bait and switch (P Dana)

"Yea it's kind of my favorite technique. It's part of the anything goes school of martial arts yanno. It is uh. THe only technique currently in the anything goes style of martial arts. That's not so important though what's important is, of course, that it's the best technique in the style!" As he spoke, he copied the hand seals Dana had shown, forming the damage reduction shield around himself in the same way he'd just seen. Well that was easy enough. THis learning medical ninjutsu thing wasn't as hard as it seemed! His eyes actually shone with excitement at the next statement. He enjoyed learning new techniques, but more exciting than learning new techiques was learning them really really fast. 

"Bet. I'll keep up you just show the seals and watch the magic happen! Tria isn't the only genius around these parts yanno." And so they would begin. first was a healing technique? Bodily restoration sounded really helpful, though he'd need to fully understand the effects to determine how effective it would actually be. There was a fire in his eyes as he replicated her hand seals, casting the technique moments after she did because of the intense difference between their speed. 

"GOT IT NEXT!" He bounced on his toes as he pushed through the first jutsu and onto the next. In his head he envisioned a training scene with a much taller Pinochio, clothed in the same outfit except it was green and orange. They were both yelling for some unknown reason as they learned techniques far faster than they should, pushing their bodies to an unheard of level. Hands flew through seal after seal, excitement building for the second jutsu. He waited for the outward effect, watching between himself and Dana so he could tell the moment something happened and.... Nothing happened. At first he was upset. Then he put two and two together. He didn't actually remember Tria learning an amplifier technique BUT he had actually learned a few amp techniques for tai, and the more he thought about it the more it seemed like an infusion. Duh. That made sense. 

"AMP DONE DAMAGE REDUCTION SHIELD DONE! CHAKRA ABSORBTION DONE! I WILL BE THE GREATEST!!!!" Things were getting a little too rock lee in here. He couldn't help it. He hadn't really gotten the chance to be taught alot. Most of his time was spent teaching others or going on missions, so being here in a position to learn stuff just released the excited self inside him. With each technique performed and memorized, one thing came to his mind. 

"Actually. Uh. Listen. I may have done this a little bit out of order right. BUt uh. Can you teach me how to use the medical ninjutsu specialty? That would be suuuupppeeerrr helpful. I bet with that I could actually learn these techniques at a higher level and stuff. Oh. Also Saya just messaged me. Apparently she's on her way so like. Teach me quick if you can. I do not want to be around when she gets here." 

(TWC 3107)

As she walked Pinochio through all the medical techniques in her arsenal, Dana couldn't help but giggle lightly at how into it all he was getting. Dana had never taught Saya anything, but if she did, this is how she imagined it would go. Just seeing the adorably tiny Pinochio get so hyped up about something made her laugh like nothing before. Well, except for all the other times she made fun of his height in her mind.; patting his head, and his reactions to said action, would never get old to her. Like all the things she was confused about, Dana made a mental note to ask Pinochio what "bet" meant. Though, considering how she responded when he asked her about her weird vocal mannerisms, she didn't think she'd get a straight answer. Pinochio seemed kind of vindictive like that.

"That's the spirit!" Dana cheered along with Pinochio at his declaration that he will be the greatest. Honestly, it was hard for Dana to not get caught up in all the HYPE that Pinochio was generating. She clenched her fist and jumped up, throwing her fist in the air with excitement. For a second, there was a vision where Dana was garbed in green spandex and surrounded by flames and, just as quickly as it had appeared, it disappeared as Dana remembered just how tired she was supposed to be. The moment her feet touched back on the ground, Dana immediately lost all energy and she almost fell over as she was overcome with the desire to sleep. She should really do that. When was the last time she slept? She shook her head to clear the drowsiness, that was a loser's mindset! No way would she give up on the experiment now!

