Training Under the Moon

The moon seemed massive as though it would never be less than full, the moonlight shining down on the almost silver grass and various fauna. A sparkling from various crystals scattered around the open moody meadow, the sounds of the nearby stream creating a tranquil atmosphere. Sitting upon a flat stone merely a meter from the waters edge was a brown haired young man, his eyes closed as he sat in silence with his legs crossed and forearms resting on his thighs. A small wisp of smoke rising into the night sky from the cigarette in his lips, it began to glow bright red as he inhaled and then allowed the smoke to slowly roll from his nostrils. With eyes still closed, Takashi clasped his hands together in front of his chest. His fingers interlocked as though woven together, his palms pressed flat to one another in the seal of the Snake as chakra began to swirl around his body like a vortex being drawn into a focal point. It began to build larger and large, the chakra collecting between his lungs in his chest. His hands released each other as he curled his right ring and pinky fingers like half a fist, extending his right index and middle finger towards the sky. Mirroring this form with his left hand only laying his ring and pinky fingers atop their right hand counterparts, the seal of the Ram formed as the chakra ball inside split into two each engulfing his lungs in as much chakra as he could muster. The chakra began to form invisible flames raging inside his lungs as his hands began forming the next seal by spinning his palms. His hands completely flat and palm to palm with his fingertips facing the opposing wrist, his final seal being that of the Monkey as Takashi pulled in as much air as he could causing his chest to nearly double in size. Fusing the air inside his lungs to the chakra he had used to create his fire filled lungs, his eyes opened rather suddenly as he exhaled with great force creating a roughly 10cm stream of fire. The flame burned hot as it pushed forward separating from the initial stream from his lips, the stream combined to form a fiery sphere roughly 5 meters in diameter and burst after reaching a mere 8 meters from himself. Takashi let out a sigh as he took a drag from his cigarette that he managed to hang on to in the process, he remained seated as he began thinking over the steps needed to perform the jutsu he attempted.

(437 WC)

Oda looked up at the moon from his training spot, he had been here for a little while simply meditating. Fire release was all about passion and frenetic energy, he felt himself pull from his anger when he used Fire jutsu. However, Lava release was different, it required a deeper and more fundamental passion in the same way lava formed the deep and fundamental aspects of the land. It was a slow and arduous process, and Oda could feel his body heating up at the practice of it. He imagined deep and ancient feelings, imagined his chakra as it connected to that primordial energy, but more than that he imagined his chakra as a flowing river of lava, burning but controlled. He felt as if his very veins coursed with liquid stone.

   His thoughts were interrupted by the familiar glow of fire a few training stations away, and his curiosity got the better of him. He rounded the bend to the clearing and stopped. To his surprise it was Takashi, the man he had met previously at the gate. He leaned against a tree and observed him practicing the jutsu. Oda was thoroughly impressed by the man's breath control, and made sure to take mental notes. This was a technique he too was trying to learn.

  As Takashi finished the seals and exhaled the final fireball Oda looked on in amazement at the size he had reached already with the technique, he resolved himself to improve as well and could feel a friendly rivalry forming. As Takashi sat down and began smoking, Oda spoke up with a  jovial tone.  

"Alright alright alright bossman, well done." He gave a sincere clap and a thumbs up "You're gonna master that technique in no time! Mind if I join ya?" He asked with a grin on his face.

Oda would not wait for an answer and somewhat boisterously hop over the small divider fence that separated the training areas.

“Y’know the trick I've found with fire jutsus is it's less about the technique and more about the passion!” He said with enthusiasm, putting emphasis on the word passion. Before sheepishly scratching his head and giving an apologetic look “At least, for me it is.”

He continued on albeit with less frenetic energy.
“For instance, what sort of mental headspace do you try to get into when doing Fire release? It's all in the mind bossman!” He said pointing to his temple.

