Initial Greetings [Private]

Riku immediately announced that she had the southern district and Akemi nodded. The way that she spoke sounded final, as if there was nothing more to say but to get going. With a chuckle, he hefted the bag more onto his shoulder, smiling. He was more than excited to do this, especially when Satori suddenly clapped his hands and announced that they should make it a contest.

“Oooh, a contest?” He smiled and looked at his friends. “I wouldn’t mind something if I win, but I just want to test myself and see how much faster I should work on getting, honestly.” He stretched a few times, getting ready to move out immediately. It was a good way to test his skills and see how much more he needed to improve.

“Whenever you guys are ready,” he replied with a big smile.

The mention of a contest caught Riku's interest, but the prize was what truly motivated her. Satori's mothers were excellent cooks and any confection crafted by one of them was worth a little extra effort. The female genin perked up visibly, clearly on board with Satori's suggestion.

She nodded once and said, "let's start."

Riku would worry about talking with her teammates after their packages were delivered. Ultimately, they were here as professionals to complete a job. There wasn't any reason to hang around once they were done discussing strategy.

Fingers flexing around the strap of her bag, the blue haired genin watched Satori to see if he would list any further conditions for the contest or give advice. If not, she would leave.

[8]

Satori grinned as the pair agreed with the idea of having a little competition. He could have put in a punishment, but that wasn't really his style. So, with this, he nodded once as they both agreed. He offered no advice, purely because if this was a competition they'd want the contest to be an honest trial. So, with that he simply grinned.

"Begin!" he stated enthusiastically, before spinning on his heel and dashing toward the far-off wall of the nearest building heading north. Dashing forward as his chakra clung to his feet, allowing him to run up the wall as if it were the floor before taking off toward his specified district itself. He had little doubt the other two would waste time either, it would come down to creativity and efficiency for the little competition of theirs.

Akemi gave a smile as he readied himself alongside Satori and Riku. Here was the chance to test himself against his friend and his friend’s girlfriend, or whatever the hell they wanted to call each other. Akemi didn’t really care what they were to one another, it had no bearing on his life or his work. He simply had to train himself to the point that it didn’t matter who or what he was up against. He would get to the point that even the jinchuriki wouldn’t beat him.

“Right!” The moment that Satori said to begin Akemi took off, jumping up and grabbing hold of a nearby pipe, before leaping up a few stories. The moment that he landed on the rooftop he took off running. He needed to get to the north district as quickly as possible, the desire to beat Satori and Riku pushed him faster than he’d gone in quite a while. He had to go at full speed to be as fast as he could be. “Just you wait. I’ll be one of the best shinobi that the Kirigakure has.”

Once Satori gave the command to start, Riku formed a hand seal before dashing away with chakra enhanced speed. She ran towards the southern district, bag of packages clamped securely under her arm. Once the speed boost wore off, she slowed and pulled out her map again. She peered into her bag and marked off the general locations of the addresses. The blue haired teen had already marked off the general trajectory of her route and most of the specific locations fell along that line.

If she was quick about it, the efficiency of her system would give her an edge in the competition. Riku used another body flicker to take her closer to her first stop and kept running afterwards. Her speed was in need of work anyway. Riku didn't slow again until she reached her first location.

The female genin knocked on the door and delivered a few parcels to the young woman who answered the door. Once this was done, Riku took to the roofs to avoid the crowd and travel faster between stops, keeping her map out to guide the way.

[9]

Satori's mind was in overdrive. The memorized streets flashing through his mind's eye as he planned out the specifics of where he needed to go in rapid succession. It meant his focus was a bit off now, but it would pay off tremendously later as his brain applied each mental 'snapshot' of the letter packages, addresses, and were on the route he'd need to go in what order to maximize the efficiency of it all.

Tactitian Ability.

