A hard thunk, short and repeating, kept the rhythm as Kite stood back away from a short log he had set up a few feet away from him. His dark red vest holding his forehead protector against his chest was the only real break in the mostly grey and black outfit he wore. It was the only a few shades darker than his hair, which made him stand out much more than the vest. He was training, as most gennin should be. Two kunai sat embedded into the side of the log, while one lay on it's side in front of it, and two more in the grass behind. He wasn't all too good with them, but he was getting better. Narrowing his eyes and bringing his hand up slowly, his breathing slowed and he focused on the log. His hand swiped though the air, letting the knife go and whizzing through the air straight for the log. It slammed into the wood, right dead in the middle, and an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment and joy flooded him, and just as quickly, as long as it took for a knife to fall a foot to the ground from the log it had stuck into, his happiness had been destroyed. Sighing loudly and dropping his arms to his sides, Kite huffed all the way to the log and removed his only two successful throws, as well as the two lies at his feet. The other disappointments took him a few moments to find. One had slid several feet after hitting the ground, and dug itself deep into the dirt, but after recollecting his tools, the young shinobi took his stance again, a small bead of sweat dripping from his forehead and running along his jawline to his chin, and let a kunai knife fly towards the log.

Vox was making one of his usual trips to the training ground when he noticed a new face. The Keukage racked his brain for who it was, then he remembered the name. Kite, a genin and the Three-Tails jinchuriki. The kid was still unaware of his true power, if the reports were accurate. Vox didn't like keeping those sorts of secrets. He felt that people should know the truth about themselves, but knew there were plenty of reasons to keep this under wraps. For now, he could talk to the boy, assess his mental state. If he seemed ready, the Keukage would put in a request with the council to inform him of his powers.

He approached quietly, his footfalls covered by the sound of kunai hitting the target. The kid wasn't a shurikenjutsu master, but he was pretty good. Certainly at a decent level for a genin. Vox stood silently for a moment before throwing a kunai of his own. The Keukage winced as it hit near the edge of the target. How many years had it been since he'd practiced with those? He'd earned a reputation for his prowess in close quarters, but he'd neglected his throwing training. "Well, I guess I'm rustier than I thought." He greeted the genin with a quick nod. "Mr. Uzumaki."

Kite's left eyebrow raised up in the short moment of confusion as he watched his kunai fail, and then another, from out of nowhere, hit the edge. Being absolutely positive that he had only thrown one, his brain suddenly reeled forming various explanations, each one more far fetched than the last until a gruff voice gave him his answer. A smile cracked the edges of his lips, quickly followed by Kite turning to face and bow towards the older man, holding that position as he spoke. He hadn't any idea why someone like the kage would be here, or why he knew his name when they had n.ever met, so playing it cautious and respectful was his best course of action.

"Keukage. My apologies. I wasn't expecting anyone, so I didn't notice you approaching.."

Vox chuckled. "At ease." The kid was pretty formal. Most people were the first time they met a kage. Vox personally preferred a more casual atmosphere, as long as some professionalism was maintained. He didn't like being bowed to especially. "Don't worry about it. In my jounin days, they used to call me the Ghost of the Smoke. Or was it..." He paused for a moment, thinking. It was hard to keep 118 years of memories properly organized sometimes. "Well hell if I remember. Something about stealth, I know that much." He wondered if Kite had heard the cover story for his apparent lack of chakra; that he'd mastered stealth techniques on a level matched only by one of the old Tsuchikages from before the Time of Legends. It was certainly an easier explanation than the truth, and it gave him an air of mystery and power that suited a kage.

He turned, sizing up the boy. He seemed to have been practicing a while, judging by the exertion he was showing. It could have been nerves, but he was sweating like that from the start, and he seemed more pleased than scared to meet his kage. "You're making good progress here. How long you been doing this today?"

He pushed his hands against his legs and straightened his back up to his normal posture. It actually took a surprising amount of effort just to do this, finding his body already sinking into that only slightly more relaxed position. A quick breath and he was back to normal, ready to go, but he had his hands propped against his hips. He chuckled at the kage a bit in his head, surprised to see him being so nonchalant. It helped him relax a bit, which was useful. Looking up at the sky, he wondered for a moment, after being asked, just how long he had actually been out here. The sun was still new in the sky when he first showed up, but it had since then slipped beyond the reach of his conscious thought and moved across the sky without him while he trained. It was now on the opposite side of the sky.

