Sensei of the waves and seals [Yamato, and Mori]

Hayato woke up early for another day of training. He rolled out of bed before the sun was even over the rice paddies. He started each day with meditation now just like the monks of the faraway wolf temple. He was starting to buy into their teachings. Maybe the monk of the scroll had been wise to drop his ways in a small town far of in the middle of nowhere? He sat for an hour thinking nothing, and feeling the swaying of his soul. How far was he from being as strong as the monks? Maybe he'd never know. Next was feeding the chickens. He grabbed the sack of grain he kept near his bed and walked outside to coat the ground with the main export of the land of rice. He let the chickens out of the coop, and fed them they were happy today. Finally he ate a quick breakfast. He slurped the bowl clean of the rice and one raw egg before heading to the training grounds.

Hayato had been training day in day out for a while now. His body was certainly growing faster and more powerful. He could feel the aching in his muscles everyday. He was also slowing grasping the technique called bark, recorded in the monk's scroll. The other techniques were slow going, but he hadn't lost the hope since he had learned the total concentration breathing technique in such a short amount of time he was sure the other moves would follow shortly if he kept up his work ethic. Or at least he hoped. With his fist clenched he entered the illustrious training grounds. He had called this place home for the better part of a month now.

He would usually start today with a few sprints around the training ground followed by practicing basic kata against some of the wooden dummies for a few hours, and then finally going into attempts at refining the Bark technique. Today was different. He realized that he wasn't monk. He was a shinobi, and one with a hidden talent that he'd yet to tap into. His instructor noted that he had a fair bit of talent for ninjutsu. Hayato had always ignored it in favor of weaponry. A way of neglecting the path his father took in favor of his blacksmith roots.

Recently he had meet a few other Tanbogakure shinobi, and, while most were not ready to share their gifts or fully utilize them, non of them shunned their innate talent like Hayato. He thought of Kato, and of Mikaela. One was capable of wood release. A technique not unlike his supposed Ice release. The other was hiding something. a weight he felt in passing, but the bot was still carrying it. Hayato had simply abandon it, but no longer. He had decided that while he may never succeed where his father failed he could at least give it an attempt. It was his duty as a son. He pulled a light blue scroll from his pocket with a small snow flake stamped on the back and unfurled it. It read:

"You who posses the blood of the Yuki, though we are but a scattered few, we will one day rise to our places among the honored clans of history. Should you wish to aide your kin you would do well to survive and pass on our blood, but if you wish to excel you should reach deep and claim the strength that is rightfully yours. If your blood is strong you should be able to feel the heat of every living thing close to you. If this is the case head my words. Become a powerful Shinobi, Learn water and wind release and combine them to unlock your true potential. If you succeed, pass down this valued knowledge to our kin. Long live the Yuki!"

It was a small scroll, and maybe a bit too vague. Even so, it confirmed what his father had been aiming for under his training in Konohagakure. He was a Yuki not only in name, but also by blood. Hayato felt the presence of others in the training facility as he passed by them. Up to a few meters away he knew they were there. Their heat radiated of them warming his perpetually cold skin. He had come there today to take the first steps towards mastering the power in his blood. For Hayato, that meant mastering a few more ninjutsu and learning the water release. The first step after all was to become a powerful shinobi. Hayato didn't feel like he was even close to calling himself powerful yet. It would come in time, but a few jutsu wouldn't hurt the process.

He had considered asking others for help, but he knew so few ninja above him in the village. He could really only think of Yamato of the top of his head. Would he help if he asked? Hayato shook his head. No he should at least give it s shot himself before he went begging for help. He made the tiger hand sign and began kneading his chakra. He then released a small harmless gust of air from his mouth. "I already can use wind release a little..." He repeated the steps but this time tried to create water. The feeling was all wrong though. The boy had no concept of what water chakra felt like. He knew that wind was made with a feeling of grinding his chakra together what was water.

He thought for a second "Maybe it's some kind of a flow? but how does a flow feel?" The boy felt pretty lost. He knew that other shinobi could do much more with their chakra than he could. "There must be a secrets to it..." He got a smart idea as he considered his options. The pools here! Hayato wandered over to the pools of water mostly used for swimming, but obviously available for water jutsu practice as well. He placed his hands in the pool and sent his chakra flowing into it. He felt how the water moved he was gaining an basic understanding of the flow, but it wasn't enough he needed some advice and maybe a demonstration. There must some skilled shinobi that would be willing to give a poor gennin aide in his time of need? Or was that simply wishful thinking...

