Conduct Yourself! (complete)

(Training for dis: http://naruto-role-play-rpg.forumotion.com/t23454-raiton-jibashi)

Once again, Shika found herself both shivering and burning hot under the extremely messed up weather that was that of Hoshigakure no Sato. The cloudless sky, signifying the cold air, and the merciless sun above seemed to contradict the very laws of nature itself. Screw you, nature, she thought to herself, in much irritation. Then, she tripped on a pebble that she swore had not been there a moment ago, and fell to the rough cobblestone street below, only barely managing to catch herself with her hands. Her wrists stung slightly afterwards, and her palms were engraved with the pattern of the stones. In fact, one could practically see the metaphorical thundercloud hanging over her head, crackling angrily with her immensely frustrated emotional state. Adorned in only a black tank top and grey sweat pants, she very much found herself wishing that she had not left her signature red coat behind with Kirino Hado, when she taught him how to wield the lightning element. I wonder how he's doing?

The cold wind gusted from nowhere, and bit into her bare shoulders and forearms. She found herself shivering, and not too slightly. Before she knew it, she found herself in front of a familiar building, turning into her favorite bookstore (not literally, silly!). The old shopkeeper nodded at her as she walked to the back of the store, sitting in her favorite reading perch at the even older wooden table. Nothing really had changed since Shika had last been there. Everything was largely in the same place. A few books were still scattered on top of it, of course, and for whatever reason not cleaned up, but there was a new one that she hadn't seen before added to the not very organized mix (she would have to apologize to the shopkeeper later. It could not have been easy to clean up after her). It wasn't even technically a book, upon further examination. It was a yellowed, dust-smelling scroll, tied up fancily with bits of string and with her name on it. It could have anthrax, was her first thought. Her second was I want to open it. So, positioning her head as far away from the scroll as possible, she removed the string and shook out the scroll. No strange powders fell out. In fact, there was writing inscribed on it. I wonder what it says? She wondered. She grabbed the old scroll and carefully opened it, not at all desiring to tear the yellow parchment. This looked like an antique, and could probably be sold for a lot of money if she had the bartering skills to do so. Unfortunately for her, she sucked at bartering. She laughed at herself for a moment, before turning back to the opened scroll.

It depicted a few hand seals(thankfully not the dreaded Rat seal), and a graph that showed chakra flow within the human body. Oh! A jutsu scroll! Looking at the top of the scroll, the words Electromagnetic Murder were written in calligraphy at the top. Electromagnetic Murder, eh? She thought, stroking her chin with a free hand. I gotta get me some of that.

Nodding her truly heartfelt thanks to the old man who manned the small store, she Storage Displaced the scroll and walked out the building, residual blue particles still trailing her, and heading towards a city square that was rather unpopulated at the early hours of day. A few strange shops bordered said city square, but the only one of them actually open at the time was a dango shop. The smell was tempting. She felt like bursting into tears out of frustration. Dammit, and I only have 500 Ryo, too. That's practically broke. I should have done more missions when I had the chance... Screw it. I hate missions.

She shook her head free from all enjambed thought, and opened the slightly yellowed and dusty scroll. Well, that's a crap ton of seals, she thought to herself before she stopped. Boar, Ram, Snake, Horse, and Dragon, eh? Well, at least they don't have the Rat seal. She twisted her hands into the uncomfortable mess that was the Boar seal (still not as bad as the Rat seal, in her not so humble opinion), then into the slightly more comfortable Ram seal, the Snake seal, Horse seal, and finally the epic-looking Dragon seal. She did the same thing again, this time going through the seals slightly faster to increase her muscle memory. Boar, Ram, Snake, Horse, Dragon. Boar, Ram, Snake, Horse, Dragon. She looked away and up from the scroll, doing the seals from memory alone. Then, she went through them backwards, just for good measure and because at that moment it felt incredibly good to do so.

"Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder!" she called out to nobody in particular, aiming the technique skywards to avoid getting sued for property damage. She felt the electricity build up in her hands, but only a few pathetic looking sparks came out. The air smelt of ozone briefly, before fading away. There's got to be something I'm missing, she thought to herself, stroking her chin. Oh yeah! Chakra control! In the technical sense, she had it, but it was completely unrefined. Time to go find a leaf then, she thought to herself, wandering off. Then, she remembered that she left the scroll on the ground. She rushed back to pick it up before going to find a leaf.

Wait a minute, weren't there only coniferous trees in Haven? It was located in the top corners of the map, after all.

...Nah, she'd find a leaf somewhere. Probably.

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

Shika never actually found a leaf, as expected. Instead, she was carrying a small receipt that she had picked up by accident. Well, it was similar in texture and size to a leaf, so she'd have to suck it up and make do. Eager to begin, she sat down crossed legged and put the receipt to her forehead, channeling chakra. The receipt fluttered off. Yep, no wonder she couldn't use Electromagnetic Murder. Her chakra control was crap. This time, she channeled even more chakra into her forehead, putting the receipt on. It stuck for a few glorious moments before falling off. She got a few strange looks from civilians, and a few particularly nasty ones from those who hated ninja. Well, screw you, too, buddy, she thought to herself, huffing indignantly. Putting the leaf back on her head, she tried the same exercise again, but the leaf fell off even quicker. What was she doing wrong?

This time, she tried pushing her chakra out slightly as she did it, and the receipt actually stayed on! Wow, that was so easy, she thought. I wonder why I was making such a big deal about it.
Her hands twisted into the five seals once more, and she gathered her chakra. "Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder!" she called out, and this time a much, much nicer and much, much more impressive stream of lightning shot from her hands. They tingles afterwards, and she felt a much more significant drop in her chakra. Wow, I wonder how much that cost, she mused to herself. This was literally her only C-ranked jutsu. It made since that it would cost a lot of chakra, but it still bugged her, slightly. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. I should so totally try this in a pond or something. I wonder how far out the lightning will go then!

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shika was wandering slowly around the outskirts of the immediate city, heading towards a small portion of Hoshigakure no Sato that was particularly close to the water gardens. The air had warmed up considerably as a result of the sun's merciless beating, so her mood had improved considerably as well. It was much cleaner, too, probably from lack of pollution. After a few minutes, she came to a fairly small pond. A few lily pads and patches of algae dotted its stagnant surface, and a stray dragonfly buzzed overhead. It was a pleasant green in color, and its wings appeared to sparkle. She couldn't help but be amazed. Then, she remembered that she was supposed to be actually doing something. Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be training Electromagnetic Murder, aren't I? She scratched the back of her neck in embarrassment before remembering that she was completely alone out here. She laughed at herself, amused, before briefly using her doujutsu to scan the water for life. She detected no chakra signatures whatsoever, save for a few dragonflies. Good, she thought to herself. I don't like killing innocent fish, anyways.

Her hands twisted into a position in which her wrists were touching, the heels of her palms parallel and knuckles facing the ground. Boar seal. Next, she moved her hands so that the palms were touching, and her fingers pointing skywards. Ram seal. Her fingers entwined with each other, forming a stable structure. Snake seal. She stacked the knuckles of her fingers, the top indexes pointing skywards in a triangle. Horse seal. Finally, she brought her hands together, clutching her fingers tightly and pinkies facing downwards into something that looked like the inverse of the previous position. Dragon seal. She gathered her chakra, focusing it in her palms before crying out: "Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder!"

The effect was instantaneous. Much purer and more refined than any previous attempt to cast the said ninjutsu, raw bolts of lightning flew from her fingertips, striking the surface of the water with a loud splash. The entire pond lit up and glowed with vibrant bluish light in the wake of her power, electricity crackling on its surface for a full half minute before fading away. She poked her toe into the icy water, and a light jolt shocked her foot. Niiice.

After another minute, she repeated the jutsu, only to receive the same effects. This whole ninja thing is awesome, she thought to herself. I gotta get me some more of this lightning stuff. She began to wander off, to head immediately back to that bookstore, before stopping in her tracks. Uh, how did she get there from here, again?

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

In the end, Shika found herself walking back towards the city square, a rare contemplative expression on her face. If the electromagnetic murder technique was capable of doing that much damage on its own, and its effects were only amplified in the water, what's to say that other techniques weren't capable of doing the same? She didn't have the correct affinities, of course, but she could imagine the possible applications: combining earth and water releases to create walls of mud, combining wind and fire to scorch entire fields. She'd have to learn more about other lightning jutsus, and maybe find out if she had any other affinities. Most ninja had three, after all. Shika stroked her chin.

She went back through the hand seals of electromagnetic murder. She found herself wondering what each individual one signified. She gave a sigh of resignation. Ninjutsu theory was too hard and confusing as heck. That was why she stuck to taijutsu. And space-time. And medical... Who was she kidding, she was a real mess. She repeated each hand seal again, ignoring the distrustful and resenting looks cast at her from the random citizens that she passed by. Shika eventually found herself back in front of her favorite book store. She opened the door and stepped inside, handing the old man the scroll. "Thanks," she said, giving him a smile and a thumbs up. He shook his head.

"It was a gift." His voice sounded rough and gravely from lack of use, but there was a twinkle in his eyes that proved his authenticity. She smiled even wider, glad for his token of thought and for the free item. She went through a couple hand seals, and stashed the scroll in the weird dimension of storage displacement. Next, she walked to the very back of his store, sitting back in her reading perch with the very similar if not the same stack of books. She noticed a few extras on top, depicting numerous lightning-based ninjutsu and elemental/nature release theory. Shika smirked. Haven was so much cooler than going solo.

(Le exit)







[2024 words] 
[Claiming Electromagnetic Murder and ten stats]