WC: 408

As the thoughts on each aspect of the jutsu cycled through Takashi's mind a voice came from the shadows over his left shoulder, a familiar voice to Takashi as he immediately registered it was Oda Terumi the guard who allowed him into the village. Oda's optimism was as high as ever he noted as he listened to him speak as he made his way over, the proposition of them training together came forward from his clansman though no time was given for a response. Takashi listened as Oda carried on about passion being the key to Fire Release, it seemed whenever he spoke he tied passion into his monologues but to some extent this could be true for some. Then he was posed a question, 'what sort of mental headspace do you try to get into when doing Fire release?' to which he responded calmly without moving from his seated position, closing his eyes again as the smoke from his cigarette continued to wisp into the night air. "My headspace? Simple, I clear my mind. Envisioning a black void of nothingness, in the center a small flame no bigger than what a lighter creates. I then see this flame grow to a raging fire that illuminates this darkness and roars an uncontrollable devastation." Takashi's eyes opened again, evident that he had just envisioned such a sight. He then stood from his stone seat, turning to his left and coming around to facing Oda continuing to speak "For me the hang up is maintaining the roaring flame, to bend a fire to my will. It's controlling the handseals to mold my chakra and buff that heat to a furnace I can wield." He signed as he reformed his chakra as before,  first it was snake, followed by ram, and finally monkey. He inhaled deeply, his chest growing as it had before, the feeling of burning embers in his lungs as he turned back to the right, ensuring not to release this flame towards Oda. Takashi exhaled with great force as a stream of flames poured forth, the farther it reached from his body it became more and more of a cone shape. At this rate it was still only 8 meters in diameter at its maximum and burning out rather quickly, leaving Takashi standing there and a few little flames burning themselves out on the ground.

Takashi turned back to Oda, "See I seem to only fail to maintain, perhaps it is a lack of 'passion' but I'm not sure my chakra is as emotion connected as yours." Takashi took the final drag from his cigarette before removing the butt from his mouth and crushing it, remembering Oda picking his up the other night he simply tucked it into one of his pockets without saying a word. "Care to give it a go?" Takashi gestured to the open darkness next to them. He would wait to see what Oda could do, he wanted to see this 'passion' in action since it seemed to matter so much to him.

(507 WC)

Oda was slightly taken aback by Takashis answer- at least the first part of it- and he did a poor job of hiding it. He listened intently to Takashi describe his process more and sat upright as the brown haired ninja moved to try the technique again. He was thoroughly impressed with the precise nature of his hand movements, and watched them intently as he formed the seals and performed the jutsu.

Oda watched as the flames exhaled from Takashis lungs and filled the air with heat, Noting the impeccable form of the fire as it launched from Takashis position before fizzling out. He grinned and stood as Takashi walked back from his spot.

Oda listened as his training partner described his issues with the technique and nodded along. He nodded again as Takashi asked him if he would like to give it a go and as he walked out to the center of the training ground he mused to Takashi.

“Hmm, is it not true that when we build a campfire we have to keep putting logs on?” He circled around the training grounds a bit as he said “You built a great campfire, but you’re not throwin more logs on” He gave a smile and it went away quickly “that’s just my observation, far be it from me to critique. I get the sense in my meditations that fire is something that burns through its fuel source quickly, whether that be the wood on a campfire or the chakra in our bodies, or the passion that fuels us. We need to feed her.” He gave a mischievous grin "And we do not wanna piss her off"

Oda returned to the center of the clearing and closed his eyes, continuing to talk as he focused. “For me, I see a raging tornado, made of impossibly hot flames.” He did one hand sign, albeit clumsily and with not very good form. “And I imagine that tornado as condensing down to a pindrop.” He gave a deep breath and formed the second hand sign in a passable manner. He paused “And then, it explodes” Oda said in a strained voice as his lungs were filled to the brim with air, air that began to feel hot. He formed the final hand sign, rushing the form and fumbling for a second before exhaling.

The stream of fire that came out was wild and nearly uncontrollable, flames licked outwards from the side of Oda's mouth as the heat dissapated wastefully to the sides, and the stream was more like a cone, he furrowed his brow, imagining the raging explosions of a volcano, and exhaled more with renewed energy. The cone formed into an even larger fireball 13 meters in size and undulating wildly as if off balance before shooting outwards and reaching its max range. The scorch mark seen on the leaves as it veered to the left before impact.

