Training in Hoshi

There was a loud banging of a gavel on top the magistrates desk. He had just mentioned a topic of great interest among the clan snd everyone broke out into Miniature conversations. "Silence!" The magistrate commanded and banged further with his gavel. He was sitting high above the rest of the Hoshimura Clan members, his robe flowing majestically down to the ground. The magistrate commanded great respect in the clan and the conversations quickly died down.

The magistrate spoke. His voice was that of an old man's and he sounded like a smoker. "Now we are all familiar with the upcoming trials our most recently coming of age clan member will be going through. His name is Tora Haikai Hoshimura." The clan started clambering in conversation again and the magistrate silenced them once more.

"Tora has recently unlocked the Re-quip." The magistrate was smiling. He had been following Tora's developments for some years. Tora was considered an exceptional clan member, having awakened his Kensaigen during his academy years. It was known throughout the clan that Tora was incredibly chakra sensitive and most of the clan were betting on Tora's success.

The clan was silent, listening to the magistrate intently. It was a serious matter when someone accessed the Re-quip plane. The person was given access to the clans armory, and someone young could easily misuse such power.

The subject at hand was Tora's sense responsibility. According to tradition the mother or father of a Re-quip user had the responsibility of helping the newcomer find their way in the simr-soace plane shared by the clan.

Tora's father, Hiei was at the meeting. He was a short old man with long spiky hair, Bright silver from nearly sixty years of life. The elder of the clan was a master of Armor based Re-quipping and an integral force of Hoshigakures most hardened Fuuinjutsu Corps team. He was a tank on the battle field.

Hiei's wife, Mari, was with him at the meeting. Herself, she never unlocked the Re-quip but was respected in the clan as a weaponsmith. She didn't have much to say on the matter at hand and sat at the table with her fingers interlaced. She was a soft spoken woman and was there to vouch for her sons sense of responsibility.

The magistrate continued. "Tora has yet to find any of our Armor or weapons, but it is just a matter of time. From my observations he is a smart, compassionate and responsible young man." There was a collect sigh of approval among the clan. "I am willing to vouch for him but I would like us to hear from Hiei, Tora's father."

Hiei cleared his throat and spoke. He was a smoker and sounded like it. His gruff voice was deep and baritone. "My son is smart, and innovative. He works with my wife as a Smith and he does a great job. He understands the life of a shinobi, and strives to do good. Not just exceptional results but genuine goodness. He can most certainly be trusted with the clans equipment." Hiei paused for a second, waiting for any objections.

Most of the clan knew Tora to some degree. He was a helpful child growing up and often quested to serve the clan in some degree. The folks sitting at the table were the clans nobleman and they all had certainly heard of him. When Tora awakened his Kensaigen he became a hot topic among the round table.

No one objected Hiei and so he continued.

"I will instruct him on both the Re-quip ms technicalities and the advanced mechanics of Jikkukan. He has already taken an interest in space-time ninjutsu. Furthermore," Hiei paused. He hadn't told anyone about his study with liquid Chakra. "I have begun developing Kinjutsu using secrets of the clan. I will teach my son the path, and I believe that he will bring something new and powerful to the clan." Hiei started coughing and put his hand to his mouth. Blood spewed from his mouth and he started coughing gard. His wife, Mari, held his free hand.

After a moment of choking Hiei continued. "As all of you know, I am dying. My previous efforts before I found the magnum opus of my research, well it greatly weakened my life force. My son doesn't know that I have such limited time." Hiei coughed again and more liquids spilled out from his body  this time tears. He talked through brief crying spells, "I promise to raise him right."

Hiei had about five years left, at best. Before he discovered Liquid Chakra he had worked with various forbidden Sealing techniques to make his secret work operate. None of them worked and much of his life was sealed away from him. Hiei was a dying man.

The magistrate spoke to the clan now, "I speak for the clan when I say we trust you Hiei." He was an oldnman, almost one hundred years old. He had watched Hiei since he was Tora's age and was proud of the fine man that Hiei grew up tonbe. "I trust you Hiei." The magistrate said to the sick mam.

As the meeting was going on Tors was doing what he usually did when he wasn't working hard at shinobi work. The young Hoshimura was training. Just like his father had stated to the clan Tira had become very interested in Jikkuksn since awakening access to the Re-quip.

