A Bird Meets the Light (Tsume)

The day was warm despite the winter month, the breeze cool upon the Akari’s exposed skin as she walked to the training grounds. She wore her usual ninja outfit, consisting of a red turtleneck-like material crop top hidden beneath a white jacket and brown booty shorts, accompanied by her brown ninja-combat boots. Her Hoshigakure headband was attached to the armor like plate on her left shoulder, which kept the red cape flowing behind her secure. Her face was bare, no hint of emotion upon it as she stared blankly ahead, her aquatic eyes surveying the area ahead.

It seemed there were few shinobi training this day, perfect for the lone wolf to focus. Rosa made her way to a clear patch of land, away from a majority of the other training shinobi, and shrugged off the black backpack from her right shoulder. It held two bottles of water and a couple of books she had gone to the Hoshigakure Library to checkout for her to learn jutsu from during her training today. The books ranged in specialty, between space-time, fuuinjutsu, and ninjutsu, as those were the type of jutsu Rosa was most interested in at the moment.

Sitting on the ground, for there was nothing else to sit down on, she pulled out the space-time book, blue hardcover with about fifty or so pages, and started from the beginning. The summary page referred to space-time ninjutsu as “anything that pertains to the manipulation of time and space. Teleportation jutsu is listed under this specialized kind of jutsu”. The thought of manipulating time and space intrigued the young woman, as anything was possible with this kind of ability. She could teleport from place to place, saving her time as she traveled, or aiding her in sneaking up on an opponent, yet she could also use this kind of jutsu to slow down time for her enemies or manipulate the area around her to dodge attacks. Of course there would be far greater feats than just ones she tried to imagine off the top of her head, ones her inexperienced self only dreamt of becoming reality.

One of the first jutsu listed in the book was called Storage Displacement. It required two hand seals, rat then dog, and allowed the caster to store their belongings, such as weapons or ryo but not living creatures, into a separate dimension, unable to be stolen by others contrastingly to sealing items into a scroll for if the scroll were to get taken the stored objects would be as well. It was quite the handy jutsu for a shinobi to have, and Rosa was slightly surprised by the fact that it was a low level technique. All she had to do was perform the hand signs, and focus her chakra on the object until it dispersed into tiny particles and traveled to the other dimension.

Rosa looked around her to find something to store, not wanting to use her belongings until she was positive she would not mess up the technique and get her items lost in some dimension without being able to retrieve them. Much to her appeasement, she found a few rocks nearby and scooped them into her palms before placing them by her side, easy to access when she performed the jutsu. She performed the rat then dog hand signs, and focused both her eyes and chakra on surrounding the first rock, out of the three she had found. It began to particle-ize, slowly disintegrating until it disappeared completely after a couple of seconds. She wasn’t quite sure if she had performed the technique correctly, and wouldn’t know for sure until she tried to retrieve the stone.

(WC: 614)

Hakucho waited for Tsume to get out of the shower so they could go train. Hakucho wasn't sure on what they were going to train but that was the fun part. Train until you found out what you were training. Not for Tsume, he wanted to know what he was going to train. Then he thought of it, it was so simple. Wind style: Vaccum sword. Now that he had a training day planned, he quickly emerged from the shower and bathroom to change for the day ahead.

Tsume and Hakucho came from their residence not long after. Tsume had all his gear on and Hakucho on his shoulder. The duo set off to the training ground. As they walked, Tsume explained to Hakucho. "I think we should start with our normal spar, then you should train your taijutsu while I practice my weapon jutsu." Hakucho rolled his eyes. he agreed with the plan but he thought with Tsume excitement there was going to be more. 

They arrived at the ground and started their day with the spar Tsume talked about. They would normally do this to get warmed up. They evenly matched and neither one of them could beat the other. They separated about 10 meters away from each other. Then Tsume transformed him into the clone of him so that Hakucho could use fists. They raised their arms to each other, a sign of respect and then charged at each other. A flurry of fists went around at each other, then feet. They each countered, attacked, and countered again. It looked like a pointless fight. Which it was, but it was more for warming up. Tsume then saw from the corner of his eye, the cutest girl he had laid his eyes. She had made a couple pebbles disappear from existence as well. With all the eye candy he almost got a face of a fist from his look-alike bird buddy. Luckily, Tsume snapped out of the trance and counter the fist. "Alright, buddy, good job." Then he looked at the women again. "Let's go get our selves acquainted." That's when Hakucho looked at what Tsume's gaze was focused on. Seeing the female, he looked back at Tsume and gave him a cheeky look. Tsume flustered and snot back. "It's not like that, I saw her do something and I want to investigate." That wasn't the whole truth and Haku knew that, rolling his eyes. 