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[WC]

"Jutsu to be leeched or uh I mean learned :

Another day, another insane day filled with training. It was the only way he was going to improve his standing and now that he had made some “friends” he felt he had a desire to improve. Not just for himself but so that he could feel useful to them. Getting to meet the others on the patrol really opened his eyes to how far behind he was. Especially Yamato, the Genin Officer who he still did not know how he got that title. He felt so much further behind him. Not in a bad way, it was not like he had been rubbing it in his face, no it was more of a wanting to catch up kind of way. He admired Yamato, he was cool, calm and collected and also friendly to boot. He did hope he would get to run more missions with him. 


The others he had met, Hayato and Mikaela, seemed to be more on par with him. He could not quite get the feel of exactly HOW they were on par with him but he just had a feeling that was the case. He wished he had spent more time getting to know the other two but he had been enamored with the way that Yamato had carried himself. 


Not wasting any time that morning he quickly dressed himself in his traditional ninja gear. Katana on his back, headband on his left arm, wraps on his right arm and left leg, and his traditional black robes. He had removed the Uchiha Clan Symbol from the back of it. He did not have much of a plan for the day. He had been tinkering with training a new element to add to his arsenal as he felt he was handicapping himself with only Fire Jutsu. He figured the next best thing was the element that cancelled his primary affinity out, Water. 


So when he moved to the training facility he grabbed himself a room and spent the morning trying to practice. Well, the morning was a bit of an over exaggeration, as he was quickly growing frustrated. Trying to learn a new element by himself by textbooks alone was much more difficult than having someone to show him. He quickly grew flustered with trying to learn any new techniques and decided to take a break. 


As he left his training area he spotted someone. It was Yamato! He was also training today. Maybe he would be willing to give him a few pointers? Kato stood for a moment wondering if it would be too forward to just approach him and ask? After all, he was there to train, maybe he did not have the time to dedicate training to Kato. For a few moments he debated it in his head before he shook it off. Yamato had been friendly and the worst he would do is tell him no so Kato decided to approach him as he entered his own training area. 


However, when he arrived, he was also surprised to see Hayato. He stepped inside right behind Yamato. “Hey Hayato!” Kato said with a slight bow and a wave and then he gave a deeper bow to Yamato. “Officer Yamato, it is great to see you again.” He was being, obviously, a bit more formal to Yamato than to Hayato, not as an insult certainly, he just thought Yamato was of higher rank. 


“I was actually wondering if I might join you two for a bit of training as well?” He grinned and then patiently waited to see if they would agree to allow him to join.


WC: 602

Skills To Learn :

Hayato looked up from soaking his hands in the pool as he felt three new heat signatures closing in from 5m. The tall blonde figure he recalled from his patrol mission, the Uchiha boy also from there and an eye patched farmer looking individual were closing in on his position. He would greet them each as they got closer.

“Officer Yamato…”He was a bit surprised to see him here, but it made sense once he considered it for a moment. All shinobi needed to train right? Hayato nodded at his first question and again at his request to join him. A shinobi of experience would be useful to have around, maybe he could share some pointers. He started to ask him a question when Kato had arrived at his position as well.

Hayato had felt Kato’s presence in the advanced training grounds made sense. They were both in the same boat. He wasn’t sure, but, based on their last conversation, the both knew relatively little about being a shinobi and the tools they truly needed to do the job. Kato’s casual greeting was met with an equally casual Kato U… Hayato held his tongue. Though he didn’t really think it was a big deal here, he understood refraining from revealing one's heritage. He rarely spoke his last name himself, and there was another person not in the know coming closer.   ”Kato-kun” he adjusted. Hayato gave him a nod as well. A few companions for training would make it a less lonesome affair.

That last one he did not know. He looked a little unkempt but not more unkempt than any other field hand he knew. Many people would have seen him as a simple farmer, but the flash of tattooed skin running up his arms meant that was not all this man was. Furthermore, why would Yamato be in contact with a field hand? Finally, how would a cultivator of rice not affiliated with the village enter these protected grounds unabated? No, there was more to this newcomer.

Mori-san… He nodded in his direction before finally turning to answer Yamato.

Hayato wiped his wet hands on his blue hakama as he spoke. I’ve been trying to learn water release…Here’s what I have learned today.

Hayato would make the ram hand sign and focus on the water in front of him. He clenched his hands and strained. His chakra flowed into the water and pulled it. A small amount of water would move upwards about an inch from the surface before falling back down. The paltry movement strained the boy, but was much more impressive than he’d expected. Maybe he had some talent for this after all? He paused for a moment catching his breath. He at once recalled the clone technique Yamato had displayed on their mission together, before meeting the eyes of the two older men.

