Bit of stretching

Re: A little bit of stretching in the forest does the body wonders[Free/Open RP]
Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:06 am

Osu smiled as the girl insisted on pouring their tea and the girls seemed a bit miffed that somehow their little rhyme to poke fun at their dad had been treated so… normally? And who wants to be pop idols?

Osu merely commented with a tired smile and petting both of the twins’ heads in turn, “While I do tend to encourage their creative endeavors, I would rather not encourage it when they make fun of me with poems.”

He almost answered her initial question directly but she continued and the mood dropped somewhat. After she hurt her mouth Osu simply stared at her for a minute thinking about how to best answer her concerns. The initial question regarding the ability to have a family wasn’t difficult at all, so he decided to go ahead and explain that while forming a more gentle answer to her lack of confidence and fear of death.

He began slowly, “Rather than whether or not being okay, as a shinobi the higher your rank and the older you are, the more socially unacceptable it is for you not to have children. The pressure doubles for members of clans, tripled for bloodliners. The real difficulty is finding the right person to settle down with though arranged marriages aren’t uncommon in the village, particularly with the major clans.

You mentioned that you were brought away from your family by people testing for chakra sensitives and it is all for the same core reason; chakra sensitivity is a recessive trait. In our country with some 15 million people, as well as scouting into Bear and Marsh at times looking for possible shinobi, we only have around 18,000 chakra sensitives in Kumogakure, our overall population being about 120,000. Even among the non chakra sensitive population, about everyone is a descendant, sibling, or parent of a chakra sensitive, meaning that there is a decent chance that they at least carry the gene.”

Osu paused for another moment before adding, “Of course I got into a bit of trouble with my clan for the twins being born when I was 16 and, well…not with whoever it was I was betrothed to. I know among most of the peasant class, particularly farmers it wouldn’t be too unusual to have kids at that age, but here there is more of an intention to spend your youth training and studying without distractions since it is the easiest time to grow in those areas, so I will suggest putting starting a family on the back burner for some years until you are a financially stable adult with a solid career path… plus even though the village does supply some aid for shinobi to raise children… well we aimed to provide for them beyond our means for a time which meant many sleepless weeks and taking missions with danger pay. Had a number of hearts fail on me from lack of rest,” Osu seemed to stare into a troubled past.

“But my last promotion was rather significant so we are very comfortable and relaxed now even with the new baby. I still work a lot, but I get sleep of some sort every da. We would not have had so much budget trouble if we didn’t try to live at the nicest apartment building in the best family neighborhood in the most expensive district. A chuunin salary and village aid for children of chakra sensitives in a normal district can keep a family of two parents and a child comfortable if not affluent with only the one source of income. Two proven chakra sensitives, like my partner and I, get a bit more support since any of our children are almost guaranteed to be chakra sensitives as well. Two Chuunin can have several kids and live very comfortably financially. Jounin also get a bit more aid than Chuunin for each child, whereas genin don’t get as much to sort of help encourage people to train and advance before trying to settle down.”

He didn’t have an easy answer for her concern of dying in the line of duty. His own experience was actually incredibly bleak. His classmates from the academy had rough fates, aside from himself there were only a couple others confirmed to be alive after entering active duty as shinobi these last fifteen years, he had even been considered dead for a few of those. This was far from normal, and statistically the other classes had no where near such a terrible survival rate, but it was what it was. Just because there was a low chance of something occurring didn’t mean it wouldn’t happen, but he couldn’t tell this child that. Osu thought a bit more while having a sip of tea before continuing, “When you are young there is a lot of encouragement to focus on nothing but training in whatever fields you plan to specialize in. While it is discouraging at times, it does make sense that they would rather have you learning to kill effectively when you are a child as there is a chance, despite your youth, that you will end up in dangerous situations where it could save your life, rather than encouraging you all to think about settling down and having a family which *cough* SHOULD be many years off for you… Teen parenthood is difficult and while I adore my children it is still best to wait until you are an adult yourself before going through the trials of raising kids.” Osu was being extra sure to get that point across.

