A Witty Training Title [Open]

Book over his face, one hand on his chest the other in the air, legs both apart as far as they could be, Yuuki was truly enjoying his good night's sleep. Of course, that was one of the benefits of having no parents, staying up late as much as one wanted to. When the boy finally awoke, he would realise that the world was still covered in darkness after opening his eyes, and that there was a strange item pressuring his cheeks and nose. Finally, after minutes of consideration and deep thinking, Yuuki removed the book and looked over himself, realising he was already dressed, having never undressed. He was reading about Konoha from a book he got out of the library, particularly the clans of Konoha, particularly the Hyuuga, and their Gentle Fist. He made his way to the training grounds after having what he could for breakfast. He wasn't really a breakfast person, he preferred dinner, and thankfully he had remembered to have dinner last night. The book in his pouch, along with the rest of his ninja-y items, his headband proudly standing on his forehead as the rays of the sun reflected off of it. He was a genin now, which meant real training could begin. He just wasn't super pumped about training all by himself, since he still wasn't in a team. Oh well, Yuuki thought, if he could manage training by himself while he was in the Academy, he could manage some more time. He wasn't really a loner since birth, it was just that the incident at the village he lived in for most of his life turned his eyes away from socialisation, and towards gathering strength, so that he could actually protect those he wanted to befriend. And strength came from training, even if he was by himself. Today, he was determined, he would manage to apply lightning to a technique, and he knew just what technique he had in mind. As he reached the straw training dummy, he formed the handseals, tiger, then dog, without thinking about them, it was too early to be thinking about them, before he hit it hard in what would be its jaw, before hitting it once again in what would be its stomach, if it had such a thing. He tried to apply lightning to the second move, alas he was not successful. He wasn't even sure how to go about doing it, he just imagined lightning circling his palm, since he was hitting the second strike with his palm, since that was what Hyuuga's did, apparently. If he had a teacher this would've gone so many times faster, he thought as he tried again, failing.

WC: 450, 450/1200 for Raiton: Jodan

Was there some secret he was supposed to be told after graduating the Academy? Some well-kept, never-before-heard secret that only the shinobi of the world knew about manipulating elements, and they would never, ever say it out loud unless it was only to another shinobi? The boy performed the handseals again, punching once near the head of the dummy before striking its stomach again, failing to produce any lightning. He was sure of it, there was something he wasn't being told that could greatly improve his performance. Just what could it be? Did he have to say something specific before performing the handseals? Or afterwards? He was so focused on hitting the dummy and imagining the lightning as vividly as he possibly could that he hadn't even noticed the man come up near him. How was he even supposed to imagine lightning around his palm, he'd never seen lightning that wasn't chaotic and coming from the sky reaching miles and miles. This was dumb, he thought as he heard the voice come from behind him and jumped a little. Due to the timing of his training, considering there was nobody to stop him from going out, he wasn't expecting anyone to be around, but as much as he was surprised, he was glad. Although that joy would soon turn to anxiousness as he realised, perhaps he wasn't supposed to be out at this time? Was there some curfew for genins he didn't know about? How much didn't he know about being a ninja, he wondered. 

"Yuuki. Hyuuga. Hyuuga Yuuki. Sir. Genin of Hoshigakure." The boy gulped as he moved a foot or two backwards and hit the dummy with his back. The chuunin was intimidating to the young one, to say the least, and he completely forgot how much he disliked being called a Hyuuga, and how rarely he introduced himself as one.  Long black hair found its way down the chuunin's neck and there seemed to be a scarf surrounding it as well. Was something moving beneath the scarf? Yuuki wondered as he decided to look away from it and into the intimidating man's eyes. He was pretty sure he saw the scarf move on its own, unless his eyes cheated him, which didn't happen often, thanks to his Hyuuga heritage. No, there couldn't be anything beneath there, he was sure of it, his eyes were just playing a trick on him for a moment there. Then the chuunin spoke again and Yuuki sighed in relief. He wasn't going to be punished for not being in bed, thankfully, and what was even better, the man only seemed to want to help out with the boy's training. What a strange man, so intimidating at first, but nice underneath, or at least Yuuki assumed he was, he couldn't really tell thanks to the man's expression switching from a serious one to a smirk in an instant. 

