A Growing Flame, Training at Shinoda Springs

Oda leaned against a tree and looked up. Watching as the light of the moon bounced and reflected through its branches, shining off the silvery leaves and refracting once they reached the crystals below. Oda loved the Shinoda Springs, and as he stood amongst the training grounds and leaned against the tree, he was calm and still, a rarity. Unusually, Oda was not in his usual attire today. Instead he was dressed in a light forest green kimono, with a white undershirt. The kimono was trimmed with gold at the edges of his sleeves, pant legs, and collar. A little gift from himself to himself, for a job well done with the spirits. Oda wasn’t used to having much money, his parents were painfully frugal. So it was hard for him to buy it, but he liked it nonetheless. The kimono flowed effortlessly and Oda appreciated the freedom of movement.

He thought about all he would train today, his search at Bal’s Library for more Lava style techniques was fruitless, but that didn’t dissuade him. He had other things to focus on right now anyways, for instance he was going to be teaching someone else for the first time.

Oda was excited at the prospect when Takashi had asked him to teach him a jutsu he knew. But, as the time grew near he worried he wasn’t going to be a good teacher. He shook his head and scratched his scalp nervously as if shaking off the thought itself and distracted himself with the appropriate hand signs for the Jutsu that his fellow Terumi friend wanted to learn.

---

WC:268

The moonlight illuminated the forest grove, creating a shining silver refraction that seemingly bounced through the forest. The slight breeze swished through the forest canopy, rustling tree branches making noise that drowned out the sounds of the lone shinobi's sandals as they clattered against the hardened floor of the grove. Takashi's recent change in wardrobe matched the grey scale of the forest with his black hakama, accented with his white undershirt; the only vibrant part of him was the light teal flowered kimono draped over his shoulders. He tipped back his straw hat as he looked over at Oda, who himself seemed to be in deep thought as he leaned against a large oak. A small grin crawled across Takashi's face as he spoke, allowing his voice to carry over the quiet night "Oda, I appreciate you coming." He would stop walking after placing roughly 5 meters between them. Allowing a moment for Oda to acknowledge the start of their encounter before continuing to speak, "I've heard tell in town, you've been busy training. I'm curious what you have learnt since last we spoke, care to show me what you've learned?" Takashi would shuffle his shoulders and allow the vibrant kimono to fall to the ground behind him, raising his right hand to his sandagosa, grasping it between his thumb and index finger, tossing it on top of his recently disrobed kimono.

Takashi couldn't help but reminisce on training with Oda in the past, they had learned to control the great flames that live within them. He couldn't help but smile as he reached inside his hakama pulling out a thin tobacco pipe roughly 21cm long with a slight cauldron style bowl, taking a small pouch of tobacco and filling the bowl. He placed the pipe to his lips with his right hand while using his left to light it, he took a puff and awaited a response from Oda.

(320 WC)

Oda jumped at the voice of his friend Takashi, he had been deep in thought while doing the hand signs slowly, writing them down on a small notebook. He was determined to be a good teacher, and he had spent the last chunk of time detailing everything he could think of about the jutsu he was going to teach today.

“AYY” He said with enthusiasm only to pause and look Takashi up and down.
“I’m liking the new Diggs bossman.” He said, grinning from ear to ear.

Oda would talk quickly and excitedly at Takashi’s next question, he ignored the compliment- he was terrible at accepting those. “Alright, so, you are gonna love this one. Check it out”

Oda went to the center of the training circle about 25m away from Takashi before clapping his hands together. “And now, for the Fire Dragon Bullet!” He said with enthusiasm as he began to do the jutsu.

