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I’d tossed the boulder to the side carelessly, too infatuated with what lie before me to realize it was rolling down a steep cliff uncontrollably. Steadily, the temperature decreased, though I didn’t really notice (or care, really, except that it meant we were getting higher). There was a gleam in my eyes, I knew, an intensity and a light of sorts, which was entirely true to my emotions. Of course, if Masuerta didn’t understand my enthusiasm from the massive smile on my face, then I didn’t know what would convince him. Either way, we were climbing steadily, even if we didn’t realize the extent of how far we’d come.

I was investigating our surroundings busily, overturning stones and sliding my hand against the trunk of an evergreen, when I realized my partner had stopped moving. Instead of moving ahead steadily as we had been, he was simply standing there, staring back at where we’d come. At first I was confused, and moved to place my hand on his shoulder, when I, too, looked out to the horizon.

”W-woah!” I said, running passed him a few meters and placing my hand over my brow as if it would enhance my vision. Only then did I take the time to actually take in where we were--the temperature, the white, misty fog, the thin air. From my vantage point, I could see a low-lying cloud, moving slowly but surely beneath us.

”We’re above the clouds!” I said, turning dramatically and pointing up in order to emphasize the point. ”But I don’t know how much farther it goes. I wanna find out!” I said, running passed him and tapping his shoulder as I did, gesturing for him to follow. We were probably inside of a cloud, which formed the mist around us, and masked much of what rested ahead of us in a thick, white coat. Pretty soon, I figured, we’d run into snow; not only was this place high up in the mountains, we were also rather far north. It was only natural we’d see some soon.

”I want to see the snow!”

There was a little path that stretched from the rice fields out into the rocks, eventually disappearing from sight. The landscape was jagged and random, untamed--it reminded me somewhat of my companion for the time. Partially because it resembled his hair, but mostly because it resembled who he was. Wild, a bit unpredictable--perhaps not too far off from myself in some ways, though for many different reasons. At first, there was little more to see than rocks, though I didn’t truly care. Honestly, it was enough for me as it was; I was dashing about, examining even the tiniest of rocks with excited bursts of laughter or gasps of awe.

Eventually we began the path began to slope upward, much like it had in the Land of Iron. There was a notable drop in temperature, too, though I couldn’t have said when it had occurred. As we moved along, I realized that more and more green seemed to pop up around us. More than I would have thought we’d encounter. This amazed me even more than the magnificent natural spectacles we’d encountered thus far. I’d disappear from the path for minutes at a time, only to return to Masuerta with a look of awe on my face, usually covered in dirt and leaves.

”Wah-hoa!” I said, picking up a tiny pebble and holding it up to the sun as I examined it as if it were some sort of treasure. ”Look at this!” Then, I’d move on and grab another pebble, which was hardly different from the last one I’d chosen, though I didn’t seem to realize. I only stared in wonder at it as I did before, smiling wide like an idiot and chuckling to myself.

”It’s amazing!” I exclaimed in response to my comrade, rushing ahead of him with my arms stretched out all the way to the side like a bird or a plane. ”Look! Look!” I pointed at a huge boulder which blocked our path, which was easily six or seven times my own size. I didn’t actually realize it was blocking our path until after I was done staring in amazement at it, and I tried to move forward. Frowning, I bent down and filled my limbs with chakra, lifting the massive boulder with little effort.

”Let’s go!”

It was certainly interesting how quickly the terrain seemed to transform. Instead of a slow, steady, almost unnoticed transition as was the norm, we simply left behind the rice fields in favor of a more rocky terrain. I knew this was because the rice fields weren’t simply naturally there, though it was quite an interesting sight nonetheless. Either way, I was happy to leave them behind for a less monotonous landscape--one that housed our destination! It was Kaminari no Kuni itself; I imagined myself in the clouds, and realized that soon I truly would be.

I breathed deeply a few times as we came to a stop. We’d come a long way rather rapidly, even for two shinobi, mostly due to our burst of speed before. It was birthed from excitement, I knew, and that excitement hadn’t left me yet. Apparently, it hadn’t left Masuerta, either, and I grinned widely at the thought.

As he asked if I was ready to go, I rushed ahead of him and turned around. Grinning straight at him, I interlocked my hands behind my head and moved along backwards. ”I can’t wait! The clouds, the snow, the . . . the rocks! We’ll be in the sky!” I stumbled backwards out of excitement, probably over a rock I hadn’t seen, and turned as I caught my balance low to the ground.

Soon, even the sky would fall beneath us!

