Loser Winces [IO]

Kozata was home at last, and was now wandering the streets, satisfying his homesickness after stashing the body he had acquired at his house in a safe place. He still had to figure out what to do with that... it looked like he would have to come clean with the Mizukage about everything at some point, but not now. He was still figuring out how the village had gotten so much bigger while he had been away. And now that he was back, people didn't recognize him much as a loser anymore. He had had more experience due to his travels. What had once been a place of torment for him was now a village of potential and possibilities.
Now that he was back, however, he knew that he needed to start training again, so he headed down to the training grounds. The place was same as ever, but slightly more empty today. Well, that was somewhat dissappointing... he had hoped to meet someone new. He needed help training, after all, the mansion - that personality or spirit or whatever within him - had been getting on his nerves lately. Sure, when innovation and new jutsu things were needed, the inner self was useful, but normally, he was just plain annoying. 
This time around, Kozata would be standing a little to the side of the entrance, stretching slightly and looking around. What a familiar place this was. Sooner or later, someone was bound to come in, he thought. He decided that it would be better to wait around then to go out and actively seek people to do things with. He was tired of putting out effort for nothing, and he wanted company. 
-I'm company enough, you twit.-
The mansion was rude, too! Well, time to ignore it. That would be better.
[WC 300]

Wandering through the streets of the village, bored as usual, Tatsuo was on the search for something to relieve himself of said boredom. The days had been spilling together, each day usually a mere image of the one before and the one to come after. However, his sparring match with Monarch awhile ago had been a great release from the casual boredom. The kid had potential and could become a valuable ally should he stick around. Find in himself lost in thought, he had traveled a good distance without realizing it. Sooner he saw a man standing alone, he wondered what he was doing. The man looked like a shinobi but nonetheless Tatsuo could not be entirely certain. 

Before approaching the man he took a moment to think to himself for a little bit about how the village seemed to be growing. This was a good thing in Tatsuo's opinion, the ability to have more shinobi around not,only would provide more,protection for the village itself, but offer up a world of New partners for Tatsuo himself. Lately, it seemed, he was meeting someone new daily as oppose to just being a loner and acting as such. As the thoughts raced it took him a moment to snap back into reality. He really needed to work on his ability to get lost in his thoughts.

He approached the man cautiously and prepared to introduce himself to the lad. As he approached he spoke, his voice formal but not too uptight. "Hello there, pleasure to make your acquaintance, Tatsuo, Tatsuo Kyuuketsuki." He studied the man for a moment but nothing about him really struck him as odd or threatening so Tatsuo lowered his guard even if only slightly. He needed to work on being less stuck up and cautious. It was good to have those thoughts but never good to let them control you.

WC: 317

An older ninja appeared to approach him now, he sized him up, as did the mansion.
-He looks strong. I should test him. Allow me to have your body, boy.-
With much of his might, Kozata resisted the mansion, with virtually no outward signs. He especially didn't want the mansion to spoil his social moment, as few as he had had in the past. Kozata stopped mid stretch, then relaxed to a normal position. He would offer a smile, a genial one as it were. Even so, he hoped that this guy wasn't some jonin guy come to catch him for being out of the village for so long.
"Oh, hello. I'm Kozata Shinkou, a genin. I actually just got back from a trip, so to say." He felt the fingers on his left hand twitch slightly... what was the mansion thinking? At that moment, he knew, his left hand contained a seal that would allow him to immediately begin taking this boy's chakra... but that wasn't friendly at all! Nevertheless, he was finding it increasingly easy to prevent the mansion from taking over his body and using him as a weapon to whatever nefarious purposes it had in mind at the moment.
He wondered why this guy in front of him had taken it upon himself to visit the training grounds. It wasn't often that he had people approach him and not bully him or call him a loser right off the bat. The fact that this guy seemed to be more serious about things than the others in his academy class had was a good sign. Was he a Tengakure ninja? SOme pretty strong ones had come in a while ago after Tengakure's destruction, he had heard. Integration of the two villages had resulted in new people everywhere!
[TWC 600]

The person he approached had greeted him with a somewhat awkward smile, almost like it was forced. Tatsuo however, paid this no mind as he himself often had to force such gestures out when the situation called for such a thing. He stated he was a genin of kirigakure, something he and Tatsuo immediately had in common. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance fellow shinobi. I am also a genin of this village, our levels of skill should be fairly close." He spoke as he was thinking of whether or not he should reveal his bloodline ability to the newcomer. Ultimately, however, he decided against and would keep said ability a mystery for now. If the boy should ask Tatsuo would do his best to answer truthfully while at the same time keeping the secrets of it hidden.

