Training on the beach

Thu Oct 09, 2014 11:52 am

The beaches of Shimagakure reminded him of the coast of the crustaceans. A far away place indeed, but one that he still missed. The sun was shining, and the sun was warm against his skin as Maku walked along the beaches. Maku had often wondered what this village would look like and was not disappointed. It was really a thing of beauty. As the clouds slowly shifted over head, Maku found himself sitting in a beach chair he had purchased earlier, and a drink in his hand. Relaxing he sat close enough to the shore so the water would lap his feet. All in all it was a pretty perfect day, one that he wished could last forever. However, Maku was determined to get some training under his belt today. He had considered working on his own skills, but watching a tiny little sand crab pop out of the beach, he decided it might be nice to return to the summon country he loved. Well, after he finished his drink perhaps. Sipping more slowly upon this realization, the sun moved through the sky for awhile before, he felt the need to actually do anything about learning anything. Once he finished, he stood, and placed the container on the chair, and walked out to be waist deep in water.

Going for a short swim, Maku arrived back on the shore, and let the sun dry him for awhile. Yep…..king of procrastination was still his title it appeared. Finding a sea shell, he made a small cut on his finger, and summoned the crab contract barrier. Holding onto him, he was reverse summoned into the land of the crustaceans. The weather was almost identical here, in fact it looked so similar, Maku had to blink in the sunlight to ensure the process had actually worked for him. However, the sand here was much more white, and there were crabs all over the place going about their daily routines. Walking for awhile he waved at familiar faces, and spoke words to some of the denizens. Maku had long gained there respect and admiration for the deeds he had committed in their services. He even wore a head band that bore their kanji upon his forehead, or around his neck when he felt the desire. He walked with a purpose to see Satsujin the king crab, and his old friend the Bafukani, who had been given a high position in his last visit.

Finding the cave, he found both Satsujin and Bafukani feasting together and was hailed to eat as comrades. He was forced to accept he was very lucky in his friends. Other summons probably ate gross food like bugs, were as his friends ate sushi and fish. So all in all, a great feast indeed. They ate they drank, they spoke of the past and of the future. It was at this time that Maku asked them about training. He had desires for some new techniques and was wondering if they could teach him anything. After some thought the Bafukani was the one to answer. He spoke of an older technique that involved the summoning of only parts of the race, not the entire creature. These abilities allowed more versatility, and expended less energy than the actual summoning of the entire body of the creatures. Of course this only made sence, as bringing only a portion of a creature through space and time would be much simpler than the entire creature. Maku listened enraptured by the creature as the secrets of this technique were explained. After all, it was exactly what he had been looking for. Something versatile, and usefully unique to add to his arsenal.

After he felt confident he had the basics of the jutsu, Maku began traveling. He was told of a sand crab that lived on the other side of the coast and to beseech him for aid. He was a powerful individual that might be willing to offer its services when he called. Because of this, Maku wasted no time. By wasting no time, he only waited a day or two of resting and relaxing on the shore to actually go find this crab. While he was resting, he once more attempted to awaken the bloodline that flowed within his body. Prior to his arrival, he had snagged a book on the Uzumaki bloodline from the library in Youka’s lab. He sat on the beach and read this book. It was pretty boring, but informative all the same. It detailed what the Uzumaki were known for, and how the chains could be used. How they used it to seal bijuu and ninja alike. Its containing power was truly great, and the ability to fire chains from their tenkatsu was truly impressive. It even had illustrations on the process, and this gave Maku renewed hope to gain this power.

Once he had gotten the basics from this dumb book, Maku headed out to find the sand crab. It took nearly two days to traverse the shores, but it wasn’t a bad journey. Food was aplenty in this land, and the journey was comfortable. Sleeping outdoors, and training his body was a simple and even dare he say enjoyable matter. His chief focus was the creation of the chains however, still he had no luck. Perhaps some training in Space and time chakra would aid his research, or at the very least get his mind off the matter and give him renewed purpose. Finding the cave he was looking for, Maku spent the night once again on the shore. No need to sneak up on the creature in the middle of the night and get into a fight. As the moon rose and fell, he prepared himself for the journey. What would this creature be like, and would this even work. He found himself nervous for the first itme in a long time. This was a new thing for him after all, and it had been awhile since he had trained for anything.

