Team Senshi assembles (P, Team Senshi, NK)

She stood a couple of meters away from Max, rigid and wide-eyed. There it was again - her flaw. It had been there ever since she had been training with her mother, and while the older woman hadn’t pointed it out initially, Saya had gone through several instances that could have severely injured her. However, as the months had gone by and the girl had yet to even discover it, Rika (Saya’s mom) took it upon herself to bring it to the light.

Tunnel vision.

So many times did the girl allow herself to sink into that predatory mindset. That high level of concentration, which would have been an immense asset if she was able to control it, did nothing but put her in danger. Saya could feel the tremble in her hands as Max apologized to her for Napa’s unexpected attack. The edge of her lips quirked up, plastering a smile that were usually meant for patients at the hospital. ”What? Don’t worry about it, Max.”

She didn’t want her friend to feel remotely responsible for own shortcomings.

The touch of disappoint was a mild nuisance most of the time, but in other occasions they were like four-pronged forks stabbing at her chest. Saya opened and closed her fists, forcing herself to get it together. It had just been a test run of their skills. It didn’t quite mean anything. She tried to give herself a pep talk, but the fact of the matter was that she still hadn’t learned, still hadn’t scaled the wall that had risen before her.

The young genin could hear the clang! of two kunai resonating betwixt her ears. That had been her only warning that there was something else - another battle - happening around her. Renji’s own skirmish had slowly surfaced in her mind once she had skidded to a stop, both at Max’s sudden command and the echo of kunai hitting kunai.

Her breathing had calmed and Renji was in front of her, also apologizing for the same thing she was guilty of. The smile stretched across her face tightened. ”You too, Renji?” Referring to his statements of “sorry.” ”It’s fine, really. I’m sorry too. I kind of did the same thing.” Saya waved her hand, brushing off his offerings of regret.

It seems as if both genin still had a long way to go. As much as Saya resented her lack of skill, she was somewhat proud that Max complimented her. He was an excellent fighter already, and if she wasn’t mistaken… Kobayashi-sensei did say that he was close to being chunin. All he had to do was to go through the exam phases and pass. The girl had no doubt that the young blonde would do very well.

At Max’s return with his two puppets - Napa and the one she had fought - Saya’s smile slipped into something more natural and softer. Max effortlessly slide into the role of leader, asking the other two genin if they were alright with moving onto the second part of their training, which was figuring out what kind of techniques they wanted to learn.

Renji was quick to delve into this part of the day’s practice. From her perspective it seemed as if he perked up at the mention of techniques. Saya couldn’t help but try to cover her short laugh with her hand, so it ended up sounding like a mix between a snort and a chuckle. He spoke eagerly on what he wanted to study and asked about Max’s friend, who had been mentioned to be similar in a combative style. It was somewhat endearing.

Waiting for her teammate to finish and Max to respond to him, Saya took a step closer to the pair. Without hesitation she reached into her back pouch, ”I don’t know if you’ve heard of it, but it’s a medical jutsu that I wanted to learn. The chakra absorption technique?” Once the girl fished it out, she stretched out her hand and presented the puppeteer with that morning’s breakfast - a pretzel.

”Huh?” Saya blinked in confusion, wondering how a consumable ended up in her weapons container. A memory flashed, reminding her that she had stowed away the food just as the fight started. Her cheeks reddened as she cleared her throat and released a coughing laugh. ”Oh! Uhm, sorry.” Immediately the brunette retracted her hand and fished out the proper item. ”It’s this one.”

With a smooth pull Saya unfurled the scroll and held it up for Max and Renji to see.

WORD COUNT: 763
TOTAL WORD COUNT: 3669 + 763 = 4432

Max would simply listen as his comrades had gathered and would express their desires to learn techniques. Max would happily ready himself to answer any questions they had that he was able to. In order to prevent any confusion, he would address each of them individually on their questions.  When they had discussed what they felt like they had needed to improve on, he would listen and nod. “Keeping focus on multiple targets while simultaneously noting when and how your teammates would need any assistance can be tough at times. It is something that you can develop over time though, just like any other skills. Also, Renji, I had a question for you. Why didn’t you keep your byakugan active? Your eyes didn’t have the same... well, bulging veins around them. I’m sure it would have been easier to keep track of your team with such an impressive Doujutsu active.”
 
He would start with Renji’s questions. The boy would seem rather excited to transition to the next phase of the training. He would ask about how Senshi had remained hidden from his Byakugan, and Max would be happy to answer. “Actually that is a fairly simple skill. It takes a bit getting used to, but once you have it down it takes almost no effort. It is called Chakra Suppression. Here, go ahead and try to detect my signature with your eyes. I’m going to use the technique to hide my chakra.” Max would then focus his chakra to an almost nonexistent amount cloaking it from most forms of detection. “I can show you folks how to do it if you would like. It is a fairly useful skill to have, especially when doing reconnaissance missions or trying to hide from a foe for an ambush.” The boy would give Renji any time he needed to activate his eyes and scan the young puppeteer.  
 
The second question would then be answered, regarding his other friend who had been a skilled Taijutsu practitioner. “My friends name is Reizo Shoyu, but we just call him Reizo. Well, I know for sure that I just call him Reizo. Can’t really speak for anyone else I guess.” The boy would say with a smile, his tone when speaking of his friends was normally a fairly happy one. “He had been one of my team members on my last team, and he was rather skilled in the martial arts as well.” Max would then hear the question about Napa and his face would turn to a puzzled look. “Napa spoke to you just as you or I would. He can be a bit rude at times, and isn’t always the friendliest person, but he has been a good friend. I mean, Napa doesn’t have a real body if that is what you mean, so I made him that one that you see now. He’s due for an upgrade here soon though. That body is falling apart.” Max wouldn’t really know how to respond to that question, as he doesn’t realize that he is making the puppet speak.
 
