Expanding Awareness (Training)

It was a day off for Zeo and the rest of his squad as he took the time to walk around town. It was rare for him to really relax since he came to Konoha. He was an outsider technically to them, but due to the fact river country had no real military or investment in the affairs of the 5 great nations, there were little objections to having him be among the village. Still, even though he was welcomed and was initiated as a leaf shinobi, at times Zeo felt isolated. Alone-- even when among the village. He would get the feeling he was not wanted by the other villagers as no one would really look his way.

Not that he tried to stand out. It was not in his nature to make a fuss and draw attention.

Unlike Kyle.

With hands in his pocket and his headphones playing his favorite music, he walked down the busy streets of Konoha. He had hoped to read up on some new jutsu to help him with his future training. He had an affinity to use Water Style, but he had to pick up more for it first.

"Zeo, good morning!" A voice called to him.

Zeo had been mostly aware of his surroundings but his sightseeing took him away from the attention of who came up behind him. However, the voice and the sensation he got gave no hint of malice as he turned around.

Mari stood behind him with a smile, her brown hair tucked back and her arms behind her. "How you doing? What you doing here?" she asked.

"Just wanted to check out the scroll shop. See if I can find some new jutsu." he explained.

"Oh?" she asked with interest. "Me too. I wanted to learn some more about nature transformation ninjutsu."

With that, they decided to go together to see the selection of scrolls they had. However-- as he did, Zeo felt something odd around him.

He paused and gasped, as if the air left him. A throb in his head seemed to trigger as his vision seemed to shift a moment. Stars-- he seemed to see stars around him for a moment, as if in place of people were sparks of light. It didn't make sense to him as he soon paused and put a hand on his knee to stablize himself.

"Zeo?" Mari asked, and turned to see him kneeling down. "Zeo! You okay?" she asked. As a medic of the team, she was always aware when something was amiss with others around her.

A few breaths escaped Zeo and his vision restored-- but as he looked up, behind Mari he saw something. Further in the crowd, he saw a black animal among the moving people. It stood there and stared back at him with orange-yellow eyes. A wolf, by the look of it. As the people crisscrossed around it-- with the last person Zeo saw cross it, it vanished without a trace.

"I-I'm fine..." Zeo said as he rose up to his feet. "Sorry, just got a little dizzy but..." Confused, Zeo shook his head and pointed over there. "Did you see anything back there?" he asked, pointing to the crowd he saw the strange image.

Mari blinked, confused. "What? What did you see?" she asked. She looked to the spot where Zeo pointed, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"It was black and large-- it looked like a wolf," he asked, rubbing his eyes.

Mari looked for a few seconds, but soon turned back. "I-I'm sorry Zeo, but I don't see anything. You sure you're okay?"

Though confused, Zeo took a deep breath to calm himself. It was odd how he had a sudden vision of his surroundings changing, then seeing a strange animal in the distance. "Yeah... guess I just imagined it, I suppose..."

Mari looked carefully to Zeo, concerned.

"I'm fine. Really," he replied.

"You should eat a bit more," Mari commented, looking him over. "You barely eat. You're pretty much just skin and bones, so after lets go to Ichiraku's. "

Though Zeo doubted that was the case, he agreed and followed her to the scroll shop.

Training roll: Uchugan Mastery 1, 4 rolls for Awareness + Quick Learner

The member 'Enjin' has done the following action : Destiny Roll

---

'Dice 10' : 10, 2, 4, 2, 7

The majority of scrolls were varied, from training guides and standard jutsu, to books of work of fiction and of course the pack of dirty magazines kept in the far back not meant for youngsters like Zeo. Of course his interest wasn't in there.

He and Mari hung out at the ninjutsu section, as she looked at a variety of water style books. "You use Water Style?" Zeo asked, as he saw her look into it.

"Not alot. I actually grew more used to Earth style jutsu, but lets just say I want to consider water as well," she said, seeming shy on the topic. "It's a long story."

Zeo still felt that odd sensation before, but it was slowly waning. He didn't see the wolf he thought he saw, but he still felt odd sensations around him. Like each person that passed, he saw some kind of light from each one-- or even when he closed his eyes, a sensation like a passing wind that radiated an emotion. Still, he kept his face stoic so that Mari wouldn't catch on. She cared so much for them as the medic of the team, he didn't want to give her unessisary worry.

"What about you?" She asked, looking to Zeo at the scroll in his hand.