As the dawn snuck its way into the being, Maku awoke with the sun shining hot and bright upon his face. Figuring it was about time to get some work done, he stood and walked inside the cave. The darkness was nearly blinding after the brightness that the suns first light had provided him with, and because of that he had to squint to see anything at all. He had forgotten his sharingan had given him power to see in the dark, still only activating it when absolutely necessary. Looking left and right, the only thing he saw was a large pile of fish bones in one corner and a giant boulder in the center of the cave. It was large and a dark sandy color. It almost seemed to rumble however, so Maku assumed the creature he was looking for must be behind it somewhere. Wandering around the back of the cave, he was surprised to see nothing there, instead it was merely more cave. Curioser and curisor this rabbit……crab hole seemed to be going. Leaning against the boulder to rethink the situation, he soon found that the shuttering movements were coming from it. O shi……… was this the crab. It was a rather large guy.

Poking the giant crab, he was unable to illicit a single response. What a bummer. It wasn’t nearly as large as Satsujin, but it was still a rather massive creature. Since none of his normal tactics were working he was going to have to do something a bit more drastic. Closing his eyes he concentrated on that spectral giant he had used all that time ago. However he had no inclination to make it into a large creation. No he just wanted it to be an armor surrounding him, making it more compact and useful. Opening his eyes they swirled into a collage of black and red as a golden light filled the room. It had worked, his body was cloaked in golden energy, lion heads on his hands and a lions cowl over his head. Walking over to the creature, he bent low and lifted with all his strength, however he found it needed very little energy to pick the creature up in the first place. Once lifted he shook the creature and dropped it. “OUCH YOU SON OF A FISH MONGER!!!!!” the creature yelled as it was jolted to the real of the awake. Well if Maku couldn’t be sleeping neither should this guy.

Walking up to the creature, he would allow the golden light to fade and his eyes to sink back to their normal shade of bright blue. “Hail the mighty sand crab, my name is Maku, I have come here to ask for your assistance.” He waited as the crab seemed to stretch on its legs and go through whatever wake up ritual such a beast needed to feel secure in this world. Waiting with patience, Maku merely watched the creature. Finally it seemed awake enough to answer, “I know who you are, and I know why you have come. I would be honored to assist you, but I fear no one has been able to use this technique with me in some great time. I was beginning to wonder if anyone would even attempt it again.” Maku was happy that no one had succeded. He was someone who liked being unique, and have skills and allies that no one else did only made him feel better about the whole thing. “Well I am ready to get started whenever you are my friend.” And so their training together began.

In all honesty, it took Maku very little time to master the basics of the technique, and to even perform it fairly correctly. Maku was no novice to space time chakra, and its uses as portals, and therefore was able to pick it up relatively fast. Only an hour in he was fully competent to make the portals stable enough for the crab to push his claw through. The only thing he really needed now was training in the use of strategy. This was a simple remedy however since they seemed to have all the time in the world. The sand crab held no real position in the council of the crustaceans, and therefore could donate all his time to Maku. Indeed after the first day, Maku had become capable of summoning the portal in a stable and useable fashion within a 5 meter radius of himself. So, Maku decided to call it a day. Leaving the sand crabs domain, he returned to the beach were he had been staying. Maku didn’t have many needs, not real ones anyway. Sure he would never turn down luxuries if offered, but he was just as comfortable in the most base of situations.

While he rested the moonlight flooded the area, causing it to be as bright as twilight all through the night. Once again he found himself ready the book on the Uzumaki. He had came to a chapter listing some of the famous ones through history. Some were great heroes, others were ones he had never heard off. All in all it was only a small chapter and one that he did not care about. He was not concerned with the past, so much as what he could do with the bloodline in the future. It was a simple thing, and yet not such a simple thing. All in all, it just would help him, it couldn’t be a detriment. SO he began rereading the chapters on the jutsu. He read and read the ins and outs, or at least as much as the book allowed. He needed the information, to give it an informed chance and not just random attempts. He felt confident in his studies to give this thing another try. Channeling chakra to his tenkatsu on his finger tips, he would attempt to bring forth the chains. At one point he did begin to feel a tingling, but then it passed. Perhaps his blood sugar was just low.

