A frozen soul

In the heartlands of Kumo, no more then a days travel up a mountain sat two shinobi dressed in gear unbefitting the cold snow. Kei sat on a tree stump, shivering as he tried to rub warmth into his shoulders. His sister sat across from him, just giving the young genin a dissaproving look. He stuck his tongue out at her. Kei almost immediatly regretted that as his tongue almost froze solid, or at least felt like it almost did. Kara shook her head

Kara: "Look, you need to pay attention. This is our families legacy and our birth right. You've already tapped into your air nature yes?"

Kei gave a nod. "I am paying attention! Shivering is just a nature response, can't be helped."

Kara: "Do I look like I am shivering?"

Kei: "We both know cause you are dead on the inside and already cold hearted"

This 'friendly' banter had continued since the start of their day. The pair had left the village to head up to the mountains for training. What type of training, Kei had not been told. Only that he was to wear his normal gear despite the constant snow near the peaks. His sister, to her credit, actually wasn't shivering. Kei guessed she had done this training before. 

Kei: "Anyways yes, though I haven't really been able to form any jutsus out of it yet. I'm close though"

Kara: "Well that will have to do, I don't know when else I'll be able to teach you this next so lets begin."

The taller girl stood up, her striaght black hair falling down in a pony tail. Boys called her ice queen and it wasn't due to her icy blue eyes. Two years his elder, Kara was already on her way to the chuunin exams and already gaining some renown for her ice nature. Both the chakra nature and otherwise. She formed three quick hand signs, causing the near by snow to grow into a spiky field of ice around her. 

Kara: "Ice release is our kekkei genkai, unique to our clan only. It is the combination of both wind nature and water nature. This is why you unlocked your wind nature so early. Its in your blood to be drawn towards it. Our nature serves many purposes both defensive..."

A few quick hand signs and a wall of ice shot up in front of Kara. It was this soft blue color, but Kei could see through it. 

Kara: "And offensive..."

Three handsigns and the wall grew spikes that shot out of it. The ice flew across the snowy field and into a nearby tree. Kara dropped the wall of ice, sitting down as a little bit of sweat formed on her brow despite the cold. 

Kara: "It is a taxing nature to perform, but once we work on our stamina it should be more managable. First things first though,  we need to 'unlock' it within you. Its not really unlocking a nature like you did with wind though. See an advance nature isn't simply like one of the basic nature as it flows in your blood. No, its made by combining the two basic natures that you already hold. Thats why only we can do them, or well anyone who holds a kekkei genkai nature do that nature. Only their bodies know how to hold the natures together."

Kei had heard most of this before in his classes at the academy, but he listened anyways. It was enthralling to her something so specific about himself and his family. The young man even managed to get his teeth to stop rattling around in his head

Kara: "Even though our bodies know what to do, it still takes a lot of effort and time to learn how to do it. The first hard part is two hold your two natures seperatly at the same time, so we are going to be working on that first." 

Kei: "Wait, you haven't told me why you dragged me all the way to the top of this frozen mountain to practice this. We could easily do this in one of the training fields."

Kara: "Oh thats too toughen you up cause you are a bit of whiny kid so..."

Kara leaned out of the way of a snowball, smirking. Kei didn't know if he had just proven her point or not, but it made him feel better. Not warmer though. Kara stood up slowly, stretching as she did so. 

Kara: "Alright so lets get started. What you need to do is form a ball of water in your left hand. Think you can manage that?"

Kei ignored her jib as he stood up as well. He actually could manage that. It wasn't really a jutsu, more of a flow of chakra that he collected in his hands. He placed his hands together, closing his eyes as he reached into his core of chakra. A sharp crack sounded across his knuckles, smarting something fierce in the cold. He opened up his eyes in shock, shacking his hands. His sister shook her head at him

Kara: "No no, you can't use two hands to do this part. You need to channel it and only channel it into your one hand, got it?"

Kei: "Ya ya ya..." He said sullenly, still shaking his hand. He started again, though this time putting his left hand behind his back. He reached into his core of chakra again, letting it flow through him. This part always gave him a sort of high, a flood of energy like he had just tapped into a live socket. Picturing a river running in his head, he let the chakra flow outwards and into his hand. Slowly but surely a small ball of water formed as he pumped more and more chakra into it. 

Kara: "Good! Now stop pour more and more chakra into it, stem the flow so that its steady."

Kei: "Harder said then done sis..."  He said through gritted teeth, but he tried anyways. Most of the time he just pumped more chakra into a jutsus till it worked. He had gotten the tree climbing down though so he at least had a bit of practice with it. It took a few tries but Kei managed to stop the flow of chakra so the small ball of water didn't keep on growing. 

Kara: "Alright now... switch to your other arm. You are going to have to mold this chakra into wind though while maintaining the other one mmkay"

He took a deep breath, but thats about all the concentration he could spare at the moment. Now he stared at his left hand, trying to bring more chakra into it. It started to flow, but he was pulling too much from his right side. He tried to correct it, but over did it. The water bubble burst, leaving Kei shaking his head. 

Kei: "This feels impossible. How can I maintain two different flows at the same time? That's like juggling four balls in each hand."

