Rome's Night Training

After the burning pain subsided, Rome indeed felt the effect his night of training had taken. He was steadily growing more exhausted, and the time was far from helping. Although Kuro's comment on stamina did make Rome smile; there was no way all this late night training would not pay off in that aspect. Rome was going to have to take a break, but he did not intend on turning in quite yet. He was still going to watch Kuro, making sure he wouldn't pass out in the sand either. "Good luck finding water out-" Rome's sentence was abruptly cut off by the jutsu.

First, the handseals had been weaved in a small blur, leading to a mumbled comment about Rome's own inability to do such a thing. The apparent buildup in Kuro's chest, as well as the geyser to the sky, led to an inference that this jutsu was comparable to his own Fire Stream. This was proven to be incorrect. Rome's jaw was hanging, very slightly, in amazement, as the spout of water formed into a very snake-like shape and crashed a crater into the sand. In effect, Kuro had made a pool in a very showy manner. "Can't do that either." This was the first time Kuro had demonstrated his actual prowess at a jutsu, this one seeming to be a C-Rank or better and he just performed it without so much as a sweat. It seemed as though he really were a large, watery, bag of surprises. Especially given the next jutsu.

Rome had seen a number of jutsu performed for a variety of tasks, though this was his first exposure to anything of such magnitude. The large water serpent was very cool, but also relatively simple and practical. The attempt at the Water Beast was quite the remarkable attempt. Rome was captivated as, at the older Genin's whim, the still water slowly rose and morphed into a wolf. The amorphous mass slowly underwent it's morphogenesis into the animal, only increasing his amazement as it attempted to leave it's pool. The slumping and melting of it upon impact with the ground was disappointing but also quite the spectacle still. "Yeah, sharp water sounds unpleasant. So does hauling you somewhere if you pass out in the sand." Rome let a sort of concern, partially sarcastic but a little genuine, with his comment. "Although that certainly seemed it had power. The idea to not use your watery self in it seems as though it was a good idea."

Kuro chuckled a bit at Rome's comment about hauling him around if he passed out in the sand. "Ah you wouldn't have to worry about that, Sylveona would carry me around for you. She's big and strong."
"And don't forget beautiful."
Rising back to his feet, he would give himself a quick dust off and stretch his arms a bit to loosen up. This jutsu was nowhere near as simple as any of his other techniques. He didn't have anyone helping him by teaching him either, so he needed to do everything for himself. The Hozuki couldn't stop himself from grinning at the challenge he was presented with. "I would have hurt myself if I had been a part of it when it collapsed... But, if I can just get it to be stable, then I can assume direct control. Yeah... this should work. I just need more chakra so it won't immediately fall apart."

Kuro brought his hands back together once again and performed the same hand seals as before. He repeated the same steps as before, but began pouring a larger amount of chakra into the jutsu. The water began bulging and shifting once again, the large water wolf rising up from the pool and taking on it's form a bit faster than before. Once it's legs had formed once again, it tried to put it's paws into the sand again, this time managing to hold it's form. "All right, now's the time to make my move!"

Kuro sprinted towards the large water beast's chest then leaped at it as he got near, liquefying himself in midair before splashing into the water beast. He pulled himself into the jutsu and began the process of taming the water jutsu. His own body was spread throughout the jutsu as he assimilated the water into his direct control. The water beast would shudder and shake as Kuro began to feel the new body out. The beast's red eyes would dim a bit before turning a bight blue color, letting Kuro see through them as if they were his own. The shaking slowly stopped and calmed down as Kuro held the new body still for a few moments before looking to Rome and speaking, his voice coming from the water beast's mouth much deeper than normal. "Yeah, here we go! This is nice! I feel big and awesome!"

Rome stood I'm silent awe, nodding as he pulled out the shape of a second wolf. "Yes, more chakra. When you're literally taking a knee because chakra. Though, I'm also obviously just dumb." He started the sentence when Kuro made his comment about the amount of chakra he'd put into it. As the wolf stood on its own Rome finished, punctuating his statement with a wave at the wolf. After the jutsu had worked properly, Rome had nearly no time to appreciate it before Kuro leapt right in, liquefying midair. It made Rome shudder, thinking about how it must have felt. Let alone how it felt taking control of the wolf. He raised his hands and stepped back a couple times as the beast shuddered, like an odd imitation of himself. Honestly, he halfway expected it to explode with Kuro still in it. Before Rome could ask if he was alright, it calmed and turned to him to speak. "Whoo, frightening sound change. But uh, that's because you are big and awesome. Like, really awesome. High five worthy, but not so worthy I'd drown myself trying. To high five you, the big water wolf." He let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. The anticipation of spontaneous water wolf combustion had caused him to forget about exhaling. "Be careful still, I don't think she," he said, nodding to Sylveona, "can haul you anywhere if you're mixing with sand. But good show, sir."

Kuro chuckled a bit at Rome's response, looking over at Sylveona with a slight smile. "Ah, I'm sure she could figure something out. I trust her. But don't worry, I've got enough energy for a bit. Probably."
Kuro shrugged slightly before lifting up his right water paw, focusing on it as large claws grew from it. Wanting to give it a test, he slashed at the ground. Four large claw marks were left in the sand after his sweep, making him smile a bit. Once he had tested out his new claws, Kuro aimed his focus onto a single spot in front of him. Building up some chakra into his center before opening his mouth and blasting the ground with a powerful water jet, creating a large divet in the sand.

