Back from the dead

[Red X]

Rozan, was stiff. The ninja had been out of commission for a while now, his last mission went south and landed him in hot water which thankfully he was able to salvage, but not without injury. Severe case of chakra exaughstion, broken arm and wrist, along with several puncture wounds was something that would keep a ninja down for a spell, but it appeared Rozan was a slow healer. 'Can't be perfect everywhere.' Though he was only down for a few months it felt like years to the chunnin, new ninja had come from the academy, some fresh and others just now breaking away from the heard. Older ninja had gotten stronger, some jumping up in rank with leaps of skill and feats at an extreme rate, he would have to try hard to catch up and keep up.

Which is what brought him to one of his favorite training grounds in Water country, a small island not far from the village with a nice open plain with a row of wooden posts for various activites. It was a known place, not like his own little sanctuary, and it wasn't uncommon for ninja to have to share the grounds, but that was hardly a problem for Rozan. With some hesitance he went through his warm-ups, his body fighting him a bit, especially his right which suffered the most damage, but soon he worked up a good sweat. There were other ninja's around, some doing tai while others seemed to be pondering unvoiced questions. Rozan was now doing the latter, 'I suppose I'll have to work on my fuuinjutsu, I remember some of the basics, but i need to pracite so i can work on my own.'

[Kabu]

Riki took a deep breath as she stretched. The young kunoichi felt that she needed some training so that was what brought her out to the training grounds just outside the village. She hadn't been a Chuunin for very long and that itself made her feel like she was behind the others. She had to admit as she looked around that it was a nice place. She wasn't here for sightseeing though. It was time for a serious practice session. There was one problem though. She needed a partner in order to train effectively.

Taking another look around she spotted quite a few people besides herself but they all were either well into their training or already had a partner. She pursed her lips for a moment thinking. Well this is a real predicament. Taking a deep breath she decided to take another way out. She began walking through the training grounds, carefully looking for anyone she might have missed. After a while she finally spotted someone, a young man with black hair. Being shy she normally wouldn't even try to approach him but she was desperate. After a moment's hesitation she began walking towards him and would try to get his attention. "Hey."

[Red X]

A hesitant voice penetrated his thoughts, so subtle that he had wondered if he just imagined hearing it at all, but then his eyes caught sight of a girl with white hair and odd gray dress with one sleeve. Rozan couldn't say for sure, his memory when it came to people wanned every now and again, but he did not remember seeing her before. She was a Kayuga, the red dots on her cheeks told him that much, but rarely had he spoken or worked with the bone wielding clan. While his mind was still working out the situation, a silence stretched before them, but to Rozan it went unnoticed.

Finally, he spoke. "Hello, is there something I can do for you?" Ahh classic dialog, something he was never really good at. Perhaps she was using this area first and simply needed to fetch something, or maybe she wanted to know if he had an extra kunai or scroll she could borrow.

[Kabu]

Well she had succeeded in grabbing the young man's attention. She was shaking and in the back of her mind wanted to run away but she had to do this. Then came the question she was going to ask. After stumbling for a bit to get out her words she finally managed to get out what she wanted. "I.. I know this might seem a bit odd coming from a stranger but do you have a training partner? If not... would you like one?" She then decided it might be good to introduce herself. " By the way I... I'm Kaguya Riki. It's nice to meet you."

[Red X]

'Ah so that was it, she wants a training partner.' Indeed having someone around to train with was a welcome change from his usual method of pushing himself silently and with no outside motivation. Now that he thought about it, he did have someone that was always pushing him with her arrogance and skill. Kasumi, his rival and some what best friend. While Rozan had not seen her since the time she visited him in the hospital he had no doubt she was widening the gap in skill between them. 'I'm going to need to really kick it into gear or i'll be toast next time we meet.'

"It would be an honor to train with you Kayuga-san." Even as he spoke he gave the girl, whom could not have been much older than he, if at all, a bow. He didn't know much etiquette, but he did know that people bowed to clans and he would not earn her ire by not doing so. "My name is Rozan, Rozan Nagano. I was simply going to work on fuuinjutsu, it needs some extra attention, but if you had something else in mind i wouldn't mind putting it on hold. Was there something you wanted to work on, Kayuga-san?"