"I'd really appreciate it, I'm supposed to be adding lightning to my fist, but I don't really know what I'm doing anymore. Nor how I'm supposed to succeed." He said, this time more calmly than before, thinking of how lucky he was to receive some help from a chuunin. Being a chuunin, the man must have known how to apply an element to a technique. How was one supposed to turn chakra, which was a combination of spiritual and physical energy, into an element, especially something as crazily chaotic as lightning? "If I may ask, how did you first manage to use an element in a technique? I wasn't troubled by controlling chakra until I first tried applying lightning." He would say, calming down more as he talked. Yuuki was, at the core of his being, a social person, only he wasn't going to admit it so easily. He wanted to be a loner, to not care about others, and to simply view them as obstacles or tools, but he couldn't do it. He wasn't a sociopathic kid, after all. 

WC: 668, 1118/1200

For the past few hours he had been staring into a book he had received from his fox family via a courier, the contents holding a few texts from his father when he had been writing down his notes on the techniques that he had developed. Thinking it only right the male should have owned this one and only copy, he had been spending much of his time reading over it. For the same reason his fox companion had been simply staring at the boy curious as to what he had been gaining from the texts in the first place, but with each page flipped the smile was apparent on the males face," He was smart. All of these uses for lightning and fuuinjutsu...," his eyes had never been so bright before that it almost began to be creepy to the young fox.

For a moment it was silent until he closed the book and sighed, he needed to stretch his body a bit. Grabbing the haori he threw it over his sleeping shirt and grabbed his kunai pouch as he stepped out of his room in the palace and headed out to the gardens. Luckily for him there were a few people in the training grounds of the water gardens and one he knew already. Walking over to the group of two he yawned and looked at them," What exactly are you two doing here so early?"

A small chuckle would escape the chunins lips as he was asked that particular question. “I’m afraid I have no experience in channeling elemental chakra into an actual ninjutsu or taijutsu. I use my sword to great effect you see. But that doesn’t mean that you cannot be helped. I’ll let my friend here explain, she should have some insight.” He would say as he himself began to focus heavily on his own chakra in the surrounding area. He kept his mind sharp toward the possibilities of space and time. Trying to let his mind think outside the box for how this chakra had to act and react to everything around it. It couldn’t just brute force through everything. Intelligence and finesse would be needed here. Which was something Valen used in spades. He felt his chakra begin to tear into the world around him and if the boy had any sensitive abilities toward chakra sensory at all he might feel the shift in the air as Valen began to try and take command of his own space time to a great scale. He wanted to begin his journey toward training in his new specialty soon but for that to happen he’d need to focus on how the chakra control for space time is to work so that he could learn the techniques of the higher echelons of space time ninjutsu.


As he began to focus on his chakra and his personal space time Natsumi would decide to play a little prank. As he began to focus she’d dart out at the boy from the confines of the  cloak, stretching across the distance to land in front of the boy in a coiled mass on the ground. “Well hello friend” She would begin with a hiss and a small flickering of her tongue. “As a summon animal we generally have to use our elemental natures to our advantage in combat quite often. I might be able to lend some assistance.” She would say as she nodded her head matter of factly. “I can definitely say that channeling your elemental chakra into an attack is in fact a bit more difficult.” She would continue, making sure she had the boys attention. “Don’t be afraid to overcharge the technique to see how much you need. In most cases working down works quite well. Unless you’re dealing with truly destructive techniques.” She would say as she decided to lay out on the grassy training ground, enjoying the feel of the grass on his snake skin for the moment. She’d decide to go back to Valen in a moment, it was far too cold at night for her so she wanted the body heat that he provided while she was wrapped around his neck under the cloaks high collar.


Meanwhile Valen himself was quickly getting the hand of his personal time space. Did techniques that involves space and time work by using your own time space area to force through another? Did it work by bending it around it? Subverting it? He’d have so many things to test and try that it would truly be an enlightening experience to work it out. One her personally couldn’t wait to delve into. The more he thought about what the possibilities of space time techniques could hold the more he realized that they might be nearly limitless. He felt his chakra spike in his emotional excitement before realizing that he was using too much and probably making a scene. He had done quite enough for today anyway, so he brought his chakra back in, or let it dissipate if we’re being honest with ourselves. This would result in the chakra flow to his control of his time space would degrade to finally reaching zero. This had the effect of removing any adverse effects from the area. At this point he would turn to Yuuki and nod his head. “Sorry, got a little excited there..” He’d say with a small smile and a shrug. It was a productive night already and it was just getting started.


