Re: Journey of Change (and training) [private]

Wed May 04, 2016 1:25 am

He was perceptive, she had to give him that. Not the best medical ninja but he had a keen eye and an observant quality to his words. "It was a test," Shina confirmed, wincing in pain as the bone reformed. "We got word at the Uiversity that you were traiing really hard and I decided to see if you were doing it right. You passed."

The dark haired kunoichi would lapse into silence as he continued to heal her, only speaking up when he was done. "You're pretty good for your rank, you should really try for chunin," she suggested, gingerly testing her newly healed leg. "We could use more people like you."

With that, Shina would flicker away once more, not waiting to hear his response.

(Exit)

Wed May 04, 2016 3:05 pm

"Chunin..." Taiyo repeats, turning and continuing in the direction from which he was walking originally. "I didn't think that I was at the level yet. But soon. Maybe it isn't as far off as I thought."

The storm resides. For now.

(41/2,544)
(Total Word Count: 24,271)

(End of day 3/5)

[Claims so far: 121 stats, Tearing Earth Turning Palm, Rock Section Cane, Fist Rock Technique, Moving Earth Core, Body Flicker, Great Fireball, Dance of the Larch, Basic Medical Ninjutsu Level 1, Chakra Absorption Technique, Dance of the Clematis: Vine]

Wed May 04, 2016 3:07 pm

Approved <3

Wed May 04, 2016 3:14 pm

(Forward to day 5/5)

The current rushes past Taiyo’s hand and between his fingers. His right hand is dipped into the fast river and the rushing foams catch in his palm. Some of it dips past his spread fingers and, eventually, the rest flows with it.

“In the future, I will need to learn to be like this river. It continues to flow even though I give it resistance.” He says, removing his hand and shaking it with his arm extended out to his side. “Every blockage in life has a way through it. For all problems, there is a solution. If not, then it is not really a problem. Problems are meant to be solved, they have solutions. To this river, my hand is the problem. Though I only block a very small area of it, no more than five inches out of it’s four meter width, my hand still presents a resistance to the flow in the area. And yet, the waters flow right by in peace. This is how I need to solve my problems. The solution always exists, all that is needed is to find it. I should remember that.”

He rises and makes his way back to his tent. There, his final thermos is heating up over a lit flame. Rocks surround the burning twigs and the thromos stands on a grill like structure over the heat. The tent is still set up, Taiyo has not gotten around to dismantling it.

“Maybe it is because this is the final day. Tomorrow, I should be back home. If I climbed one of these trees, I would be able to see my home from here, it is not too far ahead.” He thinks, placing his hand over the dark blue tarp of the tent. With his other hand, he grabs a hold of the metal stake supporting one of the sides. “I woke up, left the tent, began the fire to heat my breakfast, and sat by the river behind me. Through all of this, I did not even think about taking the tent apart and packing it up. Maybe my mind does not wish to leave this journey. I grew. And growth is one of the main goals for a shinobi. At least, for this shinobi. Over the course of the last five days, I have learned ten jutsu, increased my speed, strength, and chakra potency. Two of the ten jutsu I learned were techniques of my own bloodline. When I started, my known techniques were few and my capability in battle was that of an average genin… an average genin.”

The metal stake is lifted from the ground and removed from under the dark blue tarp. The section it used to support falls and Taiyo collapses the pole, placing it onto the grass.

“It’s amazing to me that I grew from being the normal genin to a ninja who is nearing the worth and calibre of a chuunin. All of this done in only five days. And it was not an easy feat either. I did not relax at any time other than when it was to sleep or to eat. To devote one’s time in such a great amount towards a goal takes determination.” The second of the four poles is removed from the ground and is collapsed. Dropping it beside the first, he walks around to the final two. As he brings his right hand to lift the stake to his right and his left to lift the stake to his left, Taiyo stops. Drawing his hands back, he thinks, “But just because this is the final day does not mean that I need to take it easy. Yes, I have done much work up until now, but it is up to me when I’ve finished. My original goal has been reached. I have changed and grown both physically and mentally. But to go above and beyond is the true mark of a ninja, the defining trait in a powerful shinobi.”

