Repeating, of Course [IO,nk,Jaye]

Breeding plants was easy enough. Grafting plants was also fun. All you had to do was learn how plant life worked in the first place. For example, genes for things like pod shape and trichome density were easy to track and easy to cross. But when it came to ninjutsu, things became a little bit harder. After all, it wasn't like growing a piece of wood and shooting it at someone was as easy as growing grass or bean plants. And it was at this point that Kiichi found himself. Stuck, that is, and in need of help, or at the very least, inspiration.

There was an aspect to this that he didn't quite get. He was a smart kid, but not some kind of super prodigy, as much as he wished he was. Still, lack of talent could be supplemented by hard work, so he decided to get started. As it was, the day was not bad for a northern village whose culture was just starting to take off. There was sun, so at least he had that much. A bit drowsy from having just woken up, Kiichi wandered outside, ready to take on the day's tasks. What he could accomplish today would be up to his own luck and efforts, like the old ones said nonstop. 

He wandered out to an old farm space that wasn't being used anymore, and scooped up a handful of soil. He knew that eventually, he'd have to start growing mokuton techniques from nothing, but for now, he needed a seed as a base. In every unit of soil, there were so many resources for him to use, so he wouldn't lack for much. After a bit of time, he managed to pick out a small corn seed. There hadn't been enough moisture to make it germinate yet, and he knew that he could start to affect it with chakra, so he took it back to his room with him.

This wasn't a bad start. He sat down cross legged on the floor of his room, and held the seed in his left hand, focusing bits of chakra into it at a time. This required some sensitivity, he knew, since giving it too much could yield undesirable and lesser results. So, he did it carefully, stopping now and then to peek at the kernel and measure his results. Nothing until about five minutes in...

The seed split open on one end, and a small tendril appeared. Yes! He'd done it. Slowly, he was getting stronger, even if he couldn't feel it. He knew he had talent, he absolutely had to, but he just needed to find good avenues to tap into it. With that, he decided to head straight to the training grounds. Hopefully, he'd find someone there interesting enough to help him tone up a little. With a strong body came great stamina, which he could tap into, considering his lineage. He just needed a little help, and a little motivation, after all.

[501]

The second day since his arrival in this strange village and he still felt out of place. The first was filled with something akin to morbid curiosity about the place, his eyes looking around as he walked to take in more of the scenery. At this point no one had bothered to stare at him for some reason, either because he didn't look like a ninja or looked like a bum. The ever tired expression of the male stayed hidden within his cloak as he walked about, small yawns escaping from his lips here and there until he had stopped at a small place for some breakfast. The shop owner, who at first looked at the male skeptically, took his order of something simple. A small sandwich and water would soothe him all the same until lunch came around, his lunches were after all the biggest part of his meal intake. For whatever reason he ate small in the morning and evening yet when the afternoon came he was as hungry as the spirit of Gluttony.

He still hadn't forgotten about the churches and various religions in this place, one so he could have sworn had no place in this time but who was he to judge. Some cosmic power decided it to be so and so it was. As his sandwich came out to him followed by the glass of tap water he examined it thoroughly for any inconsistencies that might have arrived. Plain bread slices, two pieces of ham, some kind of cheese and condiments. Yep basic sandwich was obtained and he ate it in silence before finishing off the water alongside it rather quickly. He paid for the food with the amount of ryo he still had left over from before Shiroi had gave him the upfront cash, his pockets hurting at least until she paid him the rest for whatever this venture had gained from it.

Feeling satisfied and a little better, the brown haired male made his way out of the small shop he thought of a good idea. Why not go and do something minor, like training? The last time was rather fruitful and he managed to learn a little more about the village as a whole. So maybe this time he would find some other person who would be generous enough to speak with him or at least entertain the thought. So on fluttered feet he went taking his trusty staff and placing it onto his right shoulder before walking onward. Luckily he already knew the way so it was probably for the best that he didn't stop and ask for directions. After shortly arriving he took the time to look around once more, this time to see the amount of people rather than what they were doing. With the hood still on his head he moved over to a nearby post and began simple stretches to improve his breathing before doing anything.

