Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

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Sanjuro
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Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Wed Feb 06, 2013 12:59 am

Jutsu Training – Shadow Shuriken Technique
886/850
Kazuho found himself in Training Ground 11, the training area located closest to his house. There were very few trees in this particular training area and only a small pond but on the other end they had several logs set up for strength training as well as wooden dummies for practicing specific forms of taijutsu. He was here in order to practice his shurikenjutsu; a skill he preferred over several other forms of ninja combat.

Recalling what his mother had told him about a special but at the same time simple shuriken technique, he withdrew two shuriken from his thigh holster. The idea was to throw the shuriken in such a manner that the shadow of the first concealed the second, making it more likely to get through and deliver a potentially fatal blow. Even the most basic of tools could be deadly in the hand of a well-trained shinobi after all.

Drawing his arm back, Kazu's teal eyes narrowed as he focused in on the target marked on one of the larger logs towards the end of the field. Him arm slingshot forward, his wrist flicking in such a manner that the shuriken were sent spinning and kept their trajectory. He knew the moment the blades left his fingertips though that he had failed. The second had been too close to the first and they both landed at the same time. Drawing another two shuriken, he lined up his shot again and prepared to release.

Tensing the muscles in his palm, where the second shuriken was resting, he flicked his arm and wrist once more and let the first fly. Just as it left his fingers, he slid the second forward and flicked it with his wrist though still in the same arm motion. The shuriken was slightly slower than he would have liked, but at least it was trailing behind and slightly below. The first shuriken dug into the wood but the second simply bounced off. That method apparently wouldn't work either.

Another set of shuriken, another failed attempt. The shuriken either weren't in sync, the second being too slow, or they were too closely aligned and could both be easily seen. Maybe if he tried a second throw, that would help improve the speed of the second shuriken and still allow him to keep it within the shadow of the first. The second through would have to be near instant though, so he would have to find a way to hold both shuriken without slowing down the draw on the second.

Resting the first throwing star between his thumb and index finger and the second between his thumb and his middle finger, he drew his arm back and launched the first shuriken forward, using his index finger to add the flick. He brought arm around and flicked his wrist again, using his middle finger to add a bit more emphasis to the shuriken. To his surprise the technique seemed to work for the most part, both were the same speed and the second blade was trailing slightly behind and below the first. The only problem was the technique would be too slow to set up in an actual fight as it was.

Kazuho frowned at the last pair of shuriken he had on him, glaring at the weapons as if willing them to do exactly what he wanted them to do. Sliding them onto his fingers, he spun them around while he walked down to collect the rest of his weapons. Without paying any attention, he flicked the twice shuriken ahead of him as he walked and watched with a sigh as they impaled the wooden log at the exact same time. Even not paying attention didn't seem to magically make the technique work itself out.

It only took him a few minutes to gather up all the throwing stars, stashing them away in his pouches, before returning to his original spot. Taking a slightly wider stance than normal, his hand hovered over the shuriken holster strapped to his thigh. By some unheard cue, his fingers suddenly dove into the pouch and withdrew two shuriken. Instead of bringing his arm back he simply whipped his arm up and forward.

The first of the hidden blades left his fingertips with its usual speed and with another quick flick of his wrist so did the second blade. Teal eyes kept a watchful gaze on the blades as they travelled through the air, trying to tell if someone would be able to make out the second from the first. He could see the first blade clear as day, but with the way the sun was currently facing he couldn't make out the second shuriken hidden within the shadow of the first. With a triumphant cry, he raced forward and grabbed the throwing blades from the log. These two were now his lucky shuriken.

Just to make sure it wasn't some kind of fluke, Kazu jogged back to his starting position. Without slowing and repositioning himself, his hand reached down and snatched up another two shuriken from his thigh holster. Two quick flicks of his wrist and the pair of shuriken sailed through the air, the second hidden by the first, and buried themselves deep into his training log. Well, that was one technique down at least.
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
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Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Wed Feb 06, 2013 2:06 am

Jutsu Training – Chakra Burst
850/850
Having completed his Shadow Shuriken training faster than he expected, Kazuho now had time to practice the techniques he wanted to rather than what he had told himself he would get done. There was a particular technique he had seen someone use against the training dummies a few days ago that he really wanted to try and copy. It was a small girl that who, at first, could only just make the dummy move with a punch but she had done something with her chakra and the next time she tried the dummy had been blown backwards by some kind of explosion.

Staring at his hand, he clenched it into a tight fist and threw a punch at the training dummy just to develop a base line. The wooden structure rocked but didn't move. With a nod he once again stared at his fist but this time he focused on his chakra flow. Eyes slowly closing, he pictured the core of his chakra in his stomach. The blue energy flowed throughout his body like a river, following the channels through to his limbs and down into his fingers and toes. This was something he knew he was going to have trouble with, he had plenty of chakra but directing its flow was a skill he was distinctly lacking in.

The image of his chakra network firmly in his mind's eye, he started to direct the flowing chakra the way he wanted it to move. Chakra slowly poured out of the core, building up around the core while he held it there. He tried to carefully allow it to flow out into the rest of his system, directing it up along the side of his body and towards his shoulder. As small amounts of chakra gathered there he held it once again and moved more and more from his core to his shoulder.

Once he had a sufficient amount of chakra built up in his shoulder, he stopped focusing on generating the extra from his core and started focusing on the flow from his shoulder down along his arm towards his hand and fingers. The blue energy moved along at a slightly faster pace this time, as it wasn't competing with the rest of the chakra flow running throughout his body. More and more the chakra gathered in his hand until he could physically feel it, like a vibration running through his hands and fingers that had the boy grinning.

Opening his eyes, clenching his fist, he threw his punch forward with a grin expected to see the training dummy get launched backwards. To his shock and extreme disappointment, nothing happened. The dummy rocked back and forth in the same manner it had the first time he punched it. He could still feel the buzzing like sensation in his hand but it apparently needed something else to trigger the explosion fist of awesome.

He began wailing on the training dummy with harder and faster strikes, wondering if there was a certain trigger point in the force of the punch. With each punch he grew angrier and angrier that the technique wasn't working like it was supposed to until he got so frustrated he let go of his built up control over the chakra in his hand. The punch he was delivering at the time sent the dummy sliding backwards despite the weights holding it to the ground.

Kazu started laughing at his success but at the same time he was jumping up and down on the spot holding onto the hand he had had the chakra build up in. There were several small burn marks along his knuckles and his hand was in a large amount of pain. But he had successfully created his new explosion fist of awesome technique. Of course he now had the same problem he had when he was learning the Shadow Shuriken technique. It was too slow at the moment to be useful in combat.

Closing his eyes and focusing on his chakra flow again, he drew the chakra up and along his side and into his shoulder once more. The only different this time was that it was the opposite shoulder and he was flowing it constantly rather than building it up and then moving it. The chakra trickled down his arm and into his hand and fingers. The energy gathered for a second or so before he felt the familiar vibration of power in his hand that signaled the technique was primed and ready for action.

Cocking his fist back, he again launched it forward into the midsection of the wooden training dummy. He let go of the chakra gathered into his fist and felt it explode violently out through the pores in his knuckles and forefingers. The wooden dummy was once again sent backwards along the ground with the explosion of chakra. The chakra burns were far less significant this time but were still there, he had yet to perfect the technique but he at least knew how it worked now. It was simply a matter of time before it was battle ready.
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
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Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Thu Feb 07, 2013 5:51 pm

It had been a long day of training for the eldest son of the Satoshi family. He managed to learn two new techniques, ignoring the fact that both of them were relatively straight forward, so he was content at the very least. At the moment Kazuho was sitting in the lowest branches of a tree, back resting against the trunk, staring down at the training field below. The cool evening breeze was slowly tempting him into the land of dreams but the boy refused to close his eyes. He still needed to get home and start dinner before he collapsed.

"Oi, Kazu, heads up!"

Teal eyes dragged themselves in the direction of the voice, seeing his best friend waving his arms wildly at him. Unfortunately he didn't notice the football heading straight for his head until it was too late. With a yelp of shock and pain, Kazu was knocked from his perch and landed face first on the grass below. With a long suffering groan, the boy slowly picked up his head and spat out the dirt and grass that had found their way into his mouth.

The laughter from his friend had Kazu slowly dragging himself towards the boy, his eye closed from laughing so hard, until he was in range to grab his ankle. With a little chakra into the palm of his hand to make sure he had a good grip, Kazu latched onto the boy's ankle and pulled as hard as he could. The laughter suddenly stopped and was replaced with a cry of panic. Now it was Kazuho's turn to start laughing, despite the pain that flared up in his cheek when he did.

"That was a cheap shot, Ryo."

"Not my fault you weren't paying attention ninja boy."

Kazuho groaned again and rolled onto his back, staring up at the darkening sky. "Uh huh. What's up, Ryo? You're kind of on the wrong side of the village."

Ryo stood up and brushed his pants off before grinning down at Kazuho. Normally Kazu was the happy go lucky one but Ryo's enthusiasm for just about everything put Kazuho to shame each and every time. It was something Kazu actually enjoyed about being friends with Ryo, people had come to expect him to be the nice guy so with Ryo he could be a little more subdued. It wasn't easy always being kind, it actually took a lot of effort not to yell at people for their stupidity sometimes.

"So I was down in the sewers yesterday, don't ask long story, anyway I found a crack in one of the walls. I figured it was just cause the place is ancient but there was a light coming from inside. I immediately thought of you, you love this mystery kind of thing. You have to come explore it with me!"

Kazu stared at Ryo for a solid minute, not blinking and barely breathing. "So you are telling me you found some kind of mysterious light… in the sewers underneath the village… and you only just came to tell me about this now!?"

The tiredness he had been feeling disappeared almost instantly at the thought of investigating. Maybe it was some kind of secret lab? Oh, or maybe there were ancient ruins underneath the village and something had broken out through the sewers!? His imagination was getting ahead of reality and Kazu had to slap himself to calm down.

"Minor problem though, I need to get home. I am babysitting my little brother tonight. Its mum and dad's date night. Blegh." He stuck his tongue out as if trying to get a bad taste out of his mouth. Just the thought of that… ew.

"Man, what a pain. Alright, you and me; first thing tomorrow morning. Meet me at my place."

Kazu nodded his acceptance of the plan. It sounded a lot better than what he was planning to do tomorrow anyway. There was only so much training you could do without a real teacher anyway.
"Ugh, it stinks down here." Kazu's voice was muffled by his scarf, currently located over his mouth and nose to try and block out the smell. He was using the water surface walking technique to avoid trudging through the sewer water, an issue Ryo seemed to have no problem with. In fact, the grin on his face suggested he was enjoying this.

"Well of course it does, it’s a sewer. You should relax a little ninja boy, it's just up ahead."

He was right. Kazu could see the soft glowing light emanating from a crack in the sewer walls only just further along. He quickly ran up to it, his imagination taking over his sense of reason, and stared into the crack. The light was too bright however and he could see nothing beyond whatever was making it. He tried to push himself through but couldn't fit through the gap.

"See why I didn't go down there myself now?"

Kazu turned to Ryo and grinned at his friend. Motioning for the boy to take a few steps back, Kazuho brought his fist back and took a deep breath. Chakra gathering in his hand, ready and waiting to be unleashed, the Genin punched the wall as hard as he could. The chakra exploded violently forwards, causing the already weakened wall to crumble even further until it was wide enough for both of the boys to fit through at the same time.

"Well, that's convenient," grumbled Ryo as he walked past the grinning Kazuho and into the gap.

The light was coming from an electric light mounted onto the wall. A series of them were all strung up, a long wire running between them all, heading down what looked to be a long, rather steep tunnel. The pair of boys turned to each other with large grins on their faces.

"RACE YA!" The pair shouted at the same time.

Both of the teenagers took off at a full blown sprint along the length of the tunnel. The further they went, the darker it got as the lamps became further and further apart. Someone else had been down here before, maybe it was some kind of new sewer system that was being built? It Kazuho that noticed the lamps suddenly stop just up ahead. Shouting for Ryo to slow down, he started to skid to a halt himself before he noticed Ryo was running even faster thinking Kazu was trying to trick him into losing.

"No no no! Ryo, stop! There is something wrong!"

Flooding the muscles in his legs with chakra, he took off with a burst of speed that kicked up dirt and pebbles behind him. A sudden cry from up ahead had him pushing himself as fast as he could move. He was right, the lamps ended because there was a sudden drop straight down into a black abyss. Skidding over the edge, he saw Ryo barely hanging on to a rocky outcrop below. Kazu ran down the side of the wall, chakra keeping him attached, and grabbed onto the boy's wrist.

Hauling his friend up and over the edge onto the outcropping itself, Kazu flopped down and let the chakra fade from his legs. The two boys stared at each other and started laughing so hard that they were almost crying. The laughter echoed off the walls of the tunnel and Kazu took the time to look around. It was perfectly circular with a few outcrops like the one they were on going all the way down. Just what exactly was this place?

"Want to keep going?"

"Damn right I do!"
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
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Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Thu Feb 07, 2013 7:26 pm

"Who do you think made this place?"

"Definitely a ninja. There is no way a normal person, even a group of normal people, could make a tunnel so perfect. This place looks like it was carved out with a giant circle."

Kazu and Ryo were currently making their way down to the bottom of the hole. It wasn't as large as it first appeared, being maybe only ten feet or so from one side to the other. The outcroppings were just far enough apart that they could be jumped down to or jumped up to, acting like a make shift stair case. It was only another few minutes of making their way down that they finally saw the bottom. It was lit up the same kind of lanterns that had littered the tunnel walls on their way to the drop. So someone had been down here as well? So much for some kind of long forgotten ruins.

Finally down on the bottom, there was another circular tunnel leading what Kazu assumed was to the starting point. The pair started down the tunnel, following the lights, both as quiet as they could manage. There were noises up ahead that sounded like people speaking. Creeping along the wall so to avoid casting a shadow too far ahead, the pair finally came across a large dome-like room with a small group standing around a table in the center. All of them were wearing the Konoha forehead protector and seemed to be discussing one thing or another.

Before he could even tell Ryo that they should leave, the boys were grabbed from behind by a singular hulking specimen of a human. "Look at what I found! Two lost little mice poking their noses in where they don’t belong!"

