Learning the Basics

Mon Mar 06, 2017 2:10 am

Damon shot out of bed like a cannonball being fired. He was so excited to begin his first bout of training today, as he had never had a chance to before. Despite his age being higher than many, if not all, of his fellow academy students, he was not necessarily better than them, since he had had little to no practice as well. He had grown up traveling, always on the road and not being able to stop anywhere for too long. He had only recently been enrolled in the ninja academy of Hoshigakure, as he was new in town. His father had been getting too old to be able to travel comfortably anymore, so he had decided to open up a shop in the City Blessed by the Stars. It was apparently the most beautiful village in the entire shinobi would. Damon had visited almost all of the major villages in his travels as a youngster, however, Konoha was the one that he was least familiar with. It seemed as though his father had a certain disdain for the place, which the lad never understood. He had no need to swing his legs over the bedside, as he was already bright eyed and bushy tailed, filled with an enthusiasm that he did not know that he possessed. He hurried down the stairs of his home, into the bottom floor. He exited a doorway to find himself behind the counter of his father’s store. It was a rather thin building, only maybe thirty feet across, but it stretched pretty far back in comparison, about fifty feet. It housed three linked floors, the bottom being the shop level, the second being the two bedrooms and shared bathroom, and the third being a storage area of sorts. Whenever he asked his father about why the storage area was further from the store than the bedrooms, he simply shrugged and replied about how it helped keep the two in shape. Ever since he could remember, Damon had been helping out with odds and ends, and once he had developed some strength, he had been treated as a pack mule. He did not mind this at all, however.

A customer was busy inquiring about a particular set of tantos and had been discussing them with the lad’s father. Damon hollered out, clearly not caring whether or not he disrupted the customer, “Father, I’m headed towards the training grounds outside of the academy. I’ll be home later tonight!” With that, he darted outside the shop and down the streets, his hair being swept backwards by the wind. The city was quite bright and sunny, especially in comparison to others. The brilliant green of the trees scattered about helped provide a sense of calm to the place as he headed towards the beautiful water gardens. He looked in awe at the assumed majestic fountain that occupied the middle of a walkway, causing the pathway to diverge around it and outline it in a circular manner. The paths were made of a smooth almost white stone with the greenest of grass occupying the rest of the ground beneath his feet. The boy walked past this to a region more secluded, as he was not a fan of others watching him train. Not yet anyways. He felt as though he was too prone to failure and did not want others to observe his mistakes. If he was going to become a great shinobi someday, he could not tarnish his reputation as one before it even began.

“Come on… come on…” The academy student furiously signed Ram → Snake → Tiger as he spoke words of encouragement to himself. This was to be the very first technique that young Damon was to learn as a shinobi. Ram → Snake → Tiger. The simplest clone technique was not hard to pull off, provided that one knew how to distribute their chakra in the correct manner. Damon apparently was not very good at it. Letting loose a frustrated sigh, he gave up and resorted to another technique. His instructor had said that the surface walking technique allowed for the user to learn chakra control easier than many of the other academy jutsu that they were allowed to learn.

Damon selected a single sturdy looking oak tree and began running towards it. He jumped up, placing his foot against the trunk and channeling a small amount of chakra into it while also attempting to move his other foot, also emitting a small amount of chakra, above his other leg in order to walk up the tree. He then promptly fell on his ass, dazed, and looking up the length of the tree, as he had not supplied an adequate amount of chakra to the soles of his feet. He stood up and brushed himself off as he muttered to himself. “Stupid chakra control…” He went back into his running stance as he took off with them same level of enthusiasm as when he had woken up this morning. This is what he had always wanted was it not? A chance to study ninjutsu. He had heard of various tips and tricks from shinobi in his travels before, but he lacked the chakra potency to learn anything that they were saying. This time, as he leapt towards the tree, he channeled an absurd amount of chakra and did not even get a chance to lift his alternate leg as his chakra output chipped the wood beneath him, taking away any foothold that he had as he slightly shot backwards and fell once more onto the ground, breaking his fall with his arms. He stood up once more, without brushing himself off, with a look of determination on his face. He charged towards the tree, and instead of jumping, placed his foot on the base of the trunk as he placed his other foot forward, all while channeling chakra to his feet. He closed his eyes and kept moving his feet as he began to run. Once he had stopped, Damon opened his eyes hesitantly, only to see the world sideways. He looked down at his feet and saw the blue glow of chakra anchoring him to the tree itself. He jumped into the air with a fist raised, exclaiming “Yes!” before realizing that that caused him to fall from the tree once more. However, he wore a smile on his face from finally achieving that.