“Whew!” He said enthusiastically “That was the best one yet for me!”

Oda walked back to the sitting area and looked at Takashi “We seem to be different sides of the same coin here bossman” and gave an awkward laugh.

WC: 529

Oda gave his speech, explaining his understanding of fire release. He watched as his training partner fumbled through the hand seals, he understood what Oda meant by fueling the fire as he performed the wild flames. It seemed uncontrolled yet still a hot and large flame, Takashi took note of his ability to create a roaring flame much larger than his own. "I think I am understanding, let me give it another go. Watch my handseals, I'll slow them down and you can see the contact and form." Takashi turned facing away from Oda once more, signing much slower this time around; Snake followed by Ram and ending with Monkey. He pulled in a massive deep breathe then released the jutsu once more, as the flame spewed forward in its nice controlled roaring cone of incinerating fire. This time his cone burned hotter, larger and with great control. His notes on how Oda performed it allowed him to better understand how this fire should be fueled for best performance, the cone had reached the correct and full potential of 20 meters. Unknown to Oda, between spewing the first little flame and reaching its current magnificent cone Takashi had a moment in his head.

'A dark void, a single flickering flame illuminates as it burns hotter and hotter. The flame grows roaring on and on, it begins to reach the point of losing control that had stopped him before. This loss of control is what makes me stop, no This time I won't let it rage out of control. The roaring image of flames turned to the raging tornado as Oda had said. This is how I control the flame, I'll spin it so fast it can't go anywhere but where I push it.'

It was this decision that caused, if noticed, his flaming cone he was currently roaring into the night was itself swirling. Takashi would slowly let his flaming cone die down, until a small stream of flame was left escaping his lips and eventually it would all dissipate . "I think I got the hang of it this time. Wanna give it another go?" Takashi would again gesture to the open field blanketed in the night. Looking in the direction he gestured one could see the scorched earth and devastating power of the 'Great Fireball Technique' that had just been cast.

If Oda took another shot at this jutsu then Takashi would watch every detail of his performance, he would see if the handseals were solid and correct as well as watch to see if Oda could gain control over his raging fire. During this moment of watch, Takashi would light another cigarette in his lips. If Oda was successful Takashi would ask simply "Care to see whose flame is stronger?", if Oda was unsuccessful then Takashi would simply ask what was going through Oda's mind this time when creating the fiery blaze wondering if there was anything he could say to help understand how to get there in the end.

(502 WC)

(OOC: Have the required WC at this point for Great Fireball Technique | C-Rank so just rolling with being able to be performed)

| 150 AP Pool - 20 AP = 130 AP Remains |

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As Oda watched Takashi perform the jutsu the only thing that kept him from jumping up and cheering was his intense focus on Takashi’s hand seal form. He paid attention to the placement of the fingertips, the body positioning and the fluidity with which he did the seals. Oda had a mini-eureka moment as he watched Takashi flawlessly perform the hand signs. As much as fire was about consuming and spreading and exploding, perhaps Takashi was onto something with his concept of the void, perhaps a fire needed space to breathe first.  

He gave an excited cheer for his training partner as he finished the jutsu and stood up “That is what im talking about. Nice job!” Oda gave a jovial laugh and responded “Hell yeah! I think I’m finally catching on too.”


He took his position at the center of the clearing and breathed in calmly, his shoulders relaxing. Previously, Oda was always rushing the hand seals, always too impatient to let the fire roar to life that he never gave it the proper space to be defined. He calmly exhaled and focused his mind on the Void that Takashi had mentioned. He emptied his mind of all distractions, envisioning a pin drop of flame. As he did so he calmly inhaled, doing the first hand sign. The pindrop grew bigger and Oda felt a searing heat in his lungs. He breathed in again, his lungs filled to capacity, and calmly did the second hand sign, not as exact as Takashi but much more fluid. As he formed the third and final seal his fingers slid into position with a relaxed fluidity and his form was less sloppy than before. He exhaled with an enormous hot breath, forming a thin 10 cm line, it pulsed and strained against its dimensions briefly before Oda calmly allowed more energy to form.