Opening his mind he came to a halt and focused on his surroundings. He had the plot in his mind, memorizing it all, working it out at high speeds, his mind was practically built for outpacing opponents. Grinning he lowered his body, and used his unnatural speed and flexibility. Blurring with a usage of the body flicker combined with his natural genetics, Satori was off. Flickering rapidly without any worry for the burnt chakra, he had plenty in the tank. Letters were delivered quickly and efficiently, one after another without a single wasted step or moment.

The mental plan and map he'd been following working perfectly as he skipped out on using roads, instead using the rooftops and shaving off every second he could. It would be disrespectful not taking this little challenge seriously.

Akemi couldn't help but be, well, idiotically jovial, so basically himself, as he leapt from roof to roof. In truth he wasn't so concerned with the competition, but was more focused on how speedily he could complete this task. In a way he knew that it was only slightly useless since Satori was much faster than him and Riku probably was too. He had a lot to improve on, were he to be honest, and thus he was using this time to simply work on his speed. The two of them were much more fantastic and incredible.

Akemi was honest with himself that he would most likely come in last place in their little competition, but that didn't bother or depress him. Instead it spurred him onwards. Every time he fell behind he felt a burning drive to push forward, to be better than he was the other day. These two really fueled that, but it wasn't just them. Every shinobi that he saw that was much better than him lit a fire in his heart that burned to push himself, that raged and commanded him to get better, faster and stronger than he was when he'd first seen them. This was, perhaps, the one thing that made him special. He didn't just have a drive to be better, his mind commanded that he be better than he was last time. He shivered, excitedly, at the thought of losing to them as that would simply serve as a lesson for what he could and needed to improve on.

Even so, as the excitement began dying down in his head, his body began to tell him that he needed to take this seriously and move faster. If he weren't to give this his all, then what was the purpose of agreeing to this event? His smile only widened as he looked at the people below him and began flickering down with the jutsu they'd learned in the academy, depositing a letter and then immediately leaping back to the rooftops. He had no doubt in his mind that Satori had thought of a similar strategy, Akemi's own being based on when he'd joined his friend's family in the hunt.

But as his delivering pace began to pick up and he moved through the north he couldn't help but wonder about Riku's strategy. While they'd worked together and were fairly good friends, he knew next to nothing about her typical fighting strategy, nor of her overall abilities. Well, here he would at least find out. He'd have to ask later how she'd moved. There was no telling what could be useful, after all.

Using Flashstep between deliveries made them speedier, but was also tiring. With a huff, Riku realized she would have to slow down for a bit. Her speed without chakra increasing it wasn't where she wanted it to be, but this mission would be part of fixing that. Riku ran, pushing her muscles with willpower instead of chakra to keep going as quickly as possible.

To make up for her lack of physical speed, the blue-haired genin decided to increase the efficiency of her process. She memorized the addresses of the next few packages and raced to those, knocking on the door before leaving the parcels outside and returning to the rooftops. Her muscles burned from the constant running and jumping and her breathing came in heavy pants, but Riku was too stubborn to give up. After all, where her body might fail to perform, she could make up for it with strategy. At the same time, pushing her physical limits to grow stronger would increase the possibilities available to her.

After delivering the last package, Riku formed the hand seal and used chakra enhanced speed to run back to their meeting point. Who would be there first? Probably Satori, if Riku was honest with herself, but the quicker she went to find out, the more likely she was to beat him there.

[10]

Satori delivered one after another, his mind entirely focused on the route and plan that he had come up with. Like a mental game of chess where each movement he performed was a turn on the board, Satori let go of each parcel quickly and efficiently. Often simply tossing them into their correct location, he barely stopped for anything other than shifting the direction he was running. His massive stores of chakra eased that tremendously, as even when the usage of the body flicker began to wear on him a bit more than he was comfortable he could just shift into a top-speed run instead with little wear on his stamina by comparison.

When the final package dropped into its slot, Satori had specifically timed it so the last package he delivered was already right next to their meeting site. Instead of targeting it first, in order to cut off that much more time. Launching himself over the final rooftop Satori landed with a thud against the ground a few meters from where he'd initially taken off. Glancing around and noticing the other two hadn't yet arrived, he grunted softly before he finally fell into a seated position on the bench.