"Oi!" shouted Ryo, "Lemme go damn it!"

Kazuho sighed and accepted his fate, walking towards the center of the chamber clamped tightly in a headlock by the bear of a man. He vaguely recognized him, he was part of a group his mother had had around for dinner a few weeks back. All of them had been Chuunin or Jounin, so Kazu had tried to sneak in and get some prime info. He was caught and thrown out in seconds, kind of like now.

"You can let them go, Daiichi. That one there is my son," came the voice of a woman just up ahead.

Shoved forward alongside Ryo, he glanced up at his mother with a nervous smile and shrugged. "Hi, mom."

The woman sighed and shook her head, "How did you even find your way down here? And you brought Ryo with you? Honestly, Kazuho."

Kazuho lowered his head as he mumbled his explanation. "We found a crack in the sewers where there was light shining through. We just followed it, that’s all."

The booming laughter of Daiichi echoed throughout the chamber, "Hah! You hear that Kana? At least we know where that end of the tunnel comes out now."

The Satoshi matriarch sighed and nodded her head before turning and talking to the rest of the group of Chuunin in a hushed voice. They nodded as one and disappeared down a smaller tunnel off to the side. Turning back to the pair of boys, she motioned for them to follow her.

"Since you are here you may as well give me a hand. We need to place the lights along this tunnel and then hook them up to the generator back in the primary chamber. Consider this your punishment."

"Punishment for what!?" Ryo demanded before Kazu could clamp his hand around his friend's mouth.

Kana turned her teal eyed glare on the boy and he immediately shrunk back in on himself. "Take your pick. Going into the sewers, going down a strange tunnel without telling anyone, I'm assuming you pair broke something on your way down here as well."

The duo laughed nervously and looked at one another. It was scary the way she could determine that just by knowing the boys. As the followed along they were given a hammer and a bag of larger than normal nails each. Kana herself was carrying the length of wire and the bag of torches. It only took twenty minutes or so before they reached the end of the tunnel. The only problem was at the end of the tunnel there was a source of running water. Black beady eyes stared up at them from the water, several pairs all belonging to knobby-looking heads and long green snouts.

"Mom… what are they?" He had a sneaking suspicion that this was about to get hairy.

"Those would be alligators, son. Please tell me you practiced the techniques that were in those scrolls you took from my office."

Kazu grinned nervously at his mother before nodding. She shook her head at the boy before motioned for him to start up with whatever techniques he could use from this distance. The mother and son both made a similar set of hand seals and took in a deep breath. Kazuho's fireball was small, barely bigger than a human head. The fireball his mother produced was much more impressive; easily triple the size of Kazuho's and so hot that the boys were starting to sweat just by being near it.

"Come on, that won't kill them but it'll stop them from trying to chase us. I think it's time for you boys to go home."

The group moved back up the tunnel where Kana connected the other end of the wire into the generator. The tunnel suddenly lit up and the woman nodded her head in approval. Kazuho turned to his mother with a slightly confused look on his face.

"What are you even doing down here?"

The look he got in answer was enough to make Kazuho shut his mouth. Apparently it was a need to know thing. Kazu definitely did not need to know. Kana sighed and pointed at the tunnel they had originally come from. "Go, now. If I catch you two down here again the punishment will be much more severe. Oh, and Kazuho, you and I are going to be having words about your training tonight when I get home. That fireball needs some serious work."

Kazu groaned at the thought of being tutored by his mother, causing Ryo to laugh the entire way back along the tunnels. Tomorrow was going to be a painful day for him, he could already tell.
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
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Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Tue Feb 12, 2013 8:41 pm

Stat Training I – Speed
848/800
"Okay guys, today's training is going to be pretty straight forward. As a matter of fact, we've done it before," the collective groan from his friends made Kazu grin broadly at them. "Yup, you guessed it. Up the hill, mark your tree with your time and repeat. The kunai are already up there."

"You know we hate you, right?"

Kazu laughed at the group and scratched the back of his neck. Shooing the group to their usual starting positions, he himself took a spot right on the end so he could look down the line to keep an eye on his friends. Raising one hand, he waited for a second before dropping it and taking off in a sprint up the grassy incline in the hill. The rest were quick to follow, despite their original moaning and groaning they all enjoyed this as much as he did. Whether it was the competitive aspect in it, the slowest had to pay for their next outing, or just a desire to get better he wasn't sure but he was glad it worked.

It didn't take long before he could feel the burn building in his legs and he was only on his third run. With a small smile, he jogged on the spot for a few while he watched over the rest of the group. Every time they trained since he had become a ninja, it was harder and harder for him not to use chakra during the exercise. Not because he wanted to show up his friends because they weren't ninja but because it would be a good idea to mix the two training methods together. It would make for double the training in half the time, so to speak.
Kazu was waving goodbye to his friends as they all left for their homes, having finished the training session with Kazu once again waiting behind to pack up all their training gear. He looked back out to the field and rolled his shoulders. Their training may be over for the day but he wasn't ready to call it quits just yet. He had given his legs plenty of time to rest so now it was time to get back into it. This time he wouldn't be running up hill this, instead he was going to be focusing on a more speed endurance based test.

He jogged along and dropped a kunai into the ground every few meters or so until he had seven of the small bladed weapons dug into the ground. Lowering himself so that his knuckles were resting on the ground and his legs were slightly bent, Kazu slowly closed his eyes as he took in a few deep breaths. Teal orbs snapping open, the boy took off at a dead spring to the first kunai. Rapidly turning he sprinted back to his starting point and repeated the process, this time going ahead to the second kunai. Time and again he repeated the process until his legs were on fire and his heart was pounding in his chest.

When he finally returned from the last kunai he slowed to a walk in one spot as he regained his breath and let his legs relax for a minute. Before the burning sensation in his legs completely disappeared he started with the exercises again, this time trying to touch each of the kunai as he did his turn. The exercise wasn't really increasing his overall speed but it would increase how long he could maintain his speed which could, in all honesty, sometimes be even more important that being faster than someone. Of course, he had every intention of being more than able to do both.

Between each set his legs were still in pain, the intense burning not ever completely disappearing, but each time he could feel it begin to ease off faster and faster. Soon he would be able to do this kind of exercise without much trouble at all, he would need to ramp up the intensity. Maybe add in training weights next time? That'd be interesting to say the least. He would have to see if he could convince his friends into doing the same thing as well. Team bonding and all that.

The sun was beginning to set and Kazu was on his last run. He did want to make it home in time for dinner after all. He had since shed his scarf and jacket, leaving him in a sweat drenched black shirt and pants. As he came back from the fifth kunai back to the first, he decided to save time and applied a bit of chakra to his fingers. Sprinting down the line, he reached down and grabbed each of the kunai as he ran past. The additional chakra helped hold the weapons in place rather than accidently fumbling them because of his speed.

Kunai back in their holster, sprinting finally over and down with, Kazu collapsed onto the soft grass beneath him and stared up at the darkening sky. Dinner could wait five minutes while he got his breath back.
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
Posts: 3130
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Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Sat Mar 02, 2013 2:35 am

Jutsu Training – Smoke Style • Smoke Needle
865/850
Learning the Smoke Style was something Kazuho never anticipated picking up so early on in his career. He always expected his mother to teach him her techniques when he was a little older, maybe even a Chuunin. But since he had taken to the basics like a fish to water, she had gifted him with a scroll full of Smoke Ninjutsu that she had built up over the years of her career. At the moment he was sitting in the back yard of his own home rather than in one of the training grounds, if he screwed up he would rather have someone within earshot.

The first technique on the list was a simple one but required more shaping than he had ever attempted before, making needles out of smoke instead of just a ball or cloud. He took a deep breath and nodded more to himself than anyone else before putting his hands together. His fingers slowly moved through the set of hand seals at first, getting a feel for the sequence, before he began to pick up speed to try the actual technique. He focused his chakra from his core and brought it to his throat, building it up and slowly converting it into smoke. This part he knew how to do with relative ease. As he tried to bring it up into his mouth in the shape of a needle, his chakra fluctuated and the jutsu failed, leaving him breathing out a cloud of smoke.

Waving the smoke away from his face, Kazuho frowned at what went wrong. His chakra control sucked, he knew that much, but he could manage this at least. He had to be able to manage it. Bringing his hands together once more, he molded his chakra as he sealed and once again the smoke began to gather in his throat. He tried moving the chakra up and out of his mouth but once again it just came out as a rather pathetic cloud. With the other techniques from the style he knew, that’s all he had to do. Convert his chakra to smoke and then away it goes. But this smoke required form, he needed to figure out how to make it stay in shape.

Gathering his chakra, he formed the smoke once more but this time tried shaping it while it was still being converted. It came easier this time, he could almost feel it. Spitting the smoke from his mouth, he let out a small whoop of joy when a small smoke needle appeared. It only traveled a few feet before dissipating into the air but it was progress. The trick was to shape it as it was converting to the element, rather than trying to shape it after it had been formed.

His fingers ran through the hand seals with far more confidence this time, gathering his chakra and turning it into the smoky needle. He brought it to his mouth and aimed at a spot just ahead of him. The needle of smoke went flying forward with as much speed as he expected it to. However, it didn't explode into the cloud of smoke like the scroll said it should. It hit and then it kind of just faded away into nothingness. He had gotten the shaping down but he had forgotten it needed more punch behind it in order to really do anything useful.

The technique formed and again it took shape but lacked any power. It seemed he could produce plenty of chakra or shape it, but he had no idea how to do both without completely destabilizing the technique. Maybe he could store normal chakra within the smoke, rather than try and make the smoke somehow explosive? It was worth a shot, and if it ended up blowing up in his face he was sure that his mother was within earshot.

Activating the technique once again, he formed the smoke needle in his throat and started to pour normal chakra into it. It gathered and clung to the smoke, much to his delight, but it still needed testing. The smoke moved from his throat to his mouth and Kazuho spat it at the ground a few meters ahead of him. To his genuine surprise and not a small amount of glee, the grass ahead of him was torn apart by the small explosion and a cloud of smoke rose up from where the needle had hit, hovering in the air rather than just dissipating like it had the last few times.

Not wanting to risk it being a fluke, Kazuho raced through the already familiar set of hand seals and gathered his chakra for the technique to prove it to himself that he had learnt the technique. The needle formed and he gathered the explosive chakra component into the smoke. With a grin, he opened his mouth and spat out the explosive needle. It flew through the air in the opposite direction of the previous success and one again it exploded the moment it hit the ground, tearing up the grass and leaving Kazuho almost completely shrouded in smoke. Technique number one, success.
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
Posts: 3130
Joined: Fri Jul 02, 2010 8:00 pm
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Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Mon Mar 04, 2013 1:06 am

Jutsu Training – Smoke Style • Smoke Wave Technique
1261/1250
The smoke needle hadn't been as difficult as he first assumed it would be, after he had figured out the trick with shaping it while he was converting his chakra into smoke for the technique. The next few techniques were all other simple techniques, all basic and meant to tech him the style itself. Kazuho knew he should learn them all in order, but he really wanted to learn some cool high level technique. Going too high would probably land him in the hospital though, so a C-Ranked technique it was.

Reading over the scroll, he muttered to himself as he read. The scroll described the Smoke Wave technique as one of the Smoke Style Ninjutsu techniques that was designed with brute force in mind rather than capturing or suffocation. The theory behind it was rather simple but the amount of chakra needed was higher than the normal smoke technique, so for someone like Kazuho it was the ideal technique. After making the hand seals and the smoke, the user would throw both of their hands forward and release the smoke from the pores in their arms and hands rather than their mouth.

After that the smoke from both arms would come together and make a solid wall of white smoke as it kept on its forward path, hence the Wave naming scheme. The smoke was made dense enough that it packed quite a punch but it required the user, in this case Kazuho, to be constantly channeling chakra into it in order for the technique to maintain its shape and density. The technique, despite being offensive in theory, could also be used to defend against oncoming physical attacks or fire techniques. Unfortunately it was still weak to wind techniques but that was simply the way the style functioned.

Kazuho finally lowered the scroll and scratched his chin. Something like this would take a lot more effort than the needle technique had so he wanted to try and get it down within the first few tries rather than waste a bunch of chakra trying it over and over again and analyzing one mistake from each attempt. Bringing his hands together, he again practiced the hand seals for the technique a few times slowly before he even dared to try adding chakra into the mix. It ended in a clap, something he personally found cool, and then he thrust his hands forward like he was pushing up against an invisible wall.

'It seems simple enough. Besides, I should have more than enough chakra for a technique like this. Piece of cake, just you wait. Once I get this technique down I'm moving on to the B-Ranked stuff!'

Nodding to himself, he ran his fingers through the shapes to make the hand seals, and molded his chakra down through his arms and all the way into his fingers. The process for converting the chakra into smoke starting about half way through the hand seals, he was paying attention to every detail he could manage this time, and almost seemed to want out. The hand seals finished and he clapped his hands together before throwing them forward. The white smoke came pouring out of his arms and hands, leaving an almost tickling sensation behind as it did, and gathered together in a wall in front of the Genin.

The white smoke wall started to slowly move forward along the length of his back yard. He could tell straight away that it wasn't moving nearly as fast as it should. He flowed even more chakra through his arms and tried moving it faster. The chakra moved from his arms into the cloud of smoke but the sudden influx was not handled well by the wave. The entire smoke construct started to collapse and Kazuho could feel his control over the technique slipping away.

Using every exercise he could ever recall being taught about chakra control, Kazuho brought the wave of smoke back under his control with no small amount of effort. Constantly flowing smoke out of his arms was starting to have a physical effect on him as well, he could feel his arms shaking from the exertion. Pushing the smoke along the last few feet of its path, he tried to push it against his fence but lose control just before it hit. The cloud of smoke dissipated into the surrounding air, wisps of white smoke rising into the sky that would no doubt worry the neighbours.

Kazuho let out a long breath and let his arms relax at his sides. He couldn't help but smile a little, despite the fact that his knees and arms were starting to shake from the exertion. It wasn't a great success like he had been planning on but it was more progress than he had honestly expected of himself. Looking back over his performance, he did exactly what he promised himself he would do and figure out every fault he could. Not only had he overestimated how much chakra he had left from practicing the Smoke Needle so many times first, Kazuho had also underestimated just how much chakra and control keeping the wave of smoke took. There was also the fact that the chakra was coming from his arms and he had to hold them in place or else the technique would falter and die out before reaching its full effectiveness. Shaking himself off, he bounced up and down on the balls of his feet a few times to try and pump himself up.