He would then transition into what he would be able to teach as far as jutsu’s were concerned.  “I don’t have a large variety of Taijutsu techniques. In fact, I’m probably the worse person here at Taijutsu. I’m… well I’m pretty bad at it.” He would admit, no shame in his voice. He wasn’t a close range combatant, nor would he likely ever be. “I do have some lightning techniques though. I’d be happy to share them. I have…” He would take a moment to think about what the jutsu he had acquired. “Well, there is Raiton Jibashi, and Keiren no Jutsu. Well, actually that about sums it up.” The boy lets out a small, but noticeable chuckle. “Like I said, I don’t know a great many techniques.” Then it would hit him, reminding him of his training with Senshi, “I do know the Leaf Whirlwind Taijutsu. It’s pretty straightforward, but I can show you if you would like.”
 
When Saya had asked about the medical technique known as Chakra Absorption, Max would look at the scroll and smile. “Yeah, I know that move. It is really cool!” He would say this while channeling the chakra into his hands as likely shown on the scroll. He wouldn’t be able to help but let escape a small laugh when she presented a pretzel instead of the scroll. Before he could say anything, though, she had quickly corrected her mistake and brought out the actual scroll. She had seemed embarrassed, but it was something he had seen before. In fact, Reizo had done something similar with a chocolate bar that Max had given him prior to one of their missions. He had brought it out in defense against their former Sensei Itami. It was quite a sight to see, as was this.

“It is a really odd sensation, but it is an invigorating feeling. You focus some chakra into your hands, which caused them to glow blue. Then you sorta have to ‘scoop’ their chakra out in a sense. Basically you utilize your own chakra in such a way that it forces theirs out to where you can bring it into your own.” Max scratches his head, thinking about how he can explain it. “I apologize if I’m not explaining it very well. I’m not really accustomed to teaching others…. If any of it doesn’t make sense I’ll try to help any way I can.”
 

The boy would take a look over his puppets and assess the damage while the others responded and got ready to practice the techniques. Both had taken some damage, but nothing seemed too extensive. Minor repairs for a few damaged joints and whatnot, but nothing an hour in his workshop couldn’t fix. 

WC: 967

Renji would still have his head resting on the tree behind him, his gaze looking off into the distance at the different clouds shapes.

Renji would be quickly awoken from his cloud watching when he hears Max start to speak. Still with his head on the tree and looking in the sky, Renji would listen intently as Max is speaking, not wanting to miss anything the boy had to say.  Renji would note the advice Max gives him on fighting multiple targets.  Hearing Max ask about his byakugan renji would say “well you see I just learned the seven heavenly breaths method jutsu not to long ago. It puts a lot of strain on my chakra network and it makes it hard for me to use chakra based jutsus. At least for now I think/hope” (1) Renji would give off a nervous chuckle as he finishes his statement.

Hearing Max explain to him how Senshi had evaded his byakugan earlier would leave Renji in awe as he did not know that it was possible to hide from his clans eye and would have to figure a way around this. But for now Renji would simply comply as he hears Max tell him to try to detect his signature.

Half not wanting to believe what  Max had said to him, Renji would immediately activate his byakugans 360 vision and scans the area next to him expecting to see both of his teammates. Looking around, Renji would be able to see Saya clearly, her chakra signature beeming off of her almost like an aura. However, when he looks over near the bottom of the tree where Max had been sitting, Renji would not be able to see Max’s chakra signature lighting up the way Saya’s was in fact he could barely tell that max was there.  Surprised by what he sees, Renji would sit up and focuses his byakugans vision in towards Max’s position, switching from his 360 vision to a more binocular like vision. Renji now looking directly at where Max was sitting would Still be unable to see Max’s Chakra signature, but Renji would be able to see the outline of Max’s body just without the aura coming from him(2). Seeing this Renji would note to himself how hard it would be to track down some one using this skills.  “That does seem like a very valuable skills to have. I can barely see you!” Renji would comment out loud as he shakes his head, deactivating his byakugan as he does so.

Renji would still be sitting up with both legs freely hanging from the branch as Max is explaining to the group about his taijutsu friend. Renji could tell that this must have been a good friend to Max by how happy he got when he spoke of the this friend. “Reizo huh. I’d love to meet this guy and see what kind of martial arts he practices. Maybe even learn some tai from him” Renji would say in response to hearing about Max’s friend, hoping that Max can introduce the two.

Seeing the puzzled look on Max face as he talks about Napa would cause Renji to remember that while Max was way more skilled a shinobi than he, Max was still an 8 year old boy. Seeing that the boy really believed that the puppet was talking on its own, Renji would decide not to delve any deeper into that Rabbit hole, instead Renji just simply nodding and agrees with Max.

Renji would make notes of all of the jutsu that max was able to teach him, hoping to learn all of them today if possible. Tho considering he was already kind of drained from their earlier sparing session  Renji did not know if he would be able to get through all of them today.  

