Some more training

Something absolutely brilliant had occurred to Alice last night. It was so amazing and beautiful that the girl could hardly contain herself. Just thinking about it gave her chills. Why hadn't she thought of it before now? She could have made this world so much better if she had. At least now she can still improve the worth of this filthy, good for nothing trash heap of a world. Man, the things she could accomplish. She was the most intelligent person on the planet already. The prettiest and best in the world. How incredibly amazing she was. Just think how much more so this would be true if there were two of her!? Or even three! Yes that would certainly make this wretched world a better place. Luckily enough there was a jutsu that allowed her to do just that! And if that wasn't incredible enough, it had the word shadow in it's name. Just perfect for a shadow-using Nara. That's right, Alice was thinking of learning the shadow clone technique. It was an advanced version of the clone technique that let her create two tangible clones of herself that weren't limited to only copying her actions. These would be real, solid, thinking copies of the Nara. What could be better than that? Nothing, that's what.

So that was why our young dark-haired heroine had decided to wake up at the ungodly hour that she had, before the light of the sun was even remotely visible on the horizons, and made her way out to a secluded area near the black market to do some training. Specifically, to train the shadow clone technique. Once again her chosen profession had come in handy for this troublesome endeavor. See, through Alice's many jobs she had managed to....procure..a myriad of useful texts. Scrolls and books alike on endless subjects ranging from plants to each type of ninja art. One such scroll, which supposedly held quite a monetary value to it according to the old man she obtained it from, had information on the shadow clone jutsu among some other seemingly useful techniques that she had made a mental note to research later on. For now she was just excited at the thought of there being several of her wondrous self. Something that was sure to be in the forbidden musings of perverted old men all over the regions. But enough about that.

Alice was currently sitting nestled on a low hanging branch of a tree, her back to the trunk with her right leg pulled close to her chest and her left leg hanging freely over the edge. The scroll she had found the shadow clone jutsu in was propped open and leaning on her right thigh. According to the scroll, the user of the technique can create up to two complete copies of themselves. It splits the user's chakra equally among each of the clones. This diminishes the overall potency of any single one of their chakra, but the trade off is having three Alice's with the same knowledge, experience, and techniques. There was only one hand seal listed in order to perform the technique. It wasn't a standard seal, only listed as the 'clone seal'. There was an small sketch next to the mention of the seal that demonstrated how to position your hands and fingers in order to do it correctly. If done right, there should be a small cloud of smoke from which the clones will appear. Apparently, they could only be formed a short distance from the user, two meters to be exact. However the clones were able to travel a maximum of half a mile away from the user before they were forcibly dispelled. 

Handwritten notes were along the edges of the paper giving useful tips on taking full advantage of the shadow clones' properties. One such being that when a clone is dispersed, all knowledge it gained since it's creation would be immediately transferred to the user of the technique aka the original. Therefore it was highly useful in reconnaissance, stealth, and intelligence gathering missions. Just another reason for Alice to want to learn this jutsu. The clones are also solid and just as durable as the original is. They will only dispel if they chose to, if the user dispels them, if they go further than half a mile away from the original, or if they are dealt a fatal blow. All in all the shadow clone technique was extremely useful and something that Alice needed to learn, no longer just because there would be three of her in this world.

Alice sat there memorizing the info within the scroll for roughly forty-five minutes or so before finally closing it and deciding to put what she learned into practice. With the scroll clutched tight in her right hand, the young Nara slid off the branch and landed gracefully on the ground below. If she were in a competition the judges would have definitely rated her landing a ten out of ten. Anyway, Alice tucked the scroll safely away into her bra and began to focus her chakra in a similar manner to how she would in order to perform the E rank clone technique. In her mind she kept a perfect image of herself as she did so. The girl closed her eyes and focused on the task at hand, her breathing became deep and purposeful. After a few short moments her hands came together to form the very sign she had seen illustrated in the scroll not much earlier. There was a small cloud of smoke that enveloped the immediate area around her. When it cleared, there were two figures other than herself standing where the smoke had been. She couldn't exactly call them clones, though. They were more like poorly drawn versions of herself done by a six year old boy. Frowning at her failed attempt, Alice released the 'clones' and refocused herself.