Kara: "You are thinking to much about it. You need to relax and let your body do the work. See this is what I was talking about before, why other people can't do it. They have to think to mold the chakra like this. We don't after a point. We just let it flow. You are thinking about it right now cause this is new, but once you get the hang of it you wont think of it again. Do what comes naturally with it. It's in your blood."

Well... Kei couldn't argue with that. He began again, forming the ball of water in his left hand. Now for the right arm. He conciously shifted his focus too it, but unlike last time he didn't try to force the chakra to form in his hand. He simply let the chakra flow through his body, pooling naturally in his hand. It was so much easier have he just relaxed. This is what he needed to do, not fight for control but simply let it flow from him. Soon, an air current formed aroun his out streched hand. A grin slowly slid across his face. 

Kara: "Thats great Kei! Keep that up! Now this is the hard part. Bring your hands together but don't smother the chakras! Just let them naturally combine okay??" Kara was getting excited too

The shinobi nodded and brought his hands together. It was like bring too magnets of the same attraction together. Each fought to repell the other, resisting his efforts to bring them closer. A buzzing formed in his ears and he was sure there was a wild look on his face, but Kei didn't care. There was just something so right about this. About the two natures coming together. He remembered his sisters words though, letting himself relax. He shouldn't shove the two natures together, but allow them to flow and combine. Sure enough, the two began to slowly pull together. It was like watching a whirlpool form in mid air as the two natures mixed with one another. The spinning nature of the slowly began to freeze as ice formed at the center of the two. It spread outward, creeping towards the edge. The buzzing in his ear grew louder, but still he ignored it. Nothing would break him from his moment. This was his and nothing would take that away from him. Compressing his hands, he let the chakra coalesce into one complete nature. An ice crystal was hoverin in his hands. It was perfect in its shape, smooth on every side. The way the sunlight reflected off of it was like nothing he had seen before. He pressed his hands together then slammed them into the ground. Snow fluffed up by him then small ice spikes began to grow. It was sublime till something cracked him across the face. 

Kei fell into the snow, a red hand print across hsi face. He rubbed it slowly, waking up out of his ecstasy. Like a sledgehammer to the stomach, the chakra draws hit him. He rolled onto his side and began to heave what little lunch he had in there.

Kara: "You fool! You were using to much god damn chakra! Are you insane?? You were letting chakra just flow out of you. If you had kept that up...."

Kei held up a finger to stop the well deserved  ribbing. He looked at her, paler then the snow then threw up again in front of himself. He hadn't felt this bad since the time he tried his father rice wine. After another minute or two, he recoverd enough to sit up. 

Kei: "To be fair... to be fair, I had no idea that would happen. Why didn't you let me know that could happen?"

Kara: "Cause I had no Idea it could! You zoned the hell out? What the hell was going on?"

Kei looked off in the distance, staring at the falling snow. It was actually rather beautiful here at the top of the mountain. He looked back at her, giving his sister a shrug. 

Kei: "I don't know, but it was amazing. I... I don't even think i have the words to describe it."

He really didn't. All he could say that it felt so rigth to be doing what he was doing. He looked back down at his hands and gathered the chakra in them. The two natures came so easy he wondered why he had ever struggled with it in the first place. He pressed his hand together, letting the chakra mix once more. There was no rising ecstacy this time, but a small bit of ice formed in his hands. He let it fade away after a second. He stood up slowly, shaking off the snow. 

Kei: "Come on sis, lets head back into to the village. Thanks for all of your help for this."

Kara blinked. Playful banter and giving each other a hard time was one thing she was used too. A genuine thank you? Not so much. She shrugged and walked up to him, punching him in the shoulder.

Kara: "Just don't scare me like that okay? Come on. Last one back home has to clean the dishes!"

The two yuki took off running down the snow covered scalps, the village of kumo looming down below. Not a care in the world between the two, just another happy day for them. 

----------words: 2082
---------------Requesting: 
10 stat points at 200 per sta
Ice release as a bloodline chakra!

How many genins traveled up to the top of these frozen mountains Kei wondered. How may pairs of feet have made the trip across the snow capped tops and looked down upon the world. How many people could say they have made the trek to the top to see the village from a whole new angle. Kei honestly doubted that many had ever bothered really. Not that he could blame them for not wanting to, but they were missing out on something special. The young genin munched away on his balone sandwhich as snow fell around him. The cold was bothering him less and less as he adapted to it. Every day he spent up here the less he felt it. And everyday he spent up here, the stronger his chakra manifested itself. It had been little over a week since his sister helped him unlock his ice release kekkei genkai, but he was already forming ice with his chakra almost out of reflex at this point. It was actually quite the pain when it came to drinking tea or coffee. Chilled the heat right out of it. Kei idly glanced down at the scrolls before him. There was a small pile of jutsu scrolls laid out on a tree stump, given to him by both his sister and what he could scrounge off of his old academy instructor. Took him every last favor he had (and doing the dishes at home for the next week), but he got them! 

