[Training] A Long Day's Work

A green hill. That was all that was visible, all that mattered. The lush green grass felt almost too soft against Daiko's hands. Looking out, he had a beautiful view of the landscape around him. Tall trees shading over small ponds, all filled with life. There were deer trotting out from the trees, looking up the hill. Mother geese were teaching their young how to swim, floating in the pond with each little gosling following behind. It was beautiful, to say the least. The serene landscape could bring nothing but peace to the mind and relaxation to the body. Standing up, the Ninja slowly walks down the hill, going to see the creatures. A doe walks up to him fearlessly, allowing him to pet her head. He does so, but the creature begins to shriek. Where Daiko's hand touched, the flesh on the animal began to melt. Skin peeled away to reveal bone, which would become charred before it caved in, and the animal fell over. Looking at his own hand, terrified, Daiko tries to get down on his knees to help the creature, but it's no help. When he lifts the creature's head, it's skin continues to melt in his hands, the creature screaming in agony. The grass under him begins to char, turning into hard dirt.

Shaking, Daiko stands up. The animals continue to look at him. A buck looks at the doe, and begins to shriek as well, aiming to hit Daiko with it's antlers. When the antlers come into contact with Daiko, they melt, and the buck also shrieks in pain. Shaking in fear, the ninja runs over to one of the ponds to see what was becoming of himself. He looked exactly the same. Leaning down to take a drink, the water evaporates as soon as it touches his lips. The steam blows up in his face, and he pulls away from it. Freaking out, the ninja ran into the forest. As he touched trees, they fell lopsided, the wood being melted on contact. It was strange. Daiko didn't feel hot at all and yet everything around him was melting. Looking around, he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Looking up in the sky, he yelled out

"What the hell is going on here? Whoever put this curse on me, just kill me now and get it over with! This isn't where I belong!"

After he yells up to the sky, he feels a sharp piercing sensation in his chest. Looking down, he noticed nothing wrong, but he fell to the floor. Everything was getting dark. Everything was fading... Was this the end for the ninja? Everything around him was spinning, and spiraling out of control. He felt a strong tugging sensation, then jolted awake.

---

"Fucking dreams again..." He sighed, getting up from the ground. From all the money he had spent the day before, he had to end up sleeping outside. Luckily he woke up unharmed from the element. Getting up, he touched something to make sure he wasn't still hot. Nothing happened when he had touched anything, so he was content. He decided that the first order of business for today was going to be getting something to eat.

Looking around, he didn't figure that he could find anything in nature to eat, so he decided that he would try and find a market somewhere. Maybe someone around there would pay him for doing something? On the other hand, he could just steal some food. The latter sounded a lot easier to him, so he decided to do that. Walking through the village, he noticed a lot of people that looked... Normal. None of them seemed to be ninjas. He remembered his friend Rei's advice about the village. She had said that ninja ways were frowned upon, and not to show the fact that he was a ninja. Putting away his Hoshigakure ninja headband, he continues to walk. His search for a market was not in vain, as he found a little outside of the center of town. There were many different shops. They ranged from expensive restaurants like the barbecue place he had visited with Rei to open markets with fruits and vegetables on carts. Walking over to one of the carts, he attempts to pick up an apple without anyone noticing.

