Archery and Bullets

Shaking with excitement, Sakaiza could not contain his happiness for what he had most recently stumbled upon. 

While searching through his mother's room, Sakaiza had one goal in mind. He knew that his parents had knowledge of wind release ninjutsus and genjutsus, however they never showed it to him. Because of this, Sakaiza wanted to learn of these techniques even more. "Oh man, where could they be..." Sakaiza said to himself while rummaging through the small closet in his mother's room. "She's got to have something hidden away somewhere in here" he continued thinking allowed while looking sifting through some containers at the bottom of the closet. He immediately shifted his attention to the top of the closet, grabbing yet another small crate and bringing it down to the floor. He removed the lid and once again began to search through the container. He found photographs, letters and old clothes. Nothing of use. "Dammit...I know I saw them writing in a scroll some time ago. I could have sworn I watched them put it in the closet. Maybe it's under the bed..." Sakaiza thought. He returned everything to its appropriate place and focused his attention searching under the bed. To his surprise, a scroll was the only thing sitting underneath the bed. "Oh man...oh man...oh man!" he exclaimed with extreme joy. He snagged the scroll and immediately darted from his house. 

"I can't let mom catch me with this scroll, if she does I can't imagine what she would say." He thought, sneakily scurrying away from his home peering out from every corner before making his turn to ensure he wouldn't run into his mother. "I've got to go somewhere far away when I read this, that way she'll never know that I read the scroll!" He said while stopping to think of a place to open the scroll. "I've got it! I'll go to the desert!" He said with a mischievous smile upon his face. He headed towards the entrance of Sunagakure no Sato to exit out and make his way towards the desert. On his way through the market, he saw his mother purchasing food. "Oh those are ingredients to make stew...I can't wait to eat that when I'm done with this scroll!" internally rejoicing. He knew after a long day of learning whatever technique was within the paper of this scroll, he would not be able to fathom the satisfaction he would get from taking a spoonful of his favorite dish and shoving it down his throat. 

Fast forwarding past Sakaiza's celebration dance, he continued on his path, making his way out of the village and on the way to the desert. Shaking with excitement, Sakaiza could not contain his happiness for what he had stumbled upon. So much so that he began sprinting full speed towards the desert, which would make his appear as a madman to anyone simply observing him. Not many people sprinted in the direction of the desert, but Sakaiza was now one of them. When he finally would arrived far enough from the village, Sakaiza sat upon the sandy floor and removed the scroll from the ninja pouch he put it in. He laid it upon the floor and unraveled it horizontally in front of him, from left to right. As he unraveled it, the first several feet of the scroll were blank. "No....No...It can't be!" he yelled in disbelief to himself. He began sweating, unraveling the scroll increasingly faster until finally..."Yes! Finally!" there were finally words. He continued to unravel the scroll until there were no more words printed upon the paper and the scroll was completely unrolled. Finally, Sakaiza began to read it. Sakaiza translated it roughly to the following: 

"Part I
Wind Release: Recurve Bow
Boar -> Ram
Through the concentration of chakra, the user is able to focus and compress the air around him or her to formulate a bow. This bow is one strictly of wind, meaning that wooden arrows are not able to be fired from it. See Part II of this scroll for ammunition."


"Hmmm a bow? That's unique. Sounds like it would be pretty useful in a mid to long range scenario. And all it requires is just two hand seals? Sounds like a piece of cake!" Sakaiza said aloud, probably loud enough for anyone within a 500ft radius to hear him. Sakaiza rose to his feet. He centered his body in front of the scroll, bent his knees and extended his hands towards the sky. As his hands rose to the sky, he inhaled slightly less than his maximum lung capacity could hold. Following this, he brought his hands down to their respective sides and lead them back towards the center of his chest, exhaling all of the air throughout the whole process. Thus, he began breathing steadily at a constant rate, closing his eyes and focusing on the chakra coursing through his veins. This was Sakaiza's accustomed technique to concentrating on his chakra flow before learning a technique, for he knew failure all too well and would like to limit failure as much as he could. 