The Chokyoshi turned Hakucho back into his bird form and headed over to the female stranger. Hakucho landed on his shoulder. Then, Tsume would make himself known. "Hi there, I'm Tsume and this is Hakucho." He bowed formally. "I couldn't help seeing you make those pebbles disappear without a visual trace, can you maybe teach me that? If you can?" After hearing the reason for Tsume to come over, he was also intrigued.  

WC:480

The pinkette focused her chakra around the second rock she had collected, watching as it slowly became easier for her to, hopefully, store items in the alternate dimension. While she was watching the stone pixelate until it faded away completely, another shinobi entered the training grounds, with a white falcon following the young man. She watched the bird as it began to fly across the open field, about ten meters apart from his companion. Her eyes narrowed with intrigue as the bird shifted into an exact copy of the black haired ninja. Rosa had never witnessed a technique like this one, nor did she know what clan this man belonged to. She thought the falcon was a companion or pet, but as she heard the two make contact with one another, fists clashing, she figured it had to be more than just a regular bird. It was probably a nin-bird, similar to ninken, she thought as she went back to focusing on her rocks and making them disappear.

She sent the third, and final, rock to the alternating dimension, watching with satisfied eyes the rock dissolve quicker than it had the previous attempts. With all her items “stored”, she intended to retrieve them back from the next dimension, proving to herself that the jutsu was successful. Rosa wasn’t quite sure how to retrieve them, except potentially just focus her chakra and imagine the item she was wanting to retrieve, and hoping it materialized in front of her. Thus that was exactly what the teenager did, focusing on retrieving all three of the rocks at once, visioning their varying sizes in her mind form as she performed the rat and dog hand signs. Her chakra poured out onto the ground, swirling invisibly, to the naked eye anyway. As the man and his bird made their way over to her, the rocks slowly faded into existence, laying atop the ground as if they had been there the entire time. She gingerly poked at one of the rocks, feeling it’s rough texture against her slender pointer fingered.

The boy, her blue eyes traveling upward to meet his own purple orbs, introduced himself as Tsume while his partner was Hakucho. Rosa blankly stared at Tsume as he continued speaking after formally bowing to her. It was interesting to see someone bow upon meeting someone knew, considering she was sitting on the ground and could not return the gesture at the current moment in time. Tsume asked her about the jutsu she had just performed, how she manipulated the space around her to tap into an alternate dimension and store objects within it.

“Hello Tsume, Hakucho.” She nodded her head curtly in reply to greeting them, her tone even, lacking any trace of emotion, “My name is Rosa Akari, and yes, I can inform you on this technique.” She picked up the three newly returned stones, holding them up as she waited for the boy to either sit down or continue standing and motion for her to continue when he was ready. If she was given a gesture to move on, or if enough time had passed that she felt it was safe to start explaining, she would continue in a monotone voice, “That was the Storage Displacement jutsu, which allows the caster to store items in another dimension and retrieve them whenever they want, and it requires the rat then dog hand signs. After performing those seals, focus on surrounding one of the rocks with your chakra and envision it disappearing into the other dimension. Once you can successfully get all three stones to disappear, then you do the opposite and focus your chakra on the area you want the items to appear in and picture them forming in that area.” Rosa would wait for the boy to attempt the jutsu, and would react accordingly should he inquire about anything along the way or need her assistance while attempting to store the rocks.

(WC: 659)
(TWC: 1,273)

Saluluna sat among the many training dummies and dirt that scattered the grounds, her needles hard at work in knitting a new cloak to add to her store. She already had the pattern laid out before her in a scroll, the symbol she was at work at almost looking like some kind of alchemical circle with a star in the center with its points touching it's edges. She knew she should be training right now, that the shop had plenty of outfits and wares for the people of Hoshi to browse but... she was JUST SO LAZY today... SO, in an effort to not guilt herself into working out later, the white-haired ninja decided she'd watch some people do the training for her... Logic right?

