Mastering two jutsu with one day (training post)

Maku had gained several new jutsu, and had begun changing the way he fought.  No longer was he constantly changing himself.  No longer was he so focused with ninjutsu, but was delving fully into genjutsu as his main strategy.  Also was he done with killing foes in different means, but instead opting for more defensive measures.  His tasks and goals for the day where to master two new skills he had picked up, so that he would become a more powerful individual.  These two skills would be the hidden in the mist jutsu and the weighted illusions jutsu.  One would be ideal for hiding from foes and keeping himself from danger, while the other would be ideal for wearing down foes so that he could kill them.  In the future these skills would work perfectly with another person.  As a genjutsu specialist, having a strong physical partner would improve his strength and deadliness a thousand fold.  In time he would find the partner, but for now he would work on himself and get everything that he needed.  Well, he thought to himself, enough mulling things over, it was time to get to work.  He thought that he would start with the hidden mist jutsu, as it was ideal for hiding. 
 
                The principal of the hidden mist was to use water, and form a mist to hide in.  Pretty self explanatory.  Now what separated good users, from great users is the ability in how they get that water. A great user, can just pull the water from the moisture in the air and cloak themselves by infusing their chakra into it.  A regular person must have a body of water somewhere nearby for this to happen.  And Maku was determined, not to be a regular person, but a great one.  Maku initially was going to go out in search of a water source, but now he was determined to do something different.  He would instead only use the water from his drinking skin that he had brought.  By having a smaller source it would be easier to begin training to master the jutsu.  He started by slowly drawing some water out and atomizing it into the air.  He then pushed his chakra signature into each drop of water.  By doing this he would be undetectable while he stayed in the mist, as all the droplets would have his signature within them.  The next goal would be to move the mist out all around him.  He needed it to make it opaque.  Thus by having it so no one could see, he would be invisible to his foes.  A useful thing when one knows how to use sound genjutsu as good as Maku did. 
 
                Moving the atomized water with his will, he made it denser and denser.  This caused the sunlight to even seem to decrease because it was so thick.  By contusing on, Maku could almost completely eliminate light, but instead only had a soft glow of what little sunlight made it through that reflected off the light.  He was pleased with what he had done with such a small amount of water.  This was of course, the main strategy.  He needed to atomize the water already in the atmosphere.  It wouldn’t be to difficult now that he had gotten a base down by using water from his own drinking skin.  Letting the mist disappear he practiced doing the same thing again.  Sadly he would run out of drinking water at this rate but alas that was the price you pay sometimes.  Getting the water out of the skin with his chakra he atomized it, thickened it, and hid in it in a matter of seconds, all according to plan.  Once he released it again, he closed the top of his drink and began getting ready to focus on the atmosphere around him as his next source of drawing out the water in it.
 
                Making the handsigns, Maku let his chakra flow outwardly to clump with the water molecules.  At first nothing happened but slowly, a slight mist began to appear.  It was slower going than he was used to, but all the same good things came slowly and to those who had the patience for it.  Getting a slight mist around him, he formed a barrier that hid him and made sure his chakra signature was inside each drop.  It was obviously a success.  Maku had a strong chakra, so doing this wasn’t hard.  It wasn’t a powerful jutsu and almost everyone who had a mastered water element would be able to do it.  It only made since that it only took him a couple tries to get it going.  The only problem now was that he was taking to long to get the jutsu going.  But this was a matter of practice and repetition.  Letting the mist go away, he would again summon it forth.  This would happen several times.  He would do it several times, trying to go faster and faster each time.  It came slowly, but each time it was a little bit faster.  After 4 more tries, he got it in about 6 seconds.  This was still too long though, as a powerful shinobi would be able to reach him, or at least guess his location before he could hide.  It was a fear to get to close to dangers.  Though with his new summon this fear was slightly alleviated.  Perhaps waiting till the summon was up, and call forth his summon he would have an element of surprise, surely a strategy to think towards in the future.
 
                Going off of the base he had built, he had got it going.  Making the handsigns, and pulling his chakra together, he created the mist in under 5 seconds.  It was not mastered.  Maku was certain he would be able to use it now effectively in combat.  He was happy with his progress and was now ready to begin his next step in today’s training.  He would move on to master another genjutsu that he could use while hidden in the mist by playing his harmonica. 
(1018 words, mastered the hidden in the mist jutsu.)
 