Kei picked up one with his free hand, still munching away on his sandwich. The scroll read "Suiton: Water Needles." The genin casually opened up to see what this water needle jutsu entailed. The scroll unfolded with a satifying sound. Something about the paper being slide across itself was music to his ears. The jutsu itself was actually pretty simple, or at least thats what the scroll implied. It was listed as a C rank jutsu, so a bit more powerful then any of the ones Kei knew so far. Still, he was a quick learner, he should be able to grasp one measly C rank jutsu no problem. Now what did the jutsu itself do? One would use a small amount of nearby water to harden a bit of water( not freeze it mind you) on ones arm then 'throw' it as a small scattering of needles. The needles, while not outright deadly in their own power, were quite effect at crippling enemies. This particular jutsu was good at that for the fact that it only needed a little bit of water and often could catch enemies by surprise. 

"Huh.. interesting" Kei muttered to himself as he continued to look over the jutsu. It went on to further explain that a poisoned water could be used, making this a very good skill to ambush an enemy with. Well, Kei didn't know about using posioned water, but this jutsu seemed like a good as place as any to start. Inhaling the last little bit of his sandwich, Kei jumped off of his tree stump chair and into the snow. He laid out the jutsu scroll in front of him, looking down at the hand sign and formation instructions. Only two hand signs, but the real trick was to connect your chakra to that of the near by water. Kei got down on one knee, making a quick hand sign pair as he let his chakra flow out of him. Slowly but surelly it grew as he connected to the snow laying on top of the ground. With the next hand sign, Kei unleshed his chakra! Which promptly sent up a great splash of water around him, forming a small ring around the genin. Kei blinked, not sure exactly what happened.

"I thought I did that right...." He murmured to himself as he reread the jutsu scroll. Well, he was going to give up on the first failed attempt. It was a C- rank jutsu after all. Not something that would just come to him naturally. Not like Kei had those expectations he could get it one go. No, no. He was much more humble then that.... Kei stood up again, looking around himself. He had enough water and room to try this again. 

He gathered chakra in the core of his stomach and let it flow outwards. This was his habit for releasing jutsus at this point. When tapping into his water nature all he needed to do was let it flow from him like well.... like water. Kei thought that was the key behind natures in chakra. The very chakra took on the essence of the nature it was copying. The chakra spread outwards to his finger tips, leaving behind a funny trail of heat in his arms. Two hand signs molded the chakra in the palm of his hand. Water began to rise again off of the ground, swirling around his body and too his hand. A pure blue shard of water began to form. It did indeed look like a needle, thin and sharp. Once it was a few inches long, Kei grabbed it and threw it like a kunai at a near by tree. The jutsu struck much deeper then he expected. Far deeper then a kunai would. He walked over to the tree, examining the hole. He ran one hand over the rough wooden bark. The hole was almost as deep as the needle itself had originally been. There was no trace of the water needle itself save for a couple droplets of water around the hole. Oh snap. Kei rubbed the back of his head and whistled. This thing was actually quite powerful!

Hurrying back over to his scroll, he slide across the snow on two knees to it. He planted his hands over it as he read it once more. Now this jutsu was suppose to allow him to form multiple needles, not just the one.  So he had to pump even more charka into it to get it. Not bad, he could do that. All he needed to do was to up the juice. Grinning widely, Kei stood back up looking around him. Still plenty of snow around. The young genin gather chakra again, raising the intensity of it. He closed his eyes with a hand sign in front of his head. He was just letting the chakra flow around him. If he had bothered to open up his eyes he might have seen that he was quite literally letting the chakra flow around him, carving a small path in the snow. First ram then bird. Water gathered in Kei's hand as he opened up his eyes. He pumped more chakra into then last time, like a damn opening up the levies. The needles began to form much quicker this time too, multiple forming in the span it took for the first one. These were longer too, closer to half a dozen inches or so. Nice. Kei grabbed them with his hand and threw them at the near by tree. There was a satifiying thud as they found their marks. 

Trotting over to the tree again, Kei examined the new holes. These were roughly the same as the last one, though a bit deeper. Looked like Kei had managed to get more umph behind them as well as making more of the. Still, it wasn't good enough. Well the impact may be good enough but the speed at which he made them wasn't. Kei crossed his arms as he thought about a real fight. If he had to sit there and gather chakra before even forming a jutsu, he would be a sitting duck. He needed to gather chakra faster and while mobile. No better time to practice that while moving around in the trees. Kei moved a bit deeper into the woods so he had some trees to practice on.

The young genin sat in the middle of a grove, letting his chakra rest as his mind wandered. He imagined a great battle roaring up around himself. The sound of ninja clashing resounded inside his head. He opened up his eyes to find the sight of jutsus being flung around him as two sides clashed in the snow covered grove. Kei stood up swiftly, kunai at the ready. A masked villian of old came at him. Kei mimed blocking a blow with his kunai before swiping at the shinobis feet with his legs. It was too easily dodged, focing Kei to back off with a hand spring. The enemy ninja gave him no time though, pressing him with a wicked black blade that glowed with unearthly fire. Kei rolled forwards, ducking underneath the swipe aimed at his head. The imaginary opponent followed after him, switching stances. A series of low jabs were fended off by Kei's kunai, but each blow forced him to give ground. A quick check with the hilt of his blade by the enemy shinobi clocked Kei right in jaw line. It would have been followed up with a finishing sword swipe, but Kei kicked up snow right into his adversaries eyes. 