Still sitting up on his branch, Renji would turn his head and looks at Saya as she ask Max her question regarding the chakra absorption jutsu. Seeing the girl pull from her pouch a pretzel, Renji would chuckle a bit, as he watches as she catches her mistake. Seeing her now pull from her bag a jutsu scroll, Renji would become intrigued by it and curious as to if he can learn this jutsu. Though he would not see it as a priority, as he already had a medical ninja on his team. Renji decides he will probably ask Saya to teach it to him at another time after she has learned it.(3)


Once his teammates where done talking towards him, Renji would jump down from his tree branch and taking some time to himself, begins to stretch and loosen back up as he wanted to work on the taijutsu skill that Max had mentioned first.  Renji would stop from stretching when he sees Max assessing the damage done to his puppets. Seeing that he had caused some damage to the puppet and realizing how much they appeared to mean to the boy, Renji would offer to help fix the puppet say “Hey, I don’t know much about puppets and stuff but if you need an extra set of hands fixing that thing let me know.” Before returning back to his stretching.

After he had finished stretching and was ready to begin, Renji would walk out a bit(a meter or two) from the tree, activating his byakugan as he does so. He would then turn back towards his teammates and says “hey let’s work on that tai move when your ready Max.”  

while Renji waits for Max to come over to show him the leaf whirlwind,  Renji would be working on the spinning back kick he had preformed earlier, trying to perfect the rotation, and snap of his leg during the execution of the kick.

WC
963
TWC
963+4,201= 5,164
-1ap byakugan
Ooc:

1 – I did not use byakugan because the seven heavenly breaths cuts off all chakra based tech jutsu skills.
2 – um I was not sure how chakra  suppression would work with the byakugan. Let me know if I should change the way I worded it.
3 – was not sure if Saya spoke and showed us the scroll b4 or after Max answered renji, so I tried to leave it broad so that my response to seeing the scroll could have happened before or after seeing the scroll which ever is best.

Saya had often found herself looking towards ninjas with bloodlines with envy. While it was a given that those who worked hard will always make way to their dreams and goals, simply having an ingrained skill would help them achieve that status faster than those who began with nothing. Now, Saya didn’t necessarily want a bloodline (a total and complete lie if she were honest with herself), but the amount of greed she had was insatiable.

Strength was everything to her, and yet wasn’t it oddly bizarre that she was specializing in the medical arts? Even then, as she carefully listened to the conversation between her two teammates, it was weird to her. A strange chink in her thoughts and goals, she assumed. Saya hummed to herself, branches of thoughts streaming at the same time.

Why and what was the reason for her being a healer? Her mother, Rika, was one defining factor but she couldn’t possibly the sole reason for choosing her specialty. What about the skill that Max was just demonstrating? She definitely needed to learn chakra suppression; it was definitely useful, right? Max said so. The petite genin couldn’t very well be announcing herself whenever they went on an undercover mission. Perhaps after they learned their respective jutsus, they could learn it before the day ends. A grin crept on her at the thought. Today was turning out to be great.

A peculiar name had her straightening up, however. Reizo Shoyu. Saya remembered the dirty blonde teenager. He had been the one to oversee her exam from academy student to genin. While it wasn’t that bad at the beginning, the dark haired girl wanted to groan in embarrassment as she remembered her over the top theatrics. Her dumb attempt at trying to get brownie points, or rather show off her mastery of the technique compared to the others in her graduating class. It was as if something caught in her throat that Saya had to forcibly cough into her hand, and then shaking away the memories.

She refocused on the conversation at hand. Taijutsu. Another much needed side to a ninja’s combative spectrum. Their blonde leader, however, wasn’t at all put out to admit that it was a weakness of his but was still knowledgeable in a couple of their moves. Saya tried to commit the mentioned names to memory, hoping to try and learn them some other time. Maybe after becoming proficient in the techniques she was to study.

Jutsu: Chakra Absorption
Rank: C
Requirement: 2000 Words // 1000 words w/ a teacher

Seeing that Max brightened up at the mention of the technique she presented for him to teach, Saya let out a sigh of relief. It would have been a bit difficult to learn if neither of them knew how execute it from the beginning. Still, they had the scroll to guide them if they needed to consult with it if they hit a particularly rough patch. Saya eagerly leaned forward to absorb the knowledge he would impart to her.

”A ‘scooping’ sensation...” Saya murmured to herself as she watched Max move over to his puppet pals while Renji had jumped down from the tree to begin stretching. Following the younger boy and squatting down to view and observe the damages done to the marionettes, Saya was quick to reassure him, ”I think you’re doing fine so far, Max. You’re giving us some foundation on the the techniques we’re suppose to be learning. I’m sure we’ll all learn from each other.”

Scooting over to the unfamiliar puppet that she had fought with the girl delicately pried her kunai from its shoulder joint, wincing as she noticed the slight indentions it left between the ball and socket. As she was rubbing off the edges of her weapon with soft cloth, a thought suddenly came to her. ”Hey, Max. Would using chakra absorption work on puppets?” She asked him, turning her head to wherever he may have travelled to. ”Theoretically, since your chakra is attached to them, you could probably siphon off the opponent’s chakra that way, right?”

It was a plausible idea, she thought. After stowing away her kunai, Saya situated herself next to Nappa and perused the scroll she had shown them. Concentrating on channeling her chakra into her hand was easy as it was a similar tactic with the basic medical jutsu that she had learned back in her academy days. Her palm was now outlined with a blue hue, sputtering as the girl tried to keep it stable.

”Hey, Nappa,” Saya nudged the doll with her shoulder, not bothering to really look at him as her attention was on the jutsu. Though she was a maturing girl, there were still parts of her that were childish. And despite having thought of Max as odd when he first mentioned talking to his puppet, the girl easily slipped into believing that Nappa would reply to her. ”You’ll help me with this while Max teaches Renji. You would know a bit of the technique too, right?”

