Show and Tell

Anastasia woke up to the signs of a good day; the sun was shining, there were a few clouds in the sky to provide a little respite, and the temperature was relatively mild. The Akari Genin felt that today would be an excellent time to head to the Dojo Yard to pick up on some additional training. She was feeling rusty and her performance on her most recent mission left her wanting. There was definite room for improvement, and if she wanted to become a Chuunin, she would need to step her game up. She finished getting ready and left her family’s home.

It was late morning when she left, so the streets were rather busy. She made her way through slowly, threading between other residents until she made it to the outskirts of the training dojo. Definitely not as busy as civilians weren’t normally here for obvious reasons. She wasn’t working on anything secret so she just found an open area and got to work.

The first thing she would do is limber up. No proper workout or training session could be started before a warmup. She would stretch and do some basic calisthenics to get her body ready for the rigours of what she was about to do. She would then draw her weapons and start working on her combat forms, pretending to slash and block a pair of invisible opponents. She would start slowly before gradually increasing the speed of her attacks and movement until she was moving at her max speed. Eventually, with one fluid movement, she connected her shield and sword together to form Light’s Retribution, her massive greataxe and began an impressive weapon maneuver involving spinning the axe around her at multiple angles.

WC: 289

Amikiri walked into the training grounds, ready to start working for the day. Today was surprisingly warm, so he simply wore a dark green t-shirt, black jeans, and simple brown boots. He chose not to wear his armor, Kavacha, to the training grounds, as he didn’t expect to end up in any fights. However, he did wear Nise under his clothes, acting as a basic level of protection in case anything went awry. As per usual, his black hair was slightly tussled. After his work with Toneri, Amikiri had excelled in practicing the basics of Wind Release and Ninjutsu. Now, the dark haired Hyuuga was interested in the next pieces of his arsenal. He was trying to lay out all the basics, then build up his plan from there.

When he arrived at the training grounds, he saw a woman stretching and warming up. As he moved towards her, he could make out her appearance more clearly. She seemed to be at least a few more years older than the Hyuuga. As she stood up and Amikiri came near, it became visible to the dark haired man that she was a couple inches taller than himself. But most impressively, she wielded an absolutely massive greataxe, almost twice the length of Amikiri’s great spear. As he drew near, the Hyuuga made sure to stop more than a few meters away and said, “Wow, that’s quite the weapon you’ve got there, it must be quite heavy. How long have you been training with that thing?” When Amikiri referred to it as a “thing” he meant no offense, it was simply just his casual style of speaking.

WC: 274

Koda decided he was long needing to train, and today was the day for it. As he walked across town with Tso by his side, everyone was staring. Oh. Thats right! The people of Hoshigakure arent used to see a giant centipede, let alone one in town!

''See how they all look at you Tso? maybe we should do once a gathering in the plaza and show the centipedes of the clan, with you at the center of course! ahaha! would you like that ?'' Asked out loud Koda, smiling toward his chitinous companion.

''Aahah i would give up hard food for a week to see their faces when we coil around our enemies!'' replied telepathicaly Tso, clicking her mandibles in successsion to imitate laughing.

As he arrived to the Dojo Yard, a few other people were already there practicing: there was a blonde lady, all clad in shining armor fighting with a unwieldy but magnificient axe. Koda had never seen such a style of fighting, nor an armor like that. Where he came from, armor wasnt much around, except some protective clothing padded or infused with chakra. The other was talking with the practicing lady, seemingly intrigued too at her warrior stance and performance. Without seeming like a threat, Koda approached too, getting near enough to presence himself.

''Salutations fellow shinobi. This weapon is marvelous and quite unique! I have never seen a warrior like yourself before. But then again, I come from a faraway land ahaha! My name is Koda Omukade. This here is Tso, my lovely centipede. She is my closest friend. Were you two practicing together?'' Said Koda politely, asking with a smile.

Koda was unique both in his way of being, speaking and appearance. Not that tall, he wore a dark teal half kimono revealing always a bit of his arms and chest, and he was covered with explosive tags sticked to him as a type of 'ornament'. He had bandages around his wrists and neck as well as ankles, and his bright orange eyes with auburn hair made a good contrast on his outfit color.

Tso too was quite unique. A enormous centipede 6m in length, with dark brown chitin on the top covered by what appears to be a long and large snake skeleton as an outfit/armor, and a redish-orange exoskeleton underneath to house hundreds of legs and a large pair of mandibles, coupled with a couple metter long prong-like antennas.

Meanwhile, over in the Ryoinsatsu Residence at the Water Gardens...


Jurei wakes up extra, extra early in the morning, ready to seize yet another day at the Dojo Yard. The general gist of today's agenda is to teach her newly-acquired familiar, Ninjiro, a couple of Jutsu she currently has in her repertoire, or at the very least, get him accustomed to the type of lifestyle he'll expect when they're out on the field. That's one of the major reasons, and the other is that a freeloading familiar isn't going to sit well with her parents if he isn't following through on his end of the bargain.

