Gettin' down [P]

The reply and gesture from the Chuunin forced a small chuckle out from the Nazar. "Yes, I suppose it should be" he said with a smile as he had stepped aside from the Hyuuga to watch her attempt the jutsu. Unbeknownst to the Nazar, Love had been spilling chakra out from herself the entire time and into the ground in advance before she even attempted the jutsu. He watched closely as she performed the two necessary hand seals for the jutsu. Looked out ahead to where the jutsu was likely to be created, Kinzoku awaited for any signs of the earth softening and changing color, for the mud to show itself and slowly begin to spread. But it never happened. It was to be expected really. This was an extremely powerful jutsu which evidently meant it was a difficult jutsu to learn. It also brought the question to mind; how much practice had Love had with doton jutsu in the first place? It was a question Kinzoku should have considered before showing her a jutsu of this magnitude. But it did not mean she would not achieve the jutsu. It simply meant it would take more time.

There could have been a number of reasons for Love not getting it down on the first attempt. Too much chakra. Perhaps too little chakra. Not enough focus. Not enough practice with the use of her earth chakra. Whatever the reason, each one could be tackled and overcome. "Let's try this" Kinzoku thought to himself as his right hand came up to form a half Tiger seal. Quickly after a small section of earth beside Kinzoku would rise up into a long staff. The hand that formed the single seal would reach out and grab the staff and pull it from the ground. Kinzoku began walking forward to the spot he had performed the jutsu and the spot where Love was likely attempting the jutsu as well. Once there, he plunged the staff into the ground and left it here before making his way back over to Love.

"I made the mistake of showing you the full capability of the jutsu" he began as he arrived back to his original spot. "You're likely trying to replicate the jutsu as I showed it. Let's start off slowly. I want you to submerge the staff into the ground and just the staff" as he pointed over to it. This would allow Love to only need to use a small amount of chakra since it would only require a small amount of mud to begin dragging the staff down. It would also force Love to properly concentrate as to not create more mud than she needed. It would allow her to get a better grasp of her earth chakra and the requirements for the jutsu. Although they were baby steps to achieving the full potential of the jutsu, it would surely help.

As she formed the hand seals Love noted the smile on Kinzoku's face after he replied to her comment, it seemed as though he was getting used to her. After giving her space she could feel the focus of his eyes on her, then he turned that gaze to the open area where he had caused the swamp to appear and hoped to see it again. When it didn't work Love turned her head toward him, he didn't speak or make a face. It's like he was hard at work trying to analyze the situation and figure out what went wrong. After a moment the male formed a half tiger seal and created a rock cane, Love wasn't sure what he'd need it for and without explaining he walked away. His feet lead him to the center of where his swamp had been created, there he would jab the cane into the ground and return to her side. Once he was back he spoke and the word "mistake" caused one of Love's eyebrows to raise. Mhm. She thought as he began explaining his actions.

There was no questioning his experience with teaching, although Love didn't like the baby steps he was offering them as an equal. Whether it be age, gender, or her own experience granted by rank the male was being rather neutral. Not that it was a bad thing, it was just more noticeable than it normally would be. It's almost as if he knew she was testing him or even holding back due to fear of making a bad impression. This is exactly why sparring brought people together, you can tell a lot about someone by how they attack, defend, and counter. Yet there was no need to rush the experience, he wasn't some young and eager genin, he'd reveal himself through time. Love clenched her jaw and did as he said, using half as much chakra as before she would begin to soften the earth around the cane. For now, the ground hadn't changed color but if someone standing next to the cane had a magnifying glass or telescopic dojutsu, they'd see moisture consuming the tiny pebbles that laid around the cane.