But seriously, she was here to work but she just wasn't ready yet. Perhaps one of these guys out here would give her the motivation to learn something... but she highly doubted it. One doesn't simply get up when you're comfortable.

Raising an (or rather her only) eyebrow, she watched from across the field as a boy just started sparring with is bird of all things. It had to be one of the funniest things to watch, imagining a bird in an apparent human shape punching his master and his master punching back...

Hilarious.

On the other end of the field sat another girl and she was fiddling about with rocks. Wasn't that... interesting. What truly drew her attention though was what she did next, apparently vaporizing one of those stones in just a second or two... As much fun as it was watching this guy beat up his bird, it was just more practically interesting to make objects disappear like that... THIS was something she had to learn. Stuffing her unfinished creation into the wicker basket she carried, hoisting it up on her shoulder and walking over to the girl. It seemed the kid and his bird had seen what she saw as they had gotten their first, already making light conversation.

"Yo." She greeted, smiling lightly and raising a hand in greeting. The girl that approached them wore a black kimono-like robe with a matching hood pulled over her head, a long black cloth tied over her left eye. She wore loose black pants tucked into battle-ready boots. Suffice it to say, her smile was a strong dichotomy to the color of clothing she chose to wear that day... but then who cared about such things.

"Name's Saluluna but you can call me Sal." She smiled at the both of them (or all three if you counted the bird) before turning her attention to the smaller girl. "I couldn't help but notice what you did with those rocks there... Could you teach me how to do that too?"

The blue-eyed female looked at Tsume when he spoke, looking at his eyes. This made Tsume fluster a bit more. Hakucho just got more fuel for the teasing. Of course, she introduced herself as Rose Akari."Hello Rose." He smiled at her with a friendly look.  Akari? She from the dojutsu using clan with the light release. Tsume reminded himself of them as he met a couple of them in the past. Tsume then snapped out of it once she told about the jutsu she was working on. It was called Storage Displacement jutsu. And as the name suggests, it's used for storage and not some kind of disintegration technique like he thought. Either way, it turned out that it might be helpful for him. 

Before Tsume could try out his technique on one of the kunai in his pouch, he was interrupted by an unexpected onlooker. She called herself Sal. "Hello, I'm Tsume and this is Hakucho." As he introduced him and his best friend, he couldn't help but notice her beauty as well. Hakucho noticed it as well, and he very eager to use these against him. 

But Tsume wouldn't comment on either one of their beauty, he was too shy of romance. Also, he wanted to try out his jutsu. Maybe he would impress them with his ability to flow chakra easily like water moves through a creek. But that would only be a what if the situation and he paid no extra thought to it. As Rose would confront Sal, he would focus his chakra around the blade. The Chokyoshi was used to wrapping his chakra around this kind of weapon, so it wasn't too difficult. The difference was that he wasn't wrapping in chakra like a Christmas present, he was transportation it. Too another dimension none the less. But transporting was actually surprisingly easy. The small throwing blade soon disappeared from their dimension and went to that storage dimension that he envisioned as he was instructed to do.   

Next was bringing it back. Which made sense. What's the point of a storage dimension when you couldn't get things back from said dimension? Tsume focus on the weapon again in the other dimension. Then, he felt the same feeling as he did bring it to that dimension. Suddenly, the kunai was back in his hand. "Sweet! I got it down!" Tsume cheered, Hakucho shrieked in congratulation. 

The Chokyoshi wanted to celebrate but he had nothing to celebrate with. Tsume was a bit enthusiastic. Which embarrassed Haku. That's when Tsume remembered what he got from the village and took it out of the weapon pouch. It was the Ninja Christmas Craker. He opened it anxiously and waited to see what present was in store for the weapon user.

WC:460
TWC: 940

(Using the Ninja Christmas craker, need a dice roll please :3)

(Oh i guess i was supposed to roll :/ oops: Rolling for Christmas Cracker)

The member 'Tsume Chokyoshi' has done the following action : Roll Dice/Flip Coin

---

'20-sided dice' : 20

As Rosa was explaining the technique to the young boy, a new figure started making their way towards the trio, and not a moment after she finished speaking a feminine voice resounded through the area, an informal greeting leaving her lips. The woman, adorned in all black and wearing an eyepatch-like piece of cloth over her left eye, introduced herself in a lazily tone as Saluluna, or Sal for short, with a wide grin across her face. Just as Tsume had noticed her technique, it seemed the older woman had as well and she inquired about being taught the jutsu just as the young boy had. My oh my did it seem like people were flocking to Rosa, using her knowledge to expand their own. Had this not been a jutsu she was openly practicing, she would most likely have never agreed to show them how to perform it, not wanting to be used for their own selfish gains.