'Okay, I can do this.'

Taking in a long gulp of air, he brought his hands together at his chest and folded his fingers through the necessary set of hand seals. The chakra flooded his arms, filling them with energy and he grunted as he converted the chakra into his chakra infused smoke. Throwing his arms forward, the smoke flew out of his arms and hands, forming together into the wall faster this time now that he had a better idea of what exactly he was supposed to be doing with the control. The white smoke gathered around his arms and then shot forward and into a massive ball.

The wall of smoke formed up and condensed until it could almost be considered a solid instead of a gas. With a grunt of effort and an extra thrust from his arms, Kazuho poured more chakra into the wave to get it moving along its path. Steadily, a little faster this time too, the cloud moved forward along the length of his backyard. He would make it hit the fence, as a test of both its range and how strong it was. He knew that he himself could almost push over the rickety fence that was in desperate need of repairing so the compressed smoke should be able to as well.

Slamming into the wooden boards of his fence, Kazuho grit his teeth and poured even more chakra into the long line of smoke. Sure enough the smoke proceeded to knock the entire portion of fence clean over. Kazuho let the chakra go and collapsed to the ground below, sweat pouring off him in rivers but a grin firmly in place. It still wasn't perfect, but he had a solid grasp on how to perform the technique. It would be enough for now. To really perfect it he would need to seriously work on his chakra control, which had been his major downfall when it came to getting the technique down on the first try.

'Hrmm… I think lunch first, and then more practice.'
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
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Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Wed Mar 06, 2013 4:58 am

Jutsu Training – Boomerang Projectile
867/850
Kazuho was feeling good today, standing in his back yard with a small scroll in his hands. It was a technique he had wanted to learn for a little while now but he had never gotten around to it, busy with missions and studying his mother's Smoke Style. The technique was a basic Ninjutsu, only a D-Rank, but for someone like him who liked to fight from a distance it was great. The Boomerang Projectile technique would let him bring back his weapons after he had thrown them and all he had to do was put a little chakra into them beforehand.

Teal eyes roamed over the scroll, taking in the instructions and the diagrams that showed him which hand seals to make. He read it over a few more times before tucking it away in his pouch and clapping his hands together at his chest. His fingers folded through the hand seals the scroll had described and Kazuho could feel the process getting started. His chakra flowed from his core and through his arm, gathering in his hand and patiently waiting to be transferred into his weapon of choice. He slipped a kunai from his thigh holster, spinning it around as he was prone to doing, and carefully channeled the chakra from his hand through his tenketsu and onto the weapon.

If he looked closely, he could see a faint distortion around the kunai and he could still feel the chakra coating the weapon. Giving it a second to settle, he brought his arm up and took a simple stance. No need for fancy throwing techniques when he was testing a brand new Ninjutsu technique. Drawing the kunai back, he shot his arm forward and let the blade leave his grasp. As it left his fingertips, he felt his connection with the blade and therefore the chakra end. The kunai sailed through the air, reaching from his spot at one end of his backyard to the other.

Just before the blade of the kunai dug into the wall, the blade seemed to glow for a second before it started flying back towards him though it was a lot slower than the speed he had thrown it with. Still, the technique seemed to be working as described, the blade was slowly but steadily coming back to him. The kunai reached halfway back across the yard, only half the distance it had travelled, but it seemed to shudder and then simply drop out of the air.

'Well… I don't think that quite worked.'

Jogging to the kunai, he plucked it from the ground and turned it over a few times in his hand. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with the weapon, so had he done the technique correctly? It seemed to be working for the most part; he simply couldn't understand why it had failed half way through. It couldn't be anything to do with his control, once the blade left his hands the chakra did the work for him and he no longer had any kind of control over the technique. Maybe he didn't put enough chakra into the technique in the first place. It would explain why it only made it half way back instead of having enough power to sail right past him if he didn't catch it.

Running back to his starting position, Kazuho flipped the kunai around his fingers a few times before finally sheathing it and slapping his hands together in order to make the necessary hand seals for what he hoped would be his successful attempt. Again the chakra flowed down into his hand where it waited while he drew the same kunai from its place on his thigh and he began channeling the chakra into the weapon. Instead of stopping when he could see a simple distortion in the air, Kazuho kept pouring more and more chakra into the kunai until he could see a faint glow around the edges that encased the weapon.

Feeling a lot more confident about his second attempt, Kazuho grinned as he brought the blade up into a throwing position. His arm shot forward and the kunai left his hand, leaving behind a faint tingle in his fingertips and he broke the connection with his chakra. The kunai sailed the length to the opposite side of his back yard until it once again almost dug into the wooden boards that made up his fence. The glow around the blade brightened for a minute as the chakra kicked in and sure enough the weapon started travelling back along its original path albeit much slower.

It shuddered on its path but didn’t drop out of the sky this time, a good sign that Kazuho had been correct in putting more chakra into the technique rather than focusing on more precise control. Instead of trying to catch it when it came within range of his hand, Kazuho stepped aside and watched as the blade sailed past him and straight into the wooden boards of his fence. The technique died and his kunai dropped to the grass below. Quickly retrieving his weapon, he stowed it away before pulling out the scroll and kissing it. Ninjutsu were awesome!
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
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Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Wed Mar 06, 2013 8:22 pm

Jutsu Training – Tracking Device
890/850
Kazuho's afternoon training had been planned for him, apparently. He had gotten back from lunch to find a scroll on his bed marked 'Homework'. Apparently his mother wasn't quite done teaching him as if he were an Academy student. He couldn't complain though, the techniques she gave him were pretty useful more often than not. This particular scroll was filled with details on performing a Ninjutsu technique called a Tracking Device technique.

The theory behind the technique was simple enough, it was a chakra-based tracking system that didn't rely on being a Sensor-type. All he needed to do was fill a strand of his own hair with chakra and then place it on the target. His connection with his own chakra would then be strong enough that he could 'feel' which direction his chakra was in. It wasn't a perfect method but for someone like him who had no chance of ever learning how to sense chakra to a decent degree it was the best one he had available to him.

Sitting down on his bed, he folded his legs under him and kept the scroll unrolled in his lap. Reaching up, he grabbed onto a few strands of his hair and yanked. The hair came loose though not without some resistance, but alas the pain was worth the potential reward. New technique, here we come. Placing the strands of brown hair along the scroll, he brought his hands together at his chest and closed his eyes. Focusing on his chakra, he ran through the hand seals he would need to activate the technique. As his hands moved, he could feel his chakra rising to the surface ready and waiting to be used.

With a small grin, he carefully picked up a single strand of hair between his forefinger and thumb. Without opening his eyes, he started to flow the chakra from the tenketsu in his fingertips and into the strand of dark brown hair. He felt the familiar tingle of energy in his fingertips as the process occurred; his chakra formed a shell around the strand of hair he was holding that he would hopefully be able to track. Turning to his window once he was sure the chakra would hold, he pushed open the shutter and put his hand out. Letting go of the strand of hair, he watched as it sailed off on the light wind that was blowing.

Quickly closing his eyes, he brought his hands into a ram seal at his chakra and concentrated on his chakra. It took him a few moments to calm down from the excitement he was feeling but once he had he could feel a distinct 'pull' that was leading him towards the south. Jumping out of his window, he applied a little chakra to his feet to clamber up to the roof before he started running along the rooftops all the while following the pull he could feel. It wasn't a physical thing but he could definitely tell it was his chakra leading him in this particular direction.

After a few minute of running he realized he could barely feel the tug on his chakra anymore. If he had been getting closer it should have been getting stronger, right? Pulling his hands together, he made another single hand seal that helped him to focus on his chakra rather than to perform another technique. It took him a second or two but he finally found the pull, it was heading west now? The wind was still blowing to the south though, had his hair gotten caught on something? Was he actually going to get to track a person with this technique on his first attempt?!

Diving off the roof he was on, seeing as there were no rooftops heading in a westerly direction, he landed on the top of a small tree someone had in their backyard. Again he jumped down and this time landed on their fence before jumping a final time to land on the street. A quick hand seal and he had a fix on the direction his chakra was going in. Kazuho shot down the street, kicking up dust and pebbles in his path. He was grinning the entire way, tracking this one tiny strand of hair was far more exciting than he had initially thought it was going to be. At every crossroads he would stop and make the hand seals again to focus on his chakra and then follow whichever direction the chakra pulled him towards.

By the time the feeling got strong enough that he figured it had to be close by, he had once again taken to the rooftops since he was getting closer to the central markets and therefore the crowds continually got larger. Making the hand seal again, he felt the chakra stronger than ever but still couldn't see anything that it could be attached to. He heard a sound from above and looked up. Flying above him was a pure white bird and right on its chest was a thin strand of black that could only be his hair. He had been chasing a bird this entire time, no wonder it was constantly changing directions.

Shaking his head and laughing to himself, he dropped from the rooftop and started on his way home. Another day down, another technique learnt.
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
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Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Mon Mar 11, 2013 5:10 pm

A long, slow sigh emanated from the young Satoshi child. Teal eyes were staring straight up at the blue sky, seeing but not really watching the clouds slowly drift by without a care in the world. It was as if the boy were looking into some other world that no one else could see, a world where he could be alone to just stop and think. Normally he wasn't a thinker but, right now, it seemed his mind was being flooded with thoughts and he could barely focus on any of them.

There were his normal thoughts; what sport should he try next? What technique would he master tomorrow? But there were also other things, things that normally didn't even occur to him that for some reason were pestering him beyond belief. Why had he sacrificed so much in order to become a ninja? What possessed him to give up his simple, easy life for one that would be so full of hardship and suffering all those years ago?

He could say it was his parents pressuring him, he could even say it was for the village, but in reality his parents had never really pushed him too hard and he was only fourteen, what did he really know about village pride or loyalty? He had left his friends behind, his sports, too become a person who he knew would one day be forced to fight and kill other people. Not just other shinobi, but anyone who the Hokage deemed a necessary sacrifice to 'protect the Will of Fire.'

Another sigh escaped his lips. Maybe he wasn't cut out for being a ninja after all. He had decided to become a ninja when he was still just a kid, how could he have made a properly informed decision? It all seemed like fun and games then but he was older and smarter now. He knew that he would never be the same if he had to kill someone. Slowly lifting his hand so it in front of his face, the boy stared at it and his mind superimposed an image of blood covering it and dripping down onto his face.

Is that what he would become if he continued along the path into the shinobi world? A murderer whose hands were so stained by the blood of others that it would never come off? His jaw clenched and the boy shook his head in answer to his own mental question. He refused to become like that. He absolutely refused to become just another lackey who followed orders without questioning them and killed whoever got in his path.

He could remember now… why he had chosen this path of seeming solitude and left his old friends behind. His ambition, his dream as a shinobi, wasn't to seek glory for himself or his village. It was to make sure his friends would always be safe. To uphold his own sense of justice and righteousness, even if it meant taking a path that conflicted with those around him. No matter what, he would remain true to himself and his beliefs.

Clenching his hand into a fist, the vision of blood disappeared and he lifted his fist to the sky above, having left his own little world and now able to see the clouds once more. Each one of them was unique. Each one of them was special and didn't conform to the other clouds around them. He too would have to be unique, have to be special. He would need to be faster. He would need to be stronger. He absolutely would need to be better, so he could protect the people he loved without resorting to the shadowy path of death that shinobi were destined for.

"Kazuho, come inside, lunch is ready."

Sitting up from his position in the grass of his backyard, he watched as a single leaf fluttered along the wind, passing in front of him before being carried off again. The Genin smiled softly and nodded to himself. His desire to protect was no longer a dream; it was a promise to himself. He would protect his friends and he would uphold his honor while doing so. No matter what.
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
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Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Mon Mar 25, 2013 11:40 am

-
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
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Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Sat Mar 30, 2013 6:23 pm

Stat Training III – Chakra Control
1643/1600
Kazuho was sitting in the middle of a training field, legs crossed and hands held together in a ram seal at chest height. His teal eyes were closed and if one listened closely his breathing was deep and even. For the first time in a long time, Kazuho was attempted to meditate and focus on his chakra control. Running alongside him was a small river that led to a waterfall, the sound of which was filling the entire clearing. The waterfall was clearly manmade, it's odd location being the primary give away. Created through the use of Ninjutsu, it was built for Kazuho's exact purpose. Chakra control training.

While most used it as the final test for some kind of elemental chakra training, Kazuho was using it as basic control training. One of his biggest downfalls as a ninja was his poor chakra control, as his mother told him over and over again. She was the one that had directed him to this place. Nervous about trying to walk up a waterfall, Kazuho had decided to try and get 'in sync' with his chakra, so to speak, before he attempted it. Hence, the meditation.

With his attention focused inwards, he could feel his chakra flowing through his system, carrying energy to each part of his body almost like it was blood. In a way, it was like blood. They were both necessary to keep him alive, both flowed through him and kept him moving. The only difference was Kazuho could potentially control the chakra. He just needed to focus.

Gathering all the control he could manage, he directed the chakra flow to his feet. This part was simple enough, he had done it a million times before. The energy flowed down his legs and began to gather in his feet. This was the difficult part. Without opening his eyes, he unfolded his legs and placed his feet atop the water. As the water flowed underneath the soles of his feet, he forced more chakra through and pushed down with his foot. It sank slightly before he managed to adjust the output of chakra enough that it floated so matter how hard he pushed down on the surface of the water.

Taking a final deep breath, he slowly opened his eyes and stared up at the intimidating torrent of water that could quite possibly kill him if he wasn't careful. Shaking his head, he pushed up from his position on the bank of the river, keeping his attention of the chakra flowing through his feet and carefully balanced atop the river. Having stripped down to nothing but his boxers and a tank top to avoid getting completely soaked through, he carefully walked atop the surface of the river and made his way to the waterfall. The spray from the raging water covered him before he could even take a step on it and he was all the more glad he wasn't wearing all his clothes.