"You're going to pay for that, right?" A very strong looking man stepped up to Daiko, holding out a hand. "An apple is 5 Ryo. Pay up, or get away from my cart." So much for hospitality. It seemed like not all the people of Hoshi were as nice of the ones he had been lucky to meet. Taking five ryo out from his pocket, he puts it in the man's hand. The man seemed to warm up slightly. "Sorry for sounding so hostile, it's just there are some bad people around here that think they can take whatever they want from us." He shakes his head, looking back at his cart. "I can tell you don't have much money. It's a hard world out here, isn't it?" Daiko nods, shrugging slightly. "Yeah... I don't have much Ryo. I had to spend it all because I ate at that barbecue place over there." Daiko points over to the spot that he had eaten with Rei the other day. "Ohohoh," the man laughed, "It is expensive to eat over there. I'm surprised you left without being in a great amount of debt" The man chuckled to himself, but Daiko just kind of fake laughed to not seem rude. "Anyway, boy. I may have a job that I can give to you. Do you think you're up to the task?" Daiko nods as an affirmative. The man pats him on the back. "Hohoho, I like your spunk kid. Here's a little job for you. If you complete it, I'll let you swing by here to grab breakfast whenever you want, so long as you give me a kind o'l greeting when you come on down." The man hands Daiko a scroll, and the ninja is planning on reading it on the way. "Thank you sir, but, where do you want me to go to do this?" The man scratches his chin. "Out at the borders, lad. I need you to grab me some giant crab from out there." Daiko nods, not knowing where he would find giant crab. He figured he would find one eventually, because that makes sense. "Okay. I'll see you around here soon. I'm off to find some crab!" Daiko tells the man before leaving, going at a slight jog to where he believes the borders are.

The man shakes his head slightly as the boy left. Giant crab was a delicacy around these parts, and very rare. That was due to the fact that the only way to defeat one of the crabs would be if you were skilled in the arts of being a ninja. The man, Rokiro, half hoped that the boy he just met would return, and half hoped that he didn't. Rokiro didn't know what he would do if there turned out to be a ninja in his village. All he could think was that it would be good for his family to have someone strong as a friend. He also had underlying thoughts of what would happen to his family if he let this ninja in his life...

[1236]

Daiko, walking away from the village, was just now looking at the scroll. He noticed that it said the crab was very simple to catch. It would look like this man had been planning to give this job to someone for some time. He didn't question it, he just wanted to get some breakfast whenever he wanted. Rather than have to wonder where he would be getting food, he'd have a place to eat. Maybe if he was lucky he would even find some place to stay. Smiling, he continues walking down the path to the outskirts of the village, where he assumed he would find this giant crab. The path wasn't what you would call nice, but it wasn't too bad either. It was fairly level, leading to where Daiko assumed was the border of the village. Rather than walk all the way to his objective, he decided that it would be better to jog. He would then be able to work out his muscles without being too tired when he actually found the crab. He continued to jog in a semi-fast fashion, so that he would make it to the edge of the village soon. As he continued to jog, he noticed strange markings in the sand. It looked like markings left by some giant creature... Maybe... A crab? The marking were a lot bigger than he expected them to be. By "giant crab" he thought that the man had meant a crab that was only a little bit bigger than a run of the mill crab. This crab must be as big as Daiko. It's footprints (if you could call them that) were a circle shape, and about as big as Daiko's foot. If that doesn't tell you how huge it is, then... I don't know how else to explain it. Daiko sees that the marks move forward for some time.

Daiko decides that it would be best for him to follow the path set out by footprints. He walks slowly next to the footprints, keeping his eyes peeled for the crab. He would not want this crab to run up and surprise him. That would be very bad. He continues to walk, sighing and looking around. It didn't seem like the crab was anywhere to be found. He decided that he wasn't going to give up though. He kept walking, keeping his spirits up. He really wanted to find that crab! Sooner or later, he knew he would run into it. And finnally, he did. He saw, from a distance, what looked like a normal sized crab. But that was only because it was so far away. Walking was too slow, so he ran all the way to the crab. It took him some time before he reached it, but when he did, he stopped in his tracks. The crab was huge. It was about the size of him, only a lot fatter, because it was a crab. It snapped it's claws in the air, and Daiko took a step back. He didn't know if he was ready for this. Then he remembered that he didn't care if he was ready or not, because he was not about to get killed by a crab.