The young genin began to gather chakra in his core as he moved around the battlefield. No opponent would sit there and let him form hand signs at his own pace. No, he needed to create his own openings in the target. And that wouldn't happen by staying on the defensive! Kei fient to the enemies right with a kunai jab, but pulled it short. The quick manuever forced the shinobi to overextend his weight by a fraction, allowing Kei to get a spinning kick into the shinobis chest. The older man staggered backwards in the snow while Kei landed lightly on his feet. Chara was burning its way out from his core, filling him with a fire like never before. Kei dropped to one knee as he formed the hand signs. Five needles formed on the under side of his wrists. Now he needed a chance to use them. The would be foe charged forward, dashing side to side to make a hard target. 

Kei blocked an over head blow though only barely. It was hard to maintain his concentration on his jutsu while someone was trying to beat him over the head. Kei had to give ground again, but this time he backed up into a tree. With his back against a literal wall, Kei had almost no where to go. Almost. The stab came lunging forward, but Kei was no longer there. He did an almost back flipp so his feet landed on the base of the tree. His chakra kept him in place now above his enemy. Kei grinned as he threw his needles downwards for a finishing blow. 

The water needles carved five little holes in the snow as they buried their way to the ground. Kei dropped down from the tree, breathing a little hard as he looked around his would be battle ground. The signs of his foot paths dotted the landscape. It looked like a rabbit was running around on something, hoping to and fro. Kei grinned as he rubbed the back of his head. Sometimes he just let his imagination go wild like that, but it was the best practice. He was just glad no one was around to see that. 

Well, almost.

A small laughter began to ring out from his resting spot. Out from the line of trees stepped hayel. He blond hair was visible against the soft white snow across the ground. Kei felt his face burning and he doubted it was from a flow of chakra.

Hayel: "Now.... what, was that?!?""

Kei: "I.... uhhh... I have no words to explain myself, but I don't have too! What are you doing here??"

Kei marched across the frozen ground to his classmate. She smirked at him, crossing her arms like she was want to do. Seriously that pose irked him like nothing else. 

Hayel: "You're sis told me you were training up on the mountains. SO I came to track you down. Can't have you getting ahead of myself. Though I wondered why you were training up here all alone, but I can see why."

Kei: "Damn you kara.... well you found me. And for your information that was practice a jutsu in a combat scenerio."

Hayel: "Uh huh... that did look like a new jutsu there at the end. What was that?"

Kei grinned at her, taking on the super man pose as he thrust out his chest.: "It was a C-rank jutsu called Suiton: Water needles. Might be too advance for you..."

She squinted at him: "Now where the hell did you learn a C-rank jutsu from??"

Kei shrugged and motioned for her to follow him. "I got it from a jutsu scroll my sister had. I have a few others from her and our former academy teacher. Some good ones in there."

Hayel: "Any lightning element ones?"

Kei shook his head no :"Sorry I just grabbed the ones for my nature like water and wind. You could go ask for a few lightning ones when we get back down the mountain."

Hayel: "Oh when we get back down the mountain? Its we now?"

Kei: "Hey you climbed all this way to come bother me so now you have to help me train. We are moving on to the next jutsu."

Hayel: "And what jutsu is that?"

Kei paused, not quite sure. He had pretty much grabbed the first one he saw and decided that it looked good enough to try. "You know, I am not sure. I haven't even read all of them yet. This one caught my eye so I figured I could give it a shot. Help me pick out the next one."

The two genins sat down on their little tree stumps in the snow. No snow was falling at the moment and the sun was high in the sky. Kei had been up here since the morning, but it was almost noon at this point. The fog that hung around early was cleared away to reveal a crisp bright sky. There was a sharp wind, but it was worth it for the freshness of the air. The two milled around the pile of jutsu scrolls. One was labeled hidden mist jutsu. Kei read over it, but it was only a D-rank jutsu. It looked useful, but he could learn that on his own time. No what he needed right now was a big jutsu. Something to impress Hayel. He caught himself at that thought. Why the hell did he want to impress Hayel? Sure she was his friend and he was glad she was here, but he didn't need to impress her... did he? He looked up from his scroll at the girl across from him. Her grey eyes were darting across a scroll, one piece of blond hair tucked behind an ear. Kei blinked, bring his attention back to the scroll at hand. While the hidden mist jutsu could be used for cover, something always useful in a mission, it was not the  hardest to learn it seemed. 

Hayel spoke up first, breaking the silence that had grown between them. She held out a jutsu scroll for Kei. "Here, what about this one? It looks like its really something." Kei grabbed the scroll from here, looking it over himself. Now this jutsu was something indeed. It was called 'Suiton: Suidanha' and man... did it look powerful This was an A-rank jutsu. Kei wasn't even sure where the hell this scroll came from. It was a lot stronger then the C-rank jutsus he had thought he had been given. He looked down at the seal on the front of it. This was one from his teacher. Why the hell did his teacher give him an A-rank jutsu scroll.

Kei: "Look, I admire your confidence in me Hayel, but did you read the scroll? Its an A-rank jutsu. That might be a bit above what I'm ready for, don't you think." 

Hayel just gave a nonchalant shrug: "Eh, its not a forbidden one from what I can tell. It just requires a lot of power to perform it in the first place."