“It does seem to get some youths into the wrong mindset these days… Though when I was… I… hmmm… Looking back, while I was still a student, I put the entirety of what I had into everything they gave us to learn. One of the most distinct memories I have was during a combat class we had back then, I was 8 and had recently activated my Chigokai bloodline and my sparring partner was 11 or 12 I believe and had had his Santaru bloodline for a little while. The teacher was a med chief and told us to give it everything we had and he would make sure we came out in one piece. Out of all the students I am fairly sure our fight was the most extreme. I was fairly electrocuted and had large gashes in my chest, and for my opponent… I had shot him a few times and even destroyed one of his eyes. It was called a draw since we both fell unconscious, but I, in fact, fell first and had the more threatening injuries. We were both praised for our fight despite putting a decent amount of effort into harming each other. He had to be taken to the hospital to get a replacement eye, but I had been praised for doing that to a fellow student. It was strange and rather unsettling after some time passed. I focused harder on my medical studies. But still the point was they knew that in the field if it came down to us or our opponents, we wouldn’t hesitate to strike them down first. Hesitation can kill you… but at the same time you should never enjoy killing. The ideal temperament for a shinobi is for killing to be professional necessity, you don’t kill because you enjoy to do so, you kill because your duty has made it necessary, and when you kill in duty the blame lies not in you but your orders… But the world isn’t that perfect.” Even though his class had actually been full of talented enough individuals who were trained properly it didn’t end up saving most in the end. Still, perhaps there wouldn’t be any survivors at all if their training hadn’t been so… intense.

Osu looked at the twins who appeared to have fallen asleep under the kotatsu. “My first kill, it was actually two in one go… I was days away from turning ten. Vile individuals who... but they were still people in the end. The one didn’t even know what happened while the other… they wanted to live, so much. I could see it in his eyes… I was a wreck for a while after that. I had hoped that by being a medical shinobi I wouldn’t have to kill anyone. But life has a terrible sense of humor. I have probably seen more death than most, and I don’t mean from my work in the morgue. As a doctor, I have pulled many plugs over the years, sometimes on behalf of other doctors who had trouble doing so. I have sat at the besides of others to share their final moments when they were in need of company. In the field… I have killed a number of people, not many compared to some, but certainly not few, at least the weight on my mind says it could never be few. Even more than that, I have sent people on missions that included orders to eliminate individuals at times. Those deaths are on my hands as surely as if I performed the deed myself. People who died performing said missions also will surely count against me should my life and deeds be judged when I die.

… And we all will die, and it is a scary prospect. We can’t know for sure when or how until it is already upon us... But that is true whether you are a shinobi in the field, the shogun on his throne, or a farmer in the field. Though our life expectancy is admittedly not much better than most peasant farmers. Most of us seem to go by the time we are 50 or 60 despite our strong advances in medicine. Of course should we make it past that point and maybe retire... I am fairly aware of rumors that the granny who acts as one of the head librarians of the village library is fairly ancient. What records I could find about her suggests she retired as a shinobi decades before the first Raikage of this era took the helm. I would guess she is at least about 130. She always seems like she is about to drop at any moment but she has kept on going all these years even though she refuses any medical assistance. I even once observed her heart stop before she actually punched it into beating again. But I ramble on a tangent.”

Taking another sip of tea and seeing the food arrive, two red threads gently shook the twins who groggily acknowledged with a nod and started pulling apart their chopsticks.

“I myself am not actually very good at combat… My focus is surviving not winning. There are several people around in our village who can beat me senseless, not to mention foreign shinobi who can, but killing me would take far greater effort… but I have only seriously fought with enemy chakra sensitives three times in my life, and one of those were more genetic experiments than trained combatants. The last war that had a few individuals who could fight on par with shinobi was many years ago, the demon war was also before my time but they are firmly sealed away.

More likely you will only find yourself fighting seriously against normal people, occasionally trained soldiers, mercenary bandits or pirates with weapons, though firearms have been getting rather problematic in recent years. Crossbows were bad enough as it was. Still as long as you either strike first and hard or maintain a fair defense while attacking you should be fairly safe. After you get to around Chuunin strength you should notice that most of your fights are pretty one sided unless they come at you in numbers.

