Gettin' down [P]

Being back home and not under anyone's watch Love would head over to the training grounds to flex a bit. She'd start with simple exercises and stretches to warm up. Nothing fancy just a lot more comfortable when you don't have a trigger happy person ready to shock, shoot, or contain you the second they feel threatened. As it was now she had the place to herself save a few students practicing their throwing. It is a good idea to go back the basics every once in a while so she'd do just that, it was the best place to start without a partner anyway. Going to the supply shed Love would gather numerous wooden targets and then proceeded to place them in obscure locations in her immediate area. Following that she'd dig her hands into her weapon pouches, filling her hands with both shuriken and kunai the red head would run and jump whilst throwing the projectiles. Not quite the shurikenjutsu of the Uchiha but it would do.

WC: 169

Some days Kinzoku simply did not feel the need to spend it in his office. He preferred to be out and about in the village. Today was one of those days. Leaving the responsibilities of the office either on hold for the secretary to handle or his assistant, Kinzoku dressed up in his warmest clothes and decide walking about in the snow covered village. He first paid a visit to a place he had never really been to before having grown up in Suna. The academy. It was a good place to start if one wanted to get a view of Konoha's up and coming next generation. When he arrived he simply began walking the halls, arms behinds his back as he observed each class room in session. Not wanting to disturb the teachings in session, the Nazar simply observed the Jounin teaching their students. As he walked around he greeted those he passed, even indulging a few of them in small conversation when the opportunity presented itself. All together it was a rather short visit to the academy he had not attended. But the trip had a nice effect on the Nazar, raising his spirits. Before parting the Nazar slapped the top of the door frame with his right hand placing another one of his Flying Thuder God seals within the academy. It was not an obvious spot likely only to be seen by those with a keen eyesight. But Kinzoku deemed it necessary. It would be easier for him to make it around the village if he had multiple seals laying around.

Before making his way back into town, he turned his attention towards the training grounds. Another good way for Kinzoku to see and gauge the progress of younger generations was to watch them in the act of training. Upon arrival he came across a few students practicing the basics of kenjutsu as they threw projectiles at dummies in an attempt to better their precision and accuracy. After observing them for some time, Kinzoku moved on to another area of the training grounds as he caught sight of someone familiar. It was hard to miss her red hair as very few, if any at all had hair with such a color as Love's did. Slowly striding through the training grounds, his feet leaving soft boot marks within the snow, Kinzoku made his way over to Love he was also practicing with the use of projectiles. She seemed to be warming up, or refreshing up on the basics, or both. Kinzoku could not tell but either way it was good for her to be doing so. He as soon within speaking distance of the Chuunin as she was likely not aware of her presence. "Care for some help?" Kinzoku offered with a smile. Teaching and training others had always been something he enjoyed. This would also provide the Nazar with an opportunity to gain some knowledge on the Hyuuga's own abilities, assuming she accepted.

Although she was working more on accuracy than speed the Hyuuga was still moving pretty fast causing parts of the people around her to blur. Normally she would ignore them even if a friendly face unless they called out to her, which one happened to do. Love would follow through with the throw she was halfway into already before addressing the figure. Once the blade hit its mark she'd turn to see someone she'd met not too long ago. The red head hadn't expected to see him again so soon yet here he was offing to help with her training. "Bukijutsu isn't really my thing." She'd tell the Nazar. "but if you know anything else you find handy I wouldn't mind learning that." Love took note of his smile, she didn't feel the need to reciprocate it however she would use this as an opportunity to perhaps figure out what qualified him. Not that she was wary he wasn't worthy nor was she ignorant of the lack of higher-ups, the title was just being passed around so much one would think any jounin with enough time could be a candidate. Should the male be dissuaded by her disinterest in weaponry and decide to go the Yen route, sharing wisdom rather than combat skills, Love wouldn't mind. She'd spent enough time with the Aburame that her capacity for monologues was rather high. Not to mention his attire would suggest coming in from the cold would do him good, though Love could stand to add a layer.

