Okay, Maybe One More [Private]

The black market town was bustling with ninja, shady civilians, and perhaps even a few innocent people who didn't know the innermost workings of their own town. Amaterasu Akari, former ninja of the village hidden in the sand, kept a tight hold on her money and valuables, kept her head held high, but didn't try to provoke any fights or draw too much attention. She just needed appear confident enough to win a fight, should it be started by someone else. It was through this method that she managed to get her less than legally savory compatriots to leave her alone. She didn't really know what she planned to do today. She'd learned quite a bit of jutsu in the past week or so, and didn't really feel the need to learn another unless it really managed to catch her eye. The young Akari swiped a little piece of pinkish orange hair behind her ear as she listened to various haggles and sales being made down the forest's edge. She managed to catch a few about specialized weapons, illicit drugs, rare medicines... even some village information. She decided not to listen to the latter. Some villages were known to kill if too much information was leaked, after all, and she had no intention of getting involved in that kind of thing.

She crossed the various streets and back alleys, swatting away more than a few wandering hands on her way there. She was heading to one of the less shady taverns towards the town's edge for some hopefully non poisoned food and drink. Maybe a bed, too, but she honestly didn't expect much- and she'd have to heavily trap it in an area as lawless as this one. She firmly grasped the hand of a young man whose hands had wandered into her left pocket. There was nothing in there except for a few senbon, so she really didn't see the interest, but she supposed he didn't know that. Amaterasu tightened her grip until she could feel the bones grinding inside his palm. He let out a cry of pain, and she dropped him. The boy promptly scampered off. Good, she reasoned. Perhaps he would tell his friends not to mess with her? Or perhaps he'd tell them that she had hurt him, and they'd mess with her even more. Maybe she should have killed him?... No, that would be inefficient and hard to hide. A deep part of her said that that wasn't the only reason why she didn't. The young Akari ignored the inner voice and promptly told it to be quiet. Her blase way of handling with death and the act of killing another human being grated her more than, well, the actual act of killing another human being. It was probably good for the type of roles and jobs she had been forced to handle upon the destruction of her home village, but not for her psyche. Or at least her quality of character... Good women didn't kill people. Decent people didn't kill people, not feel sorry, and then kill again. So what did that make her?

Eventually, Amaterasu had arrived at her destination- a local tavern. Constructed from more stone than wood, the thing was rather fireproof. She opened a wooden door, which creaked on well used hinged as she walked in. A few patrons looked at her as she approached the bar, probably curious about her appearance. She hadn't been here before, after all. Suspicious was never good, especially in the life of a ninja. The young woman was careful to keep her posture relaxed and calm. There was no need to provoke any violence, strangers or no. She simply couldn't afford to get into altercations at the present moment. Not seeing a reason so as not to sit down, she pulled out a stool and perched herself on top of it. The bartender was with her in a few moments, asking her what she'd like. The young Akari scratched the side of her head, tilting it as she did so, and ended up with yam stew and a hot cup of cider. The latter ended up burning her throat on the way down, but it was worth it- she hadn't had the drink in so long, she was beginning to forgot what it tasted like. Amaterasu handed a few ryo across the counter to the bartender, who nodded and took her coin. She ate politely but also heartily, finishing the stew and hot drink in only around ten minutes. After that, however, she felt a hand press down on her shoulder. She whipped around, kunai flicked out of her sleeve, to find an old man standing there.

He began to laugh. "Ah, a feisty young ninja," he bellowed, his voice loud and baritone in pitch. "Good. I've been looking to get this thing off my hands for a while- perhaps you'll make better use of it than I." with that, he slapped a scroll into her open palm and walked away. Amaterasu sat stunned for a moment. After around thirty seconds had passed, and he had left the tavern, she slid the kunai back up her sleeve and unfurled the scroll. It seemed to be a C rank technique, one that could progress all the way up to the elusive S rank if she played her cards correctly. There were no hand seals, which was great, and it focused on empowering her existing abilities rather than providing her with new ones. That was perfect- exactly the kind of technique she was looking for. The girl scratched her head awkwardly. How had he known? Did he not, and genuinely wanted to get rid of this? She couldn't believe her luck. In fact, it felt suspicious. Having decided what she was going to do now, the young Akari rolled the scroll back up, tied a simple string around it to keep the parchment in place, and slid it into her pocket. She stood up from the bar stool, thanking the bartender for the food and drink, and she left the building entirely. She needed a place to practice...