I remember as a MiT once fleeing from an entire platoon of dragoons armed with rifles, one of the closest times I ever came to dying. I managed to run away by creating a thick fog and scrambling for the rooftops while they couldn’t see me. It was a bit of a pathetic and embarrassing scene looking back on it but that is how you survive at times. As long as you prioritize your missions, being unglamorous at times will be better for your health. Stealth and being good at running away is more helpful in most missions than fighting to the last body standing. Come upon a group of people with rifles in a narrow hallway? A jutsu to create a sturdy wall is more sensible initial action than a fireball. Rather than summoning a storm to help you strike down a group of bandits with lightning you can save a lot of effort and risk by slipping through the shadows, looking for prisoners and hostages, then poisoning their food or such and waiting patiently to clear them out when they are at their weakest. Rather than focusing on being strong, learn how to minimize risk, unless you wish to be like an ANBU or a Monster Hunter. Those professions will require high level combat abilities. There are actually plenty of jobs that have minimal danger attached to them, depending on what type of work you are interested in. Traveling around Lightning Country your three biggest risks of actual danger are monsters who have wandered near the road, bandits, and… well a lot of danger in the cities mostly, particularly in the eastern half of the country though the Southern cities are also becoming risky. There is a growing religion that has convinced many people that chakra sensitives are witches and monsters over the years and… well it is best not to advertise that you are a shinobi in the outside world these days. Not unless you are confident you can handle a frightened mob without harming them or letting the situation spiral.

If you see Tenouzan clergy or paladins it is best to avoid interaction completely. They can’t openly touch us due to the shogun’s influence, but the laws and attitudes of most Daimyo are more supportive of the church than they are of us so we can’t touch them either, particularly not without alienating ourselves further from the general population.” He actually had many concerns on this front and the Tenouzans actually had their own individuals who could fight on par with shinobi but hopefully that would never be a direct concern for this girl. Simply instilling a bit of caution would be enough.

“... While nothing is guaranteed, it is important to know that preparation and possessing a wide range of practical knowledge can help one make the best of the worst situations. And perhaps you should really think about your character, interests, and talents so you can find the occupation best suited for you as that not only improves your likelihood of living for many years to come, but also helps keep you in a healthy frame of mind and more able to start and provide for that family you wish for one day. For instance as difficult and stressful as it has been at times, my love for my work and the amount of good it provides helps me make it through some of my bleaker moments, not to mention it has challenged me in ways that have kept me from getting bored. I would like to stress that while we are all shinobi and kunoichi, we actually have a wide range of professions and specialties split among us. I even have a friend who was… is obsessed with maids so she mainly takes long term field work as a undercover bodyguard for a wealthy family up north and prances around in a maid uniform at all times… though she is terrible at cooking and cleaning and all actual maid work... She is a rather silly example, but proof all he same that it is possible to incorporate your interests and hobbies into your work as a shinobi.”

Oh he had better eat some before his food got cold. He clapped his hands and silently thanked Raiden for his meal and began enjoying the food that had been sitting in front of him since part way through his explanation.

The twins had their own thoughts though. “I want to sleep and eat sweets all day,” commented Yukiko.

“I want to raid old tombs, Daimyo palaces, and the Shogun’s house to leave pranks and be really rich,” nodded Karasuko.

Osu coughed while sipping his tea and looked at his daughters with a troubled and tired look. “That… why don’t you two focus a bit more on your Kunoichi Scout activities to see if there are maybe other things that interest you more?”

““Okay,”” the twins replied obediently even though they were fairly sure of what they wanted to do at this point.
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"A real man emanates an aura of manliness that cannot be hidden, no matter what clothes he may wear." -Kusunoki Yukimura
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User avatarIrie Airi
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Re: A little bit of stretching in the forest does the body wonders[Free/Open RP]
Fri Jan 25, 2019 11:55 pm

As Airi was fanning the flames of her tongue she blinked back tears. Osu was taking her time thinking about the best way to answer her. Really she was not expecting anything along the lines of an answer but apparently the older shinobi did in fact have wisdom on the matter.

When Osu began explaining that as they got older and depending on their skills people who were chakra sensitive we told to have children with other chakra sensitive people she wondered why? Something about jeans or another…she figured it must have something to do with Science though she admitted as an eleven year old she did not fully understand the concept. What she did get was this, they needed children who could also become shinobi so they wanted shinobi to have kids. So that way more shinobi were made. She nodded at this still feeling a little blue on the matter.

The next bit of information that came through was do not worry about having kids at least for another good long while, also known as wait to be a Jounin. It is not like Airi planned to be a mother anytime soon but she admitted to think at eighteen with this line of work she really hoped she was at least in a strong relationship with someone. She mentioned that maybe two Chuunin could if they did not ask for the best of the best which Airi could agree she was not planning to live a swanky life. She sipped her drink a bit more before listening to the rest.

Airi was surprised that Osu might have been in an arranged marriage. She could not imagine the weird feelings that could have went into something like that.

Airi was shocked when Osu mentioned what had happened in one of her academy classes. Airi could not begin to imagine doing what she did to one of her classmates. The fact they made them fight so hard seemed…well wrong. She figured there was a reason they made them go so hard but even still…Airi felt a little sick to her stomach imagining even watching that. Never enjoy killing be but be prepared to do it. Do not hesitate or else she would die. These were the biggest point she felt for the whole evening for her. She needed to do her best to survive and a even a small amount of resistance would be the death of her. She needed to remember this. Even a sweet person like Osu told her this…it must be true.

Considering the fact that Osu’s first kill had been when she was ten…really threw off Airi. She was eleven and was still crying about it. She really needed to get her act together. Airi knew at some point she would die but when mentioning that the medical field had just as much death really shocked her. She even knew that Osu may have come to love some of those people. It must have been so hard to make those decisions. Between Byakko-san and Osu-san her entire thoughts on the medical field were really off the mark. At first being a doctor had seemed like the right idea but now? She really was not so sure on the matter.

At this point the food arrived and despite the interesting one sided conversation, her eyes sparkled at the food. It looked absolutely amazing…her stomach growled when it was placed in front of her and she broke apart her chopsticks. “Thank you for the food.”

She could not resist beginning to nom on her noodles. Osu mentioned she was training for survival and Airi thought maybe she should follow that similar school of thought. Not focus on killing but on living. When she mentioned the experiments and demons Airi shivered but figured it might be worth a trip to the library to meet the old lady and to gain more knowledge on the matter.

Osu went through a number or realistic scenarios though the one that really stood out to her was the Tenouzan Paladins. They sounds really cool and noble but knowing that she was what they were really against kind of made her nervous. Still she added it to the list of things that she should really research more. Osu also mentioned that she should really focus on her talents and passions. When Osu mentioned the maid person Airi could not help but giggling and feeling better.

“That is amazing…I cannot believe someone would get a job like that.”

The twins had a lovely comment about what they wanted to do and Airi could not help but love them and enjoy their evil little company. It made her really wonder though what it was that she wanted to do. She still had no real ideas and was winging it. She really needed to get on the ball.

She sipped some more noodles and took in some broth as well making sure to blow on it better than tea incident earlier. “Thank you so much for your knowledge…I am not quite sure how I can ever pay you back for this evening but…I promise to do my best.”

She really had a bad habit of wanted to help others who helped her. Maybe she should try and baby sit? Though she already imagined that would go over terribly. The twins did not seem to like her and she had no experience with kids younger than her.

“If I can ever help you…will you let me know?” She figured Osu would never call upon her but she wanted to be clear the offer was open.

“I know you warned me but the Tenouzan Paladins sound cool. Like I would be okay fighting for a righteous and noble reason. Not that I am saying they are but I just…hope I can have an idea I could wield as a blade myself someday.”

It was a weird thought but who knows?