Taking a Stroll

The sun was up already by the time I rolled out of bed and got dressed, for some reason I had managed to sleep in today and Rohim was already gone off to do some sort of training. He had mentioned it the night before, something about learning some great new power that would help him achieve his goal in life and for some reason the word summon kept popping in my head but the idea of him actually teaching himself the ancient summoning arts was almost as ridiculous as the two of us acting like responsible members of society every now and then. Elkwood was rather calm today which was the norm as I had become accustomed to. Several months ago when my friend suggested we move out here for a more peaceful type of living I hadn't been sure but the village was less than an hour away by foot if I took the right short cuts so I was able to go visit my family all the time and so long as I had that I would be fine with living anywhere. What I had expected though was how much I would honestly enjoy this place as well as the large preference I had here over the hidden forest, my inner bear was calmed by the atmosphere and if felt good to not be around people who only cared about training all the time for once.

Walking down the dirt roads between buildings I eventually found myself at a place I often enjoyed visiting due to it having some of the best steak in this region. I went inside and sat down in my normal spot and looked at the menu as more a formality than anything else, considering I got the same thing every time I came here even the waiting staff chuckled a bit as they all knew what was coming next. "One 72 oz steak please, and don't worry I won't be needing a doggy bag when I'm done." His order didn't even have to be written down it was such a routine, a waitress simply pointed at me with her thumb and the cook let out a booming laugh before pulling several slabs of meat off their hook and showing them to me, I had also become a bit of a gourmet since I started living here and since I ate pretty much every meal here I got to pick out my steak like some people do with lobsters at fancy seafood joints. After a moment of inspection I chose the one that was slightly smaller in length after taking notice that it was much thicker than the other one which would mean more flavorful bites. The cook got to work on my food as a waiter brought me a glass of water which I just kind of sipped at while I waited.

I burst through the doors of the restaurant, knowing exactly where my best friend would be at this hour of every day. "TAKODA!" I yelled as I ran through the restaurant, searching for the little bear. After I found him sitting at a table with a water. I too loved this restaurant, as they served the best ramen in town. "Waitress, hit me up with the biggest bowl of ramen you have!" The waitress rolled her eyes, as she went back into the kitchen to bring the order to the shelf. My order was also routine, but I wasn't the waitresses favorite patron. The cook, however, loved me for my appetite. "Alright, Takoda, I have something really important to show you." My white hair was ruffled, and I was panting just a little bit from the run over here. I waited for his response as I stared at him pleading for him to be as excited as I was.

I leaned a bit back in the booth as Rohim showed up and made his normal order, apparently something big had happened as seeing as nothing else exciting had really happened in the last few days this was enough to get me excited. "What happened?" The excitement would be present in my voice as I asked him this, with my food not here yet he temporarily had my full attention.

I was getting lunch inside a restaurant. I had my lizard friend on the ground next to me harmlessly licking the air. I was wearing a white robe with a white shirt and black shorts underneath. I looked completely over dressed for this place, but I liked it...they didn't judge me here and let me order a mixture of every soup they had. The bowl I had in front of me, to most people would look and taste disgusting, but my special tongue let me distinguish ever single distinct flavor of ever soup...it was like having a bunch of soups all in one. Some loud boy had burst through the door yelling out for his friend, I looked over but quickly went back to my soup. Shortly after the boy ran in I looked down to give a piece of bread to my albino lizard, but saw that he was gone. I panicked for a second and stood up looking for him frantically, where could he have gone? I looked over at a table near two boys, one of which was the one who entered earlier, and my companion was propped up on their table flicking his tongue out, begging for a piece of one of the boys steaks.

I quickly walked over to the table and pulled my lizard down and clicked to him in his language "What are you doing my friend? Please get away from them, you're interrupting their meal." He looked up at me with his red eyes saddened a little and clicked back "I'm sorry...but I was hungry for something a little more than bread.." After his response I looked back up to the table and said to the two of them without making eye contact in a small voice "I'm...sorry, it won't happen again." I didn't wait for a response, I began to walk back to my table clicking for my lizard to follow.

I was very eager to hear that Takoda had been excited as well, so I responded, "It's a surprise, I'll show you after we eat! I'm hungry anyway, I could eat a cow!" My ramen arrived, and I began devouring it immediately. I was mid-scarf, when I noticed something on the table.. Was that.. a giant lizard? "Woah!" I jumped back in my seat out of fright. "What is that thing?!" I yelped. Just as I asked my question, the owner of the lizard came to claim it. It was a kid around my age, and he was pretty quiet. From the looks of it, the lizard was pretty hungry, and the kid looked like he was in serious need of a friend. "Don't worry about it, why don't you pull right on up here and sit with us? Where are you from? I think I saw you in one of my classes back at the academy!" I began the conversation before leaning behind me and yelling, "Hey waitress! Another loaded ramen and big-ass steak over here please!" She rolled her eyes and wrote it down on the notepad to give to the chef. I then turned back to the table to await responses.

I laughed as the over-sized iguana started asking for some of my steak with some light hearted clicks of its tongue. While Rohim was initially surprised my inner animal made it so I had a knack for animal empathy at times like this. His owner came over to claim him but then my bud offered him to sit with us, when he did the the lizard would tunr and I would catch his attention with a bit of meat I pulled off and tossed. He snatched it out of the air with his tongue and munched happily, "Yeah man, come join us. You and your friend are interesting."