Not being able to currently see that the red head would trust her instincts and break apart the soil, similar to transforming it into sand the way she needed to when using the hiding like a mole jutsu. Except it wouldn't be allowed to be individual grains the rainwater and other moisture trapped beneath the surface kept it hydrated. So while it became mushy like sand it was far more mobile, this new state caused the staff to lean but from this distance, it would likely go unnoticed. Next, the Hyuuga would work on expanding the softened area and as that grew the magical properties of her chakra would materialize water to turn this mud pit into a swamp. It felt like an eternity and she was so immersed in this task that she couldn't tell if it actually was taking as long as she felt it was. Based on the way he's been tiptoeing she was sure that Kinzoku wouldn't rush her if it was taking a while. However, she did hope that he would offer a different approach of course if he didn't have any other ideas she could just go faster. Speed hasn't been an issue for her in quite some time so it could very easily be unintentional self-sabotage.

Naturally, this wasn't the first time she felt this way it also wasn't the first time her anxiety was playing tricks on her. So while in reality the staff, and only the staff, was sinking at half speed Love was too close to see it. But having accomplished this mini task she stopped the chakra flow to see her work. The staff continued to sink despite her disconnecting from the jutsu and that was just the sign she needed to let her know she was ready and able to perform it in full. Had she been training alone or with someone she was closer to she'd go right into the technique's full capacity but this time she'd wait to see if Kinzoku had anything to say.

WC: 705

Kinzoku watched closely as Love made her attempt at sinking the earth staff and only the earth staff. He had to pay extra attention to the earth beneath the staff since it was such a tiny surface area that it would be easy to miss if she completed the jutsu correctly. Luckily Kinzoku was good at picking up on small details so he would not need to focus too hard to spot the change in earth. First the earth turned into what looked like sand before it began taking a more water like texture finally turning into a tiny spot of mud. He turned his gaze over to Love as she loosened up from casting the jutsu signifying she had completed it. When he looked back over to the staff he could see that it was still sinking deeper and deeper at a relatively rate. Love having accomplished the task to create the mud in such a small area meant she could now complete the jutsu. All she had to do was simply take the same approach and expand on it. However he still wanted to see it as tedious as it may be for Love. Clapping his hands together the Nazar proceeded to kneel close to the ground and place both palms down atop the ground. As he did so a section of the earth ahead of the two Konoha shinobi would rise a foot or so from the ground, five meters in both length and width. "Place the swamp atop of the raised piece of earth, leaving an inch of clean earth along the entire border" he said as he stood back to his full height. He had no doubt Love could accomplish this task. But it was still good for her to visually see she could. If she could successfully complete the jutsu while expanding it, then there would be no doubt she could do so on an even larger scale. 

Once Love undoubtedly completed Swamp of the Underworld he would move on to another doton jutsu to show the Chuunin. Reaching inside his jacket to his backside, Kinzoku would retrieve one of his marked kunais and hold it out in his hand. "This next jutsu is the Light-Weight Rock technique" he began as he started flipping the kunai in his hand. "Simply put, it makes anything you come into contact with lighter. Including people. The draw back is the item, or person, sustains a drop in its physical force." As Kinzoku was tossing the kunai up and down he had activated the jutsu. If Love was paying attention to the kunai she may notice that the Nazar was putting less and less effort into tossing the kunai up and down. He gave the projectile one last toss over to Love so she could catch it and feel that its weight was nothing more than a feather. "Y'er essentially reducing the gravity of the object with your earth chakra." After that he canceled the jutsu to allow Love to feel the noticeable difference in the kunai's weight once it returned. He remained silent after his brief explanation as Love would know that she could either have a go at the jutsu or ask any questions.

Teaching Light-Weight Rock Technique

While waiting for any comments on what she had just done Love watched as Kinzoku clapped his hands and placed them on the ground after kneeling. His actions had caused a decent chunk of land to lift not that far from the ground, the pace of the rise was just enough to trip someone rushing and not paying attention. As he stood back up he gave her orders to create the swamp on top of the raised area but neatly. This was a more precise way to see if she was truly capable of casting the jutsu properly, much better than simply having it appear the way she would have done if alone. Thinking of it that way it seemed as though Love went easy on herself knowing that the superior chakra control granted by her genes would allow her to tweak things on the spot. "Alright." She said before once again going through the process of gathering adequate chakra to cast as well as performing the needed hand seals. The jutsu would begin to expand as a circle then change to a square as it came closer to the four meter mark. After a second success, the sand man would move on to teaching a second jutsu. No praise for her work, not that she needed it, this was his way of treating her like an equal, it was appreciated.