With an inhale he initiated the Ram sign, the feeling of fire racing through his veins. He exhaled a small amount of air out of his nose before breathing in again and doing the Horse sign, Then, with his lungs full of air he completed the hand signs, making sure to do them fluidly but slowly enough to observe. He signed the motions of Snake,Dragon,and Rat in slow, deliberate succession. the fire twirling from his mouth and forming a dragon as he exhaled. The dragon curled around him like an infernal whirlpool ,or a spring that coiled around Oda, shifting and moving slightly as Oda moved his hands like a puppet

He gave an excited “Whoo!” and a jump after the completion of the jutsu, Oda loved fire jutsu and he always felt like he had drank a doubleshot espresso after using one.

“And the really cool part of this is the control, look-” He began moving his arms, as if guiding the great beast, it began to snake around the training circle before Oda directed it up and into the sky, where it dissipated. He had deliberately not described his mental approach to creating the dragon… He was curious to see how Takashi did on his own on that front. Perhaps Oda could even learn a thing or two from Takashi on the matter, much like their last training session.

As Oda stood to the side he smiled and motioned Takashi to take center stage. “For now, I just want to see how you do with the physical aspect of the jutsu, try making one of your own and we can talk about any adjustments and the mental aspect afterwards.” He paused and slowly did the hand signs.  “Ram into Horse into Snake,Dragon, and Rat.” He gave an encouraging grin and a thumbs up. And, if Takashi were to take center stage, he would move to crouch on the balls of his feet on the edge of the training circle, making sure to keep an eye on Takashis hand signs, his usual friendly demeanor changing to a focused one, Oda was different when he taught.

---

WC: 513
TWC: 781
1183AP-40AP(Fire Dragon Bullet)= 1143AP

Takashi watched as Oda seemingly became startled from the sound of his voice as it carried through the grove, soon after Oda was consumed with his normal happy and enthusiastic personality. He noted the small notebook that Oda had been scribbling in, Takashi wondered if it had anything to do with training today or if Oda was in fact working on some other project. However, he simply ignored the notepad and carried on with the introductions from one another. He watched as Oda seemed  to take a moment to look at the new look Takashi was sporting, even complimenting the 'new diggs' as he called them, this would simply cause a smirk to grow on Takashi's face.

Takashi puffed on his pipe as Oda dove into the training, making his way to the center of the training grounds and announcing the jutsu he wished to teach to Takashi. 'Fire Dragon Bullet' the name sounded familiar, it was an instant in reality but in Takashi's mind it was as though a movie took over and he remembered his father.

The memory was being a young lad of about 14 working the rice fields side by side with his father, when the riders stormed their home pillaging from their winter supplies. His father rushed forward being met with the leader of the riders who looked like a rogue shinobi. It was incredible to watch as his father matched the hand seals with his own. The would-be thief released a massive water dragon that rushed at his father with destructive force, his father released a raging fire dragon. The steam and sheer force from the dragons of chakra raging a war as the two warriors controlled these tamed beasts, the memory faded as Takashi remembered standing in awe at his father. Takashi could see even with this much control the excitement of using this jutsu on Oda's face looked like a kid when they learn their first jutsu, Takashi couldn't help but smile at this display of Oda's talent.

As Takashi's focus came back into play he watched Oda weave each seal, noting each breath, every twitch that could be read from his entire body. After a moment he signed the final seal and released the great fire, Takashi watched once again in awe as the great flaming dragon took form with a raging swirl before becoming a tamed beast that curled around Oda showing his great control of this jutsu. Oda commented on how 'cool' the control for this jutsu was and then demonstrated by making the dragon swirl around the training grounds a little trail of fire chasing the dragon as it made its lap or two then shot into the sky dissipating. Oda then offered center stage to Takashi, stating it was his turn to give it a shot at performing this jutsu. Takashi took the pipe from his lips and placed it on a rock by the gear he had shed earlier, it was barely smoldering as he walked towards the motioned area.