I couldn't help but smile, these boys seemed nice enough I guess I could sit with them and eat. I pulled up a chair and sat down and began patting my lizard on the head after he ate the steak and clicked a thanks to the boy, I relayed the message "He says thank you." My lizard dropped to the floor again and I patted him on the head, he seemed to like these boys too. As the waiter brought the steak and ramen I slowly raised my hand and said in a small voice "May I have another one of my usual soups please?" The waiter smiled at me, wrote it down, and walked away. I then replied to the one boy's question, it would've been rude for me to ignore it "Yes, I was in a class with you...and I live with the rest of the Lacerta clan here in the village." I looked down at my hands I had folded on the table while waiting for my food to arrive, I was really hungry.

As the waitress brought the new food for the new guy and his lizard, I was growing antsy to show everyone my new super-awesome ninjutsu. I waited and waited, and took part in the conversation, but I just couldn't take it anymore. As soon as the new guy had finished his meal, and the lizard was done eating its steak, I grabbed the kid by the shoulder and proclaimed, "C'mon! I gotta show you something awesome!" As I started out of the restaurant with the shy one, I beckoned back to the waitress while pointing at Taokda still sitting at the table, "He'll pick up the tab, don't worry! Takoda, meet me outside when you're done!" And then in a flash, I rushed outside. I began performing handseals on the way out the door so I could show Hebi as soon as possible.

I was interested in the new guy, sure he was quiet but he was also a Lacerta and they were said to be almost as strong as the Kuma warriors but made up for it with their combat wit. Rohim said I would pick up the tab as he headed outside and my eyes narrowed a bit as his ramen bowls werent exactly the cheapest thing on the menu but I had gotten a few bonuses on the last mission so I was able to cover it before getting up and walking outside. "Alright so what is it?" He was doing hand seals so obviously it was the fruits of his training but what was going to happen I couldnt tell.

My food had arrived and I began to eat it, savoring it like I always did. The two boys talked to each other and me a little bit but I tried to stay out of the conversation as much as I could, I didn't want to hinder their talk. I simply stayed quiet every and every once in a while I gave Shiro a piece of steak and would click a small conversation with him. After I finished the boy suddenly stood up and began dragging me towards the door saying he had something awesome to show me. I could understand that he was excited but did he really have to be so aggressive? Shiro followed us out the door clicking threats to the one boy because he thought he was hurting me, I clicked back quickly to tell him everything was fine. After we were outside and the boy let go of me I brushed myself off and said to him still quietly but with a tone of question "What was so important?" I was afraid that I had come off a little sharp with my new aquaintence but I figured it wouldn't hurt his feelings much, he didn't seem like the sensitive type. Shiro had caught up to us now and laid down in a way around my legs like he wanted to protect me, I was glad to have him as a friend.

I was beaming with excitement as both of my friends swarmed around me just outside the restaurant. "Alright, ready? Check this out!" I finished the final handseal, and proceeded to rip the skin off of the tip of my thumb, drawing a steady stream of blood. I then planted the thumb onto the ground and yelled, "Come on out Gamatoru!" A cloud of smoke poofed in front of my body, and in its place stood a large orange toad with purple tattoos neatly patterned on his skin. Yes! It worked flawlessly! I looked to both Takoda and the new guy once again, beaming a large smile form ear to ear. I couldn't contain myself. The product of my tedious training was the learning of the ancient summoning techniques, and I couldn't help but brag about it. "What do you guys think?"

-Gamatoru-

"Hey kids. Name's Gamatoru, son of Gamamama and Gamapapa, honorary member of the Toad family. How goes it?" he said casually as he waved one of his froggy feet at the two boys I was talking to.

I watched as Rohim performed what looked like the seals for an advanced level jutsu, I at this point had not expected him to have learned to summon anything but then again he always did surprise me. He called out something's name and in a cloud of smoke appeared a rather large toad. I was impressed to say the least but he would get no such satisfaction so easily. I walked over to the toad who introduced himself and poked him in the stomach over and over while looking at my buddy, "Seems a tad on the chubby side."

A frog? This boy had managed to summon an animal that could speak and interact like a normal person? That was really cool, I wanted to ask him how he did it but I was afraid of ruining the moment so I simply smiled in entertainment. I let out a sincere laugh as the other boy called the toad chubby and I clicked down to Shiro quickly "These guys are pretty interesting huh?" He looked up to me and flicked out his tongue before clicking back "I guess they are, maybe we should hang out with them more?" I nodded at him and then looked over to the boy and said quietly "That's a really cool jutsu, It's nice to meet you Gamatoru." I would bow to the frog half jokingly and still smiling.

"You're chubby!" I retorted to Takoda, before returning to my toad. "He has the speed and strength of any normal genin, so it'll be like having another shinobi on the field with us!" I was impressed by myself, as I often was. I liked to think that I was a pretty cool cat, and this instance was no exception. When Hebi bowed, I smiled and said, "Yeah, at least someone appreciates him." I said as I shot a glare at Takoda. "You know," Gamatoru said, "I don't really enjoy being talked about like I'm your pet or something, jackass." I was taken back from this statement and didn't really know what to say. After a couple seconds of gaping dumbfoundedly, he began laughing uncontrollably and said, "I'm just kidding, kid, you should see the look on your face!" I smacked my forehead with my palm,a nd began laughing as well. He was a little more similar to my personality than I would have thought

The new kid was as impressed as me but he showed it, then Rohim retorted by throwing my insult back at me which resulted in me sticking out my tongue before finally quitting the constant poking of the toad. Then this Gamatoru made a very cruel comment that turned into a joke which resulted in me laughing as he and I seemed to share a sense of humor. "You know I think I'm going to like having you on our team. Maybe I should learn to summon myself at some point though, can't let this 'jackass' get to far ahead of me." I would stand back and put my hands behind my head as I looked up at the trees around the area thinking about my possible summons should I be able to master the art, so long as it wasnt something lame like moths or turtles I didnt care what I got.