At this point Natsumi would slither up Valen’s leg and move up his body to curl around his neck once more. Her cold skin sending a chill through his body due to the cold night air. After a moment she warmed up and stayed on her perch while Valen looked to Yuuki. “I’m going to train you in a few things, sound good?” He’d say as he brought his hands up into a hand seal. The Tiger hand seal to be specific. Probably the single most versatile seal out of all of them. He’d then take in a deep breath before speaking. “Activate your byakugan young Hyuuga, look at how the chakra flows and bends to my will. Watch how the chakra for this technique moves through my system.” He would say as he released a small amount of chakra throughout his body. The chakra would explode outward, disrupting his chakra flow and if he were caught in a genjutsu, would release him immediately provided he had strong enough chakra to do so. “I can’t test you by placing you in a genjutsu, I lack the talent for it..so far..but you’ll know if it works by the wave of chakra that should release from your body upon completion of the technique. I want to see you do it twice.” He would instruct, his eyes keenly observing the boys reactions to his sudden decision to train him in a few things as if the boy didn’t have a choice. He’d see how the boy reacted to sudden things like that. Granted he doubted he would decline. It’s not often a fellow shinobi has the time and inclination to train someone. Most would almost assuredly jump at the opportunity. Granted while Valen could not teach him anything about the Hyuuga, he could assist him in a few other weak taijutsu techniques, and act as a moving target for the boys techniques as well. This would probably be an acceptable arrangement for him. He could see how much work he could get done in one night.


At this moment young Kazuhiro would come up and ask what they were doing. Valen would smile at the young boy he’d met a day or two prior by the lake “I was out for a stroll and some personal training. My chunin duties make it difficult for me to find the time. Yuuki here was out training it would seem. I decided to assist.” He would say, quickly after Natsumi would poke her head out of the cloak and loot at him. “Natsumi was helping him a lot too of course..” He would addend and she would nod her head lazily and slink back into his cloak to the safety of the warm article of clothing. “What might you be doing out so early Kaz? Shouldn’t you be at the palace?” He’d ask with a raised eyebrow in curiosity. His crimson eyes carefully looking around for any other possible visitors. He usually didn’t run into a single person here at night, much less two.


WC: 1186
TWC: 2215
(Post order as I see it so far is Yuuki next, then Kaz, than Me again for references sake)
(Yuuki you do get to learn genjutsu release with 250 words, try to make at least half of them about the training please. Kaz, obviously I've timelined us for after our current thread.)
Mid thread claim for 11 stats and Space/Time spec please and thank you.

It was just his luck that surely the only chuunin to have so little experience with elements was the one he'd encountered. But still, he was a chuunin, meaning he would've been told any secret that may have existed. So Yuuki was relieved, strangely, that it was only his own issues that caused him to fail, instead of it being something bigger than just himself. He preferred to be the reason for both his successes and his fails, not have it be something he couldn't control. Still, the more he thought about it, the more the thought of being bummed out came to him. It was just his own fault that he couldn't manage the lightning punch-thing. He closed his eyes briefly in an effort to avoid unnecessary emotions and managed to fail to notice the man's concentration, or the fact that he mentioned a friend. In ordinary circumstances, Yuuki would've wondered where that friend might've been hiding, but these were no ordinary circumstances, and as he opened his eyes he was met with a snake jumping at him from what seemed to be nowhere. Just as it fell to the floor Yuuki would raise his hands in an attempt to protect himself, only to realise he failed yet again, this time miserably, considering that, if the snake wanted to, it could've killed him already. This really wasn't his night, he thought as the snake talked.

He didn't know snakes could talk, much less be friendly. He always imagined that if snakes could talk, they'd be cold and manipulating towards anyone they talked to, also very calculating, and controlled, but this snake seemed warm (for a cold-blooded creature) and rather, well, not what he'd expected. Summon animal, Yuuki thought as she said it, he had practically no idea what those were. He knew of a summoning jutsu that allowed one to summon items and weapons, but an animal? Still, the young Hyuuga listened with glowing eyes as she talked about overcharging the technique, with what he assumed she meant the element. Up until this point, he was afraid of getting hurt by the lightning he summoned, only he didn't even know it. He thought that if he created too much, or left the lightning out for too long, it might cause him troubles, but apparently, according to the summon snake, that wasn't the case. According to her, who Yuuki assumed had no specific name, considering no snake he'd ever met had one, he could go crazy with the lightning, and eventually the right amount would come to him. The boy would nod as she spoke, getting less and less afraid of her by the second. He had to admit, at first, he was terrified of a talking snake, but she seemed nice enough. 