He paused as he looked at the scroll-- having got it back from one of the other stands. "I wanted to learn more about Genjutsu. I am not well suited for hand-to-hand combat, so I wanted to consider alternatives. Using Genjutsu would a great way to use my own mind against an enemy."

"Genjutsu, huh?" She asked as she looked over the basic information on the scroll. "It seems like something that suits you.

He let out a breath as he looked into it. He felt the odd pressure in his mind and it reminded him how Genjutsu worked. "Genjutsu is about influencing the mind-- and how it interacts with the enviorment and the target. I'd like to look more into its nature and maybe apply my own ideas to it. " he explained to Mari.

Training ROlls: 1 to Uchugan mastery, 4 to Sanity + Quick Learner

The member 'Enjin' has done the following action : Destiny Roll

---

'Dice 10' : 7, 8, 2, 3, 8

As Zeo was about to finish his read on Genjutsu-- he felt another presence. An odd, loud, almost shy of violent but rather impulsive aura that seemed to scream...

...

"ZEO!" Kyle shouted, surprising both Zeo and Mari from behind.

Zeo slowly turned and looked to Kyle who stood there proudly. "Kyle, did no one tell you to never shout in a library, or any reading establishment?" he asked.

"Can't say I have. Nope." he said calmly. "But hey now that I found you-- I got a challenge for you Zeo."

Zeo was tense as he tried to guess what insane challenge Kyle wanted to do this time...

....

....

"Tadaa!" Kyle said as they were now all at Ichiraku's Ramen. He had dragged them all to there for lunch, which seemed like a good idea at the time, but were soon greeted by Kyle's insane challenge. And it was the most unorthodox one yet.

"Here is your order,' The waitress said as she delivered three large bowls in front of them. "The Mega-Beef Bowl. Please, enjoy."

Zeo looked at the giant bowl-- which seemed to have more meat than it did noodles or ramen. He gulped as he looked at the massive size.

"This is it, The ultimate test of strength, endurance and skill. Let's see who can finish the Beef bowl!!" Kyle cheered, making a bit of a scene in the restaurant.

"Kyle... please don't make a fuss. We are here already..." she said, shrinking away from the massive bowl of beef. "What is in this? Three cows worth of meat? I feel guilty just looking at this. It makes me almost want to be a vegitarian."

"Aww, don't be scared of a little meat!" Kyle said, his mouth already full of his first bite. "Now eat up and pace yourselves!."

Both Mari and Zeo looked at him like he was insane... but Zeo turned back to the bowl. If this was indeed his idea of strength training, it certainly beat getting into a fight or a punch to the face. With a breath, he began to dig into the mega beef bowl.

Each bite he took did indeed taste good, and he paced himself. He was starting to get why it was a need for building strength. It took guts to keep going with so much beef involved.

(Training 7 all Brawn + Quick Learner)

The member 'Enjin' has done the following action : Destiny Roll

---

'Dice 10' : 9, 10, 3, 7, 9, 3, 6

He started to feel sluggish with the strain to eat. Mari had already stopped and didn't even make a dent in her's. "Kyle... its a miracle you are not fat after snarfing these down so much." she said with an edge to her tone.

They couldn't hear his responce as his mouth was full, a piece of beef sticking out from his mouth.

Both Mari and Zeo looked at him with mild disguist at him. The guy loved his beef bowls. Zeo kept on slowly, taking each bite in strive.

"Winners don't get doggie bags!" Kyle boasted, taking down another bite of his bowl.

Zeo just tried to enjoy his lunch-- little knowing that in this action alone was building up his endurance to take on such tasks.

Training End: + Quick Learner.

The member 'Enjin' has done the following action : Destiny Roll

---

'Dice 10' : 1, 10, 3, 2, 8, 10, 10

After about an hour, everyone was full. "I hate to admit it," Zeo groaned as he rubbed his stomach. "This is a type of training I can get used to."

Kyle let out a light laugh as he too felt satisfied. "Yeah, that was a good meal. We should do that from now on for training." he replied.

Mari glared at them both. "Somehow i doubt Yasha Sensei would agree with that line of thought, guys..." she said as she rolled her eyes. "But glad you found a better way to argue without punching one another."

A sigh escaped Zeo as he slowly got up. He felt a bit more weighed down, but intended to burn it all off with a swift run back home. "Thanks guys. I'm glad we were able to hang out today. Let's do this again sometime soon, okay?"

With that, Zeo took off and waved goodbye to his friends after he paid the bill. ALl things goes, this was a fun day off.

The ENd.

Training : All DEX + Quick Learner