[[ Move to Kaminari no Kuni pl0x. ]]

Unfortunately, after our first bit of time within the Rice Fields Country, I realized that it was rather devoid of entertainment for me. At first, I was amazed at the size of the fields, happily waving to any workers I passed by and continually looking over them. I exclaimed ”Ooh!,” ”Ah!,” and ”Woah!” countless times. By the time we were mostly through the country, though, I realized it all looked virtually the same--even the people that populated the country were little different from each other. There was mostly only one path through the country, as it was all cleared in order to make room for the rice fields. So the dirt path served as our guide, and I had to put little effort into deciding where we would go.

This caused my thoughts to lapse once more, back to Masuerta. Having found him in the middle of the forest was coincidental in itself, and to a normal person highly suspicious. Even I realized that, though I chose to ignore it. It wasn’t fair to him to be suspicious for little reason, after all. Simply because he was . . . unique, and vacationing on a whim to other lands was unorthodox for shinobi, there was no doubt that I was suddenly doing it, too. So then, what did he do? He had a blade at his side, and certainly kept his nails sharpened with combative intentions. Was there something else he could do I hadn’t witnessed? Hell, he’d hardly had time to draw his weapon before I’d knocked him unconscious.

I’d sensed his chakra. It was more powerful than someone who was simply a mediocre taijutsu fighter with a sword. So he had to be hiding something else--or perhaps his abilities were non-combative? Inwardly, I laughed at the thought. It was obvious this man had a lust for battle, so that was hardly a possibility. Then that meant that he was hiding some sort of ability, or that he simply hadn’t been given a chance to use it due to improper timing and my aggressiveness. Yeah, that seemed to be a possibility, and it was the one I hung on to. Luckily, I’d held back the proper amount. Otherwise, things would have turned out quite different.

Suddenly, he seemed to get excited and increased our pace. Mine, too, increased, in order to keep up with the man. He seemed to be somewhat older than me, judging by appearance alone--though he certainly didn’t act very old. Of course, I wasn’t the most mature person I’d ever met either, so I couldn’t help but smile and dismiss the thought. If I squinted, I could see a low mountain far, far in the distance.

”I’m so excited!”

Though I probably shouldn’t have been, I was nonetheless surprised when he took out a box of suckers and retrieved one for himself. Perhaps this was more than just a liking for sweets, but it didn’t really matter. He was holding the box out toward me, and spoke despite the sucker filling his mouth. For when I fix someone else? I thought, tilting my head as I looked down at the box.

Ah-alright, I suppose,” I said, grabbing two suckers and sticking them into the pouch at my side which held a few medical pills I carried on my person. They were in case of emergency only, and fairly expensive. I suppose I wasn’t surprised when he pulled out his konoha headband and showed it to me--his hiding the thing didn’t seem too far-fetched, all things considered. I figured, then, that he was out on some sort of mission, though he first explained his . . . position in our village. Or at least, from his perspective--and I could sort of understand, though for reasons I was sure were entirely different than his own. Regardless, it appeared I was wrong in assuming he was on some sort of mission for the village. Instead, he seemed to simply be taking some time off outside of the village walls. Was that so bad? No, probably not.

”I have!” I said, eyes brightening a thousand shades over. ”Just recently, I was in the Land of Iron! It was snowy, and rocky, and there was a huuuuuge mountain! And a bridge, and lots and lots of samurai!” I was suddenly excited, and I found myself on my feet, though I wasn’t sure when I’d risen from my sitting position at the foot of the tree. In the back of my mind, I knew it was probably best to return to Konoha.

”Yeah, let’s go see a mountain!”

Man, this kid was odd. Sure, I enjoyed fighting quite a bit, but this guy seemed to not only enjoy fighting, but the pain and suffering it brought, too. That was a rather dramatic deduction from a simple spar, but it was what I felt nonetheless. I knew he had a few broken bones from the noise I heard as he slammed into the tree, and I scratched the back of my head and shifted my weight as he spoke. Unsurprisingly, he seemed regretful that he couldn’t rise to continue our fight.

He slipped into unconsciousness and I gave a light sigh, dropping my fighting stance and making my way toward him. By the time I arrived at his side, my nose was finished healing. Judging by the way he’d smashed into the tree, I figured it was probably his arm that had broken, and maybe a few ribs.

Lifting the broken arm up--which would probably be pretty painful had he been awake--I pressed my right hand to it from the underside. A pale green glow emanated from it, glowing with a light warmth that would fill his arm. The process would serve as a catalyst, in order to rapidly heal the injured area. Fortunately, I had a mastery over the technique, and would be done healing his wounds rather quickly.

---

With a sigh, I rose, straightening my back and looking down at his still unconscious frame. Subconsciously, I scratched at the back of my head and shifted my weight, thinking through what I’d done. The broken bones were successfully healed using Shousen no Jutsu, and I’d made an inspection of the rest of his body in order to assure I’d healed him completely. Nodding, I decided I’d done everything needed and slumped down on one side of the same tree, adjacent to where he lay.

”You’re a strange one, you know that?”