On this sunny day in winter Tora was hard at work near the Water Gardens of Hoshigakure. He was at the training grounds.

Dressed in his long poncho Tora was bedazzled by swinging ropes that were tied to his clothing. He spun through the air practicing pinpointing space time rifts with his Kensaigen. Ever since the Re-quip awakened his Kensaigen began detecting something new. According to his father Tora was witnessing space time fluctuations. This was what initially inspired his study with Jikkukan.

After a few weeks of prodigal research Tora had learned how some of the finer points of applying Space-Time Ninjutsu.

The study began with what was known as space time anchors. Anchors are points in space occupied by mass that can be affected by space time ninjutsu. From his father Tora learned how to create a seal that would operate as an anchor. By filling the seal with Chakra it functioned as an anchor, and Tora could see the manipulation of space time through his Kensaigen. It looked like a red mass of translucent light. This was incredibly interesting to Tora and he often sprt time practicing detecting this phenomenon. As he did he furthered his study of Space Time Ninjutsu.

It had only been months since the Re-quip entered Tora's grasp, but his development as a shinobi was rapidly excelling. By nature Tora was a user of Kenjutsu. He practiced the art of the sword. That's not to say he wasn't incredibly skilled with other weapons. Bo's, bows, axes, shuriken, kunai, senbon, daggers, hammers, greatswords, nun chuks, scythe, tonga, and the like were all weapons that Tora was talented with. Hisnmother had taught him about weaponry.

Mari was a skilled chunin, though she was not talented like her husband. Mari was a Bukijutsu specialist but that wasn't where her talents most shined. Where she was most useful to the village was as a blacksmith. Sought after by the entire Hoshimura Clan in Hoshigakure, Mari was a world wide renowned artisan. She passed this trait down to her son.

Where Mari excelled in blacksmithing her son did too. Tora used his large hands to create masterful works of weapons by the young age of ten years old. Shuriken, tantos, kusari gama and other small weapons were the first molds he mastered and his skill grew from there.

Tora was talented, but he worked for his rewards. Not everything came easily to Tora, and he spent many sleepless night deducting how he could improve his work. Whether it was anchoring new chakra seals or perfecting his craft Tora was a hard worker.

As he jumped around a dummy, his Dojutsu lit up and Tracking the presence of time space chakra,, his mind was elsewhere. Tora had been so engrossed with studying space time ninjutsu he had forgotten his true love.

Kenjutsu.

What initially drove Tora's passion to become a shinobi was the chance to master the sword. From the age of five Tora performed excellently in clan kendo and the migration to a real blade came naturally to him. Tora had the fast draw speed of any genin and his fine artisnal work kept his blade sharp as his wit.

Tora stopped what he was doing as he was thinking about it and decided to change up his training. He left the anchoring seal on athe dummy he was trainingbon, figuring he could train both skills at once.

Tora exhaled slowly and drew his blade. The ninja was an expert in a specific style unique to Hoshigakure, Dancing Tiger. Dancing Tiger was specifically a sword style that utilized two blades, a wakizashi or tanto and katana. Tora decided he woukdbstart with the first kata of Dancing Tiger and work his way up.

Standing across from the dummy Tora was about two inches away from it at full arms length. With just a tiny unmitigated movement he would cut the training dummy, which meant he required the utmost of Body control to practice with his blade.

Tora held his katana in one hand and suddenly leaped into the air. His knees rose up and he kicked forward with the old ofbhis foot. While he was still in the air Tora sliced at the training dummies neck. He landed on the griund, in the same exact spot he had leapt from, exhaled and turned his body in a one hundred eighty degree semi circle.

Standing in front of the dummy Tora prepared his next kata. He bent over and drew his wakizashi from its sheathe then swiped in two lateral directions. As his left hand with the eakizashi finished its second cleave just inches in front of dummies neck Tora swung the bottom of his katan hilt in the direction of the dummies gut. As he did so Tora could see the radiation of space time chakra emitting from the paper seal he had stuck to the dummies gut.

Tira had his Kenseigan active forbthree straight hours now. The strain was beginning to effect his Chakra reserves. Never one to quit at the first sign of distress Tora prepared himself for one more kata. The third one was the more difficult of the begining three and required much concentration. Tora prepared himself with a three fold breath. Three seconds of inhalation, a three second hold and a three second exhalation.