His eyes then opened quickly, as he looked upon the scroll to remind himself of the handseals. He then began his first attempt at the technique. His hands took on the boar handseal first; his fingertips first faced the ground, then he curled them in so that they were tucked into a half first, thumbs still pointing towards the ground. Next, his hands were manipulated to shape the Ram. He rotated his wrists so that his fingertips were now facing the sky again, but bent his right ring and pinkie fingers along his left middle and index fingers while his left ring and pinkie fingers were tucked into his palm. His thumbs wrapped around the opposite hand, securing his hands together. Thus, his right hand was positioned above the left and he internally narrated, "Wind Release: Recurve Bow!" 

Now the new ninjutsu technique commended. Sakaiza felt the air around him become heavier and transporting itself in front of him. Sakaiza, in all of his excitement, did not hold his hands together long enough and thus broke his chakra focus at the last minute. As a result, the recurve bow still appeared, but just too small to be taken seriously. He grabbed the bow and looked at it, "Huh....this is it? This is like a toy!!" he stated with frustration. "Errrr, what the heck did I do wrong?" he began, "I focused my chakra, did the appropriate handseals and held it for ju-" pausing for he realized the error of his ways. "Dammit, I didn't hold the Ram long enough and I think my right hand was over my left. Awh man that's such a rookie mistake." Sakaiza was scolding himself, for he could not believe that he let himself make such a minor mistake in all of his excitement. "Well...I might as well try again."


Once again Sakaiza took the appropriate stance, conducted his breathing warm - up then centered his hands towards his chest. "Alright, I'll definitely get it this time!" He immediately began the technique, forcing his hands to once again take the correct boar position. His wrists were turned, forcing his palms to face each other and be pointed down with tucked in fingers. His hands then transitioned to the Ram, which was the exact same hand posture he had the last time but his left was over top of the right this time. Contrary to his last attempt, Sakaiza exclaimed allowed, "Wind Release: Recurve Bow!" Again, the air began to increase in pressure and direct itself towards the front of Sakaiza. This time however, the bow took on a more true form, as Sakaiza had focused his chakra down to the tee this time and held his handseals for the appropriate amount of time. Sakaiza grabbed the bow and to his delight, it was the appropriate size. 


"Awh man I did it! I really did!" Sakaiza called out while holding his newly made recurve bow with wind affinity. He tested out the bow, holding the frame with his left hand and his right testing out the drawback of the bow. "Well now I need some arrows to test this bad boy out!" Sakaiza said with a grin. He sat down once more and read the next portion of the scroll. He translated it to the following: 

"Part II
Wind Release: Wind Arrow
No hand seals required, just the focusing of the chakra around the user and harnessing it to shape wind into an arrow. This ninjutsu allows the user to create wind arrows able to fired from the Recurve Bow." 


"Focusing my chakra? I can do that!" Sakaiza said as soon as he finished reading the scroll. He concentrated chakra into his free right hand as he clinched the frame of the bow with the left and swipe at the air immediately adjacent to him in a descending, vertical manner. As his hand carried through the air, the chakra in his right palm developed into an arrow of wind, which at the end of his swipe was complete in form. Now holding a bow in one hand and an arrow in the other, Sakaiza wanted to put this jutsu to use. He aimed the bow in front of him and took a knee, next he lined the arrow in between the space of his fingers clutching the bow and aligned the rear of the arrow along the draw of it. He then pulled the draw back and aimed at a cactus, about 10 meters out. Once the tip of his arrow was aligned with the center of the cactus, Sakaiza released. The arrow soared through the air making a sharp whistle through the air until it pierced the cactus with extreme ferocity. Sakaiza's face lit up and he ran over to check out the damage. When he reached the cactus he looked at the depth that the arrow punctured the cactus and the puncture upon the cactus itself. "Whoa....that was crazy!" he thought while gripping his bow firmly. He removed the arrow from the cactus, turned around and walked calmly back to his little spot where he camped out. He released the ninjutsu and the bow and arrow disappeared. 

Tired from the use of his chakra, Sakaiza sat down next to the scroll to relax. He laid back and looked upon the sky. "Man...father would be proud if he could have seen what i just done." 

