[Training] Antecedents of Modern Ninja Arts

Shika didn't really know why the smallish shop had caught her eye in the first place. It was a slightly raggedy thing, wedged in-between two larger buildings and built of dark hardwoods that spoke of great forests. The door was a much lighter pine color, but it was barely tall enough for her to fit through without ducking. Once she went inside, it was one of the most compact places she'd ever seen; a small plastic table for reading at the back, and rows upon rows of bookshelves were lined up anywhere they could fit. Scrolls and novellas were cram-packed into every crevice in the wall. A counter was at the front up by the door for purchases, and even that was seemingly made out of piled books.

Her footsteps clacked against the stone pathway, as she approached the nook-and-cranny bookshop that had somehow caught her interest. The sky was cloudless, and the sun beat down relentlessly upon the earth below, yet somehow, it was cold. A chill wind blew by, making her shiver despite her oversized red coat, and bright rays landed upon the back of her neck, warming it to an almost uncomfortable degree. I hate days like this, she decided with confidence. I can't decide if I'm catching hypothermia or getting a sunburn.

She approached the shop and instantly placed her hand on the doorknob. It felt like ice in her grip, and she hastily threw it open before stepping back inside. It closed behind her with a faint click and the ringing of a bell. The bookstore's owner and chief cashier, and oldish man with greying black hair, nodded in her direction, and she nodded back in kind, before turning back to look at the fine selection of books. She skimmed the shelves, grabbing a few articles that caught her interest and noting where they were previously located, before heading towards the very back of the shop, sitting down at the table. The items she placed stacked neatly in the center, and she quickly skimmed the titles. Antecedents of Modern Ninja Arts. The Five Elements and their Practical Applications. Genealogy of the First Ninja War. A Brief Summary of Space-Time Jutsu.

It was no contest. She instantly picked up the volume which depicted the Space-Time techniques, and promptly started reading. Space-Time techniques were very interesting, after all. Manipulating the very fabric of reality- of creation- and bending it to your whim through the use of a few simple handseals. Then again, isn't that basically what every jutsu is? She thought to herself. Well, except taijutsu and weaponry. Forever alone, I guess. She turned back to the novel in her hands, scanning the words with eyes opened in an almost comical display of awe and interest.

Space-Time jutsus have been in use for centuries, the exact time of which they were originally created being unknown. Due to their complexity and difficulty to master, only a few currently exist, and many of them were lost in the eruption. A few notable practicioners of this kind of jutsu are- The page was deliberately blotted out there with black ink, effectively obscuring any names that might have been mentioned. How rude. -Space-Time jutsu are extremely volatile, but a few basic techniques, such as the Flicker Movement technique (page 29) and Storage Displacement technique (page 37) are D-ranked, and as such are often used for those who are just starting in the field.

She raised an eyebrow. Even though she had never heard of the techniques, she could guess what they were quite easily from the names. And they sounded really, really useful. Well, I don't mind if I do, she thought to herself, deciding to flip to page thirty seven first. The first one sounded like it required a lot of space, and to be honest, she didn't want to have to go outside, back into the cold.

The Storage Displacement technique, she read, is self-explanatory. The user of this jutsu can store up to fifteen different items into a different, parallel dimension for storage. This technique is D-ranked, and costs fifteen action points to store an object. However, to retrieve an object, twenty action points are required. For each object stored or retrieved, there is a two-post cooldown.

Huh? What's an action point? Shika wondered to herself. And what's a post? Is it a unit of time? Contemplating these strange, foreign terms for a moment, she shook herself before returning to the book. I'm sure it's nothing. The seals required to perform the Storage Displacement technique are Rat and Dog, in that order. Below are some diagrams of the hand seals and a graph that depicts the required chakra.


Rat and dog? That sounded easy enough. Slowly, she adjusted her chakra so that her current flow matched the one depicted in the graph. Like lightning, it seemed to jump and crackle at the slightest provocation, latching on to any nearby sources of energy. Well, I do have a lightning affinity. I wonder what else I'm capable of? She cleared her mind to prepare herself for casting the jutsu, and twisted her fingers into the tangled mess that was the rat seal with average speed. I need to work on my hand seals. Then, she closed one fist, placing an open palm on top of it; this was the dog seal.

Shika concentrated on a bluish, hand-knit bookmark that was left behind in one of the books on the table. "Storage Displacement technique!" She cried out, and her chakra raced out of her body at an alarming rate. Quickly, it seemed to envelop the bookmark, leaving it fiercely aglow with a bluish-green aura. Is that the color of my chakra? Then, it seemed to splinter. One-by-one, bits of pieces began to break off, fading into seemingly nothing. Before she knew it, she was left with nothing but a book with no bookmark and a suspiciously empty space where a page was once located. Oops.

She attempted the technique once more, and the bookmark faded in from the particles at a much slower rate from which she displaced it. The page was still missing, however. Ah well, no harm, no foul? She wondered, sitting up and organizing the books back into a pile. After that, she left the store, heading back towards the freezing outside world. Who knows? Maybe it had warmed up.


[Claiming: Storage Displacement, 1062 words (from which I can steal 5 stats)]
I'll wait for this to get accepted, but after that, I'll start working on part two. :B

Shika vaguely wondered if Fate, Lady Luck, and/or other guardians of things that ninja usually needed in bundles were laughing at her from the heavens. It had not warmed up in the slightest, and she was freezing cold. The sun had not let up, either, still beating down mercilessly onto the world below. Man, if only I had an umbrella and a thick coat. Her mind instantly travelled back to Hado Kirino, a boy who she had taught to utilize the lightning element and who had accidentally singed a hole in the one she always wore. She guessed it was worth it, though. Theoretically, she could buy or create as many coats as she needed, but not many possessed the Raiton element and were willing to teach it to others at a moment's noticed. Plus, Hado looked really happy, so she decided to count that as a viable bonus.

Rat. Her hands twisted into an odd knot-looking hand seal which physically hurt to maintain. Dog. One hand closed into a tight fist, while the other hand, open-palmed, rested firmly on top. She altered her chakra flow, focusing it on an unseen space above her lap. "Storage Displacement technique," she whispered to the wind. At first, nothing happened, but after a few moments, blue-green specks began to appear in the air, condensing, twisting, and pulling until a single piece of parchment rested upon her lap. She had accidentally taken the piece of paper with her when she left the shop, and she didn't think that she had the energy to summon it back there, so she simply waited a few hours for her chakra to replenish. Now that it had, she inspected the object in her hands.

The Flicker Movement technique is a D-ranked Space-Time jutsu, defined by its strange ability to slow down the flow of time surrounding the user. She furrowed her eyebrows. Hey, hadn't I already read about this in A Brief Summary of Space-Time Jutsu? I guess this technique is pretty noteworthy, to be in that many books and to have a full page about it. With that thought, she turned back to her reading, taking in the words one at a time. It seems incredibly complex to perform, but once cast the first time, it was recorded to be surprisingly easy. The hand seals are Rat, followed by Boar, and the correct chakra controls are recorded below.


She looked down, taking it all the information. I might as well get started, she thought, cracking her back before slowly standing up. Okay... First of all, the god-forsaken piece of crap handseal- Rat. Her hands found the correct position with much reluctance. Next, Boar seal. Shika's hands twisted until her clenched fists were facing each other, wrists touching in a position almost as uncomfortable as rat. Oh, handseals, why do thou have to be so dumb?


Ignoring her own personal dislike of the technical details, she adjusted her own chakra so it would fit what was depicted in the diagram. It was sort of difficult; her chakra never really did what she wanted it to; all the could do was gently guide it along its path to whatever she (or it) wanted to do. She never asked if anyone else was like that, but she figured that more surface walking might help. Her chakra obeyed her commands with a sharply felt jolt, and she called out the name of the jutsu. "Flicker Movement technique!"


Nothing appeared to happen. She looked around the cold alleyway, nothing having changed. Damn. She tried once more, and this time, her chakra was noticeably depleted. How much chakra does this cost, anyways?! If she did this a couple more times, she'd surely pass out. Well, I guess it's back to the bookstore for me.



~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shika flipped through the book, engrossed completely in its contents. Damn, this whole space-time thing is pretty neat. Alright, Space-Time Techniques, Space-Time Practical Application... Aha! Space-Time theory! She grasped the pages a little tighter and pressed down on the cover, so that it wouldn't close.

Space-Time jutsus are essentially ninjutsu on a greater scale. However, instead of using your own chakra to create and bend elements, you use your chakra to bend the very fabric of reality. The first step is always to perform extensive research before attempting anything, as the slightest miscalculation can resist in a devastating failure. Some experts say that imagining the fabric of space-time as a sheet, one that can be folded, torn apart, and sewn back together, helps. However, all of this is purely hypothetical, because no-one has ever actually seen the fabric of face-time, being an intangible presence.

Well, she thought. Now I know what I want to do when I grow up. She formed the grotesque rat seal, the slightly more tolerable boar seal, and once again correctly aligned her chakra. However, this time, she followed the instructions depicted in the book, imagining the fabric of the universe as a vast, omnipresent sheet, to be pulled and stretched and folded by her chakra.

She didn't need the Sharingan to tell the difference; the world around her seemed to come to a visual standstill. Naturally, she knew this wasn't the case. It was just that the man who operated the shop wasn't a ninja and as such wasn't able to match her speed. In addition, what was there in the bookstore that could possibly be traveling very fast? A falling book?

As if the universe had jinxed her, one of the many volumes she had picked up tumbled off the table, in what was a dramatically slowed-down display. She crouched down to look at the still-falling text, and realized that she was actually able to read the words on it as it fell. How strange, she thought, catching the book right as the jutsu wore off. She placed it back into her pile, organized by level of interest. Naturally, all of the Space-Time books were at the top. She began to walk to the storefront, nodding her thanks at the bookkeeper, and walked outside.

Dammit, she thought, continuing to walk onwards, it's still cold.
 


[1022/1000. :B]
[Since Shika is technically researching spacetime jutsus in both of these threads, do you think I can count it as training for spacetime as a second spec?]
Oh yeah, claiming 5 moar stats and Flicker Movement technique.

Jutsu training and stats are approved.