When hebeas done exhaling Tora exploded.

With his left hand Tors swiped thebair above the forehead of the dummy. Then using his katana he mimicked a gut strike again. Then Tora rapidly spun in a flying back handed circle and stabbed near the eardrum of the dummy. This time he had gone closer, within an inch of the dummy. It remained unscathed and Tora was breathing candidly.

To use such control required exhaustive concentration. Tira decided he was due for a break and released his Kenseigan. He no longer saw the altered mass of space time energy around the dummy, and Tora sheathed his weapons. The sudden burst of energy left residuals inside him and he let out a "Woo!"

Tora enjoyed training. In fact lately he spent more time trainingbthsn working. Ever since he mysteriously activated the Re-quip while training with his father he became a glutton for punishment. Tora loved the thrill of exercising his body, and just as much he lived to nourish himself.

Tora walked over to a flat rock he had placed his lunch on. Today he packed a garlic bologna sandwich on rye bread. He didn't have anything to go with it besides water, but he made sure to put double the meat on it. Tora sat on the rock and slowly ate. It was snowing lightly and that was Tora's favorite kind of weather. He munched on his sandwich thankfully.

As his son was eating Hiei arrived at the training grounds. The magistrate meeting between the clan nobles was over, and Hiei felt pressed to begin his sons teachings. While Tora had basically invited himself into the Re-quip armory, it was up to Hiei to teach him what was right and wrong when it came to using it. That and how to find specific equipment in the space time dimension.

"Hello son," Hiei said with a smile. He coughed a bit, but held back the blood this time. He would do anything for his son. Hiei was deeply committed to his family, especially his only child. "I'm sure you knew of the nobles round table today," Hiei was talking about the meeting he had just come from. "Well I have good news. The elders and the magistrate accept you as a full blooded Hoshimura. They wish for me to show you how to use Re-quip. The complete way."

Hiei held his hands out. Had Tora been using his Kensaigen he would have seen the red ripples forming around his father's hand. Hiei was commanding space time with his Chakra, then suddenly there was a minor flash of red light. A giant claymore was now in Hiei's hands. It was easily longer than the short man, and weighed just as much. Tira looked in disbelief. He had never seen his father wield his favorite sword. The Bone Breaker was typically reserved for Hiei's battles.

Brandishing the blade Hiei continued speaking, "So I will show you how to find the armory within the Re-quip plane. Finish your sandwich, this will be a tiring experience for you." Hiei stuck his sword in the ground and then leaped on it. Balancing delicately on the handle he waited for his son to finish his garlic bologna sandwich.

Tora scared the sandwich he made down. He was totally excited and his mind was racing with thoughts. At the clan house there were Bukijutsu tournaments and he had seen some mighty weapons Re-quipped by his clan mates. The possibilities were endless for him. While he chewed up his food Tora had stars in his blue eyes, he was dreaming of his first step in adulthood.

Once his son was finished Hiei began his lecture. "Now first I want to remind you that the entire clan supports you and agrees to allow use of their arms by you. That said it's your duty to maintain any piece of metal you use. Your mother has taught you the best methods of Blacksmithing. You will use them." Hiei was speaking very sternly, his activated Kensaigen staring directly into Tora's eyes. "That said I will teach you how to find weapons and armor store in the Re-quip plane. And Tora, " Hiei's voice cracked. "Keep studying space time ninjutsu, I know you will make the clan proud. You're a genius. The apple didn't fall far from the tree, hehe. Okay here we go. First activate your Kensaigen. "

Tora stood up and faced his father. Looking him square in the eyes Tora activated his Kensaigen. The blue glow around his eyes faded and his entire eye flashed pink. A lotus design filled his iris and his pupil turned a deep crimson hue. Tora saw a blue glow around his father, his main affinity being water. Tora nodded his head to signify he was ready.

Hiei commanded his son, "Now hold your hand out snd open the Re-quip plane just like you did the first time."

Tora looked at his open palm and a red outline began shimmering in his hands. His Chakra was manipulating space time and he could see it. "Now focus. Sense out the clans chakra. You know this feeling, it's the same feeling as your own chakra." Hiei put together some handseals and began meditating.