"I think I get it." Yuuki said as she returned to her master, and soon afterwards he would turn around towards the dummy, since Valen seemed focused on something else, form the handseals once more and hit it straight in the would-be chin, before channeling his chakra into his palm, and hitting it once more, this time burning some of the straw off of it, due to the lightning that emerged from his palm before he even hit it. He got it, he actually got it, the boy rejoiced, smiling wide as he turned around once more towards Valen with a look that asked for recognition. Whether the chuunin recognised what he did or not, Yuuki would still decide to practice the attack later on, instead of right away, since apparently Valen had something to tell him. He wanted to...train him...in a few things? The boy's head tilted to the left just the tiniest bit as he looked at the chuunin. Shouldn't he be too busy, doing chuunin things and whatnot, to train a newly-made genin? Eh, don't look a gift horse in the mouth, or something like that, the boy supposed as he smiled once more. He was smiling an awful lot this night, not that it bothered him. 

"Yes, good, sounds good, thank you." He mumbled out right before he was told to activate his byakugan. He wondered how Valen knew he had already awakened it, considering the books said the ages at which people awaken their doujutsu vary from person to person. Maybe the book was outdated, and it was normal for a Hyuuga to awaken it by his age? Still, his thoughts were wandering and he decided to return to reality, where he activated his byakugan within a split second while closing and opening his eyes immediately. It was second nature for him by this point, considering he did it for practice almost every day since he activated it for the first time. His eyes wandered around the man's body, although he wasn't actually looking at his body, he was looking at the flow of his chakra as he made a handseal. The chakra seemed to explode outwards, encircling the boy and he realised immediately what it meant. Without forming the seals, he released the genjutsu. Byakugan seemed to be rather useful, considering, using just a little bit of his brain, he could realise what kind of technique someone was going to use by the way their chakra flew through the air. Yuuki gave off a vibe of pride as he was released of the genjutsu, having already learned and mastered that technique, being able to use it even without handseals. It was the only one he did, so why not show off a little, although Valen did say he wasn't yet proficient with genjutsu. 

The boy had already accepted the man was going to train him, and thanks to his byakugan, he wasn't going to be surprised easily, so he simply looked Valen in the eyes this time, deactivating the doujutsu as he kept his smirk on his face. "Genjutsu release. It was the first non-mandatory technique I learned at the Academy." He said as he noticed someone else was arriving. More company, the boy didn't know whether that was a good or a bad thing. Yuuki nodded after Valen explained what was happening, he didn't want to repeat after the man, thus he stayed quiet for the moment. The young Hyuuga did wonder though, who was this other boy, Kaz, and how did Valen and him know each other. Another thing that the boy wondered was of course what exactly was a summon animal. And how did the snake know how to talk. And what was the chuunin going to teach him next? His mind was wondering a lot of things, as it turned out, hopefully he'd get an answer to some of them soon. At least he knew now that the snake's name was Natsumi. 

"Natsumi?" He would say after the introduction of Kaz was over, as he looked towards Valen's scarf. It was strange, staring at someone's neck, he never really did that. "What exactly is a summon animal?" He would ask if the snake decided to give him attention. He didn't want to be rude and ask something like What are you, but at the same time he wanted to be direct enough so that she knew what he was talking about. It was complicated, but then again, the boy's mind always was.

WC: 1215, 2333
Midthread claiming 11 stats and Raiton: Jodan (link above)
Also, I already have Genjutsu Release mastered, but still thanks

His footsteps stopped just short of Valen, a few meters at best as he held onto the book before placing it in the safety of his ninja pouch. For some reason seeing a familiar face was more than acceptable to him and even at night when no one was really here it usually meant something good could come of it. When he had been asked why he was out here so late he shrugged and rocked on his heels," Koan heard voices out in the gardens so I came to check it out. There aren't that many people that come out here during the night so I thought it was either some ninja or someone trying to cause trouble. Luckily it was the first option. Also I don't have a bedtime even if I am a "child" to them I have never had one and i won't necessarily adhere to one either. So here I am," a small but brief chuckle left his lips as he looked toward the other male and said nothing more. Someone he didn't know but judging from his looks or at least to Kaz, he appeared to have just left the academy.