'Okay, I can do this. I have to do this. If I don't I'm a failure of a ninja, and I do not fail!'

Nodding to himself, he slapped his cheeks a few times to get his blood flowing and gave the raging waterfall a cocky grin. He would conquer this and move on to even greater heights. Confidence piqued, he took a step forward and placed it against the running water. He attempted to take another step but his chakra fluctuated as it tried to match the rhythm of the flowing water. Any semblance of control he had was ripped from under him, along with his feet, as the waterfall dragged him under.

A coughing and spluttering Kazuho rose up from the depths of the river, using chakra to drag himself back onto the surface and heave in a few deep breathes. Yup, stripping half naked had definitely been a good idea. A shiver ran through him as a strong breeze blew through the clearing. He needed to beat this accursed waterfall before nighttime unless he wanted to freeze to death. Taking a long breath, he decided to attempt the same method he used when he was first learning how to walk up trees. Taking a few shorts breaths to psyche himself up, Kazuho bolted towards the waterfall in a dead sprint.

Foot met raging rapid water and clung to it just enough for Kazuho to lift his other foot and cling to the waterfall with both feet. His chakra was constantly shifting to try and compensate for the constantly changing density of the waterfall. It was moving so fast that he couldn't keep up with it though and his third step was where he began to slip. Rather than risk being dragged under again he pushed way more chakra than necessary into his feet and got blasted off the surface of the waterfall. Doing a backflip, he landed a few feet from the waterfall on bent knees.

'This… is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.'
An hour later and Kazuho was glaring at the waterfall from the bank of the river. It wasn't working like it was supposed to. He was supposed to be altering the flow of his chakra to match the water but it was flowing too damn fast for him to keep up with. In thirty minutes of grueling run after run he had never managed to make it past the first two steps before his feet were ripped out from under him and he was sucked down into the river again.

"You know you are going about this all the wrong way."

Kazuho's glare shifted from the waterfall itself to the figure standing atop it. Of all the people he had been expecting, it hadn't been his father. The humble shopkeeper, the man who bowed to his wife's every whim, was standing clad in a black training gi and barefoot atop the waterfall. As if proving a point, the older man walked down the waterfall without even breaking a sweat, clinging to the flowing water with ease. Kazuho's glare faded and a look of shock replaced it. Since when had his father been a ninja?

"Heh, I wasn't always a shop keep you know?" The elder Satoshi walked over to his son and knelt down before him. "You're thinking about it too much, son. Let your instincts guide you. You're a ninja; it's in your blood. Trust me."

Too dumbfounded to say anything, Kazuho just nodded and stood up, making his way back out onto the river once more. His father sat exactly where he had been, eyes closed and hands in the same seal that Kazuho had been using earlier while meditating. When the hell had his boring dad turned into a cool ninja? Now he absolutely had to complete this training. He refused to disappoint this new cool father as well as his mother, who was probably expected him to master this as easily as she had when she had first learnt it. In fairness though, his mother was a freak when it came to chakra control.

Taking a deep breath, he looked at the waterfall ahead of him and sighed. Running forward, he heard his father's voice echo in his mind. Trust his instincts, right? Closing his eyes the second his foot touched the waterfall, he started up the vertical river with chakra rushing wildly from his foot to keep him in place. Another step and he once again managed to keep in place with his chakra fluctuating rapidly to match the pace of the water below. A third and a fourth step followed before he felt his control starting to slip. With a grunt he managed to refocus his chakra to sync up with the rhythm of the waterfall and he started steadily moving up the waterfall again.

His control slipped beyond a hope of reclamation and he used his chakra to again blast him away from the waterfall before it could drag him under. Opening his eyes as he was sailing through the air, he saw the slight gap in the waterfall where his chakra had blown a hole before the water rushing back over to fill the gap. He had managed to make it a quarter of the way up. After spending a solid hour making no progress, one piece of advice from a source he never expected to get ninja advice from and he had managed to make it a quarter of the way up.

Turning to grin at his father, he found that the man was gone and he was alone in the training field once more. Kazuho really had no idea what was going on but he would really need to speak to that old man about his strange mysteriousness lately when he got home but for now he had a waterfall to conquer. Racing back at the waterfall with a grin on his face, he was determined to make it to half way this time.
Night was beginning to fall as Kazuho's mother stepped into the training grounds, looking around to find her no show of a son. What she found was Kazuho laying sprawled out next to the river, shirtless and using his tank top as a pillow. She walked a little closer and heard his snores over the sound of the waterfall and couldn't hold back her little giggle.

"He did alright for his first time." A shadowy figure dropped down beside the woman. The rising moonlight revealed his face to be none other than Kazuho's father, still dressed in his black gi. "The boy ended up making it half way before he ran out of chakra."

"Well, he is your son. Way too much chakra and not enough brains."

The Satoshi patriarch chuckled and wrapped his arm around his wife's shoulders. "Come on, let's get him home."
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
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Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Fri Apr 05, 2013 3:29 am

Dealing with the Past
Part I
It was a rather quiet morning of trade at Satoshi General. The owner was currently in the back, taking inventory and god knows what else, whilst our young protagonist was tending to the counter, ensuring that no customer came into or left the store without being served with a warm smile and a friendly attitude. At least, that was what he was supposed to be doing.

"Soooo boooored."

Kazuho was leaning against the countertop, head propped up in his palm and flicking through a catalogue of goods that they stocked. He already knew the prices of each and every item within, having read it almost thirty times in the last hour or so, but he continued to flip through it as at least it was some form of entertainment. He hated working in the store on a good day when he was constantly busy; he'd rather be out training, but on a slow day like today? It was a nightmare for the overactive Genin.

When the tiny bell jingled from over the door, Kazuho shot up and immediately started peering around the counter to see if he actually had a customer. What he saw made him shy away from the counter a little. Two fully clad ninja, probably Jounin, had entered the store and they looked pissed. Letting out a nervous cough, he bowed his head to the pair as they walked up to the counter.

"G-good morning! Welcome to Satoshi General, how can I help you today?"

When the two came to a halt, Kazuho could make out their features. The first was tall, well above six feet, and covered in scars. He had a deep tan and was muscle bound like no one he had ever seen before. The second was shorter, probably only a few inches taller than Kazuho himself, and had a clean cut moustache with a seemingly perpetual smirk. It was the shorter one that spoke, leaning across the counter to get right in Kazuho's face.

"Where is the owner, boy?"

Before Kazuho had a chance to respond, a voice echoed from behind him. "Right here. Good morning gentlemen. How can I be of service?"

The larger of the two ninja grunted while the smaller one grinned almost maliciously. "We need a word," he cast a glance towards Kazuho, "in private."

Kazuho was shooed outside by his father, where he heard the signature click that meant the door had been locked behind him. Who the hell were those guys? What did they want with his father? Deciding not to simply stand around and wait, Kazu made his way around to the back of the store. There was a small window that led into his father's office where he could maybe listen in to their conversation. What he wasn't expecting was to find a pair of boys already there, listening in and snickering. Were they with the two Jounin?

"Hehe, this is gonna be awesome! I've heard my dad talk about this Satoshi guy before."

"Yeah, my dad calls him a coward and a waste of space. Given the state of this trashy place, I can see why."

Unfortunately for the two snickering boys, Kazuho heard every word of their whispered conversation. Arms tense, fists balled so tightly that his nails were drawing blood from his palms; he stalked towards the pair from behind. Reaching out before they had even heard him approach, Kazu grabbed them both by the scruff of their collar and pulled them away from the window, almost throwing them clean across the alley.

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" Kazuho growled out.

The first boy stood up and sneered at Kazu. "Just who the hell do you think you are? Do you have any idea who I am? That man in there is an elite jounin and I am his son!"

"Yeah, what's it to you anyway?" the second asked as he too crawled back to his feet. "This place is a piece of crap and so is its owner. You got a problem with that?"

Kazu saw red right there. He could take people insulting him, he didn't give a damn. But when people started ripping on his family or his store? Shit was going down. With a roar Kazuho launched himself forward and had his fist buried in the first boy's stomach before the poor kid had any clue what was going on. Not done yet, he brought his leg up and hooked it around behind the seconds head, delivering a solid kick to the boy's skull with the back of his heel.

Even as the second fell, Kazuho grabbed onto the shirt of the first and spun around. Releasing him half way through the spin, the boy was tossed straight into the brick wall on the other side of the alley. Dropping to his knees over the second boy, he cocked his fist back and slammed it straight into the boy's face.

"This. Is. My. Store!" each word was enunciated with a punch to the face. "And that is my father your insulting!"

Arm pulled back for the final blow, he swung down as hard as he could but found himself being yanked off the boy by a strong pair of arms before he could connect. Kazuho spun around and in his fury swung his fist without thinking. His fist was caught by a huge hand and encompassed entirely, his arm being slowly twisted as he cried out in pain. It was the larger Jounin from inside.

"Let go of him. Now."

"Or what, Satoshi?"

The next few moments all appeared as a blur to Kazuho. One moment he was being forced to the ground by a giant of a man and the next he was being held up by his father while said giant was nursing what looked to be a broken wrist. The shorter of the two jounin stepped forward and smarmily smirked at the pair.

"Do give what we discussed some serious thought, Kyoma."

With a grunt, Kazuho's father led Kazuho back around to the front of the store without saying a word. When they were finally back inside the store, he let out a long sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose from under his glasses.

"Kazuho, son, would you please explain to me why you took it upon yourself to start a fight with two of your peers?"

Kazuho folded his arms across his chest and glared up at his father. "They were insulting the store! They were insulting you! They called you a coward! Who the hell are they to call you that!?"

Kyoma sighed again and shook his head, before grabbing onto both of Kazuho's shoulders. "I appreciate you protecting my honor, son, but you shouldn't have done that. You know better."

Refusing to accept his father's words, Kazuho just hmped and looked anywhere but in his father's eye. "Who were they anyway? Those guys that you were talking to? Why would some Jounin want a private word with you?"

"Ah… well, that’s a story for another time perhaps. We need to get back to work."

"Dad, tell me what's going on. First you show up acting like a ninja while I'm training a few days ago and now this happens? I'm not an idiot; I know you're hiding something! Just what aren't you telling me!?"

The elder Satoshi plucked his glasses from his nose and wiped them clean with a rag he plucked out of his pocket before nodding towards his office. Neither Satoshi spoke as they walked into the office though Kazuho's jaw dropped when he saw his father make a set of hand seals as they entered and the room glowed as several seals appeared.

"Sit down, son. I think it's time you learnt a bit about your family history."
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
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Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Sat Apr 06, 2013 3:22 am

Dealing with the Past
Part II
"For almost seven generations now, the Satoshi family have been shinobi. At first we were freelancers, taking odd jobs around Fire Country and beyond. That is until my grandfather emigrated here to Konoha. When I was only a little older than you are now, I was an elite Jounin for the village. My team and I were the best and what we did. Infiltration, sabotage and assassination.

"For years, our family suffered a certain… stigma. Konoha may be an open enough place, but for a family of trained shinobi it is not one of the best placed to emigrate to. We were watched constantly for a long time until we earned the trust of the Hokage. After that my team and I were sent on more and more difficult mission. I was young and foolish, so I kept accepting them. We became known for taking suicide missions and coming back alive.

"One day I returned home to some of the greatest news I had ever received. Your mother was pregnant with you. It was the happiest moment of our lives. Our first child. Your mother, forever stubborn, kept on working at the Academy while I took on more missions to give you anything you wanted.

"The night you were born, I was asked to take a mission. It was important, probably the most important mission I had ever been offered. Of course, my teammates were already packed and ready to go the moment the orders were given but I… I did something that to this day I do not regret despite the shame it has brought me. I said no.

"I wasn't going to risk leaving my first son fatherless. No matter what happened, my priorities in life changed the moment you were born. I was a father first and a ninja second. Of course, after that night, I wasn't a ninja at all. I was almost arrested for treason. I bought the store about a month after you were born and that is how things have been since."


Kazuho remained silent all through the story of his father's past. Even now, when the elder Satoshi was clearly waiting to see Kazuho's reaction, he said nothing. Dry lips parted and closed a few times, as if Kazu was trying to say something but couldn't find the right words. When he finally spoke, it wasn't what his father was expecting to hear.

"Those two men today. They were your teammates, weren't they?" A confused nod. "What did they want?"

Kyoma stumbled and suddenly looked a little worried. "They, uh, wanted me to go on a mission. I said no, of course."

Kazhuo studied his father. Despite the glasses, the two looked scarily alike. They even had the same mannerisms. Kazuho had been told repeatedly by his mother that no matter how hard he tried, he could never lie to her. His eyes told her the truth. He could tell right now that his father was lying to him.

"Liar."

"Son, I-"

"No! You’re a liar! You are actually considering going on that mission, I can tell! And you lied to me about being a shinobi! What else have you lied to me about, huh!?"

"Kazuho, what? I've never lied to you."

"Bullshit! For years you've always said 'Your mother is the ninja, not me' or 'Ah, being a shinobi must be tough, I'm certainly not cut out for it'. Were you just trying to cover up your shame? Are you such a coward you couldn't even tell your own son the truth about his father!?"

Kazuho was cut off by a sharp slap to his right cheek. Slowly he lifted his hand to touch the reddening mark, shock showing on his face. His father had never once struck him in his entire life. Who the hell was this man!? Shock was quickly over taken by anger as Kazuho swung back at his father, only to have his wrist caught with a blinding speed.

"Everything I have done, Satoshi Kazuho, I have done to protect you. I sacrificed everything to ensure that you and your brother would have a happy, normal life. You will not speak to me like that again."

He could feel the tears welling up in his eyes but he refused to let them fall. With a snarl he ripped his wrist free of his father's grip and surged up from his chair. "You can tell mom I won't be home for dinner tonight. I hope you don't lie to her as well."

"Kazuho! Kazuho, stop right there!"

Kyoma's words fell on deaf ears as the eldest son of the Satoshi family barged out of the small office, slamming the door shut behind him so hard that it shook the room. Kyoma slowly sat back down, a stricken look of disbelief on his face. He had thought his son, his happy carefree little boy, would understand why he had lied to protect him. He was apparently wrong.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

'Damn lying bastard! Every time I asked him to help me train, he lied. Every time I asked him about being a ninja, he lied! Everything he has ever told me has been a lie!'

