Monkey See, Monkey Do! (Open, NK)

Yumi awoke early and grabbed an apple, a piece of toast, and a canteen of water and went outside to stroll the village's streets. It was her day off from the academy, but that did not mean the young ninja could slack off from her studies. She had practiced the Clone Technique the night before, and was feeling in the mood to continue her studies of ninjutsu, Yumi had decided it would be better to practice in the field. This time, Yumi decided she was going to practice the Transformation Technique. And what better than to practice the technique, than on passerby's who walked about the village? It was one thing to transform into her mother or father, but she knew them very well. She'd known them all of her life; she knew all of their contours of their faces, she knew their body movements; it would hardly make for a worth while training session. Yumi would practice transforming into people she did not know. If one was going to be successful in the art of deception, one would have to work on the fly and be quick to adapt.

Yumi stopped for a moment sat up against a dome shaped building. She had brought her notes and her textbook to go over the hand seals that were used for the jutsu. Like the Clone Technique, the Transformation Technique also required three seals. Only one hand seal was the same – ram. And it was one of her favorites.

The other two seals are new. It goes dog, boar, and ram.... Yumi thought with a frown. Better go over the seals before I try this for real.

Yumi placed her hands together and made the first seal. It was an easy one – dog. All one had to do to sign the dog seal was simply place the left hand over top of the right which was closed to make a fist. The next was boar. Boar was also easy, Yumi turned both of her hands into fists and pointed them downwards. Last was the ram seal. It had given Yumi some trouble last night and seemed to give her trouble this night as well. To make the seal, one had to extend both pointer and middle finger of both hands and hold them together as if they were dancing with one another. The ring and pinkie finger of the left hand had to be placed over the right. This gave Yumi trouble if she ever tried to preform them in a timely fashion. After going over the seals enough times, Yumi glanced up to see if she could spot a worthy foe to transform into.

Soon enough Yumi spotted a woman and a boy, presumably a mother and her son, going about their business presumably going to the market for groceries. The boy looked as if he were about the same age as herself, perhaps even a bit younger. Yumi grinned and decided to follow. Hanging behind the boy, Yumi slowly signed the hand seals.


”Transformation Jutsu,” she muttered under her breath so that the boy and his mother wouldn't take notice.


In a small, puff of smoke Yumi transformed into a copy of the boy she following. Though it wasn't exactly an exact copy. Unbeknownst to Yumi, the young student looked more like an artistical impressionistic portrait of the boy. Still, Yumi tried to copy his movements trying to match the boy's locomotion.

(WC = 575)

The boy eventually turned around to see a very terrible copy of himself following him.  An argument shortly ensued as to why Yumi was impersonating the small boy.  Yumi could not resist the opportunity.  She mimicked the boy's quarries and accused the boy that he was the copy.  The boy began to cry and pulled on his mother's clothes.  Yumi decided to stop the impersonation and ducked into an off-shooting alleyway.  Yumi released the jutsu and walked out into the adjacent street.  The young ninja decided to find her next victim.
 
Over on a bench sat an elderly lady who was wrapped in desert cloak.  She was reading a book and did not pay any attention to the mischievous ninja.  Looking at the old woman, Yumi sat down on the opposite side of the bench and placed her hands together.  After completing the hand seals and in a small puff of smoke, Yumi transformed into a copy of the elderly woman.  It was not a very good copy, especially when viewing them side to side as they were.  Yumi pulled out her textbook and flipped to the 'Transformation Technique' section and mimicked the old woman's body movements.  When the old lady turned the page of her book, so did Yumi.  The old woman turned to see who had sat down next to her.  
 
”Oh, are we reading the same book?” the old lady asked.
 
”It appears so,” Yumi replied.  While her book was actually a textbook, when Yumi signed the jutsu, her textbook changed, also.
 
”How nice,” the old lady said.  She appeared to be thrilled and did not take any notice to Yumi's obvious attempts to copy her. ”Who is your favorite character?”
 
Crap, I don't know! Yumi thought as the old lady sat waiting for a reply.  I don't even know what book she's reading!
 
(WC = 307)

”Uh, I like the tall one,” Yumi finally replied, her heart felt as if it were going to burst out of her chest.

The old lady closed her eyes and smiled, ”Ah, he's the cute one. I like him too.”

Eww!

”Well, nice talking to you. I have to, uh, have to go see my grand kids,” Yumi lied.

The old lady nodded and went back to reading her book. Yumi picked herself up off the wooden bench and lost herself in a crowd of people before releasing her jutsu. This took the young academy student close to the eastern city gate. A caravan was on its way into town. Yumi got herself out of the way from the oncoming camels. The large scruffy beasts walked slowly, and were carrying heavy loads of imported supplies. Caravan guards were leading them to the market districts. Yumi smiled and waited for the train to pass. She decided to follow after them.

Yumi placed her hands together once more and signed hand seals required for the jutsu. In a puff of smoke, Yumi transformed into the last caravan guardsman who followed behind the camels. This time her copy had improved. The differences were hard to spot. And if one gazed upon her, Yumi could pass for the guard's twin. The man did not seem to notice her, so Yumi continued to follow him. Her curiosity was getting the best of her. She wanted to know where they were going and what exactly they were delivering. For blocks she followed until they arrived at their destination.

Sure enough, the caravan arrived in the market district. The leader of the caravan halted the train and hopped down from his camel. The rest of the caravan guards seemed to know what to do and gathered around their leader. Yumi decided to follow.

”Great work, men,” the leader announced, ”another routine run. And as always, here is your payment.”

The caravan leader pulled off his gloves and reached into a pack that was tied to his stopped camel. In his hands were several coin pouches which jingled as he walked back towards the group of guards.

”Here's one for you, one for you, one for you, and you,” the leader mumbled as he handed each of his men a pouch. ”And who are you? I don' remember you! Get out of here. Go on, get!”

Yumi was caught, though the leader threaten her. This sort of thing must have happened before. Instead, the leader merely 'shooed' the young girl away with his hands. Yumi released her jutsu and giggled before running away. The village of Suna was all the girl had ever known, but she loved it all the same.

(Exit)


(WC = 453, TWC 575+307+453 = 1335, claiming Transformation Technique, +6 Stat Points)

I can dig it

XD

Trial Approved ^_^

(FYI you could have trained a bit longer and started putting wc towards another jutsu so you maximise use of your WC, lemme know if you intend to do that instead)

(Thanks, for the strategy.  I'll keep that in mind for next time.  No plans to continue here.)