[Kabu]

Well so far so good. This is going better than I originally thought it would. This was going to be a real treat, seeing other people's styles. Previously she had done her training with her mom and dad, and even Koyuki on occasion, if she wasn't training solo. This was her first time training with a complete stranger and she was really looking forward to it.

As he agreed to train with her she gave him a small smile. It pleased her that he was willing to work with her. Although there was still one problem. What exactly did she want to train? She hadn't really thought this far ahead. There were a lot of things she needed to work on. Although there was one thing in particular that she felt like training. As she was lost in thought she barely noticed him bowing. While she was used to it, it still bugged her. She simply shook her head. "No need for bowing."

When he introduced himself and asked what she wanted to work on, she thought for just a brief moment before answering. Well I was thinking about working on my ninjutsu and maybe a bit of taijutsu. She then looked at him for a moment, a stern, gentle look coming into her eyes. "Also it's nice to meet you Rozan. And call me Riki, please. Formality makes me uncomfortable."

[Red X]

"Ninjutsu or taijutsu then?" Rozan had to admit he was pretty well rounded when it came to both of those forms of combat. He wasn't exactly a ninjutsu power house, though he did have a pretty good variety of katon and doton to choose from. His taijutsu was a bit better, he could defiently hold his own in a fight, but that didn't mean he have room to improve in that aspect, and a good spar might be just what he needs to get back into the swing of things.

"Kayuga-san....I mean, Riki, I leave it for you to decide. I could use a good spar to further study my own stengths and weaknessess, but if you wanted to work on ninjutsu I could perhaps help with that as well." He paused for a moment, letting the information sink in to his new found training buddy while he thought of a way to help her in ninjutsu, 'Depends on the type of chakra she's working with i suppose, maybe i could teach her some of my own techniques.'

"I've got both Katon and Doton type jutsus, but if you have neither, then maybe we could just take some time to learn some jutsu, i have a couple i want to get down, and then maybe practice using them in combat. Again, the decision is yours."

[Kabu]

Riki took a moment to think. She needed to decide what exactly she wanted to train. When it came down to it she was about even in both areas so she could work on either one and benefit greatly. Maybe a quick spar? A spar seemed like it would be a nice idea and maybe it would help her come to a decision. She also sort of wanted to see what Rozan was capable of.

It seemed that in a way they were thinking alike as he mentioned that he could use a good spar. When he finished speaking she decided to speak. "Well I have a suiton nature along with my clan's techniques." It was sort of disappointing that they had different affinities to work with so they couldn't exactly train ninjutsu together. He had brought up a good idea though. "Well we can't train ninjutsu together per-say butttt like you suggested we should each train a few jutsu and then have a spar afterwards to test them out. That sound good?"

She let out a deep breath afterwards waiting for Rozan to give some sort of response. She was starting to get giddy about the training and potential spar that was awaiting her.

[Red X]

"Ok, then we'll put the spar on for a while. There were a few jutsu i've been meaning to work on, so i suppose this is the perfect time to do so." Though he probably didn't show it very well, Rozan was very excited at the chance to once again engage in combat with someone after such a long drought of inactivity especially someone with a dojutsu. He had heard both wonderful and deadly rumors of the extent of their power over bones and the way they fight with them. 'Looks like i'll be able to put them to the test, but for now, training.'

The Earth trapping jutsu was essentailly known by all of the ninja villages, a lack luster jutsu that could be used to hold genin or non-ninja personal so that escape wouldn't be possible, but to anyone that was worth their salt, it was just an annoyance. Which meant it was a total waste when it came to utilizing it in combat against any of his current opponents. 'I really need to increase the strenght, but for that i'd need a willing target...'

"Riki would you be willing to assist me? I need someone strong to test my jutsu on, it's harmless for the most part, just a bit tight on the limbs is all. I understand if you would rather pass however, i know you have your own trainnig to do."

