Research (Finished)

Despite graduating from the academy recently, Katsumi still had homework to do.  Not as part of her official duties as a genin of the Hidden Mist Village, but as the scion of the Tamashiha house.  Mother had instructed her to continue researching various traditions of the Land of Fire.  Her family often served as negotiators and diplomats, especially the clan matriarch, her mother.  In a few weeks mother was going to be sent on a diplomatic mission to the Hidden Leaf Village, and wanted Katsumi to accompany her.  

As a result, this morning found the young Tamashiha in the library, several volumes of books on the Land of Fire and the Hidden Leaf Village; ranging from history, traditions, and notable persons.

Rei was sitting at a desk that had almost twice the amount of weight in books as she herself weighed, then she had a brush, an empty glass of ink and a number of different scrolls tossed around with different scroll-work and runes all over them flopped around. Rei had ink on her face, some spots on her clothes and was now shifting as she read another book on jutsu.

She pushed some scrolls off the table she had taken over and went back to looking for a scroll she saw previously looking for a different mathematical solution to the space problem she was having. You see, Rei for all her intelligence, choose smarts as he skill rather than power. Eventually she found the scroll she was looking for and copied a piece of the information to another scroll that was fresh. She thought, waving the brush around then writing something else.

Once she was done fiddling she lifted her fingers into a ram symbol and said a keyword, and the scroll simply smoked into nothing. "NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FOILED AGAIN." She stated as she tossed the scroll and went over to Katsumi and looked at the books she had. "Oh can I have that one?!" She asked about the chakra change basics of older ninja wars that included Konoha that Tamashiha had.

Katsumi smiled warmly Rei as she requested for the book, despite the blunt and somewhat rude way she had asked.  In stark contrast to the ink-stained genin, Katsumi looked practically immaculate, wrapped in a semi-formal kimono and carefully handwritten notes in beautiful calligraphy laid out in front of her to organize her thoughts.  

Katsumi had scanned through the book that Rei was requesting, and while it might contain useful background information on the Land of Fire, she had other books with more important information.  She glanced over at the haphazard-looking pile of scrolls and texts that Rei already had piled in front of her.  The girl was smart, but only worked hard when something interested her.

She slid the text across the table to the other genin, "Absolutely, Taneshima-san.  I hope you find what you require."

Rei nodded to Katsumi. "Thank you!" She said though it wasn't polite and it had a hint of both the fact that she looked like a lunatic and that the other girl as she scrambled to open the text and start skim reading for the notes on sealing chakra changes. She looked for more ink around her and found absolutely none, so she wandered off for a minute before returning with another ink vase and looking back at Tamashiha and nodding as she thought about how to change the runes and scroll work before going back to a look for a free scroll in the large stack.

"Where is it where is it?" She said, when she had come in she had a whole stack of them, and now that she had added books, more scrolls and a bunch of other things, it had all gone horribly. Rei found one and then stared at it before putting her brush down on the scroll and slowly changing the runes with a bit more flare. "So what are you trying to learn?" She asked absently to the other girl as she stuck out her tongue and bit it as she concentrated.

The result, was actually more along the line that Rei wanted. Though, it wouldn't have looked like it, as chakra pressure pressed down on everything on Rei's side. Less than a second later it seemed that the young genin was out of energy to power the scroll she had created.

Katsumi had already put Rei out of her mind by the time the girl came back with additional ink.  She was deep into the ceremonial practices in the Land of Fire; most weren't any different than the rest of the world, but there were some minor things that she would have to make note of.  So she did; adding more delicate script to her extensive pages of notes.  For the most part, she was trying to tune out the distractions in the room, and part of her mind registered that Rei was asking her a question.

"Oh, I am researching the traditions and histories of the Land of Fire, specifically the Hidden Leaf Village."  She wanted to get back to it, but not returning Rei's curiosity would be rude. Carefully marking her spot in the page, Katsumi turned to the other genin to show she was giving Rei with her full attention, "What are you working on, Taneshima-san?"