They seemingly traded places with one another as Takashi took the position in the center of the grove, he calmed himself getting relaxed as he stood comfortable signing the first seal at chest level. With the seal of the Ram, Takashi inhaled causing his lungs to expand pushing out his chest. Then he quickly formed the next seal, the seal of the Horse causing the air in his lungs to fuse with chakra and become hotter and hotter as though he would ignite from the inside. Next came the seal of the Snake, the air turned to swirling fires of chakra creating tornadoes inside his lungs as he felt more and more pressure build inside himself. The Dragon seal was formed as the flames seemed to climb up his throat and immediately after came the final seal that of the Rat as he bellowed forward releasing a swirling flame, the face of a dragon barely recognizable as it crashed into the tree line in front of him. Takashi sighed as he watched the smoldering bark on the tree that took the brunt of his failed attempt.

"Fascinating, the control of such a flame. I see it requires far more training than the last to truly tame the beastly fire." Takashi was still in awe despite his attempt being a failure, he looked over at Oda for what he might have to say.

(736 WC)

Oda nodded as he watched Takashi form the appropriate hand signs, his breathing technique was different but not wrong necessarily. He watched as the jutsu seemed to flounder briefly in a barely recognizable form before dispelling. He remained crouched, thinking, letting the silence sit as he mumbled to himself in thought. “Hmmm” Oda said, pondering his thought process on controlling the dragon. Then his eyes lit up in a eureka moment as he thought back to Takashis use of the jutsu. He believed he had a solution, or at least the first step to a solution.

“Ok! So first things first, very good hand sign technique as always and your breathing is not the problem.” He paced a little back and forth in excited energy, rushing to get to his idea. “There's two things I think can be adjusted” He held up two fingers to emphasize his point. ”When you are forming the jutsu within your body, it’s important to use one's imagination. “ He rubbed his belly in a circular motion,symbolizing a dragon swirling around in his stomach “I like to imagine I am first creating the dragon within, then allowing it out rather than trying to shape the flame once it's left.” He motioned to his own hands briefly before continuing.

“Secondly, when it comes to maintaining a good connection with the dragon once it's been created, it's important to maintain a mind-body connection with the jutsu.” He motioned his hands around in a fluid motion as if directing the strings on a puppet. “I like to imagine there are invisible lines from my fingers to the head of the construct, but it doesn’t have to be that. The key point is to think about control, control of the form and of the construct.” He gave a reassuring smile “As always, don’t stress, we can attempt this more than a few times. Focus on one aspect at a time and then blend them when you have mastered them individually.”

He motioned once more for Takashi to take center stage.  “For this next use, I will create a dragon, to help give a visual aid. Focus all of your energy on imagining shaping the flames within your body before letting it out.”

If Takashi agreed, Oda would move to the side and form his own Dragon with the Fire Dragon Bullet technique. Letting it flow and sit above him while Takashi cast his own.

---

WC: 405
TWC:1186

1143-40=1103AP

Takashi watched as Oda seemed to flip through the library of a mind he had created, it was easy to read that he was thinking a comparison to his own method of the jutsu and what he had witnessed from Takashi. He watched as it seemed a light went off in his comrades head, a idea or at least a way to fix the broken jutsu Takashi had performed. That's when Oda seemed to pace back and forth as he explained what he took note off during the attempt, he continued to explain using visualization as they had used the last time they had trained together. Takashi took a moment to reflect on how little he actually thought about the jutsu he was performing, he listened as Oda explained what he used as imagery when thinking on the jutsu.

Takashi continued to listen as Oda carried on further explaining the second idea he had towards improving Takashi's performance, going as far to explain the dragon like a puppet on strings easily directed given the right notions of the user. Ending his statement with the recommendation to remain relaxed and not to stress and lose focus on the efforts made to control the jutsu. Takashi nodded at Oda, speaking briefly "I believe I understand, but yes I wouldn't mind seeing the jutsu again if you are up to performing it again." Takashi would watch Oda approach and take his place just a little away from himself, signing the seals and allowing a dragon to burst out and take its place like a guardian hanging over his head.

Takashi took a stance himself making sure to stay rather comfortably as he looked up to the dragon above, slowly closing his eyes feeling the radiant heat from this fiery serpent and clearing his own mind.

Inside his mind was a massive black void, standing in this void was a mental representation of himself standing identical to himself now. The void was then consumed in fire that raged and tore through this open empty world within his mind. He could feel the raging heat though he never burned as it grew more and more ferocious, this mental representation never budged as he allowed the fire to begin swirling and eventually created a massive dragon whipping around him with grace and power.

Back in reality Takashi, still keeping his eyes closed as he formed his first seal of the Ram. His hands clasped together with both index and middle fingers pointed to the air, the seal held firmly in front of his sternum as Takashi exhaled slowly. The body relaxing was extremely noticeable with the relief from his shoulders lowering, he released the Ram seal then shifted his hands into the seal of the Horse with his index fingers forming a triangle. Then as quick as the Horse seal was made it was converted over the seal of the Snake, his hands now interlaced and clasped together firmly still remaining in front of his sternum. Despite his movements in the real world, Takashi remained inside his own mind as he continued to observe the great ferocity of the flaming beast he saw inside his void.

Here in his mind, Takashi then inhaled along with himself back to reality. However, here in his voided mind, as he inhaled the giant dragon who was being pulled deep down inside his lungs. It looked like slurping down a noodle with the end being the dragon's head facing away from Takashi and eventually disappearing inside of him, Takashi's chest was expanded as it became a cage for the beast that once thrashed through his mind.

Takashi's eyes opened, his chest was swollen out and he was still holding the Snake seal and he would swear to anyone he truly had a dragon of fire caged inside his chest. The feeling of it raging around in his lungs like a snake swirling around inside a woven basket, feeling its body pushing against the walls of his lungs as it awaited for his release. Takashi's eyes narrowed as he rearranged his Snake seal over to a Dragon seal, his fingers still interlocked and his pinky's extended down pointing towards the ground. He could hear inside his mind the roar of the dragon as it seemed to submit for the time being, Takashi could tell the time to release it was nearing but he wasn't sure if this time he'd have control as fluidly as Oda had displayed. With this notion, Takashi's hands transitioned from the Dragon seal to the seal of the Rat. He leaned back, poking out his swollen chest then quickly pushing forward basically leaning forward, to help project the flames from within. The roaring Dragon's head burst from his mouth the long body of the dragon whipping in the air as it thrashed about, though the farther is slithered through the sky it seemed to dissipate and become nothing. Takashi realized he could not yet puppeteer this beast as he turned looking to Oda, his dragon still seeming to hang out above his head with great control.

Takashi said, "Almost that time, I just didn't get the control right so I let the flames disperse as it went up." He grinned at Oda and continued to speak, "That being said, I made a pretty good dragon that time. So Handseals and the forming of the dragon worked great. Just need to get a hang on directing the beast." Takashi would watch Oda and see if he spoke about control or if he perhaps showed him some notion of his method of controlling the dragon jutsu. While paying attention to Oda made his way over to his equipment, lifting his pipe and relighting it as he took a puff and blew a smoke ring. "I haven't said it yet, I appreciate your assistance in all this Oda." Takashi would only say this during the most appropriate moment.

(988 WC)

Oda gave a series of enthusiastic claps as Takashis dragon formed with clarity and shot up into the sky. He stood up and paced for a bit, continuing to think, as he did he listened to Takashi's assessment, nodding in agreement. “Agreed, you've shown you know how to form the beast now you just need to tame it”. He began to pace again, and think about his own control. He liked to imagine puppet strings, but maybe Takashi required something different? He clapped his hands again, breaking himself out of his deep thought.