Looking back toward Valen for a moment he wanted to ask if he could assist him in learning some things for this exam he needed to take at some point, but given that he was already out here he didn't need to wait to find him," Mind me joining the two of you in your training? I kind of have some big exam coming up and I think I should train a bit more before going into it. After all if I could possibly learn a few more things before it starts, it'll be good. Me and my partner here like to be prepared for anything and even if I don't necessarily know the people i'm going to be taking this with, better safe than sorry right?," as if on cue the small fox would have appeared on his head waving at Valen with a small hello shortly following his wave. The two were definitely inseparable in the sense that one usually didn't go far without the other, but unfortunately a certain fox liked to explore without his younger brother.

Koan? The boy wondered, as he hadn't seen anyone around. Was there someone he didn't know about that had also joined them? Perhaps there was, since the other boy continued talking without explaining who exactly Koan was. Valen seemed to know, but he wouldn't tell either, he just offered to train them in whatever field they wished. Yuuki didn't know exactly what he wanted to do, he had several jutsus he wanted to learn in mind, but he could manage them all by himself, and he didn't want to force the chuunin to do what he didn't want to. He obviously wasn't a fan of nature transformation jutsus, although those were the ones the young Hyuuga was most interested in right now, after figuring out how to create lightning out of thin air. If it came up, he'd mention it, but he wouldn't force it. What he was more interested though was uncovering this Koan's identity, but just as he was about to throw himself at the problem in an attempt to figure out all possibilities, a small fox appeared on top of the boy's head. A fox that could wave? He didn't want to know, it was another summon animal, wasn't it? Everyone had a summon animal, everyone but him. What exactly even was a summon animal, he wondered before asking Natsumi the exact question. He was quick to ask questions, at least.

He nodded at the explanation, his thoughts already racing across each and every animal he knew of, thinking whether or not there was a summon clan, race, or whatever it was specifically called, of them. He always liked birds, though he thought of birds as arrogant. Perhaps they were different, like the snake was different from what he thought it would be? Who knew? Well, someone, somewhere, probably had a contract with a bird summon clan, he'd decided to go with clan, out there, if it existed. It would be weird if every clan didn't have at least one summoner. Since there should be more shinobi than species of animals in the world, if Yuuki's math was right. And it probably was, considering math always came easily to the boy. Unlike nature transformation. He could imagine himself summoning an animal though, a majestic animal, a wonderfully beautiful and powerful animal. He just had no idea which one. He was only beginning to develop as a ninja, so he had no idea what his needs actually were, or which animal would suit them. He only knew that he would like to become a summoner one day. One day, he'd like a lot of things, it seemed.

"I would prefer to learn more about the lightning style, but if that's not your strong suit, anything you two want to do is fine with me." He would say with a small and honest smile. He didn't smile honestly often, although he smiled from other reasons far too much. He smirked, he laughed, he grinned, but he rarely offered a true honest smile of genuine happiness. And he had someone to teach him now, which was more than enough for one of those. He recognised that he wasn't on the same level as his teacher and his learning partner over there, but still, that was how one got stronger, by overcoming obstacles in the form of people. Or so he believed.

WC: 564, 697 (stats), 1697 (jutsu, if I end up training any at least) ((I like to count everything, don't judge me))

There was a few things he wanted to learn for sure, but there was one thing he needed as a just in case. Since he was a ninja taught by foxes he knew of their tricks that dealt in genjutsu. He knew of a technique that would help he get through them in the event someone tried to put him in one," I think I would need both the genjutsu release technique and shadow clone. The reason i know of these two is because one was mentioned to me by my foster family before I came here and the shadow clone technique I learned of by reading. Figured these two would be beneficial to me in the long run, especially the shadow clone technique. So if you could teach me the both of those i'd like that very much," he kept his words short and brief as he looked at the snake for a brief moment and smiled. Another summoning race he had the pleasure of meeting and it would be the second time he had an opportunity to slightly observe it. Natsumi...That was a pretty snake like name and now that he thought of it, he thought he heard about the previous Hogokage having an affinity for the snake summons. Whether or not that was true was not his present concern, for now he would focus solely on learning what he needed to and maybe testing them out in a later date.