"The medical ninjutsu speciality?" Dana parrotted, bringing her hand up to her chin, "Yeah oi can probably do that for ye." She did a few handseals and retrieved a medical book from her Storage Dimension, "This was the book that taught me everything oi know about medical ninjutsu, oi made my own notes as well and they should be good enough for ye to go and learn it by yerself!" Dana was, of course, being incredibly lazy by doing this. She could easily teach him verbally, but that was a tremendous amount of effort that she wasn't willing to go through in her current state.

Dana tried to lob the book at Pinochio so he could catch it, but she ended up putting so little effort into it that it barely even cleared a meter before plopping to the ground, "Feck sake." Dana groaned, making no effort to pick it back up and hand it to Pinochio like a normal person. She stared at the book on the ground, mind blanking temporarily. What else did she need? Oh yeah!

"Oi, Pinochio! Could ye please possibly teach me how to use Wind Release? Oi've been trying to pick it up for ages, and oi haven't quite got it yet."

WC: 507
TWC: 3116

There was a moment when everything seemed to freeze, The tiny weapon user and the child of chaos traded out for two black haired shinobi with obnoxiously large eyes that somehow had literal fire in them running through a forrest screaming because it was the only volume they understood. Then, it was gone and Pino realized he may also be halucinating because of his tiredness. How long had it been since he'd had a good nights sleep? Right. He hadn't. Ever. Thankfully the comment on medical ninjutsu woke him right up. 

"Right. Uh. I'm super down for reading these but also I feel like theres a higher power that requires you to actually verbally or physically teach me or the techniques won't get this wierd magic called approval that lets me use them? Does that make sense? " It had taken some time, but it seemed like Saya's crazyness was finally starting to rub off on him. As dana threw the book at him, he realized immediately with his amazing spacial relations understanding that it wouldn't make it to his hands. He was short but he wasn't that short. What came next was a scene where Pino dived at his full speed to try and catch the book before it hit the ground. He did. Technically. Arms outstretched he realized far too late that he'd over shot and true to his style the book crashed against his face before bouncing into his arms. Jeeze that one actually hurt a little.  He leafed through the books, asking questions back and forth as he learned everything there was about having medical ninjutsu as a specialty. 

"Oh sure. Uh. Something something Leaf in the wind. Pretty floral bonnets. Uh. wind sounds." He was almost halfway through the book, just saying random things that sounded good. Half of his statements were less teaching wind release and more quoting the Joss Whedon masterpiece Firefly, which was odd. Similar to most of the music that Saya ended up performing, Joss Weadon's firefly didn't exist in this world. 

"Just focus on sharpening your chakra into tiny swift blades. Super easy. Fuuton is a much less dense chakra than doton or suiton. let it flow through your body effortlessly and slice through anything it comes into contact with and you should be fine. Hey. How old is this text book? I noticed the page on "how to transplant a kidney in twenty different ways" makes no mention of like. Anesthesia. Also why are all of the transplant example pictures upside down. Someone using this book could very easily not notice and start putting organs into people's bodies wrong way up..." As he continued to leaf through, He noticed it wasn't just the kidney transplant pictures. Every one of the example pictures was upside down except for any wording attached.

"Actually... All these pictures are upside down. I feel like this could end in some dangerous situations. Imagine putting an organ in upside down am I right?! Have a lung like sitting in someones throat and stuff..."  

(TWC 3614)

Although Dana had no possible way of knowing, she somehow got a great sense of kinship with Pinochio: they were both suffering the effects of severe sleep deprivation. Pinochio definitely seemed to be doing a lot better than Dana. Maybe he was used to it because of living with Saya, or he was just built of stronger stuff than Dana. That honestly made sense, though, he was someone who traiend his body a lot and Dana, evidently, was not. She still found herself laughing from time-to-time when she remembered that time she'd tried to fist fight Pinochio. Ah, good times. Well, good apart from the part where she'd ended up being punched a billion times; that hadn't been that fun.

