Land of Earth

[Erebus]

A weeping quivering mess, this awful state of his was only worsened when Ko kicked his hands away and began striking him with the weighted glove. Hakarō's hands flung over his head, covering it protectively, flinching at the blind man's words, all while muttering repeated 'Sorry's through sobbing. It was difficult to tell exactly how such a man managed to survive as a shinobi, let alone make it to the rank of Chūnin. Perhaps the Hidden Stone was severely lacking in both ability and leadership, to allow such a sorry individual among their ranks.
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“You’re not being tortured, you’re not being stoned and furthermore—I am not going to be beating you to death with experimental chakra substances"​

Again, Hakarō's mind had altered the interpretation of his words. Hearing him say he wasn't going to beat him to death with experimental chakra substances didn't mean he had no intentions on beating him to death. It just meant he wasn't going to do so with that strange stone..ore..whatever it was! His mind raced, eyes peeking out from under his messy hair and his shielding arms to scan his surroundings for the potential weapon of his demise. The moles who found the whole interaction hysterical, and rightfully so didn't even register to the man trapped in a ball of fear and self preservation.
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“Look, I am asking you to ignite the ore with your fire release to see how it reacts and if it does."​

Hakarō looked up as Ko spoke, staring quietly. With each word spoken he slowly began to pick himself up off the ground, rising to a slight hunch as he slowly stepped over towards Ko. When the blindman had said everything he intended to say, directing the moles to set the tone of the room for the experiment, Hakarō remained still, tilting his head one way then the other, a look of confusion on his face followed by apprehension, eyes darting from side to side as if to avoid looking at his partner.

He continued glancing at Ko and then around him. Truth be told, Fire Release wasn't exactly something he specialized in, typically focusing on his Hiden and Earth Release. A little calmer it is only now that he recalls and understands Ko's previous statement of wanting to know how that...thing responded to fire. 'Why doesn't he just use a lighter?' He couldn't help but wonder. His fear of being beaten and possibly killed however stayed his tongue, preventing his thoughts from escaping as words from his mouth. He took a breath as he steadied himself..best he could at least.

Horse → Snake → Rat → Monkey → Horse → Hare

Hands wove through sign after sign, chakra kneaded and heated within him, lips parting as he spews out a boulder sized fireball towards the object sealed in the container, having left it sitting where it last rested. The glow from the flames lit up the darkened space, flames crackling and roaring, and roaring louder upon collision, the tongues of flame licking at the air. He had no idea what to expect, or what Ko hoped to achieve. All he could think of was how he was glad that at least for now, he wasn't going to be beaten, killed or hated.

 

[Aōi]

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“Yes. At long last.” he thought sarcastically as he observed the experiment take place.​

His worrisome partner had finally seemed to come to his senses on the subject of whether or not his death would come at his hands—though the day was still very young. He watched as the part of the room lit up with bright orange-red flame, the large fireball burned fiercely and roared with more ferocity than the demeanor of its user ever shouted. The moles scurried about the laboratory to gather equipment and materials, Bunri grabbing one panel of heat-resistant glass and Benio picking up the other. Within seconds of the flame making contact with the ore, the two brothers moved to the respective sides of Hakarō in an attempt to control and funnel the flame while Ban ran up the leg of his master and sat upon his shoulder observing and sniffing deeply as if he had his own analysis to make. Which of course, he did.
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“Well?” Ko asked, almost sounding impatient.​

He was unflinching during the entire process, having taken too long to perform he silently allowed Ban to conduct the first hypothesis, an honor he usually reserved for himself. The smaller mole recognized the situation as Ko grew more impatient when dealing with his wax laden partners' antics and objections.
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“Hmm…well this one is quite an interesting specimen, boss.” he began, taking a few more moments to sniff and even lowered his shades to take a long and raw look at how the ore behaved under such temperatures, his nose filling with the smoky soot, was also detecting something…unnatural. Every inhale left him in a state of wonder; the taste of iron, raw minerals and….chakra. “Sad to say, I was wrong on this one. Bunri was right, this thing is somehow alive.” he finished.​

Ko smirked at the confirmation. Of course he had already deduced that very same hypothesis, however in his experience, if Ban came to confirm something he already knew, then he generally tended to be on the verge of a major discovery as the mole has been specifically trained to sniff out anomalous instances of chakra and minerals, even coming to have a much keener sense in that area than the mad scientist himself. He watched something very interesting about the ongoing flame interacting with this substance: the air around it felt charged, vibrating more greatly than when he first found it. He wondered if he was looking at a special kind of rock, or something trying to pretend that it's something else.
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“It's not just chakra Ko, its…its like its heart is beating or something. Look at the ore itself, it's being heated, yes but the exterior—it still appears cold!” he exclaimed, clearly getting excited for Ko.​

The shinobi then paced the room as the flames carried on, then placing his hands on his partner and nodding to him signalling him that is enough. Bunri and Benio then removed the glass panels from containing the flame as he walked over with the glove he used on Hakarō moments prior, placing it on and picking up the ore in his hand holding it up to his wrapped face examining his work. He turned it around in full detail, which looked hilariously comical to anyone whose vision wasn’t impaired. He discovered two things about this ‘rock’: It wasn’t just a rock, it was a vessel or containment unit for something inside of it. It was somehow alive then fossilized but managed to retain its spiritual and physical energy properties, seemingly allowing it to store any foreign chakra it comes into contact with. It pulsed in his hand as if it were a heartbeat, just like Ban described. Despite his very low reaction and lack of facial expression, he was truly fascinated by this discovery and would need to continue experimenting further on it. This may have been the opening to the door he had been searching for for quite some time.

He turned away from Hakarō and the moles, placing it in a larger containment unit across the room, opening and closing with a hydraulic hiss and clank. He sighed and turned around towards Hakarō with a strange smile, for once, the scientist seemed to be happy.
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“You look like you want something to drink, wax. Care for some sake? Boys…” he said, and as he finished his sentence, the moles all sprang into action, grabbing glasses, trays, cups and some easy snacks. ​

Ko snapped his fingers, and instantly his bench in the middle of the room sank down into the porcelain like floor, and was soon replaced with a low table for lounging and eating. Once the ridiculous display of preparedness was over, he removed his sandals and sat down as the moles prepared his lunch and poured his drink.
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“You’re not going to make me drink alone, are you wax?” he said, gesturing for him to sit down and relax.​

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