"Hm..Well...A while. I hadn't really been paying attention, but I'd say roughly...err..eleven hours? haha"

Vox raised an eyebrow. Eleven hours? Was this kid just tireless, or was this the infamous jinchuriki stamina at work? "That's a bit long for a practice, you take any breaks?" The kid must have gotten there pretty damn early. Vox was later than his usual practice, but not that late. The Keukage strolled over to the targets, collecting the knives. He slipped his own into its sheath and brought the others back to the genin. "You should probably rest up a bit, no sense exhausting yourself too much." He could see Kite was tired. Even if he had been borrowing power from his guest, he was still human and still just a kid.

Vox handed over the kunai, reminding himself to check Kite's dossier next time he was in the office. He wasn't sure how much access the seal gave him to his powers. There was a lot of variation with jinchuriki, he had some personal experience with them. Depending on the seal, that kind of strain could be dangerous. It might make him draw too much power and endanger the seal. "Don't overdo it on the training. Pushing yourself is good, but you don't want to be too sore to move out if a mission comes up." Not that he was one to talk, but Vox had the regeneration to make up for it. According to Aka, the only bijuu that had that sort of ability was the nine-tails.

"No, sir. No breaks."

Kite rubbed the back of his head and smiled awkwardly at his kage. Nodding, he wondered if he should really take it easy when it came to training. His eyes followed his leader over to the log where he retrieved the kunai they had both thrown, and took his back from him when he returned. They were dirtier than he would like, but he couldn't really clean them off here. Opening his hip pouch and sliding them in to their place inside beside his stack of sealing tags and scrolls bound with red rope, he turned back to face the keukage as he spoke again. He didn't mean to speak up like he did, but it was something that had been bothering him a bit, and it sort of spilled out at the mention of staying ready for missions.

"Yes, sir. I'll be sure not to overexert myself. Though, to be honest, missions have been kind of slow. All my squad and I do is train and assist old women in finding their cats. I want to go on a real mission. I want to show everyone how stro-..."

He forced himself to stop. Knowing the implications of what he was saying, complaining to the leader about not getting to go on missions as just a gennin, he forced his body to stop the word vomit. Clearing his throat, and feeling embarrassed, Kite bowed slightly, keeping his eyes low, waiting for his reaction.

Vox listened, pondering. There were a few reasons for that. He'd been under pressure from the council to keep Kite on safe, quiet missions. They didn't want to have even the tiniest risk of a rampage. Vox had been going along with it for now. Seeing how well the kid had handled an eleven-hour training session, he decided it was time to put on some pressure of his own. He had some sway with the council, he could get them to agree to more missions.

"I'll see what can be done. Things have been rather quiet lately, so the riskier missions are at a premium. We're leaving them to the higher-ranking shinobi." He was reminded of Kenji's request to go to Donzokogakure. It could do Kite some good to see the world, and it might be good for Kenji to have someone around his age traveling with him. At the very least, it might keep him and Arumi from getting too much time alone. "Tell you what. You can show me how strong you are tomorrow. 1400 hours at this field?"

Kite licked his lips and nodded, expecting an answer kind of like this. Everyone gave him little explanations about why he couldn't do something. No matter what he wanted to try, there was always someone there telling him no, or that he can't. He wished he could just fly away like a bird, but he can't, so he'd train to be stronger than anyone who tried telling him no. Suddenly he was yanked back into reality with such force that he had to blink a few times before being able to respond to the kage's words.

"...Really? Yeah! Of course! I'll be here! Thank you, keukage!"



Kite sat with his legs crossed, hands held in place at his chest, and a scroll laid open at his feet. On it's face in black ink were two circles with kanji in the middle, the kanji for "chakra", encircled with scripture to form the seal. It was something he had prepared the moment he woke up just for this moment with the keukage. The seals were of his own design, and were used to hold chakra, but only equal to about a third of what you have. At most he could prepare two seals on a scroll. He also wrapped sealing scrolls around the handles of his kunai. He wanted to do all he could to show him.

For once, Vox was on time. He arrived at the training field at 2 PM sharp the next day, and saw that Kite was already there. That was good, punctuality was an important thing for a ninja. He seemed to be preparing things for their spar. Vox set his coat down by the side of the field, piling his swords and collection of knives on top of it. Kite wasn't a genjutsu type and he wasn't a bukijutsu master either, the weapons would be unnecessary.

The Keukage approached the genin, giving a wave. Kite had been pretty excited the night before, and he seemed just as enthusiastic now. "Glad you could make it." He gave Kite's arsenal a look. Kunai, sealing scrolls, the sorts of things that could be expected of an aspiring fuinjutsu master. That sort of ability had some interesting tricks, Vox would have to keep an eye out. He took a stance, a bit unusual for taijutsu. It was low and wide, with his hands open in front of him. The Keukage gestured to the boy. "Don't hold anything back, I want to see everything you can do."