If you have advice on improving, or techniques all ninja should know, I would appreciate your guidance…The clone technique you displayed seems like a great boon… I must be stronger if I am to protect this land… The last phrase of his pause-filled statement had more conviction than any had ever heard from the boy. His eyes panned to each of them waiting for their responses.

He was feeling a little bit of shame asking for so much from Yamato, but perhaps the officer would be delighted to help the next generation of Tanbogakure? He did offer to help teach anyone who was interested in the mission where they met. He wasn’t sure that Mori-san had any such obligation or any skills to pass on, besides the ones of working the land. However, if he was to be helping Yamato with his “general know how” his would most likely be doubly worthwhile for the young Yuki.

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[WC:631]

Justu to be learned:

The three of them were joined by a fourth person who Kato had never seen before. He seemed much older than the rest of the group and he wore an eye patch. Though Kato had never seen him before he had an air of mystery and strength to him. As if he had done things that the rest of them had only envisioned in their minds. Kato was immediately intrigued by his presence but he tried not to dwell on it for too long. He was, after all, here to train and grow better as a ninja so that hopefully he could command the same type of respect that Mori seemed to gain from simply walking into a room. He did not want to be the boy who was simply pushing himself or working to become better. He wanted to be an established ninja, one who could be relied on and trusted. 

Kato smiled as Yamato complimented him on his willingness to train. He was just as friendly as he remembered from their patrol mission. "Nothing in particular," Kato said in response to Yamato. "Though the Water Element would be nice." He said motioning towards Hayato. He watched intently as Hayato practiced the Jutsu. He was impressed with how far along he had come with it if he had only just began. "Wow, nice job, Hayato!" Kato said enthusiastically. While it was not nearly as impressive as someone who had fully mastered the element; the fact that he was able to gain even a miniscule amount of control was outstanding. "Soon you will have complete control over it!" He smiled at Hayto before he returned his attention to Yamato. 

Yamato went into a spiel about the different techniques he knew and quickly went through a lot of them. The Shadow Clone Jutsu was most impressive, he had utilized it while they were on patrol, and Kato watched carefully as he performed the hand seals and took to memorizing them to the best of his ability. The Genjutsu release was something that Kato was actually familiar with. Genjutsu was the specialty of his clan and they had all practiced the technique many times. Though he was not an expert at doing it he was familiar with the concept for sure. 

The Body Flicker technique was, however, the more complicated of the techniques being taught. He had heard horror stories of ninja attempting the technique and ending up impaled, falling off cliffs, or being stuck in areas they did not belong. It, by all accounts, took hours and hours of practice to master and had quite frankly been a technique that Kato had been avoiding trying to learn as it scared him a bit. But he was not someone who would shy away from a challenge. 

Kato was eager to prove himself and wanted to try the Shadow Clone Technique. It was the one he had paid the closest attention to and without wasting much time, and not telling the others, he began his first attempts at using the technique. Mimicking the hand seals that Yamato had showed them he concentrated on making a clone of himself and without much warning a clone appeared beside him. However, it looked very little like Kato, in fact it looked nothing like him. It was overweight, the eyes were wrong, it had red hair for some reason, and looked out of breath just from standing there. Kato scratched the back of his head and looked around a little embarrassed to say the least.  

"Er, well.... I got the nose right I think." Kato said continuing to observe the abomination that he had created. It did not last long, however, as his body was not used to having a Shadow Clone up and about thirty seconds after it had appeared it poofed into a plume of smoke and vanished. "I will just keep practicing until it is perfect!" Kato said with determination to everyone in the room. 


WC: 661
TWC: 1263

Techniques :

Kato’s comments on his mastery and smile prompted embarrassment from the Yuki. It’s not much…, but thank you… He turned away from Kato to hide the slight red in his cheeks.

Yamato had shared his thoughts and showed them the Shadow Clones, Genjutsu Release, and Body Flicker. These were rather basic ways to use chakra aside from the Shadow Clone. The words of warning were valuable as well. Hayato thought that Yamato would make a great teacher or orator, but his focus did not waver. He watched each hand sign presented and committed them to memory. He noted that Mori didn’t use any hand signs. Hayato would ask about that later. I was right, this Mori person is a shinobi of great skill… The scruffy man’s actions confirmed his suspicions. It didn’t seem like the man was hiding anything and he was being helpful filling in spots with more information. Mori had said that some genjutsu could paralyze the victim. It tracked that one truly needed to be able to use this jutsu without hand signs. He nodded along with Mori’s words.    

