Beast and Scorch (Nobu)

It couldn’t be hard to make a shadow clone right? I mean the concept of cloning was something everyone had to get through in the academy. Those clones however were intangible and couldn’t attack things like a shadow clone could. A normal clone was really only used as a distraction and if your opponent was good enough could probably easily tell which clone was real and which was a fake. Making a normal clone Ryu had it run forward and then run back, the things complexion had barely changed. No redding of the cheeks, no sweat dripping from the forehead, it wasn’t what most people would call a combat capable jutsu. It certainly had its uses in teaching young students the basics, but as far as being useful for fighting groups or information gathering the clones weren’t any good. Making an additional clone the genin sent the thing over to an academy student who was training. The clone stopped before the ninja and looked him up and down as he attempted the seals for the jutsu. The clone made the appropriate seals while showing and explaining to the would be ninja.  “You need to straighten out your fingers, because of something, something pathways, which are blocked when you bend your finger.” After the brief demonstration the clone disappeared before the student’s eyes causing him to look around for wherever it went. It took a couple of seconds for him to see the blonde haired ninja looking right at him. The genin threw his arm over his head as a goodbye to the ninja. Well at least it fooled him for a second. After a couple more attempts on people training the ninja just decided to take a walk around the grounds.
 

With the first attempt at making a shadow clone Ryu made the seal, which after a small smoke cloud a sickly looking Ryu clone lay motionless on the ground. He canceled the technique while watching his failure vanish. He made another clone this one much more promising than the last. “Well it looks like me, say something!” The clone looked over to the original who continued to move. “Something.” Turning around to look upon his creation the original smiled. “Let’s go find somebody we want to train with.” Following in the original’s tracks the clone offered no resistance to the orders it was given.


WC: 395

Gathering himself, Nobu heads down to the kitchen of the Akari Clan house. He has grown accustomed to this pattern, and seems more at ease heading around the household. Raizuko is normally far to busy to be here, so Nobu really has free roam of the manor, besides the private areas of his host. Grabbing a glass of water, he gulps it down fairly quickly before grabbing another. Packing his bag with some of those nifty lizard kobobs, Nobu decides to head down to the training grounds to get some practice in. He needed to get much stronger if he wanted to compare to the stunningly talented shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Sand.

Wasting no time Nobu sprinted as fast as he was able to in order to make his trip completed in the fastest time possible. Not only would this get him to his real training faster, but it would also be a mini training session itself as he pushed the limits of his speed to the max, finding exactly where it stood on a mental scale he had in his mind. In record time he made it to the training grounds. He wasn’t sure if it had been his training paying off or if the lack of distractions and people in the streets had been the cause, but he didn’t care either way. A small victory is still a victory in his eyes.

Nobu makes his way to his favorite rock and begins his normal routine of one hundred push ups, followed by one hundred crunches and then one hundred body squats. This wasn’t particularly rigorous training on his part, but it would do for a nice warm up. Nobu begins by stretching out his legs before starting a sprint around the training area. As he was sprinting he noticed an odd fellow trying to teach a younger ninja something, from the looks of it the technique was the clone jutsu. The child must have been quite young to not have mastered that ability, but Nobu was not one to judge as he was well behind the curve himself. Noticing the seemingly friendly ninja now working on another jutsu he watched, waiting for an incredible display of skill and power. Instead the ninja made a clone that was immobile and misshapen, it lying motionless and useless on the desert sand. The sad technique almost caused Nobu to trip over a rock as he couldn’t take his eyes off the clone. Maybe the Sand Ninja aren’t as skilled and masterful as he had originally thought. Hmm. Just as these thoughts crossed Nobu’s mind, the ninja tried again and this time found some success this time. Maybe he’s better than he lets on.

Nobu shakes his head at the thoughts now crossing his mind. If he was going to get better, he needed people to train with. He needed people to push him beyond the hurdle in his training that he just couldn’t leap over himself. Nobu didn’t really like the idea of meeting with strangers, but so far everyone he has met in the village was really friendly towards him. If this was going to make him stronger, he would overcome this feeling of worry. If he was willing to go through the training he did with his last teacher, the abuse he faced, the wounds he accrued all in the name of getting stronger, he was willing to meet up with what looked like a friendly face in order to do the same.

Reducing his speed to a more casual approach, Nobu makes his way to the ninja that was now looking for something. Nobu’s first thoughts went to sneaking up on him, testing just how skilled the shinobi was at something as simple as paying attention to his surroundings. Some might think that just because you happened to be in friendly and familiar territory that it is okay to get sloppy and careless. Enemies were everywhere, this was something Nobu had learned the hard way on several occasions over the years. Despite Nobu wanting to gauge this ninja’s perceptive capabilities, he found that hiding in the desert setting without much in the way of cover and camouflage was fairly difficult. It was nothing like what he was accustomed to. Dismissing what would likely be an impossible task, instead Nobu yells out to gain his attention, “Hey you! Blondie! What’re you looking for? And why are you practicing the clone technique? I would expect someone with a Sand village headband to at least have learned that basic jutsu.”