Tora almost immediately found the presence of Hoshimura chakra. He called out to Hiei, "Dad I've found it."

Hiei replied, "Now grab it."

Suddenly time and space around Tora's hand flashed and the boy felt weight land in his palm. He couldn't believe his eyes. Tora had Re-quipped for the first time, a long sword made of steel. The blade was heavy but not as long as typical long swords, and it was as sharp as could be. Tora turned the blade in his hand.

"Now do it again." Hiei told Jim, not eastingba second to congratulate his son yet.

Tora activated the Re-quip and immediately found the presence of Hoshimura chakra. He struggled for a second swapping out the blade but eventually he changed it with a bow. Tora yelled out in amazement. "I did it!" He called.

Hiei was very impressed and told his son so. "Quicker to catch on than me," he said.

For the next few hours Hiei practiced sparring with his son and honing Toras skill with re-quipment. Tora picked it up quick like he did with most things. By the end of their spar he was Re-quipping two blades at a time. "Next we will practice my favorite. Armor" Hiei told his son.

Hiei left Tora to train alone. He was feeling sick and Tora had already mastered the basics. He didn't want to overload his son, but it was hard to ignore the fact he had such prodigal talent.

When Tora was left alone he continued practicing the Re-quip. He wanted to get fast and he knew that would take experience. He was excited no matter what, and tried his best to become familiar with re-quipment. There was only a few more hours of daylight and Tora wasted no time.

Once dark hit he decided to stay for an extra bit to practice some more. While combat training was useful Tora had some homework from his father. First he had to store his weapons in the Re-quip plane, and second he had to cycle through the armory to find his favorite arm.

Starting with storing his weaponry Tora did so with ease. He was familiar with alternating weapons, and storing them was the same thing with less steps. Tora put all of his shuriken, kunai, swords, daggers and makes in the plane. He was happy to give others the chance to use them, and felt proud of his work.

Next he began cycling through the weapons. At first it was an easy, fun task but it quickly became exhausting. Tora had immense chakra reserves but alternating weapons drained them fast. He was quickly exhausted and all of a sudden he passed out on the flat rock he had previously ate his lunch at.

Tora woke up a few hours later, his mom screaming at him. "... haver have I known you to be so foolish!" She screamed and then from nowhere slugged Tora in the face. He fell back down in disbelief. His mom was certainly mad. After about a half hour of being yelled at he was given a chance to defend himself.

"I forgot I was using my Kensaigen and all of a sudden I felt so weak! Dad told me to practice alternating weapons and get used to the clans armory! I'm sorry mom.." Tora pleaded with his mom but she slugged him another one then grabbed him by the ear. She dragged him all the way home that night.

Waking up a bit later than usual the next morning, Tora felt completely refreshed. After breakfast with the family he told his mom and dad he was planning on training his Re-quip again. His mother scolded him but let him go. Tora headed out for the day with high hopes.

When he arrived at the training grounds Tora was informed of a sparring tournament. He signed up for it and headed off to find somewhere quiet to practice before hisbmatch. He was in the third bracket so he had at least two hours to prepare.

Once Tora find a quiet spit by the river he stuck with the basics. First he Re-quipped his sword from the Re-quip dimension, then cycled through Dancing Tiger kata. Spinning and slashing wildly Tira worked up a sweat. He didn't activate his Kensaigen, fearful of draining his Chakra again. Instead he cycled through the armory and picked three weapons he would use in his fights. First was his sword, it could fire senbon from its handle. Second was a large scythe that had a chain hanging from its end, and lastly was an extending bo staff. Tora was pretty excited to use all these weapons and once he was ready he decided he would watch some of the fights that were lined up before him.

When Tora arrived at the sidelines of the sparring tournament he was surprised to see someone he knew battling. The girl was a kunoichi that graduated with Tora, a genjutsu specialist who was about to win her fight. The girl was named Genki and she was another prodigal student during Tora's time at the academy. Where he excelled in ninjutsu and physical arts she was skilled with genjutsu.

Once Tora had been assigned a team with her. The class was having group spars and Genki absolutely commanded the field. She could cast Genjutsu on the spot and had the whole opposing team confused.

