Passing on the basics (IO Yatagarasu,training)

In the Seiteki kitchen, it was only the men of the family today.   His mother was off on a mission for a day now, and it should be at least 2 more before she returned.   

Hayate wolfed down the toast with jam and excused himself early, before his father had even gotten to his second bite.  His father looked up from the news he was reading.  "You're off early", he said, insinuating there must be a reason.

"Yata promised to tech me her new techniques today since mom's out, so she can't do lessons."  He replied as he was putting his sandals on.  His father grunted his assent.  They knew Yatagarasu, she was over often enough.  He grabbed the sword he had set down near the door earlier and buckled the shealth onto his belt. And with that, he was out the door.

It was early enough he didn't need to take the rooftops to run smoothly through the village, arriving at Yatagarasu's place.  He had eventually learned where she lived after the aftermath of that crazy night during the second day of the Kind Tide festival, where he has seen what she was like away from his mom's tutelage.  Hayate arrived in no time at all, and rapped on the door, paused, then knocked again.

"Yata........ Come on Yata, it's Hayate.  You promised!"


When she was ready to go, if she didn't immediately suggest a place she wanted to hold the training, he'd suggest a training spot he used previously, a spot just outside of town where the vegetation died down as the land turned to pebbles when it approached a stream, making a clearing.

wc 276

Yatagarasu was an early riser. Dawn had barely broken when she was already awake, getting dressed as well as preparing her notes. She was tutoring her neighbor's son today, and she felt a strong desire to have everything organized before hand. She had the scrolls prepared for water sealing, temporary paralysis, and hidden mist. She checked the clock. 05:36. Scratching the side of her head, she contemplated what to do next. Aw, what the hell. Might as well study a bit for the next couple hours. The next thing she knew, countless arrays and seals were scattered about her living room. She had all the necessary notes to prepare her seals and stuff, but... Most of them required physical contact.

That would be exceptionally difficult to manage in the middle of a battle, especially with her frailty. But perhaps there might be another way to apply seals...? By channeling extra chakra into a jutsu, it was possible that she might be able to do something... Hm. This would require more research on her end. Her hands flashed through a few hand seals and a water clone formed on the carpet next to her. No liquid dripped onto the floor, however; it was as if all the water in the technique was as solid as a living being.

"Please stand over there," she said, directing the clone to the wooden porch outside of her house. Next, she cast a basic water jutsu at the creation, channeling a bit of extra chakra into it as she did so. Nothing happened, of course, but the clone staggered back as if it had been stung. Well... It could certainly use a bit of work... The second attempt produced similar results, as did the third and fourth. Fifth time must have been the charm, though, as when she tried it for the fifth time the clone's stomach erupted with a bright light. The outline of a basic seal was visible before fading into nothingness. It was a start? Scratching the back of her head, she dismissed the clone and retreated back into her house. She glanced at the clock. 06:59. As she contemplated returning to her notes, she heard the door knock from the outside. Was Hayate here? Already? Huh. She scooped up the scrolls with her left arm.

Approaching the door, Yatagarasu opened it to find her sensei's son. She looked down at him, head tilted. "Good morning," she greeted simply. "If you'd like, we can train on the beach, unless you have another place in mind..."

WC: 425
Total WC: 425

Yata's house:

The beach.... That would work just as well.  Hayate admitted to himself.  It was a little more open to the naked eye, and he always felt a bit more comfortable training where people couldn't see him, but Yata was going to be there anyway so why not.  Plus, it was RIGHT HERE. He looked out over the rolling waves, a light layer of mist still floating, carried inward by the cool sea breeze.  He was glad he wore his sweatshirt again today.

"Hmmmm..... yeah, the beach is fine."  He tried not to his excitement show.  Yata was going to teach him some of Kiri's signature Jutsu, part of what made them so effective.  The hidden mist technique was crucial for hit and run tactics and surprising the enemy, and for the famed silent killing techniques.  It gave those used to it an instant and distinct advantage on the battlefield.  And of course being aligned with water chakra, they would need water to use their techniques. Not all battles took place on a beach, though, so she would also teach him to to seal water in scrolls to make sure he could always have his water nearby, to be able to use the ninjutsu.  Apparently some of the ninjas with the best chakra control could for the water right out of thin air and everyday objects, but that was more taxing, and still well above Hayate's control level.

Hayate already know how to seal objects, of course, being the son of a fuinjutsu expert, it was just that sealing water was a bit harder than the item sealing he had already learned - there was no compact, solid physical form to push in/pull out, so the fuunjutsu has to automatically suck in and push out the water, and not be erased by it.  Its a complicated field, for sure, he mused.