Taiyo takes one step back and descends to sit upon the grass. His hands come together in the snake seal and he begins concentrating his chakra. From its original state, the chakra morphs in the earth style chakra which Taiyo has now gotten used to. There is no real process anymore in the transition from fire chakra to earth chakra. Through his travel, Taiyo has learned that chakra is still chakra no matter what nature transformation it possess. Using this logic, he is able to swiftly switch between earth style chakra and fire style chakra. The only difference between the natures is the form the chakra takes. A true ninja can masterfully manipulate his or her chakra with skill.

“So, the next jutsu.” He begins, separating his hands and placing his hands onto the ground. Both of his palms press into the grass and make contact with the fim dirt below it. “Is the Hiding Like a Mole technique. I would have stopped yesterday when I learned my last jutsu. But I am a ninja who is ever evolving. That is why I continue.”

With earth chakra gathered into his arms, Taiyo begins channeling it into his palms.

“To begin, the goal of this jutsu is to soften the earth into a sand and move through it so as to hide or set up a surprise attack. It involves sinking into the created sand and moving around freely underground while being able to sense through the earth where the user is. Creating a series of steps for this jutsu will not be difficult. In fact, I already have a game plan.” His chakra sinks into the earth as if Taiyo is planning on performing the Tearing Earth Turning Palm technique. The chakra extends as a form of his own senses, following the movements of his hands. Taiyo’s fingers curl and straighten, testing the texture of the ground. “First, I flow my earth chakra into the ground. In battle, it will be more beneficial to have this transfer occur through the feet so that I do not need to take the time to kneel. Of course, I don’t need to test that. Moving chakra is a simple thing to do; flowing it into the ground is not new at all. No matter what body part I use, it will be nearly the same to execute.”

Relaxing his shoulders, Taiyo loosens his elbows and wrists from being so rigid. The earth style chakra has seeped into the dirt and rock. With it, he can feel the composition of the ground. Confirming it’s density and consistency, he begins the second step of executing the technique.

“If I want a good result, I need to make the sand as thin as possible. The softer and thinner the sand, the faster I will be able to burrow through it.” His fingers slowly curl themselves, already beginning to perform the action which Taiyo is thinking. “With my earth style, the rock will move based on how I move the chakra inside of it. If I break my chakra up into a grid and repeatedly create smaller and smaller units on the grid by adding more cutting lines, I will be able to form an exceptionally thin sand. As long as I can add enough lines and with enough precision, I will sink in with ease.”

Curling his fingers tightly, he cuts the chakra through the center both vertically and horizontally, creating four even parts of the area which his chakra is affecting. The cuts are in a circle of one meter in diameter, just wide enough to allow for Taiyo to fall in.

With the four slices finished, he continues on to create another eight even slices with two more cuts in both diagonal directions. Finally, he creates four more cuts that break the rock into thirty-two equal triangular slices.

“That is the first phase. Thirty-two pieces, cut like a pie.” He stops to take a look at the results, craning his neck to look over his kneeling knee at other areas of the circle. “It also allows the individual grains of sand to vary in shape rather than creating cubes all with the same dimensions. The second phase is only slightly more difficult. It involves cutting the chakra horizontally from one end of the circle to the other moving from top to bottom with a minuscule separation between the lines. All of that should be one action.”

Each section is picked out as he can feel the sensation of his own chakra becoming like sand. It breaks itself up, cutting the rock with it, into smaller and smaller pieces. From left to right, the sections are separated into small long slivers with divisions where the thirty-six sections are cut.

“This time, it’s vertical. Across the area, I’ll make just as many cuts from left to right as I did before. After that, there should be a grid of rock cuts with differently sized units within it. Visualizing it after the vertical cuts now, it actually looks like sand. Indistinguishable grains of different shapes. What really matters though is the final cut. But for now, the verticals.”

Without mending his chakra together again, as that would fuse the rock back together and bring him back to square one, he memorizes the feel of the first series of cuts after the division on thirty-six and recreates them in the desired direction. An exact copy materializes, the chakra separating upon the visualized lines, cutting the earth with it.

Finished creating the randomly sized grid of units of rock, he stands and removes his hand from the surface of the earth. The chakra below remains, not following the hand, and reconnect at Taiyo’s will to his sandals and feet. This is the fashion in which the jutsu would be performed during a battle, not having the time to plant one’s hands onto the ground.

“There are three dimensions of space. The “x-axis”, “y-axis”, and the “z-axis”. I have already created cuts along the x and y axises. Finally, I will need to forge cuts of the same size and separation length as the two prior.” Both of his hands come together in front of his chest and form the snake seal, concentrating his chakra and extending it deeper into the earth. From his feet, he begins the slices, collapsing immediately the myriades of pillars created by all of the separations. From the surface of the earth, the cuts start and they continue through to a depth of two meters. After reaching that limitation, a limitation set purposefully by Taiyo himself so that he may not need to concentrate on a large area all at once, the chakra stops. “And that’s done as well.”

His body tilts towards the left, the ground below him now sand. As both of his feet begins to sink evenly, he stops partway down. The sand has compressed itself under his weight and the density creates a surface for him to stand upon without sinking any further. From Taiyo’s knees and below, he is buried in the sand.

“Good, this is what I expected to happen. In order to finish this technique, I need to be able to move through the ground easily. Luckily, I already have a method planned out.” His hands push against each other with greater force, channeling his chakra towards his feet and using it to move the sand so that he is pulled downward into the ground. “Until I’m fully underground, I will have to suck myself through the sand using chakra. And once I am completely submerged, I will not need to use as much chakra to move myself around. Only a small amount will be necessary because I will not really by pulling myself along. I will be both pushing and pulling my body through the sand at the same, using less energy. Then only require part of this current chakra to push and a part of it to pull. The rest won’t be used at all, I can take it back.”

Sinking in, he forms a cylindrical shape around himself, a hollow area of air so that he might breathe while submerged.

“I don’t need to worry about running out of oxygen while down here. There may be a lower volume of air here than there was above the surface but in battle, I will not likely stay below ground for too long.” His eyes closed, he turns his head to his right, not to look, but to turn his attention to a vibration of chakra in the direction.

“The stream.” He thinks. Turning again, this time ot his left, he extends his arm outward in the direction of another vibration. “And that might be a rodent of some type. It’s light vibrations through the ground and to my chakra are fient. It must be small or light in weight.”

Moving his entire body now, Taiyo drifts himself in the direction of the coming vibration, what he believes to be a squirrel. Out ahead of him, his chakra continuously cuts the rock up into the fine pattern of the sand he moves through. At his feet, chakra propels him and solidifies the sand into rock again. This constant breaking and reconstructing of rock as Taiyo moves in any direction keeps the ground stable. That way, he does not compromise the integrity of a battle field by burrowing through it.

“I can feel the strength of the vibrations getting stronger. Though they are still weak, it means that I am getting closer to whatever is causing the reverberation.” Taiyo’s right hand reaches forward to better feel out the tremors. Meanwhile, he mentally keeps his chakra steady around him so that he does not drift off course due to poor chakra control. For the most part, he is travelling, not upward, but parallel to the surface above him. His current course will never bring him to intersect with the plane of the earth’s current surface above him. “I’m already quite close the the surface so the closer I get to the target, the stronger the oscillations will become. But at the same time, I’m moving quite far from camp.”

He stops his advances and keeps still. His chakra veal stops with him, ceasing to grind the earth into sand. Turning his head to his left and his right, he makes sense of both the rodent’s vibrations and the steady and smooth resonance of the river. The rushing water creates a large amount of shaking. The waterfall below adds plentifully to it. And yet, the original target can still be felt out amidst the larger, more dominant, shaking.

“It feels like I will be able to lead myself back to the river for a long way. Those vibrations seem powerful enough to detect from farther down for a while. And because the rodent’s vibrations are so different in feel to those of the river and crashing waterfall, I can sense that difference and pick it out even though the river is so strong.” Moving forward again, towards the target, Taiyo continues to reason. “A fine description would be the way that one can be in a crowd of english speaking people all saying the same thing at once. There is one big wave of english. Even though that voice is louder than one or two people speaking a different language, those speaking that foreign language can be picked out because they sound different from the majority. In a sea of green colors, one can point out a red rose quite easily. That quality of standing out from the greater amount of sound, color, or in this case, feeling, makes it much easier to identify that minority.”

