Striking at Success [Saya]

One strike. Feel the rush of air, the boil of blood in your veins. Does the energy surge within you? If so, then follow it through. A second strike with the left arm, following up with the right. While the weight is shifted, a third attack can be made- a high kick impacting with the head of the sparring dummy.

It felt good, exercising her body. Even if she would never be a taijutsu expert, that didn’t mean that physical exertion didn’t have a simple, animal pleasure in it. The beat of her heat within her told her that she was pushing herself, exerting to her limits, and it was a quiet yet loud insistence to continue in her efforts. Even with the sheen of sweat upon her, there was no particular desire for her to stop. If anything, it made her wish to continue.

She could grow stronger, and she knew it. The recent gathering at the salon, the mission with Travin and Sayatria. Sure, she might have grown to a certain extent in these past few months, but she was still a very small fish in a big pond. If she was to discover all there was to learn in the way of ninshu, if she was to protect her village, if she was to live up to the expectations of those close to her, then she could not stop. Train, learn, grow.

Ah, but there was a loneliness to training alone, she felt. As much as there was solace in silence and seclusion, to be in a public environment yet not with others created a barrier nearly invisible to the eye but perceivable to the soul. If only there was a way to dispel it in the moment.

Strike. Strike again. Another hit to the training dummy. Again.

[301]

This may come as a surprise to you, my dear listeners, but Ai was having an absolutely lovely day. She'd woken up early to cook breakfast, Dropped a few rice balls off downstairs in the off chance that Pinochio was still at home, Picked up the three previous plates of breakfast she'd brought down that were starting to smell, and cleaned his space up a bit. All of this flowed easily into the waking of her little sister, and the inevitable request to go pick up mappo tofu for breakfast. It took a bit of convincing, but after about twenty minutes, Ai was able to convince Saya to eat one whole rice ball in exchange for that spicy spicy tofu.

Wiping the sweat from her brow, she took a moment to collect her own thoughts before tagging out with her puppet counterpart, or pupAIt as she was called nowadays, and then it was time to actually start her own day. What exactly was on her list for the day though? There was a tournament coming up, and she'd been convinced to compete. It initially came as a surprise. She'd been told that only she OR pinochio could enter. When she asked why, the ninja's eyes went wide, and they just screamed as if they'd just witnessed the full power of an unleashed eldritch abomination. It was a bit odd, but she took it in stride.

"Right. I need to train. Well. Off to the training facility I suppose!" She packed her lunch, and threads poured from her fingertips as she picked up her Saya puppet-- lovingly named the Saya puppet. She wasn't quite as creative as her little sister.

Through the automatic doors she found none other than their old friend Kiku..... Striking things with her fists? Well. That was a bit odd. She knew the girl to be a caster type, which is to say that she focused on her chakra control over physical prowess so striking things with her fist was quite a bit less eficient than someone who was more physically inclined. Still, she didn't judge. Maybe she just really needed to hit something really really softly.

WIth a slight giggle at her internal joke, she'd wave a hand, calling out to her friend. "Kiku! It's been a long time! Check it out. Got a hang of this body for the most part and I've actually got quite a few jutsu under my belt. " Despite Ai's generally calm demeanor, it was clear in her eyes that she was excited to see her friend. THen she realized. There was a technique that was showed off at the shinobi salon exhibition that many of the upper level ninja had scoffed at the new generation for having not learned. WIth her match in the tournament coming up, it would be pretty important that she pick it up just in case. The last thing she needed was someone watching her match, and looking down at her little sister for having failed to teach her this very important jutsu.

(TWC 507)

She would never be able to attain the flurry of blows, the fists of fury that was the field of Taijutsu and Iaijutsu specialists. But there were a few things she could do, and so she would do them. Again and again, repetition even as the sweat continues to drip. It might be pointless in the large scale, but it felt cathartic in the moment.


And then the solitude was broken. A familiar face, a familiar voice. There were two people who looked like that, but her attitude told it all.