“Ok, so I like to imagine puppet strings, but that's because when I was a kid-” He paused, very briefly bringing up old memories of him using puppets to advertise his parents vegetable cart. “Well, the story isn’t important, what's important is I had previous experience with puppets and puppet strings.” He followed Takashi as he went to smoke on his pipe. “The key isn’t necessarily control of a dangerous dragon, it’s about tying yourself to it with something familiar. Something that binds the construct to you and helps you make that mind to body to jutsu connection…Does that make sense?” He cocked his head, brief uncertainty at his own teaching.

“You don’t have to tell me what it is necessarily, but it should be a memorable thing, I find muscle memory plays an understated role in much of this.”He would pause as he watched Takashi deftly blow a smoke ring, pointing at it. "For instance you seem pretty handy with smoke tricks, maybe all it takes is for you to imagine the construct as one big smoke trick? Doesn't have to be that, but definitely something with muscle memory involved." After Takashi was done with his smoke break he would move to the side again, grinning as Takashi gave his thanks for the lesson.

“Not a problem at all, I meant it when I said it, us Terumis gotta look out for each other. Now, let's tame a dragon shall we?” He gave a determined grin and a thumbs up before activating his Fire Dragon Bullet for reference. “It’s all you bossman, let er rip!”


WC: 360
TWC:1546

Battle Stats:

Takashi enjoyed his smoke as he puffed another smoke ring and listened to Oda as he carried on giving adequate advice on how to move forward. He took note of how mobile Oda was today, as yet again he was pacing around as he spoke almost as though he was thinking and speaking at the same time looking for the answers he needed to give. The sudden clap from Oda, a moment of eureka perhaps? It caused Takashi to look at him with a minor look of surprise as it seemingly came from nowhere.

Oda then proceeded to explain to Takashi why he uses the mental structure of puppeteer strings as his way of controlling the fiery dragon, He took note of Oda's hesitant mention of it tying into his past and puppets in some fashion. Takashi wondered at that moment if perhaps Oda was some sort of puppet master, or maybe his family once were puppeteers and he broke the cycle? Another smoke ring slipped into the atmosphere as Oda talked about less control and more connection to the jutsu, Takashi was at this point listening but looking up to the sky ever so slightly watching his smoke ring disappear and beginning to ponder this concept himself. Oda would ask if what he had said makes sense, to which Takashi responded "I believe I see what you mean." he noticed there seemed to be quite a moment of lacking confidence in Oda's expression, though it dissipated quickly, restoring his normal confident and enthusiastic behavior.

Another smoke ring sent to the sky, Oda commented on Takashi's control of his smoking saying that maybe it could be as simple as this for Takashi. Hitting on points of muscle memory and how each person may connect control of the jutsu to many different things, Takashi had a moment where his eyes widened slightly as though he himself had a moment of eureka. Takashi left his pipe suspended in his lips as he made his way back over to the center of the training ground, he closed his eyes and assumed a comfortable stance as he signed the seal of Ram, quickly transitioning to the Horse seal. He continued on sealing next the Snake, of course sealing this and inhaling pulling in enough air to expand his lungs and puff out his chest as though another ounce of air would make him burst. He held this position as he seemed to disappear into his own mind.

Back inside the void of his mind stood Takashi in the same position he held in reality, the glow of red draconic eyes behind him with roaring flames coming from them. The feeling of this ferocious beast in his chest swirling around waiting for an exit, suddenly it all stopped as though a calming wave cascaded throughout both Takashi and the beast within. Inside his mind was a moment he didn't expect as he saw the glowing ethereal hand of his father resting on his shoulder, the words of wisdom probably from his subconscious but in the voice of his father. "Son, to protect. That was the source of all my strength. If you truly wish to protect yourself or others, this jutsu will not fail you." He felt as the warmth of his father's hand dissipated into the void, though the calm feeling he had felt stayed and Takashi knew the strength of protection in this moment.