She gets dressed and ready for the day, only taking a few minutes to do so before she's out of her room and down the stairs to meet her parents for breakfast. They're already seated at the table by the time she arrives, and she takes a seat across from them. The table is already set up with food, and she helps herself to a bowl of rice and some fish. Her parents are talking about something or another, but Jurei doesn't really pay attention to it; she just eats her food in silence until it's all gone, then she excuses herself and leaves.

Jurei heads back upstairs and into her room, where she finds Ninjiro still sleeping on top of her bed, curled up into a ball. She shakes him awake gently, telling him that it's time to get up and get ready for the day ahead of them. He groans and stretches before rolling off the bed and onto the floor with a thud. She helps him up and tells him to go get dressed while finalizing some last-minute preparations.

Once they're both ready, they head out of the house together towards the Dojo Yard. The trip there isn't long since they live close by, so it only takes about 10 minutes or so before they arrive at their destination. They walk inside and find that there are already quite a few people here practicing today with a few vacant spots plastered across the Dojo. Choosing one for herself, she spends the next couple of hours until the late morning training with Ninjiro to get a grasp of his skill level with shinobi arts. And whether one could judge the training session in and of itself as being fruitful is... debatable. She soon finds out that he's rather proficient with Genjutsu—to no one's surprise—but his willingness to demonstrate his capabilities is lacking.

It's not that he's unwilling to show off his prowess, but more like he's just lazy. He doesn't seem to be interested in putting any real effort into it and would rather focus on playing around instead of training. Jurei tries her best to get him to concentrate, but it's a difficult task when he keeps getting distracted by everything else going on around them. She eventually gives up and decides to take a break for now, hoping that maybe after some rest, he'll be more inclined to cooperate later on.

As more and more people pool into the establishment over time, the activity inside the dojo becomes more and more animated with cacophonies of clashing metal and grunting echoing throughout the building as shinobi spar against each other in earnest. Jurei watches from afar as she takes a break from her own training session, observing everyone else's progress, especially when one of them, clad in radiant armor with an even more radiant glow, shadow-spars with herself and later combines her weapon together to form large axe. Soon after, another joins equally amused by the display, and remarks on its brilliance. Thereafter, Jurei spots Koda Omukade's approach toward the two other shinobi from afar. She and Koda haven't had much luck in being able to train together for their shared disciplines, but there's an opportunity to rectify the loss before her. It's simply a matter of how to approach them.

An idea springs to mind as Jurei gestures for the Bake-danuki to come along as she strides toward the group. She greets them all warmly with a bow of respect and introduces herself properly.

"Hi there, pardon my abruptness, but I couldn't help but marvel at how you wielded the great axe earlier. Your form looked impeccable," She nods toward Koda with a knowing smile before she turns her attention back to the other two. "And I don't believe I've had the pleasure of meeting either of you before, I'm Ryoinsatsu Jurei, a pleasure to meet you. Would I also have the pleasure of training in your company today? My... buddy, over here," She gestures to the raccoon dog, who chews on his straw, sizing up the trio with a scrutinizing gaze. "And I could use some experience. You see, I recently graduated from the Academy not too long ago, so I was hoping to familiarize myself with my colleagues who come through here... If we may?"


WC: 827
TWC: 827

As Amikiri stood in the training grounds, he saw a couple others approaching. However, the Hyuuga realized he had something to attend to. Looking up at the sun in the sky to judge the time, Amikiri would apologetically say, "Well, sorry that I must be going already, but I have a family matter to attend to." The dark haired Hyuuga's brother was coming into town and he didn't want to lose out on any time with him.

WC: 77
TWC: 351

[Exit]

Training 12 bonus AP (1918 > 1930)

As the Akari Genin was finishing up her maneuvers, she noticed a few people walking over, none of whom she recognized. The first to do so was a man who was a little shorter than she was and a similar build. He had dark hair and eyes that gave him away as a member of the Hyuuga clan. He was wearing a dark green t-shirt, black jeans, and brown boots, with no visible armour or weapons to speak of. He commented on Light’s Retribution, that it looked like it required a fair amount of effort to use, and asked how long she’d been using it. Ana smiled slightly before responding. “Thank you, I’m quite proud of the concept to be honest. It does what it’s intended to, and that’s all one can ask of their weapons. It has some weight to it, but nothing that I cannot manage, and I’ve been using it long enough where I’ve learned how to compensate for its weight to not be a problem for me.”