Sleep came uneasy to Maku on that day. His frustration at failing at this bloodline was maddening. He had succeeded with everything he had ever put his mind to. Nothing ever seemed outside his reach, except for this one thing. He almost didn’t care if it was a powerful technique or not at this point, now it was pure raw stubbornness that caused him to press on. Even his dreams were filled with the technique and his attempts to bring it forth. As the hours of the night passed, Maku’s last dream was of success, and a strange spectral porcupine looking creature, only it was him in the center not some wild beast. Perhaps this was the technique he had been looking for. The sun came up and it once again caused him to wake from his sleep. Stretching and moving, he practiced with the Uzumaki blood right for a bit longer. It made no difference however, as he remained rather dull……(get it, cause im not sharp form the chains…….) Anyway, Maku waited till around mid day to resume his training with the sand crab. He was feeling grateful to the beast, so he wanted it to have its rest.

Walking into the cave, he found the creature awake, and his old friend Kani present. It gave him a claw to hand high five “How ya been maku.” He said. “Pretty good, but what are you doing here?” As it turned out Kani had arrived to assist in the training. He would attempt to strike Maku, while Maku used the summons to deflect or capture him. A pretty good idea, as actual combat scenarios always worked better. Walking onto the beach, the sand crab remained in his cave, not needing to be present. Maku knew how the summon worked and space no longer mattered. The goal was to increase the radius of the summon now, so it could be a bit more effective. Kani made his position around 10 meters away, and would begin moving side to side. Maku watched, and activated his sharingan, simply to watch his movement sbetter, He would use it in any serious combat anyway, so he might as well get used to it now. Watching, he judged accordingly, and moving himself at his max speed his hand buried itself in the sand, the chakra flowing from his body and mind to form the portal he needed.

The claw erupted from the ground, sand spraying around it as it rushed forth lifting Kani straight off the ground. Holding him in the air, it was clear that Maku had mastered this jutsu, now was the time to expand even further. 10 meters were good, but another couple would be useful. Setting him down, Maku waited for awhile and then attempted the jutsu again. Kani now stood 20 meters back. Maku attempted again, however found himself a bit short. It seemed to create the portal, in a stable enough way he could do it at no more than 15 meters. Practicing a couple more hours, Maku felt confident that he could perform the jutsu appropriately in the middle of battle. It was a simple, yet useful thing to know how to do. Walking back into the cave, Maku thanked him, and removed himself from his land. Walking back to the main area, Maku thanks the Bafukani and Satsujin for their hospitality as always and would appreciate a ride back. Gaining one, Maku was landed back on the beach. He was still near the port, he hadn’t traveled far from his initial meeting place with Naoki. Besides, in all honesty he had barely been on Shimagakure, having trained mostly in the summon country

Now back in Shimagakure, he remained on the beach for the rest of the day. His purpose was to awaken his Uzumaki bloodline now, nothing else mattered. Standing waist deep in the water again, he could see little fish swimming around his body. The point of this exercise was to spear one of these tiny fish. His palm rested on the water, and he would attempt to send a chain forth to grab one of them. He worked and worked till his skin turned red from the sun, and yet still no luck. Maybe Youka wasn’t the medical extrodainiere he thought he was. It was lucky he wasn’t blind from the eye surgery it would appear. After some time, Maku stopped trying and made his way back to the bar in the port he had initially arrived in. There he ordered a drink and attempted to relax. The sun had burnt his skin, and the shirt hung on the back of his chair as not to irritate it. He drank his beer, he relaxed, he got up and sang karaoke for awhile. Just a couple songs, like 3 or 4 or 15, he wasn’t sure.

Making his way to were he was permitted to spend the night, Maku lay in the bed, the aloe cooling his skin. Raising his hand he attempted once more to fire the chains he knew lay dormant underneath his skin. Time passed the moon moved across the sky. Maku wasn’t even sure if he was awake or asleep anymore. He was beyond frustrated that one technique could be achieved, and another could be such a failure. The dreams moved in and out of focus. Even while asleep, Maku’s sleeping brain was attempting the technique. Was it going to happen, was it not, the conscious brain no longer knew, instead it was all his subconscious. Perhaps this would work in his favor; perhaps not it was hard to say. All the same his dreeming hours were filled with the attempts. Only the morning would tell if it was actually going to work or not. As the sun rose, Maku would awaken, and by the blessing of lady luck he would either find a chain shot into the ceiling, or he would find his hand numb from being held up in failure.

(WC 3010, claiming sand crab claw, attempting chain roll, +15ap)