Wait, who?

Daiko scratches his head, relaxing and getting up for the day. It had seemed that today marked the first day that he'd actually cared about training outside of learning things from his friend Saya. It wasn't that he didn't have the time, it was more of him getting burnt out by constantly running errands for this damned village. Either way, he decided that today he would hang around the Training Area in Kirigakure, and hopefully learn a few new things. Daiko then gets dressed in his usual attire. He had on black sweats, with a long-sleeved white shirt under what was his casual black t-shirt on top. It was nothing fancy, and he wasn't too concerned about sweating given the island heat. It was also nice that he hadn't ever really used his clan's techniques, so his skin had little to no scarring, leaving him to look like a regular shinobi. 'Ah... The heat.' Learning to live with misery was also a part of training, whether people accepted it or not. Leaving the lodgment dedicated to him by the Mizukage, he sets off to the gym. It wasn't too far out, and the previous tour of the village he had been on definitely gave him a great idea of the layout of the village. Though he'd only been here for about a week or two, he knew these streets and alleys like the back of his hand.

Finally making it to the gym, Daiko gets inside and looks at the various machines and areas that he would be able to train himself.
There were a variety of different machines and things, and a lot of the people looked to be trying their hardest to train whatever it was that made them particularly special. He noticed that there were some more slender-looking fighters sprinting at breakneck speeds on treadmills. Man, Daiko wished he was that fast. Maybe he could find some other way to move around quicker than that. Turning his attention a bit to the side, Daiko also sees some people with rippling muscles using some of the equipment. Damn. Everyone here was so physically strong with nothing but their body, meanwhile, Daiko was only an average-built person. As impressive as it was to see how people have honed their bodies with the sheer force of will and effort, Daiko thought for a second how his body was honed with the way that he could control himself. His chakra control and endurance were nothing to be scoffed at, and he didn't expect anyone to actually beat him up if push came to shove.

Though he had no interest in actually becoming physically stronger, he decided that he would get on the equipment anyways. Daiko walked up to what seemed to be a pull-up bar. Grabbing hard onto it, he would try to pull himself up. The first and second reps would have been very successful, however, on the third, any onlookers would've seen Daiko pull himself up, and then drop off to the ground like a sack of potatoes. He would've landed flat on his back, only falling from about a meter and a half. It didn't cause him any real harm, and he stood up and dusted himself off. There was a good reason that he had stayed away from equipment like this in the past.

[557]

Ah, the sun. How its rays warm her skin. They penetrate the earth, warm the soil, and grant life to the entire planet. Something visible yet invisible, plentiful yet not, present and yet not ‘seen’. The tangibility of ‘energy’, existing throughout the entire world. In many ways, it reminded her of chakra itself.

It was the sun that warmed her back. Spending time beneath it was simply who she was. Enjoying the bounty of nature, the existence that she and her ancestors had done for generations. But humans were not content with what those who existed in the past had dealt with. They innovated, created, and built their societies upon which they continue to expand unto this day. Laws, technologies, borders- all human concepts, to create a more comfortable world for them to live in. It wasn’t a terrible thing, all in all, but sometimes it left her wanting for a world far simpler than the one she had been born into. Still, that didn’t mean that she would reject the current world out of hand. It had its own special moments, its own curiosities and wonders. So she would explore.

The training center was always an experience. So many bodies working towards exertion, all in the search of their own definition of perfection. Those who lifted weights, those who ran great distances, those who valued strength and power all together in a singular room. In many ways, it was overwhelming as well as intimidating- how could it not be? Kikuko was well aware of her own faults, her imperfections, how new she was on the road of life. And yet, standing among these people, she felt it strike home deep in her core. Adjusting her workout shirt, she pressed onwards into the depths of the building.