The chakra around her hand continued to falter as Saya questioned Max’s skeletal companion. A frown marred her expression. The medical technique she had learned from her mother was different. With that particular technique the girl learned she had to “care” about the person and visualize what she wanted to do. So, if this jutsu was to “take away” as opposed to “giving” to the target, Saya figured she should have a mindset of disregarding her enemy’s health.

Her head cocked to the side in thought. What else could the pre-teen do to make sure the technique was an absolute success? As Saya was contemplating on the “scooping” thing Max had mentioned earlier, a sudden thought came to her. Was the technique only available on one hand? Or was it possible to have it active on both extremities? She shook her head. Thoughts and theories for another time. Her goal for the day was to learn and use the chakra absorption technique fully at its basics.

WORD COUNT: 1000
TOTAL WORD COUNT: 4432 + 1000 = 5432

Max would shake his head upon hearing Renji offer his help. “Thanks for the offer, but I’ll have to pass. Nothing personal, it’s just that it is delicate work and people wouldn’t be much help.” Max would try to be a kind as possible while saying this, but puppet crafting was where he normally went when he wanted to be alone with his thoughts and away from other people.
 
“I don’t know if Absorption would work on puppets. All I can say is that when I was learning the technique, I wasn’t able to use it on Napa. Of course, his body was fueled with my own chakra, so I don’t know if that was the reason or if it was because of an inability to do so.” He would say, pondering the possibilities of the technique. “I know that Stein is able to draw chakra into himself using the technique, but that is because I tried my best to repair his mostly intact chakra network with conductive wires. I know that he can use the technique. Maybe he would be the best to ask…” Max would then have a sad look on his face as he realized the problem that would occur if he brought Stein out. “Stein can hurt people on accident, so maybe we should answer that question at another time.”
 
Max would begin his attempt at teaching techniques to the others. First, he would begin with the Taijutsu technique that Renji wanted to see. It was an easy move, and someone as proficient in Taijutsu as he was should pick it up with almost no real effort. Max would think back to the time Senshi had taught him the move and try to recall how to explain the movements. Once he had a pretty good idea, he would begin.
 
“Alright, so the Leaf Whirlwind is simply a series of kicks. It starts with a high kick, followed by a much lower kick. You utilize the momentum of the first kick to help move your body through with the second kick. It is pretty easy to do, I think. Judging from what I saw earlier you will have no trouble with the move.” Max would say, placing his faith in the Hyuuga being able to master the basic moves.

He would then begin to demonstrate, and it really wasn’t pretty at all. The boy would ready himself, lifting his leg into the air awkwardly. In truth he hadn’t really practiced much with his Taijutsu, so even now that he had the move down in his mind, it was not working as well as he had hoped. His form was rather clumsy, though he managed to launch a high kick, spun around and used his momentum to attack with a low crouched kick. “Uhm… yeah… Like that.” Max would say as he scratched his head.
 
Meanwhile, Saya would ask Napa about the technique while she had been practicing. The unmoving puppet would respond without delay, “Ha! You asked me for help? That’s a rarity. I’m not really the helping kind of person, but the fact that you had the globes to come up to the person that just tried to kill you and ask for help… You’ve got nerve kid, I like it. Helping wouldn’t be an issue, but I don’t have much of a chakra network left. You might be able to absorb the chakra through the strings the he attaches to my body, but I don’t know how that would work.” The puppet would shift its hollow gaze over to Saya, the black dark recesses where his eyes should have been looking directly into Saya’s own colorful eyes. The darkness that they held was quite the opposite of her blonde teammate, almost as if they were night and day.  “It looks as though the boy is going to need as much time as he can muster trying to demonstrate that move, anyway. He really has little skill in Taijutsu, but luckily for him he has me and rarely needs it.” The skeletal puppet would say, his tone and voice surprisingly different from that of Max. The puppet really did seem to have its own personality. Was there something to Max’s thoughts on Napa being his own person? Probably not…. That would be crazy. “Perhaps I should show the Taijutsu move and he could help you with the Absorption Jutsu. It might be a bit easier for all parties involved.” The puppet would begin to walk over towards Max, signaling to the boy by calling his name. “Max, come here. I got a better idea.”
 
Max would turn and meet up with his puppet at the halfway point, even if there was little distance between them. “What is it, Napa? Am I doing something wrong?” The boy would ask, not sure why Napa summoned him. “Max, that looks… just awful. How are you going to show him how to do it properly if you can barely do it properly yourself? How do I put this lightly? Those that can, do. Those that cannot, teach. To be honest, boy, you should do neither.” The puppets words might have seemed harsh, but all those that saw his feeble attempt at the Taijutsu move would recognize that there was some truth to it. The puppet would let out a cackling laugh before continuing. “Why don’t you show Saya that Medical technique and I show the Hyuuga kid how to throw a proper kick? That sounds like a good idea, right? Good.” Napa would shift places with Max and move over to Renji. “So you want to strike hard with a high strike, likely drawing in the opponents block or dodge. Should they do so, their focus will be high, and you will follow through with that momentum into a kick at their now exposed lower extremities. Ever try walking with a broken knee or ankle? It ain’t fun, kiddo. If a solid blow is connected, it can swing a fight in your favor.”
 