Hayate looked at the scrolls in her hand, then back at her eyes.  He pulled out three scrolls of his own from the leg pouch he wore.  "I brought some blank scrolls like you said" He held them up for her to see.  "But could we start with the Hidden mist?  Please?"


wc 362 twc   638

The fuuinjutsu user nodded at Hayate's request. "Yes, I planned to start with Hidden Mist, anyway." her voice was soft and quiet, yet every word carried. "Let's go to the beach, first." If Hayate followed, she would begin the short trek from her porch, walk down the stairs, and then onto the sandy beach. If one were to look, they'd notice that she was not wearing shoes. Natural mist-well, fog, technically- hovered above the sea, drifting slowly inwards on a chill breeze. Occasionally, threads of sunlight drifted from above in between breaks in the clouds. It was a cool day, though the kunoichi was fine with her blue sleeves rolled up.

She pulled out the scroll for the technique and offered it to him. "I'm not teaching from the scroll," she began, tilting her head. Blue eyes scrutinized the smaller figure, as if trying to deduce his thought process. "But it is there if you need it." she finished simply. "The hidden mist technique obscures the user, of course, but additionally, the mist is infused with the user's chakra. In other words, some doujutsu designed to sense chakra cannot see through it." she turned so that her body was to face the ocean, but the angle of her head was still in such a way where she could see Hayate. "This tells us that in order to successfully attempt this technique, one must first infuse the water source you intend to be using with your chakra.

"But where do you get the water? Well, an option always exists to use water from a large source, such as a pond, lake, river... Or the sea. But there's another source of water frequently overlooked- yes, the human body. The human body is comprised largely of water, and with the help of your chakra it is safe to expel some of this water to assist with the jutsu. Of course, you might feel a little thirsty later. True masters of this technique can draw the moisture required from the very air itself, though I must say even I haven't reached that level yet." she took a breath, exhaled, and tilted her head. "Let us begin with an existing source of water. Attempt to channel your chakra into the water you see before you. If that is too difficult, then channel your chakra into the surrounding fog and attempt to control it. Once you are done with this, I'll show you how to seal water."

WC: 411
Total WC: 836

This was one of the great parts about Kirigakure.  As the average height genin followed his teacher for the day to the beach, the sounds of town faded even more, to be dominated by winds and waves.  A far cry from the bustle of town, yet that also was only a short walk from the rustling of leaves, babbling of brooks, and animal noises of the forest.

But the mist tied it all together, and that was what Hayate was here to learn.  The average height shinobi followed his temporary teacher to the beach, and listened intently as she described the technique.  That was all?  It seems so... simple.  He was a bit surprised by how easy she made it sound.  In Hayate's experience, ninjutsu was almost never truely simple or easy.  It was only considered D rank, after all, he reminded himself.  He also hadn't considered the part about the dojutsu, though he had really only ever seen one ever used, that night at the festival that Yata probably didn't remember, so he figured it probably wouldn't come up that often.  Still, a handy piece of info to tuck away.

"Ok, I think I get it.  Let me give it a go."  Hayate walked down to the edge of the water till it lapped up to his ankles, getting the hem of his pants wet.  He crouched, extending his hand to the water's surface, and willing the chakra from him and into the water as he did in his infusion training.  He began to instinctively form the pathways as he did with his sword, making a faint glow, but stopped.  He had to distribute his chakra though a lot of water, not strengthen a small bit.  He closed his eyes and forced himself to relax the tension he had unconsciously built in his shoulders, and tried again, spreading the chakra out slowly, as if he had dropped food coloring into the ocean.  It didn't visibly change, but he could feel it happening, feel the harmony with his element.  The loosely distributed water particles took well to the even spread of chakra and sped it along.  Now...what next?

Hayate tried willing the water to rise into the wait, but his chakra strained against the water it had spread out in, instead of floating in it.  He tried wiling it to spread apart, like a dropped glass shattering into pieces, and got a little success - he could feel the top layer trying to expand and form mist, but it was a just a small layer that sat on the surface.

Hayate placed his other hand into the air, opening his eyes, and tried the same spreading into the light fog.  He could feel the difference, but couldn't tell how to achieve it.  He turned over his shoulder to look back at Yatagarasu, seeing what she was doing.  Assuming she was near enough and not obviously involved in something else  intricate, he would use a voice appropriate for whatever distance she was at.  "Yata!  I can feel the chakra spread in the water and the fog and their difference, but I can't really tell how to make it change.  Are there handseals or something?"  

WC 532 twc  1170

While Hayate attempted the technique, Yatagarasu observed the newly minted genin closely. He picked up the hidden mist jutsu exceptionally fast- good. But when he asked for hand seals, the girl nodded. "Yes, there is one hand seal- specifically, tiger. However, attempting the hand seal earlier on in the process of learning the technique wouldn't have helped- you needed to find the connection between the element and yourself before proceeding." Her hands twisted into the tiger seal, and she spat out a large cloud of opaque white mist that rolled slowly over the sea. It continued to spread relatively quickly, reaching an area of roughly fifty square meters before dispersing. The taste of cool water lingered on the girl's tongue for a few moments before fading away. "That is the end result you should be striving for." The natural fog of the area seemed to be slowly dispersing as the sun rose, as well. Hayate would have to start creating his own mist for the technique, eventually. "In order to create your own mist, you must eject water chakra from your body while forming the tiger hand seal. Additionally, you must try and fan it so that it becomes a mist instead of a stream. The ratio of water chakra is roughly fifty percent physical chakra and fifty percent spiritual chakra- unlike fire and lightning, which lean towards spiritual chakra, and earth, which leans towards physical. It sits towards the middle, like wind." she paused, studying the boy. Yatagarasu blinked, as if coming to a conclusion of some sort, before the expression faded.

"You're coming along well," she noted awkwardly, as if she wasn't used to giving out compliments. An awkward pause followed before she continued onwards. "But you're going to need to practice this a little harder to succeed." The latter part of the statement was obvious, though she couldn't help but state it anyways. She tended to pull no punches with other people, and didn't intend to do so with acquaintances, either- especially when it came to the training of techniques that could potentially save their lives one day. If Hayate continued to show improvement with the technique, the girl would begin to move on. If no improvement was shown, she would adopt a scowling expression.

WC: 378
Total WC: 1214

Emboldened by his progress and Yata's praise, Hayate could almost ignore the cold ocean water nipping at his feet and heels around his sandals, and creeping a few inches up his black pants legs.  "Gotcha!" he exclaimed, turning back to the sea, his legs sloshing in the waves crashing in and out.

The mist was indeed starting to burn off from the ever rising sun, but he was confident he could make his own this time.  He made the tiger handseal and concentrated, closing his eyes.  Then he opened his mouth, attempting to go straight into expelling the same even mist he saw Yata perform.  Even... Slowly... expand... he started to exhale a slow, soft, concentrated plume of thick smoke, and his own eyes widened in surprise, but no sooner had it left his lips than his sudden, deep hacking cough cut it off.  He doubled over at the waist, body spasming from the coughts for a moment, the thick smoke still in his mouth and coming out in short puffs.  He had infused the chakra too physically, too thick, and too far inside him. He waved a hand back with a thumbs up without looking to let Yata know he was fine, and after a short moment regained his breath, the last of the smoke disappearing like cotton candy in a stream.

Alright, maybe not all that just yet.... There's no need to rush. if i can do the technique, it doesn't matter how pretty it looks.  Hayate stood up straight, his hood flopping back down onto his back, and formed the handseal again.  he concentrated, but this time on the water around his feet.  He could feel the chakra spread through the water again, and this time the handseal gave him clarity.  He teased the water apart, slowly dissolving the top layer into a grey mist, and slowly built  it upwards.  it took a while, but soon he had a loose, whispy half dome of a cloud rising from the water at his ankles up to his waist, and about 3 feet out in any direction.  The stress became to much and he let the jutsu collapse, the whispy particles dispersing as they gently fell, now that they were no longer controlled.

"Yata!  Did you see it?"  He turned around, legs creating a swirl in the mist, dispersing it more rapidly.  Rarely did Hayate have genuine joy on his face, but the boy so often had trouble with forming chakra for complicated jutsu.  Here, with the even spread of chakra, he was making unusually good progress.  And on one of the signature Kirigakure jutsu, like the village ninjas of old he looked up to  used to use, no less!

wc 451  twc 1621

Yata did in fact see it, but she suddenly wasn't feeling well and had to go.  She shouted this to him,  and set down two scrolls on the beach, making indentations in the sand.  She let him know these were the scrolls she had prepared earlier on the hidden mist and water sealing (for the lesson they were currently having) he could use for further study, to refer to and return later, and quickly hurried back into her house, clutching her stomach.  

Hayate sloshed his way out of the water, leaving wet prints in the stand.  He shook each leg, sending water droplets flying, then performed the chakra cleanse to get his pant hems ... well, not fully dry, but at least not soaking wet.  He jogged up to the scrolls and tucked them in his leg pouch.  He supposed he'd go - he'd feel kinda awkward hanging around Yata's house while she was sick.  Best to go back to his room and study the scrolls, maybe practice a bit more on the roof with one of his moms cooking pots filled with water.  He didn't like studying as much as learning in person, but she supposed it would have to do.  

wc 200
twc 1821

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exit
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claiming 9 stats.
claiming d rank water sealing at 1/2 word count for being taught (500)
claiming d rank Hidden Mist at 1/2 word count for being taught (500)
claiming 821 to Hidden arms (821/1000)

Approved my guy