Art is Subjective

Art is Subjective

Sunagakure had certainly seen better days. In the wake of recent attacks, improving the village seemed like a constant task for newly graduated Genin. One such Genin was Kenji Karakuri, and although E-ranks were usually tedious, Kenji had the fortune of not only using his imagination on the job, but being encouraged to do so. Sunagakure's service projects mostly had function in mind, as there was little time to think about anything else. Until now, that is, as Kenji was contributing to a public art project. Kenji loved imaginative activities, so he was confident that this mission was going to be a breeze.

Kenji's contribution, he hoped, would be quite lovely. He took the job of painting a mural, one that he hoped would be a fine representation of Sunagakure's history. He also hoped to express Sunagakure's determination to return from the brink of destruction, something that they had been able to prove in recent times. However, he was still staring at the blank wall. How best to approach that representation?

Kenji normally liked having freedom to do whatever art he felt like, but given the amount of responsibility associated with this project, it was stressful deciding what to depict specifically. Grandiose images of the Kazekage? Too cliché. Perhaps a depiction of The Grove? Indeed, the trees surviving in the desert could symbolize the survival of the village in harsh conditions. But the Grove itself was perhaps already a work of art in and of itself, with the same meaning. Painting it here would be unoriginal.

"Hmmm."

He continued his staring, contemplating some more. What else could he depict? Perhaps a lone shinobi, persevering through a sandstorm? That would be intriguing. Yet it didn't feel that authentic to him. His father, being a more experienced shinobi, would probably be able to depict that kind of determination with authority, since he was so busy with missions that helped Sunagakure stay together. Yet to a complete rookie like Kenji, it seemed like he needed something hopeful, yet more uncertain. Any rookie could relate to that. How best to symbolize something like that?

Kenji decided to simply start with the setting, which would naturally be the desert. He set the horizon low on the wall by painting a relatively thinner, gray line across the wall. The wall itself provided the color for the sand, as most buildings in the village were made of sandstone. Next, Kenji used orange paint to color above the horizon line, depicting a sunset. This process took the longest. Murals, due to their size alone, took hours, if not days, to complete. Kenji was careful not to rush it, however. To rush art would be to give up some quality.

The benefit of this long process was that by the time the sun was setting in the real world, the sunset was still only halfway done. This real sunset gave Kenji an accurate representation of what a sunset looked like in Sunagakure. He grew up here, but was usually inside studying for Academy classes by this hour. Now that he was graduated and on his first mission, he could finally see the beauty in a Sunagakure sunset. It was so much of a spectacle, that Kenji decided to paint over his completed half, replacing his existing partial sunset with a partial sunset that mimicked the beauty of what he was seeing. Thankfully this was made much easier by the sunset itself, which served as a reference point of sorts.

By the time it was dark, Kenji had a Sunagakure sunset in his mural, and one he could be proud of at that. Yet he needed more. He decided to sleep on this, hopefully by tomorrow he'd have an idea as to what to add to the project. Kenji travelled home, not bothering to pick up food on the way since his mother's bakery wasn't only where his home was, but also had free, high quality food. Kenji entered the bakery to it empty. Not surprising, considering his mother was probably resting, and father was likely on duty. Even Hina, his elder sister, was probably doing a mission right now. Yet a chocolate croissant was on the counter, with a note from his mother:

"Congratulations on your first E-rank mission! Your work matters.

-Mom

"Thanks mom."

He ate the pastry, and went to his room upon finishing. Sleep took him immediately, as the day was indeed exhausting.

Kenji woke up with sore elbows and shoulders. Murals were pretty brutal on the joints, again because of their size. Kenji hoped whatever idea he had today to finish his artwork would be simple enough to be easy on his sore self. He ate breakfast, than headed out in quite a rush. Upon arriving at the mural, he began to work on it again. Well, by "working," staring at what he had so far and thinking. He remembered back to his thought processes yesterday, before he started the sunset:

Something hopeful, yet uncertain...

Today, now that he wasn't focusing on completing the sunset, he had an idea as to how to give that feeling to the mural. So he drew a Genin that may or may not be a self portrait (it certainly had a similar outfit to him), rear view, staring up into the sunset. This took longer than expected because of his sore body, but he was determined to not let this prevent him from completing his contribution. Six hours passed, and by the end of those six hours, Kenji was exhausted. He was sore, breathing heavy, and sweating. Then he looked up at his completed mural, which was still drying.

He had to admit, it was something to be proud of. He was so proud, in fact, that he wasn't worrying about a title. He signed his name in a corner of the wall as well. The last thing he needed was another shinobi taking credit for this. It was so amazing, and whatever it came to be known as since, it would always be a symbol of hope in an uncertain time. He stared at it for three hours more while he rested. By the time it was sunset yet again, he sighed as he finally decided on a title after all:

"Setting Sun, Rising Genin."

WC: 1050

+1000 Ryo
+5 AP

1050/3000 WC for Butai-ningyo