Newly inspired, Damon closed his eyes and signed the Ram → Snake → Tiger handseals as he channeled the same amount of chakra into what he pictured as a separate network as he used the same amount of chakra that had felt perfectly balanced, not too much as to where he had shattered the tree, nor too little where he had merely slipped off the surface. This time, a puff of smoke appeared next to him. He heard the sound of the poof, but when he opened his eyes, he was met with a poorly made version of himself. It turns out that not all techniques required the same amount of chakra to be used. He simply laughed at his own misfortune. Damon greeted the monstrosity with a chuckle and a simple, “Hey handsome.” He smiled and put his hands on his hips as he thought about his next step. Maybe there was not enough chakra input? Like if it had had more chakra, it could have maybe matched my look… The boy then decided to give his own theory a try and increase the amount of chakra that he was focusing on channeling. He then once again closed his eyes and signed the Ram → Snake → Tiger handseals and heard the now familiar sounding poof of smoke occur that accompanied the clone jutsu. He opened his eyes once more, this time accompanied by a gorgeous face with luminescent grey eyes. His own. Damon was not narcissistic by any means, however, so he himself did not believe that his clone was gorgeous. He then tried to punch it to test its density, but alas, his fist merely went through the clone, since it had no actual mass to it whatsoever. Seems like he could not use clones to train which would be insanely difficult for the boy, as he did not know anybody at his academy. He was used to being an adventurous and outgoing boy during his time spent traveling with his father, but when it came to a confined area, he found that he was rather reserved. This might stem from the fact that in the open world, one might act however they want since the other party has a good chance of never seeing them again. Meanwhile, in the City Blessed by the Stars, the people around him would be his neighbors and comrades. If they did not like something about him, word might spread, and people could eventually avoid him like the plague. He already felt out of place, as he did not practice the religious ways of the city’s inhabitants.

Now he decided that it would be time to hone the element that he believed that he possessed. Damon extended his right palm and held his wrist with his opposite hand. His faced turned into one of concentration as he channeled his elemental chakra towards his hand. The strapping young lad had little to no experience in this area, so as a result, he could barely maintain a single spark. In fact, the technique he was attempting to use did not even depend upon the elemental nature of the user’s chakra, it just focused on allowing them to potentially hone it someday. He was aware that it would only take a short amount of time, so he began to allow his chakra to seep through his arm and manifest in his hand as sparks began to fly and tiny arcs danced along his palm. Lightning coursed through his hand a little too much, forcefully knocking him backwards into some bushes. It was then that he heard some chatter, and peeked his head up from behind cover, only to see a few of his classmates. He stayed hidden before wondering if they might still be able to see him. In a panic, he remembered the transformation technique and signed the Dog → Boar → Ram handseal chain in order to transform himself into a simple rabbit. Remarkably, this worked on his first try as he found himself transformed into the animal of his choice. He hopped across their path in what felt ridiculous to him, but made sense for a rabbit to do, in order to test his own skills. They did not seem to notice him as their chatter died down and they seemed to walk away. He poofed back into his humanoid self once they had left, feeling proud of his achievement.

Damon then proceeded to run home with a smile on his face that was so bright that it could illuminate the entire village just like the stars in the night sky. He sprinted around the walkway that encompassed one of the fountains in the middle of the pathway, nearly running into a monk or two. He slowed down and turned towards them as he apologized, “Sorry!” and turned his head forward once more as he continued running. He was not fast, by any means, at least in comparison to higher skilled shinobi, but he headed home as best as he could. He burst through the front door, as he seemed to have a habit of accidentally, yet loudly, announcing his entrance into a room merely by the way that he acted. Still smiling, he stepped forward into the shop, turning his head and looking around in search of the familiar head of hair that designated his father from their customers. His father was with yet another customer, lucky for them that the shop managed to attract customers, but sadly this meant that the boy would not be able to tell the man of the adventures of today. He was still young and innocent, and as such, still felt like sharing his entire day with his father.

--Exit--

WC: 2027
Requesting: 10 stat points, Lightning Growth Technique, Clone Technique, Transformation, Surface Walking

Mon Mar 06, 2017 3:00 am

Approved of Stat gains and Clone Technique, Transformation and Surface Walking

Just a note that Lightning growth technique is a custom tech and as such one that Students and Genin cannot learn.

Learning the Basics

Learning the Basics

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