Rei was back to biting her tongue as she focused to find another piece of scroll somewhere she could continue while flipping scrolls around to find a small scroll work from something she had looked at earlier that belonged to a older sealing technique and another that was a chakra manipulation and paused as she finally realized she had been asked a question.

"Temporal Relativity and Spacial Distortions by using Seals. It's not working well" Rei stated, which if you looked at the desk, that may have been an understatement of some kind though she didn't seem to mind in the grand scheme of things. "Why do you care about the history of Fire?" She asked as she went back to drawing a few seals around the runes she had used earlier.

Katsumi smiled politely, she had no particular assistance she could offer the other genin on her jutsu research; but it sounded interesting enough.  It was beyond what she had been taught in the academy, which further supported Katsumi's theory that Rei was far more intelligent than her class ranking implied.

She held up a finger in response to Rei's question, "The child of a frog becomes a frog."  It sounded like she was quoting someone, and she elaborated, "If I am to understand the current traditions and practices of the Land of Fire, it is important to know their histories."

That was almost a non-answer; but she assumed that Rei wasn't paying enough attention to really care.  "What precisely are you trying to accomplish, Taneshima-san?"

Rei ignored a half-answer about history and some other things that she thought were outside her realm of care or worry. She looked back at Katsumi and thought about what to say as different runes and inscriptions were placed on the next attempt at scroll work and directed images. She looked up again as she was addressed and thought about the answer. That and she wasn't sure how to answer it at all.

"Long term, make a pocket dimension, short term, slow something down or speed it up." She stated to the point as she fumbled around looking for a scroll she had read earlier. "Where's that one...." She said absent minded to nothing in particular. She was going to ask the other girl a question but her social moray issue flared up and she stopped, not knowing how to answer it.

It was definitely beyond academy theory; their teachers had barely even mentioned things like that potentially existing in their lessons.  While Katsumi was curious if Rei had successfully accomplished utilizing, much less creating, any time or space jutsu; it would have been rude to make her lie or admit failure if she had not.  She nodded politely, "I can see why that would be difficult."

Katsumi turned back towards her own texts, and continued reading; this time paying a bit of attention to the other genin, in case she asked her another question.  Politeness did not seem to be a particular quality of Rei's, but it seemed like she was at least making an effort; even if it was obvious she did not care about the answers to the questions she was asking anyone but herself.  There was no harm in taking a few seconds to respond to the other genin.

Rei was reaching, crawling and doing a ton of things that in order to go from one scroll to another. She was trying to be nice, though it was obvious she had very little in the way of get out of my way I'm studying. Then again her teacher at the academy had said the same thing. With a shift of her weight a bunch of books finally decided they had been playing jenga and slammed down on the Genin's head that was staring at another scroll.

"Ouch." She exclaimed before moving stuff around and looking over the pile at Katsumi. "Well, are you gonna do the same for other lands?" She asked.

Katsumi had produced another two pages of notes on traditions and beliefs in the Hidden Leaf Village by the time Rei expressed an interest again.  Of particular interest was the concept of the 'Will of Fire' and how it was viewed by the various clans of the region.  Some of the largest and most powerful clans in the region appeared to have traditions that directly contrasted with the 'Will of Fire.'

Katsumi turned back to Rei, shaking her head slowly, "I am certain I will eventually, Taneshima-san, but not today." She gestured at the book she had given the other genin earlier, "Was there anything useful in the text for your own studies?"

"Yea, but I don't have the chakra to make it work." She stated as she shrugged absently and looked for another piece of paper. She was wondering what the other Genin was reading and looked over at the scroll from the top of her pile of work. Which was odd because she was now standing halfway on the table, if Katsumi noticed.

"Do you study foreign cultures all the time?"

As Katsumi was looking right at Rei, she did indeed notice her standing halfway on top of the table.  However, practically every shinobi she had ever met had odd quirks in one way or another.  As long as she didn't start tramping over her notes; Katsumi could easily ignore the odd practices.