Max on the other hand would head over to help Saya as best he could. “Alright so it looks like you have the chakra around your hands controlled very well. That is the first step. Now you have to touch the opponent. It doesn’t really matter where you touch them if you are doing it correctly. Go ahead and try it out on me.” He would say with his arm out for her to practice the move. “Now remember how I said you use your chakra to scoop out theirs? While that is true, that might have been too simple of a description. In order to scoop it out, you must first insert trace amounts of your own chakra into their network to force their own out to be collected.” The boy would place a single finger on his chin, unsure of how he is describing it. “Well, I am having a hard time explaining it. Just go ahead and try it out. Then we can go from there.”




WC: 1170

Renji, would still be working on his leaf strong wind technique, trying to get down the right amount of momentum he needed on his spinning back kick and not to put to much as to were he can not control himself afterwards. Renji would have some difficulty at first, but would finally work out the flaws.

As Max is coming over to show Renji the tai move, Renji would be just setting up for one last attempt at the leaf Strong Wind. Digging his feet into the small holes he had made from the repeated attempts at trying this technique already, Renji would jump into the air a few feet off the ground and preforms the spin with enough momentum that he is able to get the kick off with out losing his balance and falling over.

With that done, Renji would be ready to work on Max’s tai move. Renji would pay close attention as Max is speaking. He did not want to stop the boy as it sounded like he really knew what he was talking about, though Renji could tell that it did not sound like the boy had used the technique much.

“say that sounds rather simple, I don’t know why I never thought of combining a high kick with a low kick. You will probably catch them all..the..ti..” Renji would be stopped midway through his sentence by the demonstration that Max was giving. Judging by the stance he took renji could tell that Max was not one for Taijutsu, but to his credit the boy looked like he was giving it his all.

Renji would try to cover his mouth to hide a small chuckle he would give off from seeing Max’s demonstration, not wanting to upset or discourage the boy that he had just befriended. “yeaa, just like that…” Renji would say as he scratches his head, an ear to ear confused smile on his face.

Through his byakugan Renji would watch how Saya was doing with her training with Napa. Renji would be a bit surprised when he hears the puppet call out to Max, still getting used to the puppet ‘acting’ on its own. Looking at the two standing there it almost looked as if Napa was the one in charge , doing most of the talking and telling Max what to do and how things were going to go.  

Renji would still be a bit confused by what he had just seen, when Napa switches places with Max and comes over and begins to explain to Renji the way the leaf whirlwind works. Despite already kind of understanding the basics of the jutsu from max’s explanation, Renji would really be able to almost visualize the move in his head perfectly once Napa was done explaining it. Max may have been good at explaining how the jutsu worked, but Napa’s explanation sounded like that from a perspective of someone who fights closer to the front lines and had been in a fight or two before. Having just recently spared with the puppet Renji also knew that that Napa was quite skilled at hand to hand.

Thinking that he Has a pretty good idea of how the technique works, Renji was now ready to give his hand at it. He would take a few steps away from the puppet so as not to hit him. Renji would then Ready himself, lowering his center of gravity and tightening his midsection to ensure that he was well rooted in his stance.  Then Renji would push down hard and jumps into the air launching a kick about a foot above his eye level. He would immediately pull his leg back and shifting his weight he would drop towards the ground kind of fast, before using his arms to brace his fall. At the same time he would shoot out his same leg before snapping it back, and jumping up to his feet. Renji would try the technique a few more times, making sure that he had it down before moving on.

Once he was done testing out the technique renji would be ready to try it out on someone. Though he was not ready for a full out spar match, Renji would turn towards Napa and says “hey Napa, judging by our spar match earlier you are pretty strong their big guy. You think I could try this out on ya, and the spinning back kick I was working on earlier? I’m sure it won’t hurt if you brace and block it. I just want to see what it feels like connecting the kicks is all..?”  Quickly trying to change the topic incase the puppet did not want to be used for a kicking dummy, Renji would say “hey Napa, what did you think of  my performance during our sparing match earlier, any pointers? Max told me what he thought but I was just wondering?” curious as to if he would get a different response/ perspective from the puppet. Renji would  have a nervous smile on his face, and would be shifting in his place nervously moving from side to side as he waits to see if the puppet will answer one both or none of his questions, as he was kind of rude towards Max just a bit ago. Renji would also be a bit unsure if the puppet had a mind of its own.

As he waits for the response from the puppet Renji would check in on his teammates through his byakugan. Sure he could have looked over or even walked over, but he was still a bit nervous and did not want to say anything foolish or worse, disturb them while they was making progress, but he was curious as to how they were faring


WC
963
TWC
963 + 5,164= 6,127

1-ap byakugan

Jutsu: Chakra Absorption
Rank: C
Requirement: 2000 Words // 1000 words w/ a teacher

Oh, so her thoughts did seem to have some merit to them. Max giving his own anecdote and experience when he had been learning the technique himself gave rise to a lot more questions rather than answers. Then again, wasn’t that always the case when it came to such problems? Saya hummed and nodded along, trying to compartmentalize the information for further research once she had some free time. A round of experimentation she could probably do with Max if he was up for it. Most especially when he mentioned someone named “Stein.” Was that another one of his puppets? She still only knew Nappa, the skeleton made of sass, and the second puppet whose name eluded her.

Either way Saya was going to think on it later and return to getting this particular technique down. It would help her immensely if she were to end up in a fight where the advantage was not in her favor. Moreso if the girl was every running low on chakra. She shook her head. That was something that didn’t need to be thought about. This was only a precaution as well as a possible offensive technique. Saya nodded to herself, as if trying to convince herself of the reason.