Suddenly, his advances stop dead. In an instant, he ceases to progress. The vibrations of his target also discontinue. Just above Taiyo, the squirrel is standing on its hindlegs flickering its head left and right. With slow movements, Taiyo raises his right hand and touches the sand above him. Past it, he can feel the hard surface. Rearing his hand back, he closes his fingers and brings his thumb in so that all of his fingers face on direction and act as a knife-like piercing object. As he thrusts it forward through the sand above his head, he can feel the density strengthen as he drives through the surface of the earth. It takes very little time for him to break through and grab the squirrel around its midsection and hold it tight so that it does not shake itself free.

Using his chakra, he lifts himself up and softens the earth as he rises so that, once he begins to emerge, he moves through sand rather than dense rock. Below him, the earth solidifies again and returns to its original texture.

Fully emerging from the ground, squirrel in his right hand, takes a look at the rodent which had been the source of the faint vibrations.

“For the most part, I’m assuming that that is what the Double Suicide Decapitation technique is performed. By sensing the vibrations of the target, they can be pinpointed and the user can travel to them. Also, in order to thrust the hand out of the earth, he or she needs to do so in a way that allows their presence to go unnoticed. This is done by crushing the earth around the hand into sand as it rises and only breaking through the surface when the fingertips are directly under it. That way, if one were to look down, they would not see sand where the attack were about to occur. Instead, they have no inkling as to where the enemy is. A deceitful technique.”

Releasing the squirrel from his grasp after lowering the hand to the ground, it scurries away through the trees, climbing one and disappearing in the leaves above. Taiyo, having wandered off from his camp site, turns his head in the direction which he had been travelling and begins his walk back to the stream.

Arriving, the soft white foam of the flowing river greeting his eyes once again, he rests his hand down upon the top of his tent, removing the final two metal poles from the ground and collapsing them. As he rolls the tent’s dark blue tarp around the stakes which it was supported by, Taiyo grabs one of the empty sacs nearby and places them within it.

A sigh escapes his lips, gazing over the waterfall and out at the trees as he sits at the edge of the cliff. His three traveling sacks are slung over his right shoulder and his left hand is suspended within the falling water. After minutes of blissful nature watching, Taiyo finally decided to rise.

“Let’s go home.”

(3,134 / 27,405)
(2,000/2,000 towards Hiding Like a Mole)
(1,000/1,000 towards Headhunter)

[Claims so far: 137 stats, Tearing Earth Turning Palm, Rock Section Cane, Fist Rock Technique, Moving Earth Core, Body Flicker, Great Fireball, Dance of the Larch, Basic Medical Ninjutsu Level 1, Chakra Absorption Technique, Dance of the Clematis: Vine, Hiding Like a Mole, Headhunter]

Wed May 04, 2016 3:19 pm

My calculations show 137 stats so far, just an fyi.

Approved techs <3

Wed May 04, 2016 3:28 pm

Oh, you're right. Thanks, I didn't catch that. Edited.

Wed May 04, 2016 3:29 pm

From through the rough trunks of the trees, Taiyo traverses the familiar terrain. Every now and then, he spots a certain rock or animal burrowing hole that tells him how far from his residence he is. From the scenery, he can already tell that in only a few more steps, he will be able to peer through the leaves of the pine trees and spot his home, the home that waited for five days for its owner to return.

The front door, left the way it was originally, has not changed in appearance. The field out in front of the property has grown half an inch. To him, it is an improvement from before he departed into the forest.

“The grass was shorter when I left.” He thinks, taking his first step in five days onto the tall blades of this field. “It’s better this way, though. I like the way it sways with the wind, how they all tilt in one direction when a breeze blows by. Such serenity.”

With his other leg, he brings his foot to rest with the other into the deep covering of green-yellow. Now, his entire body is out of the trees and bushes, he is free to move. Taiyo’s heart slows in pace as his presence at his well known home sets in on his body and mind.

“Now that I think about it, though, I’ve never desired for the grass to be taller, not as tall as this. I didn’t care. But now, returning, I can’t help but wonder why I felt that way. Why wouldn’t I want such a sight right outside of my house?” He begins walking forward, getting used to the feel of the grass blades brushing against his lower legs. They reach no higher than about an inch below his knees.

Ahead of him, the field sways to his right, the wind guiding them to do so. Taiyo also feels the breeze in the air as it runs across his skin. The grass and his body feel in unison, the wind giving them both the same sensation, the same push, the same effect.

Leaving the serene mental state of this sense of sameness, his eyes are drawn to his training post. The wooden column stands slightly tilted due to being subject to the movement of the earth without a person to use it. Making his way to the structure, he holds out his hand and touches the bark. The texture has not changed. There are, however, little peelings of the outer bark curling off of the surface. None have fallen off yet.

“The wood is beginning to rot.” He notes, surveying the entire surface area of the trunk. “If it gets too weak, I will have to replace it with a new post. But not any time soon. After the past few days, I deserve some relaxation. Besides, it would be extremely easy for me to cut down a new tree. I did not train only to strengthen my chakra. I’ve grown in physical ability as well. Maybe, on this final day of my journey, after reaching my destination and back, I will be able to achieve that goal. The Daytime Tiger.”

Now walking through the tall grass and arriving at his front door, he grabs a hold of the handle. He turns it and pushes forward, opening the door. Within, the contents look exactly the way that they were left. Everything is in its place and just as Taiyo remembers them to be.

“It feels good to be home.” He whispers, not with a smile, but with a more confused expression. “Right? It should. And I certainly feel different. But… it isn’t… “good”. I don’t know what I’m feeling. It isn’t sadness. No anger, when do I feel anger? But it isn’t happiness either.”

Taking a step back, he exits his home and closes the door as he turns around to look out over the yellow-green tall grass. To reassure himself, he brings his view to glide from left to right, taking note of the fact that nothing is different. Nothing has changed.

“And yet, I have changed.”

“Have you?” A voice that speaks separate from his own thoughts.

“Have I?” He answers the question with a question, not to the question which he himself posed, but to his memories, to what he has accomplished within the past five days. “I must have. One does not live five days in the wilderness eating nothing but white rice and drinking nothing but water and walk out as the same man which had entered. Not only that, but I have driven my body and chakra to their limits and broken through those barriers. I have changed.”

“Have you?” The same question. He asks himself but, to his own consciousness, it is not him. Something else is questioning him.

“I have.” His chin tilts toward the sky and he looks up into the clouds. “I entered as an average genin of Hoshigakure. I left as a capable ninja with more capability than that with which I had entered. Within that forest, I opened my own mind to what was possible and obtained that through work. I entered as Taiyo Kaguya. I left as… Taiyo Kaguya. I have not changed...”

“Why?” This time, the question is from Taiyo himself. He knows that he questions himself with inquiries that have known answers. “Why haven’t you changed? What’s the same? What is the one thing that keeps me tethered to what I used to be? The one thing that outweighs every other change and determines whether or not I have found the wisdom to escape?”

“This exactly. And nature has been trying to tell me all along.” His head lowers to the grass. Kneeling, he runs his hand through the blades. “Unity. All is one. One is all. The wind blows this grass and it all tilts in one direction. The wind blows me and I do not move. I’m not one with all. All is not one with me.”

“How do I get all to become one with me?” The same voice from the same source asks the question.

“That’s the wrong question.” This time, Taiyo himself speaks.

“What’s the right question? Do you know it?”

“How do I become one with all. That's the right question.”

“Then... goodbye…”

“Hello.” Shiro rises from kneeling. His soul tilts in the breeze. The grass tilts with him.

(1,073 / 27,405)

[Claiming name change to "Shiro"]

Wed May 04, 2016 3:42 pm

Changed your name <3

Wed May 04, 2016 7:52 pm

I'm sorry, could I as you to change it again? I've got a better name.

If you could change my account name to Shiro, I would appreciate it.

Also, after this,

[Exit]

[Claiming: 137 stats, Tearing Earth Turning Palm, Rock Section Cane, Fist Rock Technique, Moving Earth Core, Body Flicker, Great Fireball, Dance of the Larch, Basic Medical Ninjutsu Level 1, Chakra Absorption Technique, Dance of the Clematis: Vine, Hiding Like a Mole, Headhunter]

Thu May 05, 2016 5:08 pm

Name changed and claims approved <3