There he was. The keukage and all of his might, measured apparently in the pile of weaponry he emptied out onto the ground. To his immediate relief, though, he realized it was because he wouldn't be using them against Kite. This probably wouldn't last very long, in fact, it probably still wouldn't. He was unsure of what he best plan of action would be, but he figured, against a kage, each plan was about as good as the last. He decided on what was most comfortable to him, which were seals. Pushing his hands against the ground, he picked himself up and grabbed slid his kunai back into his hip pouch, leaving one in his hand. If he was going to do anything, like the Kage said, he would have to give it his all. Knowing this, Kite brought his left hand up in front of him, making a seal, and focusing a little bit of chakra, released one of the seals on the scroll. The stored chakra inside flushed through his system, rejuvenating his reserves and making his heart pump wildly, then, while still holding his handseal, he focused more chakra into his hand right hand holding the kunai, and inscribed an explosive seal onto it. Having a short detonation time, he quickly had to lose it and throw it, but not aimed for the keukage himself, but in the air about ten feet above his head. It would explode at that point, hopefully serving it's purpose as a diversionary tactic, giving him the time to close the distance and engage him in close combat. He would, after reaching him, jump forwards the rest of the way towards him and strike at his stomach with his right fist balled as tightly as he could. He would have to strike first if he was going to strike at all.

Vox was intrigued by what he was doing with the scroll. He wasn't sure what that seal did, it didn't seem to have a visible effect. He wondered what he would be able to sense from it if he had chakra. It seemed like it pumped him up pretty well, though. He was on the attack almost instantly, throwing a kunai. It missed Vox by a mile, but the explosion above his head caught his attention.

He glanced up at the blast, but looked down in time to see the attack coming. The kid was smart, trying to divert his attention like that before an attack. It was a good thing for a ninja to try. Not nearly enough to catch the fastest Kage off guard, but it was a smart move. Could be very useful to have someone with that sort of quick tactical thinking on a mission. Vox deflected the punch, sidestepping so that Kite would go past him. "Pretty good." He aimed a light palm strike at his shoulder, slow enough that he could have a chance to dodge it. If it hit, it was only enough to push him back.

Kite's eyes widened as the kage barely used any effort to step to the side and tap his arm out of the way of his body. Even after he looked up, he still had time to react so insanely quickly. It was incredible, but he hadn't planned on stopping yet. Feeling his momentum continuing forwards, he stopped in his next step and managed to quickly turn out of the way of the keukage's palm, staying right up close to him. He didn't really have any more tricks. Using the exploding tags while this close to him wouldn't serve as a diversion or an attack unless he was just trying to kill the both of them, and chances were, the kage would survive anyway. He had to stick to his taijutsu, even though it wasn't his best, and give it his all seeing that he didn't have a way out at the moment. Trying to distance them now would only give his opponent an opening. He stuck with the head on approach and tried to fire off another punch aimed at his stomach, but if he tried to swipe it away just as easily, he was already prepared to parry it with a kick aimed for his left side.

Vox frowned. The kid had started off smart, but this wasn't a smart move. He deflected the punch, blocking the kick head-on and pushing Kite back. The Keukage took a step back, letting them get some distance between them. "A bunshin or a replacement might have been better there. You're outmatched in close quarters, and you got plenty of tricks to get some space. Use them."

Vox took a stance again, considering his options. He didn't want to press the attack, not yet at least. Kite hadn't had much chance to show off his abilities yet. Once he had showed off some, the kage could put the pressure on and give him a real test. Not enough to wake the bijuu sealed in him, but enough to test his defense. Vox beckoned, readying for another assault. "Let's see what else you can do. Go all-out here." He wondered how many other tricks the genin had up his sleeve.

"Ah!"

He couldn't stop his voice from escaping him. Even though it was just a push, it was a hard push, and it sent him reeling backwards. He managed to connect his kick, but it had little to no effect. This wasn't going well, and it seemed like the kage knew that. He allowed space to form between them and got back into his stance at his leisure. He found it funny that, while asking Kite to come at him with everything he had, he acted so nonchalant. That was the only word he could think of for the guy, and it sort of made him start to admire the kage. Nodding, and not saying anything, Kite reached into his hip pouch slowly, and then, after a moment of keeping his gaze locked with the Kage's with his left hand forming a seal, he swiped his hand out and threw three kunai knives through the air. Only one was aimed directly towards him. The other two flanked his left and right sides. While he gathered the blades, he placed exploding seals on each tag before throwing them. Now, their explosions would cover three times the area with the kage in the middle, making it, he hoped, much harder to avoid. He didn't want to aim for the man with the first one, thinking it may be a bit much, but he asked him for everything, and Kite was trying to oblige.