Kei: "Power I don't actually have, you know that right?"

Hayel shook her head, refutting his claim: "Actually, I think you might. Kei I don't think you know this, but you have actually incredibly potent chakra. I may be getting the hang of sensing peoples chakra, but yours screams out to me all the way up this mountain. My father is a chuunin remember? But I don't feel the raw energy of his chakra like I do for yours. I actually think you could do this no problem."

Kei was taken back by her words. His chakra was... potent? That was news to him. He thought back to his training with his sister thouhg. He had merged his two natures to form an ice chakra flow. After wards he had begun to form actual ice spike without hand jutsu hand signs. He had nearly killed himself doing it, but it was actually just from his chakra. He looked back down at the A-rank jutsu scroll. Maybe he could do this. But what, exactly, was this? Suidanha was a jutsu a high pressure water stream formed from his stomach. But it packed enough power behind it to cut through actual trees. Several of them from the descriptions given by the jutsu. It actually listed the second hokage as a user of this jutsu. Now Kei may be from Kumo, but even he had heard of the legendary water release user that was the second hokage. The man was legendary for his jutsu's strength and precision. If this jutsu was used by him well... Kei whitled, looking up at Hayel. Maybe he could do it.

Kei: "Alright, we can give it a shot. Hopefully I have enough chakra to even mold this jutsu."

The young man stood up and made his way in the grove, setting the scroll down in the snow in front of himself. It only listed one hand sign for it, but that was only to get it into the basic mold. The real struggle for the jutsu came from trying to nead it in his stomach. That was a bit of control he had actually never tried before. Kneeling in the ground like a monk in pray, Kei let his chakra flow throuhg him once more. He wasn't going for quick this time though, just gathering it. The scroll stated that one needed to gather lots of chakra then 'compress' it into a fine point within ones stomach for the power to be mainfested. The jutsus strength didn't come from the amount of chakra (though there was a lot), but its compressed nature into a fine point. He would have to harness the chakra down to as little water as possible to make it work. 

It was suprisingly difficult to move the chakra into his stomach. He had thought it would actually be rather easy since thats where he thought his chakra gathered anyways. Turns out that was just a feeling rather then what was really going on. To force inside his stomach, kneeding into the water was... an unusal feeling. He felt like he was actually a little bloated, with to much pressure in his stomach. He grimaced and tightened his core. He was feeding more and more chakra into the water, but it was refusing to compress. He couldn't get it to collapse in on itself. A cramp formed in his side, a stich. He winced, sucking in breath through his teeth as he tried to over come it. Too little to late though as he had to drop the chakra flow. He leaned over and threw up a little bit of water out onto the snow. Hayel came jogging over

Hayel: "What was that about?"

Kei: "I got a stich.... I can't seem to kneed the chakra into the water easily. Like I can get the chakra into my stomach, but I can't get it to compress."

HAyel sat down in the snow, plopping down with a small poof of snow. She looked over the jutsu scroll, frowning as she examined it for any detail they might have missed. 

Hayel: "You know, it doesn't say how to do that. Well, thats crap! Why wouldn't it explain how to do that part?"

Kei: "Maybe thats cause they expected whoever is attempting this jutsu can already do that part? Maybe thats the easy part they expect you to do..."

Hayel shook her head, still frowning. "No see then this jutsu would be even easier then expected. The rest of it is just focusing it when focing it out of your mouth. It seems that kneeding it is actually the hard part from what I'm reading."

That actually made sense. Once it was compressed inside one's stomach, it was relativly simple to release it afterwards it seemed. So he needed to get over this hump then it would be smooth sailing from here. At least... one would think so. 

Kei: "Well, do you have any ideas to help compress the chakra?"

The young woman rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "You know.... maybe its a muscle thing with your stomach? Can you clench your stomach while doing it?"

Kei: "You thinking clenching my stomach muscles will force the chakra to compress..." The skepatism was obvious in his tone, but then again he did ask for advice

Hayel gave him her trademark indignat look: "Hey! You asked! And I think its more then your stomach just flexing. I think it can act as a focus for you dummy. By trying to clench your stomach, you will give your head a place to focus on."

Again, she made sense. Kei had no words to argue with her so he gave her a nod "Well, thats about as good of a plan as I can think of so lets give it a shot. Mind backing up again? Hate to accidently shoot you through a wall." He had a crooked grin on his face as she rolled her eyes. But Hayel got up and left him him, heading back over to the tree stumps to watch. Kei actually wanted her over there so if he threw up he wouldn't get any on her. 

Kei closed his eyes, picturing his chakra flowing through him like water in a river. He felt it move beneath his skin, churing with power. Letting out a deep breath, Kei began to gather the chakra into his stomach. It swirled around his body, giving him that warm sensation as it gathered. It seeped into the water in his stomach, slowly bloating up again. But unlike last time, Kei clenched his stomach muscles down. The chakra refused to bend though, still remaining only mixed instead of compressed. Not good enough. Kei clenched his teeth as he strove to tighten his stomach. He willed to the chakra into smaller and smaller space. Slowly, begrudeningly, the chakra began to obey his will. It was like holding to magents of the same attraction together, but inside his stomach. It struck him as oddly familiar to when he first used his ice nature. 