It was a windy, hot day, just like any other in Sunagakure no Sato. However, Sakaiza seemed to disregard it, he was already quite used to the Suna weather. However, it did not seem like his scroll was used to it as it was blowing away in the wind. Sakaiza noted the sound of paper rustling and immediately shot up, recognizing that it was his scroll. He turned his head and saw that it was carrying off some distance by the roaring wind. "Oh man I can't let it get away!" he shouted as he rose to his feet and began sprinting after the scroll. When he finally caught up to it, he picked it up from the floor and noted something in particular: the scroll was double sided. "Whaaat?! The scroll is double sided?" he exclaimed, half excited and half surprised. There were significantly less words on this side of the scroll however, only indicating one jutsu at the most. Sakaiza analyzed, it appeared to be written in a different style. There were different strokes to these words. More fierce, more masculine, then it came to him. "Oh, father probably wrote this" he silently said to himself. As he studied this face of the scroll carefully, he stumbled upon a small note upon the side of the main jutsu description. 

"Sakaiza...I know you're too much of a knucklehead to not root around your mother and I's things, so I know you're bound to find this one day. Be careful with this jutsu, it is quite the powerful one...Love you son." He read in his father's tone of voice, struggling to not allow tears out when reading the very last line. However, the note itself made him smile and laugh. "So...they knew that I was going to find this one day, I guess they wanted me to learn it. Very well, I will make them proud!" Sakaiza announced as he began to read the technique. It translated to the following: 

"Part III
Wind Release: Air Bullets 
Bird
The user formulates spheres the size of his or her palm, created from the manipulation and concentration of the air pressure around the user. After the bird handseal is made, maintain it and focus your chakra to shoot out these powerful air bullets at exceptional speeds. A maximum of four bullets can be expelled per use of this jutsu."

"Air bullets? Wow these sound extremely powerful. I bet I could take out some of the toughest enemies with a blast from one of these. And it only requires the bird handseal? Oh man, I got this one in the bag!" Sakaiza let out with a determined expression upon his face. His eyes glowed with fiery passion, knowing that he would would have been able to make his father proud through his learning of the techniques he's already learned thus far, but if his father could see his son utilize this air bullet technique, Sakaiza could only imagine the expression on his face. He secured the headband upon his head by pulling the loose ends. Next came the snugging of his gloves upon his hands, making sure they would not affect the completion of this technique. Finally, Sakaiza tightened his belt and then began to stretch his limbs. He wanted to make sure that his chakra would be able to flow through his body freely, with no restraint. He stretched his arms out to the sky then reached down to his toes. Next he separated his feet and reached towards each respective one. He continued his series of stretching making sure his arms, legs, torso, neck and body as a whole felt prepared for the strenuous technique that he would be attempting. 

"Alright, let's get started" he said. He was more than aware of the fact that on his first attempt he would likely fail, but that meant nothing to him. All he had to do was try and try and try until he could finally do the technique. He took a firm stance and centered his body above and in front of the scroll once again. He brought his hands up, inhaling then descended his hands and centered them in the middle of his chest. He controlled his breathing, slow and constant, focusing his thoughts and mind on nothing but the chakra flowing through his body. Now that his hands were in front of his chest, he would now recall the bird handseal. "Palms up, pinkies and pointers touching. All other fingers bent, left ring in between the right ring and middle fingers, while the left middle is in front of the right middle. Yeah that's right..." he coached himself. Sakaiza was only familiar with the formation of it but not the actually signing of it. However he would not falter, he would not make a mistake. Therefore, he led his fingers through the appropriate technique, creating a flawless bird handseal. He focused his chakra into his hands and internally called out, "Wind Release: Air Bullets!" 

As he did, he could feel his chakra inside his palms swelling. The air around him began circulating him quickly and shifting towards the open space created underneath his tucked fingers within the bird seal. The air pocket created began to harness air as it circulated rapidly, forming a small ball. It increased in diameter from .25 inches to .5 inches. It seemed as if it reached its maximum size, as no more air was taken into the concentrated ball. Sakaiza opened his eyes, realizing the power within the ball and then focused his chakra to send the ball hurling forward. The ball flew forward and launched at an incredible speed, however it was not in the exact, intended direction that Sakaiza meant for it go towards. As the air bullet hurled in a misdirection, it landed in a pit of sand, creating a small explosion and sending a vast amount of sand flying into the air. 