"Blondie?" Ryu asked looking at his clone and then to the kid he had sensed about five minutes before he even showed up. "I think he was talking to you." The boy said to his clone while taking a seat onto the ground. "Well young one I am not practicing the regular clone jutsu, that there is a shadow clone." Making a clone Ryu shoved his fist through the intangible fake, before physically touching the shadow clone. The fact that the genin called the other person around his age, but taller should probably seem strange, but Ryu just rolled with it anyway like half of the things that he said. 

"My clone needs to do some work, would you like to spar with it? It can teach you how to do the clone technique or the substitution." The clone nodded and then turned toward the original. "Why don't you spar and show him stuff?" With a finger pointed at himself he looked at his clone. "Because I am the original and you... are the clone." The boy stressed the word you and changed the direction of his finger as he finished his sentence, so that it was now aimed at the copy. "Besides I want to build a sand castle."

WC: 210

Nobu grins at the thought of sparring, only to have that change as the Sand shinobi tells him that they can work on substitution and the clone technique. Nobu had mastered those jutsu quite some time ago, them being the most basic techniques in a ninja’s arsenal. He was almost offended before he put two and two together. The boy this ninja was showing the clone technique to earlier didn’t have a Sand headband, and neither did Nobu. He must have thought that Nobu was still training to become a genin of the sand, not knowing that Nobu was really a missing ninja. Well, Nobu did hope to join the village soon, so he wasn’t completely wrong in that assessment.

Placing his hands together to gather a little bit of chakra, he quickly signed Ram-Snake-Tiger generating a clone on himself and clearly demonstrating that he is familiar with the technique he spoke of before dismissing it. “I don’t think I need to train the basic jutsu. What I could really go for is some practice on my Taijutsu skills. Would you be willing to do this?”

Nobu gets into stance, legs apart and core lowered. Raising his fists to his chest and slowly pressing them outward, Nobu appears ready for martial combat. “Keep in mind, this is just sparring. I hope not to get a concussion from this. Let me know when you are ready. By the way, I am Nobu Sen Katto and I aim to be the best Taijutsu expert there ever was. What shall I call you?”

Nobu silently waits for the response from the Sand shinobi arguing with himself before attacking. In a real combat scenario, that weakness in his defenses would be the perfect time to strike, but this was merely a training exercise and he didn’t want to disrespect his sparring partner.

Listening to the kid of his age talking Ryu continued to work on his sand castle pouring a little bit of water into the sand. When he was finally able to form a solid mound he looked up from the structure. “Sure my clone should be able to show you some taijutsu.” He then looked to his clone which seemed to be waiting for orders. “Clone me answer all of his questions and teach him whatever he wants to know.” He then continued to manipulate the wet sand with his palms and began to build the sand tower until one part of the building was created.
 
The clone entered an attacking stance while looking at Nobu. “I am Ryu Reinhard clone and I guess we will be sparring.” When the boy said he was ready the clone dashed forward at maximum speed. Which was probably too fast for the kid to follow with his eyes, once the clone Ryu noticed that the eyes hadn’t shifted even in the slightest he realized he may need to tune down the speed a bit. He then attacked using the Sand Whirlwind, a jutsu that involved a high and low kick. The power would only be enough to knock the kid over, he didn’t feel like hurting the guy.
 

“That there is the sand whirlwind, it can be used to learn another taijutsu.” Once the kid stood the clone would look back to the original who was still very much focused on his sand castle. There were a few towers built now and it seemed like the boy was ready to connect them. As he felt the eyes of the clone burning into his being he looked up at the clone. “Can I help you?” Ryu said looking at his double and the other ninja. The doppelganger turned around arms folded and muttered. ”Nothing, but wait until you finish that sand castle.”

WC: 318

Nobu was foolish to underestimate the level of skill the young shinobi Ryu Reinhart had been at. Within what felt like only a blink of his eyes Ryu was in front of Nobu, and already in the process of attacking. Nobu first sees a kick coming at his face and begins to dodge, only for Ryu to miss and follow with a powerful sweeping kick that knocks Nobu from his feet and causes him to crash hard into the sand. Nobu lies on the ground for a moment letting what had just happened sink in before returning to his feet. Slowly he stands and reassumes his combat stance. “You are quite talented for one so young. I’ve never seen anyone my own age move so quickly that I wasn’t able to see it. The Sand village shinobi are indeed gifted it would seem. I can only hope to get better so that I may call myself a Sand shinobi.” Nobu takes a deep breath and exhales slowly, pushing his hands outwards as he does so, them becoming fists as they reach their destination.

“That is a fairly interesting technique you had just used. It is really quite clever, actually. I may be wrong, but I am assuming that the high kick was mostly for a distraction? It manages to confuse your opponent, causing them to try and defend high when it is really a feint all along. Now with them focusing high, you manage to sweep low and knock them off balance. It is a clever technique, indeed.” Nobu then dashes over to the clone, swinging at it with a series of blows aimed at the torso and head. The clone would have little difficulty in blocking the blows, just as Nobu had suspected. Continuing the assault, Nobu does a spinning heel kick towards the head of Ryu (clone). Expecting the speedy shinobi to be able to dodge, Nobu uses the momentum from that kick to perform a sweep to the legs of the clone, hoping to catch it off guard enough to connect and show that he has learned the basics of this technique.

Nobu was proud of himself managing to pull the technique off after only seeing it once, though his face would not show this. Instead, he shifted back into his combat stance, ready for the clones counterattack.

“Yes, I finished!” yelled the original Ryu as he finished linking the last of his four towers together. If Nobu were to look at the structure it would look horrendous like he had given up half way through and was only now interested in finishing it. He still seemed quite pleased by the work on the sand castle. Though whipping around the clone withdrew a kunai and threw it at the castle at top speed. With the surprise real Ryu could not react fast enough and the blade destroyed the sand castle. Looking upon his reflection with pure resentment the original looked the clone in the eyes. “Fite me.” He said plopping his butt back into the sand to recreate the entire thing.
 
Turning around the clone listened to Nobu as he began to talk. ”Well that is one of the benefits of being in the sand village. The weather hardens you and you either get stronger or let nature take its course.” The boy didn’t really believe what he was saying he was just trying to sound cool. What with the way this kid praised him it was like he and the other ninja were super heroes. From across the training field making his sand castle the actual Ryu called out. “Bro do you even lift?” Of course he knew the answer to the question he was him after all, but the real thing didn’t really understand that embarrassing his clone was like embarrassing himself. ”I lift like all the time.” The clone said flexing as the original muttered. “Liar.”
 
”Speaking of being a sand shinobi if you know the basic jutsu, why don’t you take your genin exam?” The clone shrugged his shoulders, taking the test was the first thing he had wanted to do upon learning all of the basic jutsu. This kid could be different though.
 
”That is exactly it.” The clone explained as Nobu began his assault while Ryu kept blocking or even out-right dodging all of his attacks. The speed at which he moved probably all the kid could see was blurred lines then Ryu would have changed positions. As the clone was a bit distracted the original activated the wind glaive causing his skin to lighten, then with one quick dash the original went on all fours behind his clone’s legs allowing Nobu’s kick to hit. The clone still didn’t poof away though as the kick didn’t seem to be damaging enough to effect it.
 

After that the original went back to building and laughing while the clone dusted itself off. ”Well since you have that move down time to move onto the next one.” Using the Sand whirlwind at max speed the clone could trip the boy, but that wasn’t the end continuing the spin of the kick as the boy began to fall, a foot would race towards his skull before hitting the soft sand. The foot would stop though right next to the kids face. ”That is the Sand Gale.”


WC: 500

This Ryu Reinhart was an odd fellow it seemed. Not only was he sitting there playing in the sand, but he was also arguing and insulting himself. One so odd happened to be so strong was very strange indeed. Nevertheless this was his current teacher and sparring partner, and Nobu would have to deal with his strange antics.

“I do know the jutsu, it is just… well…You could say I’m in the process of gaining my Sunagakure headband.” Nobu says scratching the back of his head. He didn’t exactly want to say the wrong thing and cause this impressive ninja hostile towards the young Missing Ninja. He might not have been in a bingo book, but he shouldn’t go around announcing that he is technically a criminal while surrounded by shinobi that outclass him.

In an instant after successfully performing the taijutsu, Ryu manages to knock Nobu off his feet again in the blink of an eye. This Ryu was indeed talented, though Nobu’s lack of proper training was also quite apparent it seemed in this encounter. Getting up and brushing himself off, Nobu assumes his combat stance once again. His attacks were pretty ineffective against this target, but he was going to try anyhow just to learn the basic movements. Once those movements were learned it would be only a short matter of time before Nobu cemented them in his muscle memory and count execute them without thinking.

Nobu mirrors the technique he saw a few times before approaching the clone for any kind of attack. He was mostly familiarizing himself with the motions before a true offensive. Nobu felt ready, and dashes towards the Ryu Clone as fast as he is capable, jumping up and using a flurry of kicks, his body doing several rotations of spin kicks before repeating the technique on the clone with a sweeping strike. The strike was without enough force to actually knock the Clone off its feet. Doing a quick roll backwards, Nobu reassumes his stance.