He stood up slowly, a little woobly on his feet as forced the chakra to even smaller sized. Actual chakra strands began to form outside his body, dancing over his skin as he pushed his chakra to its limit. His eyes opened up, almost glowing an icy blue as he felt his moment arrive. The genin forced out the chakra through his mouth towards the edge of the grove. A line of high powered water shot from his mouth, parting the snow in two great waves. The jutsu slammed into a tree on the other side, cutting clean through it. Kei stood there, panting. His legs were wobbly and he had never felt quite this weak before. But man what a shot

Kei: "Huh... neat"

Kei collapsed in snow, no longer able to hold himself upright. Foot steps stomped there way over to him. He couldn't even turn to face Hayel, but he had the stupidest grin on his face. She turned him over so he was on his back, a concerned look upon her face. 

Kei: "Hey hayel.... I did it... Heh"

Her concerned face dropped for one of exasperation. She rolled her eyes at him and nodded her head. : "Yea you did... and yea it was something alright."

Kei: "Damn striaght."

Hayel: "Now sush. I'm going to drag your ass back over to the grove so we can rest for a bit mmkay?"

Kei: "Hey, I can walk! Watch! Oh wait, no I can't. Oops. Looks like I used up too much chakra for that shot" Kei had attempted to force himself up with one hand, but collapsed back into the soft snow. Hayel just rolled her eyes even harder as she grabbed him by his shoulers. The shinobi was actually quite strong for her size. She propped him up against his tree stump. 

Hayel: "Okay, now you rest up. We are heading back down in the village when you can walk okay?"

Kei: "But I'm not done training for the day."

Hayel: "Yes you are"

Kei: "No I'm not."

Hayel: "Yes you are or I'm going to hit you so hard you wont walk up till we are at the bottom of the mountain."

Kei: "Fineeeeeeeeeeeeeee......." But gave her that stupid grin again before passing out a bit. Hayel just sighed and threw a jacket on him. A few hours later Kei was up and able to stand. Hayel was there, still reading over the jutsu scrolls. Together they packed up what Kei had brough and headed down back to the village. Then sun had never seemed so nice to Kei. 


----------words: 4,325
----------------Requesting:
Stats: 21 at 200 per word
Jutsu: Water Needle jutsu, 2325 words towards Suidanha

A bitter wind blew over the mountain tops, bringing the winters chill with it. It carried itself down through the valleys and up to the highest peaks. It found it way thought the snow covered hills and across the frozen lakes till it blew across a snow drapped grove. An empty ring of trees stood watch over a silent battleground of one, though it was still for the moment. The sun broke through the clouds, casting its rays down upon the prestine forest. Kei welcomed the warmth as the rays struck his face.

The young genin rose off of his stump, dusting himself off as he did so. The snow crunched lightly under his feet, a delightful crackle hidden beneath the wind. He breathed hard into his hands, rubbing them together to work the warmth into them. Hard to work jutsus with frozen hands. Kei may be more resistant to the cold then most, but he still need a little bit of blood flowing. Alright, now... what to do? He had to kill some time till Hayel got here. He scratched at his chin. Maybe he could take a crack at hunting. Now that would be a good idea. Kei grinned as he hopped up into a near by tree. 

The shinobi sprang from branch to branch as he dashed through the forest like a winter ghost. Not a lot of things were actually out to hunt right now with the snow driving everything underground. What he needed to find was a river. Animals of all sorts were attracted to the running rivers, even in winter. A few clicks down the mountain a river sprang out of the mountains face. It was still flowing by the time Kei got there. He rested ontop of a branch, looking down at the ground below him. From his perch it was hard to tell if there were any tracks, but Kei didn't want to climb down just yet. Not as fun if he had to touch the ground. He bounced to the next tree and the one after that, searching for signs. 

To his surprise, Kei found more then just tracks. He found a pair of deer sipping from the river stream. He crouched above them, watching them. A kunai found its way into his hands as he prepared for lunch. Suddenly, one reared its head up then took off running. The second took off with it. Kei cursed to himself. He must have been downwind of them or something. He lept from branch to branch, chasing after them. The two deer raced through the underbrush, leaping over fallen branches and rocks with a grace only known to animals on the run. The young genin shadowed them from above, sending small bits of snow falling to the ground with every leap. The cold winter wind blew against his face, biting into his skin. That struck a cord in his head, almost causing kei to miss his grip onto the next tree. He swung himself up, pausing for a second. If the wind was blowing in his face, then there was no way the deer could have smelt him like he had thought. If he didn't spook them, then what did?

A wave of shadow answered that question for Kei. Underneath his trees there was a blur of motion as something raced out to chase after the deer. Faster then Kei would have said was possible, something large and black grabbed a deer by the back of its neck. He crouched on his branch, staring at it. Not grabbed, more like bit now that he had a better look at it. Two piercing yellow eyes stared at him in his hidding spot. Kei froze. That thing was by far the largest wolf he had ever seen and it knew he was here. Had it been stalking Kei? Or was Kei just on the way to the deer? It held his eyes for what felt like the longest time before it trotted off, deer still in its mouth. 