The log he was punching cracked a little and Kazu pulled his fist back, glancing down at the knuckles to see blood oozing out of the broken skin. With a sigh, he walked over to the nearby river and knelt down to wash his hand. The still waters served as a mirror and Kazuho saw the large red mark on his face. He slowly lifted his hand to it and gently traced the bruise. It still hurt more than his knuckles, even after an hour of mercilessly beating on a log.

It wasn't the physical pain that hurt the most though. There was an ache in his heart mixed with a great amount of guilt. He knew that his father had lied to protect him. It was something parents did. But he just couldn't ignore the fact that something like this had been looming over him for years and he hadn't even known. He had an entire history that he knew nothing about, and now he apparently had to suffer some stigma because his father abandoned a mission.

He didn't think his father was a coward for abandoning the mission. He didn't think he was a bad man in the slightest for leaving the life of the shinobi to take care of his family. What he hated was the fact that he had never known. Not once did his father ever tell him great stories about being a ninja or help him out with his training when he was in the Academy like the other fathers did with their sons. No, he was told boring stories about the trade market and he was taught how to work at the store.

The guilt he was feeling was because he had just up and left without even explaining why he was so mad at his father. The poor old man was probably worried sick about him. This probably wasn't the reaction he was expecting from his own flesh and blood. Kazuho swiped at his reflection when an image of his father began to swirl about in the water. He wasn't going to start letting his brain play tricks on him to guilt him into forgiving his father. He was mad, damn it, and he was going to stay that way for a little while.

No matter how much it hurt him to be mad at his father, it was probably hurting his father more. Ah, there goes that guilt again.
By the time Kazuho got home it was into the early hours of the morning. He was exhausted, physically and emotionally, and all he wanted to do was sleep. Unfortunately for him, his mother was waiting for him in his bedroom. The look he got from her was one that demanded his obedience or else he was really going to be suffering. With a sigh, he pulled out the chair from his desk and sat on that, waiting for the verbal lashing he was about to receive.

"… Oh Kazuho. What am I going to do with you?"

… Huh?

"You and your father are so much alike. When he told me what happened today… well, I figured you'd react badly. You hate lies almost as much as your father does."

Okay, now he was really confused. His father had been lying to him for the better part of his life, and somehow he hated dishonesty?

"One day, sweetheart, you are going to learn the power that lies hold. Be true to yourself, always, but remember we are shinobi. Lies hold power in this world. They can be used to destroy entire countries. Or to protect the people we hold dear." She stood up from his bed and walked over to him, planting a kiss on his forehead. "Your father left you something on your desk."

With that, she left the room to Kazuho and the letter sitting on his table. Gently picking it up, he unfolded it and began to read.

'Son,

I know you must feel betrayed, but trust me when I say I lied to protect you. I didn't want you or your brother to suffer the same childhood I did. The feeling of constantly being judged by your peers, of constantly looking out for someone spying on you. So I lied about who I used to be.

I've accepted the request from my old teammates. One last mission. Hopefully, when I return, you and I can sort this out. I pray you can forgive me, son.

Love, Dad.'


… What had he done?
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
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Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Fri Sep 13, 2013 4:33 pm

Stat Training IV – Strength
1013/1000
The Satoshi household was eerily quiet. Normally there was the shouting of an overworked but happy woman, the cries of a toddler wanting attention, a gruff old man complaining about all the noise, and a happy laughing teenager practicing his Ninjutsu. Today there was a woman who was sitting quietly staring out at nothing and a toddler who had picked up on the somber mood and was silent. The teenager was in the yard, making no noise bar the occasional grunt and there was no gruff old man anywhere to be seen.

Kazuho was on his hands and feet, putting all his energy and anger into a rather furious set of pushups. Such a thing would normally be child's play for a trained ninja, but when there was a backpack full of heavy rocks strapped over said ninja's shoulders, even the most simple of exercises tended to be a little more difficult. In the three weeks that his father had been missing, Kazuho had thrown his entire being into training. He wanted, no needed, to be stronger. Strong enough that the Hokage would have no choice but to let him go in search of his father.

Kazuho lowered himself closer to the ground and damn near kissed dirt. Even as he felt his arms wobble and the strain on his back telling him to give in he slowly forced himself to rise again. His mother had warned him repeatedly back when this training had first started that his body would eventually give out. He ignored the warnings and somehow, in the process, ended up ignoring the rest of his family. His mother had eventually resorted to screaming at him and when that didn't work simply stopped trying. He didn't want to make it seem like he didn't care, but this was the only way he could atone for his sin.

Carefully and slowly, he pushed himself onto his knees and slid the rucksack full of rocks from his back to his chest. Laying down on his back and planting his feet firmly on the ground with his knees pointed skyward, Kazuho started on the oh-so-painful sit-ups that he used to hate. Still hated, if he was completely honest with himself, but he put that aside because it was part of the routine he had come up with for getting stronger. One hundred push-ups with a little extra weight, one hundred sit-ups with the rocks, then hauling the damn bag of rocks back to the forest where he collected them all while holding it over his head the entire time.

What was it his father said? 'No pain, no gain'? Kazuho had taken a lot of things his father used to say to heart in recent weeks. It didn't make much difference in the overall scheme of things. The old man would still be gone until Kazuho went and found him. But it was in these small things that Kazuho remembered him. Before he knew it his mental count was reaching towards that magical number that meant he was done with his god forsaken sit-ups.

"Kazuho."

Pushing his fringe aside, damp and stuck to his forehead with sweat, Kazuho dropped his bag of rocks and looked towards the rear balcony of his house. There stood his mother, decked out in full Chuunin garb, with his baby brother dressed for a day out and held in his arms. He grunted in greeting and arched an eyebrow is question of what she wanted.

He got a sigh and a shake of her head in response before she held out the toddler. "I need to you look after your brother for a few hours. I'm needed at the Academy."

A snarl started to rise from Kazuho but he forced it back down and nodded. He didn't hate his mother, his brother, or the village that had essentially taken away his father. He loved all of them dearly. He just didn't have the patience for dealing with them at the moment. If he wasn't sleeping or on a mission, then he should be training. That was simply how it was for the moment.

Making his way over to the pair, he gave a small smile as he took the toddler and hefted him up in one arm. Kazu and his mother locked eyes for a minute before she smiled in return and disappeared in a gust of wind and leaves. With a sigh, he turned back to the yard and made his way to the rocks. Leaning down, he glanced between his baby brother and the bag before grabbing both straps in the hand that wasn't currently holding his brother and lifted. Two weeks ago he would have had, and in fact did have, trouble lifting the damn thing with two hands.

With a grunt and no small amount of effort, he lifted the bag off the ground with one arm and slung it over his shoulder with a huff. It wasn't the usual method of carrying it over his head but he figured carrying both a bag full of heavy ass rocks and a small child kind of evened things out. Budging the gate open with his foot, he smiled down at his little brother and had to hold back his tears.

"Don't worry little man. I'll bring dad back as soon as I'm strong enough. See, I can already carry your big head around with one arm so it won't be long. I promise."

The toddler just grinned up at the older Satoshi and Kazu couldn't help it, he grinned back. It had been weeks since he really smiled. And he could feel it, even as they walked towards the training ground he usually spent his afternoons in. He was getting stronger already. Things would work out fine, he'd get his dad back, and life could go back to kicking around footballs and hanging out with his friends.

Just as soon as he could get rid of this heavy ass bag. No pain, no gain? Who the hell had even come up with that ridiculous notion!?
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
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Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Fri Jan 10, 2014 6:37 pm

Kazuho was sitting in his backyard, staring up at the sky and watching as the clouds passed overhead. He had been at it for hours, though in fairness it had originally started in an attempt to meditate. His mother had told him that it was a good way to gain more control over his chakra, if he could meditate and focus on it, learning how it flowed and how he could manipulate it in chakra control exercises. Of course the active boy had gotten bored within about an hour and had simply given up, staring up at the sky and loosing himself in the clouds.

His father used to meditate.

That brought on a whole other load of mental issues for the Genin. Ever since his dad had gone missing, Kazuho had been training his ass off in order to try and get stronger but there was a limit to how much he could do in a day. He knew that it would be weeks, months even, if he were going to get strong enough to take the Chuunin exam. Once upon a time he hadn't really cared about getting a promotion and was happy to coast along and get stronger a little bit at a time. But because he was only a Genin, he wasn't allowed to leave the village let alone the country to go looking for his old man.

He could have gone rogue, but that would be dishonoring his father as well as stupid. He would have spent all his time running away and trying to hide from the ninja that Konoha sent after him. No, going rogue was indeed for idiots. Kazuho was a lot of things, but he wasn't an idiot.

A slow sigh escaped his lips as he lifted his hand to the sky, spreading his fingers wide in an attempt to catch a cloud. How he wished he could float along like a cloud, without a care in the world.

That kind of thinking wasn't going to get him his father back.

Of course, if the higher ups in the shinobi ranks had any inkling the Satoshi patriarch was actually alive, they probably would have sent a squad on a rescue mission or something. But the official ruling was MIA, presumed KIA. Kazuho refused to believe his father was dead. There was no way that the stubborn old man would get himself killed. Not when it meant leaving his wife and two sons behind.

A giggle sounded from behind Kazuho.

He craned his neck, head scratching against the grass of the lawn, and Kazuho stared at the upside down form of his baby brother, crawling along the wooden patio chasing after an insect.

No, there was no way the stubborn old man would have died yet.

Pulling himself back up into a sitting position, Kazuho closed his eyes once again and folded his hands in his lap. If meditating meant he would be able to go looking for the old man sooner, then he would master this just as he would master every other skill he needed to track down his dad and punish those who had taken him.

Slowly he descended into a relaxed state, his breath coming in long even sighs. A soft darkness seemed to envelop him, guiding him further into the trace-like state as he attempted to clear his mind of nothing but his chakra. As he felt himself slipping further, there was a warmth on his shoulder that drew him away from his potential success. With a mental sigh, he let go of the relaxed feeling he had finally obtained and turned to glare over his shoulder, only to gasp in shock.

It was his dad, a proud smile on his wrinkled face and the light of the sun giving the man an almost angel like quality.

Kazuho swallowed deeply. "D-dad?"

"Sorry kiddo, not him."

The Genin blinked and then reached up to rub away the tears that had started to well up in his eyes. When he looked back, a cloud had covered the sun and he could see the man more clearly. Incredibly similar in looks to his dad but it was as if he had de-aged by ten years. Of course.

"Oh. Hi, Uncle Kyo."

Satoshi Kyoma, the younger brother of Satoshi Shinji, and Kazuho's uncle. The two men looked scarily similar, though Kyoma was obviously younger and had a rather distinct facial scar that Kazuho really should have noticed.

"You're mum told me about what happened. I'm sorry kiddo." The man looked down at Kazuho with sympathetic eyes and a sad smile. Kazuho had lost a father but Kyoma had also lost his brother. And then an idea occurred to him.

"You are a Jounin right? You can go find him! I know he is alive!"

The look sympathy flashed to something that resembled shock before they quickly settled back to sympathy. Kazuho, who was usually ignorant of such things, had managed to catch it and thought that he might actually be able to convince his uncle to go and find his brother.

I mean, he should already be out looking, right!?

But then the sad smile grew into a slight frown and Kyoma tightened the grip he had on Kazuho's shoulder for a second. "You know I can't do that. If the Hokage had any sense that he was still alive, there would already be teams out looking for him. You know that."

"But-" He's wrong! Kazuho thought.

"But you think he is still alive. And I believe you. I know my brother, he wouldn't go and get himself killed before he was damn well good and ready. But I can't just leave the village to go looking for him either. Like you said, I'm a Jounin and if I were to leave without being on an official mission then things might get… messy.

"What I can do, though, is give you a bit of one on one training, eh? If we can get you strong enough to make a Chuunin, you'll have more freedom to investigate without getting caught up in the Jounin politics of the village."


Kazuho had a feeling that his uncle was just doing this to humor him, that Kyoma thought his brother was dead. But he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. With a solemn nod, Kazuho crawled to his feet and stared straight into his uncle's eyes.

"When do we being?"
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
Posts: 3130
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Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Mon Jan 13, 2014 10:19 pm

Stat Training V – Speed
1055/1000
"Well, you wanted to train. Don't get short with me just because you can't keep up."

Kazuho's right eyebrow began to twitch uncontrollably, his fingers itching closer towards the pouch on his thigh. Sure, he had wanted to train, but there was training and then there was just plain torture. If it weren't for the fact that he could barely lift a foot off the ground at the moment, he would have kicked Kyoma right in his dangly bits. Maybe then the Jounin would feel a fraction of the pain that Kazuho was currently suffering.

Of course, he couldn't lift his foot. Damn weights.

It was the day after the elder Satoshi had agreed to train with the young Kazu and in his excitement Kazuho had forgotten to get a good night's rest. That had been mistake number one. Mistake number two was expecting his uncle to ease him into things. The crazy old man had showed up on their doorstep with two seemingly innocent looking bracelets. Of course, he had quickly discovered they were actually anklets and were modified that only Kyoma could take them off once they had been locked.

Oh, and the seals. Seals that sucked his own chakra dry to increase the weight of the anklets. Seals that Kazuho couldn't remove.

Gods above he hated Fuuinjutsu.

The sudden slap to the back of the head brought the Genin out of his reverie and back into the present. Kyoma was already jogging on ahead, a pair of anklets of his own clearly visible and working away. Of course, the freaky beast was acting like it was nothing. Kazuho forced his left leg to rise, carefully adjusting his balance for the extra weight, and took another step forward. He had only been doing this for roughly an hour or so but he was still only now starting to get used to it.

He knew the theory. You got fast enough to match other people with the weights on, you would be even faster when the weights came off. But it was such an old school way of training. He had expected someone like Kyoma, who seemed to keep up with all the latest trends in the village, to bring something new and exciting to the table. But no. He was stuck with the tried and true training weights.

Another step forward, another short moment to regain his balance. It was getting easier with each step now.

It took another fifteen minutes of constant movement before he could walk normally. So, it took an hour and a half to adjust to the weight enough for mere walking. Great. Although, now that he was used to that, he supposed that adjusting for jogging, running and full out sprinting would take a little less time now.