Her attention came back to the real world the moment Nappa replied to her, seemingly amused by her initiation to talk to him after his little stunt earlier. To be honest, Saya was somewhat resentful of his actions. Maybe it was the child in her that was throwing a tantrum on how it would have been unfair since Nappa’s opponent wasn’t her but had decided to fling a kunai in her direction anyways. It made her feel more bitter since she had initially thought that she could have “taken down” Max if the skeleton hadn’t interfered.

What was done was done, the thirteen year old firmly told herself as she felt a strange sense of pride when Nappa mentioned liking her courage to talk to him. She suppose that it wasn’t all bad. Looking at it from an objective point of view, Saya had to tip her hat off to Nappa for doing what he did. If it had been a real battle, where no one was pulling punches, Saya would have undoubtedly been harmed during that exchange.

”Hrm... ” Saya hummed, nodding at his own conclusion about her question from earlier. Again, it was all speculation and theory. It made sense to her that she couldn’t, technically, absorb chakra from a puppet’s body; it was all empty joints and bones. There didn’t seem to be a chakra system for her to steal from aside from the chakra strings attached to him as he had mentioned. ”Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Though Max did mention someone named Stein...”

At this point Saya was practicing activating and deactivating the technique from one hand to the other. It wouldn’t do if the girl was only able to work one hand. What if, Kami forbid, someone sliced off one of her hands? The glow around her hand grew brighter with the small increase of chakra before she suddenly shut it off to see Nappa’s dead, dead gaze on her. A chilling sensation crawled down her spine. Something felt off, but Saya shook it off and instead followed his change in topic.

In the distance was Max trying to demonstrate a taijutsu move. A giggle escaped her, her hand flying to cover her mouth almost instantly. He was… cute. Adorable in his movement. It was clear even to her that he was not well-versed in close range battling. Renji too had caught it, seeing him chuckle and covering his mouth as well. It was then that Nappa took charge and had them switch.

Seeing Max approach her, Saya pushed off from the ground to stand. Taking his duties seriously Max immediately set on to encourage her to try the technique on him. She was hesitant, not entirely comfortable in executing the jutsu on a teammate. But as a shinobi of Lightning Saya surged on, alighting her hand once more in that blue aura. She cautiously placed a hand on the arm that Max held out, brows pinching together as she focused at the task.

”I think you explained it just well enough, Max,” Saya reassured him whilst trying to control the on-goings of the jutsu. If she thought about it enough, it was like extending her fingertips and digging them into his body and as he had described earlier, “scooping” out the chakra and into her own. As she was slowly inserting her chakra into Max’s system and pulling it out into her own, Saya found herself getting a feel for his chakra.

There was a purity within it that sort of indicated Max’s age and childish innocence. Alongside was something dark but necessarily evil. Either way, his chakra was like a paradox with the taste of sweet chocolate but with the scent of freshly dug up earth and decay. An extremely odd pairing but it fit Max. ”Uhm, do you feel anything? Is it working?”

She asked, peering at the younger boy for a few seconds before retracting her hand regardless if he said it was working or not. ”Ah, and have you ever tried the jutsu with both hands at the same time? It should be possible, right? Or do you not think so?” At this point Saya reignited the jutsu on her right hand then the left, alternating them like a light show in one of those festival performances. Pursing her lips into a thin line, Saya tried to pump the correct amount of chakra into both hands. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to work and instead made her feel a bit lightheaded though not enough to be noticeable.

”Guess it didn’t work. At least for me.” Turning her attention to the younger boy, Saya quietly wondered if it was because of insufficient chakra funds. Perhaps the blonde was more capable of doing it.

WORD COUNT: 1009
TOTAL WORD COUNT: 5432 + 1009 = 6441

Napa would watch Renji perform the move, and he would note one thing that commonly happened. Renji jumped into the air to perform the move. It was a natural tendency that most had it seemed, but there was one major issue with it. Napa would then speak, “Hey kid, I have a bit of a helpful tip. Having both feet off of the ground can really be risky if you can’t defy gravity. It can leave you open to a counterattack, and there is only so much one can do midair to stop it. Now, that isn’t to say that it cannot work, or that you shouldn’t ever do it. Just know that there are risks involved.” The puppet would say, continuing to watch the Hyuuga train.
 
When asked about his performance, Napa would shake his head. “The boy is impressed with your skills, and I understand why. You are a new Genin that is capable of much more than is expected of you. That’s why he assessed you as he did.” The puppets cold gaze would meet the milky white gaze of the Hyuuga, “But you want my thoughts? Well, remember that love tap I gave you as you launched into the air with that kick? Yeah, this ties in to what I said earlier. That tap I gave you could have been a kunai, and it also could have gutted you, taking you out of the fight before it even started. Then there would have been two targets focusing on your still standing teammate, and the battle could have easily gone downhill from there. Hence why it is incredibly important to assess your enemy’s capabilities and evaluate the risk associated with ones moves.” The puppet seemed to have a very different approach to things than young Max had. Where he was kind and soft, Napa was blunt and firm. “Other than that, I would say that it was fun. Haven’t done a whole lot of sparring recently, but that’s because the boy is growing soft.”
 
Napa would stand there, his stance firm and unflinching. “While I’m not particularly keen on the idea of just taking attacks, we are here to help train and assess the team. I guess I can help you feel out the move if it would help along the training.” The puppet didn’t seem entirely thrilled, but alas Napa would shift into a fighting stance and prepare to defend. “I’m not going to get any younger, so let’s do this.”
 
 
The puppet would do it’s best to block any moves that Renji would launch at him, while still giving him a feel for them in a fight.
 