Once again Alice brought her hands together to create the clone seal. Again, there was a cloud of smoke surrounding her. This time, however, the two figures that were created were definitely shadow clones. Without a doubt they were perfect copies of her already perfect self. Smirking at each other, each with their hands on their hips, the three Alice's winked at each other in unison. "Now this is what I call a party." said the original.

One of the two clones responded nonchalantly, "I knew you could do it. You are a genius after all." 

WC: 1,089

Sleep had become a thing of the past ever since Akane had found out that she possessed a bloodline. She couldn't help but think about it for hours on end, wondering who her parents were and if there were any other people who had the same abnormal abilities as her. Akane had become sick of just lying in bed restless, doing nothing. She had decided that it'd be better to do something productive like training.

The young woman would rise from her bed and would put her hair up into a ponytail and would throw on her casual clothing. Akane didn't want to waste any time getting ready and wanted to use every minute she had as best she could. She would exit the building from where she left and would begin walking to the forest thinking about what technique she should train. She thought that it'd probably be best to finish training the technique that she had begun training in her training session with Ryou, the Mind Eye of the Kagura. It would be quite a useful technique to learn as it would allow her to detect Chakra Signatures around her which would prove to be quite useful on stealth-related missions.

Once she had reached they typically spot she trained in she would see Alice, the mysterious girl that she had met when she was with Kazuo and Ezra and once during a meeting with the newly found group Hitsuyō Aku. It seemed that she was training a technique that dealt with clones as there were three of her there. Akane would begin to approach the girl and would greet her with a simple "Hello". Akane would then sit down against a tree and wait for a response from the young lady hoping that she would possibly want to train with Akane or would like to spar with her. Although if she didn't that was alright, she had plenty of other ways to train.

The three Alice's turned at this point to see yet another familiar face. It was a pretty face too, but not as pretty as Alice's of course. Even so, Alice had to admit this girl was cute. It was Akane, one of the group he had traveled through the land of shadow with. If she remembered correctly, which was always the case, this girl was about evenly matched in chakra capacity with Alice, but the Nara had yet to see the girl's actual skill level. She was slowly making her way through the entire group and measuring each of their individual strengths and weaknesses. So far she had gotten a decent reading on Ezra, Ryou and Faith, but hadn't had the opportunity to test the others just yet. Sure, she had tagged along with this 'Hitsuyo Aku' for now, but that didn't mean she was just going to blindly follow that Ren person and work alongside these guys toward a goal she didn't even believe in.

"Akane." the original said with a smile and a wink. "What brings your pretty little self out here at this hour?" one of the clones asked. The second clone sauntered over to the girl at this point and plopped herself down in the girl's lap, hanging her left arm over the girl's shoulder and putting her face what was probably uncomfortably close to Akane's. "I bet you saw me leaving this morning and took your chance to have some alone time with me, riiiight?" the clone who was sitting on the girl's lap said teasingly as she caressed Akane's neckline with the index finger on her right hand.

WC: 274

Akane would turn red when Alice began questioning her and sat in her lap. It seemed that Alice was the type that liked to mess with people and tease them. "I just can't sleep ever since I found out that I have a bloodline, I really want to figure out what clan I belong to and to learn how to control the bloodline." Akane would say before lifting the young girl's clone off her lap and rising from her position. She would then look at Alice and would ask "Would you like to spar?" If Alice was just going to mess with her Akane was going to have to be the one to ask her to spar.

If Alice accepted her offer she would position herself around ten meters away from Alice and would prepare to defend whatever attacks came her way. She didn't know what kind of abilities Alice possessed so she had to be wary of her. Hopefully, Alice wasn't stronger than she appeared because the last time she fought somebody like that she was almost beat to a pulp. It would be better if she stuck with people on her own skill level for the time being. Akane didn't want to end up in the hospital and to be excluded from any missions that Hitsuyō Aku may take.