This proved to be a bit much for him to handle however as his wolf form began to shake and jiggle unstably. Sensing his jutsu's impending collapse, Kuro began pulling himself back together in the middle of the wolf, barely reforming his normal human body before the jutsu erupted, the water jet backfiring and causing the head of the wolf to burst, leaving the rest of the body to fall. A wave of water would splash out as the wolf collapsed, as if someone had dropped a massive water balloon that burst on the sand. Kuro landed on his face and stayed there until the water had spread out into the sand before getting back up to his feet with a grunt and a groan. "Oof. Yeah. Ooookay. I... I think I'm ready for bed. Between those two attempts, making a pool, all the medical jutsu and summoning Sylveona... I think I'm done doing anymore big jutsu for the night. My chakra is definitely low... I wonder if there are any bakeries still open in town. I could really go for a slice cake right about now."
"Honestly Kuro, you don't need to push yourself so hard just to impress a new friend. I'm already here for him to stare at in awe, and Rome is already happy to have been taught those medical techniques. Besides, once you've officially joined the village I'm sure they'll put you in a position where you can lead a team on your little missions. You already work to train everyone you meet, they might as well start rewarding you for it." 

"I'm not showing off! I'm training! It just happens that someone else is around to watch me. You're the hydra who lures people to you with your songs to hypnotize them into loving you."
"I only do that when I want something to eat. Besides, that's what you try to do with your little instrument, I just happen to be better at it."
Kuro laughed as he argued with Sylveona and walked back over to Rome, still dripping wet from his little mess up with his jutsu. "Ah she's just jealous that you were watching me. She craves attention. She did have a point about that team thing though. I am looking to become more than a Genin. Who knows, maybe I'll get to lead you and a few friends on a mission someday. Wouldn't be the craziest thing that's happened to me. That'd probably be when my teacher cut up my shirt when I tried to grab her breast."

Rome took a quick several steps back as the watery construct destabilized, getting out of any splash zone possible, with his hands in his jacket pockets. After letting the quickly formed look of concern he had slip away, he shook his head at the ground. Before, he was just absorbing the jutsu and what it could do. Very cool to control the thing, but also exhausting. Or so it seemed. Now, he just raised an eyebrow and his face to the comment about Kuro needing rest. "Told you." Listening to Sylveona's first comment, he nodded smiling. After that, he just watched their verbal sparring intently until it turned to him again. "I was thinking about doing a mission, probably get a team. Though I'm sure you'll have no problem progressing past Genin. What with your..." He mimed being a wolf, complete with silent howling. "Though, you decided to grope your teacher who was, presumably, a ninja and therefore trained weapon of death. You're on your way up, at least."

(sorry for the delay)

Kuro laughed a bit as Rome pointed out how bad of an idea trying to grope a trained ninja was. It was a rather ridiculous thing to do. "Haha, yeah it was a bad idea. But I was definitely punished. She made me think I was losing my mind. Also it was my only shirt since the village was destroyed. I had to walk around in the snow without anything to warm my upper body except for Vixie's fur. She was pretty harsh with punishment when she was in a bad mood. She was a great teacher though, and she had enough faith in me to put some burdens on me. Heh... I'm gonna miss her."

Kuro sighed a bit as he thought about Kira and her teachings. But he wasn't going to get down with memories right now, that could wait until he was getting ready for bed. "So Rome, what's your next move? It's getting pretty late. Are you gonna keep training or call tonight a success and head to bed? Don't worry about me if you're getting tired, I'm moving into the village so we can meet up here again some time if you want."

(It's fine, I've been a bit busy myself.)

Rome looked around at the sky, the sand, and his own hands. He had learned the jutsu he wanted as well the medical one. And he was exhausted, but not tired. Earlier in the night, he had no intention of leaving until the sun was up once more, but he was rethinking. It was probably wisest to head home and turn in for the night, though he really didn't want to it was the best course of action. "I think I'll be turning in, though I greatly appreciate your help. It was a pleasure meeting you, Kuro, Sylveona." He looked at Vixie and nodded in acknowledgement, wordlessly. She was just cool. "Good night as well, and I'm sure I will be seeing you again. See ya around." Rome gave a two fingered salute as a wave goodbye, and started off. He left the training ground pulling up his hood to protect his ears fro  the cold that would set in on them without exercise and fire. He could walk with some semblance of confidence in his ability now that he had more jutsu under his belt, and he may even have the patience to put up with his uncle. If left be, he'd simply return through his open window to his bed to sleep for the day.

Total WC: 2112+351+471=2934
Claiming Great Fireball, E Rank Medical, and 471 on Anesthetic. 14 stat points.

"Meeting you was certainly not unpleasant. In fact, I dare say I hope to see you again. Kuro, do be sure to summon me again when you next train with him. Next time, I'd like to show him my true power. Even if he can't resist it, it would be quite the learning experience."
With those last words, Sylveona would smile and vanish in a large cloud of smoke as she desummoned. Vixie would respond to Rome's goodbye by wagging her tail and nodding back at him, the fox sensing his appreciation of her and enjoying it. Kuro grined and gave Sylveona a thumbs up before she vanished, waving goodbye to Rome as he walked away. Once Rome had walked away, Kuro would yawn and stretch a bit before patting Vixie on the head and going his own way back into the main part of the village. "All right girl, let's see if we can find a nice little nook to curl up in until morning."

TWC- 6328
Claiming the last 400 needed to finish wood clone, 1k for Anesthetic, 4k for Water Beast, +11 stats for Kuro and +20 stats for Vixie.

Um... hm... Well, +11 stats puts Kuro at an even 300 total stats. I just... wanted to dump stat points into vixie because she's seriously lacking.