Close to an hour later, Kei returned to his grove. Hayel was waiting for him there, sitting on the stump of a tree with her grey eyes giving him a dissapproving glar. 

Hayel: "Youre late!"

Kei: "Not true, I've been here since before dawn broke. I just got bored waiting for you and wandered off for a bit. You won't believe this, but I swear I just ran into the largest wolf I have ever seen. It has to have been at least.... this big! I was tracking these two deer down by the river right when they suddenly bolt. I chase after them, trying to see if I could keep up (which I could fyi). Then bam! This thing sprints out from underneath the trees in all black. I thought it was a mountain spirit at first. Might still have been one you know?" Kei made the hand motions to show a large creature, but Hayel only rolled her eyes in response. The young girl crossed her arms at him

Hayel: "Uhhhh huh, surrrrrrrrre. If you say so. Really though, I think you just took so long to show up cause you were scared of my new jutsu."

Now it was Kei's turn to roll his eyes. Hayel had been bragging about learning a new jutsu all week. And now she was trying to pick a fight with him. Kei could see where this was going. He put one hand on his hips and held out another at her, shaking his head.

Kei: "Look, Hays, just cause you haven't gotten a jutsu down doesn't mean I'm not about to take it easy on you in a fight..."

Hayel: "Ohhhh them be fighting words right there. Care to back that up oh mighty hunter? Or should I say mighty runner? Full duel okay? Lets break out the jutsus and kunais. I'll try not to mess up that face of yours too bad. Hate to make your mother cry ya know."

Kei grinned as he drew out a kunai. Hayel mirrored his actions by drawing her own. The two circled each other, feet stepping lightly in the snow. Ususally they wait till one broke the others concentration, but Kei felt like changing  it up today. Instead he kicked up snow was he spirinted to one side. A series of shuriken cut through the snow, sailing right where he would have been. Hayel was wasting no time today it seems. Grabbing snow off the ground as he closed the gap between the them, Kei tucked into a ball and rolled forward at the last second. Hayels swipe missed him with that premptive dodge. He threw snow at her face then low kicked to sweep out her legs. The distraction worked, sending her to the ground. Hayel recovered quickly though, rolling on her side away from Kei as his follow up kick smashed into the snow. 

The two sprung back up onto their feet, Kei forming hand signs this time. Hayel, realzing what he was about to do, charged forward while forming her own. Two clones popped out, making three hayels. Kei let his eyes dance between the three of them, water forming in his hand. The first hayel lept at him, only to be met with a water needle through the chest. A poof of smoke told him that was the wrong one. The other two flanked him, coming at him from both sides. He lept upwards though as they lunged at him with their kunais. Kei waved his arm forward, unleshing the hail of needles he had collected. The real Hayel raised her kunai to block a few of them, but one or two grazed her leaving a small cut behind. Kei landed a few meters away, skidding to a halt. 

Hayel: "Fine, you wanna play like that? Lets play like that."

The girl unleshed a series of hand signs Kei didn't regonize. Lightning formed up Hayels arms and she brought both hands down on to the ground. A wave of lightning danced across the snow towards Kei. Thinking quickly,  Kei threw his kunai into the ground a bit in front of him. It acted like a lightning rod of sorts, drawing away the worst of it. Not enough though as the jutsu connected into him. Lightning jarred his legs, cuasing them to collapsed under him. He fell to his knees has Hayel ran forward. He put up two arms to block, but Hayel fully decked him with a punch to the jaw. It sent him skidding across the snow a bit. He rolled to his knees, trying to stand. No luck though as he felt like his leg muscles were all cramped up. 

Well if she wanted to break out the big jutsus, fine by him. Kei formed another quick hand sign. Hayel regonized this one though, halting her advance as surprise ran across her face. Kei gathered chakra in his belly, kneeding into the water. Taking a deep breath, Kei unleched the jutsu at her! Only for a weak stream to come out instead. The two genins looked at that pitiful amount of water. 

Kei: "Look, I swear this never happens..."

Hayel: "Uh huh."

Well there went his pride. Hayel charged at him again, but Kei had his legs back now. He rose up to meet her blow, blocking with his kunai. The two clashed in a rapid series of blows, blade meeting blade. The metallic tings rang out in their little arena. Both were evenly matched and knew the others moves by this point. Every kick was traded with a punch, every kick checked. Kei felt his body waning as he needed to do something. Getting a lucky blow at Hayel's stomach, Kei backed off as she caught her breath. Once more he made a single hand sign as he gathered the chakra in his core. He let it flow through him, like a river heading down stream. It pooled inside his stomach as he compressed it as tightly as possible. Hayel looked up at him, eyes wide as she saw what he was doing. She held up her arms to block, but that would have been useless. Kei reared his head back then spat out a stream of water far more powerful then from before. A good two meters to the right of hayel, the thin stream of water cut down a row of trees surrounding the grove. Oh snap... if Kei had aimed that at Hayel, that would not have gone well. The two genin stared at the row of fallen trees surprise on both their faces. He pointed an angry finger at Kei, her brows knitting together in a fury.

Hayel: "You were going to use that on me?? Are you insane??"

