Climbing the Mountain [Tutor w/Tatsuo]

[Samsara Saito]

The young 11 year old woke up early that morning, trekking out to one of his favorite mountains at the Spine of the World. Saito loved Konoha, and he loved Tea, and he would no doubt love any other place he cared to visit as long as it had delicious food. But the Land of Lightning, the country of his birth, firmly possessed the boy's first, best adoration. The air was cold, nipping at his nose and threatening to freeze his extremities -- or would, if the boy hadn't worn the best thermal ninja mesh and undergarments, gear sold only in shops prepared to face the elements as were the ones in Kumogakure. Saito was warm enough to not lose any body parts to the frigid weather, but not much warmer; part of his training today dealt with dealing with the cold. The boy vastly preferred cold to heat, and so he didn't mind the chill so much... or so he would think to himself, resolving to succeed through his cold discomfort.

Saito loved climbing things, and loved doing it even more as he developed his chakra to do so. He now could climb trees, rock faces, and even waterfalls with ease, having practiced at every waterfall he could since his genin exams. Climbing had become a regular part of his training, and one of his strongest desires was to climb his favorite mountain back home. Here he stood, and there it stood, even taller than he remembered it to be in his visions while away from Kumo, ready for him to succeed or fail to reach the summit, possibly even die.

Of course Saito dragged his sensei along with him, hopefully Tatsuo wouldn't mind the cold weather as much -- he must've had his fill of warm weather in Konoha and Tea afterall!<i></i> -- as he came. In part, Saito suspected that his sensei would've been less willing to climb a mountain if it weren't coming from him, but he also felt confident that the two of them would be happy to have completed this together after it was over. Plus Tatsuo likely wouldn't let him climb a snowy, dangerous mountain for training by himself. I wonder if I'll have students force me to do crazy things when I get older?<i></i> he quietly thought to himself with a grin to his sensei before beginning to ascend the mountain, applying chakra to his hands and feet.

[WC: 403, TWC: 403/1500, PC: 1/5]

 

[Tatsuo]

Where Saito appreciated the cold, Tatsuo hated everything about it. One of his biggest restraints about being switched to Kumogakure as a shinobi was that he had to live in the cold. The last time he was there, he never got used to the cold even after a couple of years. Some people were just not made for it. Bundled up in a few jackets, at the point Tatsuo even looked over dressed as the scarf around his face covering all but his eyes. If anything Tatsuo looked like he was trekking in the coldest circles of the arctic.

However adventuring with Saito was plenty reason for him to go out into the cold. He grinned from behind the scarf as he noticed just how good of a mood Saito was in. While he didn't share the sentiment, seeing Saito this happy made it good enough. When he asked him to go climb a mountain, Tatsuo sighed but got dressed and followed him along. Luckily it wasn't all that far off from the camp they were staying at. It only took about two hours of actual travelling to reach the base of the mountain. One that Tatsuo had actually climbed before, a thin grin appeared behind his scarf as he remembered the trek up the mountain with Kaji-sensei. It was his last adventure with this sensei. Too bad the symbolism was lost on Tatsuo.

Tatsuo followed behind Saito, the chakra control to climb a mountain like this wasn't really a challenge for the Jonin who had long mastered the art of chakra control. The reason he wasn't leading the way, was because if something happened to Saito he wanted to be able to catch him. Even if the boy would begin to slip, he would find wooden tendrils reaching to keep him from faling. Tatsuo just hoped that would not be needed.

WC: 312/1500
PC: 1/5

 

[Samsara Saito]

Saito had little difficulty with the first part of the climb, taking his time as is his custom and using his smarts to pick the proper path. While not as refined as his Jounin sensei, the boy's chakra control had always been advanced for his age, and so he scaled relatively easily. He smiled the whole way, chatting with his sensei with barely a hitch in his breath. "I didn't know you liked to climb too, Shinrin-sensei! You seem used to it... have you been here before?" While Saito preferred the cold and wore less clothes than Tatsuo, the boy highly revered his sensei for actually enduring weather he hated in order to spend time with him and train with him. "I'm so glad to be back in Kumogakure, sensei! I'll become a Chuunin soon you know! Then we'll get to go on crazy missions! Just you and me sometimes! You know where I wanna go? The Moon Country! And I wanna see the ocean! Have you ever seen the ocean, sensei? I bet it's so amazing, I can't even imagine how big it must be!"

[WC: 186, TWC: 589, PC: 2/5]

 

[Tatsuo]

Tatsuo nodded, despite the fact Saito had no vision of him. Old habits die hard, he guessed. "Yeah, my last journey with my own sensei was up this mountain." He said with a bit of a somber tone, "I hated the cold then and I hate it now." he continued to climb nonetheless. "We ended up fighting a giant up in these mountains, I just hope we don't meet anything like that here. So keep your eyes out, these mountains are filled to the brim with dangerous creatures, ones that even I may not be ready to fight yet." he said honestly as they continued to climb past the easier rocks. It wasn't long until the paths became more treacherous, but for two shinobi it was still not much of an issue.