Running under the crab, he held a kunai in his hand. He threw one at the bottom of the crab, and the crab snapped it's claws with anger. Because of the size of the crab, it's claws made a loud clicking sound which was both annoying and terrifying. "You're done for crab!" Daiko yelled, running out from under the crab and trying to avoid getting clawed to death. Just then, the crab tried to slam it's claw on Daiko. The ninja barely dodged it, and climbed up on the claw. The crab raised the claw up, attempting to snap Daiko in half. Before the slow creature could move his claw up to Daiko, he pulled out two kunai, jumping to the crab's back. Sliding off, he stabbed two kunai into the crab's back, holding on for dear life. At first, it was terrifying. Then he realized that the crab couldn't pinch him. Smiling, he had an idea. "Crab! Go that way!" Daiko turned his body weight to try and make the crab face the village. The crab actually listened, and Daiko had a terribly good idea. "Crab!! Run to the that way!!" As the ninja stopped talking, the crab began scuttering at amazing speed. Before he knew it, they were at the entrance of the village itself. Before the crab could get into the village and cause destruction, Daiko stuck a paper bomb to it's head, and jumped off. The paper bomb exploded, and killed the creature in it's spot. Now all he had to do was drag it.

Looking for the villages guards, he found some. They all had their jaws dropped to the ground, seeing some kid kill the giant crab that was a delicacy. Daiko removed his kunai from the crab, and put them away. "Hey, guards! Help me drag this crab to the shopping district!" The guards, not wanting to argue, helped him. They were much stronger than Daiko. Upon arriving to the market, the man who had given Daiko the job in the first place stared at him with his jaw dropped. This would be enough food to feed his family for a year.

Rokiro walks up to Daiko and shakes his hand. "Good job, my boy. This is a lot of crab for you to bring in!" He looks at the big crab. He shakes his head. He could hardly believe that the boy had killed this thing. It looked like there was a mark where something explosive had hit the crab. This confirmed that the boy was a ninja, but Rokiro didn't care. Daiko didn't even ask for payment for doing it, he was just happy that he was able to eat breakfast. "My name is Daiko, by the way." The ninja smiled, looking at the man. "Oh.. Daiko.. Thank you. Do you want me to pay you somehow?" Daiko shook his head. "No, that's fine. I'm more happy being able to get breakfast everyday. Hopefully now crab will be on the menu." Daiko smiled, and grabbed a rice cake, a loaf of bread, and a few apples. He then walked away, heading off to do some real training. It was going to be a long day.

[2308]

Daiko takes a bite out of one of the apples he picked up, putting the loaf of bread and rice cake in his Ninja pouches. Who needed space for ninja tools when you've got snacks? Smiling, he walks up the path to where he last remembered the training grounds being. He had an actual objective today. He had mastered the element of fire, and now it was time to see what he could do with water. The young ninja figured that he would be able to mix the two some how. Maybe his dream was telling him something, other than that he was really hot. He already knew that. Daiko walked up to the training grounds, looking around. He saw logs sticking out of the ground, with markings on it that showed damage from projectile weapons. He also noticed a pond nearby. He could probably get some training done near the water, or maybe use it to get something to drink if he became too tired for anything else. But, considering Daiko would be working himself until he passes out from exhaustion, he doesn't think that will be a problem. Cracking his knuckles, he decides that it's about time to get to whatever he was going to be training first. He cracks his neck, getting ready to see if he can't create a shroud of mist around him. Daiko starts by walking over to the pool of water and dipping his hands in it. He had to be one with the water in order to control water. Or.. Something like that. Maybe he just wanted his hands to be wet. Who knows with this guy. Daiko sighs, not really knowing which hand seals to do. He tries the boar hand seal and says, "Mists! Surround me!" Nothing happens. Sighing, he shakes the water off of his hands. This was going to be more difficult than he thought. He attempts to knead his chakra without hand seals, trying to see what speaks to him. Sitting down, he begins to meditate. Slowly breathing in through his nose, and out through his mouth. He feels a tugging sensation in his arms, and the chakra points on his body feeling a cool, rushing sensation. He puts his hands into the seal of a tiger, and can feel the chakra in his body pulling out and onto where the water is. The water begins to slowly rise up in a mist form. A small fog covers the very base of the lake. Opening his eyes, Daiko smiles. He was getting the hang of this. 