Max and Saya had also been reaching breakthroughs. She seemed to be getting a firm grasp on the moves, and Max could feel her chakra pulling away at his own. It was an odd sensation, much like chills running though the nerves along the spot touched. Max would hear her ask if it had been working, and so he would reply to reassure her that it was indeed successful. “Yeah, I can feel you drawing on my reserves. I’ve never been on this end of the jutsu before. It’s rather odd feeling.” He would say before scratching his head lightly. When asked if it could be done with both hands, Max would nod his head. “Yep, if you can focus the technique in both hands with proper chakra control you should be fine. Here, like this,” He would say as his hands from the wrist down were covered in a blueish aura of chakra. “You seem to be doing well so far, so I’m sure it’ll come to you with just a bit of practice.” He would say with a smile, hoping that Saya wouldn’t be disheartened at her failed attempt to do so.
 
“Maybe you just need to take a breather and work on something less taxing on your chakra network. I could show you how to suppress your chakra if you would like. Or I could show you how to detect the chakra of others. Either one should be simple enough to learn, and neither is particularly stressful on ones chakra network.” Max would wait a moment to rest, allowing Saya to answer and seeing how REnji and Napa were doing.
 

“Hey, Renji. If you are ready I’d like you to see this, too.” Max would say once it looked like Renji and Napa were at a lull. The boy was feeling a great sense of pride in his teammates so far. Not only were they incredible capable, but they seemed like nice enough people as well. They have quickly picked up everything he has taught them with incredible speed, and at this rate they would be advancing in no time. They could prove to be not only great friends but also valuable allies on the field of battle. And battle was coming, Max could feel it. It would only be a matter of time...

WC: 829

Standing there with his attention now back on the puppet in front of him, Renji would focus in as Napa speaks, he was very curious to the puppets views and did not want to miss a word of it. Listening to Napa, Renji would realize how much he needed to learn as he had not even thought about the idea of his kicks being countered and would note the puppets comment about not being able to defy gravity.

As the puppets eyes meets Renjis, a cold chill would run down the boys spine. It was as if the puppet was staring deep into his soul. Renji would give off a quick shiver at the thought of being gutted with a kunai, a vivid mental image of the scene would pop into the young shinobi’s head “ can add that to the list of not so fun ways to die” Renji would think to himself. If the puppets intention was to burn a warning about the risk of jumping blindly into combat, than he had certainly accomplished his mission. Renji would make a mental note to always assess the risk involved with his actions and how they could affect others on the battlefield with him.

Seeing that Napa was going to let Renji practice his moves on him, Renji would quickly assume his fighting stance a few feet in front of the puppet. “thanks again Napa, promise it won’t hurt.” Renji would say, trying to reassure the puppet.

Renji would decide to work on the move that Napa and Max had just taught him, the leaf whirlwind. Renji would take a Deep breath, and once they were both ready, Renji would bend down at the waist and launches himself into the air. Renji knew that Napa had just warned him about launching himself into the air, but Renji assumed that because of the nature of the technique, it shouldn’t leave him vulnerable for to long , or so he would hope.

In the air, Renji would aim his right foot towards the puppets arm that was blocking it’s face. Renji’s foot would be aimed in such a way as so it would be coming at the puppets arm in an upwards motion when it connects. Renji could feel as the puppet pushed back against his leg and using that momentum coupled with the reverse force that would result from Renji pushing back against the block would cause Renji to drop down towards the ground at a faster than normal speed. Using his arms to stop his face from slamming into the ground, Renji would then launch a sweeping low kick at the back of the puppets legs. The low kick would not have enough power to knock or do anything harmful to the puppet.

Picking himself up from the floor and dusting off his jacket, Renji would move on and sets up for the next technique, the one he had been working on earlier. The leaf strong wind, another technique in which Renji would find himself vulnerable for a moment. And thinking back to Napas warning only a few short minutes ago, Renji knows that when he does use this move, he will have to do his best not to telegraph it. But for now it was training so he assumed it would be ok for now.

Setting up again in his fighting stance, Renji pushes off the ground, squeezing hard on his midsection as he does so in order to get his body to rotate. Spinning in a reverse motion, Renji would aim to make contact with the back of his foot against the side of Napas arm that was up blocking his face.

Once Renji was finally content with his two taijutsu techniques, he would rest his arms on his hips and turns towards Napa before opening his mouth to speak. “Hey that was not bad at all. That move you taught me felt real good. Thanks again big guy.” Renji would say as a small smirk appears on his face through his repeated gasps for air.

Renji would still be catching his breath when he hears Max call over to him. Wondering what Max wanted to show him, Renji would get up to walk over the few feet to where his teammates where. Before he walked off, Renji would shoot out the same arm that he had used to collide fist with Napa earlier, only this time Renji would shoot it out in a much slower and more friendly manner in an attempt to fist bump the Puppet.

As Renji is walking the few feet towards his friends he would stop for a second to look up at the sky through his byakugan. Looking through his byakugans binocular vision Renji would track an eagle as it flies high above the ground. As it is Flying through the air, the eagle would pass by the sun, causing Renji’s gaze to pass by the sun as well. As his gaze is passing the sun, Renji would notice that the sun had shifted quite a bite from where it was when he had first arrived this morning. However, the sun was not the only thing that had shifted this morning. Since his parents passed Renji had been a loner and did not have many Friends at all Having difficulties trusting people outside of his brother, but here it seemed as if Renji had made two life long friends that he would gladly give his life in war for, and for some reason he felt that they would do the same for him. Renji could not put it into words why he felt this way about these two but had a good feeling in his stomach about this team that he was now a part of and saw big things for the team in the future.