WC: 255

The red headed Chuunin seemed to have accepted Kinzoku's offer to help her train right off the bat. She did so by stating what she was not good at, indicating to the Nazar that he could help her just not in the use of weaponry. Easy observation for the Hyuuga to make with the large crossbow strapped on Kinzoku's back. Fortunately Kinzoku was adept in other fields other than the use of weapons which is pretty much the direction their conversation was currently heading in. Love stated she wouldn't mind being taught assuming the Nazar had anything handy to teach her. Kinzoku held back a chuckle at the comment, finding the gesture funny. Whether something would be handy or not was entirely relative to each individual. Thus Kinzoku could only hope what he knew would indeed be handy got the Hyuuga.

He observed the Hyuuga for a few moments, her lack of emotion making him realize she was quite the reserved individual. Was she always like this? Perhaps the more time he would spend with her the better chance he'd have of finding out. "Depends on you I suppose" Kinzoku responded while slightly adjusting his hat. He knew Hyuuga tend to be quite proficient in Taijutsu, something Kinzoku only knew the basics of. "If you're looking to advance your level of taijutsu then I'm the wrong guy for that. I for one, specialize in ninjutsu. I've recently begun extensive research and practice in the use of fuinjutsu as well. If either of those fancy you then I may have some handy techniques you might like. Otherwise, I can simply help you keep sharp. Both physically and mentally" he offered, giving the option of a spar or even meditation assuming both ninjutsu and fuinjutsu were not apart of Love's skill set.

The two shinobi standing here probably looked really stiff to an outsider. Love was focused, maybe a tad rigid but that's because she had the village leader standing under her microscope. She didn't need to go hard on him but she couldn't go easy either, she didn't feel acquiescent toward Risako and it was more than safe to say that she wasn't the only one. She didn't even get to experience Ashi's short reign, being on their 11th kage didn't feel good. The Hyuuga tilted her head at the male's initial comment, he was right and she was in agreement. The red head then folded her arms across her chest, cracking a smile at what he said next. "While I do plan on expanding my knowledge of fuuinjutsu, ninjutsu has been my main focus for quite some time now. You wouldn't happen to know any Earth style jutsu would you?" Even if he said no this was still a win-win situation for Love.

WC: 163

Kinzoku as genuinely surprised to see the young Hyuuga smile after he had informed her what he was capable of. Although his previous interaction with her had been quite brief and this was really only the second time being in her presence, this was the first time he had seen any hint of emotion in her. It caught him slightly off guard in all honesty but he made sure not to show any sighs of such. Instead he focused on her reply as she informed the Kage that she was more focused on ninjutsu, the use of fuinjutsu being something she would likely study in the future. Before be able to offer up a response, she proposed her own question inquiring if the Nazar knew any earth style jutsu. 

The question forced a smile of his own to take shape as he considered the question. The last time he had trained a Konoha Chuunin he had started from the very basics of chakra control before working his way up to the actual practice of jutsu. But this was done because the Chuunin had been out of practice for some time and his basics needed work. In this case however, Love had been an active shinobi for Konoha. As such her skills were likely not rusty as the previous Chuunin had been. So should he go guns blazing and how what was likely his most powerful doton jutsu, or start simple and work his way up?

"I think I can help you there" Kinzoku replied as he took a few steps to align himself with Love, taking up a position to properly demonstrate the jutsu. "This is a very powerful jutsu and must be used with caution" Kinzoku began, deciding to go guns blazing. It was time to see what Love could do. "Swamp of the Underworld" he said, informing her of the jutsu as he formed the two Boar and Tiger seals needed. This time he would explain the use of the jutsu at the same time he performed it. "You need to transfer earth chakra through you and into the ground" he started, in case Love had not activated her Byakugan. If she had she would see the mass amounts of chakra Kinzoku was currently spending for this jutsu. "Once that's done you're pretty much free to choose where you want the jutsu's origin point. Too far though and the jutsu will simply break down." If Love looked out ahead of the two of them about 20 meters down she would notice the ground start turning into a dark brown colored liquid as it slowly spanned out engulfing more and more of the terrain. "Anyone stuck in this who does not posses adequate strength will get stuck. The beauty of this technique is that its size and depth is entirely up to the user. The more chakra you put into it, the large and deeper it gets." As the words were spoken, Kinzoku poured more chakra into the pool of muddy water as he continued growing in size. Before he engulfed the two shinobi, Kinzoku broke the flow of his chakra into the swamp as it slowly seeped away to reveal the ground below it once more although a lot dirtier. 