That was the theory at least.

It was a pathetic attempt, his first time trying to pick up speed. He managed to make it a grand total of four steps at a very light jog before he went ass over tit and found himself staring up at the midmorning sun. He wanted to try and get moving at a normal enough pace that he could head back into the village proper for lunch. He didn't need to be able to run, but a light jog would be more than sufficient for getting to his favorite teriyaki stand and back before an hour had passed for lunch.

As it turned out, even the thought of self-promised and self-paid-for food was enough to motivate the young ninja. While he wasn't moving with the grace of a gazelle and probably made as much noise as a bull charging through the clearing, he was finally moving at a decent pace. By the time the sun had reached the middle of the sky, signifying it was time for a well-earned lunch, Kazuho was jogging at the same pace as his uncle. Of course, the older of the two was greatly reducing his speed but it was the thought that counted.

As he started out of the clearing with a silent wave over his shoulder, Kazuho felt something hit his open hand and immediately snapped his fingers closed around whatever it was. Bringing it into his eyesight, Kazuho saw a purse filled with enough money for quite a few lunches. Attached was a note.

'Good work today kiddo,

I'll be back in a week, I've got another mission.

Keep training hard, and try not to injure yourself. Your mom would kill me.

Kyo~'


With a small smile, Kazuho nodded more to himself than anyone and began his jog down into the village.
The sounds of rapid but soft breaths filled the clearing, interspersed between the consistent thumping of sandals against grassy earth. The sounds came in fast and rhythmically, almost like a constant drumbeat to add to the sounds of the forest. A pair of eyes watched the scene from the treetops above, a small sad smile adorning the face they belonged to.

Kyoma was watching his nephew running, not jogging or walking but outright running, around the edge of the clearing while carrying extra weight on his back to increase the resistance. The kid had guts that much was for sure.

Kazuho on the other hand was mentally screaming in pain and frustration. Once he had adjusted to the weight that was around his ankles, he had realized that he couldn't adjust how much they weighed himself and would be forced to wait until Kyoma returned from wherever the hell he had gone off to. So instead of going out and buying another set of ankle weights, he had tried to add his old strength training regime into the mix.

That had been a bloody mistake.

His shoulders were burning even more than his legs were, given that he had gotten used to the constant burn his legs emitted while he ran with these weights on. With the bag of rocks on his back though, he was hoping to imitate carrying a backpack on a mission. If he ever, ever, had a backpack that weighed this much, he was dumping it.

As it stood, he was rather proud of the fact he could run with all the weight now.

He couldn't wait to take the damn anklets off though. They chafed like a mother-.
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
Posts: 3130
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Location: Australia

Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Sat Jan 17, 2015 3:39 pm

Stat Training VI – Taijutsu
1635/1500
Kazuo grunted as he dodged to the left, narrowly avoiding a set of five claws being swung at his face. Flipping into a handspring, he plucked a kunai from his pouch and flicked it with a practiced ease at his opponent, scowling when it was knocked aside by a bracer-clad forearm. Vaulting off his fingertips, he tucked into a roll in mid-air before landing on all fours, looking up just in time to see another claw swipe aimed at his head again. He spat out a series of curse words as he launched himself backwards, the laughter from his opponent only serving to irritate him even more. Kazuo had always prided himself on two things; his speed and his strength. Those were the two things he had going for him in most any fight.

So of course his older brother was faster and stronger than him.

"Come on baby brother, you can do better than just dodge. Are you a whipped dog or a wild wolf!?"

Baring his teeth, a guttural growl echoing from the back of his throat, Kazuo dug his feet into the ground and pushed off with an incredible amount of strength; enough that he tore up the grass and earth under foot and left a cloud of debris in his wake. His brother sidestepped the attack but didn’t follow up with a counter. Kazu landed on his hands and grunted as his arms absorbed the impact before an idea sprouted from the crevices of his mind. Leaning into the ground, he made a similar motion to a push up but at the last moment launched himself backwards, his feet held out in a donkey-kick like fashion. When he didn’t feel his feet connect with anything until he hit the ground, he glanced around and saw Mizuki staring at him as if he was some kind of idiot before he shot forward. His aim slowly raised and Kazu’s eyes widened as he saw his brother's fingernails turn into fully-fledged claws. So far all his attacks had been with his normal nails but now… it appeared he was getting serious. Or annoyed.

Kazuo’s legs swept around suddenly as he came within range, twisting onto his side and using his left hand to keep himself somewhat upright. He was just as surprised as his brother was when the sweeping attack connected, causing Mizuki to stumble in his forward assault. Quickly following up, he threw himself up off the ground, twisting around and pushing against the ground with his hands to do so, and pushed his back against the stumbling Mizuki. They both fell to the ground in a heap but Kazu quickly hauled himself up onto his feet and shifted his feet and weight until he settled into a basic fighting stance. As he had shifted into position, Mizuki regained his footing and stared at Kazuo. He took his chance and darted forwards.

Mizuki raised his leg for a side kick as Kazuo came into range, a move which the younger Inuzuka mimicked. Their ankles met for barely a second before Mizuki pulled back and he once again copied him, retracting his own kick. This time they both attacked with their clawed hands and clashed at the wrist once more. Mizuki smiled at Kazuo as he grunted and tried to push his arm back. Slowly he pushed it away before putting on a burst of strength and knocking it down. With his balance shifting downwards and planting his hand on the ground, Mizuki unleashed a brutal shoulder tackle that had Kazuo quickly back peddling from his assault to avoid it.

He moved forward again, this time with his arm cocked back. He stepped past Mizuki's clawing attack towards his chest and unloaded his own swipe, straight towards his face. Mizuki batted the attack aside with his hand and brought his still outstretched palm around to the back of Kazuo’s head, delivering a quick slap across the back of his ears. The small smirk he wore was enough to make Kazuo realize he was being toyed with. With a growl, he attacked furiously with scratches and punches all of which were nimbly dodged or batted aside before they connected. As he drew back for yet another wild punch, he was subject to the same claw strike he had almost copped at the very beginning of the training match. Instead of being sent sprawling across the ground, Kazu had managed to tense a second before impact and was only sent reeling backwards. Mizuki followed up with another few short, quick thrusts which kept pushing him back until he had his back against a tree.

This was a bad situation and he knew it. He watched as the claws of Mizuki's attack came hurtling towards his face. He knew it was most likely a fruitless effort but never the less he never the less threw his hand up and whether through fate intervening or sheer dumb luck, he caught Mizuki’s hand with his own. Not willing to lose this advantage, he threaded his fingers between Mizuki's and used the tree against his back as leverage to swing both of his legs up into his older brother's side. The blow connected and he was sent toppling to the side and Kazu quickly let go of his hand as to avoid getting pulled down with him. He slammed against the ground, hard enough that he bounced and hit it again albeit a little more softly that time. Caught up in the throes of battle and not really thinking, Kazu brought his leg up as high as he could before swinging it down as fast and hard as he could heel first towards his brother's chest.

Mizuki’s quick reflexes kicked in and he rolled out of the way; however the heel drop still managed to clip his shoulder before he completely escaped its range. Thankfully he stayed down long enough for Kazuo to regain his breath and try and clear his head a bit. The reprieve however didn’t last long as Mizuki was up and in his face after a few moments. Doing the only thing he could think of at that particular moment in time, he brought his head down and slammed his forehead against his brother's own as hard as he could. Fortunately for him, Mizuki wasn't wearing his forehead protector. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't wearing his own either. He stumbled back from the blow and shook his head to try and clear it of the loud thumping going on inside his skull. It felt like his brain was banging against the bone of his skull over and over again. Before he knew what was going on, Kazuo was swept off his feet and found himself staring at the overcast sky, which was quickly blotted out by an incoming heel drop. Scarily similar to the one he had tried to deliver not a moment ago. He brought his arms up in a cross in front of his face and yelped at the heavy impact of the shoed heel digging into his arm. He was surprised he didn’t hear a resounding crack of his bones snapping under the pressure. It certainly felt like they had broken.

He lifted the arm that hadn’t been directly hit, having been under the other arm when the heel hit, and grabbed onto Mizuki’s ankle before rolling over onto it. Kazu listened him cry out as he was forced to the ground to avoid snapping his ankle and the younger of the siblings used the time to quickly crawl back onto his feet and stand at least a meter away from the older Inuzuka. He didn’t want him trying the same trick he had just used. That would hurt like a bitch. He looked towards Mizuki as he slowly stood up and realized his vision was blurry. Bringing his hand up to his face, he realized his eyes were watering and his face itself was very tender, especially around his eyes and left cheek. His preoccupation with his current wounds led to him completely missing the incoming shoulder barge that drove Kazu straight into the ground. He stood over him and he couldn’t help but feel like some kind of insect about to get squashed. Fight or flight was the question? His instincts were screaming flight. To get the hell away from the clearly stronger predator and live to fight another day. His pride, however, demanded he continue fighting. Unfortunately for him, his pride won out.

He kicked his foot out towards Mizuki’s ankle and grinned when it collided and he fell to the ground. He once again found his way to his feet and was about to deliver the finishing blow when he heard clapping coming from… behind him? He spun around to see Mizuki standing at the edge of the cliff, smiling at him before he swung back around just in time to see the Mizuki on the ground before him burst into a cloud of smoke before revealing one of Mizuki's dogs. The damn thing had been a man-beast clone the entire time!?

With a growl and then a sigh, he fell back on his rear end before flopping down onto the ground and staring at the sky again. He could hear Mizuki approaching but he didn’t really feel up to talking to him right now. "Ah come on baby bro. Don’t you at least feel like you’ve learned a little bit?" The Genin grunted and nodded. "If it's any consolation, you've definitely gotten better since the last time we scrapped. You lasted at least a few minutes this time. Last time was what? Twenty seconds?"

"How many times are you going to bring that up?"

"For as long as I live, baby brother. For as long as I live."
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
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Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Thu May 28, 2015 7:27 pm

Stat Training I – Stamina
1039/1000
Kazuo sat off to one side of the training yard, brown eyes narrow as he watched the progress Koji was making through the training course that all Inuzuka ninken had to be able to run. It was a test of speed and reflexes, true enough, but it was also a test of stamina. The course was long and made to push the participating ninken to their limits, forcing them to push through their prior threshold to achieve victory. There were a number of these courses, as it stood Koji was currently in the most basic of the courses. Kazuo wanted Koji to get stronger but he wasn't going to push the pup too hard too fast. It would only result in hampering the pup more than helping him.

The first obstacle was the most straightforward and a served as test of strength and fortitude. The ninken had to drag a sack of rocks the weight of an average twelve year old child over various simulated terrains; woodlands mimicked using training posts as trees, desert using sand and rocks, a marsh by filling a pit with wood, mud, and water. Koji was holding the edge of the bag of rocks with his teeth, moving it very slowly around the wooden training posts, having to constantly stop and work his jaw, panting heavily, tongue lolling out the front of his maw. Kazuo glanced from Koji down to the stopwatch he was holding, his frown growing deeper. So far Koji's time was below average; he had the jaw strength to hold onto the bag and the leg strength to drag it, but he was getting worn out too quickly.

By the time Koji had managed to get the bag through the 'forest' section, arguably the easiest of the three, he was already clocking it at five minutes and forty eight seconds. Good was considered two minutes flat, average was about four and a half minutes. Kazuo clenched his jaw, refraining from saying anything, and merely offered a nod of encouragement to Koji when the dog paused at the end of the sandpit. Some would say that the desert simulation was easier, because there weren't as many obstacles and the sand was easier to move the bag along than the grass. But the sandpit was hot; extremely hot. Kazuo had fallen in the pit once when he was a child, he wasn't sure how but somehow they made it feel like you were actually in a desert under the midday sun.

This was the part where stamina really started to come into play. A lot of ninken couldn't make it through this part of the course on their first try. Kazuo loved Koji but he sincerely doubted the pup would be one of the rare few to ace it. Koji grabbed the edge of the bag again and started into the sandpit, pawing at the hot sand a few times to get used to the heat before walking into it completely. After not even thirty three seconds, according to the stop watch, Kazuo could already see the signs of fatigue setting in on Koji. His tail was drooping, his ears were lazily flat against his head, and he had all but given up on dragging the rocks in favour of panting heavily. Kazuo waited a few more seconds, glancing between the stopwatch and his partner, before he clicked the stopwatch off and dropped it, disappearing in a flash of brown and green.

Scooping Koji up in his arms, ignoring the heat coming from the sand below him, Kazuo sighed as the pup passed out the second he was safely in Kazuo's grasp. "We'll try again tomorrow boy."
Tomorrow turned into four days of non-stop training and attempts at the course. Each day had involved waking up at the crack of dawn, a very specific breakfast that would give Koji the energy he needed to train heavily, and then almost three hours of carrying a saddle of rocks around on his back as Kazuo went about his day-to-day business. It was a kind of archaic training method but it was beginning to work, the first day resulted in Koji being completely unable to keep up with Kazuo due to needing to take a break every five minutes or so. Now he could at least last for a few hours before he needed a break.

And so here they were again, Kazuo sitting off to the side, stopwatch in hand and ticking away, with Koji dragged the human-weighing sack of rocks through the obstacle course once more. He was making better time that his original attempt, especially through the makeshift forest. His time before had been five minutes and forty eight seconds, this time around the pup had managed it in four minutes and forty seconds. Still slightly below average but close enough to classify as average and it was a markedly large improvement on his previous attempt. The real test would come with the replica desert.

By the time Koji was half way across the sandpit, Kazuo was no longer watching the stopwatch, merely urging Koji on with a big grin and the occasional word of encouragement. He had already made it further than Kazuo had anticipated, even with all the training they had been doing over the last few days to work on Koji's stamina. The signs of exhaustion were beginning to show, but they weren't anywhere near as prominent as the last time. Kazu made a quick glance down to the stopwatch, not really wanting to take his eyes off Koji but still needing to know the time. He was going average. Kazu grinned broadly and looked back up to Koji, a small growl coming from the back of his throat as he continued through the desert with the bag of rocks.