His tactics and ability to map out the situation perfectly had allowed him to do what he'd been aiming for without burning too much energy. In return though, he hadn't actually made some grand show of superiority. It wasn't a few moments later that his ear twitched slightly as the sound of running footsteps filled the air and he grunted. It was a close competition then, good. Smiling he focused toward the sound, curious who was coming in a close second.

It was a humorous game to Akemi, seeing who could deliver the most amount of mail in the shortest amount of time. He flipped, grabbed hold of things to propel himself up, or left, or right or whatever other direction he needed to go and changed quickly. He never accessed the body flicker technique until he'd changed directions, while opening mailboxes to stuff them full or setting a package down on someone's stoop. It was all pretty fun, and he couldn't help but laugh a bit while he went.

His thoughts turned to his friends again, as he finished placing the last parcel where it belonged and headed back towards their rendezvous point. Satori would definitely be their waiting and, if he'd taken too long, then Riku would be there with him the two of them inseperable as always.

He chortled a bit to himself as he began considering the future and the thought of Satori leading the Ryuutei, as he no doubt would, with Riku as one of his wives came to mind. He couldn't help but draw quite a bit of mirth from the idea, though it was something that his mother had been hinting at. It didn't matter, in the long run. Whether or not Satori and Riku ended up together wasn't one of his concerns. He'd noticed that some of his classmates had begun exploring the idea of "relationships" of a romantic variety. He didn't have enough time for such silliness. There was still too much to be done, too many techniques to be made and books to be read.

Yet as he allowed his mind to wander onto some of the more minute parts of the life that they were growing into, he hadn't noticed that he'd been nearing the rendezvous. Much to his chagrin, however, he noticed that there was only one figure on the nearby benches and not two, as he'd been hoping. Yet, as he'd guesstimated, the wild mane of Satori was the sight that first greeted him and he couldn't help but smile as he came to a stop, panting somewhat.

"Heya...Satori!" Akemi smiled and took in a few breaths before looking around. "Riku not back yet?"

In a blue blur, Riku arrived at the meeting place. She took a few moments to catch her breath while looking around to see who else had already arrived.

"Ah," she said, "Satori-kun won." It was said without surprise, as if she were commenting on rain after it had been overcast all day.

Controlling her breaths, she began to straighten her outfit and relax her muscles. Looking over to Akemi, she said, "Good job to you too, Akemi-san."

Finally settling down and recovered, she looked to Satori to see what they would do next. She was a bit miffed at being beaten, but quashed the feeling down. Mission time was not the time to reflect on frustrations.

[11]

As both of them landed within moments of one another, Satori chuckled. "It was close in many ways it seems," he pondered idly before he slowly hauled himself up to his feet. Stretching his arms above his head before he grinned.

"Should we drop off the empty bags and let them know we finished then head toward the market district, then?" he inquired simply with a smile before straightening a bit and moving toward that direction once more. It was clear that they had a variety of skillsets, really. Riku at the moment probably was the least physically fit of their group, but the most intelligent and had the most potent bloodline ability of them. Her knowledge of poisons and herbs was superior as an arsenal as well.

Akemi was a good all-rounder, as was Satori, they just had separate focuses at the moment. Intertwining his fingertips behind his head as he walked the tall boy grinned down at the pair curiously.

"What methods did you guys use?" he inquired simply, "also, I'll share the treat," he stated simply. It was only fair, the contest was incredibly close, and besides--he got the treats all the time. No reason not to share them.

Only a few seconds behind him, Riku came running in breathing deeply and finally taking a few breaths. Akemi gave a grin as Riku said that he'd done a good job as well. Both of them knew that Satori would've been the one to make it there first, and it came as no surprise to Akemi. Giving a few stretches, he was about to tell her that she'd done a good job too, but looking at her, he couldn't feel like that might've been a bad thing to do.