Machines, machines, more machines. She didn’t like them all too much, truth be told. What could be gained from these that couldn’t be gained out in nature? She had grown her figure through her daily life- swimming with her father, hiking with her mother, exploring the wilderness by herself. Seeing people cooped up in a single place, moving yet going nowhere, created a sad sort of feeling in her throat. It was their choice, and it certainly wasn’t her place to stop them. And in doing so, wouldn’t it be hypocritical? Bah. Such thoughts ended up being circular, and mired her in her thoughts. Better to live in the moment.

And so it was that her eyes ended up scanning the environs, eventually landing on somebody her age- a black haired boy. Well, that wasn’t particularly correct- he seemed to be few years older than her, though it mattered little. And while he struggled with the pull up, there was something endearing about it. It wasn’t that he had gone it at with a mindset of failure- he had genuinely tried his best. As much as there was a part of her that told her to be cautious around strangers, she banished it with a mental hand. A cautious woman lives a shadow of a life, and she intended to experience hers to the fullest. And so.

Approaching his proverbial bubble of personal space, she would offer him her right hand. “I saw your fall. How are you feeling?” Her face would betray no malice, no condescension. Only genuine curiosity, and the desire to learn more of what had happened in those few short moments.

[572]

Daiko laughed for a second, grabbing the outstretched hand of the person who had approached him. He helped himself up and nodded for a second. "Oh, you know. Just chilling." Daiko didn't have the heart to admit that he legitimately couldn't feel pain, so to him, it was the same as when he would drop himself into bed at night. Taking a moment to size up the person in front of him, he scratched his chin for a moment. Black hair, amber-ish eyes. Cool. Daiko pondered for a moment, however. Why was it that everyone in this village was either scary-looking or a teenage girl? Not entirely sure of the answer to his own question, he decides to give this girl his time for a moment. "I was just looking around at all these people." Daiko takes this opportunity to point out all that was going on around them. It had seemed that this area was mainly for people who used Taijutsu or Weaponry, as they were honing their physical skills rather than the ones that were within. "It seems like they're here training mainly their body, so that they can punch or whatever it is that people do." 

Daiko, with his characteristic blank expression on his face, points towards an area that seems to be more open space, on the other side of where they were currently training. "It looks like the spots over there are more open, for people who practice ninjutsu and the like." Slowly sauntering over to that area, he looks at the girl who was near him and scratched his chin. She was kind enough to approach him, and given the experience he had had with the last person to come out of the blue in his vicinity, he assumed that it was likely that she would be at least somewhat good-spirited. Not the type to trust someone at a glance, Daiko decided to throw caution to the wind for a moment. It was, after all, unspoken though somewhat apparent by the Mizukage that he wouldn't come to too much harm hanging around this village. 

The girl in front of him looked somewhat small, and Daiko assumed that she was also the type to use Ninjutsu and such things. He figured that maybe he would be able to teach her something, or maybe the other way around. As he looked back, he would speak with her "Hey, by the way. My name is Daiko. I'm really just here to try out some new techniques that I've picked up in my time here, you can feel free to join me as well if you'd like." He'd then nod his head, and begin heading over to the large open area that most ninjas used to spar. He wanted to take her to this area to potentially see what she was made of, and see if she even needed to be taught at all.

If she was powerful enough to impress Daiko, he would be more than happy to learn everything that he could from her and potentially see where they could go. If she wasn't as strong, however, Daiko felt a tinge of resemblance to his friend Saya, due to the fact of them both being young and seeming innocent in a world that took whatever it wanted at any moment. In this spirit, Daiko already felt a source of reliability in this situation, and he figured that at the very least he could prepare her for whatever would come in her future.

