Alone At Night (Yoshida)

Yoshida couldn't remember the last time he had gotten this lost. He was heading out of the rocky terrain of the Land of Earth, but got sidetracked and now he had no idea where he was. Walking slowly across a worn path, the wanderer was used to travel late at night, and with little worries for appointments or places he needed to be. Rather, he preferred it when life brought opportunities to him. With each step, he whistled one of his favorite melodies, something he remembered from Kusagakure.

As he drew closer, he thought he heard the sound of a frightened girl. Running over, he saw a young kunoichi, who must have been from a nearby village. Not wanting to scare her, he said calmly, "Are you alright? I didn't mean to scare you out here." His rugged appearance, including the scars over the right side of his face, probably didn't help his overall impression, but he was truly trying to be friendly and kind.

If this was the night that Miyo died, she would be one sad ninja. She was so young, and had just started to get her life together. It couldn't end like this. Luckily, her dramatics were put to an end when the noise revealed it's source. From behind her she heard a calm voice speak to her. Miyo was so on edge, that the calm voice had made her jump a few feet forward before spinning around rapidly to face the voice. "Ah!" She let out a loud yelp after seeing the man.

This man was definitely intimidating. He had scars on his face, which made Miyo assume he was battle hardened. His appearance was rugged in general. The man's calm voice definitely betrayed his rough outward appearance. Still it seemed like he was trying to be nice, and she wasn't going to ignore that. Cautiously, she began to lower her kunai. "I'm okay. I'm not scared, just a little startled." Miyo was lying through her teeth with that comment, but she couldn't show fear in front of a stranger. "You're a horrid liar. A blind man could see your fear."

Miyo had gotten more comfortable actually speaking to Isobu, the tailed beast within her, so it was commonplace for her to respond to him now. Unfortunately, she was used to replying out loud. "Would it hurt you to be kind once in a while!" Miyo looked startled once she realized she had said that aloud. It was now time for her to do some quick damage control. "I mean, you look like a very kind person who wouldn't hurt me. Um... I'm Miyo! What's your name?" Isobu just laughed at her horrible attempt to cover that up.

Who would have thought that this little girl would have been the one to disrupt him this night. She had a certain, oddity about her, as if she was talking to someone else, but as far as Yoshida could tell, it was just the two of them. She introduced herself as Miyo, and claimed she wasn't scared. He was not so sure.

Judging based on her age, she couldn't have been beyond a Genin or even an older Academy student, but Yoshida could sense the overwhelming presence of a foreign chakra. There was something about this girl that made her seem very strong for someone her age. However, it would be rude not to continue their discussion. "Hello there Miyo. My name is Yoshida. Don't worry, I didn't think you were frightened." This was a complete lie, but hey, he was just trying to be kind. "I can tell that you are a very strong shinobi for some one your age. I hope you don't mind me asking, but what brings you this far out of your village so late at night." His words were true though. Someone her age probably wasn't allowed out this late, even if she had an overwhelming chakra.

Miyo was lucky that he didn't bother to ask her about why she was acting so strange. She was sure that he noticed it, but had opted to ignore it for now. Instead he introduced himself as a man named Yoshida. Then he reassured her that he didn't think she was scared. Miyo knew that was probably a lie, but he seemed nice enough. The man commented on how he could tell she was a powerful shinobi for her age. Could it be possible that he was able to sense Isobu's chakra?

"Well, I was kind of exploring. I like to find new places outside of the village to relax and train at. I've currently got five cool spots outside the village that only I know about! I was looking for a hidden hotspring, and I lost track of time. I'm sort of lost. Miyo was a naturally curious girl who enjoyed exploring the land of Rice. She was equally as curious when it came to people though, and this man posed a lot of questions for her. "You seem pretty strong too, sir. Are you from Otogakure too?"

He had always wondered how to handle questions like this. When people wanted to know where he was from, emotionally it was tough for him to answer. His village had chased him out, unwilling to investigate the true death of his comrade, and condemning him for the use of his Human Puppet Creation Technique. Sure, there were ways that he could use that technique to be very painful for the body, but he had vowed to only use it on dead shinobi, and to never kill with the intent of getting a more powerful puppet. But, long story short, when people asked him where he was from, he felt like he didn't have a home.

"No, I'm mostly a wanderer," he replied, short and sweet. "I go wherever life will send me, trying to keep the peace between people as best as I can." She had said she was from Otogakure, so at least he had a general idea of where he was at. "I'm not that strong, most of my weapons are in Kusagakure." It wasn't a lie, he had to leave behind much of his grandfather's collection of puppets, but he hoped Miyo wouldn't press harder into his past. Instead, he decided to try and tease out what made her chakra seem so powerful and present. "You seem very strong for someone your age, Miyo. How do you do it?" he asked candidly.

