Food for Thought [LoopyLeonard]

Daisuke sat in a small breakfast diner at the bar. He was flipping through a menu, waiting for one of his fellow Genin, Hiroshi to arrive. Hiroshi and Daisuke had talked briefly before the tournament, but didn't have much time during to catch up. Now that they were both home and well rested, Daisuke wanted to ask Hiroshi how he felt he had done, and get a sense of what Hiroshi's plans were now.

Hiroshi nears the breakfast diner as he thinks to himself "I was the first Konoha Genin to be eliminated, albeit I feel like I got unlucky in the bracket, having to fight probably the strongest ninja there in the second round, Tonou Erra. There is still no excuse." Hiroshi reaches the restaurant and looks up to the sign "This is the place" Hiroshi was curious about Daisuke's outlook on the tournament and what he was thinking. Hiroshi walks up to Daisuke sitting at the bar

"Hey, Daisuke"

Daisuke waved over to the waitress as soon as Hiroshi arrived. "Hey Hiroshi, dinner's on me tonight! I have some money to blow from the missions Team 1 has been doing." Daisuke orders before turning over to Hiroshi and beginning their conversation. "It wasn't what I thought it was going to be... Kusa was hostile. Those other Genin were amazing. You an I saw that more than the others. We both fought the two Genin from Suna."

Hiroshi shocked at Daisuke's gesture, realizing he forgot his wallet anyway "Eh, thanks Daisuke, you somehow have excellent timing" Hiroshi leans back in his chair and looks at Daisuke. "That tournament was definitely a lot to take in, you even had to face a Kusa ninja, they fight with a different intention you know what I mean? Especially for a showcase tournament." Hiroshi takes a sip of his water. "Those Suna Genin were amazing, like nothing I've ever seen. Tonou Erra... I don't think I'll forget that name, he beat me the worst I've ever been beaten."

Daisuke darkened at the mention of the Kusa Genin. They were a dangerous breed, he shuddered at the thought of facing them on a battle field. "Hiroshi, I have to ask. Do you think you're going to change at all now that the tournament is over? I mean, your training, your outlook on being a shinobi... do you think that was affected after the tournament?"

Hiroshi is intrigued by Daisuke's question and thinks for a second before saying: "It's definitely changed my outlook, not just as a shinobi but as a human being, I need to think of myself more as an individual than as a group because honestly heading in the tournament I thought I could take the title with my eyes closed because of my heritage as an Aokin, becasue of that I didn't train as hard as I could have before the tournament. Now I've upped my intensity factor during training, doing twice the number of exercises." Hiroshi turns his open palm into a fist under the table. "I'm going to become a great ninja, all I need is to focus, if I can harness my Taikoku I can step up to that next level." Hiroshi turns to Daisuke. "What about you Daisuke? You made it a whole two rounds ahead of me, that must have put an effect on your mindset?"

Daisuke nods at what Hiroshi is saying. Konoha's future is brighter than he could have ever expected. "I'm not sure Hiroshi. I think i'm going to focus on training more, but I want the six of us who attended to get stronger together. I want us to be the pinnacle of Konoha." He thought for a moment and then the food arrived. "Ah excellent. Things seem a little... darker. I feel like Kusa is about to let loose and attack the other villages any moment. Its just the vibe I got..."

Hiroshi ponders about what Daisuke says about Konoha and agrees. "We are the next generation, we have to seize the moment and get ahead of everyone else around us" Hiroshi receives his steamed rice and miso soup as he ordered and eats a bit. "I agree, something about the entire tournament was frightening, the attitude of the Kusa genin and the Kusakage just sitting in his chair the entire time with his eyes peeled on the battles, it was like they had another thing planned wiht holding the tournament." Hiroshi shutters a little bit when a certain conversation creeps into his mind. "A Kusa Genin said to me that their graduation exam was a fight to the death between the students."

A fight to the death? Daisuke pondered it for a moment, it would explain the homicidal fighting style. Daisuke started to eat his meal. The food felt great, being home felt great, and being among friends felt great as well. Hiroshi had similar goals to Daisuke, which meant that the two would be in contact. "If we do go to war with Kusa, would you want to fight?" The question came out of nowhere, but Daisuke had asked himself the same question over and over again.

Hiroshi was so shocked by Daisuke's question he choked on his food a little bit. Hiroshi looked at Daisuke for a second, he swallowed his food along with his insecurity.

"Of course"

Hiroshi says sternly giving such a serious look it's almost scary "I want nothing more than this village and my clan to be safe, even if it means my own death, I will protect Konoha." Hiroshi clinches his teeth as he thinks "if any Kusa shinobi were to attack Konoha, I'd kill them so easily, with my Taikoku potential I couldn't be stopped." Hiroshi bites his lips before that thought can come out of his mouth. Hiroshi looks back at Daisuke curious of his response.

Daisuke looks at Hiroshi calmly for a few minutes before responding. "I would do the same. But let's toast to it never coming to that!" Daisuke holds up his tea to Hiroshi. It was more than a toast to not having to fight, it was a toast to say 'if we fight, we fight together, the Konoha Six'.

Hiroshi toasts with Daisuke, also thinking the same thing Daisuke was. "Us six Genin, I think we have something special, like something that only comes around once in a century. The feeling I get when I see any of my fellow Konoha Genin fighting is incredible, I feel like I can't be stopped." Hiroshi sips up the last of his miso soup and looks up. "Me, you, Shiko, Sakyo, Krysto and Arakui, what could we amount to..."

"What we will amount to. The Chuunin Exams are going to be here shortly, we should start training for it immediately." Daisuke got lost in the prospect of being a Chuunin. Everything was happening so fast, missions, tournaments, maybe on the brink of war. This was the shinobi life, and Daisuke wasn't intimidated by it any longer.

Hiroshi looks at Daisuke, noticing he's thinking to himself and laughs a little. "Hahaha, it's like you're a new Daisuke than the one I met before the tournament, it's amazing, I respect the way you look at this situation, I really feel like you could become Hokage someday." Hiroshi finishes his meal and smirks at Daisuke.

"If you can beat me to becoming Hokage, that is." Hiroshi looks at Daisuke and sees motivation in him, almost like Daisuke could be a rival to compare his strength and will to.

"I think we should train together more often, with your brain power and my fire power I think we could be good fighting side by side. We could push each other to maximize our chances of becoming Chuunin."

"Better you than me. I don't think I could handle being Hokage." Daisuke shuddered at the thought of thinking about becoming Hokage. He could see Hiroshi as being a strong one however. "We should definitely start training again. Time is running short."

"Hey, why don't you join me in a late night run through the forests outside the village tonight? I've made it a part of my routine, it helps me get my mind off things" Hiroshi gets up out of his seat and fist bumps his new friend.

"Thanks for the food, Daisuke, you did say you were gonna pay right?" Hiroshi walks away before Daisuke can answer and turns back to him and gives him a smile while waving.

[EXIT]