"Yeah, well when you're just a normal guy you'll take any victory you can get." He smiled and looked over at their friend. "When you ain't a Ryuutei or a Riku you need to learn how to be faster or stronger...or at least more adaptable." He chuckled a bit looking at Satori. "And, yeah I think that we should return the empty bags. It's the most respectful thing to do." There were things that slightly disappointed Akemi, namely the fact that both of them had special bloodlines, and here he was super normal. It made him realize that he would have major work to do in order to keep up with either of them in the future.

Slinging the bag over his shoulders, Akemi watched Satori and started heading in the direction of the post office. "I started at the end of the south district and moved back inwards, utilizing body flicker whenever I needed to change direction. Otherwise I just kept using my surroundings to move about the town." He looked back to his friends. "What about you, Satori-san?" He chuckled and grinned looking at his taller genin. Yet his mind swam with the potential strength of both Riku and Satori. These two would become increasingly powerful beings, and he began realizing how much work he would have to do to come close to keeping up with them. He would get stronger, and he would be able to stand alongside them and they would protect the Kirigakure.

Her brow raised perhaps a centimeter at Akemi's comment on being neither a Ryuutei nor her. It was an odd statement if only because her abilities weren't unique to her. There was an entire clan of people who prided themselves on their ability to liquefy. Then again, Aekmi might not have thought of that. Riku hadn't run into anyone from the clan this far. Perhaps he didn't think of her as associated with the Hozuki. That possibility bothered her, though Riku wasn't sure why. She shrugged it off mentally.

Instead of focusing on that, she joined the two boys on the walk towards the post office and waited to hear Satori's answer to Akemi's question.

Riku suspected he had used his superior speed and stamina to do the route faster coupled with am efficient path. He wouldn't need to check his map because of his memory, so that meant he could move just as efficiently as they had, but faster.

Akemi's approach was similar to what Satori has likely done, but with less use of chakra enhanced speed. Riku wondered about the short boy's chakra levels. He seemed to have used much less of it than either she or Satori.

[12]

Satori grunted at Akemi downplaying himself, his gaze trailing toward the sky.

"Don't use your blood as a crutch. There have been plenty of legendary ninja without bloodlines... our blood is a blessing as much as it is a curse," he stated idly glancing toward him. He had a habit of this. Putting himself in the 'not special' box, as if bloodlines or talents really meant that much. Besides, Akemi knew how little his bloodline had to do with his own skillset. It was an insult to tell someone that worked as hard as he did that their blood made it unfair.

Satori didn't take it that way--but many others would. Prodigies that didn't work hard rarely existed.

"As far as my strategy, I just memorized the map and plotted the route using the rooftops following direct routes along the power lines," he explained idly pointing upward at the lines that dotted the blocks. "It meant I could count by blocks and know exactly where I was without having to check anything. Combined with the route and an occasional body flicker." With that he shrugged and glanced down at Riku with a slight smile as well, a silent statement she should chime in. A bit of give and take wouldn't hurt.

Once they neared the door, he pushed it open so that they could drop off the bags with calls of thanks from the man before he shifted their direction toward the marketplace instead.

“Right, right…” he muttered at Satori’s comment, though he still retained his smile. Slips of the tongue were never good things, and he hadn’t meant it to sound like it most obviously had, that all of their strength wasn’t the results of the extensive training they did. Boy oh boy would his mom have been upset if she had heard him say that. “It was dumb of me to say, and I hope you’ll accept my apology ‘bout it. You two are some of the hardest workers that I know and that’s where your strengths come from, I know.”

His smile didn’t undermine the sincerity of his words. He hadn’t meant what he’d said about their bloodlines being the sole cause of their strengths, lord knows they worked harder than he did half the time. Akemi knew that a lot of great ninja didn’t have special blood; it was pretty much always the result of hard work. Maybe it was just his normal thought of feeling like he was behind them. Yeah, that was probably it.