Katsumi nodded politely, "It is not an unfamiliar area of study for me, Taneshima-san.  Mother will occasionally bring me on her diplomatic missions, therefore it important that I understand the cultures I will encounter so as not to cause offense."

"We do diplomacy?" The other Genin asked looking up with a brush in her mouth as she started to stack books to bring back to the shelves. She would return later with more time on her hands if she needed to. The issue with her studies were after two or three attempts at anything, she didn't have energy anymore, even if she waited the entire day. It was interesting, though. While Rei looked like she had been through a blender, with pain all over her. She hadn't messed up any of the books or scrolls she had been studying, just her own.

Which, lead to the issue that Rei didn't have the money to keep doing this often anyway. Her family owned a small bath house but it was nothing much, so she would be forced into doing missions in order to get the cash to do so. She nodded to Katsumi as she came back for another stack of books, moving to place them back on the shelves.

Katsumi covered her mouth and giggled politely, then realized Rei might not have been joking and quickly regained her composure. "I apologize.  Yes, Taneshima-san; the armistice has not held for ten years just because of an occasional meeting of the Kages in the Land of Iron."

Katsumi made a mental note that even though Rei herself was covered in ink, and her notes were a mess; it did appear that Rei did her best to not muss the books that did not belong to her.  She even appeared to be returning the books to their correct positions; that was unexpected given how Rei generally seemed to be.  

However, even if the other genin appeared to be wrapping up, Katsumi showed no signs of stopping.  She smiled faintly, gesturing at her notes and various texts still spread out in front of her, "Peace is hard work.  War is easy for shinobi.  It is more effort to forgive than to kill."  It seemed as though the young Tameshiha was quoting someone again, "Diplomacy happens on many levels; Mizukage-sama is busy with reconstruction efforts.  Not all conversations with the other Nations and Villages can happen at that level, so mother assists Mizukage-sama in diplomatic efforts."

Rei always liked books more than people. Though her normal personality easily came out as she scoffed at a few people she passed putting things away. That and she didn't give them a second look. She was annoyed at something, but asking about it would have just sent Rei spiralling down a hole that there was probably no way to stop.

"Wouldn't know." She stated as Katsumi pointed things about the Kage and she really didn't care much about who did what when it came to war. If they all just followed her wishes, the world would be much easier to deal with. Then again, if she was in charge she would be manipulating every village by herself... which sounded like a terrible fan fiction from another world. She smiled at that and giggled as she went back to cleaning up her own stuff and the messed up scrolls.

"I'm impressed that adults listen to anyone at all." She stated. Though Katsumi was right, they were much easier to manipulate, cry a bit and boom, win. Rei closed the empty vial of ink and put the remainder of her stuff in her ninja pouch. "So why do you do it then, do they just listen to Genin?"

Katsumi shrugged slightly; it was an odd question, "Mother often says that diplomacy is the art of manipulating self-interest.  Even a Kage will listen to a Genin if it is in the Kage's interest."

There were dozens of other lessons and teachings that mother had given her on diplomacy; but she had a feeling that, while they wouldn't go over Rei's head, she just didn't really care.  She smiled softly, "But I do not expect to be addressing the Hokage.  I join Mother in order to to listen and to learn, not to perform official diplomacy."

Other children of diplomats were also at these meetings for similar reasons, and Mother encouraged her to make friends with them when negotiations were bogged down in minutiae.  Apparently some of the individuals Mother worked with had known each other since childhood when their own parents served in the same duties during the war.  If Katsumi was to eventually serve as a diplomat, forging these relationships when young would help.

Rei was used to manipulating people via a much different method. She watched actions and used people's natural instinct against them. It's why all of her plans were basically Rube Goldberg machines. Toss a coin, and everything will go horribly wrong, ending up with her on the other side with a free soda or something. Rei looked at Katsumi and thought that seemed a little, too catering to others but not something Rei could do herself.

