With a light 'swish' the door to a small reception room on the second floor of the Kage's tower opened revealing a young man in a loose purple jacket with his steel counterpart wrapped in cloth and slung over his shoulder, it had been a few hours and Kenji had exhausted his will to wander around town. He figured it would be best to simply wait outside of Vox's office until the Council decided to let him go. Quietly sliding the door shut behind him Kenji took note of the room, it was of decent size and atmosphere. A medium sized potted plant occupied the two corners near the main entrance of the room, two rows of chairs sat long the walls perpendicular to the entrance, six each, with a small table next to all four end chairs. The room itself was a little over twelve feet across and about twenty feet long leaving plenty of room for traffic not to be interrupted by those waiting to be called upon. At the far end of the room there was a receptionists nook with a stomach level counter overhanging a desk, hiding the receptionists documents and less work related items away from plain sight. On the wall behind the desk were two signs, one pointing down a hallway to the left that read "Archives", and one pointing down a hallway to the right that read "Offices".

"Can I help you?" A calm formal voice came from behind the receptionists counter where a woman in her late thirties appeared to be busy thumbing through a pile of documents. "I'm here upon request of the Jounin Commander." "I'm sorry but he's currently unavailable, you can wait for him here or come back at a later time." Without glancing up from her documents the woman motioned towards on of the chairs then went back to thumbing through them. With a slight nod Kenji moved over to the chair closest to his right while swinging his blade off of his shoulders, leaning it against the wall to his left on the other side of the small end table before taking his seat. While it appeared that they were the only two people in the room Kenji was sure that there was some sort of security keeping watch over the room. Kenji could still feel the tension in the air from the rumor he heard about the Keukage's health, and Vox being away this long didn't bode well.

Well, that had been something.

Vox got out of his meeting about fifteen minutes later, still stunned from what had happened. He walked through the building in a daze, not really noticing anything around him. This would have been a shock in the best of circumstances, but right after such a rough mission it was like a boot to the head. It took him a moment to even get his bearings. Six years he'd been going in and out of this building, and for a moment he forgot where to go. After sorting his head out a bit, he walked slowly and unsteadily through the halls. His mind was spinning, trying to figure out what this would do to his plans. He would have to make some adjustments, at the very least.

When he passed through the waiting room, he didn't even see Kenji. The jounin appeared to be in a trance. He shuffled right through, ignoring the receptionist and the genin alike. As he slipped into his office, they could see a rectangular white object clutched in his right hand.

It was the Keukage's hat.

Only fifteen minutes later the door slip open a second time revealing the man Kenji was waiting for, however the Jounin Commander seemed to be in a state of mild shock, and on top of that he was holding the Keukage's hat in his right hand. If the room wasn't silent before, which is was, it sure as hell would be now. Everyone's fears had been correct, the Keukage's health was failing him, or rather "did" fail him, and with the image before him now it was apparent who the Village Council had chosen to succeed him. Kenji decided it was best not to say anything as Vox passed by him, as did the receptionist, he didn't wish to agitate Vox's state of shock and invoke an unhealthy reaction. Instead he simply watched as Vox shuffled into his office, the weight of the situation obviously bearing down upon him. In order to let the Jounin Commander, no, Keukage get his bearings a bit Kenji decided to wait another fifteen minutes before approaching his office. With his blade re-slung across his back Kenji moved towards the entrance to Vox's office, stopping just outside of the doorway. "Permission to enter, Sir?" Kenji said in a respectful tone after knocking on the frame of the doorway a few times to make his presence known.

Vox sat at his desk, turning the hat over in his hands. Six years ago he was a refugee seeking asylum, and now he was running the whole village. He'd had his suspicions that a new Keukage would be picked soon, but he never thought they'd choose the chakraless foreigner. That had caught him totally off guard. Thinking it over, he decided to forge ahead with his plan to build a team. Lots of kage had teams of their own, he could too. He might not be able to stay away from the village much, but that still left plenty of things they could do. In the meantime, he decided to redouble his training. Kage needed a higher standard of power, and he would need everything he could muster to meet the challenges ahead. His inhuman body was capable of a great deal more than he was asking of it, and he would have to tap into his full potential if he was going to deserve this title.