Looking up at the sky for a moment he could tell that the weather was different than when he had his bout with Monarch. It had been raining then and it didn't appear to be going to do so again anytime soon. With a slight yawn and a small stretch he once again spoke to the lad. "So, if I may ask, what brings you all the way out here?" Not that they were too far from the village anyways but the simple expression would be appropriate for the question. Had he met yet another training partner for himself? Only time would tell as he simply awaited for the man's response. He figured since this man was a shinobi himself, that him being out here meant he was intending on doing some training, as was Tatsuo's intentions as well.

WC: 282

The guy seemed genial enough, as it were. Kozata's fears were mostly allayed at this point, but that was because he wasn't really a cynic. That guy he had met twice now on the borders seemed like one of those people, someone who he didn't want to become. Fundamentally, Kozata believed that humans were good, and that being bad was an abnormal state, but what could he say about it? He seemed to be the only one with a dark power inside of him. Even that scary guy on the borders had a white aura instead of a dark one.
"I came out here", Kozata would begin, his voice slightly more confident, "for some training. I was just getting ready to warm up when you came along. Is that what you're here for, too?" He would pose the question as he stretched his left arm, then returned to a normal position. He wondered what this boy's chakra tasted like.... wait, those weren't his thoughts. So, it had indeed been confirmed now... the mansion could modify Kozata's thoughts with some effort.
-Surrender to me, boy. I'll show you the joy of the battlefield.-
The mental message was calm, but he could feel the raging ambition of the mansion within him. However, once again, he would show no outward signs of this. Hopefully, this training session would go well, seeing as this guy was a genin. If so, Kozata would be very happy. If he were able to actually make a friend here, that would be marvelous, he thought.
He thought about storing up more heat within Ausloschen, but decided against it. Instead, he focused on his internals, checking to make sure his yuumei was filled and ready to go for anything that might happen. If the boy's jutsu were strong, he might need the yuumei to save him.
[TWC 907]

Kozata eventually confided in Tatsuo that he came out here to train, yet another thing they had in common. Tatsuo had actually came out today in hopes to learn a new jutsu before he finished planning his upcoming trip. Soon he planned on setting off, heading towards the temple of the fire wolves in an attempt to befriend one and make one his summoning partner. He figured that, since his chakra nature was also aligned with fire, it would be tactically advantageous. Also he didn't know how many genin would also possess a summoning so it may just become another trick up his sleeve in the future should he succeed. "Actually, I did come out here to do a bit of training. I'm planning on heading off on a long and difficult quest soon and I was hoping to master the Phoenix sage fire technique before I set off. I'm pretty sure I got the hand signs down but I still need more training." As he was speaking he was running through his mind repeatedly what the hand signs for the jutsu he intended to learn were. He remembered all the signs since he had just memorized them not too long ago. Rat → Tiger → Dog → Ox → Rabbit → Tiger, they seemed simple enough but even so, practice makes perfect.

The fire wolf temple was quite a distance from the temple and traveling their would easily take a few days time but even so, it was a trip Tatsuo was determined to accomplish when he felt he was ready. "Even with my, how you say, special ability, you can never know too many jutsu right?" while Tatsuo's words were true, it was important to be a master of only a few techniques then simply adept at a lot of them. After mastering the Phoenix sage fire technique, Tatsuo planned to also learn another fire style jutsu that would a little stronger than the Phoenix sage fire technique. Just then it occurred to him that he did not know what this lads chakra nature was. He would be of much greater help if he shared the same as Tatsuo but nonetheless a training partner is still a big help.

WC: 379

Kozata had seen that hand seal sequence and information on that jutsu before... the same jutsu he himself was currently trying to learn. Hey, the phoenix fire jutsu, maybe they could learn it together! But before that, there was the more important conclusion that Kozata should have arrived at right away: this guy possessed a fire nature. That meant that not only could they train this jutsu together, they could train, like, all the fire jutsu ever together! That would be even more awesome. Well, of course, there was something else that he had missed that his inner self had to prompt him on: the fact that he could use Ausloschen on this guy.
Yes, if he did indeed possess a fire nature, then he was one of the people whom Ausloschen would be particularly effective against. Absorbing and redirecting heat... even though Ausloschen wasn't that efficient, it was something strong to have.
At any rate, he now noted that the boy had mentioned a "special ability"... was this something like what he had? He would have to wait and see. In the meantime, he would have to see what else this interesting guy had in mind for training.
"That's the exact same jutsu I'm trying to learn... what a weird coincidence!" Kozata smiled happily, knowing now that he might find a friend in Tatsuo.
"Actually, I... er... don't do too well with ninjutsu to be honest. Even though I, too, have a fire nature, I don't exactly do well with it. What I really do well with are seals..." With that, he would raise his left hand. "I placed a seal on my left hand some time ago, then made it invisible. Isn't it neat? If you don't believe me, you can try it out for yourself, ya know..."
[TWC 1207]