"Well, that still seems rather difficult. Though if you learn now, are you sure it will even be relevant when we are older?" Rei asked, which in her mind was a rather pertinent question.

Katsumi smiled faintly, "I think we should all hope diplomacy is relevant when we are older.  War is what happens when diplomacy fails.  I do not know what tales you have heard from the Great Ninja War, but Mother does what she can to ensure it is not known to history as the First Great Ninja War."

A solemn expression came to her face as she gestured politely to Rei's packed pouch, "But should the armistice fail, we have other things we learn that will be more relevant than diplomacy.  For shinobi, war is the easy part."

Rei pointed something interesting out with Katsumi's point.  "Why are wars always great?" She stated to the other young girl and actually wondered why that was a thing.  She wasn't sure as to why but she was pretty sure that it was because people really had no concept of reality anymore as far as she could tell.  She didn't mind much.

"Well when you fail at diplomacy, I'll write a book about it." She stated.  Though she would probably be the one throwing a wrench in anything she could so the book might not be as polite as she was come to think about it.

Katsumi smiled, she was obviously not explaining the concept as well as Mother did.  Diplomacy was every nation's best line of defense.  Through diplomacy, peace was maintained and wars were ended.  She assumed history was not something Rei was particularly interested in, and had not paid much attention to it in the academy.  

"Before the Villages were founded, shinobi traveled with their clans, fighting for the highest bidder.   With no firm organization like the Villages, something like the Great Ninja War would have been impossible.  It is called the Great Ninja War because ninjas had never been massed in such numbers for combat before.  Great just means large or extensive in this context, not good.  Wars are always terrible."

She shrugged off the insult, though it was unclear if Rei even meant it as such, "If diplomacy fails, you will not have the time to write a book.  Writing books is for times of peace.  When you graduated from the academy you became a soldier of the Land of Water."

Rei wasn't sure what that meant at all. Sure she was a soldier, that didn't mean she was going to act like a soldier, Rei was a tactician. She was good at it too, when she wasn't coming up with a tactic to circumvent her tactic. That was Rei, controlled chaos, or just you know Tzeench in a nutshell. She thought about the people who cared about peace or war and realized she was too young to care. She nodded to noone in particular before she shifted to say something but nothing came to mind. Eventually she decided to speak again.

"Well I hope then we can get more books."

There was a long silence and Katsumi had turned back to her studying while Rei thought.  She wasn't sure what the other genin was thinking about; she hadn't meant for her last statement to be a major revelation.  Merely a statement of fact; wars were what shinobi were trained for, which is why Mother was teaching her about diplomatic practices, not the academy. Mother was quick to point out that Katsumi was only two years younger than the Tsuchikage, and did not allow youth as an excuse for ignorance or disinterest.

Eventually, Rei spoke up again, and Katsumi looked to her and smiled softly, giving a slight nod, "Then you should hope for peace, Taneshima-san."

Rei grinned back at Katsumi, but it held something else, almost the knowledge that none of this would matter later. She shifted and looked at the other Genin before thinking. She had something to say but it really wasn't going to matter how she said it. The fact was that she was getting ready to go and had a few thoughts. Most of which she would keep to herself.

"Then get to it Katsumi-chan." She stated, as if too push all of peace itself on to the shoulders of the other genin. She needed to go home and go over her tactics and strategies until it was she needed to clean her family's bath house. "Do you know what team you're on yet?" She finally added, as Rei decided that team was now going to be in charge of peace. Just to pawn it off on Katsumi.

Katsumi genuinely smiled at the familiarity offered from the other genin.  She nodded firmly, and held up  her extensive notes, "That is the plan, Rei-chan."  Katsumi showed no signs of stopping her studies as Rei prepared to leave.

She shook her head at the second question, she was looking forward to meeting her team. But whatever was delaying the assignemtns gave her the freedom to go with Mother on the diplomatic visit. "No, I do not think they have made assignments yet.  Have you heard anything about your own assignment?"