“Ai!” With a cheery wave, she would pause her assault upon the training dummy. Adjusting her sports bra strap before flipping the hair out of her face. Suddenly, the world just felt a little bit brighter and comfortable. “How have you been?”


Listening to the puppet- no, the fully fledged girl now- speak about her recent happenings, she couldn’t help but let a bright smile come across her face. She was really glad that she had adjusted so well to, well, existence so quickly. Leaning forward for a quick hug, she would pause at the last second. “Ack, wait, no. I’m sweaty.” Ah well. Platonic affection could always happen later.


“So! How’ve you been lately? Any exciting things happen lately with your newfound autonomy?”

"Hey!!!" WIthout thinking of the consequences, when Kiku pulled back, Ai moved foward more, wrapping the girl in a tight hug. SHe didn't exactly regret it but she felt a bit more moist than she had before, and the lingering clammyness of sweat soaking into clothing was a little unpleasant. The comment of her sweatyness hit her understanding after the fact, and she nodded in realization. She would definitely need to work on her reactions at some point.

"yanno. I've been doing pretty well. WIth two of me, taking care of Aya and ensuring she has what she needs to continue her training has been going much more smoothly. I've also gotten a good bit of time to clean the house, prepare things, and even train a bit. I'm getting pretty good at suiton ninjutsu if I do say so myself. " She considered performing a technique to emphasize her point. That was the saya thing to do, but Ai wasn't quite so eccentric. Instead she offered her friend the crispest of thumbs ups, only stopping for a moment to consider how crisp a thumbs up could actually be.

"I was coerced into entring a tournament that's supposed to be starting tomorow. Came by the training hall to work on my Ninjutsu a bit, See if I could pick up any more tools for the fighting, and hopefully figure out this genjutsu release thing. Think you could give me a hand?" She wondered if kiku had anything interesting she could teach her. What even was there left to learn at her current level of skill? She'd heard of the mizu senbon technique. maybe that could have use? HOnestly what she really needed were the tools only available to those who knew mokuton release. Through wood style Saya had dominated the field. Maybe she could emulate those techniques with just suiton, but it would be hard. Water dragon whip was amazing. It had all the feel of Saya's great grasping vines without the need for an advanced element, but it had one glaring issue. She needed a source of suiton readily available in order to summon the auto acting whips of water. That meant she couldn't really open a fight with it unless she also used a jutsu slot specifically to create a suiton source. Thankfully she'd gotten a few new techniques that created vast ammounts of water.

"Oh! Actually. I also really need to learn the summoning technique if you know it? Saya said it was of the utmost importance that I figure that one out for some reason or the other. Something about being able to get her out of trouble? I really don't remember. " While the creation of herself and Pinochio was more to breathe life into the personalities she'd created and allow her mind space to continue to expand and express itself, the girl would have to be lying to say that the ability to have a sister who could tell if she was in trouble and draw her from the danger was a definite plus.

(TWC 1015)

Quietly, Kikuko would cringe a little at the contact, feeling just how sticky she was when in direct contact with another human being. Why did working out have to be so messy? Hopefully her friend would be a tad bit understanding, seeing that ultimately she was the one who followed through on the hug. Was that blame shifting, in a sense? Bah, it wasn’t worth mulling over for too long anyways. That sort of thought never tended to go anywhere productive.

Listening to Ai’s story, she would not along as she spoke about caring for Saya and her own personal mundane hobbies. It was good to hear that she was doing well ‘separated’ from her sister, even if the reality was that they likely spent far more time in close contact than apart anyways. How many hours were they separated a day? Six? Five? Four? Maybe less? It was unknown to her.

“A tournament tomorrow? I honestly hadn’t heard of it.” She frowned. Was it because of her lackluster performance at the salon? No, that wasn’t it. She was being paranoid again. Come on Kikuko, get ahold of yourself. “But if you need help...hmm.”

She would pause for a moment, before nodding her head. This was something she could work with, and probably take a short break from the intense physical training she was doing in the moment. “Ninjutsu I can definitely help you with! As for the Summoning Jutsu, I’m assuming that she’s referring to the generic variation...we’ll need a pen and paper, or at least a few stones. Come on, lets go to a more open area.”

