Genetics by the book (Open, NK)

It was time for Masashi to visit the Kozai Yuki National Archives. He enjoyed visiting the largest information repository in the country as research and reading was something he considered one of his favourite activities. Today’s trip was not for pleasure unfortunately. As he really did not have a benchmark to compare the samples he’d acquired from the autopsy, he was hoping there would be some useful information at the archives that would make his research somewhat smoother. It’s not like he had a stream of bodies that he could simply take samples from and compare to see if he could find parallels. The Archives would be his best bet, as the staff there made it their mission to ensure that at least a copy of all information they came across was stored inside for the benefit of Haven.

As soon as he arrived, Masashi walked up to the first librarian he’d come across and ascertained the Archive’s documents pertaining to different clans and what makes them special. With that information he went to the specific areas and pulled the books in question, then made his way to an empty desk and started reading.

Unfortunately for him, the information he was looking for didn’t seem to be listed in any of the documents. All they really described was what made the clans special in terms of their natural abilities, not what caused them to be that way. Masashi sighed; ‘Oh well.’ He thought to himself, ‘seems I’ll need to do the work myself.’

WC: 253

The Kozai Yuki National Archives. Despite having been a Genin for a decent period of time now, Kiryu had never actually visited the great library. He had admired it from a distance since he was a young boy, but he had never felt as though he would be allowed in. As a shinobi, however, there were few places in the village that would be off limits to him, so he found himself opening the doors to the library with a sense of trepidation. It certainly did not disappoint.
 
Kiryu’s breath was taken away at the sight of the rows upon rows of bookshelves. So much knowledge, he thought to himself in awe as he simply tried to take it all in. If knowledge was power, as he believed it was, then surely Haven must be the most powerful land in the world with a library such as this. As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he began to wonder if the other shinobi villages each had a library like this as well. Perhaps one day he would have the opportunity to see for himself.
 
After spending a few minutes processing the amount of information around him, he remembered the reason that he had come here in the first place: Tsubaki. She had mentioned that her wood style jutsu were related to her clan. She had indicated that without being a member of the Senju clan, wood release was impossible to learn. He had no reason to believe that she would lie to him about something like that, but perhaps there would be information about the techniques, or even the clan itself, somewhere in the library here that would reveal a way for him to learn it. He felt… a calling, almost. It was like he was meant to learn wood style in order to serve the gods.
 
Unfortunately, he quickly learned that access to any sort of information regarding clans or their special abilities were restricted to Chuunin. With visible disappointment, Kiryu decided to look up something else that interested him almost as much: the divine beasts. The messengers of the gods, the divine beasts were more commonly referred to as bijuu by nonbelievers. Luckily, some information on them was readily available, so Kiryu grabbed a pair of books and sat down to study them. He was actually somewhat surprised at how few people there were in the library, but perhaps it was just a slow day.
 
After reading for a few minutes, Kiryu glanced over at the shinobi on the desk next to him. He hadn’t seen him before, although that wasn’t too surprising. Still, he wanted to get to know more shinobi and this seemed as good of an opportunity as any to meet a shinobi that also seemed to possess a love for knowledge. He waited until the other shinobi looked up for a second before introducing himself so that he didn’t interrupt his reading.
 
”Hello,” he said with a slight bow of his head. ”My name is Kiryu Hikari, Genin.” Kiryu stole a quick glance at the books that he had been reading. He couldn’t make out any of the titles, but he thought he saw one that had the word “clan” in the title. ”If you don’t mind my asking, would you happen to know anything about the Senju clan? I noticed the books you were looking at.” Of course, it didn’t occur to Kiryu until after he had started speaking that perhaps a library wasn’t the best place to hold a conversation.

[WC: 589]