Admiring the beauty

The desolent day, one that could only be filled with apathy. It was much like that again. Another day which Anti wasted wandering off into the depths of Amegakure, without aim, without any need. He had begun to feel less needed around this land lately. After all, the resistance was a full success and the country was under the solid governmental hand of it's new leader, Seraph. The missions increased and the number of Ame-nins becoming missing-nins was minimized so much that it was like the comparison of size between ant and elephant.

Now Anti was walking through the streets of the industrialized Amegakure. He saw children playing out in the rain, some others playing in a playground that actually had a roof over it. Quite funny. Kids like them would have suffered under total poverty not even a decade ago. It was all thanks to Seraph after all, but sadly that man was also the only one being honored for the success of the resistance. Of course, he had founded it and finally brought the fall of the tyrant, but what's with those many shinobi that lost their lives protecting the information of the Anti-Tyrant movement and those that fell in missions? A mere monument somewhere at the outer rim of Amegakure. Would that be where Anti would be remembered also?

He sighed. The triviality of his own existance had caught up to him once more. He had lost the will to keep going, but maybe that was just because he was of no use currently. Those few missions that were given out by Seraph mostly went to Jounins with a Genin Squad or to four-men chuunin squads. Jounins, like Anti, who operated alone were sent maybe on one or two B-ranked missions. Soon there would be another one ready for him. . . Nothing he was looking forward to. The rain was pouring onto him as he walked through the streets, slowly moving towards the outer areas of Amegakure and finally coming to a stop. Osira, Anti was already completely soaked from the rain, he didn't own any clothes either that didn't get wet easily, like waterproof clothing which is very common and cheap around this area. Anti's gaze wandered off, spaced out as he stared at the mountain-high buildings that had been occupying the village hidden in the rain for many decades.

Kirei passed over the streets with the practiced eye of a merchant. While the children could frolic, the adults all seemed too busy to talk to anyone in particular with a slightly self-absorbed air. This perceived unfriendliness might put off the average bystander, but it was also a sign of success, of financial growth. The fact that all these people had things to do meant that the village had many jobs, and also that these jobs required much attention, meaning that the city was still experiencing growth. For a moment, Kirei was tempted to perhaps establish operations in this city. But, were he to start a business in this city of growth, he would never emerge near the top. At best, he would be a gear in the vast machinery of this village. An important gear, but nothing but a gear, not the person who ran the machinery. Not to mention that the very thing that had allowed Rain to (in between periods of war) reach its urban prosperity, its status as a crossroad of east and west, was the very thing that made it such a frequent battlefield. This village’s market value would probably be always fluctuating. And as any businessman knows, a market that isn’t stable isn’t worth investing in. For a moment, Kirei noticed the bloke staring at the building. He, at least, seemed thoroughly idle. A beggar, Kirei would have thought, and the fact that he didn’t seem capable of buying even the inexpensive waterproof clothes that were sold everywhere in this city seemed to corroborate that story. And yet, he did not carry himself either with the humility of a beggar, but with the pride of the long-since dead Samurai class. An in-betweener, Kirei thought, referring to the many shinobi who now styled themselves to a code of honor, pride of their shinobi tradition and yet too high-browed to immerse themselves into the underhand world of the shinobi. Just like Kirei’s own parents, heirs to a massive financial empire built through subterfuge. And yet they considered themselves too noble to indulge in business, and there went the Hakurei corporate conglomerate that had been built from generations of sweat and toil. I cannot make that mistake, Kirei told himself. He resolved to simply walk past the drenched man—but as he tried to do so, he noticed the man’s expression. Something about the man piqued him. He looked something like a drenched dog, Kirei decided, though he kept that opinion to himself. Kirei was not an especially good judge of character, but he could sense some kind of discontent, but also an air of injured pride. Interesting. Perhaps, Kirei hoped, he could strike up some kind of conversation with the man. “Are you looking to get a cataract or something?” Kirei asked idly as he shifted his umbrella to cover the man.

Anti snapped out of such a mindless state as soon as Kirei put his umbrella over the two, to cover either and protect them from the rain. Anti turned to his right immediately to see the man. He had never seen him ! Although. That was not much of a miracle since Anti has never even attempted to socialize with the villagers of Amegakure. Quite funny. An 18 year old Jounin that knows noone in their own village and who nobody knows.

"....." It almost appeared as if Anti was going to say something, but it just as much seemed like he didn't know how to put his thoughts into words. "No....... I am not. I am used to this." That was everything he said to the man who was as kind as to cover him from the rain. Really. Anti is antisocial. No word of thanks, no word of greeting, not even a hint of a friendly gesture. One could think that he was just in a bad mood or that he has had a hard day so far, but actually that Jounin was like that always and in every situation he encountered nowadays. That is also the reason why he does't have any students, he just wouldn't be able to handle them. . . Well in a humane way that is.

Kirei winced slightly internally. Though he hadn’t quite expected the man to immediately brighten and invite him to make Daisy Chains, that was still a little more brusque a response than he had hoped. “You live around here, then?” Self-consciously, Kirei tucked his tribal robes closer to himself so that the rain would not cause it to be completely soaked. “By the fact that you’re used to it, I assume that means you were around when times weren’t as rosy around here?” Looking at the other man’s clothes, Kirei could only see two reasons for intentionally wearing outdated clothes. One was simply pride at having survived those leaner times—the other was perhaps a desire not to forget those times. Either this man was way too prideful in this society, Kirei decided, or he was an extremely down-to-earth individual.

Anti nodded visibly, but not too much heavily as to not throw any water from his wet hair at Kirei. His clothes were really soaked completely, but because of darkened black shade of Anti's clothes, that was hardly noticable. "..If you can call that living. Sleeping somewhere where a roof is above your head." A soft smirk had spread across Anti's face. Even as introverted as he was, he was constantly keen on seeing the reactions of the people he met. At all times, those reactions were what still had the power to cast the magic of at least the slight hint of a grin onto his face. "I have been around this village. . . even before the new time that we have now...You could say I have helped to bring this fortune." Anti then yawned softly. Most certainly he had not slept in a few days, or at least not through the whole night if he even slept for two hours a total. He really appeared as a poor man, but still - his fighting abilities proved a very different image.

After all, most of the shinobis who were part of Amegakure's resistance became highly admired Ninjas, but not for the actions of standing up against the tyrant of rain, but for their skills. For example, the leader of Amegakure today was the leader of the resistance and is highly admired for his intellectual expands. The Hokage nowadays was also part of the resistance and was very involved in the fall of the tyrant. In the final battle it was the leader of Konohagakure whose Ice Manipulation abilities allowed the strategy to work out perfectly. Unfortunately, unlikely to those two Anti was only upgraded to the rank of a Jounin and then he fell into oblivion.

"It is time for me. . . to depart." Anti was more the guy who mumbled his good bye and just that he did now. With those few hardly understandable words he made a swift step forward and then he was gone. Quite a nice way to get going if you think about it.

----------------------------------> Gone off to somewhere else in the village.