Shaking his head Renji would snap back to Reality and walks the remainder of the distance to where his two teammates were and takes a seat next to them. Throwing himself to the ground out of exhaustion from all the work he had been doing throughout the day, Renji would lay out on his back. With his head rested firmly against the ground Renji would look up into sky through his byakugans binocular vision trying to reacquire the bird he had saw earlier. Zooming in on the clouds up high above Renji would notice as the clouds begin filling up and forming water droplets, probably getting ready to start raining at some point. While still looking up in the sky, Renji would open his mouth and says aloud“rain huh, and it started off such a beautiful day.” The rain would still be a ways away as Renji saw it while it was still only just beginning to form in the cloud.

Deactivating his Byakugan and Sitting up, Renji would look over to see what Max had called him over to show him. A wide smile on his face still excited about the prospects of team Senshi.

WC
1,170
TTWC
1,170+6,127=7,297

-1ap byakugan

Jutsu: Chakra Absorption
Rank: C
Requirement: 2000 Words // 1000 words w/ a teacher

An odd feeling. So, her technique did work after all. Saya wondered how that felt and was tempted to ask Max to do the same jutsu on her. It would be, as always, an educational experiment. What was the point of learning a technique if she didn’t know the ins and outs, or rather all the little details of it all? She needed to know how it affected her enemies, how the feeling could account for a small distraction, or if each person had a different reaction to it.

”Just… odd? Like, creepy tingly feelings? Pins and needles?” The girl asked, expression thoughtful. Her lips pressed and pursed together to form a thick line, and her cheeks puffed up with air as ideas and theories formed in her head. If the feeling was minor then that would mean it wasn’t as or would be debilitating as she thought it would be. Of course, the strange feeling would alert them that her jutsu was doing something to them. Perhaps, if Saya wasn’t looking at it in a negative way, it was something she could rely on to keep the opponents at bay. To make them keep their distance if they were ever within her range.

That brought her back to her problem of not being able to activate the chakra absorption technique on both hands. Still, the young boy encouraged her to try again, showing Saya once more that it was possible. Proper chakra control he said. It was definitely something she could continue to work on. Nodding to Max, Saya raised her hands and began to try and light them up. It was like trying to open up pipelines or faucets in her body, every chakra point letting the energy rush towards the specified area - her hands.

As Max had pointed out, she was suppose to be precise in controlling the flow of her chakra. One hand, her right, seemed to be fairing well as it glowed with a steady blue aura. The left hand, unfortunately, was flickering like a lightbulb on its last leg. Saya knew it was a delicate balance, both in energy and concentration. She had to keep the energy in her right hand stable whilst opening up and pouring more chakra into her left hand. Slowly, as if turning the knob to a faucet, Saya pushed more chakra down the length of her arm and to the tips of her fingers.

She did it! A haughty smile came to her lips as both of her appendages gleamed with a soft light. It was quite pretty yet it belied a certain dangerous function if she looked at it from a subjective point of view. However, as Saya wasn’t that quite used to holding out that much chakra they blinked in and out within seconds. It was a bit disappointing to see, but it was progress. The fatigue was more prominent and obvious than before. Her arms felt like iron weights trying to drag her to the ground. She felt slightly sore too; probably from allowing such a huge rush of chakra travelling through her system.

Jutsu: Chakra Suppression
Rank: Skill
Requirement: 2000 Words // 1000 words w/ a teacher

At the mention of another useful jutsu Saya pushed away her body’s complaints and seemed more energized at the prospect of adding techniques to her arsenal. ”Really? That would be great, Max!” Saya grinned, ready to get things rolling. ”My mom already taught me how to sense chakra, so you don’t have to teach me that. The other one though - chakra suppression - sounds really cool.” Her mother, Rika, had mentioned it before but hadn’t had the chance to teach her before she was called away for some high ranked mission. And though Saya had been eager to learn it on her spare time, she ended up getting caught in other types of training schedules and completely forgot about it until Max brought it up.

From there Max called out to Renji, their third teammate. Automatically, Saya turned her head in the direction of the Hyuuga. She hummed in approval when she managed to see the last part of his technique. It was definitely crisp and strong as expected of one trying to master taijutsu moves. While the young girl wanted to explore more of that venue, she wasn’t entirely comfortable when she had to do hand-to-hand combat. It was if there some kind of mental block preventing her from reaching her full potential as a ninja. As such, Saya figuratively ran away and simply focused on things that she was good at.

Once Renji had made his way over to them, she gave him a thumbs up when he sort of half-threw and half-flopped himself to the ground. Saya snorted and shook her head. He must have been tired from all that physical work, especially when it was Nappa who was overseeing his taijutsu training. Meanwhile, she herself was only suffering from exercising her chakra more than she was used to. ”Good work out there, Renji.” She commented before turning her gaze to the skies.

It surprised her that the time had flown by so fast. One might think that the cliche sayings of “time flies by fast if you’re having fun” was true. And in this particular day there was truth in those words. Unfortunately, it seemed that with the day growing old, the skies wanted to shed a bit of rain on them, gathering storm clouds in the distance.

”Hmm… I guess we should hurry up and wrap up our training session, huh?” Saya jutted her chin towards the incoming clouds, glad that their area was still dry and somewhat bright enough. ”So, how does chakra suppression work exactly, Max?” Her attention readjusted to their leader-in-command. She had a vague idea on how it worked, considering most of her techniques needed her to be extremely watchful of her chakra manipulation.

WORD COUNT: 982
TOTAL WORD COUNT: 6441 + 982 = 7423