Arriving at the training grounds, he found it to be a little more crowded than he would normally have liked. Oh well, he'd just have to deal with it. He wanted to do some chakra training, but he was distracted by a brown-haired fellow with a staff. He didn't seem like a Hoshi ninja, since he lacked the headband, but he was clearly here for a reason. Mmmph.... he sat down in an unoccupied corner, and placed one of his hands on the ground. He wanted to perfect the wood cutting technique first, as it would give him at least some small amount of offensive power. To do that, however, he should probably get a good comprehension of water and earth release techniques. 

He decided to start with earth. He began to meditate, slowly gaining comprehension of the earth element. He'd already done some training in accordance with the element itself, but now he had to think about how to apply this. Theory was all very well and good, but he had to put his knowledge and relatively powerful chakra to use. He decided to go with the list he had searched up in the library earlier that week. Whoever had founded that library must have been some kind of genius.

He gripped some soil in his palm, and focused on changing some of its properties. Make it more dense, perhaps? Create stones to attack his enemies! Yeah, that could be a good first step. He slammed the dirt-filled palm into the ground, and concentrated his chakra. However much he wanted to make it denser, however, it just ended up becoming more loose and sandy. Fuck! Maybe this soil had too much silt in it. But that didn't make any sense, really, since these were training grounds BUILT for ninja kids. 

Gritting his teeth, Kozogami would try again. Rather, he tried harder. This time around, the earth responded to him a lot faster, gathering together and solidifying, compressing a process that could have taken years into mere seconds. It came to Kozogami that jutsu required precision, not just wild chakra-throwing. He'd keep this in mind as a lesson for next time, he thought, as his field of vision was suddenly filled with the rock that he had just created, as it shot up toward his face. He must have been too absent-minded.... he quickly jerked his head out of the way as the rock was sent shooting up into the air, down towards the head of the staff wielding fellow nearby. 

Oh, crap! Kiichi hastily stood up.

"Errr... sorry about that!" He yelled at the dude. Even if the man did move out of the way, the results of his own space-iness had intruded on somebody else's training space. Either way, the rock had still been somewhat different than the other ones he'd tried to make in practice before. It wasn't just more dense, it was like some kind of extra weight had been added to it. Still, he had to worry about fending off the wrath of the staff guy first...

[1013]

As he slowly began to notice, the area began to come alive with many types of people and in his eyes that had been good. Some had been mere students judging from the no head bands and the others were either fresh genin or just above that. The daily life of a shinobi didn't actually interest him though it was curious to see what they would have thought of a person like himself. He went back to focusing on his own training while keeping aware of his own surroundings for one did not need to be pelted with a shuriken or kunai on accident. Speaking off he had noticed a few doing ninjutsu training, a joy he would never truthfully be able to enjoy.

The more he practiced the more his body slowly came into the habit of warming up, each muscle perfectly stretched until he had stopped and almost instantly took in a deep breath before chuckling. Success. For a moment he had been feeling rather good until something was wrong in his mind. He had heard the warning quite clearly and as his eyes began to slowly look up and he acted. The staff was moved into position much like a professional pool player moves into lock in a shot. His eyes measured in a calculating measure before the shot was taken. The rock would have been jabbed into pieces that fell to his left and right. In the midst of the chaos his hood fell to show his full facial features and the sun had finally gotten in his face. A small groan erupted from his lips as the staff touched the ground and he looked at the boy," You're fine...probably shouldn't summon rocks from the heavens though. Those have a way of smiting people for some odd reason."

Whew! Looks like he had dodged a bullet, maybe. He wasn't so sure that this guy would be nice, but it looks like he wasn't all that bad. Well, he didn't know for sure, but at least the man wasn't temperamental. Considering how he'd just destroyed that rock with his weapon, he was definitely physically stronger than Kiichi was. In addition, even if his own chakra was strong, he didn't have jutsu to save himself with, really. Maybe water replacement, but that was about it. Either way, it was a good thing he wasn't in any kind of trouble. He stood up, hoping to present himself in a better light. If this guy was strong, maybe he could pick up a few things along the way, though the first impression he presented wasn't so great. Clumsy, kind of awkward, not much control on his (rather large) chakra. Ehehe... maybe he should work on that. 