[586]
{1143}

Daiko's eyes widen a bit when he hears the girl talk about a spar. He hadn't said anything about that... He had only really brought up that he was trying to show off some new jutsu to her. Shaking his hands in front of his face, he fixes his previous statement. "No no no no no, we don't have to spar. I'm not that strong anyway, I can just do fancy tricks." Daiko scratches his head and walks closer to the kunoichi he now knows as Kikuko. "Anyways, Kiku, let me show you one for instance." Daiko takes a few paces back, and is about three meters away from the girl, before doing a rat hand seal, followed by dog. Putting his hand out, a bouquet of flowers appeared in his hand, in near-mint condition. They were a selection of random roses, daisies, and whatever those crinkly looking ones were called. Daiko hated mums more than anything else in the world. The flowers were wrapped with a sort of plastic, and they had a ribbon tied around them. They were quite nice, Daiko would've thought if it wasn't for the next thing he planned on doing to them. 

Taking the roses in his hand, he faces toward the left of Kiku (his right) and throws the flowers. They go flying upward, at only about 30 speed, and only get to travel around 5 meters away before Daiko would quickly form the rat, boar, and dog hand seals. Then moving his hand in the direction of the flowers, Daiko would open his hands and the flowers would come shooting back into his hand at a speed of 60. It would be obvious that Daiko was much more skilled at making things come back to him with his chakra than he was proficient at actually throwing such things. Having pulled the flowers back and jostled them around, some of them fell out and they looked pretty rough. Daiko then made the rat and dog hand seals once more, and the flowers disappeared again. Daiko made the gesture of 'ta-da' and nodded his head, bowing slightly. That wasn't the only thing he could do, though he assumed it would be fitting for the skill level of this girl. Judging by the way she reacted to his offer to show her some techniques, he assumed that she was likely a lot stronger than she looked. Perhaps she was some sort of fighter of sorts. Daiko recalled reading somewhere about people who could disrupt chakra and such things and wasn't making any assumptions about her yet. 

Daiko gave her a thumbs up after showing off his flower catching and throwing abilities. Obviously the mark of a true ninja. "So, what kind of things can you do? I can do a lot more than that, and I'm not so much interested in fighting as I am just showing off our stuff." Daiko then nods his head. He had quite a few things that he could show her, most of them being parlor tricks or things that could help out in niche situations. If he impressed him, however, he would likely teach her some things that were much more powerful. 

[533]
{1676}

Daiko scratches his head, and sighs. 'Magician' wasn't exactly the word that he was looking for, but it was no matter. It had seemed that in the very least she was impressed, even though it was laughably easy jutsu for him to perform. It seemed like she had also known the technique. Not entirely sure if she also specialized in Space-Time, he continues to listen to her. Daiko was happy that she complimented his use of technique, at least. He then heard her out as she described what kind of other techniques she had. Kiku had said that she didn't want to get kicked out due to them, and Daiko momentarily pondered what that might have meant. Daiko couldn't think of exactly what she meant, but he had some assumptions. He knew that he summon had some techniques that were way too big of a radius to be used inside. Looking around, Daiko noted that while the 'sparring area' they were in wasn't particularly cramped, it wasn't huge either. It looked like there had been planning in advance for people to go all out in battles, though Daiko wasn't entirely sure what that might look like. At least, not yet. 

Daiko scratches his head at Kiku's request. She wanted him to throw a jutsu at her? He saw that she was doing something fancy, though he wasn't entirely sure what. In all honesty, he didn't want to hurt this random girl. Though he did have some sense of holding back in his heart, he figured that he might as well fulfill her request. Nothing too powerful. Daiko could manage that. Forming the proper hand-seals required, Daiko then puts his hands on the ground and begins sprinting forward. As he does, a river of mud begins to form beneath him, becoming a rushing-rapid of mud that was going at 85 speed. Somewhat being able to keep his balance, he slides in closer to the girl while he begins forming some more hand-seals. As he was riding along on the mud, he ended up being around 5 meters from her, before he put his hands to the ground once more. While he was this close, he could sense what was going on. 

Daiko now understood WHY she had seemed so confident about him throwing a jutsu at her. He wasn't entirely sure what it was, but his chakra sensory stood out and he felt what was almost like a bubble around her. Strange. This was likely another one of her specialties. Daiko was curious as to what it was, and would probably ask about it later. 

As his hands were pressed on the ground, 5 earth spears, with blunt tips rather than sharp ends, appear in a semi-circle in front of him. Two on his left, and two on his right head towards the sides of the girl, while the middle one heads straight for her. They were only really going at a speed of 70 with a power of 70, and Daiko safely assumed that the ones on the left and right had little to no chance of hitting her, unless she had dove right into them. The one in the middle, however, was headed straight for her center.

[540]
{2216}

(OOC - Not super worried about AP, but I'll deduct it anyways)

-20 AP Rock Pillar Spears C
-30 AP Earth Flow River B
-5 AP Surface Walking Technique

[1430/1480 AP]

Daiko watched as the spear flew toward its target, and then noticed something quite strange. It had looked like that once the spears had hit what had seemed like some sort of mass of chakra, they had in fact ended up dissolving and the technique had ended earlier than Daiko had anticipated. Hmn. Neat. Daiko nodded his head, gladly taking in the young lady's praise. "Thank you, thank you. It wasn't my best move, though I thought it was pretty fancy." Daiko scratched his chin. It had seemed that this girl was pretty proficient at doing all sorts of things. Taking a moment to gather himself, he thinks for a moment. 

It seemed that this girl was proficient in some of the techniques that he had, mainly the space-time ones. He was, however at a loss for whatever technique that he had just seen her perform now. He was very proficient in knowing most lower-leveled techniques when he would spot them, but this one was somewhat different. Was this a space-time technique? Was it something to do with ninjutsu? He wasn't entirely sure. He was a fair distance away when she likely activated the technique, though Daiko did see from up close that the chakra from the technique ended up getting absorbed by the strange symbol in her hand. Not quite sure what to make of it, Daiko mentally scratches his chin trying to find a solution to his problem. He remembered when he was out staring at the waves, willing for some kind of seal that he was able to make that would make him be able to breathe underwater and such things. He remembered that he had used his hands to perfect the symbol that would tell the chakra what to do, and allow everything to end up working correctly the first time. 

For the first time in this encounter, Daiko considered that this young girl might be able to use Fuuinjutsu. The ones that Daiko was able to recognize were only C-Rank, though he knew for a fact that there was a more powerful jutsu out there. Scratching his chin, he decided that it would likely be best that he got back to actually discussing what he had seen and ask questions for possible confirmation. "That was a pretty sweet technique! I saw that there was some weird symbol on your hand. Was that a fuuinjutsu technique? Or ninjutsu?" Daiko turns his head slightly, wondering what the answer to the question would be. 

After he had gotten his answer and replied in whatever way he saw fit, he would turn his head, and point. Moving his frame to be only a meter away from the girl, he points his finger outwards. "Hey, look at what's over there. This is another technique I have." As she looked away, he would quickly form the hand-seals required for his next jutsu, which would then cause a somewhat small black sphere to appear 15 meters away from them. As soon as the small sphere would appear, it would quickly become a 10 meter radius and 20 meters diameter black sphere, that was black and looked to be ripping at the very essence of space and time. The sphere would then shrink down, and disappear. There would only be a small crater in the dirt where it had spawned. 

Daiko looked quite pleased with himself. "Yeah! That was the jutsu I wanted to use, but I didn't wanna scare you too much." Daiko grinned slightly and moved away from the girl so that he would be in front of her. "Pretty cool right? I could probably teach you that one if you think that you're tough enough." Daiko's face returned back to usual, though he still had a look as if he was proud in his eyes. Yeah. He was proud. He really was curious about what she could do, and he figured the best way might be able to offer his teachings in the space-time specialty. This was something he was very proficient at, and he knew that this was a jutsu that took a great deal of skill and knowing one's limits well. Scratching his head, he'd wait for her response.

[701]
{2917}

Devouring Sphere A -40 AP

[1390/1450 AP]