Takashi's eyes opened with intensity as he signed the seal of the Dragon, following that with the sign of the Rat as he then released the fiery dragon from his lungs. The massive western style dragon of flames shot into the sky, the sound of the flames could be mistaken for a dragon's roar if one did not know better. The jutsu formed dragon then swooped down from the sky and curled it's body around Takashi as he turned to face Oda, "Seems, I had it in me after all." a smile came across his face as he took a puff and blew another smoke ring.

(677 WC)

Oda stood in unusual stunned silence at the dragon, it seemed to roar and come to life with more ferocity than he was used to seeing, his thoughts broken by Takashis statement "Seems I had it in me after all". Oda faced Takashi, and in that moment both their dragons sat curled around them, facing each other. His dragon shifted a bit as he shot his hand out in a signature thumbs up, “Never doubted you for even a second! Another great job Takashi, you’re a fast learner!” He gave a sly grin and began to weave the dragon in and around the training circle. “Care to play a game? Let's test out your agility with the beast!The goal of the game is to not touch the opponent's construct and get your opponent to run into yours” Odas dragon began moving quickly.

  If Takashi took Oda up on his offer he would twirl and spin the dragon in random ways to test Takashis finer control of his construct. His dragon would spin quickly on ground level only to shoot up into the air spinning as it did, only to then take a sharp U-turn and turn right. The tails of the dragons whipped around the two shinobi with lightning speed leaving slightly charred leaves and motes of flame, making a chaotic and disjointed pattern of fire as they continued to fill up the space around them with flames.

     After the game had concluded, their constructs were dispersed. Regardless of whoever won, Oda would laugh and take a seat at one of the benches on the edge of the platform, the stone itself still cooling off from the ambient heat created by their game. “I hope you decide to stick around for a while Takashi, it has been good to have another Terumi around, and I know we could do a lot of good for this village.” He got excited a bit and sat up a little straighter “This place truly is something else, and we could make a meaningful difference here, for the better!” He said with a fiery passion usually left to talking about his clan.

WC 302

Takashi smiled as he took a puff from his pipe blowing yet another smoke ring, the flaming dragon still curled around him as was Oda's jutsu around himself. There was a moment of celebration in both their reactions to the success of Takashi's jutsu, then it was interjected by the proposal of a game with the dragons. The rules were simply get close to each other but don't touch, Takashi liked the idea and agreed to play. As soon as this acceptance was said to Oda, Oda's jutsu rushed up into the sky and began moving in several patterns. Takashi followed suit, his dragon shot to the sky going through a loop that Oda's dragon had created. They continued to dodge on another in the sky before rushing to the ground level around themselves, after several minutes it was Takashi who made the wrong turn. He went to turn left sharply however, during its turn it didn't go straight but instead slightly veered downwards crashing into the body of Oda's jutsu causing Takashi's dragon to burst on impact. Takashi would chuckle and say "Damn. I would have lost if we bet. haha" He would watch as Oda released the jutsu himself, then continued to speak about sticking together for the better of Tsukigakure. Takashi still holding a smile as he puffed from his pipe, his chuckle had seized though as he spoke "Oda..." He would turn to face him more directly "I have no quarrels with the village. I am grateful for what shelter I have been given, but I will not remain long enough to make a true difference. I am a traveler, I wonder. I will be here a while yet, but I will eventually feel the call of the road again." He puffed his pipe again, blowing a smoke ring and speaking more "Sorry for the monologue, doesn't mean I would be a lifelong allie" He grinned quite big as he said this. Takashi walked over to his gear, throwing his colorful kimono back over his shoulders and lifting his sandagosa and putting it back on his head. All while doing this he would listen and respond to Oda if necessary. However, if there was no more to speak of then Takashi would begin walking towards the village with his signature hand in the air with his index and thumb making an L. "I'm off to grab a drink of sake. Thanks for everything Oda, I believe you'll be one of the greatest Terumi!" Takashi would call out to Oda as he disappeared from the training ground.

[EXIT]
(430 WC)
(3,151 TWC)
(4,726 TWC x1.5 Bonus)