Was he nervous? Of course he still was. Like he had noticed before, this guy was probably from the outside, which meant that... hey, maybe he was only being nice because he was being watched. The fear and trepidation that plagued Kozogami daily began to creep back into his heart. Err... what should he do here? Right, he'd forgotten.

"Erhm... Senior, I'm Kozogami, a genin of this village." Eep, he wasn't quite sure what to say next. He'd never been the most straightforward of people, so he didn't have much in terms of temerity. The guy looked kind of intimidating, too, with his full facial features revealed. Despite the fact that the rock had been created from the ground instead of spontaneously from the sky, the man had a point. It also sounded like he had experience with rocks falling from the sky as well. Kozogami himself had heard about phenomena like these to the east, where rocks occasionally would fall in swaths like rain. 

"Do you have any experience with combat? I've got a long way to go, and anything would help..."

[TWC 1350, kinda short kinda cringey, but then again, so is the character xD]

Well this one was an interesting one after all. Manners, appropriate usage of honorifics...Only one thing had been wrong. He was too...timid? The staff made its way onto resting on the males shoulders, his eyes staring down at the male before slowly removing the hood so that he could at least see a little more clearly. Stubborn thing had continued to move into his face on and off during his brief period of quietness so he had simply had enough of it. His eyes focused more on the male as he smiled and chuckled," I'm senior to no one so you're fine. I appreciate the sentiment to be formal but its lost on a barbarian like myself. Name's Mo-Ri. You can say i'm just traveling about, brought here by one of your shinobi to find my roots or something like that. So while i'm not a ninja of your village just treat me with a little respect alright?," there was a smooth yet odd chuckle that came from him after he had finished speaking. It wasn't one that could be berating yet he had simply been showing that he had a funny side.

The question didn't strike him as odd though he didn't have a clarified point to go off of. He simply assumed the young genin meant overall so that was exactly how his answer came out. " I'm more of a physical fighter than a...chakra based one I guess you could say? Ninjutsu that aren't pretty basic fly right over my head, but something that requires your full body to do? I got you on that. So if you're wanting some breathing techniques, how to swing a staff effectively or something along those lines then look no further. Though if you're wanting something more....Chakra related guess we are learning together now aren't we?," if he were going to learn something chakra related might as well be now while he could. At least from a village trained ninja it might come a little easier, but who knew?

[1,129]

What a nice person. When somebody disregarded honorifics for the sake of a more friendly conversation, there was a good chance he was going to be helpful and kind. Exactly the person that Kozogami was looking for, in fact. Thank goodness variance had allowed him to run into someone like this on the first try. It was in times like this that Kozogami understood why the people of this village had such a firm belief in the divine. It wasn't such a stretch of the imagination that there was some kind, all-knowing figure in some astral plane guiding the flow and ebb of causality.

"Alright then, sen- I mean, Mr. Mo-Ri", he said hesitantly. He'd always tried his best to be respectful. It was better to be nice to people than to drown them in vitriol, especially when it came to first impressions. He thought he'd done rather well so far, and hoped that this kept up.

"But chakra is just a derivation from stamina, right?" At least, they'd brushed up on the topic in the academy, from what he remembered. A person's natural body produced stamina, and chakra was kneaded from that stamina. The efficiency of the person's body determined how much chakra was kneaded per unit of stamina blah blah technical stuff. Kozogami, being a Senju, had exceptional stamina, and what he thought to be OK-ish efficiency. 

"So if we train our bodies to some extent, our chakra will still naturally become stronger, right? At least in theory..." His voice trailed off as he realized that the world was a varied place. There were all kinds of outliers, and if Mo-Ri was one of them, then he had probably just micro-offended him... if that was a word, maybe. Kozogami hoped he hadn't stretched the social rubber band too far...

