickly turning his face around, he spotted the arrival of a young, white-haired boy. Almost about to openly express his confusion, the boy proclaimed himself as Kiri - the same, white-haired shinobi and proctor from Honnou’s Chuunin Exam…

Just how and when did he turn into a younger self? How did he scroll back in time?

“K-Kiri?! Is that you?” he almost mumbled confusingly, “You’re way smaller than me now, what happened? Don’t tell me… did you *cough* did you come across a witch or some forbidden jutsu or what?” Struggling to keep his hands low as they waved around jazz-like, he assumed only the most unbelievable to have happened for Kiri given the Mednin’s status. Pushing the confusion aside… they had only seen each other last time back at Tea Country with the small ‘mob boss’ of a child.

Raikage… that word crossed his mind again. Kiri had chosen him to be the class’ ‘Raikage’ for that one session, and the more he thought about it, the more it felt as if Kiri didn’t only choose so because that he forgot his name. Was he expecting big things from the Hyuuga brat? What was Honnou expecting from himself, though? He had yet to realize… or maybe not. It was a rather simple question, and of course, you should always aim high if you want to become something in your life- moving on!

Kyo, in a familiar, recognizable age and form, arrived as well. Honnou would quickly respond by giving a bow back to him. “H-Hey there, Kyo… have you seen Kiri? Look what happened to him, he’s smaller than I am…!”

After catching his breath, Honnou would lift up his head again. “So… assuming you’ve been a kid for so long, how are you even doing your duties?” At that instance, Honnou kind of forgot of his own status as kid…

 

[Kiri]

Kiri grew a mischievous smile on his face. He knew that the boy would be surprised by his current form. He could play around with this, but he didn’t. Instead, he stood on his toes to pat the boy on the head. “Oh yeah, you really are taller now. It’s like I have a big brother. Ahahaha,” said Kiri before the arrival of another familiar face. He instantly recognized the taller boy as the one he had seemingly had high hopes for during the exam. “Hi Kyo. I hope you still remember me.”

But he would soon quickly learn that his current form would be the problem as the other quickly showed his ignorance of his identity and Hon had to fill in on who he was. Pouting, Kiri circled the two before poking them at the back. “Just because I’m a kid doesn’t mean I’m not capable. You’d be surprised at what I can do even in this body. And also, who said I’m a kid forever. Just you wait and -“ he paused as he realized he was about to reveal his other secret. Guess being in a child’s body also tampered with his temperament and personality at times. Something along the “I’ll show you I’m better than you” kind of personality.

He then went back to standing in front of the two and struck an “I’m a genius” pose. “In fact, I’m the village’s veterinary. A small clinic will open near the south of the village. We’ve been having a lot of shinobis who seem eager to bond with their contracts and so my clinic will specialize on these creatures. After all, unlike the normal animal, the contracts we summon have a sizable amount of chakra and have different realms where they originate. A proper way to care for them, especially after battles is important.”

 

[Hotaka Kyo]

When Hon greeted him and asked if he had seen Kiri, Kyo frowned deeply a moment as he examined the shrunken form before him. That was why he was familiar with it, the proctor at the exam; though he was now somehow in the body of a child, though perhaps it was just transformation Jutsu, or something similar, which would make the most sense. Kyo gave a small bow to Kiri, “I apologize for not recognizing you Kiri-sama. Though when we last meet, you had quite a different appearance.”

Kyo watched the two interact with one another, it seemed Kiri was also acting younger, with the way he cut himself off from saying something, “We all change, sometimes for the better, other times the changes are more inconvenient as we go through them.” Kyo took a moment before answering the young seeming nin’s cut off.

Kyo raised an eyebrow as Kiri began to brag, Kyo himself wasn’t involved with any contracts, and didn’t know what kind of treatment and how it would be different if it didn’t involve some kind of damage to their chakra, but he gave a nod regardless, “This is likely true, though I’m unsure what the differences would be seeing as I’m not involved with the Medical Field outside of sutures and field treatments, mostly on myself.” And I don’t particularly trust our medical nins, not after what he had heard about the harvester division and some of the things that they had done in the past. He much preferred village doctors, and self-treatment to spending time in the hospital here. “I’m sure you’ll do well heading the operation.”

 

[Honnou]

”A veterinary?” Honnou asked curiously. Was that a suitable position for a child - wait a second, Kiri hadn’t always been a child! Think, you brat, he was your proctor and sensei a year ago, you can’t just dismiss him as some child now! It would be the same case for Honnou himself if he was mistaken for some ‘harmless’ and ‘poor’ child; he would definitely find that offensive.

He guessed that all were bound to change overtime, just like Kyo said. At least Kiri was still himself- a little more childish through his tone as Honnou clearly related to that swift brake in talking (he used to brake his sentence and change tone in his next one several times himself). “Wait, that does remind me…” Channeling his inner child, Honnou began poking his index fingers together and look down at the roof that they were standing on, “Say, Kiri… you remember back at our leader class. You chose me as Raikage… but why?” He was aware than simply because he didn’t say his name back then wasn’t a good excuse to give him the role of Raikage for that limited time. “I… want to become the Raikage someday… but not everyone is suited for that position. Perhaps I’m being too wishful? I mean… I guess Kyo would make a greater Raikage.”