She was doing much of the same now. Genki stood across from her enemy, a tall man wielding a war hammer, holding her hands in the rat seal. Her opponent was wobbling around the field, fighting genjutsu and losing.

Tora knew how the fight would end snd he was right. Genkis opponent collapsed on the ground. Tora made a mental note to watch for her genjutsu should he fight her in the tournament.

A few more matches took place but Tora didn't find anyone worth noting. Mostly unprscticed genin looking to make names for themselves.

Eventually it was Tora's turn to fight. He was called from the crowd to join the referee in the ring, which he did with his Kensaigen lit ablaze. Tira was fired up and ready for some action. His opponent stepped up from the crowd.

Mizaki Uchiha was a genin two years younger than Tora. He was a skilled Kenjutsu user and had talent with Katon ninjutsu. He was a typical Uchiha and Tora was ready for him. When Mizaki stepped up his two tomoed sharingan was spinning.

The referee explained the rules and the two combatants bumped fists as a shoe of respect. The match was set to begin.

Mizaki started the right off by charging forward with his drawn katana. Tora was ready. Lithefully the Hoshimura dodged the first strike then as the Uchiha came back around with a slash from the top Tora held his empty hands out.

Suddenly there was a faint flash and a red staff was in Tora's hands. He blocked the strike, then kicked his opponent square in the chest. The Uchiha went flying backwards, stunned.

Tora rushed his opponent with his staff. He jabbed, the Uchiha dodged it. Tora came back around with a swinging strike, the Uchiha deflected it. Tora had him on the defensive. The Hoshimurs jabbed again with his staff, then swung it around for an uppcut. He connected and Mizaki stumbledbbackwards.

The Uchiha looked mad and ran again at Tora. With a second to spare Tora Re-quipped his staff and replaced it with his black blade.

Swoosh! Klang! Tora deflected a strike and spun backwards in riposte, the blade blade came flying at Mizaki. The Uchiha held up his blade to block the flying back strike, but his blade broke. Tora kept spinning and struck Mizaki with a spinning back fist.

Pow! Tora hit and Mizaki went flyingninto the ground. In a flash Tora swarmed his opponent, sticking the point of his blade in the Uchihas chest. The match was over and Tora was the Victor.

After his fight Tora stood by the sidelines to be checked for any medical problems. He was still in top physical condition and passed all the tests. He had about an hour until his next match and so he decided he would watch a few matches.

The first match Tora saw was pretty flashy. Two ninjutsu specialist clashed with each other on the training grounds, with the lightning user reigning Supreme. The second match was far more tactical and featured a Nara clansman coming out on top against an Inuzuka.

For the third match Tora got to watch an Uchiha square off against a Hyuga. Kujaku and Kira, respectively, began their fight brandishing weapons. Tora suspected the Hyuga was a user of the Gentle blade, but the Uchiha definitely had some skill. He wielded a fully mature sharingan and was nearly squaring up blow for blow with the sword specialist. Unfortunately Kujaku didn't have the stamina to make it and lost in the second round with a blade to the neck.

Tora was having fun watching the battles and eventually his turn came back around. He was called to the ring and promptly arrived. His opponent was standing across from him and looked to be considerably older than twelve years old Tora. The Dancing Tiger wasn't phased however and Re-quipped his dusk blade from the Hoshimura space time dimension.

The battle began and no one made a move. The older man was using chains, so Tora made sure to keep a good distance from him. Eventually the elder made a move and whipped his chains forward while rushing Tora.

Tora was ready for the elder and quickly flash stepped, leaving an after image behind him. He took the elders back and made a quick stabbing motion. Tora had won, his after image lingered for him to bow.

After his match Tora decided he would eat lunch. He had been given a wealth of sushi from his mother and chewed down. His favorite was tuna. Anything tuna and Tora was absolutely hooked. He scarfed his lunch down, hungry from his matches, and then made his way to the sparring grounds to watch more fights.

Tora was scheduled to fight around four in the afternoon, and it was still early. He watched a bunch of fights and studied the methods of which ninja attacked with. Tora was quite interested in the days happenings, and he didn't even notice when he bumped into a short girl. Tora knocked her soda pop out of her hand and it spilled on him.