[TWC 1651]

The male had a point.

There was a subtle shifting in his stance as he stuck his staff into the ground and leaned onto it rather lightly, the staff itself had more than enough oomph in it to hold up his body even though he's only had it for...what a week? The male in front of him was at least respectful and in that regards garnered some of Mo-ri's respect now what would he do to get the rest he wondered. He was at least one of the ones who listened to whatever they taught at the academy, not like he knew what that had been like and when the male included that simple fact that all in all chakra was just the spiritual(??) stamina of the body he smiled. " You either do a lot of studying or you are just naturally smart. Either way yes you are correct in your statement. Then again you do have some people who are naturally gifted with their "stamina" and others who simply aren't, but use it in a way that helps aid in that crutch. To some chakra is ....like eating. So natural that sometimes you may not realize or notice...well that was a poor example, but surely you know what I mean yes?," the male only closed one of his eyes as he tried to find a better example, but all else fell on deaf ears..err brain?


With a snap of his fingers he smiled and nodded to the kid," Exactly. Yeah you're a smart cookie indeed. If what they say is true, with greater stamina, comes greater chakra. Now the real question is what will the body do with a new reserve. Say for example you use Ninjutsu in your fighting style. It'd surely unlock some new potential for jutsu or something right? Or it could simply make your body stronger through something else. I'm not a scientist or any leading researcher, but it sounds about right doesn't it? So...If you want to train your stamina let's get to it then. What do you want to get around to doing fir- Wait...Have you done your stretches? Those are good," a few swift shakes of his head confirmed his idea as solidified although he didn't expect the kid to go along with his..rather odd train of thought.

[1,515]

"Smart cookie"...? Not exactly, but Kozogami still got a little flustered at the unexpected and probably undeserved praise. It wasn't like he really had a choice of whether or not he wanted to study hard. He HAD to study hard in order to keep up with everyone else. His mental acumen (or rather, lack of it) was abnormal, to say the least. Still, his hard work had paid off, to some extent. Talent meant nothing without a mind with which to apply it, and that was one of the things that Kozogami lacked. Well, either way, learning from other people could compensate for this for a while. With a bit of luck, he might even be of some worth to the village after a few years.

"Y-yeah, I'm ready for some practicing." Either way, whether practicing ninjutsu or with some kind of physical exercise, he'd slowly get stronger over time, especially given how strong his chakra was in comparison to some of his classmates. At least he had something going for him, right? 

"Well, I was thinking about finding someone to spar with, but you'd probably, uh, crush me, right?" Yeah, maybe not the best idea, but if the man decided to hold back a little bit, Kiichi might give it a try after all. As long as he didn't die, it would be fine, right? Getting beat up now and then could teach him a good lesson about what to do in combat. He calmed himself a little bit, as he reminded himself that it was alright to make mistakes, so long as he didn't make them over and over again. 

He'd suggest an alternative, though sparring under that aforementioned condition didn't seem quite so bad.

"We could try and find a better place to train, or maybe find something to work on together...?" Goddamn, he sounded so awkward and stupid. Sparring just might be the best option after all...

[TWC 1972]

The male could feel time creeping up on him as he looked into the sky and sighed a small sigh, something he had been quite known to do on occasions. It wasn't the boy who had been bothering him and by far the male had been the most interesting thing about his day. No it was something more about this that had him not wanting to do much. He and the boy were about to go train but then the male had an idea that he should probably go about his regular day and train the male another day. A small smile left his lips as he stopped and placed a hand onto the males head," Hey lets take a rain check on that training and meet back up another day hm? I know it seems sudden but at least then you'll have a whole new set of skills and we could do a spar or two. You'll be able to find me here at any point during the future so be on the look out alright?," with that the male would make his way out of the training grounds and into the slums where he picked out a nice abandoned home and made it is.

[Exit]

1,800 words

9 stats and all words toward Chakra Absorption