Standing up, he tries the technique again. This time, doing a tiger seal, and saying "Hidden Mist Technique!" The water didn't turn into mist. Sighing, he sits back down and begins to meditate more. He allows his mind to go into autopilot, and thinks whatever his mind drifts off to. He can feel a rushing sensation going on through his mind, and he can think of water. He can feel the water tugging and pulling around, like a wave. The water slowly pulls out from the wave, and a mist forms. The mist slowly surrounds him, and he can almost feel it on his skin. Keeping his eyes closed, he continues to make the tiger hand seal. He can feel his chakra points connect through his body, creating a relaxing feeling in all of his body. Upon opening his eyes, he sees that the mist is beginning to form around him, rather than right above the lake. That was what he wanted to do. Daiko once more closes his eyes, returning to the feeling of serenity that he had moments before. He let the waves crash over him, and turn into a thick fog. The fog blocked his vision, and he opened his eyes to see that the fog was still around him. Slowly flowing around him, the fog was a cool temperature. The fog settled around him, making him feel like he was in a thick cloud. It was a great feeling, to say the least. He had learnt his first jutsu that wasn't taught to him in the academy. He felt confident that he could learn more today. Smiling, he stood up. The fog continued to surround him. Breathing it in, he could blow small clouds of vapor around. It was fun. He felt like someone would insult him, saying something about getting that he vapes. He shakes his head. That wouldn't happen, because vaping didn't exist. And thank the Sage of Six Paths that it didn't. Sitting back down, Daiko thinks about what he will do next. He sees the fog around him, and wonders if there's anything else he can do. Maybe he could figure out a way to breath out a cloud like this, rather than create one from water. That would be really cool. 

Sitting down, he forms the tiger hand seal once more, making the fog thicken around him. He was getting the hang of this new jutsu, but he wanted to make sure that he could use it with ease in case he ever needed to use it in a situation where he couldn't concentrate for very long. He now had to work on using it in a moments notice. Standing up, he walks away from where the fog was. It was a pretty good distance, about 10 meters. Standing away from the fog, he planted his feet firmly in the ground. Forming the tiger hand seal, he felt his chakra pulling up the water in the form of the soft, cool mist. The mist slowly surrounded him, before becoming a thick fog with impaired his vision. It was nice. He figured that now that he knew this jutsu, it would make his life quite a bit easier. If he ever needed to make a cloud of mist, now he could do it. Whenever that would be useful, he didn't know. But still, success! He could do basic jutsu! He then shifted his attention to doing something else.

{1000/1000} Hidden Mist Technique -- Learned
[3313]

Daiko wiped off his forehead, and let the fog slowly fade away. He was getting kind of hungry, even though it had only been half an hour. He pulled the loaf of bread out of his bag, and broke off a piece. Putting the rest away, he took a bite out of his bread, thinking about what he was to do next. He remembers hearing that he was part of some clan called Terumi. He didn't really know what it was, so he decided that he would hit the books at the library. Getting up, he begins to walk down the path that had led him here, looking around for a library.

He continued to walk down said path, scanning the area for anything that resembled a library. Not that he knew what one looked like, anyway.

Eventually, the ninja came to what looked to be a place with information in it. Opening the doors, he slowly walks in. Trying not to draw any attention to himself, he searches around for the book that he needed. He needed a book on the Terumi clan. Searching the shelves, he tried to see where it was. With his luck, he found it in only a few minutes. He looks around for a scrap piece of paper to write the notes he will be taking. Opening the book, Daiko read as much as he could about his clan. Flipping through the pages of the book, he noticed that some were torn in many places, and tattered. Frowning, he looked at some of the pages. One of the pages had a list of hand seals, the picture and information torn out. All he could see was that there was a few words scratched into the page. Mist, Futton, and Horse.