Dana followed along with Pinochio's instructions, holding out her palm and looking at it. Like blades? Hmm? She pushed chakra to her hands, and they began to glow with a faint blue chakra. No, that wasn't right. She wanted nature chakra, not the pure kind. She tried again, and just ended up making her hand really wet like she'd just dipped it in a bucket. Okay... Getting close, though not really. That was water release, not wind. Was she just really bad at learning new elements or was it the tiredness? Had she had the same difficulty learning Earth Release from Niko? Dana couldn't remember, as it had been so long ago. Speaking of Niko, she really should go get that organ back from him at one point. Who knew where he'd get to with it.

Dana suddenly giggled when Pinochio pointed out that all the pictures were upside down as a memory came to her mind. They were all upside down because of a long and extensive art project she'd done several months ago, where she'd carefully cut out all the pictures of organs and glued back in the wrong way round. It had been after the operation on Murata, the third Mizukage, when she'd purposely put her kidney in the wrong way around. Wow, how had Dana forgot about that? She was going to tell everyone about it, and yet it'd completely skipped her mind! On further thought, though, it was probably best left unsaid. Dana was pretty undiscreet when it came to secrets, but this was probably one that was best left unknown for now.

"Oh yeah! Uhh, that's weird... Haha, oi wonder how that happened..." Dana said, totally unconvincingly, "Oi gave this book to someone else a while ago, t'ey must have done it." She continued, nodding to herself. Yeah, that would work. There was absolutely no way that Pinochio would see through her lie.

WC: 441
TWC: 3557

"Huh. That's wierd. Well good thing I caught it. When I join the Mizukage's ninja team, it would be horible if I didn't know the right way to put in an organ. Could end up putting one in at a wierd angle and messing everything u--" There was an odd silence in the training facility. Birds flew from the treetops in great flocks away from the entrance doors. Metaphorically. Birds METAPHORICALLY flew from the treetops away from the entrance doors. What I mean is, of course, that some great disturbance was coming. A horde of unnamed ninja rushed towards the back of the training facility, flocking to the emergency exit and out into the alleyway. That could only mean one thing. 

"Well. That uh. That's my cue I think. Gotta um. Not be here when she shows up. " And that quickly he was gone, running at his full speed the same direction the rest of the flock had traveled and disappearing out the back door. The ground rumbled once. Rumbled twice. It was like that one scene in jarasic park, yanno the one with the t-rex, but what appeared wasn't a hulking dinosaur. Instead it was Saya! 

She half ran half floated through the automatic doorway. There was a clicking of metal as the drink stand pulled down a large steel baricade upon seeing her walk in. preparing for the potential carnage two senju girls could create, but there was no destruction in her eyes....yet. 

"DANA!!!! I haven't seen you since that wierd dream world. No wait. That was Ai I think. I haven't seen you in forever! How are you!!" She was dressed as she too often was. Vibrant orange leathers perfectly woven to cover a flowing dress dyied so grey hues faded to a vibrant purple at the bottom. Her hair was pulled back into tightly woven brades with rune stones and animal bones wrapped intermittently between the strands. Behind her followed PupAIT and Freyja, but the Coach puppet was missing from the pack this time. He was probably off with Ai since technically he's hers until they trade back. 

"You won't believe what happened! I got to meet the Mizukage a while back and there was so much fun like redecorating the Kage building and now its at least a full floor taller with huge windows and she taught me this super cool new jutsu! " There was an audible gasp from the few still around the area. A cool new jutsu was a code for large portions of the training facility being torn up and destroyed. No one liked that. 

"Where have you been?! We haven't trained or practiced or even gone on a mission in like. Months. Years even! " Freyja offered a nod of respect to the girl as they approached. Ai moved foward past her sister to offer a side hug to their friend. 

"Jeeze. You look like bollocks! Pinochio has been practicing these wierd words at night. I only know because he tells Pupnochio so i end up hearing all about it. Yesterday's word of the day was bollocks" 

(TWC 4129)

As Pinochio continued to talk about the upside-down organs in the book, even going so far as to say how bad it would be to put in an organ the wrong way, Dana's green eyes widened and she swear she felt a bead of sweat roll down her forehead. There was no way he could know, right? There was no way. He couldn't know. Unless... Unless Murata had somehow found out with those weird x-ray eyes that some people possessed, and she had told Pinochio at some point. That seemed like a very convoluted way to threaten Dana, but the Senju girl was on high alert now. She would have to watch her back for any assassins that the Mizukage sent. Was she just jumpy from lack of sleep? Probably. Did she care? No.