It didn't take much longer for Koji to reach the end of the sandpit and Kazuo quickly killed the timer on the stopwatch, looking down at the time. The average was six minutes across the sandpit, Koji had managed six minutes and fifty one seconds. Right at that moment though, Kazuo couldn't care about the time. He was just glad Koji had been able to do it.

Next came the swamp.
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
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Location: Australia

Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Tue Mar 08, 2016 5:41 pm

Instinct Training
[Word Count: 1548/1500]
Kazuo was sitting at the kitchen table, grumbling under his breath about the unfairness of the world giving him a teacher for a mother. His punishments weren't groundings or chores, that would be far too easy, though to him this was a chore in and of itself. No, Kazuo's mother made him sit down and do homework. Homework that should have stopped when he left the Academy, alas it was not meant to be. Hell he was a Special Jounin now! Glaring at the paper in front of him, he picked up his pencil and started spinning it around his fingers while he read. The more he read the more he started to think that maybe it was time to move out of home, find a place of his own, where he could break as many doors on accident and not have to fear the wrath of his mother.

It was a single problem; unlike the other times she had given him pages of homework to do. The tactical problem was simple enough for most people but for someone like Kazuo, who absolutely had no talent for logical thinking and reacted purely based on his instincts, it was as puzzling as quantum physics. With a deep sigh he started scratching his pencil against the paper and started tracing over the problem while he thought about how to work this out with enough time left to get in some real training.

"Son, come with me. I've got something for you to do." Without even blinking, Kazuo dropped his pencil and rocketed out of his chair. He recognized his father's voice as one of sympathy. He had an escape route! "My usual Go partner is unable to make it this week and I need a replacement." … Well, that tore it. He escaped his homework only to be stuck playing a game he had never played before because it looked incredibly boring. Kazuo was led by his father onto the patio leading out into their small back yard and then directed to the table that was filled with lines and intersections and two troughs that were filled with white and black stones.

Kazuo sighed and made his way around the table, plopping down onto the cushion and folding his legs under him. Leaning his elbow on his knee, he rested his chin in his palm and stared blankly at the board. "So what's the stakes pop? I know you always play for something. How about a new secret technique? Or some of that high quality booze you hide from mom." He smirked up at his father, who harrumphed as he sat down in his own cushion fitted with a back so he could relax slightly. The elder Inuzuka had no idea how both of his son's knew about his secret stash.

"If I catch you in my liquor I will ground you for life, special Jounin or not." The old man grumbled before scratching his beard. "I tell you what, if you manage to beat me I will convince your mother to let you skip this lot of homework. If you lose, you have to finish your homework and help out around the house whenever you aren't on a mission for the rest of the week." It was a deal Kazuo could hardly refuse. With a cocky grin he nodded to his father before looking back down at the board. He realized a minor flaw in his plan. Looking back up with a nervous grin, he got a bland look in return. "The game is simple enough. It's all about making smart, tactical decisions. We place the stones on the board one at a time. Once a stone has been placed it cannot move. Once a stone has been surrounded by the opposite color, it is removed. Once we cannot make any more moves, or you surrender, the game is over and we tally our scores. Got it?"

With that said, he motioned for Kazuo to make the opening move. It didn't take long for Kazuo to be several stones down due to his impatient nature. He had no idea how his old man was so calm and tactical. Both Kazuo and Mizuki, Kazuo's older brother, were both wild by nature and relied on their instincts in battle. Planning ahead too far was pointless most of the time so they just didn't bother. Somehow he needed to avoid that line of thinking here. He needed to slow down and think out his moves before playing them or else he would be stuck working around the house for a week. A week of no training, how would he ever survive!? Taking in a few deep breathes he really looked at the board and carefully put down his next piece. A few moves later he had managed to take one of his father's tiles. He grinned but didn't let out the whoop of excitement his father had been expecting. It seemed Kazuo was actually interested in the 'boring' game.

The game went on for a few more hours, the sun now setting over the horizon and bathing the wooden patio in a warm orange light. The elder Inuzuka let out a yawn and stretched his arms, before looking back down at the board. In the last few hours it seemed Kazuo's aptitude for sports and fighting had somehow made its way into the board game. He had not only started taking stones more frequently but he was also blocking attempts made to take his own. The game had gone from a slaughter, do a decent match against a beginner, to just a decent match. Kazuo was holding his ground but if it kept up like this the elder Inuzuka would win in a few moves.

Treating the game like a battle hadn't been working for the younger Inuzuka. He relied too much on Koji and his battle instincts to plan ahead in a battle. So he tried to treat it like sports instead. In his days before the Academy Kazuo would spend hours playing games with his friends. It was a time before he had honed his instincts and so he had needed to make plans and follow through with plays and now all that was coming back to him. The longer he played this game of Go the more he started to remember how games were meant to be played.

It had been Kazuo's move for almost five minutes now, the teenager's dark brown eyes darting here there and everywhere as he tried to read three or four moves ahead. "You know, we can finish this game tomorrow, Kazu." Kazuo waved his hand at his father and shushed him. He was concentrating. He slowly lowered his hand and places the white stone in a spot his father hadn't even considered. It was an unorthodox move, that much was for certain, and to try something like that this late in the game was usually taken as a sign of desperation. The elder Inuzuka let out a sigh and shook his head. It was time to teach his son a lesson in the ancient art of strategy. Without even really thinking he placed his black tile down and took a group of four white stones.

The sudden grin on Kazuo's face had his father worried, Kazuo could tell. Slapping down a white tile, it connected a line that seemed completely random at first. Until the elder Inuzuka realized Kazuo had just pincered him. Kazuo was positive that no matter where his father placed a tile, the next turn would result in him taking four stones in one move in the exact same method that had just happened to him. That’s what he thought at least. He had missed a single spot where his father placed a stone and blocked his entire move and essentially ended the game.

With a frustrated groan, Kazuo leant back on his palms and stared at the board, trying to find some way to come back but finding absolutely nothing. With a sigh he passed his turn and stared up at the orange sky. He hadn't even realized the time he had gotten so absorbed into the game. "You have a good grasp of tactics, son," Kazuo looked back to his father, who was packing away the board, "but you focus too much on your own strategy and how I would counter that, not taking into account my own strategies." Kazuo grinned at his father and stood up, stretching out his aching legs and arms after having been seated for so long.

Looking back down at the board a last time while his father was moving a few of the stones back to the trough, a sudden light bulb seemed to go off in his head. He just had a brilliant idea for the homework his mother had given him. Racing off into the house and to the kitchen table, he completely ignored the fact that he would have to spend the next week working around the house instead of training. As it turned out he could apply a little forethought to battle strategy every now and then. Not that he was about to start doing it all the time but hey, it never hurt to learn something new.
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


User avatar
Sanjuro
Posts: 3130
Joined: Fri Jul 02, 2010 8:00 pm
Location: Australia

Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Tue Mar 08, 2016 6:01 pm

Instinct Training
[Word Count: 1548/1500]
Kazuo was sitting at the kitchen table, grumbling under his breath about the unfairness of the world giving him a teacher for a mother. His punishments weren't groundings or chore, no that would be far too easy, though to him this was a chore in and of itself. No, Kazuo's mother made him sit down and do homework. Homework that should have stopped when he left the Academy, alas it was not meant to be. Hell he was a Special Jounin now! Glaring at the paper in front of him, he picked up his pencil and started spinning it around his fingers while he read. The more he read the more he started to think that maybe it was time to move out of home, find a place of his own, where he could break as many doors on accident and not have to fear the wrath of his mother.

It was a single problem; unlike the other times she had given him pages of homework to do. The tactical problem was simple enough for most people but for someone like Kazuo, who absolutely had no talent for logical thinking and reacted purely based on his instincts, it was as puzzling as quantum physics. With a deep sigh he started scratching his pencil against the paper and started tracing over the problem while he thought about how to work this out with enough time left to get in some real training.

"Son, come with me. I've got something for you to do." Without even blinking, Kazuo dropped his pencil and rocketed out of his chair. He recognized his father's voice as one of sympathy. He had an escape route! "My usual Go partner is unable to make it this week and I need a replacement." … Well, that tore it. He escaped his homework only to be stuck playing a game he had never played before because it looked incredibly boring. Kazuo was led by his father onto the patio leading out into their small back yard and then directed to the table that was filled with lines and intersections and two troughs that were filled with white and black stones.

Kazuo sighed and made his way around the table, plopping down onto the cushion and folding his legs under him. Leaning his elbow on his knee, he rested his chin in his palm and stared blankly at the board. "So what's the stakes pop? I know you always play for something. How about a new secret technique? Or some of that high quality booze you hide from mom." He smirked up at his father, who harrumphed as he sat down in his own cushion fitted with a back so he could relax slightly. The elder Inuzuka had no idea how both of his son's knew about his secret stash.

"If I catch you in my liquor I will ground you for life, special Jounin or not." The old man grumbled before scratching his beard. "I tell you what, if you manage to beat me I will convince your mother to let you skip this lot of homework. If you lose, you have to finish your homework and help out around the house whenever you aren't on a mission for the rest of the week." It was a deal Kazuo could hardly refuse. With a cocky grin he nodded to his father before looking back down at the board. He realized a minor flaw in his plan. Looking back up with a nervous grin, he got a bland look in return. "The game is simple enough. It's all about making smart, tactical decisions. We place the stones on the board one at a time. Once a stone has been placed it cannot move. Once a stone has been surrounded by the opposite color, it is removed. Once we cannot make any more moves, or you surrender, the game is over and we tally our scores. Got it?"

With that said, he motioned for Kazuo to make the opening move. It didn't take long for Kazuo to be several stones down due to his impatient nature. He had no idea how his old man was so calm and tactical. Both Kazuo and Mizuki, Kazuo's older brother, were both wild by nature and relied on their instincts in battle. Planning ahead too far was pointless most of the time so they just didn't bother. Somehow he needed to avoid that line of thinking here. He needed to slow down and think out his moves before playing them or else he would be stuck working around the house for a week. A week of no training, how would he ever survive!? Taking in a few deep breathes he really looked at the board and carefully put down his next piece. A few moves later he had managed to take one of his father's tiles. He grinned but didn't let out the whoop of excitement his father had been expecting. It seemed Kazuo was actually interested in the 'boring' game.

The game went on for a few more hours, the sun now setting over the horizon and bathing the wooden patio in a warm orange light. The elder Inuzuka let out a yawn and stretched his arms, before looking back down at the board. In the last few hours it seemed Kazuo's aptitude for sports and fighting had somehow made its way into the board game. He had not only started taking stones more frequently but he was also blocking attempts made to take his own. The game had gone from a slaughter, do a decent match against a beginner, to just a decent match. Kazuo was holding his ground but if it kept up like this the elder Inuzuka would win in a few moves.

Treating the game like a battle hadn't been working for the younger Inuzuka. He relied too much on Koji and his battle instincts to plan ahead in a battle. So he tried to treat it like sports instead. In his days before the Academy Kazuo would spend hours playing games with his friends. It was a time before he had honed his instincts and so he had needed to make plans and follow through with plays and now all that was coming back to him. The longer he played this game of Go the more he started to remember how games were meant to be played.

It had been Kazuo's move for almost five minutes now, the teenager's dark brown eyes darting here there and everywhere as he tried to read three or four moves ahead. "You know, we can finish this game tomorrow, Kazu." Kazuo waved his hand at his father and shushed him. He was concentrating. He slowly lowered his hand and places the white stone in a spot his father hadn't even considered. It was an unorthodox move, that much was for certain, and to try something like that this late in the game was usually taken as a sign of desperation. The elder Inuzuka let out a sigh and shook his head. It was time to teach his son a lesson in the ancient art of strategy. Without even really thinking he placed his black tile down and took a group of four white stones.

The sudden grin on Kazuo's face had his father worried, Kazuo could tell. Slapping down a white tile, it connected a line that seemed completely random at first. Until the elder Inuzuka realized Kazuo had just pincered him. Kazuo was positive that no matter where his father placed a tile, the next turn would result in him taking four stones in one move in the exact same method that had just happened to him. That’s what he thought at least. He had missed a single spot where his father placed a stone and blocked his entire move and essentially ended the game.

With a frustrated groan, Kazuo leant back on his palms and stared at the board, trying to find some way to come back but finding absolutely nothing. With a sigh he passed his turn and stared up at the orange sky. He hadn't even realized the time he had gotten so absorbed into the game. "You have a good grasp of tactics, son," Kazuo looked back to his father, who was packing away the board, "but you focus too much on your own strategy and how I would counter that, not taking into account my own strategies." Kazuo grinned at his father and stood up, stretching out his aching legs and arms after having been seated for so long.

Looking back down at the board a last time while his father was moving a few of the stones back to the trough, a sudden light bulb seemed to go off in his head. He just had a brilliant idea for the homework his mother had given him. Racing off into the house and to the kitchen table, he completely ignored the fact that he would have to spend the next week working around the house instead of training. As it turned out he could apply a little forethought to battle strategy every now and then. Not that he was about to start doing it all the time but hey, it never hurt to learn something new.
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


User avatar
Sanjuro
Posts: 3130
Joined: Fri Jul 02, 2010 8:00 pm
Location: Australia

Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Thu Mar 17, 2016 8:34 pm

Instinct Training
[Word Count: 1587/1500]
Kazuo loved just walking through the village. As a kid he used to play a game every time he went into the village proper from the Inuzuka compound where he would try and follow someone's path by backtracking their scent. Of course, he never got very far, his nose back then wasn't the greatest and all the scents mingling together made it almost impossible to pick out one particular scent to follow. Nowadays if he wanted to practice his tracking he normally went out into the forest surrounding Konoha. He drew in a deep breath through his nose, focusing on the scent trails that were lingering, and tried to pick through them and follow them to their sources. The street wasn't exactly crowded but scents did linger, so it took him a few minutes before he was able to process them all and sort the old from the fresh. Once he did he began following the trails to the owners.

One particularly strong trail led him back the way he had come; to a couple he had passed not a moment ago. He rose his eyebrow, wondering why the scent was so strong, when the woman turned just enough to reveal the bundle in her arms. The Inuzuka's nose crinkled a little. That was why. The baby definitely needed changing. Shaking his head, he turned back to the scent trails and picked up the next one, following it into a nearby store. Ducking under the flags that denoted it as a general goods store, he followed the trail to the back. A kid was huddled down behind a shelf, flipping through a book, obviously hiding from the store clerk. The boy looked up to Kazuo with wide eyes, obviously afraid he was going to get in trouble. With a chuckle, Kazuo gave a slight shake of his head and turned around to leave the store.

