A Little Guidance (Mara Asano Academy Days)

Mara cringed at the analysis, but they definitely weren't wrong. Her clone was a strong start, but wouldn't be convincing. She nodded as thy described how to visualize it.

'Ok, Mara. Focus. Feel the chakra extend.' She focused on the image of the clone in her mind, feeling her chakra extend even before she moved to make the handsigns.She focused her chakra on one point, and then two more. Then her fingers began to move. Ram → Snake → Tiger

With a poof, three clones appeared on the training grounds. Two of them looked almost perfect, much to Mara's satisfaction. The third was hazy like before...and then winked out of existence. "So...I'll need to practice that a bit."

At the mention of the transformation technique she looked toward Natsume. "I'm aware the Transformation technique exists, but not much more than that. I've mostly toyed around with it." Then, watching as Ryuka made the hand seals, she was impressed to watch his hair cycle through numerous colors. "Ok, that's impressive."

She wove the hand seals herself. Dog → Boar → Ram She felt an outpouring of her chakra that was briefly overwhelming. The result, however, was less impressive. She'd attempted to take on Ryuka's appearance, but ended up somewhere in between. She was still her height with patches of her outfit. Her hair fell into a strange greenish-brown color and her face was mismatched. "Well that went poorly."

"Yes." Ryūka added to Natsume's teachings, "For example, don't ever try to transform into a cat. It will not work, and you'll just embarrass yourself. Unless you can get out of that situation fast enough, that is. Good thing it never happened to me. Ever. I only hope it never happens to you either.".

Ryūka unsheathed his GIANT PIPE from his GIANT FLYING METAL FLOWER. It was a regular deal. "The Substitution Technique is bit of an odd one... It's usually misunderstood. It is largely believed to be a Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free Card. In fact, it needs to be prepared beforehand. And it is not, in fact, a teleportation. It is once again, merely an illusion.". Ryūka performed the handseals, and turned his pipe into a replica of his own, as he himself turned into smoke. As he released the illusion, he simultaneously turned back into his human form.

It looked like as if Ryūka had teleported a short distance, leaving behind his pipe instead. 


"Of course it doesn't work if your opponent is onto you. That's the point of it.".

Ryūka turned back to Natsume. "By the way Natsume. We haven't really talked about you. How has your training been going? Learned any techniques lately?".

"Interesting," Mara said, looking at the pipe that had briefly represented Ryuka. It appeared that the substitution technique wasn't dissimilar to the clone technique. Both relied on a projected image of the self. In fact, the false image portion of the substitution almost felt a bit easier. She had an object to focus the illusion on. The real trick would be pulling off the simultaneous transformation jutsu on herself.

She pulled a training kunai out of her thigh holster, twirling it absently as she focused on what she was about to attempt. The kunai wouldn't be sufficient for this trick. It was too small and insubstantial.

A quick look to her right revealed something far more fitting, one of the attack dummies used for training. With a smile, she focused the chakra, first on her intended target and then on herself. Then she wove the signs. Tiger → Boar → Ox → Dog → Snake.

An instant later she pushed off with her feet, sailing toward the dummy. An image of herself lingered where she had been as she wrapped herself in a separate illusion as a poof of dust. Grasping the dummy, she hurled it into place, landing with a thud where she had stood. She didn't quite manage to land smoothly, and skidded to a stop as the illusion passed. But she was satisfied.

It wasn't a perfect execution, but she was beginning to see how this could work. More than that, she felt like she'd just pulled off the first jutsu that felt truly viable. It hadn't come free though. She felt winded from the attempt. With a bit of practice, however, she was sure it would come along.

"Now that," she said, pausing to catch her breath, "was a pretty cool technique! I can see myself using that!"

She wasn't sure how convincing it had been. After all, her tutors had been expecting its use. But she could tell by the startled face of a young child passing by that it had been at least a little convincing.

As Ryuka turned the conversation to Natsume. "Yes, sorry. I don't want to hog all the attention. What kind of things have you been working on?"

Smokeperf smiled. Natsume was seemingly a natural teacher. He didn't have much to add to her explanations. He just nodded along, confirming Natsume's words, feeling that even that was in fact unnecessary, but thinking that might have made him look indifferent instead of respectful. "It is a pretty cool technique..." he answered to Mara, "Just be careful while using it. It does put you at a positional disadvantage while you're at the process of preparing it. Most higher ranked techniques require way less preparation.". 

He took a few seconds to think about it. "In fact... Out of the three techniques, Transformation Technique could be both the easiest but at the same time the most useful... Again, as long as you remember not to turn yourself into a cat.". It could have been hard to notice, but Ryūka's cheeks had gotten a little bit red as he said that. It quickly faded away. He had only few regrets in his life. What he tried not to mention was one of them.

Ryūka nodded. "You're good. Now if you all allow me, I have somewhere to be. Sorry for leaving like this... I'll see you both around. And Mara, good luck on your exams.". He nodded to both of them, and headed out of the training grounds. 

[EXIT. WC: 1205. Claiming;

6 stats
1102 words towards mastering Phoenix Fire (898+1102 = 2000/2000)
103 words towards upgrading Split Second from B to A (103/1500)]

Mara considered Ryuka's advice carefully. She had to admit, the substitution definitely required a lot of preparation. It would be far more difficult to prepare such a move in combat. She'd have to put some work into the transformation technique. "I'll be sure to practice that one then. Obviously, I could use some work on it."

As impressed as she had been with herself, Natsume's paper trick blew Mara's mind. She was certain her jaw had dropped farther than the impressed child from earlier. How much chakra control did you need to be able to turn paper into a blade?! The fact that Natsume thought it could have been better only punctuated the point. The blonde girl had to will herself to regain her focus.  


"No, I think I'm actually in a good place now. I should probably focus on these techniques for now. My exam is coming up so I should get some prep time in." She gave an appreciative bow to both. "I should get going I suppose. Thank you both so much for your help!"

With a smile and a second bow of her head, Mara took off in the opposite direction from Ryuka. She couldn't wait to get home and try her new tricks out. With enough practice, she'd be ready to take her exam and earn a headband! The sun was getting lower in the sky so she took a few shortcuts through shops. She'd been frustrated when she left home. Now she was eager. She'd need to remember to not to be afraid to seek people out next time.

[EXIT. WC: 2002. Claiming:
10 Stats (Forgoing training discount to get stats)
250 to learning Substitution Technique (250/250)
250 to learning Transformation Technique (250/250)
250 to learning Clone Technique (250/250)
500 to learning Raiton: Sparks (500/500)
752 toward learning Flicker Movement (752/1000)]

Approved.

Approved