Vox caught the kunai that went towards him. He looked it over, noticing the tag just in time. The Keukage tossed it over his shoulder, dashing forward to get clear of the explosions. He cleared the blast radius a split second before the three kunai detonated. It seemed like Kite was very fond of explosive tags, and he used them well. The genin was pretty accurate, and knew how to keep up the pressure with those things. Both of those would be assets in a mission.

Of course, there was more to being a ninja than blowing shit up. The Keukage darted in close, putting on the pressure. He started with a combo, a series of light palm strikes aimed at his chest. They were more meant to lightly push, giving the genin a chance to dodge. He was taking care not to hurt the kid, in fact he was probably taking more care than a jounin instructor would. That was one of the habits inhumans picked up, they were very careful around the humans so as not to break them.

"Shit.."

Kite ran back as the kage pressed the attack. It was difficult, and he still caught every other attack, but he managed to move backwards away from some of the attacks. He still attacked with his palms, like he was making sure he wouldn't hurt him. It pissed him off, but he was kind of happy he wasn't getting slammed into the ground at the moment. However, having such an intimidating opponent striking at you puts your mind in a particular state of unease. His thoughts were going blank, and his eyes struggled to keep up with the speed of his barrage of attacks, and he still got hit by many of them. He couldn't strike back; just try to dodge as much as he could.

"Kite..."

A deep voice, low and resonating onto itself as if it had echoed from the depths of a well, broke through the silence in his mind. His eyes suddenly opened wide, and his heart started to beat faster again. Just what was that voice? He couldn't see it, but the light blue color of his eyes had strips of red along the outsides now as the three tailed beast inside of him started to awaken inside of him. A huge gust of wind came down directly on top of him from the sky, blowing against the ground. He had caught the last few strikes directly in the chest, and even though they pushed him back several feet, he was far too occupied being confused. The wind swirled around him faster and faster, feeling more and more dense, as a surge of energy, like a massive heartbeat, pulsed throughout his entire body.

Vox didn't notice the change in Kite's eyes at first. The kid seemed distracted, letting the Keukage get a few good hits in. It was only when the wind started that he realized what was going on. He'd pressured him too much, the seal was straining. Some of the Three-Tails' power was seeping out. Vox stepped back, breaking out of his stance. He had to calm the boy down before things got worse, and the easiest way to do that was to take the pressure off. He held up his hands, signalling that he was stopping the fight.

The good news was that Kite seemed more confused than angry. The bad news was that the wind was still going, and that sort of situation could easily turn to fear and make things spiral out of control. Vox shouted over the wind. "Kite, you have to calm down. That wind is linked to your emotions, it will settle down when you do." He really hoped that worked. Either way, he was going to have to talk to the boy now. His jinchuriki powers were starting to awaken, he needed to know about them. Vox reminded himself to send a letter to Aka later, her expertise would be helpful here.

He was barely able to hear the keukage, not because of the wind, but because his ears were ringing and his blood pressure was rising. The chakra he felt flowing through him was not his own. He could feel something inside of him, something that was calling out to him with it's own emotions and mind, and it was so strong, he feared he would be consumed by it even at this distance. His hair whipped around wildly in the wind as it churned and twisted in random currents around him, and a slight stinging sensation could be felt on his back, something else that unsettled him more. There had always been a large seal on his back, one that he could not break, and whenever he asked about it, no matter who it was, they never answered him. The most he had gotten back was that it was put there by his father, but he didn't remember him. He tried to focus on the kage's words. This, whatever it was, was being caused by his emotions, and it seemed like he knew what he was talking about. It was obvious that the spar was over, but it was still very difficult to calm his mind again. All he could feel was the most pure desire to escape he had ever felt. The feeling consumed him, but he forced himself to remember that it wasn't his own feeling. He had to focus on what he was feeling and doing. He struggled, but slowly, the wind started to die down, and the beast raging inside of him sunk back down into it's pit, the seal stopping from burning.

Vox breathed a sigh of relief as the wind died down. He'd never had to face down a bijuu rampage before, and now hadn't seemed like a good time to start. He didn't know if he could have put a stop to that without killing the kid in the process. But Kite did a remarkable job getting it back under control, especially after how far that had looked like it was going. Either the seal was weaker than expected or the Keukage had come off as a lot more intimidating than he'd hoped. He approached Kite slowly, not wanting to alarm him. "You all right, kid?"