Found out she had a bloodline, but doesn't know what it is? How does that even happen? This girl really was a curiosity. In fact it made Alice curious about it herself. What kind of potential did Akane actually have that Alice could use to her advantage later on. The girl casually removed the clone from her lap and stood up, asking the original Alice for a spar and completely ignoring the flirtatious clone. 

"You're no fun!" the clone said pouting and folding her arms across her chest. "But at least with a spar I can still get up close and....personal with you." she continued with yet another wink. Next, the original Alice answered. "Sure. I'm curious to see just what you can do. Especially knowing you have some sort of bloodline that you're not too sure of just yet. How could I possibly turn down an opportunity to see what that is!?" she said with sincere enthusiasm. With the answer having been decided, Akane positioned herself about ten meters away from Alice and took up some kind of stance. Alice the original stood with her arms folded across her chest now, focusing her eyes on Akane. The two clones each stood in front of Alice, one slightly to the right and one slightly to the left. "Are you ready?" the trio of Alices asked in unison. If Akane gave any sign that she was, then they would begin.

Both clones would quickly reach into the kunai holders on their right and left legs respectively and, in one swift motion, throw a single kunai each at Akane aimed at each of her shoulders. At the same time this was happening, the original would have brought her hands together to form the Tiger hand seal, a thick mist expanding outward from the Nara to cover the area.

WC: 306

Alice's flirting would begin to fluster Akane. She had never been romantically involved with anyone or ever been hit on. The years alone in the barren desert of the Land of Wind would finally take its toll, something so simple would cause such great distress. Luckily, she could take her mind off of Alice's comments and begin to focus on their spar. When Akane nodded in response to Alice to tell her she was ready to spar she would almost instantaneously hear the clanking of metal before her vision was cut off by a shroud of mist.

Akane would quickly jump to the side to avoid any kunai, shuriken or any other metal objects that could be thrown her way and then would quickly perform the technique Mind Eye of the Kagura. Sadly she wouldn't be able to detect anything through the thick mist that was likely infused with Alice's chakra. Not knowing if Alice moved Akane would turn to Alice's last known location and would perform a Horse hand seal and then a Tiger hand seal while sucking in as much air as she could before puckering up her lips releasing a fireball from them.

Hopefully, the fireball would hit but even if it didn't Alice would have to move from her position if she hadn't moved any since the fight began. It would provide Akane with some time to perform the Haze Clone Technique, she would quickly perform the dog and tiger hand seals before creating five intangible clones of herself. Upon creating the clones she would move five meters to her right and would allow the clones to wander through the mist in an attempt to confuse Alice.

From the position she was in it was easy for the original Alice to simply readjust her fingers slightly to form them into the Rat hand seal. Her shadow extended outward to connect to the shadows of her clones. She was certain that Akane had managed to dodge the two kunai that were thrown her way, a simple test really to see how talented the girl was. The downside to using the Hidden Mist technique, however, was that Alice couldn't see through it either. At least her chakra senses would be an adequate way of determining where her opponent went while they would have a hard time figuring out her exact location. 

So it was no wonder that Alice was able to sense Akane's movement's. The girl hadn't gone very far, only moving just out of the path of the thrown ninja weapons. One of the two clones began to run in a semicircle toward Akane's right, the other standing at the ready in front of the original to take any attack coming Alice's way head on. It wasn't long before she did just that. An immense heat was felt first, followed immediately by a large fireball coming from within the mist. The clone simply stood her ground, taking the impact of the fire style attack so the original wouldn't be hurt and then disappeared in a cloud of smoke the same way she had come. 

By this time the clone that had ran into the mist would be about 4 meters to Akane's right, forming the Rat seal herself and extending her own shadow toward the young girl at an incredible rate. Her presence was masked by the thick mist still hanging around. It was a great way to get off any surprise attack. Hopefully, if the clone had done her job well, Akane would soon be trapped within the Nara clan's Shadow Imitation Technique. 