Kei held up his hands, trying to fend off the verbal assualt. "Whoa whoa, this was  full duel! We were already using jutsus on each other, I didn't see the problem with making it one more. Not that I knew this one would be so god damn powerful..."

Which was fair enough. Last time Kei did this right, it did part up a lot of snow. Like split the red sea sort of parting the snow, but it didn't take out multiple trees with a single swipe. Trees on the opposite end of the grove from him.... Kei rubbed the back of his head. This jutsu was a lot more powerful then his water needles jutsu. He would really need to be careful with it. He was getting better though. No feeling of getting close to passing out from over use of chakra this time. Kei looked at hayel, both of them breathing hard from the breif spar. 

Kei: "Lets take a break on that one okay."

Hayel: "Yea... lets grab some food."

Food sounded good. The pair headed over to the new row of stumps, but only really to the one they always used. Hayel pulled out two rice balls, tossing one to Kei. He sat down in the snow, back against the tree stump as he munched down on it. 

Hayel: "So what did you think of my lightning jutsu? Pretty neat eh?"

Kei: "I wasn't expecting my legs to cramp up like that afterwards. What was with that?"

Hayel: "Body runs on electricty signals right? Well, lightning jutsus can mess with that a bit. Actually pretty easy to get a muscle to tighten like that."

Kei: "huh..." Was all he had to say to that. He would have to remember that. He reached into the back pack, digging around for a random scroll. Just something to read while they recovered. He pulled out a scroll he had seen before. Hidden mist jutsu. Kei unfurled it with one hand, his curiosity peaked. A D-rank jutsu meant to conceal ones where abouts. Depending on ones strength, one could make the jutsu thick enough so that enemies could not see the person right next to them. Now what was this jutsu used for? Kei scrolled down further on it. The jutsu scroll stated that it was mainly used for stealth in wet areas, or anywhere if one was strong enough. One could use this as a cover to cross choke points. It stated that in the hidden mist village, this jutsu was used inconjunction with a style of killing known as silent killing. Entire enemy squads could be picked apart by one using steath properly. 

Kei: "Hey Hayel, check out this jutsu. It seems pretty good. Think I should practice it?"

Hayel: "Hmm?" The young girl grabbed the jutsu offered to her and began to read over it. Her eyes raced across the scroll then gave a shrug. 

Hayel: "Seems like a pretty useful jutsu. Making cover has a thousand different uses on a mission. Doesn't seem to complicated either. Plus, it says its good against dojutsu."

Kei: "Dojutsu?"

Hayel: "Oh you know, those eye jutsus that do weird things. Like the uchihas. If they can't see you then there stuff probably doesn't work right? Least thats what it says here."

Kei took the scroll back, reading over it again. He didn't really care about the whole dojutsu thing, but least it was something. Now to form the jutsu he needed to spread out his chakra into water droplets to form a mist. The tricky part would to spread his chakra over a wide enough area since he had plenty of practice of inbueing water with chakra by now. Least he didn't need to compress it this time. Actually, he needed to the exact opposite. 

The young genin made his way into the middle of the grove. Setting the scroll down at he feet, he looked over the hand signs. Or well, hand sign. This only required one hand sign to make it work. Chakra flowed through his body once more, this time close to the surface. He closed his eyes as he willed out to the water in the snow near by. It was like standing in the middle of an desert while being a source of water. He could feel his chakra seeping into the snow around him. Opening his eyes, Kei unleshed his chakra in a wave. The mist slowly began to rise up around him, spreading outwards. It wasn't very thick at first, but slowly it began to get harder and harder to see further. Kei pumped more chakra into it, getting a feel for it. Now to move in it. Kei began walking forward, trying to feel if he needed to maintain the jutsu. To his surprise, he actually didn't. It was there, almost completly solid by this point. 

Hayel: "Heyyyyy Kei! You spread it out too much, I can't see anything here."

Kei: "Isn't that the point?" He called back. He was about to release the jutsu went he felt something walking behind him. He whirled around, Kunai leaping into his hands. A large black figure moved through the fog with ease. It circled around Kei, a pair of yellow eyes gleaming out despite the fog. Kei glupped as he felt a shiver of fear once more run down his back. He wanted to bolt, to just run like animal till he made it somewhere safe. That felt wrong though. It was like his body was fighting over weather to fight or fly. He mastered himself though and dug his feet into the ground, kunai raised up in defiance. Running was a mistake. He would fight this thing right here and now if he had too. The wolf seemed to cock its head to one side, staring at Kei. The moment dragged on for what felt like forever till something snapped. The wolf trotted off, leaving jutsu Kei who promptly fell to his knees with a sudden weakness. He released the mist jutsu with a grimace.

Hayel sprinted over to him after spotting him on his knees. "Ah crap man, you need to not over do it on the chakra use. You always use to much."

Kei just shook his head and pointed at the footprints in the snow. There were large paw marks leading from a mear few feet from him to the grove line. Had it been watching him this whole time?Hayel placed her hand in one of the divets. Her hand was dwarfed by the size of the paw print. 

Kei: "You know what? I think I'm just going to call it a day. What do you say?"

Hayel: "You know what, that sounds like a good idea."

--------Words: 2,927
----------Requesting
Jutsus: Suidanha and Hidden mist jutsu
Stats: 14