"See ye around Pinochio!" Dana said happily, managing to pull herself together for long enough to say goodbye to her short friend. Why was he running away? Was... The building about to be blown up by the Mizukage in an effort to get back at Dana? While this wasn't the case, it was kind of ironic that this was what Dana's mind came to. After all, the most destructive member of Kirigakure was about to arrive, and there were sure to be a lot of explosions about to transpire. This was good, maybe some good old fashioned explosions would wake Dana up a bit.

Dana heard the door to the training facility open, and she turned around to spot her good friend Saya. "Saya!" Dana shouted gleefully, her voice overlapping with Saya's own. She skipped up to her fellow Senju and would attempt to give her a a big hug since it had been a while. When had Dana last met Saya? She honestly couldn't remember. She felt like it had been a dream or something. "Oi love yer outfit, looks really cool!" Dana smiled, and quietened back down again when Saya proceeded to catch Dana up on everything that had happened since they last met.

"Oi've been here, there - ye know how it goes." Dana shrugged, her smile teasing, "Oh! Oi'm a Chuunin now, oi did surgery on the new Mizukage and she promoted me. Oi can move super silent now and stuff." Dana nodded, "What else... Oh! Oi've been getting lots of new customers, Dana Incorporated is booming. Even though oi think oi sold one of me organs to a criminal or something, oops." Dana carried on, voice almost - but not quite - reaching Saya levels of speed, "Oi also have a house now! Or, well, a room in someone else's house. Oi met this girl called Yuri and she's moi new business partner."

"Tell Pinochio he has an impeccable vocabulary." Dana nodded, totally ignoring Saya's rude comment about her appearance, "Even though he's totally rude and always makes fun of moi accent." She shook her head, "Anyway! It's great to see ye! What brings yer to the training facility today? Ye just missed Pinochio, he had to run off for some reason."

WC: 517
TWC: 4074

"Oh. Yea it's something I put together after spending time with Ragnar and the otterbrook clan. It's apparently the traditional garb of the vikings or something like that? I'm still trying to figure out how all of this works. Oh em gee! I'm a chuunin too!! I keep forgetting that part! When I was doing some work for Lady Sugi she said that I probably should at least be a jounin but because of my destructive tendencies and disregard of responsibiliity she only wanted to promote me to chuunin for now. " She paused, taking a seat across from Dana's seat, motioning the girl back to the table where she and Pinochio had had lunch. 

"Yanno I haven't destroyed anything in like. Three months?! It's been very wierd. What do you mean super silent stuff?! " She could not fathom Dana being silent in any means of the word. How would that even work?! She loved the girl to death, but bull and china shop yanno? Not that she could talk. Saya was very much the same way. That's why they got along so well. 

"Awesome! Haven't had a chance to try the tea out yet but I keep some on me at all times just in case. " She pouted a bit at the suggestion that Dana had found a roommate. Part of her had considered so many times just sending a letter to all of her friends, inviting them to the mansion. She'd even written up plans to expand the size of the mansion to be able to accomondate more people but she didn't want to actually get in trouble for bringing heavy construction equipment so far underground, and the only other option would have meant destroying all the floors above and rebuilding them. That seemed like a lot of work. 

"We still don't really like. Talk or anything. I have to be around so he can tell what he did in the day to Pupnochio, but he's still on his stay away from Saya and make his own way in the world kick. I just came by to actually get a bit of practice in. I wanted to make sure I had a firm grasp on the jutsu Lady Sugi showed me and probably pick up a few more techniques. I haven't actually cast it yet and like. I only caught a glimpse of the scroll for a moment when she accidentally opened it instead of the scroll for Pino so I have to rely on my memory. Thankfully I have a mind like a steel" It wasn't coincidence that she left the statement off there. While most would finish it, saying mind like a steel trap, Saya had only ever heard the phrase stopped one word short. Did it make sense? probably not, but yanno alot of saying didn't make much sense. 