"I had a chance to see the ocean in Tea, but I promised we'd see it together." he said as he hopped to another rock, "So we'll have to go another time. And yeah you'll be a Chuunin, all grown up here soon." he laughed a bit. It really was interesting to see Saito grow so much, whether it was due to his tutelage or not he had no idea, but either way he was glad to be part of it. "And yeah, we can go on some really interesting missions. I'm still hesitant about it all." he sighed, it was easy to tell the Jonin was confused by it all but he didn't want to worry his students any. "I just hope everything works and I hope all three of you are treated well in Kumogakure. I'm sure you will, but ya' never know when people consider someone a foreigner. Though.. Yaboi might be able to just beat up anyone who messes with him." he said jokingly.

WC: 612/1500
PC: 2/5

 

[Samsara Saito]

As the discussion veered to missions, Saito's pace slacked only to have Tatsuo catch up to him a little. The boy knew that his sensei wanted to protect him and catch him in case he fell, but they'd already scaled about a third of the mountain and his energy hadn't begun to flag in the least. He could scale faster, even, but he really wanted this time with his master. He almost giggled again at Tatsuo's seriously overdressed state -- multiple coats, a scarf, some kind of big hat... he looked funny. Though all of that gear must have added its fair share of weight... Looking at Tatsuo again, the boy grins and can't help but let a giggle slip out. "You say you hate the cold but I think you just like training in lots of layers. It has to be tougher to get to the top with everything you have on, Shinrin-sensei!" If we meet any giants how are we going to fight them or even outrun them?" the Genin teased. Watch, now our next mission is going to be in a desert and he's gonna thrive while I die in seconds.

At the mention of his sensei, Saito's smile slipped away, replaced by interest. Kaji-san, Kaji-san, Kaji-san... a name heard but never expounded upon. Kaji defeated Kaen, Kaji trained Tatsuo, Kaji had some sort of ambassadorial relationship with the Leaf... Though the young cloud Genin burned to know more about how all of this related to Tatsuo becoming a Cloud Jounin, he really wanted to give his sensei the space to bring the matter up himself. So he satiated himself by inquiring about Kaji. "Will you tell me about your sensei, Sensei? How strong is he, what kind of jutsu does he use? Where is Kaji-san now? Is he Leaf or Cloud? And what is his relationship with the village he's not a part of? Does it have to do with the Cloud-Leaf allliance?"

[WC: 332, TWC: 921/1500, PC: 3/5]

 

[Tatsuo]

"I don't mind the extra training." He said as he continued up the mountain, alongside Saito. "Though.. I really do hate the cold. I always have and I probably always will, though with how things are looking, I doubt i'll have much choice regarding it. Just gotta keep the heat up in the house, I assume." He told Saito as he pulled himself up on top of a flat rock. A grin appeared on his face as Saito began to worry about the giants, "No matter how much gear i'm in, i'll be fine. I've got a few tricks up my sleeve ya' know?"

Tatsuo had learned a new technique in Tea Country, one he hadn't displayed to Saito or any of his students just yet. He was waiting for the pristine time to use it. Climbing a mountain really wasn't one. Despite this he was sure Koto would enjoy the experience but it was about hanging out with Saito currently. "Haven't I told you about him before?" Tatsuo's brows furrowed as he thought back, he was sure he talked about him more but after thinking on it more he realized maybe he didn't. "You're right, I guess I haven't talked about him all that much.. uh.. He was pretty strong, he fought in the tournament. He mostly used a sword, he's very stealthy. Even I have a hard time keeping an eye on him and I know his fighting style well." He thought more about him and listened to the rest of Saito's questions, attempting to answer them to the best of his ability.

"He should be in Kumogakure, he was originally a Stone Shinobi, but then helped Umashi recover Leaf.. then he participated in a trade with a Cloud shinobi who became a Leaf shinobi, but ended up killing a Leaf Sennin.. and well Kaji-sensei just never came back." While it was clear this was a tough subject for Tatsuo he continued on nonetheless. "No one really told me anything though, one day my sensei is a Leaf ninja and we're going back.. then the next i'm headed back without him. I didn't take it that well." he said somberly, as he continued up the mountain.

"I don't know his relationship with Leaf anymore, I know he's friends with Umashi but that's about it. I don't really know much about him personally, he was always very cold and distant. Not to say he didn't do a lot for me, when I didn't really have anything left, he let me stay with him for about a year while I figured lots of things out. So I can't really complain, put a roof over my head. More than my own dad could do, I guess." There was a bit of bitterness in the conversation that Saito probably wasn't used to coming from Tatsuo. He tended to avoid topics which weren't cheery for him, but out here where they were so far from anything with someone he trusted, what's the point of lying.


"All in all, he was a good sensei. Can't say I would be as good of a shinobi as I am now if he was any different, but who knows. I always felt like, despite obviously caring for me, he didn't like me all that much. Maybe I don't even blame him, I was quite a handful when I was older."