                Maku’s next task was mastering the weighted illusion jutsu.  It was one of his own inventions.  Not nearly as powerful as the Taki no Sekai, but instead more of a utility.  It was almost indistinguishable, so his foes should not be able to discover it easily.  This would especially work against foes in armor.  After all, they would just think their armor is a little stiff and would be less likely to question the heaviness that they’d be feeling.  This strategy was good and sound, which he would have to remember depending on what his enemy would be wearing.  Hailing from the waterfall village he was well aware that his leader used some kind of dust as armor so if he ever had to fight him this might be a valuable skill to have.  Especially if he had a partner to keep Saiga busy.  This would leave the waterfall village in ruin, not something he especially wanted, but something to keep in mind if he ever needed a large secluded base of operations.  Or if he got involved with a group that needed a base, the possibilities were endless, and open.  In time he would have to think through all of this to see if it would be a wise gambit or just another dream.  But for now it was time to start work towards becoming more powerful.
 
                Setting himself up he began training his jutsu.  He focused and summoned forth the necessary power to use the weighted illusion jutsu.  He cast the jutsu on animals at first.  He didn’t want to use it on himself just yet, though he had in the past to train his own speed and strength.  He practed and practed, by forcing the jutsu to be stronger and harder on his advisories.  The goal would be to actually make the animals move slower.  It wasn’t easy since animals have their instincts causing them to resist this kind of genjutsu.  Over time though it would work more and more.  At first they just seemed sluggish like the jutsu intended.  Over time though it actually looked like they were slowing down.  The animals he started with where squirrels and mouse that he could see.  He knew that the next step was to find larger, stronger animals to use it on because then he would be able to move on to people.  Of course since he was the only person around he would have to use it on himself.  It wasn’t an easy thing submitting to one’s own illusions, after all you might get lost in your own mind, and that was a dangerous place.
 
                Finding some deer to work on, he began practicing the jutsu on them as well.  It seemed to be working.  He had used the jutsu on himself enough during training that he had honed and shaped it to what it needed to be.  Thus this was just a bit more training to figure it all out.  He needed to make the animals slower, and that was what he saw.  They moved slower, even as they tried to run away.  Now that he had mastered this jutsu on the animals, he could move on to do it to himself.  It wasn’t easy not having a partner for training, but Maku made the best of it.  It would all work out in the end, but getting there seemed like a long road.  Finding a clear space to work in, Maku made the preparations to train.  He first surveyed the area, making sure there was no enemies in the vicinity.  The last thing he needed was for an enemy to sneak up on him and attack while he was under his own genjutsu.  Once he was certain he was alone, he made sure there was enough space to run.  He needed to have room to try and fight the genjutsu, so he made sure the clearing was around 100 meters long.  Once all was ready he set up to start the task.
 
                Finally with all his preparations made and accounted for Maku began using the genjutsu on himself and running.  At first he could easily break free from shear will power.  But each time it was a little more difficult.  He learned where to press with the illusion to make it harder to resist.  It wasn’t hard in principal but in practice it was a bit challenging.  It was a matter of trial and error, learning how hard to press without compromising what he was trying to do.  After all he needed to keep it subtle enough that it would be undetected, but strong enough that it would have the effects he needed it to.   After a few more reps, he had It doing what he needed.  Even he could not resist and felt himself run slower than he normally would.  So overall a successful use of his time. 
                Now that he had both jutsu working at a mastered level, he decided to sit back and relax a bit.  He rested against a tree and let the sun shine on his face.  With the nice breaze coming in from the west he could feel himself growing drowsy.  He needed to rest, he had been working very hard after all.  Mastering jutsu was coming faster and easier as time went on, but they weren’t strong enough to take over the most powerful shinobi.  This wasn’t the first time that he worried that using genjutsu had been a mistake.  Often he wondered if he should have used more physical means, but for now it was what he had chosen so there was no reason to back out now.  Too much time had been invested; he would simply have to devise ways to make them more powerful.  This would come with the use of skills more than jutsu. He needed to develop stronger skills with his genjutsu, to make sure other shinobi couldn’t just outright disperse it.  He needed them to at least have to fight a little bit.  If he could make them at least work some he would have the advantage.  This would be how he could wear people down and make them fall before him.
(1029/1000 towards mastering weighted illusions)
 
(Word count = 2047, so 10 stats, 20jp, and mastered both hidden mist and weighted illusion jutsu.)

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