Scratching at the back of his head, he listened to Satori describe how he’d won so handily.  Memorization, and rooftops, along with the occasional body flicker technique. Yeah, that all sounded pretty much like the guy, and Akemi nodded at the explanation.

“Sounds about like ya. Very pragmatic and strategic, I like it.” Then he chuckled a bit, as if he’d made some kinda joke, despite how serious he was about it all. It was the wonderful thing about these two. They were good people whether hanging out or doing missions with they seemed like they’d be good friends and allies for years to come.

“Ok, so what should we do at the market first?” he asked, as they left from dropping off the mailbags. “I wanna drop by some of the weapon stalls, if we can!”

Akemi immediately backpedaled when Satori called him out for attributing strength to blood instead of hard work. Riku looked at the short ninja, but didn't give any indication to what she thought of his apology. How much weight should she give what he said when he was clumsy with his words and took them back so easily? She turned her attention to their surroundings for the rest of the walk back to the post office.

As they left, Akemi suggested going shopping. "We could start another mission. The trash gathering mission will allow us to walk around the Market and get a look at the shops." She wanted to focus on their tasks and worry about leisurely activities afterwards. However, harshly making that point would probably make Satori disappointed in her. Thus, the blue-haired girl tried to be polite and consider what Akemi wanted to do as well as getting their missions for the day done.

[13]

Satori glanced down at Akemi as he took his words back so quickly. More than likely the young man was just struggling to properly formulate a conversation due to his insecurity with such situations. Riku was an anomaly to him, and he knew that he himself was still a bit of an oddity to Akemi. They'd bonded quite a bit, but actual social conversations had been less about normal topics and more in regards to combat tactics and the like.

Most of their interactions, in general, had been on the topic of combat, actually. Releasing a breath his gaze slid toward the stalls and instead focused on the next conversation topic: what to do next.

"Mn. We can just knock out two birds with one stone. The mission is to clean up around the shops and help neaten up in general, it doesn't really specify where just to do what we can. Let's focus on the weapons and armory areas and do what we can to neaten everything up and clean. Knock out two things in one go then head on to the administrative building for the re-paint to wrap everything else up. How's that sound?" he glanced between the pair curiously afterward with an arched brow.

Without a second thought, Akemi felt the overwhelming desire to shrink down and disappear, or at least be away from this conversation that he’d made more awkward than was practically necessary. He shouldn’t have said what he did; he’d made it sound like his two friends had only gotten this far because of their blood, which wasn’t even remotely true. Riku was constantly looking up and experimenting with different herbs and concoctions, while Satori was hard at work getting faster, stronger and better than he was the previous day. Perhaps it was jealousy that had brought such an insulting sentence to light, or maybe it was just the thought of how much he needed to improve still. Whatever the case, his cheeks were flushed a light pink. How he wished he was elsewhere.

Yet, at the same time, he knew that this was the best way to get to know someone else, was to talk about a lot of different things and gauge their reactions. It wasn’t his ideal way, he would simply have pulled all the information out of their heads, but it was the best way to build trust and form an effective team. And as prospective shinobi of the Kirigakure, it was the least that he could do to give his all to these two. There were sure to be others that he’d have to meet and such interactions would help.

Riku’s suggestion of immediately starting another mission got under his skin a bit, though the biggest reaction was a slight frown in thought. He wasn’t outright dismissing her idea, but thought that a tiny bit of relaxing would do them some good before taking on the next mission. That was when Satori brought up something of a compromise: doing the cleanup mission in the same area as the weapons and armory shops. That would allow them to both clean up as well as check out what was currently in stock and THEN they would wrap it up by doing some painting at the admin building.

Akemi scratched at his chin for a few seconds, toying with the idea of killing two birds with one stone in his head, before finally putting his hands behind his head as they walked along. “Sounds good to me. Don’t worry though, I’ll keep my eyes on making sure that I keep cleaning.” He smiled, but also couldn’t wait to get to check out the different weapons, one of the curses of his passion. Still, he had ideas for a few different taijutsu methods as well as some ninjutsu techniques.