Gesturing her over, she would lead Ai to a small training area away from the gym equipment meant to resemble a forest field, leaning against a nearby tree before stretching out her arms. “Whew! Let’s begin. Genjutsu release is, well...important. I got chewed out extremely hard recently about it, so suffice to say that I’ll go over it with you first. Let’s start with the basics. Do you remember what they taught us about escaping from genjutsu at the academy?”

Well, that’s a real question. Was Ai sentient when those lessons were taught? Could she access Saya’s memories of those events? So much to ask, and if she was to understand correctly, so little time.

[906]

How had she not heard about the tournament? It was posted in so many places in the village. As Ai thought on this, she realized that while team puppet was generally zipping around the entirety of the village hidden in the mist, Kiku was generally more of a home body. Sure she got out here and there, and she obviously came to the advanced training facility in order to practice her ninja arts, but she was a bit more stationary than her little sister was.

"Yea. Theres a tournament for all the genin in the village... Well. All the genin except Saya. Also pinochio can't join if I join. Theres some odd rules. I asked one of the unnamed higher ranked ninja about it and his eyes just like.... turned black and he started screaming? Dunno what that was about. Something about a fourth wall. I kind of ignored it. I could definitely use any help you could give though. Saya says I need to be set up with everything I can to give myself the best chance. I think she's going to be placing a fuinjutsu seal on me or something? Oh. Right. Uh. While you were out doing what you were doing for so long Saya may or may not have learned fuin. Oh! No you were there. That nice jounin Keita taught it to her. " Memories flowed through her mind, some her own, and some that were passed to her through discussions with the Ai puppet, Now lovingly called PuppAit. It struck her as odd that Kiku has said that she could help with ninjutsu. Last she'd checked that wasn't in the small swimmer's bag of tricks. She realized it had been quite some time since the girl had caught up with team puppet, and given the level of study her little sister often got into, it kind of made sense that Kiku would also have some new tricks to test out in their time apart.

"Right. Yea this might get a bit complex huh?" She would, of course, follow Kiku past the gym equipment and the odd facimile of a forrest feald, to where the tree Kiku chose was. She spun on her heels, her body spiraling downward into a sitting position, legs criss cross apple sauce, as Saya often said.

"Right. SO heres the thing. I didn't.... That is... I'm a chakra construct so... I kind of skipped the whole academy thing." She motioned in the air with her arms in emphasis of the 'academy thing'. She had understanding of the academy given to her on creation by Saya, of course, but it was pretty hit or miss what the tiny terror had actually listened to in the academy. Thankfully she was able to pass all the tests just using context, and the techniques she had to prove mastery over in order to pass were a walk in the park for the girl wh began her studies of ninjutsu at like... Seven? It was a long time ago.

"I remember hearing about genjutsu from Travin, and I remember Saya having learned the genjutsu release technique, but her mind flows through things and then just logs them for later use so I don't really have a strong understanding of how any of it works asside from that its bad and you need release to get yourself out of it. Also. What fuin do you know? Is there anything you could apply to me--that you've been working on or already know? I mean like that would help in combat? Theres a uh.. What is it. seal of absorbtion Saya was going to give me, but I think that's all she knows right now. "

(TWC 616)

“It’s honestly really weird. I hadn’t heard a single thing about it just now.” Her eyebrows would arch up slightly at the idea. It sounded quite novel, if she was honest. A part of her would have really wanted to participate, but seeing that she was recently promoted it would make her ineligible. In an odd way, it appeared that her new rank often was giving her far more grief than otherwise. And why was Saya and Pinocchio not allowed to participate? Both were entirely respectable ninja in their own regard. Heck, she knew for fact that if Saya was always to participate she’d likely wipe the floor with everyone else. And if strength wasn’t a deciding factor, but rank, what was up with that? She didn’t understand bureaucracy, and it was likely that she never would so long as she lived. It was simply the way her brain worked.