Before she could ask anything further, the second person walked up and started talking. They were even younger, and shorter than the first one, with a thinner build than either of them, brown hair, and orange eyes. They wore a dark teal half kimono that left their arms bare. They also seemed to be wearing what looked like a not insignificant number of explosive tags, which in itself was a little concerning. They also weren’t alone; walking, or crawling, alongside them was a large centipede, six meters in length. The only reason Anastasia hadn’t already attacked it was because it had been with the newcomer from the moment they had entered the Dojo Yard and had not done anything aggressive. The shinobi opened his mouth and also commented on Light’s Retribution, how they’d never seen anything like it and stating that their names were Koda and Tso respectively and that they weren’t from around here. They had also inquired if the two were training together. “Nice to meet you both. We were not practicing together, no. I was working on some weapon drills for myself and he only just recently walked over. Were you looking for a training partner?”

While he was responding to Anastasia’s question, the final pair walked over a woman and a racoon dog. The woman was the tallest of them all, but with a similar build to her and the first person that joined them. She had dark skin, blonde hair, and golden eyes. She was wearing a burgundy dress, a white sweater and white boots. Once she was within speaking distance she greeted them, also commenting on Anastasia’s bladework, eliciting a nod of acknowledgement from the Akari Genin. She introduced herself as Jurei and that her and her companion were also seeking comrades with which to train with. Anastasia would smile at her, “of course. What was it that you were looking to try and learn. I will attempt to assist if I have something I can teach.”

Right after she said that, the original shinobi that walked over realised that they had another engagement and had to leave, so leave they did. Anastasia shrugged and waited for the remaining shinobi to state what it was they were looking to train before she would proceed.

WC: 551
TWC: 840

''Well me and Tso are looking to practice a few things. I would love to learn as much fuinjutsu as possible, and also would like to learn to wield weapons more efficiently. Once i learn that of course i'd be intersted in a few techniques using weapons, but the basics first i think are important. Right Tso ? For my big mean looking friend, if any of you know some medical jutsu, Tso would gladly learn to use them.'' Answered Koda. As he saw the look on the eyes of the young blonde lady while she analyzed his outfit, he added ''Oh also, there is no need to be afraid of my attire. My ancestors used to wear explosives tags onto them to denote their prowess with the explosives, but it is far too dangerous to do so. Those are mearly replicas. I'm not keen on sending myself and those surrounding me to an early grave. Altough I do fight with explosives, i do it with much more care than one could think. And Tso here is a gentle beast, nothing to fear from here too.'' Added Koda, his voice soft and calm, trying to reassure the others. 

As Jurei arrived suprisingly, Koda waved to her, seeing how it has been a long time they seen each others. ''Hey Jurei! I dont remember if you met, here is Tso! I hope you have been well my dear friend. Came here to practice too?'' asked Koda, intrigued with the new pet she had by her side

''Tssssss I missed this girl! But what in all the chakra filled lands is THAT creature by her side? Koda can it please be a snack ? Looks quite tasty to be perfectly honnest.'' said telepathically Tso to koda, appearing to do mandibles clicks to others.

''No Tso, this is clearly Jurei-San pet, it has a hat! Of course its not a snack... whatever it is! We'll go hunt you a goat tonight okay?'' replied in his mind Koda toward his multi legged friend.

'Soooo... By what do we begin?'' Said Koda to break the silence and start the training.

Koda expressed wanting to learn Weaponry and fuinjutsu techniques, and his friend Tso was hoping to learn medical techniques. “I’m afraid I don’t have much in the way of fuinjutsu or medical at the moment,” she said to the pair. “I do have an extremely useful weaponry tech that I imagine would come in handy for you, though.” Before she showed them, the Akari Genin activated her golden eyes to get a better idea of what elemental releases they could use. It would appear that Jurei and Koda both could use Earth release and that was it. “Unfortunately while I share your earth release as another chakra I can call upon, I haven’t developed that to the point of using it in jutsu. If either of you are interested in learning about fire or lightning release I can demonstrate how to efficiently call upon those types of chakra, assuming that you of course have them as chakra natures.” She deconstructs Light’s judgement and places her shield on her back. After that, she calls up lightning release chakra and coats her sword with it. “I personally believe that the base source of where lightning chakra comes from is your brain, since the brain sends electrical signals out to control your movements, so it makes sense that’s where Lightning Chakra would come from too.” She would cut the flow of chakra and then start infusing fire release instead. “Fire on the other hand, I believe comes from your heart, so that’s where I draw my fire release from.” After the brief demonstration, she re-sheathes her sword. “I’m afraid I’ll have to cut the lesson short, I have something else I must attend to that I’d forgotten about. Perhaps we’ll pick this up some other time.”

With a polite bow, Anastasia would leave the Dojo Yard.

[EXIT]

WC: 303
TWC: 1143

750 WC towards Flying Swallow (750/750, 25% Max Stat Discount)
393 WC towards Cloak of Concentration (S-Rank 774/1250, 75% ATF Discount, Slotless) Proof here

Anastasia Akari wrote:

[EXIT]

WC: 303
TWC: 1143

750 WC towards Flying Swallow (750/750, 25% Max Stat Discount)
393 WC towards Cloak of Concentration (S-Rank 774/1250, 75% ATF Discount, Slotless) Proof here

Approved