"Oh man." Tora said and looked around. At first he didn't see anyone facing him but then he looked down. A short little pink haired girl was crying. She was wailing, her shiny white teeth exposed in the afternoon daylight. The little girl had giant tears streaming down her face, and a blouse full of Dr. Paprika. She was probably Tora's age but she was real short.

"I'm sorry! I can replace your drink!" Tora pleaded with the girl. As she cried people started staring at them. Tora was horribly embarrassed.

"O-oh kay." The girl said and reached her sticky hand out for Tora's. Tora blushed but he took he hand and headed toward the concession stand. He ordered the girl a large Dr. Paprika and she was slowly crying quieter. By the time he handed her the drink she was nearly silent. Once the straw was in her mouth the girl really got quiet. She was still holding Tora's hand though.

Tora tried to pull his hand back but the girl gripped it tightly. She had a goofy look in her eye and said, "What's yer name?" Tora introduced himself. "I'm Dia. It's nice to meet you." She let go of Tora's hand. There were white marks from her g.i. Joe Kung fu grip.

"I'm a genin. I lost my first match, I'm not real strong." Dia said. She put both hands on her cup.

Tora was kind of nervous. This girl put him on edge. "Well I'm still in the running. I hope you root for me!" Tora was hopeful he could win the tournament. He was smiling brightly at Dia, his confidence glowing around his eyes.

After talking with Dia for a bit Tora went off to watch some more fights. The next three were pretty quick and featured a taijutsu specialist, that genjutsu specialist and the Nara clansman. The genjutsu girl lost and Tora was surprised by that, other than that he didn't find the fights very significant. He was sure he could beat them with one hand tied behind his back.

The time came for Tora's fight and he entered the ring with his Kensaigen glowing. Tora was wielding the long scythe and ready for some carnage. He was going all out to win this match. His opponent was a seemingly unassuming ninja dressed in a lime green leotard. Tora had to maintain his composure at the utmost level so he didn't laugh. His opponents name was Tiki.

Tiki led the match with a brutal uppercut. Tora was lightning fast but the way Tiki moved was so unorthodox he couldn't dodge it. From their Tiki unloaded on the Hoshimura genin, sending a fkury of punches his way. Tora was quickly overwhelmed and pushed out of bounds.

He lost, but he didn't fall down. Tora was backing up with his hands defending him when he lost. Akami was cheering for him in the crowd, but it wasn't enough. Tora was defeated.

Once the referee cleared the match Tora was taken to a pop up tent to be examined for injuries. Thankfully he didn't have any and he was cleared to proceed watching the tournament. Tora left the tent and went to find Akami in the crowd.

Once Tora found his little friend in the large crowd of people they started talking about the match. Akami was totally impressed with Tora's resilience. She told him that the taijutsu specialist he fought was a chuunin, and she was expected to win the tournament. Tora didn't feel so bad losing to a future champ. Tora and Akami watched the last ten rounds of the tournament together.

Eventually when the crowd began to disperse Akami informed Tora that she had to skedaddle. Tora bid her farewell and wished her a safe journey. He hoped he would see her again, and decided he would stay after hours again. His mom would give him st least two hours, and he needed it after all the commotion today.

First Tora meditated and aligned his Chakra. He had spent the whole day flexing his power on and off so he needed a good stabilization. Once he felt clear of mind Tora activated his Kensaigen and practiced Re-quipping. He cycled through his favorite weapons and practiced shifting through his katas as he teleported blade and staffs in his hands. Pretty soon he could feel the drain and he decided to give it a rest for the night. It was nearly eight o clock and he had just enough time to make it home for dinner.

Tora dashed through the streets and made his wayhome in ten minutes. He lived close to the water gardens. Once Tora got in the door he kicked off his boots and rushed to the dining room table. His mom was sitting there alone waiting for him. He sensed an earful coming and he was right.

Tora's mom yelled at him for an hour before letting him eat. She went right to bed with her husband after chewing her son out, and Tora was left to eat his cold soup in peace.

WordCount: 5,283

Stat Allocation:
+50 Speed
+2 Chakra

Technique Training:
Kensaigen (1,500/1,500)
Clan Pureblood Speed (1,500/1,500)
Beloved Presence (1,500/1,500)
Sky Shredding Dragon (783/1,125)

Approved with Advanced Training Discount being used