“Saya practices fuinjutsu?” This was a new one for her. She knew that the kunoichi was an expert in kugutsu, and certainly no slouch in kugutsu, but she never had pegged her for a person with an interest for seals until now. Maybe they could touch base on it at a later date? Suddenly it was something that she had far more interest in. “I never would have expected it from her, but I suppose there’s a first for everything. Keita, you say? I’ll have to see if I can meet with him at some point. I wasn’t aware that there were higher ranking fuinjutsu users within the city.”

Surprisingly, upon Ai starting her explanation, Kikuko would gently interrupt her. “Ai.” She would take on the tone of a gentle warning. “You might be made from mostly chakra, but you’re still a human. Don’t forget it, okay?” It might be silly, but she felt it was important. That she remain humanized in her mind, even if it was just practicalities.

“Anyways. You’ve got your chakra system, right? It’s a whole complicated mess.” Walking over to Ai’s position, she would gently scoop up her hand- noting how soft it is, how it fit in her palm. Gently pulsing chakra into it, encountering her network. It would send little twinges through it- not enough to cause any adverse effects, but probably to make her feel ticklish. More importantly, to make her aware of the flow of her natural energy.

“Let’s focus on this first before I move on to fuinjutsu. Do you feel it? How when I pour chakra through, your own system is interrupted? This is a certain way that collaboration can be used when dispelling genjutsu. The key, however, is to do it yourself. It’s like flexing an imaginary muscle. Go on! Try it.” She would grin.

[1364]

"Yea theres fliers all around the village. I dunno who organized it, but I have to assume that the higher ups really wanted to get some use out of the huge tournament stadium in the village, so they organized a brawl with all the lower rank ninja so they can make some cash off the seats and betting system, while ensuring that no one is packing a jutsu that would accidentally destroy like half of the stadium. Thinking about it.... Saya on a stage with all that hype using wood style would have been a really bad mix. I mean she would have wiped the floor with the competition, but Theres no way that the stadium stayed in tact for the entirety of a Saya battle. Good call on their part." it was true. Even in training the tiny terror had a propencity for destruction. She and dana had single handledly ripped up an entire training room sized portion of the floor. Hell, her and Freyja sparring while they taught a genin took out a large section of the wall. And then there was the battle against Kiku where she personally--well PuppAIt-- ended up excavating the wooden floors just to try and secure a win. There was something about Senju and fighting that seemed to cause mass hysteria and destruction. Not Ai though. Ai was more of the subtle dainty fighter.... With a little mass Area of effect water style mixed in. Yea, something was getting destroyed.

"Yea Keita seems pretty cool. He was really nice, except when--wait. Kiku you were there. When you and the others were sparring sensei travin? The guy at the blackboard with Saya the whole time was Keita. He was teaching her about fuinjutsu while yall fought in the Vr arena. Then Saya summoned ragnar to make it rain and heal anyone who was hurt up? Anyway, She wanted to learn medical ninjutsu but she couldn't figure it out and got frusterated. Then she found some books on Fuinjutsu and its ability to shield damage instead of absorbing or healing it and determined that she was going to learn how to add it to her technique list. She only actually knows a couple I think, but as soon as I told her I was entering the tournament She said she was gonna pick up some that would be helpful to me. " Told her that she was entering was a bit of a false statement. It was more so as soon as Saya had finally convinced her that she would need to enter to prove the power of the Senju clan that then she was told she'd be getting some "special sauce" as her sister called it.

"Chakra system. Right. Yes, I have one of those. Seven chakra points and what not. I can feel it, and I know how to manipulate my chakra in a bunch of different ways, but how do I use that to disrupt a genjutsu? Are there seals or is it just fancy chakra movement?" THere had to be seals right? Ai was certain that every jutsu had to have seals. Well. Except like punches and sword swings. It would be silly for them to have hand seals because with one you were using your sealing hands to harm people and with the other your good sealing hand usually was carrying a sword. There was also like sage mode and stuff, but MOST jutsus required hand seals to focus your chakra. Of that she was absolutely sure. She wracked her mind, trying to find the memories of when saya had actually learned the technique, but there was so much that had happened.

(TWC 1227)

...Well. Maybe Kikuko needed to get out more. If there truly was a whole event that was going on outside of her circle of understanding, perhaps she needed to get her sight more focused on the immediate happening of her village rather than more esoteric concepts. It seemed that she struggled with balancing the two, these days. Why was that? She wasn’t very sure, to be frank.

“That might be true, but it’s hardly fair. I bet you that there’s still going to be collateral occurring during the tournament, even if Saya herself isn’t there. Just because she’s well known and happens to cause a bit of mischief when she fights doesn’t mean that she’s the only one who does it- let along deserves to get banned!” Despite herself, she found herself getting into a bit of a huff thinking about it. Strange and random rulings of that sort had never sat well with her, even as a kid. “Still. Nothing we can do about it, I suppose.”

Still, guy with the blackboard? “I honestly didn’t see him at all, Ai. And after the spar...well. I wasn’t really in a good mental space.” She admits. “So it’s entirely possible that if I did see him, I blocked out the memories. Seems silly, right? And it’s a shame. I guess I’ll have to seek him out some other time.” The fact that there had been such a resource right in front of her, and yet she hadn’t been able to access it, irked her. How many other techniques would she end up being unable to learn because of her lack of presence? Dang it, don’t get sucked into those thoughts. They aren’t productive, and they only cause unhappiness.

“There is a hand seal. Tiger, actually. But.” She would pause, before gently poking her in the nose. “If you’re entering a tournament tomorrow, we need to get you beyond it- to the point that you can do it without the use of a hand seal. Ultimately, the tiger sign is meant for a guide rather than a necessitation- the idea of genjutsu release is to forcibly stutter the flow of chakra to dissipate the influence of outside forces. Think of it like dropping a stone into an icy pond to free the water below. Go on, try it.”

[1752]

"Thats true. But also It's probably not fair to put Saya up against the other genin. I mean. It took her an evening to master sage mode. She still needs ragnars help to summon the nature chakra and stuff, but she will just randomly enter sage mode while waiting for dinner now. It's a bit terrifying to see the power she has compared to the rest of us. I'd wager she's only still a genin because she doesn't apply herself in ways that would end in a rank up. Maybe thats why she wasn't allowed to enter?" She'd heard all of this before, but it was fair. Saya was quite upset when she found out that she didn't qualify for the genin tournament. Something about power levels? What even were letters but the building blocks of words anyway? Why was D better than b?! Also what the heck are D and B ranked power levels? It was almost like there was an entire hidden system behind their actions and oh. Oh no. People are staring with black hollow eyes again. CHANGE OF TOPIC DEAR LISTENERS CHANGE OF TOPIC!

"You were a bit busy with your sparring. Travin can be a scary opponent. Saya barelly beat him when they first sparred and He's gotten a higher rank since then I believe. Granted she's also gotten significantly more powerful. Yanno she made a technique that completely encases herself in wood style? She looks like a dan-Oh. HUh." Just like that, while she'd listened to the lesson, her head had been off elsewhere, thinking about the various other topics they'd been talking about, but for a moment everything clicked and her chakra pulsed in just the right way to allow her to disrupt a chakra based effect on her mind or network. "Yea. I got it. Genjutsu release... Can't test it without a genjutsu but i'm pretty sure i get the way it works now and can take care of it when the time comes. "

"I still need to unlock the full potential of my clan, and I should probably learn to make my chakra threads invisible, but Thats all I can actually think of to learn before the tournament. That and the summoning technique of course. I wish there was more powerful suiton I could add to my arsenal. Saya has created a few more, but it feels like im blocked. It's like theres a limit to the number of jutsus I can learn on the high end... OH RIGHT! So she has this jutsu right, and it makes her look like an entire statue with these crazy hands coming from her back that can be controled and shot out at enemies. It stops her from using stuff other than her wood release, but honestly what else does she need? Mokuton is so powerful, especially with all the tricks she's been learning. " She thought about the Powerful techniques she'd been learning. How many did she know now? It was probably like seven or more.

(TWC 1729)