Crossing paths

It was about four thirty in the morning when Ka had finished his training within the abandoned village within Kohaigakure, the crisp night air keeping his body awake, not that he needed to sleep anyways. After watching the preliminary fights for the Chunin exams he felt that it would benefit him if he had gotten himself prepared for whatever his next opponent would have in store for him. He was pretty confident in his own abilities of course, but seeing the winners made the young Jiko heir want to step up his game. A couple of people in particualr sparked his interest, while only one of the two looked like they would be a real challange for him that it got him excited. So after Ka had finished his training he would continue walking through the abandoned village until he saw someone in the distance, who could it be at this hour?

Why did the blood still bother her? She was supposed to be stronger than this, or was she? Perhaps she was never destined to rise high in the ranks, perhaps how squeamish she was would hold her back but then again, she had won, she was moving onto the next round. If she didn't hold out hope for her future then she would have given up before now... But she didn't want to become like the others, those that just accepted death, that didn't care about whether or not they killed. Summer didn't want to become cold like that, so empty and hollow that not even the sight of someone else's broken body on the ground, their blood on one's hands would bother her.

She stood in the training grounds anyway, exercising the fear and the anxiety away. Her forehead protector was pulled down so that it covered both of her eyes, not just her Kyougan. Another reminder of a person she had killed but it was kill or be killed and she wasn't going to abandon her friends. Summer took a deep breath and reached down, drawing one of her normal swords, rather than her true samurai ones, and started to run through basic kata and foot movements for Geka Seido. Her movements were precise, drilled into her by herself over and over again, she wasn't going to be a failure, she had always set her goals high but now she was questioning herself... It was going to hold her back if she didn't find a way to stop it. However at this moment she let herself get lost in the sharp movements of Geka Seido, blade cleaving through the air as easily as it would flesh, each movement accompanied by a soft exhale of air and a whistling of her blade as it came to a stop.

As Ka continued to walk towards the unknown person, he could clearly see that the person was swinging a sword around like she was trying to defeat something, and yet no one was there. He could almost see in the dark on who it was, and from what he could tell it had to be one of the other girls from the preliminary fights. The one girl didn't seem to use swords during her fight, so it would lead him to think that it was the girls known as Summer. She had an interesting fight to say the least, almost made Ka admire her if she didn't have the same abilities as he himself possessed, so maybe do a little extra recon could pay out in the long run. He would make his way closer to her and would start to clap as he moved. "The air looks like it can't take any more damage, take a break for now" He said as he stopped clapping, yet would continue to move towards the girl. "Names Ka Jiko, your name is Summer right? I recognize you from the war council meeting"

Meanwhile about 50 feet away hiding in a tree,stalking observing her teammate while chewing on some dango was Jazz. She was conducting research on the various individuals either too poor or stupid enough to not train in private training areas. So far she hadn't gotten much information but today perhaps she would get lucky after all she had spotted her Baka teammate trying to talk to that other girl the Geka Seido swordswoman from the exams. "Ara ara...is little Ka growing up, no it's too early for him he's the late blooming type he's probably only focused on her weapons rather than her assets." Jazz thought to herself while munching away trying to revitalize herself after her blood donation earlier in the day how stressful it was to constantly draw her blood but, it would be worth it in the end. For now she would just relax and watch them interact maybe more would possibly show up watching the interactions of her supposed peers would be quite....interesting.

Still she was ultimately bored there were no Artists in the exams this year, to be honest she was looking forward to showcasing her own skill against those who could truly appreciate the craftsmanship she put into her very first collection. But...with no one to compete against what was even the point. No the Allied Shinobi Nations had no one who could compete against her, not in anything she cared about anyways. Strength, Xel, Influence they were only means to an end, her only concern was her art and recently she had been pondering things..things like how the "Clan of Puppetry" were located in the Shogunate and how the ASN & the Shogunate had entered a ceasefire not too long ago. This was something that interested her as a cease-fire just meant that they wouldn't destroy each other but tension was still high, who better to bring them closer together if not someone like her.

Lynx had informed her of the clan member who currently was Pledge Queen was currently based in the West Continent and she would need her Regalia in the future, so a secondary goal would be collecting that for the clan. Why not use that to further her own goals while holding the ambassadorial position for the ASN. "Sigh, but to do that I'll have to beat all of them, which is so much work. So why don't all of you do me a favor and show me your weaknesses so I can crush you all without too much effort...hm? she thought to herself her feet currently moving back and forth as she continued laying on her stomach and eating dango.