"Mind like a steel seive is more like it. Little sister your eidetic memory has so many holes because of the transfer that Sometimes I wonder if it wasn't just a myth." Ai grinned as she ruffled Saya's hair, pulling strands free of the tight braids. 

(TWC 4648)

"That makes sense," Dana nodded, "Oi don't know who Sugi is but she sounds very wise!" Dana said cluelessly, sitting down opposite Saya. She turned around to see if she could order another coffee to wake herself up a bit more, but to her surprise, it was closed. That was odd, Dana thought they weren't supposed to shut for another couple of hours or so. That was a shame - Dana really liked her coffee. She even briefly entertained the idea of breaking in to eat some of the raw coffee beans, but the - albeit small - rational part of her brain managed to persuade her that that was a bad idea.

"Super soilent loike this!" Dana said, proceeding to slam her hand on the table. Only, somehow, it didn't make a sound. It was like watching a video with no sound. There was clearly an impact of hand on table, it was visible, but the lack of sound make it seem almost... Uncanny. Like there was a disconnect between what was real, "Cool roight? Everything oi do is completely soilent if oi want it to be." Dana snorted as she remembered all the times she'd managed to sneak past people trying to hunt her down after she hadn't paid her rent. She really didn't seem like the silent type, as Saya had said, but Dana was actually quite capable of being discreet and stealthy - when she felt like it.

"Oh! Ye can practice that technique with me! Oi have a new thing oi'd loike to troi as well." Dana said, suddenly perking up. She'd forgotten about the new technique she'd made - her first custom technique - that basically allowed her to absorb something coming towards if she felt like it. Dana suddenly had a, probably, extremely stupid idea. Saya made the technique sound like it was quite destructive, and Dana's new technique was something that was supposed to be purely defensive... If anyone had been following Dana's thought processes for even a little while, they probably knew what she was thinking right now. Something stupid, dangerous, and completely in line with the white-haired Senju's casual disregard for her own well-being - it was like she hadn't learned from what had happened with Pinochio twice now.

"Oi have an idea..." Dana said slowly, as if sensing the universe crying out 'when have those words ever ended up on a positive note for you!', "Ye need to practice yer new technqiue, and so do oi..." At least all her important techniques were off cooldown and she was fully charged on chakra by now - there was no way this could end badly! Dana suddenly stood up from her seat and at least had the decency to move so that nothing important was behind her. Once again, she stepped back about 10-meters and smiled widely.

"Shoot me with yer newest technique! This'll go excellently!"

WC: 485
TWC: 4559

"Whot. But you said you'd already met the Mizukage?! " How could Dana have met Sugi but not know who she was. THis girl clearly was too tired for her own good. She watched as her friend glanced back at the closed food stall. Was she thinking the same thing? With a grin she'd turn in her chair to face the dark silver barrier where she knew a worker was hiding. 

"HEY! Lemme get a Pino delux and a lemon water. Promise we won't break anything until after we've finished our drinks!" There was a sound of commotion as the worker well. Got to work, opening the barrier just enough that she could slide the drinks under it. THere was an audible pop of a soda can as the girl began pouring a red bull into the expresso machine. The pino delux was simple. 7 shots of esspresso made with Red bull instead of water, served over ice with 2 energy tablets and a fiber supliment....for gut health. 

"Wh. Ho. How did you even do that?! That's so cool! I mean it would be near useless for me cuz like. Big loud ninjutsu and My puppets and I can already float so mostly we don't have to make a sound but holy snap crackle thats so cool!!" She would simply nod as Dana suggested that she try the technique out on her friend. Forming hand seals, she cast the wood clone jutsu. Two streams of Mokuton poured from her body, rising up to create copies of Saya and as they finished forming the two puppets eyes went lifeless. Each clone sat down, clapping their hands together to draw in nature chakra. She wanted to give ragnar a day off, so she needed the help of clones to test this technique out. There was a moment when she considered if she really would need to fire it off at her max power just to see how the effects work, but that was disregarded pretty quickly. Of COURSE she needed to fire it off at full power. That's why she learned sage mode. 