"Any questions?" he asked, informing Love that it was now her turn to give it a shot. If she needed help with anything, all she had to do was ask.

Teaching Swamp of the Underworld

Love was glad to see a smile creep across the man's face, it seemed they were getting somewhere. He announced that he could teach her some earth technique and got in place to immediately give a demonstration of one. Love nodded to his starting words, it was good that he wasn't going to start low and go high. The first instruction sounded easy enough so she'd begin doing that as he explained and showed what would happen when her chakra was properly channeled and the seals were used. Her first fight in the Jounin Exam was a cautionary tale of jutsu range, her opponent's attacks literally fell short. Interesting. Love thought as he explained that the jutsu basically grew with the user. She watched as the pool of brown water appeared and continued to expand and then shrink as the demonstration was over and Kinzoku awaited possible questions.

The fact that the jutsu left the ground dirty when it ended was something that Love would keep in her mind. Little things like that were helpful when tracking, it could give you away or help locate the target. She knew she wasn't quite ready to attempt the technique so she'd ask the one question she had at the moment. "Does this only work on earthen materials or can it be used on any surface?" She'd wait for his answer and anything else he might want to add before closing her eyes to get more tune with the ground beneath her. It was also interesting that this jutsu was purely earth since water did play a significant role.

WC: 266

After the demonstrated Kinzoku turned to either watch Love attempt the jutsu or ask any questions she may have. She went with the former. In all honesty Kinzoku was pleased to see Love actually had a question about the jutsu. It meant she wanted to be well informed in its use. Most people simply went ahead and attempted it. Although there was nothing wrong with learning by trial and error, wanting to understand the jutsu as best as possible was a respectable approach. The question left Kinzoku thinking for a bit before he gave his answer, wanting it to be as precise as possible. "It can't be used on any surface, no" Kinzoku replied going straight to the point. "The surface needs to have a significant amount of earth inside of it in order for the jutsu to work. This jutsu is too powerful and large to create from mere chakra alone. It's needs an earthen base to draw from."

Kinzoku hoped his answer had been sufficient to quench Love's curiosity. He turned his head back to the area he had performed the jutsu in, indicating he was ready to see Love give it a try. Just at that moment he remembered another tiny detail that was not necessarily pertinent to Love's attempt at the moment but nonetheless good to have. "Also, the jutsu cannot exceed the limits of the surface it has been created on. If you use it on a roof, it can consume the entirety of the roof but it will do no harm to the supporting walls." With the Kinzoku's stood aside once more, his hands finding a comfortable place on each side of his belt buckle as he waited and watched. Ready to give advice where needed or answer questions when asked.

Love nodded at Kinzoku's answer, it was direct and clear. It was too early to tell if he was good at giving orders or if he was good at teaching but as their time together continued it would become clear. There was a pause before the man gave additional information on the jutsu. Love tilted her head to the side quickly when hearing it. "That should be common sense." She would comment, rather short and it might give him the wrong impression but she was just saying what she was thinking. The male would then stand aside in wait of her attempt at the jutsu. She had been sending her chakra into the ground the entire time but she didn't think it was enough, having taijutsu drilled into from such an early age she was a more hands-on person. Which is why earth ninjutsu was a good fit for her yet even with her advanced skills she couldn't just pull a jutsu of this caliber out of her ass. Thinking back to the seals she took a breath and then formed them.

Just as she expected nothing happened, it's possible that the kage had also anticipated this and she'd soon find out. Though it would be nice to know that he'd expected her to get it on the first try. There were few people left for her to impress and it got no higher than the Hokage. She would wait a few seconds to see if he had any tips to give before going to channel her chakra again.

WC: 259
TWC: 1,112
Mid-topic Claim: 10 ap

Approved