[236 of 950]

[Kabu]

Riki nodded. "Alright let's get to it." As she began thinking about what to train Rozan asked for her assistance. Well this is a first. It had caught her off guard a little but she quickly recovered and nodded. "I'm happy to help. My training can wait a few minutes."

In reality she was eager to get started on her own training and had wanted to say no just the tiniest bit but the part of her that wanted to help others grow stronger won out in the end. With a stretch she simply stared Rozan down. "Ready whenever you are."

[Red X]

“Right, thank you for this. Normally I wouldn’t burden another ninja with this type of training, but I fear I won’t know the full effectiveness of this jutsu unless someone as strong as yourself would endure the hold. Just stand there a moment, hopefully this won’t take long.”

Rozan backed up a few paces, making sure he was clear of the area just so the jutsu wouldn’t knock him off balance. ‘How do I go about this exactly? It’s not hard to do the holding jutsu normally, rat, dog, boar, tiger, snake, boar and then release, but that won’t do and in the end it’s too weak. Maybe if I added more chakra it would hold stronger opponents, but then again I could risk overloading the entire thing and making it frailer than it’s supposed to be.’

It was quite a predicament for the chuunin, but one he had encountered with before. Whenever a ninja, be it genin or jounin tried to modify or create a jutsu there was always the battle of trail and error that could either make or break them. Clever ninja did not always succeed in their endeavor, while sometimes even the dumbest of the dumb would form a jutsu that theoretically should not work. Chakra could be funny like that.

He noticed that Riki was still staring at him expectantly, probably annoyed that he was holding up her own training. “Sorry, don’t mean to just stand here, but I’d rather be safe and smart in my attempt, otherwise we could be here all day. Please, just bare it a little longer.” With those words said he continued to focus on the problem at hand.

‘Perhaps the answer lies in another one of my doton jutsu. Maybe I could harden the ground before trying to capture my target? No, that would take too long and it could tip them off to what I’m doing. Then again, if I’m use it stealthy it might not make much of a difference. Still, I’d rather find another way. Suppose I could just add more chakra, maybe enough to power one of the higher ranked jutsu, but if I use too much it could be both wasteful and ineffective. Maybe constant chakra is the key, after all some of my katon jutsu require such practice in order to be effective and they don’t take too much of a toll. But if I’m sitting there hands pressed against the ground how will I finish off the target? Perhaps it would be a good team jutsu, one to capture the target while someone else, if I’m ever working with someone else can deal with them. Yes, I think I’ll try that.’

A single nod was the only indication of the mental dialog that had just occurred in the young ninja’s head. Having made his decision, Rozan began to mold his chakra while also mentally calling out his signs, ‘rat, dog, boar, tiger, snake, boar, release!!’ He slammed his hands onto the ground, and allowed his chakra to seep into the soil before it raced towards his test subject. To his satisfaction the ground below her leapt up from under her feet and wrapped around her ankles, effectively pending her to the ground for the moment. To his surprise however, the ground started to slowly expand upwards, crawling a bit higher without apparently loosening its hold.

Rozan was still crouched down with his hands on the ground, slowly allowing his chakra to stream into the soil with practiced control so not to over saturate the ground. ‘I believe the soil will continue to grow so long as I maintain a steady supply of chakra, that is most useful indeed. The only problems appear to be that A, I can’t move from this position, B, the chakra is also the only thing giving it strength, so even if I do release it there is no doubt it will be just as weak as before.' “Interesting. Please, do your best to break free, I need to make sure this is working correctly.” He hoped the girl wouldn’t hold back on her attempts, he wouldn’t want to have spoiled results from negligence. ‘Then again I suppose there isn’t much I have to worry about. Kayuga are reknown for their skillful taijutsu and bone density…maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all. If she breaks free without even trying then how I know if the jutsu got stronger or not? I’ll have to just ask her how hard she had to try, or maybe ask her to restrict her attempts to non-clan jutsu.’

He was starting to notice the pull on his reserves a bit more, but that was to be expected after all.
[784, [950+/950]