WC: 316
TWC: 1,985

Before Akane could finish performing the hand seals for the Haze Clone Technique she would become unable to move her body whatsoever. It seemed that she had been trapped in a technique and that if she was unable to move she had lost the spar. As Akane stood there, unable to move she would try to move but all her attempts would become futile. She was trapped and she wasn't going to be able to get out unless Alice released the technique or unless Akane found a way that she could break free from it.

As Akane stood there paralyzed she would wait for Alice to emerge from the mist and claim her victory. Hopefully, Alice wouldn't take advantage of Akane while she was vulnerable to anything that was thrown her way. Akane didn't know Alice that well and didn't know what she was capable of doing or what she would possibly do. Akane had never felt so vulnerable before. She was unable to see and she was unable to move. She was a prisoner of Alice's technique, a technique that she needed to learn to get out of or at least a technique that she needed to learn to avoid. If she couldn't learn to counter the technique she'd never be able to win against Alice.

[WC: 224]

It didn't take long for Alice to realize her clone's shadow had connected to Akane's. She felt the connection between them immediately. It was almost as if there were some kind of spark, some sort of chemistry in play between the two....oh wait, wrong kind of connection. Anyway the shadow imitation technique had done its job, and Alice figured out she could use her newly mastered shadow clones as disposable meat shields as well as taking a tactical advantage over the field. Very nice indeed. The clone simply stood it's ground now, not moving at all so that Akane would be forced to do the same. The mist would also disperse at this point, Alice no longer had any need of it now that she had won the match. Besides, what fun would it be if Akane couldn't see what Alice was doing to her? 

With the mist lifted and everyone's vision fully restored, Alice the original made her way over to Akane. She walked at a slow, purposeful pace; a mischievous smile adorned her face as she did so. "Oh, how fun!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together as she stopped just a few short feet away from the poor girl who was now completely at her mercy. She began to circle Akane now, getting closer as she did so until she was caressing the girl's neckline with her left index finger while she walked. She traced the collar line of the girl's shirt, biting her lip and taking in the girl's form as she moved. "The wonderful things I could do to you right now.....And you wouldn't be able to do a thing about it! Ugh! The images in my head..." Was it just teasing that Alice was doing now? Or was it something more...maybe some sort of sadistic tendency that had reared its ugly head after so long? Alice wasn't even sure herself anymore. Still, she stopped circling Akane and stood directly in front of her. Alice was leaning in closer and closer, her face mere inches away from her cohort's now. To Akane, it would look like the girl was trying to kiss her. The thought had even crossed Alice's mind for a moment, but she kept leaning in further instead, her lips brushing against Akane's left ear now. "This was fun. Let's do it again sometime, ok?" she whispered seductively before skipping backward quickly and tucking her hands behind her back. 

The clone now disappeared in a cloud of smoke, it was no longer necessary anymore. Of course, that meant that Akane had completely regained her full range of movement as well, no longer being trapped by the shadow imitation technique. "Thanks for the workout!" Alice exclaimed, winking as she did so. 

WC: 457
TWC: 2,442

Akane had never bene so uncomfortable in her life. The way Alice was speaking to her and caressing her neck made her feel so vulnerable, vulnerable to the point where she could probably cry. Akane's face would turn a bright red color and she'd struggle in an attempt to break free of Alice's technique but would fail. She'd have to wait for Alice to rid of her clone or get her clone to end the technique which would probably take a while. Luckily, it didn't.

When Alice thanked her for the work out Akane would say, "You're welcome and thank you for the workout. I should get back home now though, I need to bathe and get ready for the day." Akane would then dash off in the direction of where she was staying, making sure that she got out of Alice's sight as quickly as possible.

[TWC: 1,191]
[Exit]
Claiming:
5 stats
2623/4000 for Mind Eye of Kagura