WC: 1175/1500
PC: 3/5

 

[Samsara Saito]

"How did I miss him in the tournament?" Saito said aloud when Tatsuo mentioned that his sensei had fought in Tea. "I saw a bunch of fights but somehow missed Kaji-san... not good not good!" He took a hand out of a grip in the mountain to run his hand through his unruly white mop, a bit of dismay stamped plain on his face. Though such emotions never stay around for long, dismay found its replacement in a frown as the boy considered his options. "I would ask if we could meet him but I wonder if he'd like that... if he's cold and distant, that is." And actually, Saito remembered Tatsuo telling him that he got more time to hang out with Tatsuo than Tatsuo had with his own sensei... I guess I lucked out!

"I'm glad you're not cold and distant, Shinrin-sensei! Well, at least you're not distant..." the boy giggled again, certain that Tatsuo was at least a little bit cold. Saito could hear the bitterness in his sensei's voice when he talked about family and topics that didn't seem to be very happy, it was very rare but it also meant a lot when it came out. The boy never wanted to be a burden to his sensei or cause him any trouble or make him feel any kind of badly, so he smiled at his master, his own inner happiness beaming to the man even as they failed to notice they were more than halfway up the mountain. The conversation always flowed well between the two ninja. Leaving Kumo with Tatsuo seemed to work out quite well!

"You keep talking about what a handful you were... and people keep joking with you about it... tell me a funny story about you, Shinrin-sensei!"

[WC: 300, TWC: 1221, PC: 4/5]

 

[Tatsuo]

"A funny story? Hrmph.." Tatsuo thought to himself as they continued up the mountain, he hummed for a bit as he thought about one that was good. "Well.. lets just hope you don't use this one on me." He grinned from ear to ear. "Everyone was making fun of me on the way here, I don't even remember why, or if it was even legitimate. I was just a kid and I felt uncomfortable, Kaji said something about me being dumb I think, so I decided to pay him back a little. So... when our Leaf party was met by the Cloud people, I decided to ... uh embarrass him. I'm not sure if you've ever met Yuii, but Kaji and Yuii are in a relationship or something, i'm not really sure. He intended to marry her last time I was there, but I don't know if he ever did."

Thinking back to that day he shook his head a bit and smiled, "Well either way, he called me dumb so when the Raikage and Yuii, she's a Sennin in Cloud by the way, well either way, when she showed up I looked at her and said Oh, you must be that pretty blue hair lady that you were talkin' about, Kaji-sensei! In the cheekiest tone I could manage. She turned redder than a ripe tomato and Kaji-sensei definitely changed a shade or two. Everyone was pretty much shocked considering they had never even seen eachother, they didn't even know their names at that point. However both of them were a stuttering mess at that point, so I guess I got my payback. And eventually they did fall in love, so maybe i'm a master matchmaker or something." He laughed a bit, letting off a less serious tone. Quite the contrast from their last conversation.

WC: 1481/1500
PC: 4/5

 

[Samsara Saito]

Saito's laugh took a bit to arrive, he didn't think Tatsuo would tell a story like that... He thought, maybe Tatsuo got caught sneaking in a forbidden area or escaped Kaji's notice for long enough to get into trouble. To hear that he embarrassed his own sensei in front of the Raikage and the woman who, apparently, he would eventually marry... it took a second to arrive, but the story was indeed hilarious and so Saito laughed, the sound filling the mountainside with its light echo.

"Poor Kaji-san and Yuii-san! Although they ended up married so maybe your payback helped them out! That's so funny..." Thinking about that took him back to his own gate experience getting into Konoha, almost getting into a fight with Tatsuo when he figured out that Yomi was the Hokage. It didn't seem like that caused any damage like Tatsuo might have done with Kaji and Yuii but it was also funny... now! "I hope I haven't embarrassed you like that anywhere, sensei! Though I haven't really gone out of my way to embarrass you. Maybe I'll keep it that way too!" the boy replied to Tatsuo's story with his own cheeky grin, almost a mirror image of Tatsuo's trademark mischievous expression.

Before they even knew it, the top of the mountain was well in sight, then in reach. The boy's strength started to flag and he did get tired but that's where endurance and determination kicked in, Saito knew. I know Tatsuo would catch me if I fell, he's probably really ready... but I'm not gonna need it! With hard work and mental strength, the boy finally heaved himself over the edge and panted. Watching Tatsuo come up right after, the boy grins from ear to ear. "We did it!"

[WC: 296, TWC: 1517, PC: 5/5]

 

[Tatsuo]

Why don’t you look at that.. Tatsuo placed his hands on his hips as he overlook the country side beneath them. Beautiful was all he could think as he glanced over the sprawling valleys before him. The last time he was here it was a lot more intense so this adventure was a good change of pace. Now they just had to climb down. With a good day of training done and both learning a few things about eachother Tatsuo considered it a day well done.

WC: enough
Post count: 5/5