Thank you for the demonstration, explanations, and words of warning. he would comment to the older pair as Yamato finished. He looked on as Kato attempted the Shadow clone technique. Despite his failure to be perfect he at least was able to create a foriegn body from his own. Calling it a “clone” would be generous, but he had certainly created something. That was good. The attempt wasn’t that bad… Hayato would comment to Kato. Hayato would try the body flicker technique first. He made the ram hand sign and used his chakra to burst forward about 20 feet. Or at least that was the plan, he moved much farther than anticipated. The speed boost he received was huge. Despite seeing if first he wasn’t ready for the size of the increase. He ended up about 50 feet away instead. I’ll need to practice control a bit but at least I can do it. Now let’s try the next one… He was going to try and see if could do as well as Kato in the Shadow clone department. He weaved the signs and focused on reproducing his image similar to the basic clone technique. In a puff of smoke a clone that did look a lot like him appeared, but it was impotent. It’s arms and legs were like bendy straws. It’s color was grayed out. It’s head was shrunken and it couldn’t move pretty much at all. It only lasted half as long as Kato’s clone. Let’s try it again… He thought as he clicked his tongue, but then Mori spoke up about water release, and Hayato would give him his full attention.

He nodded along with Mori’s words, as the man yet again used one hand to create the signs for his jutsu. He watched as he expelled a thick mist.Hayato couldn’t see anything but he could still feel the presence of the three people around him. This would allow me to produce on demand stealth options and probably get me closer to ice release! He thought about how useful this would be for him as the mist cleared. The remaining tips on chakra placement could be helpful, but he’d have to try it. Next the man spoke of changing the nature of water. Hayato’s eyes shimmered for a moment. Mori displayed a sticky water technique. A change in viscosity, Hayato imagined. The Yuki wasn’t sure it would be good for ice release, but yet again changing water's form and features couldn’t hurt him. Hayato saw another potential upside of the technique; it could easily be used to pin down an opponent, neutralizing them in a non lethal way. Hayato liked that.

First he would comment on the mist. Being able to hide in a mist like that seems valuable, but is there some way to sense people within it? He looked over to each of the men for an answer. Then additionally He would ask a question directed at Mori. Also, how did you create a jutsu without using both of your hands? It was understandable for the genjutsu release, but the water release technique is much more complicated. He’d await an answer to his questions and would nod along to the answers, paying close attention. He would await the next opportunity to express interest in learning Mori's moves.

Mori-san, I would like to learn the jutsu you’ve demonstrated. He would say quietly to the inked man before him. I would like to learn all of these techniques… he would then say a bit louder to the group. But… surely you two came here to meet and practice other skills? Hayato felt guilty for taking up their time, so he offered a way out. Perhaps you could comment on my first attempts then I could get you all to give an assessment after I’ve given it more practice? He would ask this favor of the two men. If they agreed he would give the techniques a try if not he would still attempt on his own.

First Hayato would attempt the mist jutsu. He would weave the signs slowly, Ox, Snake, Ram, Tiger. He’d made sure to kneaded the chakra in his stomach adding the property of flow he’d felt in the pool while simultaneously attempting to thin out the sloshing liquid building in his stomach. Finally Hayato would exhale the result of his effort. Out of the boy's mouth came a fine mist more akin to spit than the thick mist Mori had produced. The amount was almost similar, but not as much. It spread out in a cone about 5 feet wide at high velocity before falling back to the earth. It would spray anyone within range and he would apologize if they were hit by his malformed mist.

Hayato wasn’t happy with the result, but very few and far between was their success without error. He would look to Mori if possible for an assessment of what he had failed at before attempting the Syrup catching jutsu.

Once again he would weave the hand signs slowly and carefully the order Mori had shown him: Ram, Tiger, Ox, Bird, Dog. He once again kneaded water chakra in his stomach. The feeling of flow was already getting easier. He attempted to change the viscosity, but he wasn’t quite sure how that should go. He thought of the consistency the eggs he harvested from his birds had. His stomach expanded with liquid and then he ejected it. The water shot in a typical stream falling to earth in a standard curve. It traveled about the distance one would expect of someone spitting. The quantity of water was much greater than before and created a runny puddle that didn't sink into the earth below. It looked similar to what Komori had produced, and Hayato was happy for a moment. He walked over and steppin into the pool, and attempted to retrieve his foot. The water stuck to his wooden clogs, but it definitely didn’t trap him. He was easily able to lift his foot with almost no effort even though the water stretched a little before ultimately breaking.

Hayato clicked his tongue. Success has evaded me…what should I change? He looked at the two men expecting that they would know the answer to correcting the techniques they had displayed for him.  

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[wc:1238]
[TWC:2930]
[changing ranks of ninjutsu amp back to c for build reasons]

Jutsu to learn: