Starring:
Date: June 7, 2014
Summary:
A medic and a genin eat ramen together.
"Ramen doesnt keep the medic away"
Ramen House
Kenta's carefully maneuvers around the puddles of water pooling on the street in front of the Ramen House. His open toed boots doesn't provide much protection against wetness and the puddles are too shallow to walk on top of the way that he would over a pond. The heady scent of ramen hits him even before he reaches the cheerfully lit entrance and he pauses to suck in a deep breath. The young Chuunin's stomach rumbles loudly seconds later to remind him why he should head inside to get some dinner instead of standing out on the streets like a brain-dead sheep. Not one to argue with his stomach when Ramen is involved, Kenta trots the rest of the way into the establishment and heads straight for the counter. "One extra large bowl of roast pork ramen, please!" he exclaims while slipping into an unoccupied stool.
"One extra large bowl of beef Ramen please?" A voice calls out as Toshio comes in, soaked to the bone and what wasnt soaked had soot on it as he moves to a stool, relaxing as he nods. "Hiyas, Chuunin-san." He says with a friendly tone.
Kenta rotates on his stool to give Toshio a grave nod. "Good evening," he greets and follows up the statement with the faintest of faint smiles. While he's shorter than the other shinobi, he's obviously older, especially with the serious expression on his face adding another year or two to his actual age. "I think I've seen you around before in the training areas. Genin?" The last bit is spoken as a question, but Kenta looks like he's pretty sure of what the answer is already.
"Yea. Kataras Toshio, Genin and apprentice weaponsmith." Toshio says with a bow of his head as he gets a pair of wooden chopsticks with a happy grin. "Been busy making deliveries and grandfather gave me some money to get ramen." He says with a smile.
"A weaponsmith. That's a very honorable profession. We always need more sources for our supplies of ninja tools. I'm very pleased to meet a shinobi that's training to make such a valuable contribution to our village." Kenta gives Toshio another nod. This one is slightly deeper, but not enough to break the etiquette of a higher ranking shinobi acknowledging a lower one. The young man gives Toshio an accessing look. "Most weaponsmith shinobi are experts in a particular weapon or are ninja tool specialists. Is that the case with you?"
"I am trying to become a swordsman." Toshio says with a nod. "I hope to combine it with Fire ninjutsu." He says just as the bowls arrive. He gives a happy grin. "itadakimasu." He says before he begins digging in, eating with his mouth closed though he does talk once his mouth is empty. "My grandfather wont let me use the mass produced ninja tools. He says it is because to rely on a tool is a willingness to place your life in their hands, so he has me craft my own." He says as he pulls a kunai out. Indeed this one had imperfections and a different design over normal kunai.
Toshio's comments bring a thoughtful expression to Kenta's face. "It's true that knowing one's own tools well is critical to using them successfully. For most shinobi, working with them repeatedly is enough, but I'm not surprised that weapon smiths have higher standards." He doesn't try to take the genin's kunai, but he does reach out to touch the metal briefly with his left index finger. "It has character," he proclaims and accompanies the words with another of those serious nods. Then, his order comes and the sight of ramen in front of him yanks his eyes to it. One could swear that Kenta suddenly sheds a few years as he brightens up.
"My grandfather is probably the one with higher standards. He takes alot of pride in his work." Toshio says with a happy smile, stopping for a moment to put the kunai back into it's holster. "He and my mom are from the land of Lightning. They moved here because my father is from land of fire. They felt I needed to be raised in my own homeland." He explains. "You born in the land of fire?"
Kenta slurps his ramen when he eats, unlike Toshio. It seems like he had forgotten that he had company, since he stops stark still in the middle of making his food disappear to blink at the younger shinobi. The Chuunin finishes chewing and swallows mightily before straightening back in his stool. "I'm born in the Village of Singing Frogs in the south part of the Land of Fire. My grandmother moved here with me after my parents died. Most of the villagers back home aren't shinobi and she thought that we should be around others like us while I was growing up."
Toshio nods. "I am sorry about your parents. I still got my mom but I know that losing a single parent is painful to me." Toshio says sympathetically. He eats slowly. "Thats why I am going to become Hokage and protect everyone in this village. They are my family. I dont want to lose anyone else."
Kenta briefly trains his eyes on his ramen as he hides a frown. "My parents died a long time ago," he confesses quietly. Time must have healed the wound, but there's still a very subdued manner to his posture and he even lowers his chopsticks to lie on top of his bowl. The young shinobi looks up again with the frown wiped from his face. "The current Hokage-sama will lead for a very long time unless he has to leave to protect the village like Shodai Hokage-sama did. But if you work very hard, maybe your dream will come true when he's ready to step down.. "
"My father died before I as born. I never knew him but my mother and grandfather say I have inherited his compassion." He says as he sets his chopsticks down. "I want to become hokage but I dont want to force it from Hokage-sama. I want to earn it through becoming capable of defending the village." He says softly. He then looks to Kenta and offers a smile. "If we sit and mope our ramen will get cold." He says, trying to cheer up the chuunin.
Kenta's eyes flash with alarm. "Oh, no! We can't let our ramen go cold!" The mildly melancholy mood instantly lifts from him and he bends himself to the task of cleaning out his bowl again. The young man is still polite enough that he tries to maintain the conversation between swallow large mouthfuls of ramen and slurping down soup. "I don't ever want to be Hokage, but I want to protect and serve the village in my own way. One day, I'll be as great a medic nin as Taiki-sama and my grandmother is. I don't care if I ever get famous for it either as long as I get to save lives and keep our people safe."
"Thats good, we need medic nin." Toshio says with a nod as he goes back to eating his ramen, slurping the soup and eating the noodles much like Kenta. "Taiki-sama is my sensei's sensei." He says with a nod.
Kenta slurps down another mouthful of ramen and soup before he wipes his lips with his napkin and turn his attention back to Toshio. He eyes the younger shinobi curiously. "Who's your sensei? Taiki-sama works with a lot of people, so I always find it hard to tell who exactly is one of his students. The only person that I know he's teaching right now is Shiro-kun."
"Nara Usagi-san is my sensei." Toshio says with a nod. "but Taiki-sama teaches me when she is busy." He says as he eats more ramen and gets a refill on his bowl. More slurping is heard.
"I've meet her before, but I don't really work directly with her," Kenta tells Toshio after taking a minute to place the name. "I knew that she's a Chuunin medic nin, but I didn't realize that she's actually Taiki-sama's student. She must be very proud that she gets to learn from someone like him. You too…" Kenta visibly stifles a sigh before he pops a slice of roast pork into his mouth and busies himself chewing it.
Toshio nods. "I am very proud to learn form Taiki-sama and Usagi-sensei. I even gave myself these to honor Taiki." He says, pointing to the triangles on his cheeks. "Right now I am hoping to be on a team with Sayuri-chan and yasuki-san." He says with a nod.
"Sarutobi Sayuri?" Kenta asks, his interest peaked after hearing the name. He pushes his empty ramen bowl away from him and shifts so that his side is pressed against the edge of the counter. "It's good news to hear that she's on a team now. She's such a hard working person, always helping out at his mother's laundry shop whenever she's not training. If you want to be on a team with her, she should speak with the team leader. I've only spoken to you for a little while, but you seem very level headed to me."
"Well according to the paperwork we are already on the team but our team leader hasnt gathered us yet together." Toshio says with a nod before eating more ramen. "Our team leader is Uchiha Ryo-san." He says with a nod. "Almost call him Baldie-san." He says with a nervous chuckle.
Kenta's brows knit together, but he tentatively says, "I doesn't sound very respectful, but guess if he doesn't mind being called Baldie-san, then there's no harm to it…" The young shinobi doesn't sound very convinced of his own words. "I'm always very respectful to my superiors. For some reason, that seems to bother Asturo-sempai and Taizen-sempai a lot. Or maybe they think that I'm not being respectful enough." Kenta rubs at the back of his head and says with resolve, "I'll bow lower the next time I ran into them and see if that makes them frown less."
"Meant I almost called him that when we first met." Toshio says as he chuckles. "I know Atsuro-san, and he seems to be a good guy." He says with a nod. "I try to be respectful too. I am not one of the clans so I work extra hard to prove my worth." He says with a nod.
Toshio gets an unexpected smile from Kenta. It's faint, but genuine and lightens up his expression noticeably. "We have that in common." The older shinobi pulls out a wallet shaped like a fat cat from one of his vest's pouches and leaves some money on the counter. "I have to return to the hospital and do some more studying at the library tonight. There's some medical jutsu that I hope the scrolls can help me figure out." Kenta slips off his stool and gives Shiro a grave nod. "Have a good evening, Toshio-kun."
"I hope you have a good evening too, Chuunin-san." Toshio says with a smile as he puts some money down to pay for his own bowl and leaves soon.