A wanderer? That sounded like such a fun thing to do. Miyo could only imagine how cool it would be to explore the world, without having to worry about the constraints a village put on someone. In addition to this, the ninja before her also sought to keep peace between people. This man wasn't a bad guy after all. That was definitely a relief for Miyo, because she was sure she would die a few minutes ago. He had mentioned that his weapons were at Kusagakure. Maybe that was where he was born.

Miyo's muscles tensed up at his question towards her. There was no doubt that he was sensing her chakra, or rather that of Isobus. She hadn't displayed any skill as of yet to prove she was strong. In fact, she didn't even think she was that strong to begin with. She began to ramble on. "Um.. I'm honestly not that strong. I'm clumsy, and I'm practically scared of everything that moves or doesn't move. I'm only a Genin." Miyo could tell that this wouldn't satisfy him for an answer, so she continued. "If you're talking about my chakra that I'm sure you are able to sense, it's a rather complicated story. I'm not sure you'd see me the same if I told you." Her usual confident demeanor began to make way for her insecurities involving the beast within her. It was always a hard topic to talk about for her.

Yoshida had a seen a lot of things in his day, and it was not in his nature to judge someone for something inside of them. Heck, he was driven out of Kusagakure because he was judged. If there was one thing he wanted to get across, his life had become tied to the people he met. Sure he wasn't in a village, but that didn't mean he would stop caring for others around him. "Miyo, I've only known you for a little bit, but I'm not one to judge so quickly. You could tell me a lot of things, and I'm sure I wouldn't see you any differently. I'm in no rush if you want to talk about it, but if you don't, then there's no worries."

He earnestly was interested at this young, up and coming shinobi's story, and who knows, maybe he would show her a bit of his skill in return.

With a response like that, it was hard not to feel comfortable around the man. It wasn't as if her being a Jinchuruki was a secret to anyone in the village. If he really wanted to find out, he just had to ask someone from the village. Still, it made her nervous to spill something so personal to her. "I liked it better when you didn't trust anyone. You better hope he doesn't try to kill you." Miyo gulped.

"Okay, I'll tell you. Have you ever heard of the legend of the Tailed Beasts? Very powerful beings created by an even more powerful ninja? Well, there was a war here in the lands of rice. A war that involved the previous Yokage, and the current one. I was meant to be used as a weapon in that war. That immense chakra you are sensing is from the Three-tailed beast, sealed within me." Miyo let out a breath that she hadn't even realized she was holding in. She would be interested to see what he had to say about it. Now that she told him her story, it was only fair that he told him hers. "What about you? You mentioned you had weapons, so I know you are a shinobi. What type of weapons did you leave behind?"

That seemed to clear up a lot of confusion. Miyo talking to herself, the overwhelming presence of a strong chakra, it all just added up to her being a Jinchuriki. From what he could remember, Isobu had been a rampage before being sealed away by ninja. He wanted to comfort her as best as he could, as they both were outcasts now. "You're pretty tough if they thought you could handle a Tailed-Beast. That is no easy feat."

However, she wanted to know about him, and he didn't want this to seem like an interrogation. Maybe revealing some of his past would help the two relate. Yoshida took a deep breathe before he began to speak. "Well you see, I'm a Puppet Master. I can control objects with these little threads of chakra, and they can use all sorts of different weapons. I've had to leave a lot of them behind, since I left my village a few years ago. When my best friend passed away, I decided to turn him into a puppet, but the villagers of Kusagakure were appalled at the idea, and I've been wandering ever since." He hoped she wouldn't be judgmental about his Human Puppet Creation technique. Yoshida was growing tired of people who wouldn't accept him.

Miyo was relieved that this guy had seemed to take the news pretty well. At the very worst she had expected him to try and steal her power. He seemed like a pretty powerful man, despite what he said. It could just be his intimidating appearance that threw Miyo off. Despite that, she could tell he meant her no harm. In fact, he continued to comment on her strength. She wasn't sure if the reason she was chosen as a vessel was because of her strength, or just because her father got desperate. It was more likely to her that the latter was true. "Thats a nice way to look at it I guess." Miyo said with a hopeful smile.

The young girl listened intently as Yoshida began to explain his own abilities. He was a puppet master! That was so cool to Miyo. It wasn't something that was often seen in a world where the main tools were kunai and shuriken. Unfortunately it seemed that he had to leave a lot of them behind. When he explained why, Miyo had to force her jaw from dropping to the ground. He had turned his friends body into a puppet. He was technically a missing ninja. Miyo wasn't the type of person to judge someone, so she decided to look at this from his perspective. "You were trying to preserve your friend in the best way you knew how?" Miyo questioned with eyes of understanding. It was hard to deal with death, for people of any age. "Does this mean you're a missing ninja? Most stories I hear about missing ninja aren't good ones. You don't seem like a bad person though."