"Oh man, that bullet wasn't controlled at all. Now I have to do that all over again...." he thought to himself, and then he remembered, "but wait the scroll said I would be able to launch 4 air bullets per use of the technique, meaning I still have 3 chances left to make an impressionable air bullet. Chakra don't fail me now!" he continued to think. All this time Sakaiza never released the position he was in, but instead remained standing firmly after launching the first air bullet. However when the first was shot, he was sent back several inches due to his lack of preparation for the recoil from the blast. To react to this, he dug his feet in the ground and planted them even more firm than what they were for his first attempt. He focused his eyes directly upon the same cactus that he had struck with the wind arrow and locked in his target. Refocusing his chakra to his hands, the wind once again built up beneath his fingers, much quicker than it did previously. The sphere increased in size from the previous attempt's merely diameter of .5 inches to a full inch this time. Upon feeling no more wind develop underneath his fingers, he was ready to shoot his bullet. His eyes never moved from the target when he released the bullet, sending it soaring much faster than the previous one. This time, it followed its intended path of travel to the tee, intersecting right through the center of the cactus causing a 6 inch diameter hole to be made within it. Sakaiza could see cleanly through the hole on the cactus and smiled to himself.

"Yeah it's getting there. But the scroll still said that the bullet should be the size of my palm. That one was no more than an inch in diameter, I've got to concentrate harder!" he coached himself once more. "Two shots left, I've got to make these count!" 

He looked at a much larger cactus which was 3 meters further from the one Sakaiza recently attacked. His hands still together, Sakaiza did not slide back this time. He had prepared himself for the technique in its entirety, not even budging from the recoil. He focused his eyes just below the arms of the larger cactus. Now with his target pinpointed, Sakaiza had an idea. He smiled lightly and closed his eyes. When they would open, his eyes now called upon the Byakugan. With his advanced sight and sense of better chakra control, Sakaiza felt confident with this attempt. He looked at the cactus and once again began building the chakra in wind form underneath his hands. He could physically see all of the chakra building up underneath his palms and he knew that this try would be a successful one. The blast was much larger this time, with a diameter of more than 2.5 inches. He released the blast and it soared through the air, kicking up sand on both sides and piercing the cactus with a loud clamor. A cloud of dust kicked up as a result. When it would settle then fall, Sakaiza could see the top of the large cactus laying on the floor next to the now tilted base. He smiled for he had cut the cactus cleanly in two. 

Now having successfully done the technique, he wanted to try it on a moving target. Through the use of his Byakugan, he targeted a giant, twin tailed scorpion off in the distance, probably around 25 feet north of his current location. Focusing on that scorpion, he could tell it was moving at a brisk pace. More than likely, it was running, probably chasing its prey. Much more quickly this time, Sakaiza built up the chakra into his palms and summoned a sphere of air close to 3 inches in diameter within his palms. It was so large that the base of his hands had to be pushed out just in order to contain the size of the bullet. Eyes still fixated on the moving scorpion, he released the blast. The scorpion still running after its prey took the attack and flew back into a jagged rock directly behind it. Once the bullet carried the ant back into that rock, it literally exploded from being compressed into that rock. Limbs, tails and claws flew everywhere as Sakaiza unintentionally saved the life of some poor animal.

Rejoicing, he began to do quite a similar celebratory dance that he did when he initially found the scrolls. "Father...I hope you saw that!" he said to himself while continue to boogie on down. When he was finished, he rolled the scroll back up and stuffed it into his pouch. He immediately headed back to the village to get some of his mother's freshly made stew, for as much as he was focusing on these techniques, that stew was truly the driving factor for his training the entire day. 

When he finally would arrive home, his mother smugly asked, "So where have you been all day?" She had already known the answer to the question for she noticed that her scroll was missing. She was not upset, but simply happy. Happy because she and her deceased husband knew that one day their curious son would eventually find it and learn the techniques. Sakaiza said nothing but laughed. His mother laughed too, extending a bowl out to her son with a warm smile upon her face, "Here, eat!"

[Exit]

(WC: 3,661 = 18 Stat Points; Sakaiza has now learned Wind Release techniques Recurve Bow, Wind Arrow and Air Bullets)

Wind Release: Recurve Bow
Wind Release: Wind Arrow
Wind Release: Air Bullets