Learning Some New Tricks

The sun hung high in the sky as Kether and the rest of the students in his class walked out into the practice yard. It had only been a week since they had been taught the clone technique, but Kether had put enough effort into training with it that he had pretty much gotten it down. He was able to make an almost perfect mirror image of himself and even make it act according to his will. That was only one of the jutsu that he would need to learn before he could attempt the Genin exam, however.

This time around there were multiple jutsus that they had quickly been taught and expected to master. Quick adaptation was apparently an important part of Kirigakure shinobi training. At any rate, Kether knew that he would have to take one jutsu at a time if he wanted to actually make progress. There were a total of five jutsus that he would have to learn if he was going to truly become a competent Genin: the Clone jutsu, the Substitution jutsu, the Transformation jutsu, the Surface Walking jutsu, and the Genjutsu Release. Although Kether had succeeded in learning the Clone Technique, he had yet to manage any of the others. That’s what today was for.
 
First things first, he thought to himself as he settled into a basic stance with his feet spread. The Transformation jutsu is the other half of what I need to perfect for the Genin exam, but it’s much more difficult than any of the other jutsu. He mulled over the four jutsu that he would need to master, finally deciding that the Surface Walking jutsu would be the optimal place to start.

The Surface Walking jutsu was usually one of the first jutsu that shinobi would learn due to its requirement of chakra control. Kether closed his eyes and began to stir up his chakra inside of him. Just as before, he had to find a proper balance of spiritual and physical energy. He could feel the chakra swirling around and looping through every part of his body and he began to concentrate it in the soles of his feet. When he opened his eyes, he found himself facing one of the towering walls of the training yard. ”Attempt number one,” he whispered to himself as he took a step forward. Narrowing his eyes, he started to run toward the wall. With his chakra still focused in his feet, he placed a foot on the wall and began to run upward.

He managed to make it a few meters up the wall before the chakra that was holding his feet to the wall faltered and he lost his footing. With a grunt of frustration, he jumped off the wall and landed back on the ground. Not enough chakra, I need to strengthen the flow. Closing his eyes for a second time, he pushed the chakra out from his feet at a much stronger level. This time, the flow of chakra would certainly not falter.
 
His eyes shot open again. ”Attempt number two.” He rushed forward again, climbing the wall more easily than before. Even before he reached where he had the last time, however, his foot beat a crack into the wall and caused him to lose his footing yet again. The failure actually managed to take him by surprise and he fell flat on his back.
 
He simply lay in silence for a few seconds. So, too much power and the chakra will smash the surface of whatever I’m walking on. Too little, and the chakra won’t hold my feet for long enough. Looks like I’m going to really need to practice this. He started to concentrate his chakra yet again before running at the wall for a third time. ”Attempt number three.”
 
Close to five hours of constant practice later, Kether found himself standing near the edge of a pool of water that was kept in the practice yard. He had managed to keep himself steady on the wall, but he had met with little success so far in trying to walk on the water. ”Attempt number one hundred and seventy seven.” With the chakra wrapped around his feet, he took a tentative step out onto the water. The chakra supported his foot, so he stepped out with his other foot, standing on the water. So far, so good, he thought to himself. This is where he had failed in the past, so he focused on making sure that the chakra flow to his left foot increased to make up for the shift in weight as he stepped out again with his right foot.
 
Finally, he thought as he breathed out a sigh of relief with a hint of a grin breaking out on his face. It’s working as intended. One hundred and seventy seven attempts, but it only took me a single day. That means I can focus on the other jutsus tomorrow. I’m going to learn them all!

WC: 834

Kether and some of the other students had made their way to the training grounds early in the morning in order to get some extra training in on their own. He didn’t much like training with other people, but he knew that in order to really practice the substitution jutsu, he’d need at least one other person to hop in as well at some point. There was actually an area of the training yard dedicated for practice with substitution and Kether made his way to it. A pile of logs laid on the ground to allow the students easy access to something to use for the substitution.

Kether thought back to the instructor’s lesson on how to perform the substitution jutsu. It was surprisingly more complicated than even the clone jutsu. It was made up of five handseals: Tiger, Boar, Ox, Dog, and Snake, in that order. He would certainly need to practice this a lot so that he could form the handseals quickly in a combat situation. That being said, right now his only goal was to successfully perform the technique itself. Speed could come later.

”Attempt number one,” he whispered to himself as he took a deep breath. He wasn’t sure why he always felt the need to vocalize his attempts. It was just a habit that he had picked up at some point to better organize his thoughts. He’d have to ensure he didn’t do that in front of anyone else though. At any rate, he began to swirl the chakra inside of him as he’d done before. He had gotten much better at figuring out the amount of chakra that was necessary during his training the previous day and he felt confident it wouldn’t be much of an issue for him with basic jutsu like this.

His eyes narrowed in concentration as he formed the handseals, shaping his chakra into the form it needed to be in for the jutsu. As he focused on one of the small logs, he allowed the chakra to surge outward and focus on the log. It caught hold of the log and forced the two to switch. Kether was surprised to find himself right next to the pile of logs and the log that he had focused on in his place. He felt incredibly dizzy for a few seconds, although that might have just been because of the disorientation he felt. ”Partial success,” he whispered to himself. The substitution had been a success, but there had been no illusion to hide the log and he had been too disoriented to really take advantage of the substitution to do anything. Letting out a sigh, he knew he’d have to continue practicing for a while to get the level of proficiency that would be expected. ”Attempt number two…”

Surprisingly enough, it had only taken him seventeen tries before he was able to perform the substitution without getting disoriented and even managed to create an illusion that lasted for a little over half of a second. It wasn’t perfect, but it would do. At any rate, he had class that would be starting fairly soon and he knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to be late. There would be plenty of time to practice more later. It wasn’t like he had anything better to be doing after school got out. Besides, he was more than ready to be out of this place and become a real shinobi. It was only a matter of time.

[exit]

WC: 582

Total WC: 1,416
Stats: 7
Jutsu Learned: Tree Climbing/Surface Walking, Substitution Technique

Approved big dawg