He knew that the council was going to be furious about this, but he had no choice. If there was any hope of controlling this, the kid had to know what he was dealing with. He had to be taught to use the beast inside him, and that couldn't happen until he knew what it was. "You were wondering why you didn't get more exciting missions. That would be why." He sat down on the ground near Kite, considering how to approach the topic. Vox decided to just start with the basics. "Does the word 'jinchuriki' mean anything to you?"

He sat on the ground with the keukage, and even though the sudden level of calm after such an intense moment was weird, he tried to acclimate and stay relaxed like he said. He breathe slowly, mulling over what he was saying, and the word "jinchuriki". He wasn't sure if he had heard it before, but he was positive it was mentioned before. Perhaps in a class, and after the word had slipped, everyone pretended like they hadn't heard it and ignored any questioning of it while he was around. It was just another memory of a time someone lied to him, that was all the word meant to him. This was the one time anyone had ever tried to tell him anything, so he just sat quietly as the keukage explained everything.

"I suppose it's best to start with the bijuu. I'm guessing you've heard of them, the legendary tailed beasts. In order to control them, shinobi have been sealing them into human hosts for centuries. Those hosts are called jinchuriki." Now came the tough part, the biggest revelation. "When you were very young, too young to remember, Joutei the Three-Tails was sealed into you. That's why you've been kept off the more exciting missions. If you're in enough danger, there's a chance the seal might break. And if your abilities were discovered, that could make you a target for kidnapping. You've got a lot of power inside you, and there are people who would go to great lengths to get at it."

Vox sighed, rubbing his temples. He had never liked the idea of making children into jinchuriki, but it had been done on his watch. It wasn't something he was proud of. "I wish I could have told you sooner. You deserved to know, but the council didn't want to risk word getting out. I suppose there's no hiding it from you now." He stood, considering his options. "I'll be giving you some better missions, but nothing too dangerous, not until you've learned better control. I've got an old friend who's a jinchuriki, I'll see if I can get her to teach you a thing or two."

His lay flat against the curve of his shoulder. He couldn't believe what he was being told, that he was actually a jinchuriki. He read about bijuu in old scrolls, but took them to be mostly as exaggerations having never seen one himself, and now he finds out they sealed one inside of his body when he was a baby. It was almost too much to take in at once, but he focused on his breathing and listened. The keukage seemed genuinely repentant on what had been done to Kite, so he had no choice but to accept what he was saying as nothing short of the truth, but this truth came with extremely exciting news. In this dark moment his answers to his prayers had been delivered unto him all in one full swing. He meant what he said.

I want to learn to use it.. I know it might be hard, but I don't really have a choice if I want to keep from losing control. If this thing inside of me is powerful, I want to make that power my own and use it. Please.. Just tell me what to do...where to go...I'll do anything.

The kid had dedication, he had to give him that much. He took the news well, immediately wanting to take control of the situation and learn to use his abilities. It was a step in the right direction."I'll send my friend a message. She's a wanderer, but she may be able to stop by soon. Probably one of the most skilled jinchuriki alive, if not the most." Vox reminded himself to be very careful in his wording this time. The first time he had met her, some meatheaded ANBU had interpreted his orders wrong and nearly caused a serious incident.

Vox stood, brushing himself off. "I should get on that sooner rather than later. If you need me for anything, I'll be in my office. That was a good spar, Kite. You show a lot of promise." The Keukage went over and collected his things, getting ready to leave.

Kite reveled in the moment for a bit. He got up slowly to his feet, his mind feeling somewhat muffled. He didn't really have the ability to think about anything other than what they were talking about. If it didn't have anything to do with him being a jinchuriki and getting to train with the strongest one around with the aid of the keukage, then he was in complete ignorance of it's existence. This was all there was, and all that he had ever wanted, to be stronger. His attention on his body slowly grew to only encompass his back. It was like he was more aware of it, of the way it felt, of the sensation of his shirt brushing against it in the light breeze, than he had ever been in his life. The seal that encompassed the majority of his torso was now explained to him. Another mystery in his life solved in less than a day, and he still had training to look forward to. His squad was going to be pretty mad when he comes back a much stronger shinobi than they both are. Walking up to the keukage after he had gathered his things and Kite came back into reality, and gave a sort of sheepish shrug after gathering up his scrolls and kunai. The smile on his face was impossible to hide as he gave his final goodbyes before leaving the training grounds.

"Thank you, Keukage. Really. This is awesome."