Now that it was stable, it grew to its full size of 20 meters and shot out at blazing speed. Oda made sure to aim up, and he punched the air in excitement as it dissipated.

“Whooo!!! Lets goooo!!” He exclaimed, still looking up at where the fireball was.

He looked at Takashi as he asked his question, a sly grin spreading across his face. “You’re on bossman”.

WC: 670

Takashi watched as Oda grew far more excited about this training session, even watching as Oda managed to perform a perfected version of the jutsu just as he had. Then his suggestion, his challenge was accepted which brought a smirk to his face as he walked away placing 30 meters between them. "This is far enough for the flames to interact and not engulf each other, So let's see how they respond when my flames crash into yours at full force." Takashi would sign Snake, Ram and Monkey, being fair he would time  his seals with Oda. Inhaling a deep breath and then releasing the fiery 20 meter cone of roaring flames, hopefully as his flames reached their maximum potential that Oda's would do it as well and collide in an aggressive wall of brilliant flames.

Assuming their flames crashed into each other the raging fire would grow upward from the force of both flaming cones, the heat intensity would grow so strong Takashi could feel heat waves coming back to him from the spiraling tornado of flames despite currently pushing his own flames away from him. It wouldn't take much time before the flames would decrease as Takashi began to release the jutsu, with any luck Oda would also feel the heat begin to dissipate and begin releasing the jutsu as well. When the jutsu clash came to an end, the result would most likely be a 50/50 split as they learned together, Takashi would crack a smile speaking with a little bit more cheer in his rather calm and simple tone. "Well that was quite an intense heat, I've learned a lot in this encounter. I'll catch you again Oda." Takashi would turn around, walking off into the darkness, leaving the training grounds and heading back to town for a nice warm bottle of sake.

[Exit]
(308 WC)
(1,754 TWC)
(2,631 TWC x 1.5 Bonus Rate)

Oda excitedly took his spot across from Takashi and enacted the hand signs, their practice had paid off, and he could already feel the fluidity of his motions,as his body filled with air and superheated in his lungs.

He responded to Takashi’s fireball, holding the flame with persistent energy, he could feel his own chakra pushing on the boundaries he created, wanting to escape and expel outwards with unbiased damage. But, he focused more, bringing his mind to think of a flame in a void or a raging tornado of fire. He used his visualization to tune and control the flame as it spewed out, increasing or decreasing when needed. He had begun to feel even more control over this jutsu, and he relished in the power of it with zeal.

As the two fireballs collided and strained against each other Oda took note of their forms, Takashis was much more controlled and efficient. The flames acted together with one purpose, the fireball spun from left to right with ferocity as it fought against Oda's more frenetic, and exuberant Fireball, it in turn spinning from left to right. The two techniques clashed against eachother until merging and expelling outwards in a beautiful shower of flames. As the flame dissipated Takashi would see Oda's face, grinning from ear to ear with adrenaline.

“What a show!” Oda said in response to Takashi’s statement, his breath still catching as he fought to fill his lungs back up. “Yeah for sure man! Anytime, I’ll see you around bossman”

He waved to Takashi as he left, waving at him as he walked away.

Oda took a quick breather before using the clarity that comes from training to think about his life. He had left home when he was only 17. And in only one year, he was a village shinobi, and had made a friend from the Terumi clan. He hadn’t seen a Terumi in 10 years easily! He laughed out loud to himself, feeling a renewed energy.

“You’re my friend Takashi, but who says friends can't be competition too?” He said out loud to no one in particular. He hopped up from his seated position with new vigor, and proceeded to practice the technique until the birds were singing their morning songs. His hands ached from the repeated movements and his lungs felt like they were being cooked from the inside. But, he kept on. “To be a Terumi is to persevere” He said out loud to himself as he fought through the fatigue in order to practice more.

WC: 426
[EXIT]

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Claims:

Oda Terumi wrote:

WC: 426
[EXIT]

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Claims:

Approved

Updated post for x1.5 Bonus Rate