“Hello Sal, I’m Rosa Akari.” The pinkette began, making eye contact with the hooded woman as she directed her attention to herself, “Yes. Perform the rat and then dog hand seals, and after that, all you need to do is focus on surrounding one of these rocks, or anything else, with your chakra and envision it disappearing into a storage dimension.” It was roughly around this time that Tsume took it upon himself to practice the new jutsu, pulling out a kunai and focusing his chakra around the item. It took a minute or two for his chakra to transport the weapon to the alternate dimension, the kunai disappearing from sight in moments. “To bring back the item you stored, do the opposite of what you just did, and focus your chakra on the area you want the items to appear in and picture them forming in that area.” Rosa continued her teaching of the technique to the strange woman, turning towards Tsume and examining him as he exclaimed “I got it down!”.

It would seem the boy was a very faster learner, having only seen and heard the details of the technique once, he could perform it with ease on the rocks and his own weapons. Tsume pulled out a special present-eseque item, gently unwrapping it. Inside the item was a ticket, nicely folded, and she wondered how he had gotten so lucky to get it. Either way, she would wait for the other two to react before acting accordingly, whatever it is.

(WC: 413)
(TWC: 1,686)

"Rosa Akari, huh?" Saluluna repeated, looking at the girl strangely. With that dead, emotionless expression on her face, the girl didn't appear much like a Rosa... To.... emotional a name for that that face she was giving. Upon closer inspection though, her pinkish hair gave it all away. Oh... so she had some of THOSE parents that named their kids after their characteristics. How badly she felt for that poor girl.

Her explanation as to transport an object into an alternate dimension made it all seem so simple... weave a few signs, think about moving the rock and then POOF! it'd be gone. Sal honestly couldn't believe it'd be that easy. There was NO WAY Rosa wasn't making that up right there. Tsume seemed interested though and he followed the steps. The white-haired girl watched eagerly, waiting for him to fail as he surely would on account of the Akari's faulty instructions... only to have one of the stones POOF! out of existence before her eye.

"Well... I'll be damned... he did it." The clanless woman muttered. Well... time for her to try it out now, huh?

Sal did the two seals, and focused on one of the smaller stones, imagining her chakra engulf it like a hand. Before her eyes... the rock fizzled out of existance, leaving only an indentation in the grass where it once sat. WELL! The girl wasn't talking crap after all! Good on her! Now, lets see if she could bring it back... Saluluna followed the instructions again, but this time in reverse, weaving the seals before... POOF! It was back. Heh... What a marvelous little technique...

Sal looked from the bird kid to Rosa and smiled playfully, pulling a rather festive spear out of seemingly nowhere.

"Hey, Rosa. Thanks for teaching me. In return, I have a little trick for you." She offered the girl the weapon, looking back Tsume knowingly.

"Touch him with it. Don't hurt him, just tap him with it and see what happens. I'm sure you'll get a kick out of it."

Inside the cracker was a strange ticket, nothing written on it, just designs. Tsume looked at it confused. Not wanting to waste a present from the village, he put in down in his weapon pouch. "Huh, what a strange gift." He exclaimed out loud as he turned to the group. To his surprise, Sal was giving a Rosa a spear, a beautiful one at that. "Oh cool spear." Tsume didn't know what was going on. Hakucho heard Sal though, he knew that she didn't want to hurt him but he gave the cloaked girl with a glare, warning her in a way. "I guess I owe you, do you want me to help you with that?" He asked, pointing to the spear. "Weapons are my speciality, I could teach you some techniques." He told her, hoping that she would accept. Tsume felt he somewhat owed her for teaching him that technique. His philosophy was that if someone would give you something as a gift, you should give a gift to them. His mother was pretty bold on that. When he was just a baby, people would shower his mom with gifts, she gladly accepted them. The next day they all got gifts in return of equal value, it was a good trading rule.

WC:210
TWC: 1150