Reaching into his jacket he retrieved a kunai and announced that this next jutsu was known as the Light-weight rock technique. His choice of instrument made it obvious that this could be used on things other than rock. Further detail let her know that it was even usable on humans and the male would throw the blade into the air. Catching it each time as he used less and less force to throw it before passing it to her for a feel. She too gave the kunai a few tosses as a country twang crept from the male's throat, he mentioned gravity and that threw her for a bit of a loop. After that, he canceled the jutsu and the familiar weight of the blade returned, was this space-time ninjutsu? She only knew one of those and it focused more on time rather than space, Love would try infusing earth chakra into the weapon. It worked, however, only temporarily; each time she caught the blade the chakra she'd infused would be gone.

She knew her reserves weren't depleted, there was also the glow around the knife while it retained her chakra. "Something's off... This wouldn't happen to be a space-time jutsu would it?" She'd ask the man who was no doubt watching and possibly confused as well.

WC: 448

Kinzoku was pleased to see that Love had fully grasped the use of swamp of the underworld and was able to create the jutsu with his specifications listed. Knowing she had full understanding over the jutsu allowed Kinzoku to move on to the next one. One that would allow the user to make certain objects weigh less. As a result it would make them move faster but in turn also make them weaker. After having demonstrated the jutsu and tossing the kunai over to Love, he watched attentively observing the Chuunin attempt the jutsu. With every toss she had infused the proper amount of chakra into the projectile. But every time the weapon found its way back into the kunoichi's hand the chakra she had infused into it was no longer there thus returning to its natural weight. Kinzoku chucked it up to simply needing a little more practice with the jutsu. But Love's comments made it a little more clear what the problem actually was.

She asked if the jutsu involved the use of space and time. Although the jutsu itself was an earth jutsu, it likely contained properties of space and time manipulation. Something Kinzoku had considered. Just wasn't sure of Love's proficiency in the field. "Although the jutsu is an earth jutsu at its core" Kinzoku began, reaching out his hand to take the kunai back from Love, "it does contain aspects of space and time manipulation. Perhaps more than I had anticipated." Once the kunai was back in his possession he would store it back into his pouch before thinking over another jutsu he could show her. It only took him a few moments of pondering before he thought of another one to show her. It was a jutsu he had jutsu he used quite often. One that had many benefits and uses.

"We'll stick with solely doton then" he added before explaining the next jutsu. "This next one is Earth Dragon. Simple enough to understand. You're simply creating a dragon from earth. There are two ways to go about it. The first is to expel the chakra from your mouth, converting it to earth as it exits your body. This method is more practical if you're in an area with no earth, say the ocean. But since we've got an abundance of it, we'll go with the second method." Kinzoku went on to form the thre seals required. Horse, Ox, Snake. After its completion the earth directly ahead of the two shinobi began to shift and mold itself. At first it didn't appear to be anything distinct. But then the nose began forming, which then became the entire 4 meter long head. The dragon began pulling itself out of the ground before stopping at about 4 meters out.

"In total it can reach up to 14 meters in length" he began before letting the jutsu crumble back to the earth. "The best way to go about this is to visualize the dragon in your mind before anything else. Once you've got a grasp of its features and the way it looks you can begin molding the earth with your chakra. Start off with the head. It tends to be the hardest part to get. The rest comes easy after that."

Teaching Earth Release: Earth Dragon

Moving her pale eyes from the blade in her hand to the man standing next to her Love listened as Kinzoku began to explain why she was having trouble with this jutsu. As his hand reached out she allowed him to reclaim his weapon and he continued speaking, confirming her suspicion. With the kunai back in its rightful place, the male took a moment to ponder before explaining a "solely doton" jutsu. It was called Earth Dragon, a very straight forward name and practical execution to boot. Although it's something one would expect from a higher ranked jutsu more power means more concentration and for an earth jutsu actually being in contact with the element seems like a necessity. With the use of three hand seals, Kinzoku went on to show the "grounded" application of the jutsu all the while Love was more interested in converging her chakra to make it appear as though she was actually spewing earth from her body. Nevertheless, his version was better for teaching the jutsu to someone who'd never seen the technique before and the Hyuuga fell into that category. Not to mention the absence of others gave her no reason to show off though she'd definitely try the alternative method after completing the version being shown.