"Alright. So listen. THis one is like. Really powerful. It's call the great water shark bullet right. Something from the vault of Kiri. " She glanced around to ensure that no one could hear them. It wouldn't do to teach some random onlooker a secret technique she'd only learned because she happened to memorize the scroll in the three seconds it was visible. THen there was a slamming of metal. 

"OH! Our drinks. " Rushing off, she'd grab the two drinks, setting Dana's on the table as she sipped her water. The cofee cup was a dark black tinged with just a little yellowish green. It smelled wierdly sweet and floral. 

"Have a bit of the patented PIno had to deal with Saya being up all night energy cocktail first. You really look tired. Then I'll show you how to do this technique. " Even as she waited for her friend to drink, she'd show her the seals slowly, practicing them as she inadvertantly taught dana. 

(TWC 5161)

"Lady Sugi is the Mizukage? Oi thought Murata was the Mizukage?" Dana frowned, confused. Was she missing something incredibly obvious here? Stuff didn't often fly over her head - she was way too smart for that - but Dana felt like, in this very particular instance, something was. Her deductive skills obviously weren't all they were built up to be. Dana's tiredness couldn't even be blamed in this instance, the girl just had very poor situational awareness to the point where she couldn't put two-and-two together. She followed Saya's gaze curiously - were they both thinking what each other was thinking?

"We won't! Promise!" Dana called out after Saya finished speaking, hoping her voice added to the persuasion. Whether or not she actually helped was unknown, but the worker behind the closed shutter did begin to work hurriedly after Dana also finished speaking. The white-haired Senju clapped her hands together once to signifiy her excitement and turned back to Saya. What was a pino deluxe? Dana had no clue, but it seemed to be named after her good friend Pinochio. That was a clue to the mystery... Would it make her really short? That'd be pretty funny, and it set her mind ablaze with ideas for new items she could create with Wondrous Fare. Maybe if she put a bunch of growth supplements into a drink, and then put it in an x-ray machine... Yeah, that'd definitely work. Dana wished she had a notebook because she was probably going to forget it very quickly.

"Thank ye, thank ye!" Dana grinned at the praise of her cool new ability, giving a mini bow whilst remaining seated. Saya was right, though. It wasn't particularly useful to someone like Dana. She was obviously doing something wrong if she, a ninjutsu specialist, ended up within hearing range of an opponent.

"That sounds cool!" Dana said after Saya described what she was preparing for, "Please don't use Amplify it, though, oi think it'd kill me!" Dana chuckled, voice far too light to be talking about the subject matter. Then, Dana suddenly remember another big thing that had happened in her life recently. "Oh! Oi also got a really cool tattoo with Pinochio the othder day! Have ye ever heard of a tattoo place called... Huh, oi don't think Pinochio ever told me the name. Anyway, it was super cool and there were these cool ladies who gave me a tattoo." Dana blabbered on, still speaking at near Saya speed. To the outside world, the two must look like they were on fast forward or something.

"Oi'll give it a troi!" Dana said, looking at the drink in front of her with no measure of excitement. Most people would be hesitant to drink something so scary. (Un)fortunately, Dana was not most people. With no further delay, Dana grabbed the glass and downed the entire drink in less than a second. The effect was instant.

Slowly, Dana put the glass down on the table, and then she looked at Saya; her eyes were wide. She took one deep breath and then practically shot out of her seat, landing on the table.

"Whooo! This is amazing! Oi'm never going to sleep again!" Dana shot back into the training area, moving fast enough that it looked like she was using body flicker, "Okay! Shoot me with that great shark whatever already! Amp it! Make it as powerful as ye can!"

Little did she know, but Dana was probably going to regret those words.

WC: 586
TWC: 5145