__
Terumi Clan --

Able to use two combination elements, Boil and Lava.
Boil - Using super-heated water chakra in jutsu. The combination of Fire and Water. Reffered to as Futton.
Lava - Using super-heated earth chakra in jutsu. The combination of Earth and Fire. Reffered to as Yōton.

Mist
Futton
Horse
__

Writing down what he needed in his notes, he closes the book and puts it back. It was time to continue his working. Leaving the library, Daiko walks out into the open, grinning to himself. He was going to see how fast he could sprint back to his training grounds. Running at a speed of 30, he didn't make it there as fast as he wanted. He sighed, and walked over to the part of the field where there was water.

Sitting down by the water, he dipped his hands in it. It was still cold, just how he remembered it. He looks over his notes. Reading the parts of the notes, he looked over what he had written about boil. He saw that it was a combination of the fire nature, and the water nature. Cracking his knuckles, he figured that it would be pretty simple to figure out a way to mix his two elements together. He figured that he could try focusing chakra of one nature on one side, while the other was on the other side. Nodding, he figured that he would try it. Dipping his right hand in the water near the pond, he got water on his hand. He then put each of his hands to each of his sides, and took a deep breath. He felt his chakra points slowly moulding into the element of his choice. Imagining both the scorching heat of fire and the cool touch of water, he slowly pushed his hands together, attempting to mix the two elements in the center of his hands. He could almost invision the mixing of both the heat and the cold. The two chakras moved freely between his hands.

Daiko, continuing to keep his meditation going, could feel the chakra natures evening out in his hands. The water felt warm and the fire felt the same as the water. Just then, the water that was on his hand began to evaporate. The ninja felt pumped when he saw this happening, and continued to focus in the way that he was. His chakra was beginning to feel boiling hot, without burning him. He let the water all evaporate, then he stood up, walking over closer to the pond. The ninja then mixed his chalkra natures accordingly, and put his hands in the water. Nothing really happened in the water, except for a few warm spots. Pulling his hand out of the water, Daiko sat down. He had to figure out a way to train himself in this nature so that he could do better.

Sitting in a comfortable spot, Daiko began to meditate, thinking on his notes. The page in the book had told him was that something contained mist, futton, and a horse. It could have been some old manuscript talking about horses. It still didn't make sense why there would be mist and futton on the paper if it had been about horses, so he scraped the idea. He imagined that it was something like the hidden mist technique, only with the qualities of his boil release. Scratching his chin, he goes to pace around, thinking about what he was going to do. Snapping his fingers with an idea, he decides to form a tiger hand seal, making a small shroud of mist cover the area around him. Sitting down in it, he slowly breathes in the mist, letting his lungs get coated in a small amount of condensation from the mist. He then focused on making the chakra in his chest heat up to boiling, and blow the mist out on his hand. The first time, he was not very successful. The water was not very warm, but it wasn't as cold at it had been. Taking a deep breath, Daiko puts all the chakra he could in his chest, and blew out. It caused a cloud of steam to blow up into the air, before fading away. He understood how to mix the two elements, now he just had to see if he couldn't learn a technique with it.

{2000/2000} Boil Learned
{1028/4000} Skilled Mist Jutsu
[4341]

Daiko wiped his forehead. He had done enough training for today. He was sure that he would be able to find something to do elsewhere. Perhaps his friend Rei could be found somewhere at this time of day. Smiling, the ninja set off to the market square to see if he would run into her. He hoped he would, so he would be able to train some more.



[4409]

{1000/1000} Hidden Mist Jutsu
{2000/2000} Boil
{1028/4000} Skilled Mist Technique

Claiming 22 Stats

: )

Approved of Appropriate Rewards