As he listened to the lad speak, he was quite interested to learn that this person was learning the same technique currently that he was. Guess that answered the question of if he also posses a fire chakra nature. It would be farther in with the conversation where the lad openly admitted he wasn't a ninjutsu specialist but then again Tatsuo had been heavily focusing on his kenjutsu lately so he was about at the same level. Perhaps they could learn this jutsu together then if all went well.  "So then I say we learn it together before I head to Fenrir's temple." 

His trip was something he was both looking forward to and dreading at the exact same time. It was going to be a wonderful opportunity but at the same time be difficult and possibly life threatening, not that Tatsuo would shy away from it anyways. If successful, he will have a powerful new partner on his side, a large wolf with the ability of a master fire shinobi. Not only would he be a great tactical asset but, he may even come in handy as a training partner as well when Tatsuo is practicing his elemental affinity and related techniques.

WC: 206

(Sorry for low word count, total writers block)

Kozata was grateful that the guy wanted to learn the technique along with him. It would certainly make things easier as they went along, after all. Maybe, at the same time, he could use this kind of chakra exertion to make his body stronger and maybe churn out a few more jutsu in the process. It was an outcome, he concluded, that wasn't entirely undesirable. Well, at any rate, this was an agreeable offer from Tatsuo. Considering that they were both genin, it would be better if Kozata could partner up with one or two and surpass the rest through the blessed power of cooperation. 
And what was this.... Fenrir's Temple? Well, Kozata didn't know any such place. Maybe he should ask... nah, it was probably someone he knew, or some place in his past. Better not to poke into those kinds of things, right?
"Sure, that sounds awesome. Err... Where should we start? I guess... with the handseals, right?"
Kozata would perform the sequence of handseals  that he had seen Tatsuo do before. He would make sure to do them in the right order, and facing away from Tatsuo, to his right. He felt the chakra swell up within him, as he visualized the jutsu.
The phoenix sage fire technique, he had heard, was basically the great fireball technique, except split... a lot. So, instead of one big fireball, he envisioned a bunch of little toungues of flame. Kozata didn't know, but overall, the tongues of flame combined in a system had the same total momentum as the great fireball itself, making this a more deadly technique than most people realised. A spread was pretty difficult to dodge too...
A few bullets of fire poured forth, but it wasn't quite the final product. Looking to Tatsuo, Kozata wondered if the boy could do better.
[TWC 1512, it's all good]

Starting with the hands signs did sound like a good idea, they were the key to melding and controlling ones chakra In order to perform most jutsu. He watched the boy demonstrate what he had practiced of the technique. He started off good, the hand signs in a quick and orderly fashion and all were correct from what Tatsuo could tell. The boy built up his chakra and spat out the fireballs, they were the very basic of technique far from perfect. Tatsuo wondered how far he had gotten with it up until this point. When he practiced it the other day, he was able to produce up to three decent sized fireballs, but up until this point and just like his friend here, he is still far from mastery over the technique.

Deciding it was his turn to shine, he performed the hand signs on par with Kozata, a quick and organized fashion. Then he focused his chakra heavily, melding it within his lungs and throat. As he melded his chakra with his fire affinity he split it into six pieces. Exhaling deeply he launched them, all three of them. They were decent sized but still much smaller than they should be. Looks like his progression has halted so far. "Looks like my limit is still three. Hopefully working together will be much more efficient." Just then he felt a small bit of his chakra seep out due to his poor control during the demonstration. It wasn't much, but enough that Tatsuo felt it. Closing his eyes for a moment and taking a deep breath he rekindled his momentarily lost control and then snapped back to reality. He has been getting better and better at maintaining his control while in his human body. What he needed to practice was controlling all his demonic chakra at once when he's in his demon form. Thus far it has been one of the toughest things he struggles with. However, eventually he plans to correct this issue and open a new chapter for himself and his own abilities.

[WC: 386