After around forty five minutes of wandering the bustling black market town, the girl found a quiet alleyway. Flecks of blood crested the walls, and she felt a little awkward stepping in. However, she couldn't detect the chakra of any intruders with her golden eye, so she correctly assumed that she was alone. Alright... She unfurled the scroll, making careful note to memorize all the ins and outs of the technique. Well, at least the ones that had been listed on paper. Apparently, it worked by exposing her soul to the outside world. Hers would probably be a reddish orange, based on prior experience with seeing her own chakra. Alright. She needed to draw her chakra to her skin, first. She had done so before with the whole Takamura incident, and it ended up singing the inside of her skin, as she had trouble safely separating her fire affinity from her normal chakra. Hopefully, however, this would turn out better. She concentrated as deep as she could, and attempted to draw her energy to the surface. A silent pull in her gut alerted her to the growing success of this- good. However, after a few seconds, her skin started to feel uncomfortably warm. Then, it started to feel like it had been set on fire. She cancelled the technique as quickly as she could. Damn. Perhaps there was a more efficient way to separate the energies? Although, the technique said that it worked by drawing out the user's chakra and changes color depending on their affinity... Did that mean that she HAD to use fire chakra? If so, was there a way to safely do so without bringing immediate harm to herself or her skin? Amaterasu frowned, deep in thought. Maybe if she pushed the chakra out through her pores, in thin little needles? That would stop it from being forced to travel directly through her skin. Alright... It was worth a shot. She focused on her inner fire affinity once more, and attempted to pull it to the surface. A familiar uncomfortable warmness overtook her, but at this stage, she siphoned the energy up above her skin through the pores. She opened her eyes, and a fierce red glow surrounded her. It was wild and unkempt, unlike the diagrams and pictures that had been drawn inside the scroll. After holding the technique for a few moments, she released it and tried to study the scroll once more. She had the whole 'getting her spirit chakra out of her body' thing down, but one thing she DIDN'T know how to do was form a barrier with it. Apparently, the full technique had set up a little chakra repellent barrier around her exposed soul, allowing her to resist some chakra based damage. That was always nice, but she needed to have firmer chakra control if she ever wanted to progress to that stage. The things displayed in the scroll seemed like they formed little bubbles around the user... Maybe she should try focusing it around her body like that? Maybe if she spun the chakra lightly as she did so, it would result in a firmer, less... wild and unorganized barrier. She scratched her head. It was kind of like trying to compress her fire affinity energy for the Demon Lantern technique and the Piercing Darts technique. A little awkward at first, but once she got the hang of it, she would quickly progress until she was satisfied with its completion. The only thing she had to do at this stage was find the right trick for it. But what was it?

Now was as good of a time as ever to find out. The young Akari meditated lightly, focusing on the fierce, burning energy that resided inside her core. She gently coaxed it out through her tenketsu, and then did so once again through her pores. She opened her eyes, and she was surrounded by a reddish orange glow that cast eerie flickering lights on the blood splattered alley walls. It was wild and unkempt, darting out oddly like lightning one moment and calm as the sea the next. For the first attempt, she tried to simply round it into a bubble shape around her body. This, however, didn't work- it just caused the whole aura to flicker awkwardly, like it was unsure of what to do. A second attempt had the whole thing she had been working for to almost fade entirely. A third attempt caused the chakra to burn her hands as it tightened too much too quickly. Alright, perhaps this wasn't the way to go. But what was? She scratched her head awkwardly. She'd find something to make this work. She had to. Perhaps she could try spinning it, like a whirlpool? She knew that when you spun kunai as you threw them, the path was straighter and they usually flew farther. Perhaps this would work out something like that. It was worth a shot, anyways, as nothing seemed to be working for Amaterasu at the moment. Focusing on the volatile chakra which was in turmoil outside of the pores on her skin, she tried to spin it slowly in a circle. It rotated like a hurricane, with herself at the eye, but eventually, it rounded out over her arms, hands, legs, head, and finally her chest. Was... Was that it? She kept rotating it consciously, but when she stopped doing so, it stayed in place as little formed bubbles around her vitals. Yes, it was! She'd learned Soul Expulsion! The girl almost jumped for joy before remembering what kind of situation she was in. She was in a bloodied alley in the middle of a black market town, looking scarily excited as well as all sweaty, like she had just finished a work out. It probably didn't look good for her. As she left the alley, she thought back on her plans for a nice, relaxing day. So much for that.

WC: 2,018
Total WC: 2,018

(exit)

Claiming: 2,000 words towards http://naruto-role-play-rpg.forumotion.com/t36477-soul-expulsion, 10 stat points c: