Frozen Facets

[Kao]

Jutsu TrainedShow

~Blizzard
B-Rank Ninjutsu
The user will channel hyouton chakra while inhaling, and then slowly exhale. Over the course of the next post, the temperature in a 60 meter radius of the user will rapidly drop to an extreme, biting cold, able to freeze bodies of water at [Control] speed. Any beings within the area of the technique will suffer from extreme exposure, with their bodies cramping, slowing, and shivering uncontrollably. Remaining exposed in this area for consecutive posts can result in a loss of coordination and a confused state of temporary amnesia as the cold begins to suffuse the brain. Additionally, katon techniques used in this area will cost 2x as much chakra to prepare.

As a young genin, nearly ready to take her Chuunin exams, Aisu Namie had quite the weight on her shoulders. Though she was still a teenager, the girl’s mother knew that now was the truly the beginning of the rest of her life. Namie could no longer coast her way through life, relying on her status and pedigree to garner respect and acknowledgement within the clan. Now the real work began.

With the expectation that she would soon take the chuunin exams, the kunoichi found herself at am empty training ground. She calmly watched her mother primp and preen on the sidelines then turned her attention to the masked boy standing a dozen feet in front of her. A light mist hung over the ground, placing chilly kisses against her exposed skin. Her sheathed katana felt heavy hanging around her waist. It was a mere accessory at that moment. The trio were there not for practicing her sword work, but to improve her skills with hyouton. Though she was talented for her rank, it was imperative that Namie increase her prowess with her clan’s element.

Her opponent – Kesui, he’d said – dashed toward her with a raised fist. Namie sidestepped the punch almost lazily, then slammed an open palm to the side of his cheek. He stumbled but quickly righted himself, following up with a low sweeping kick to catch her off balance. The two went back and forth this way for several minutes, landing a few blows here and there but nothing decisive. Just when Kesui thought he had her firmly on the defensive, Namie elbowed him in the chest and knocked him onto his backside. The boy groaned and was slow to get up, so Namie took the opportunity to try something new.

She formed a set of hand seals. It was a new sequence to her, one that she wasn’t entirely familiar with. Her mother had shown her a powerful jutsu the week before and had made Namie drill the seals over and over for hours on end until she could form the set with little effort. Muscle memory served her well, and she was able to complete the set before Kesui could get back to his feet. The kunoichi inhaled, deeply, but before she could release the breath Kesui was on top of her once more.

The two fought again, another round of back and forth punching, kicking, and dodging. Every once in a while she’d have the change to try her jutsu again, but each time Kesui foiled her. He was too fast, much faster than her other training partners have been. It was hard to find an opening as his movements became more confident, more fluid. He was growing accustomed to her rather straightforward style of hand to hand combat. That was a bad sign for her; if Namie couldn’t keep him at a distance for more than a few seconds at a time, then practicing her new hyouton technique would be next to impossible.

After nearly an hour, they took a break. Kesui sat cross legged on the sidelines with back turned toward her, focused as he took time to recover his stamina and rest his limbs. Namie paced silently, and every so often she cut her eyes to her mother to gauge her thoughts and her mood. The woman was stoic as always, poised like an elegant statue atop her cushion. She didn’t seem displeased, which was all Namie could really ask for.

When their break ended, Kesui seemed to want to try a different approach. He stood in front of her wordlessly, waiting for her to make the first move. She welcomed the change by beginning her set of seals. She inhaled deeply, pausing to appreciate the feel of hyouton chakra coursing through her and settling in her stomach. Finally, she exhaled. Her surroundings were immediately inundated with potent hyouton chakra. The temperature dropped dramatically, and the mist that hung over the area began to visibly condense and fall to the ground as a heavy frost.

Behind his mask, Kesui raised his brow. During their skirmishes earlier, he’d almost forgotten that they were there so Namie could get a better handle on hyouton. It had seemed she had decided to practice her speed and hand to hand combat. But now she seemed back on track. Resolute, even. Good.

Before she could fully finish the technique, Kesui rushed forward until her was mere inches away from her. Namie’s eyes widened in shock at her opponent’s sudden appearance and she had only just enough time to raise her arms, crossed at the forearms, to protect her face from his fist. He sent her flying this time. Namie skidded across the frozen ground, letting out a grunt of pain when she came to a stop. Not letting up, Kesui closed the distance between them and shouted powerfully as he raised his fist again, this time aiming for her chest.

Namie rolled out of the way and then quickly got back on her feet. A quick look around was all she needed to determine that her jutsu was incomplete. It wasn’t nearly cold enough. It was chilly, sure, but the slightly colder temperature wasn’t enough to slow down her opponent. Kesui kept up the onslaught, barely giving her enough time to think about her next move. She was able to use her jutsu again, but just like before it wasn’t potent enough. After a few more hours of relentless training, Namie’s mother eventually clapped her hands in a signal for them to stop. They would try again another day.



Two days later, Namie and her mother met Kesui on the training grounds once more. He arrived the same as before; he was masked with his entire face covered, and he wore a simple navy vest over a plain black body suit. Namie wasn’t even sure if Kesui was his real name. His hair was black and tied back neatly in a bun. He didn’t have much exposed skin, but there were no scars that she could see. She thought for a moment about how her mother knew him, but those thoughts were quickly pushed aside when they were instructed to resume their training.

Kesui paused to give her time to form her hand seals. Namie didn’t welcome the courtesy; on the battlefield, her opponents would most certainly never give her a chance to form her hand seals. But she supposed they were simply training, and she would never get anywhere if she couldn’t at least begin the jutsu uninterrupted.

Namie inhaled deeply, taking a moment to feel her chakra. Noticing that she didn’t draw upon the right amount, she focused on increasing the amount of chakra she was using. A little more. Just a little more. She never used this much chakra at once. The hyouton she used didn’t require as much. But since this was a more advanced technique, it made sense for her to up the levels of chakra she needed. Luckily for the genin, she had a decent amount of chakra reserves and could afford using a bit more chakra than was necessary. She could always fix that later but honing in on her control and using the precise amount of chakra.

Finally, she exhaled. Hyouton chakra poured out of her. For a moment she didn’t have a tight grip on the chakra, and her mother leaned forward in concern. But at the last second Namie tightened her grip on her power, and the jutsu stabilized. Almost immediately the temperature dropped dramatically. Kesui breath hung heavily in front of him each time he exhaled. Namie’s mother’s breath did the same, and she smiled as she felt the biting cold against her cheeks.

Kesui then rushed forward, but he found his limbs stiff. His chest seemed to cry out in pain as he breathed. Namie watched him and crouched as he approached. She immediately noticed his movements were sluggish, and when he drew back to punch her she interrupted him by closing the distance between them and elbowing him right in the gut. He groaned, the sound catching in his throat and coming out as a pained gurgle. He watched as she reeled back and landed a heavy blow to his nose. His head snapped back and he stumbled, but he somehow managed to stay upright despite the physical punishment.

This wasn’t his first time seeing an Aisu in action. Every time he saw them fight through such frigid conditions, it amazed him. They truly were a formidable clan. Kesui did his best in his spar, but Namie’s blizzard technique made it difficult to keep up. Once it faded she was able to cast it again, and the second time he experienced it was even worse. It seemed even colder than before, and he found it harder and harder to move and focus on attacking her. Finally, after nearly an hour, he couldn’t continue on. Namie stood above him in triumph and released the jutsu for his sake.

1504 words

[Kao]

Trained JutsuShow

*[Sekisetsu - Deflect!]
C-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
Prerequisite: Shifting Blades
By constantly changing the grip on their blade, the user is able to deflect a multitude of projectile weaponry with minimal effort. If the user's Strength exceeds that of the opponent, deflected weapons can instead be directed right back at the opponent to counterattack.

A few weeks after being becoming a genin, Namie found herself still training almost ceaselessly. She had mastered a powerful hyouton technique, one that someone at the special jounin was expected to know; it was quite a feat for such a fresh genin. She had always been talented when it came to her clan techniques, so it came to no surprise that it took her a mere matter of days to be able to use Blizzard comfortably. She did still need to work on her chakra control; whenever she used the technique it tired her, and she was unable to hide the fatigue from her mother and her training partner, Kesui.

It seemed her mother liked the boy. Whenever Namie needed a partner, her mother would call upon Kesui. She had known the boy for weeks, but she still knew almost nothing about him. The only information she could garner was that he was loyal to the Hirohito, and that he was a genin like her. Other than that, the boy was a complete mystery. He never used ninjutsu when training with her, only taijutsu. He carried no weapons usually. So when her mother announced they would be training swordsmanship that day, it took Namie by surprise. But Kesui indeed had a katana strapped to his side. It looked plain. Old, even. The hilt was well worn, and she wondered if it was because of his own heavy use or if it was heirloom. Perhaps he had borrowed it from someone for this training session. But she wouldn’t get an answer, probaby because she wouldn’t ask. What mattered wasn’t where the weapon came from, but whether or not he could use it.

Namie drew her katana, a nameless weapon she had gotten as a gift from her parents. It was a beautifully crafted weapon, one that she barely used. But when she got into a ready position, her mother was suddenly at her side with a hand on her shoulder. “I think it better if you practice with your bokken. I’d hate for one of you to accidentally lop of a limb.” Namie, embarrassed now, sheathed her sword and took a bokken from her mother. Namie’s mother described the technique she wanted Namie to practice. They wouldn’t be both practicing kenjutsu. Namie was to focus on deflecting projectiles. When the kunoichi looked over at Kesui, she noticed him juggling a few dulled shuriken between his fingers.

Namie nodded and then faced Kesui. She wish she could see his face; it would give her some idea of what he was thinking, what move he would make. With her weapon at the ready, she waited.

Suddenly, Kesui flicked his wrist. She almost couldn’t see the small projectile as it cut through the air toward her. The girl raised her bokken, and the shuriken hit the side of the wood. It wasn’t the most graceful block, and part of her felt it was out of pure luck that she blocked it. That feeling was confirmed when Kesui flicked his wrist again once, then twice, sending two shuriken flying at her. She managed to block the one that was aimed at her chest, but the other was trickier. It turned in the air at the last second, and instead of targetting her chest it went up towards her face. It hit her square on the forehead, and she shrieked at the contact.

Her mother tutted at her, demanding that she focus. Namie sighed and rubbed her head, but that proved to be a mistake. Kesui caught her off guard by sending another dull shuriken at her, and this one hit her shoulder. She glared at him and beneath his mask, he chuckled.



After a few hours, Namie was getting the hang of things. Kesui tossed shuriken after shuriken after her, and she was able to block seventy percent or so of the projectiles. They eventually switched gears and they both practiced kenjutsu, but at the end of the training session Namie found herself wanting to practice deflection more.

She’d get her chance a few days later, and then a few days after that. With every training session she got more comfortable with her movements, and she was better able to predict the path of the projectiles and was able to raise her bokken to block them. By the fourth session, she found that blocking Kesui’s projectiles was quite easy. Her mother, sensing her confidence, warned her to not get cocky. Kesui was only a genin, after all; anyone who outranked them wouldn’t have such predictable patterns. She would have to continue to train and hone her skills. Namie sighed, wishing that just once her mother could say something encouraging. That she could say she was proud of her daughter.




A few weeks after she initially learned how to deflect, Namie found herself facing Kesui once more. This time, she held a real blade in her hand, and he wielded shuriken that had not been dulled for training purposes. As they faced off, she felt her heart race. This training session had risk. If she missed, if one shuriken escaped her blade, she could be seriously hurt or maimed.

Namie held her katana at the ready. A frigid breeze blew around them as she waited. He let the seconds tick by, perhaps in an attempt to catch her off guard. But as soon as he threw three shuriken at her, he knew he’d have to work harder at taking her by surprise. With minimal movements of her blade, she deflected each shuriken one after another. Each deflection sounded with a sharp, satisfying metallic clink. The next volley sent five shuriken at her almost simultaneously and, once again, she deflected them with ease.

Kesui slowly sidestepped to his left. Namie mirrored the movement. They moved in a semi circle in this way, neither of them breaking their concentration. Kesui started the next onslaught with four shuriken, and the moment she deflected the first projectile he swiftly grabbed two kunai from his leg pouch and lobbed them at her. Her eyes widened at the sudden change. These projectiles were bigger which made them easier to see as they flew threw the air, but for the briefest moment she was thrown off by the difference. When the kunai bounced off the katana they were much heavier than the shuriken, and the girl had to adjust her grip for a moment. But she played off her surprise and didn’t let on that she was caught off guard. Kesui noticed this, but he was too polite to gloat. After all, she had succeeded in mastering the technique.

1098 words

[Kao]

Trained JutsuShow

*[Sekisetsu - Icy Hands]
C-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
Icy Hands is a technique developed for use when cutting or stabbing an opponent is not an option. The user will fold their hands around the blades of their weapons, with their thumbs resting on the spine of the blades. This allows the user to utilize the hilt of their weapons as blunt maces, without cutting themselves from holding the weapon in a strange fashion. Experienced users with a [Speed] in excess of an opponent's can also use this technique to safely counter incoming strikes by grabbing the backside of a swung blade.

Namie slowly rolled her neck. She was sore after so much training. The young kunoichi had barely seen anything other than her home and the training grounds in the past several months. Her mother, Akemi, was no-nonsense now that she was a genin. There would be no down time, no time to be idle and sit on her hands and wonder what was next for her. Namie was ready to be groomed into a leader, one that the Aisu desperately needed. Neither Namie nor her mother expected her to ever be the head of the clan. But if Akemi had her way, her daughter would be comfortably seated near the top.

Namie had been training intensely. Her training was almost completely focused on hyouton and sekisetsu, the clan’s exclusive kenjutsu style. Akemi thought that her daughter’s focus should be first on the styles of their clan. After all, she was an Aisu princess, and it was only proper that she seek to master her clan’s styles.

Namie and Kesui found themselves alone one day. Her mother finally trusted them enough to train without supervision, and that day she was needed elsewhere. But even though she let them train alone she gave them clear directions. Namie was to train kenjutsu, and she would continue to work on a new technique. Icy Hands, it was called. There would inevitably be times when she wouldn’t be able to rely on cutting her opponent with her blade. This new technique would give her another defensive option. She’d have to learn how to fight with a blade by holding the blade itself.

It was a daughting technique. They first practiced with bokken, but it was difficult to practice holding a rounded, wooden weapon. It was a far cry from the flat edge of a metal katana, but she needed to practice the general grip before moving to a dulled katana. That day she did her best practicing changing her grip on the bokken. It was awkward, but eventually she was able to swing the wooden weapon around by it’s “blade.”By the end of the day she had a better handle on it, so to speak. Haha, handle, she thought at one point, her fatigue making her amused by the play on words.

The next day was much of the same. Every so often she would change her grip on the bokken, and she would swing it and use the hilt as the attacking end. Kesui likely could have easily disrupted her grip, but he was kind and let her get used to the somewhat awkward method. Finally, the next day, they were able to use the dulled katana to practice.

They fought for a while, the dulled metal blades clashing against one another rhythmically. When Namie finally changed her grip, she nearly dropped the katana. Holding the dull blade was much different than holding the bokken. In fact, her grip was disrupted enough that she dropped the weapon entirely, and she was rewarded by a heavy bonk on the head. She cursed under her breath and she could almost swear she heard Kesui chuckle as she retrived her blade and tried again.

The frozen grass crunched beneath their feet as they sparred. Kesui was good. He clearly wasn’t trained in Sekisetsu, which made her suspect that he wasn’t an Aisu after all. But whatever taijutsu style he was using was effective. She found is a challenge to keep up with him, and he didn’t make it easy for her to change her grip and swing the dulled katana around by the blade. At the end of the day her hands were tired and scratched up, and she rubbed them gingerly as she made her way home. An ice bath for her hands was exactly what she needed, and although her hands were unsightly, they felt better when she went to bed that night.

Over the next two weeks, Namie trained with Kesui. They primarily trained with the kenjutsu, but Namie found herself using hyouton techniques here and there to give her the upper edge. They were quite evenly matched, but some well placed hyouton here and there helped her come out on top more than a few times. A few days into training Icy Hands, Kesui gifted her a set of gloves. They were made with a strong hide that would protect her hands from any more mishaps, but they were also thin enough for her to feel the blade through them and not disrupt her grip. She blushed when she accepted the gift, and when she tried to bow as a gesture of gratitude he stuttered and begged her to not bow to someone “beneath” her. Namie frowned at that, and despite his protests she gave him a tiny bow of thanks and then slid them over her slender fingers.

As they trained, she grew more and more comfortable with fighting in this way, and there was a training session in which she spent nearly half the time fighting with the alternate grip. Beneath his mask Kesui smiled, impressed by her rapid growth. He could see why she was considered a prodigy. If she she trained these techniques before her chuunin exam, she could complete her task of defeating her opponent even quicker. Even with a dulled blade she was formidable.

Both Namie and Kesui noticed they were rather evenly matched in terms of speed. There were times when one or the other had trouble keeping up, but that usually was a result from fatigue and not from an overall gap in their abilities. A few times she tried to grab his weapon by its blade and snatch it away from him, but every attempt ended in failure. There were a few close calls where she nearly succeeded, but it seemed she wasn’t yet fast enough to disarm him in that way. But the both of them knew that if she ever surpassed him significantly in speed, she would certainly be able to take his weapon and use it against him. In fact, Namie decided that was something she should work on learning and mastering.

1022 words

[Kao]

Jutsu TrainedShow

*Suiton • Water Orb Technique
D-Rank Ninjutsu
After performing the correct hand seals the user will form a dense ball of water approximately 6 centimeters in diameter in their hands. Upon lurching forward, they will release the ball towards an opponent up to 10 meters away at [Control] Speed and Strength.

Namie let out a long, heavy sigh and buried her head in her pillow. Suiton was far from her element of choice. Hyouton felt more natural to her. Suiton was so…fluid. But that evening after her training with Kesui, her mother made it clear that she needed a broader arsenal. “Have you even trained suiton recently?” the woman asked, and Namie had avoided giving an answer. After dinner she lied in bed, closing her eyes as she reminisced.

---

The Academy was intense. More intense than she had imagined it would be.

In all her ten years of life, Aisu Namie had never once experienced true exhaustion. When she started her training at age five it was easy and natural. She controlled hyouton as easily as she could control her breathing, and her parents’ puffed up chests whenever she had an exibition to show off her hyouton and swordsmanship made her beam with pride and satisfaction. She was good, a prodigy.

She’d thought that, but then she entered the Academy. And although she was more advanced than many of her peers, her teachers and tutors thought she could do more. They urged her to learn suiton or fuuton. After all, most Aisu eventually learned to use both. And a prodigy like Namie should have very little trouble picking up hyouton’s component elements.

And yet, she struggled. Suiton was difficult for her, but once she made the commitment to learning it there was no going back. For a week straight she practiced nothing but creating suiton chakra. Namie found that she was slowly getting the hang of it, but it was frustrating. At times she stomped her feet, but such an inelegant and undignified response was always met with chastising words. The young girl held her hands in front of her, fingers curled as if holding a ball, and she focused on drawing suiton chakra to her hands. Most of the time she could, at the very least, create a mass of water. But it was unrefined, and she could barely hold its shape. Huge droplets fell to the ground and puddled at her feet. She imagined those errant drops as manifestations of her shame and embarrassment. When she thought of it in that way, her determination to make a well formed ball of water grew.

Two weeks passed and she was improving. Her teacher bragged about her progress to anyone who would listen. Namie worried it would make her unpopular. She noticed some of her classmates glaring at her more than once. But to her surprise, the majority of her classmates approached her in a friendly manner and asked her for tips. Each time this happened she blushed, and when she would demonstrate the Water Orb technique they would ooh and ahh and run off to practice it themselves.

Her technique wasn’t perfect, but it was certainly better than most of her classmates’ versions. And every time she performed it for them or for her teachers, it improved bit by bit. By the third week after her suiton training began, she was a bit more comfortable manipulating this kind of chakra. At times she would cheat and add a bit of hyouton to the center just to stabilize it, but as time went on she found herself relying on this method less and less. Eventually she could create a swirling orb of suiton with one hand and without putting much effort or attention into molding the chakra. Her classmates’ jealous exclamations whenever she did that encouraged her, and after less than a month of learning to use a basic suiton technique, Namie was ready to add to her arsenal.

608 words

[Kao]

Trained JutsuShow

*Suiton • Water Shuriken
D-Rank Ninjutsu
After performing the correct hand seals the user will form a shuriken of water that can be thrown up to 10 meters. When kai'd, this shuriken explodes with [Control] Strength and covers the immediate area in water. If not consumed, this technique lasts for three posts.

While many of her classmates were still working on laying the foundations of matering their first elemental jutsu, Namie was already on her second. Ten year old Aisu Namie was more than ready to learn more suiton. Sure, it didn’t feel as nice and natural as when she used hyouton, but she was adept enough that she could start learning a new jutsu. She could form a small orb of suiton in her hands, so naturally the next step was to learn how to further manipulate its shape.

Water shuriken was a staple technique for all shinobi who used suiton. According to their teacher Arizumi, any Kirigakure shinobi worth their salt could use water shuriken. To be unable to use it was almost shameful, and academt students who had water nature were fully expected to learn it before graduation. The man joked that any student with a suiton affinity who could not use water shuriken wouldn’t be able to graduate. The students laughed awkwardly, unsure how much of that statement was a joke and how much was true.

Not willing to risk it, the first-year academy students began practicing. Namie was among a handful of first years who already could control their chakra enough to start practicing the technique. Arizumi-sensei demonstrated by creating a water shuriken in his hand and allowing each student to get a closer look at it. “The most important part of this technique is control,” he lectured, and Namie hung on to his every word. “Suiton isn’t like doton. There’s no natural hardness to it. You kids will have to shape it and harden it using superb chakra control. Otherwise you’re just splashing your opponent and target with a small amount of water.

Namie nodded in understanding and then trotted off outside. Like her, her classmates were uber focused as they all formed small balls of suiton in their hands. The kids frowned and grunted with effort as they tried to shape and manipulate the water, but none were successful on that first day. Namie went home disappointed, juggling a dense ball of water in her hands as she focused on shaping the edges.

The next day she had a bit more success. It couldn’t be called a shuriken, but it wasn’t just a ball of water either. There was definitely an edge to it, though it was more serrated than anything. She gingerly touched her creation and was surprised at how sturdy it was. It was water, but it was more than that. It was teeming with chakra. She smirked and dropped it on purpose, and instead of immediately collapsing into a puddle of water it maintained its shape for a moment. It eventually melted away, but by that time she was working on another suiton construct.

It took the child a few days, but eventually she formed what was definitely a shuriken made of suiton. She turned it in her hands, admiring her handiwork, then went to show her teacher. He nodded and tried not to show too much enthusiam – his boss had chastised him for showing favoritism towards her – but she could see it in his eyes that he was impressed by her progress. “Prodigy” was a word that followed her, but it was for good reason. While her classmates were still struggling with making the suiton have the right size and the right shape, Namie was already doing target practice with her construct. She practiced making the water shuriken then immediately throwing it towards the round target. Each shuriken hit the wooden target with a thud and not a splash, and that was enough to tell her that she had successed again in surpassing her peers.

614 words

[Kao]

Jutsu TrainedShow

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[Kao]

Speed Training

The sky was beginning to lighten, dawn fast approaching. Namie had known nothing outside of training for the past few months. It was exhausting in more ways than one. Physically her body had taken beatings day after day. It was slowly making her stronger, but the process was slow going. She found herself needing to take ice baths often to sooth her aching mucles and bones. And then there was the mental strain. It was rough on her to only train, eat, and sleep. Kesui was decent company on the training field, but the two had barely spoken in the months that they had known each other. She had hoped they could at least be friendly, but he was just as no-nonsense as her mother.

One morning she ate a hearty breakfast prepared by some slave other and then headed back out, ready to warm up for her training session with Kesui later. Se stretched in front of the house to loosen up her muscles, and began her run across the village. She’d do a few laps around the village before heading to the training grounds. She took off at a steady pace at first, taking the long and scenic route out of the Aisu clan compound. She ran at a steady pace, her breaths coming out evenly as she jogged comfortably. Then she picked up her pace rapidly, running at nearly her maximum speed. Se ran, and ran, and soon sweat was pouring down the kunoichi’s forehead and back. Although she stretched before she began running, she felt the tell-tale ache in her side. Only then did she slow down to a more comfortable jog. Her breath came in heavy pants, and she placed a hand on her chest as if to calm her breathing. She jogged around people, being careful to avoid running into someone and knocking them over, although she doubted that would happen.

When her breathing slowed, Namie steeled herself and began running yet again, quickly running at her maximum speed. She ran until he found a long empty street, and jogged in place for a few seconds before taking off again. After a few strides, the genin broke into a sprint down the empty street. She ran at her full speed again, urging her body to go even faster. Her muscles screamed, but internally she screamed back and forced herself to keep going. She sprinted all the way down the street, and once she reached the end the kunoichi slowed to a halt.

Namie lowered herself into a squat so that she could catch her breath. She was faster than the average genin, but she wanted to push herself even further and be on par with special jounin, at least. It wouldn’t be an easy task. It took a lot of training to get where she was, and she knew it would take more than one day to increase her top speed. Simply running and sprinting through the village wasn’t quite enough to increase her speed, but it was definitely a good start. Once he had completely caught her breath and her heart slowed up a bit, she took off again.

This time instead of running a few strides at first, she burst into a sprint immediately, racing down the same street she just travelled. She turned a sharp corner, losing speed only momentarily before picking it back up again. Namie pushed her top speed and felt her legs, lungs, and heart screaming back at her. But she refused to slow down; instead she ran at his top speed for ten blocks, doing the best she could to avoid obstacles like food stalls and people. It was difficult indeed; twice she nearly lost her groove and ran into food stalls, but instead of slowing down to avoid them, she jumped over them in a single leap and kept going. In hindsight maybe she should have just ran dozens of laps around a training ground, but it had seemed like a good idea in the moment.

When the road branched into a fork with a small two story building in the middle, instead of taking either the left or right paths, the Aisu sent a small amount of chakra to his feet and scaled the building. She kept up the pace even as she vertically ran up the side of the structure, and she continued to run at her top speed as he climbed up and over the building. She jumped over the roof, landing perfectly on the the opposite side of the roof, and then she leaped down to the street

As soon as her feet hit the ground, she broke out into another sprint. The kunoichi felt her muscles tightening a bit, but shepushed back, forcing herself to run past her limit. As he did, her right thigh threatened to catch a cramp, but she mentally berated herself to keep going. ‘You’re almost there, Namie! Don’t stop! Keep going!’ bellowed the voice in her head.

She pushed and pushed until her entire body began to shout at her to stop. She was covered in sweat, and her legs were painfully tight and aching. She needed to rest, and she intended to in a few minutes. Instead of immediately throwing in the towel Namie kept up the sprint for a few more paces before she finally took another break to let her body catch up with her determination.

Instead of crouching, this time she sat down. His heart was beating frantically, desperately trying to supply her overworked muscles with much needed oxygen. The Aisu allowed her body to rest for several minutes until her lungs finally stopped burning. She stood up and stretched again, being sure not to injure her already strained muscles. She figured now was the time to move more leisurely so she wouldn’t completely exhaust herself before her training session with Kesui.


Nearly every day for the next few weeks, Namie trained her body in this way. It was rough at first, but she could feel her body strenghtening and her speed improving bit by bit.

1,014 words

[Kao]

Jutsu TrainingShow

Propel
D-Ranked Ninjutsu
After channeling chakra into her feet, Namie will fire a jet of water from each foot, essentially hurling and propelling herself in the opposite direction of their jets as if thrown by a strength equal to her [Control].

Namie was bored.

She was excelling at the academy. So much so that she was quicky outpacing many of her classmates. Hardly anyone could keep up with her in taijutsu. No one in her class was particularly talented in genjutsu – including her – so she didn’t feel bad that it was a class of justu that she just couldn’t get the hang of. The girl knew that would change, so she focused primarily on taijutsu and ninjutsu.

Her talent with the basics of hyouton was flawless. It was easy for her. Natural. She wanted to be that way with suiton as well, so she had begun to focus on suiton jutsu almost exclusively. She felt that her repretoir was lacking; she wanted to supplement her taijutsu with more ninjutsu, and she was trying to figure out the best way to do so. In one of her spars she realized she should use suiton to get leverage over her opponent. A technique that launched her in the air would be perfect. A boy in the class was getting the hang of that idea, but he used water coming from his hands for the effect. That didn’t seem prudent to Namie. She used kenjutsu much more than hand to hand combat. The girl felt it would be much better to have the water come from her feet than from her hands.

After they were dismissed from the academy for the day Namie went home, eager to eat then get back to her training. One of the family slaves made her light meal at the behest of Namie’s mother. The girl scarfed it down then went into the courtyard, past the gates, and to the small private training ground next to her home. She was eager to get started and felt almost giddy as she experimented with hand seals. She had memorized the hand seals that her classmate used for his hand propelling suiton technique. Perhaps she could use the same hand seals and direct the chakra to her feet instead of her hands. Yes, that seemed like the correct thing to do.

Namie concentrated, focusing on directing the chakra to her feet. It felt so cool, she thought as the chakra slowly but surely reached its destination. Both hyouton and suiton chakra had a cooling sensation when she molded them. Of course hyouton was much different, but suiton, she found, was similar enough that it didn’t feel too foreign to learn and use.

The girl focused some more, a lot more, and soon suiton seeped around her feet. It poured out without force, which definitely wasn’t what she wanted. So she concentrated some more, this time focusing on making the suiton erupt with more force. It worked. Sort of. The tiniest jet squirted from both her feet, making her lose her balance and nearly fall over. She did this again and again, each time creating a bit more water with a bit more force. But she tired quickly; at her level of control and her limited knowledge of using suiton in particular, she had no idea what she was really doing. The result was she didn’t quite get the hang of it, but on her way home she was already planning how she would try it again.

The next day was much like the last. After being dismissed from the academy for the day she went home and ate a meal. This one was requested to be a bit heftier; she would need the energy soon. Later that evening she was at her family’s private training area, ready to give it another go. That day she focused more on controlling the amount of chakra she used so she wouldn’t tired herself out too quickly. A few hours later she was comfortable with the little jets spurting from her feet. It would take her another few days to perfect it, but once she had she was ready to move on to the next jutsu.

660 words

[Kao]

Jutsu TrainedShow

*Suiton • Wet Spot
D-Rank Suiton Ninjutsu
After performing the correct hand seals the user will expel a 3 meter diameter sphere of water from their mouth at [Control] Speed up to 10 meters away. Upon impact it will burst spilling all over the immediate area making it extremely slippery. Those without 5 Strength or higher will not be able to hold their footing on this wet spot and will slip around.

“What do you mean you don’t know the Wet Spot technique?”

Namie scoffed. “Why would I wanna spit out water? Gross!”

Inami rolled her eyes. “It’s such a basic technique. You can’t just not learn it because you think it’s icky. Don’t be a priss.” Namie looked offended at that. “It’s such a basic technique that you’ll probably get scolded by sensei if you just refuse to learn it. Come on, princess, don’t be a little bitch.”

Not used to hearing swear words, Namie’s mouth gaped for a moment. But then her eyes narrowed. Inami sweared at her. Not just that, but she basically called her a little bitch. The girl stood up, glaring coldly at her classmate as she brushed off her trousers. The young Aisu stomped away until she found a quiet place on the grounds. She knew the hand seals because of course she did; she paid attention to lessons and to her classmates, she just picked and chose what to actually practice and learn. But she felt so thoroughly offended that she decided to learn the stupid technique just to spite Inami.

She formed the seals and closed her eyes. It felt weird to direct the suiton chakra to her mouth instead of to her feet or hands. It almost made her feel bloated. Namie supposed that feeling made sense. After all, she was about to spit out a bunch of water from her mouth. Gross, gross, gross. All she could think about was how gross the concept was. What was wrong with just sticking to spouting water from limbs? Was it necessary to spit like a boy? Namie sighed out of her nose, careful not to do it through her mouth in case she accidently essentially puke.

As soon as the suiton formed in her mouth she had the natural urge to spit it out. So she did. A glob of cool water shot from her mouth and landed a meter or so away. It didn’t have much form as she expelled it. Indeed, it looked like she simply puked out a bunch of water.

Disgusting.

She tried again. The second time the girl attempted the jutsu it was more or less the same result. Namie quickly used up a good bit of her chakra reserves, so she went back to where Inami was chatting with a blue-haired boy. It was pretty obvious that Inami was infactuated. Namie would save that information for later.

The next day Namie was back at it. The blue haired boy had come over to help her. She found out his name was Satoru and that he was quite good at this technique in particular. Of course he was, thought Namie. He was a boy and boys their age liked gross things like spitting out globs of suiton. He gave her pointers, telling her how it should feel and to make sure she didn’t overdo it. Namie tried the technique a few times with him, and although it was nowhere near perfect it was a lot better and easier to do with his help.

When she turned to work on something else, she saw Inami across the way. Her face was flushed, her arms were crossed tightly over her chest, and she was glaring at Namie in a way she had never done before. The Aisu simply smiled and made a point to turn to Satoru and thank him, her eyelashes batting and a finger curling a loose strand of her dark hair. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Inami approaching, so she told Satoru she’d try the jutsu again. One more for the road.

She formed the seals, felt the surge of chakra direct to her mouth. Then she turned and spat – just in time for Inami to be within range. The suiton landed with a loud splash, soaking the girl’s hair and clothes. She gasped dramatically, and a few of their classmates turned and snickered once they understood the situation. Namie’s hand shot up to cover her lips and hide a smile as she apologized for the apparent accident. She didn’t wait for Inami’s response before walking away, but Namie could hear the girl still raging as she walked back into the main building of the academy.


712 words

[Kao]

Jutsu TrainedShow

*Suiton • Clone
C-Rank Ninjutsu
After performing the correct hand seals the user creates a clone of themselves comprised completely of suiton chakra. This clone has the users stats. It lasts for [Control/5] posts.

Akashi frowned at his student. Aisu Namie was an exceptionally talented young girl. It wasn’t unexpected given her rumored heritage. He wasn’t yet able to confirm it, but some of the other academy teachers had mentioned that the girl was decended from a kage. She was talented. He knew that. Namie was one of the top students of her class, but this request seemed like she was in over her head.

“Elemental clone techniques are different than your basic ninpou clones. It’s usually first taught to genin, and really good ones at that. More often than not it’s something you master by the time you’re chuunin or near-chuunin.”

“My chakra control is as good as any genin,” the girl replied calmly – too calmly for someone her age, Akashi thought. “You’ve said so yourself. At least teach me the basics. The hand seals, the technique for molding the chakra. I’m ready.”

Akashi held back a sigh. Sure, she was good, and she outpaced so many of her classmates that he could understand that she was bored. He stood to lose nothing by teaching her this technique. But still, he hesitated. “Let’s go over the basics of the technique again first.” Namie stifled a sigh, but she nodded obediently. Obedience was an essential skill for a Kirigakure shinobi. She had learned that before she had even entered the academy.

The man bored her for several minutes with the basics of clone techniques. She already knew practically everything he told her, but Namie still pretended to listen intently as if she was taking in new information. Then he went over the hand seals, one by one. Slowly. As if she didn’t have it memorized by the time he went over the seals a third time. Finally, an hour later, he let her do the hand seals on her own without him walking her through it.

“Now, focus your chakra the way I told you. You’re creating a version of yourself with suiton. It takes a lot of control, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t get it right away.”

Blah blah blah. By the time he finished his little speech she had already made a construct. It…wasn’t perfect. It sort of looked like her, but very tired and very weak. It also leaked a bit of water from its eyes, hands, and feet. Namie grimaced and releaesed the jutsu, not noticing Akashi’s look of awe. He couldn’t remember the last time he had seen a child with such natural talent. She was what, ten? Maybe eleven? She had only been in the academy for a month and a half and already he could see that she was beyond the level of a genin. She wasn’t quite ready right then; she would definitely benefit from more training, but he could tell she would breeze through the rest of her time at the shinobi academy.

He tried to give her more pointers, but he could tell she was no longer listening. Namie formed the hand seals again, and this time she took a bit more time to focus on carefully molding her chakra. Akashi interrupted her concentration by telling her to wait before she tried again, to think about what she could do differently. “No thank you,” she said politely, but there was the slightest edge to her voice. She could sort of feel what went wrong the first time. It was hard to put into words. It was just a feeling.

The second time she created a suiton clone there wasn’t much improvement. It looked nearly the same as before: pale grey, zombie-like, with water leaking from its eyes, ears and hands. At least this time, she supposed, the leaking water wasn’t coming out of her clones hands and feet. It was limited to…a few orifices.


Even though Namie had a pretty advanced grasp on chakra control for an academy student, her chakra reserves were still lacking. She was only able to try the technique once more before tiring out. This time the clone was worse than the first two. She and Akashi attributed this to her being a bit drained, which affected her concentration.

Namie hated that. There had to be a way to strengthen and deepen her chakra reserves. That was, unfortunately, something that took a a lot of time and an intense amount of training. It wasn’t something she was capable of just yet. So for now Namie accepted that all she could manage for the day was three, and she would try again tomorrow.


When the next day came, she was ready. After doing their daily drills and whatever else the kids did in the Kirigakure academies, Akashi pulled her to the side and asked if she was ready to try the suiton clone technique again. She nodded and said, “You can help the others if you want. I don’t need supervision today.”

“Maybe not, but I’m curious. Don’t mind me, just start.”

Namie groaned a little under her breath but decided not to argue. She formed the seals, noticeably faster than she had the day before. For an half an hour or so before bed the previous night she had practiced the seals. She formed the seals over and over again until she could do it by muscle memory. Akashi shook his head imperceptibly in disbelief, but the girl didn’t notice. She had already made another suiton clone and there was noticeable improvement. It didn’t look so enervated and there was only the tiniest amount of leakage from the corners of its mouth. Namie huffed proudly and turned to her sensei, who was forced to quietly admit to himself that the girl possibly knew better than him what she was capable of. Next time she asked for him to teach her an advanced technique, he thought, he would probably do so without questioning her too much.

The man motioned for her to try again, and she happily did so. She formed her seals, paused to mold her chakra, and then performed the jutsu. The clone she created was damn near perfect. There was still room for improvement, but that was something that Akashi knew would come from experience. He nodded at her, trying not to seem too impressed, and then told her to go train something else. Namie skipped away, satisfied.



1052 words

[Kao]

Jutsu TrainedShow

*Suiton • Defensive Barrier
D-Rank Ninjutsu
After performing the correct hand seals the user will spray water created from the inside of their chest through their mouth. Once the water is expelled, it will form an umbrella shape that is concave to the user and about two meters in diameter. This defense is somewhat solid and can be formed in any direction the user can spit, up to 10 meters away. The defense is shot at [Control] Speed and has [Control] Strength and unless completely destroyed it lasts for three posts before falling lifelessly to the ground.

One of the other basic techniques that Namie needed to master was the barrier technique. She had practiced it a few times, but it wasn’t nearly as exciting as some of the other jutsu she had been trying out, so she hadn’t practiced it much in recent days. But since she was becoming more proficient in suiton, the girl thought she might as well stop procrastinating learning the technique and get it over with. So one day after she was dismissed from the academy she made a rather long trek to one of the many streams that ran through the island.

She stood ankle deep in the water and then began making the hand seals. It was yet another jutsu that required her to spit. Namie really hated it, and she was determined that any technique she learned down the line would not require her to spit – not if she had something to say about it. But she had received a hint that this was another technique that many of the teachers in the Academy expected suiton users to master, so she decided not to gripe about it too much. At least, she wouldn’t gripe about it to anyone else. All by her lonesome, though, she cursed under her breath as she practiced the technique over and over again.

It wasn’t too hard. All she really needed to get the hang of was shaping the chakra the way she wanted so that it was concave to her. It didn’t take much for the girl to figure out how much water was enough water. The basic technique didn’t require much. But the girl supposed that she could adjust the amount, especially if she was trying to block something huge. But for now, she focused on making a barrier large enough to cover herself and perhaps stop projectiles.

She practiced for a while, eventually getting bored with the repetition. On her way home that day, she thought of all the ways she could use this technique. It seemed like it would be useful down the line. She could stop projectiles, stop physical attacks from limbs and fists. She could also probably stop jutsu, especially those of the katon variety.

Namie also considered how she could perform it in a way that didn’t involve spitting. Maybe she could use her hands instead, like by holding them up and releasing the barrier from her palms. It was a smart alternative, and she wondered why Kirigakure shinobi liked to spit so much. It was a silly thought, but ten year olds often thought things that adults found strange.

The next day at the academy she practiced sparring with some of her classmates. There was quite a variety of techniques being thrown about, but it seemed like every few seconds someone threw out a suiton technique. Namie was no exception. As she swung her kunai and metal met metal, she thought of ways she could catch her opponent off guard. The kid she was fighting didn’t use suiton. Instead he used fuuton, but he seemed to be more focused on hand to hand combat in their fight.

Good. Namie threw her kunai at him and he knocked it out of the way. While he was busy with that, the girl formed her hand seals. He huffed at her and threw his own kunai at her, but she was ready. She inhaled and then quickly spat out a large glob of suiton that immediately twisted and morphed and spread. Her opponent’s eyes widened as his weapon slammed into the barrier and sunk down and was almost completely submerged in the water. In the next moment Namie had stepped around it with a twirl and slammed her fist into his nose. She felt the bones crack, and she smiled.


631 words

[Kao]

Jutsu TrainedShow

~Frozen Water: B Class
B-Rank Ninjutsu
Prerequisite: Suiton concentration
After performing a Suiton jutsu, the user will channel hyouton chakra and rapidly freeze that technique. While the technique may lose it’s ability to permeate and envelope, it will become solid in quality, gaining +[Control] strength in impact force. This technique is useful for trapping in the event the suiton technique has already enveloped something.

[Kao]

Jutsu TrainedShow

~Frozen Breath
C-Rank Ninjutsu
The user will prepare a quantity of hyouton chakra into their throat to begin this technique, then exhale with icy breath onto an inorganic target. Any material within the area of the breath will be rapidly chilled to the point of brittleness, weakening it by [Control] strength.

Namie opened her eyes, slowly. She groaned as she sat up in her bed, disoriented from her deep slumber. It wasn’t often that she remembered her dreamsin much detail, but the ones from the previous night were strangely vivid. Even now she dreamed about her time in the Academy. It was a formative time for her, and she had made lots of memories there. But she didn’t like to think about her classmates. Many of them were now dead.

Kirigakure’s tradition of pitting the Academy students against one another had culled her class. It had been a few weeks since she was promoted to genin, and it hadn’t been the most pleasant experience. The girl had wanted to graduate without killing anyone, but the moment she saw a certain brunette she knew she wouldn’t walk out of the test without spilling blood. She didn’t know what had come over her; one minute she was fighting with the girl with gritted teeth, and the next she was holding her by her hair and listening to the girl beg. Namie had released her, but before her opponent could clamber back to a standing position, Namie brought down her blade.

The memory played over and over in her head as she headed down to the training grounds. The time for celebrating her victory and promotion had long passed, and she knew her mother expected her to continue her training. Namie hadn’t accepted any missions just yet. It was too soon according to her mother and everyone else who had decided to give her unsolicited advice. She craved silence and solitude, anything to get away from her clan’s expectations for even just a little while. On her way to the grounds she picked a flower. Its yellow petals were pretty. The girl wasn’t sure what kind of flower it was, but dozens like it lined her path.

Namie focused her chakra in her throat. The hyouton chakra filled her throat with a familiar coolness that she found comforting. She turned the flower in her fingers, admiring it for a moment, and then breathed onto the petals. Her breath came in a tiny visible puff, and the flower petals curled and wilted. The genin tossed the flower aside and did the same thing, using only a very small amount of chakra since she was just playing around. She did this the entire way to the grounds, leaving frozen flowers in her wake.


When she got to the training grounds Namie immediately began with target practice. She wasn’t the best when it came to using projectiles, but she figured she should eventually develo the skills. She enjoyed kenjutsu, and what were kunai and daggers were basically tiny swords, right? At one point, instead of simply pulling the kunai from the target and then going back to throwing them, she stopped and stared at the battered wooden structure. She drew hyouton to her throat and then exhaled, breathing directly on the wooden target. The air around it condensed and froze, settling on the wood and giving it an icy sheen. Namie did this again, and then she flicked the target with her finger.

Afterwards she trotted backwards, keeping her eyes on the target as she twirled the kunai by the ring attached to the pommel. When she threw the kunai this time, it landed on the target with a sharp thunk. and ice fell from it onto the ground. She threw another, then another, using more of her strength with every throw. When the last kunai hit the target it pierced the wood and it cracked. The fissure spread and split the target in two. Namie hummed to herself. That seemed to be a useful technique, and one she could definitely see herself mastering further.

A day later, Namie found herself predictably at the training grounds. She practiced various suiton and hyouton techniques for hours, slowly building up how comfortable she was with the newer techniques she had started learning. The technique that utilized hyouton on her breath was more challenging than she initially thought it would be. Flowers and wooden targets were simple enough. Once she had an idea about how sturdy the wooden targets on the field were, Namie was able to better estimate how much chakra she needed. It paid to not be wasteful. The Aisu’s chakra control was advanced enough that she even after practicing the techniques only a few times, she could use just enough hyouton chakra to get the job done.

It was boring, though. So she practiced the breath jutsu on different objects. Rocks were interesting because normally she couldn’t crack rocks. She was physically strong for a genin, but she wasn’t like some of her classmates who already had chuunin-level strength. Cracking rocks and boulders with her bare hands was never something Namie thought she’d ever be good at. But with this technique that lowered the temperature of inorganic objects and made them fragile, Namie found that even she could muster up the strength to crack stone. Metal was a different story, however. Namie found it much harder to weaken metal, especially tempered weapons. She borrowed a few dud katanas that her mother’s swordsmith friend’s apprentice had made, and she practiced the breath technique on those.

She needed to use more chakra in order to weaken metal. Over the course of several days she focused on her frozen breath technique often. She ruined many wooden targets, but Namie cared nothing about them. People could make more, after all. At one point she lowered the temperature around her kunai and threw it at one of the targets. The weakened target shattered, and the kunai cracked. She hummed to herself, and she thought about how devastating hyouton could be if she, say, lowered the temperature around her body so that inorganic objects became brittle. She would maybe have to get a special katana if she decided to explore that combat style.

Namie continued on, breathing on objects with her hyouton breath and striking them. Eventually, she mastered the technique well enough that she could determine just how much chakra she needed in order to weaken various different materials.


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