The knock called him back to reality. "Come in." he said, fumbling with the hat. For a moment he considered putting it on, but he quickly decided he didn't like the idea and set it aside. He'd never had much fondness for hats in general. He would wear it on formal occasions and for official functions, but otherwise he'd stick to his usual attire. Looking up, he saw Kenji enter the room. He tried to put on his serious face, although the panic and shock was still showing through a bit. He'd never had such a large command before, Vox hoped he could handle it.

"Ah, mister Jinsei. What can I do for you?" Vox asked, managing to keep his voice from shaking.

"Come in." Kenji could tell that Vox was sill a little out of it, he could only imagine what was running through the new Keukage's head right now. After a slight bow Kenji approached Vox's desk, centering himself a few feet away. "Ah, mister Jinsei. What can I do for you?" As Vox spoke Kenji noticed the slight tone of shock in his voice, the signs were subtle but they were still there. He couldn't help but wonder if Vox had forgotten the chat they had earlier, however given the circumstances he would chalk that up to shock. "You asked me to stop by, Sir. I would like to take you up on that offer to schedule a spar, as well as see if there's anything I can do to help." Kenji said, speaking in a formal tone. He wasn't sure if Vox would be up to sceduling anything given the situation, or even still planning on forming a team, but Kenji was more than willing to help in any way he could.

Right, the spar! Vox had almost forgotten in the events of the day. He ran over his agenda in his head. "Oh, of course, the spar. Don't worry about helping, a crew will be moving my stuff to the new office today." A thought occurred to him. Vox stood, coming around the desk. "Come to think of it, I should probably get out of their hair. They'll have some work ahead of them. Got time to spar now?" He wouldn't admit it, but he really needed to let off some steam. He knew he'd have to hold back against the boy, but it would be nice to get a more relaxing fight. It had been a very stressful couple of days. A friendly sparring match with a polite, respectful, explosion-free opponent could be just what he needed. Vox pulled out a schedule, checking over the bookings for the training grounds. "Ground B should be free right now. You ready?"

"Oh, of course, the spar. Don't worry about helping, a crew will be moving my stuff to the new office today." As he expected the events following their conversation completely overshadowed the former, which would probably happen the same way if their roles were reversed. Just arriving back in town only to learn that you're the new Kage would definitely knock someone for a loop. Come to think of it, I should probably get out of their hair. They'll have some work ahead of them. Got time to spar now?" Kenji watched as Vox stood up and began to move around the desk, listening to him with growing excitement. He didn't expect Vox would be up to it so soon, but he was sure that this was just as much a gauge of ability as it was a way to blow off some steam. "Absolutely, Sir." Kenji said with a little more than a hint of excitement in his voice. "Ground B should be free right now. You ready?" "Whenever you are, Sir." In all honesty Kenji could hardly wait, the strongest person he ever got to test his mettle with was an advanced Chuunin back in Raiugakure, and now he was about to spar with a man that just got promoted to Kage. Making a motion that said "Lead the way." Kenji stood ready to follow Vox out to the training grounds.

"Well I'm ready as I'll ever be."

There was something contagious about the kid's excitement. He tried to be grown up and serious, but there was still that youthful optimism that was hard to overlook. Even when he was being formal, Kenji was so damn chipper that it was starting to rub off on Vox. It was also nice to be around someone so straightforward. After days with a whining rich brat and an encounter with a nutty assassin, he needed the simplicity. Vox made a mental note not to forget the assassin in the confusion. He lead Kenji out, stopping momentarily at the receptionist's desk before leaving. "Take a message for the moving crew. Have them go through the clan files, pull any that could be prone to white eyes." The woman nodded, writing it down as he exited the building with Kenji.

"Had a run-in with someone on the last mission." he said, lighting a fresh cigarette. He had the feeling he was going to need a lot more of these. "Gotta follow up on it. Maybe I'll tell you about it someday." Vox puffed away contentedly, leading the way to the training grounds.

[Exeunt to training ground]