The kunoichi observed as the dragon erupted from the same spot they'd used to create the swamp of the underworld, only reaching four meters while the male stated it could reach a total of fourteen. Following that, it would crumble back to the ground Love would note how it happened like any rock construct despite the dragon previously appearing as if was made of mud. The Hokage would give the red head a few final tips before she would give it a go, her response to this would be, "Gotcha". The kunoichi would begin to visualize a giant golden dragon rippling with electricity yet made sure to use earth chakra while kneading the horse, ox, and snake seals. The ground would crack as the nostrils took form, from there a horned muzzle would inch its way out; once the eyes opened the mouth followed suit. Hundreds of stalagmite and stalactite teeth bared at the sky above as the body wriggled free, thousands of shards overlaid yet moving with the fluidity of water. Other details such as a tongue, horns on either side of its head, and wave like mane became more apparent as Love's dragon reached full length. The beast stood at attention, waiting for a command while its creator waited to see if Kinzoku would test its durability or some other aspect to make sure it was substantial.

As far as she could tell the technique was a success and firing it from her mouth would be proof of that, of course, she'd wait for confirmation before moving on. It'd also be rather reckless to fire such a large jutsu without alerting those closest to you and they couldn't afford to another kage. However, if he wasn't able to avoid the relatively slow technique he didn't really deserve the title much less if it truly killed or mortally injured him.

WC: 524

Kinzoku watched patiently as Love focused on performing the Earth Dragon jutsu. She had taken his tips to visualize a dragon in her mind to heart, her dragon being far more detailed than Kinzoku would have expected. His eyes quickly diverted from the Chuunin to the spot where the ground began to crack. Almost like an egg hatching, the ground cracked and broke relatively slowly. Once the earth came together and the nostrils took shape, everything else came together shortly after. It was then that Kinzoku started to notice the detail in the dragon as it was given a little horned muzzle and on either side of its head. Love had even gone as far as giving the dragon what looked to be scales. He gave Love a quick glance while smirking. Was she trying to show off that she was adept in the use of doton jutsu? Either way Kinzoku was glad to see she was getting the hang of it before he took back to see the jutsu continue unfolding. Unlike Kinzoku, she had created the dragon in its entirety while adding a mane to it for one final touch. 

"Nicely done" Kinzoku said as he watched the dragon steadily watching him. Taking a few steps over to its face, with his steel arm he gave its jaw a few taps with the back of his hand. They were nothing hard but they were also not as light as a feather. It was simply to see if the jutsu would hold and not crumble with the slightest contact. And it held. He took a couple steps back to his original position in case Love decided to break the jutsu down. "How about you give it a shot the other way?" Kinzoku asked slightly tilting his head referring to spewing chakra from the mouth and converting it to earth as it exit. He wasn't asking because he did not believe Love could accomplish it. Quite the opposite actually. After how quickly she had got the hang of the jutsu, he had no doubt she could do it this way also. Either way it would force her to perfect the jutsu in every way.

If she decided to go for a second attempt and only after she succeeded, Kinzoku would move on to another technique he had recently learned that was quite useful. He knew Hyuuga excelled in close quarters combat an that this technique was vital for such situations. "This next one is more akin to Taijutsu. It comes in handy in tight situations when you need to avoid an attack in a split second. It comes with repetition. You essentially shift your body at the last second dodging what needs to be avoided. The more often you do it the easier it will be for your body to get use to the motion. Eventually it comes down to muscle memory and instinct." The way he would teach her this one would be a bit unconventional. Creating a shadow clone, the clone would make its way a few feet behind Love. With both Kinzoku's flanking the Hyuuga, they would begin throwing a single kunai back and forth with Love in the middle. It would be her job to avoid the kunai as quickly as possible. They were both only standing a few feet from the Chuunin in order to enforce the idea of dodging at the last second. 