“I am unable to flow the techniques together against you, Ryu…. Or Ryu clone. I will go through the motions of the taijutsu without an actual target. Without the force required to knock the clone from his feet, I really cannot do any type of true follow-up attack.” Moving ten or so feet away Nobu rapidly practices the two techniques he had just learned. At first they were ridged, their technique flawed. In only a few minutes, Nobu’s technique had vastly improved, the jutsu’s now flowing into one another in a rather seamless transition. Ryu’s clone, if paying attention could actually see Nobu getting faster as the training went on, his body growing more and more accustomed to this taijutsu techniques.

Feeling as though he has learned the jutsu as best as the scenario had permitted, he approaches Ryu’s clone once more, setting himself back into his stance. “Those techniques are quite impressive, and flow together well. I now understand why one should learn the Leaf Whirlwind before other techniques. It seems to be a good starting point for these combination attacks. I’m ready to learn more, if at all possible.”

Canceling the shadow clone jutsu, Ryu walked over to the kid still trying to learn the jutsu. "As far as taijutsu goes that is about all I have. My main focus is ninjutsu." After that he crushed his own sand castle like a monster in Tokyo and responded to the things he had said to the clone. Did he just call it the leaf whirlwind? With a sigh, he began to explain Nobu’s mistake. “It is called the sand hurricane, my father said they don’t train in the leaf instead they just make kissy faces.” Now that the mistake was cleared up he waved the kid goodbye, it was time to do some other things.

WC: 115
TWC: 1538
Claiming Rewards: (Shadow Clone Jutsu 1500/1500 due to being shown and 14AP) 
(Exit)

Nobu looks at Ryu, a puzzled look on his face. The leaf doesn't train, instead only making 'Kissy faces'? Nobu wasn't sure how to respond to that, but he quickly dismisses it as one of the many quirks of this Ryu Reinhard fellow.

Bowing slightly, Nobu thanks the young ninja for showing him the techniques before they both wave goodbye. Nobu had learned much today soaking all the techniques up like a sponge, but he still hungered for more knowledge. Looking around, he notices another pair of ninja sparring off in the distance, one in tan clothing and one in blue. Making his way over to a nearby rock, he perches there watching every move they make. The sparring session is intense, as they seems much more closely matched than Nobu had been with Ryu. Watching their movements seemed like a breeze after his dealings with Ryu, and Nobu had little difficulty following them with his eyes.

They seemed to having a fairly serious mock combat, as several seemingly powerful jutsus were executed in rapid succession including a handful of fire style attacks. Nobu watched, taking it all in as they fought. He had hoped to see some more interesting techniques to try out, but they seemed to only be training in ninjutsu. Nobu could use ninjutsu but he didn't particularly like it, nor was he in the mood to practice it today. Plus, they were using fire style techniques, and Nobu had never utilized chakra to produce flames before, increasing the workload of trying to use these ninja techniques even farther.

Just as Nobu stood up, thinking this little more than a waste of time he saw the ninja in blue go into melee range as he dodged a spout of flames. Nobu wondered why they had positioned themselves in such an odd way until he witness the technique. With an incredible force the ninja in blue had launched his opponent into the air with a fierce kick to the chin, then disappeared in a flash. Appearing underneath the aerial foe, they had quickly begun to strike at the target. Each strike seemed to increase the velocity in which they fell, growing faster and faster until the end. Just as the ninja wearing tan had hit the ground the blue ninja struck him in the stomach with a powerful heel kick, knocking the target unconscious.

Nobu heads off towards his favortie rock, muttering quietly to himself, "More techniques that seem to work well when paired together, huh? Well, I guess I'll just have to learn them piece by piece. It seems to have started with that chin kick, so that's what I'll practice first."

Nobu arrives and immediately readies himself. He was unaccustomed to attacking in such a way from the ground, but he would repeat the motions over and over again. Without a target, he couldn't be sure that this was proper but he had little choice in this matter. Nobu continued to practice the chin kick, using it as a follow up attack to some of the other taijutsu techniques he had learned today. Working himself into exhaustion Nobu collapses to the ground, his breathing rapid and heavy. Sweat stung at his eyes as he gazes into the desert sky, his mind drifting to thoughts much more peaceful than combat and training. Lying there for several minutes, he then wipes the sweat from his brow and rises. "That should be enough for today. Don't want to overwork myself."

Nobu then heads back to the Akari family home, ready to relax for a while.

(PS: Not ready to exit thread and claim rewards as I need to find out if I can or not due to technicalities)