Teaching Split Second B rank for 750 words

Will Claim Exit now
TWC: 3803

113 words into Fuin Breaking B rank (1125/1125)
1675 words into  Fire Release: Hiding in the Ash and Dust (1675/1675)
1675 words into Fuin Breaking A rank (1675/1675)
340 words into Fuin Breaking S rank (340/3000)

Ok

Love was smiling internally when Kinzoku complimented her first attempt. She'd return his grin after he'd walked over to the earthen beast, checking to make sure the physical quality was just as good as the visual, and further instructed her to try the other application of the jutsu. Once he cleared himself from the immediate danger zone Love would dispel the dragon and reform the three hand seals. The visualization this time would be like throwing up, the chakra building up in her stomach would begin to fester and make its way up the esophagus. Once it hit the back of the tongue it would gain the taste of dirt and mud before being expelled in a single stream that would expand into the beautiful creation from before. Although she didn't let its full length this time round Love did let her enthusiasm slip a bit by increasing the speed in which the dragon formed. Being that he hadn't stepped back much this would likely be the main reason for him teaching her this next jutsu the way he did. She wasn't sure if the spec shift was also a cause yet she was still interested in what he thought she should know given that Hyuuga were know or taijutsu.

Based on his description of the technique it seemed extremely useful, like something every one of her rank should know, of course, she was aware that there were plenty other jutsu this could also be said about. Yet for whatever reason, some people were just incapable of learning them, she had been living proof of that today. Never the less Love was still expanding her repertoire so there wasn't a jutsu she wouldn't try at least once before passing it over. The red head watched suspiciously as the male created a shadow clone that would walk behind her. He must've wanted to push her to the limit but she hadn't expected him to throw a kunai at her, obviously, she dodged yet based on the speed the blade was thrown the idea was to create a realistic scenario. That would definitely get the job done but she had a feeling that the space between the three would continue to get smaller. Her best bet would be to catch on quickly or else this could take the whole day, hell he might even increase and reduce the number of kunai based on her performance. Naturally, the first couple of throws were the easiest to avoid neither of them wanted to get tired out quickly besides Kinzoku needed to establish a base to work up from.

The next round of throws the Hyuuga only relied on her unenhanced abilities, without hand seals she wasn't exactly sure how to manipulate her chakra. That meant it was time to turn up the heat, this would lead to various minor cuts all around. Love had half a mind to wrap her body in chakra but it would useless since she'd just be waiting for ninja magic to kick. No, she needed to think of a way to increase her speed for the perfect dodge. It was odd for her because she was used to using taijutsu offensively, already being in attack mode made increasing her capabilities like second nature. She needed to relax yet stay alert, a more than easy feat for the byakugan but not today, she refused to become dependent on it. Therefore it was back to the drawing board, while figurative Love was thinking of the chakra network, spreading the energy without letting it seep out. Once she found the right flow she was confident that this would be the key to mastering this jutsu.

This would probably go faster if she knew the one body blow technique, though she had experience expelling chakra from each tenketsu at once the rotation did so in excess. Raiton cape flooded her body with chakra as well however it caused her to glow not that that was bad she just needed more refinement. Damn it! Why didn't he give her a demonstration first? Love exhaled a sigh, can't switch up the tempo without warning your partner. Having refused to take any breaks there was little to no time to breathe in between throws, luckily he was being generous and not aiming for her hair. It was rather long so it'd be a shame to look down and see that they were trampling red grass; It'd be an even worse mess trying to even it out. It was then in a sudden turn of events that the girl was successful, she actually did it. It appeared that these irrelevant thoughts were exactly what she needed to react on pure instinct, she was in her own little world like when someone sneaks up on you while you"re wearing headphones. She wasn't sure if Kinzoku had noticed, his face didn't say that he did, regardless now that she'd been reminded of that feeling she'd do it again to make sure it wasn't a fluke.

WC: 836 [Exit]
TWC: 3,625
Claiming: Swamp of the Underworld; Earth Dragon; Split Second