Back out in the street, he started searching for his next scent trail to follow when he heard a yell from the store he had just left. Turning around, he got the wind knocked out of him by a black and brown blur blindly charging into his stomach. While he was getting his breath back the blur had vanished and the store owner had charged out, shaking a broom in the direction the blur had gone. Kazuo, rubbing his sore stomach, bent down to pick up a book. The same book that kid had been reading. Looking between the store owner and the book, Kazuo shook his head and let out a laugh. Plucking a few notes from his pocket, he handed the money over to the store keeper.

"Here, old man, I'll cover it."

The man turned and immediately blushed, taking the money with a slight bow. "Thank you, Inuzuka-san, but that's really not necessary. Little brat has been sneaking into my store for weeks to loiter and read without ever buying anything!"

"Maa, it's fine. I'll have a chat with him, yeah? Have a good one!" With a raise of his hand, Kazuo started at a slow jog down the street to begin his search. Sniffing the book, which was covered in the kid's scent, Kazuo sniffed the air again and honed in on it. Walking up to the corner of a building, he ran his fingers over the corner of it. The kid had bumped it in his hurry to get around the corner and away from the store keeper, Kazuo could practically taste the scent coming from it. At least he knew his nose wasn't letting him down as he turned down the street.

Tracking by scent was always strange. It lingered in the air, especially if it was as fresh as this scent was, but it had an annoying tendency to linger for a long time on things that had been in physical contact with the source. Which was fine if you were tracking someone that had a decent lead on you but when you were trying to track a fresh scent and old scents kept mixing in with it, it made things more than a little annoying. He came to a halt at a crossroads. The scent split into three different directions. One went straight ahead, another went to the left and the final went into a dead end alley. The kid obviously frequented this place, his scent was all over. There were others as well, but he had enough practice he could drown those out in favour of the kid's.

Kazuo walked out into the middle of the crossroads, turning around in circles as he tried to scent the air and pick out the most recent. Closing his eyes, he took a few steps towards the street opposite the one he had come from. The second he stepped into the street however he knew he had made a mistake and went back out into the street, taking the left turn that led out towards the outer edges of the village. He got half way down the street, following the scent which seemed to be fresh, before he noticed something odd. The scent was extremely strong, like the kid had been here for a while. Had he slowed down?

If he was walking there would be more time for the scent to linger, which would explain it. But Kazuo couldn't be more than a few minutes away from the store in terms of running speed. There was no way a kid would slow down so quickly; he knew he certainly wouldn't have. Turning around, he looked back towards the crossroads and the alley way, his eyes narrowing. Doubling back along the same path would also explain the more concentrated scent. Deciding to go with his gut, Kazuo began jogging back along the street until he was at the alleyway entrance. He sniffed the air and smirked. The scent was fresh in here as well.

Stepping into the alley, he looked around. It seemed to be a dead end, with nothing but a few doors that led into the back of a shop on the left hand side and an apartment building on the right. He walked up to both doors and sniffed, frowning when he didn't pick up any scent from either of them. The kid hadn't gone into the buildings, but he obviously wasn't here. Closing his eyes and breathing deep, Kazuo let his nose lead him. He took a few tentative steps forward, shuffled a little to the right, walked forward a few more, and suddenly ran smack bang into a wall. Rubbing his nose, he opened his eyes and looked up.

There were no obvious hand holds, no ladders or fire escapes. The only way someone could have climbed the wall was with a rope or chakra. He raised his eyebrows a little. The kid was a student at the Academy? Maybe. There was always the possibility he had a rope here waiting and pulled it up after him. With a slight shrug, deciding he'd find out when he found the kid, Kazuo walked up the side of the wall without even really thinking about it.

Stepping over the ledge onto the rooftop, Kazuo looked around and got the scent back. He'd need to pick up the pace now. The wind up here wasn't blowing in his favour, either the kid was a genius and knew instinctively to travel with the wind, or he was lucky. Kazuo was betting on the latter. Picking up speed, he sniffed a few times to make sure he was going the right way. When he realized the scent was going to lead him to a different roof top, the Inuzuka grinned. This kid was definitely a ninja in training.

Jumping over the gap between the rooftops, Kazuo gradually picked up speed as the scent got stronger. Obviously the kid had thought himself safe once he got onto the rooftops. Little did he know he had an Inuzuka on his tail. It didn't take very long until he found the point where the scent trail dropped from the rooftops and to a balcony below. Adjusting his footsteps so that he was moving silently, Kazuo dropped down into the balcony and sniffed around. The scent led through the closed window and into the house the balcony was attached to.

With a grin, Kazuo carefully pried the window upon, unsurprised that it hadn't been locked. The kid was obviously used to sneaking out then. Ducking into the room beyond, he found himself in what he could only assume was the kid's bedroom. He sniffed around, following the scent to the door that led further into the apartment. Pressing his ear to the wood, he heard the sound of footsteps and a muffled conversation. Obviously the kid didn't live alone then. Reaching back into his hip pouch, he plucked the book from within and tossed it onto the bed, making his way back out of the window. Just as he was about to jump down to the streets below, he heard a gasp behind him.

Turning his head, he saw the kid standing beside his bed, book in hand, staring at Kazuo with wonder and a little bit of fear in his eyes. Kazuo grinned and raised his hand in a lazy salute. "You forgot that. Adios, kid." With that, he plummeted down to the streets below. By the time the kid had crawled out of the window and onto the balcony to look for Kazuo, the Inuzuka had already vanished.
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
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Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Mon Jul 11, 2016 4:36 pm

Speed Training
[Word Count: 1542/1500]
Kazuo’s fists clenched as he watched a group of Genin go running past playing tag. He missed that. Once upon a time he had prided himself on his speed. It was something he had always worked hard at, keeping himself in top shape and being as fast as possible. Not just because of his fighting style but because if there was one thing he truly was, it was a speed freak. He loved how the world seemed to fade away when he was running, especially at high speed. But his dreams of being the fastest had been shattered. Originally it had been Kawa, and then he had met a Jounin named Yoru that was faster than him, and now even Aina had been named a Bannin and was faster than he could hope to achieve in his current state, even if he used his clan's Ninjutsu to get an advantage.

If he wanted any hope of being able to compete with the likes of them and feel confident once more in his ability to outpace the best in the village he would need to push through his limits. Going through the Inuzuka's armoury quickly found what he needed if he wanted to start really putting some effort in. He had swapped out his usual flak jacket for a weighted one and attached heavy cuffs to his wrists and ankles. Common training equipment for a family specialized in the use of Taijutsu. All in all, it added an extra 250lbs to his chest, legs and arms. Adjusting to the movements, even with his strength, was a task. It took him a few laps around the armoury just to make sure the weight didn't impede his usual range of motion, though it felt like he was trying to walk underwater. Once he had a handle on it, he took off towards the village gates. Kazuo had always felt more at home in the heavily forested training areas but now that he was a part of Mamorinuku he had free access to the great forest surrounding the village.

It took a little longer than usual to get to his usual training destination. He had decided to turn it into an extended training trip so on top of the weights he was now carrying a pack filled with supplies and a tent to last a few days. He had kept his pace light, a jog to get his blood flowing, and it had given him time to adjust to the weights. Honestly they weren't so bad once he got acclimated to them. Once he was in position, he picked a direction and started running. His stance shifted, lowering his centre of gravity, though he resisted going down on all fours as he was want to usually do. He pushed himself up to his top speed which, admittedly, was rather pathetic with the weights he was carrying. Managing the weight was hard enough, but the Inuzuka was darting over and around unearthed, vaulting over boulders that were in his way, ducking in and around the giant trees that made up Konoha's forest, all without ever breaking stride.

Breaking through the tree line, Kazuo stumbled through a clearing that someone else had obviously been using as a training ground. The trees had been uprooted in many places, the grass and hard soil had been covered in loose gravel and large stones shaped into a myriad of formations. His pace was suddenly slowed as he was forced to adjust his steps to avoid falling head over heels at the change in footing. His eyes cut a path across the clearing, looking for the quickest and easiest way through, and then with a feral grin he leapt. Landing hard against once of the stone formations, obviously having been formed by Doton practice, the strength of his leap plus the additional weight caused it to shatter on impact, but Kazuo was already flying through the air again. He had no desire to run across the uneven floor, so he was jumping from stone to stone, the additional weight making him almost plummet out of the sky without using all of his strength in each bound.

By the time he reached the other side of the clearing, Kazuo felt like he was drowning in sweat. His muscles burned and begged for relief. Rather than acquiescing to his body's request, the Inuzuka pushed ever onwards. He had only been running for a half hour, if the sunlight was anything to go by. He could normally run for hours without breaking a sweat. Until he could manage his normal routine with weights as easily as he could without, he would continue to push his body to the breaking point. His usual circuit through the forest took him up and down hills, over rivers, and through trees for roughly 20 kilometres which in total usually took him little over half an hour. He had managed maybe less than a quarter of that in the same amount of time.

Back in the forest, the humidity combined with his already overexertion was making it hard to breath. Each step seemed to shake his entire body and the Inuzuka knew he wouldn't be able to manage for much longer. He also knew this part of the forest like the back of his hand. He only had to make it another few hundred meters and he would find relief. A pained leap took him into the trees proper, leaping from branch to branch along the aerial highway, he avoided the rather dangerous plants that covered the ground below, mostly poison oak but there were a few plants he would've sworn were carnivorous. The only problem was jumping took far more out of him than running and he was just about out of gas.

The sounds of running water reached his ears and, in a final burst, he leapt from the branch he was on and plummeted earthbound with no regard for the safety of his landing. No earth met his feet, but the cooling waters of one of the many rivers that ran through the forest. It was deep and flowed quickly, meaning Kazuo had to struggle to rise to the surface with the weight he was carrying and was constantly fighting against the current, but gods was it better than the humidity of the forest right now.

Swimming against the current, Kazuo made his way upriver for a kilometre, constantly waging war with the harsh rapids and the pollution trying to bash his face in. Oh how he hated logs. He could have dragged himself up to the surface and ran along the water using chakra, but that would defeat two points. The first in that he was enjoying the coolness of the water despite how strenuous it was trying to swim with all this weight. The second was that he could treat this as a form of resistance training as well. Training that served a double purpose was always good in Kazuo's book. When he finally reached his destination he dragged himself out of the water and shook himself off like a dog, finally giving himself a few minutes to catch his breath and rest his muscles, before taking off once more.

The sun was beginning to set. He had left the village late in the afternoon after having attended to his usual workload before getting permission to disappear into the forest for a few days. What he had only expected to maybe take an hour at most had quickly turned into two. He wouldn't reach his usual camping spot. He knew there was a clearing somewhere along the river, so adjusting his course Kazuo picked up his pace again, darting back to full speed and vaulting over the trees that had come loose by the riverbank through years of erosion. He could feel his legs beginning to give out but he continued on until he spotted the clearing in the distance.

With his mind focused on the end goal Kazuo ducked down lower to the ground and sprinted with everything that he had, unrelenting and squeezing out every ounce of power he could manage. His legs burned and he embraced the feeling, knowing soon he could pass out and sleep away his pains. He took to kicking off the trees, boulders, anything that would give him a boost towards his well-deserved rest. Never for a second did the Inuzuka dare slow down or halt his forward momentum. It was a furious charge, befitting a wild beast or a man possessed with some insatiable drive. If there was a branch in his way that he couldn't jump over, he barrelled straight through it. Everything else fell away and nothing mattered in those moments aside from moving forward. It was a feeling he loved more than the rush of battle.

With one last leap he bound into the clearing, rolling as his pack went flying from his shoulders. Breathing heavily, the Inuzuka stared straight up at the sky, watching the stars beginning to appear one at a time. The man smiled before closing his eyes giving up of moving. He needed to pass out. Setting up camp could wait until he returned to the land of the living.
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
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Location: Australia

Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Mon Jul 11, 2016 4:36 pm

Taijutsu Training
[Word Count: 1536/1500]
It was the morning after he'd head out into the forest and in that time, Kazuo had done his best to recover quickly. After he'd woken up, he'd transformed the clearing into his personal training ground. The set up was simple; Four sides to the platform. The east and south sides were surrounded by the tree line and the north and west were gated by the river. The clearing itself was roughly twenty or so meters across, meaning more than enough room to train. His tent was set up; fire pit had been dug. All in all, it was a nice little set up he had going on. Looking around, the Inuzuka let out a small grin and decided to open the day with Taijutsu.

Of course he had to find someone to actually fight to actually do that. As if on cue there was a barking from the tree line and Koji, his ever faithful canine companion, came trotting into the clearing. Kazuo knew better than to ask exactly what the dog had been doing wandering around the forest on his own. Koji could handle himself. With a jerk of his head, he motioned for Koji to hurry up while he started making hand seals. Mid trot the dog was surrounded by a plume of smoke and out of it stepped an identical twin of Kazuo.

Standing on the opposite side of the pond to his tent, the Inuzuka lifted his arms up to square away against Koji. His coat was folded and set beside their fighting ground. Koji was just as ready as he was, too, if the feral grin on his face was anything to go by. He hadn't wasted any time getting into it, either. His first order of business was improving on the thing he was best at; Beating the hell out of other people. "Go!"

Original and transformed dog moved at each other immediately, not more than ten paces apart to begin with and the first blow came quickly, Kazuo throwing his hand out to smash Koji in the chest. The cloned dog countered by throwing his arm inward and brushing the punch off, returning it with one of his own to Kazuo's face while Kazuo pulled his arm back, twisting his head out of the way of the punch and raising a kick up, which slammed into the side of the dog and sent him skidding along the rocks slightly, but it wasn't enough to actually hurt Koji or damage the transformation enough to end the fight. This was the worst part about sparring with Koji; his transformed state could only take a few solid hits before it faded so he had to pull his punches. Koji leaped back into the fray, literally, and he kicked off the ground as Kazuo planted both his feet against the ground again. The dog was mid-way through preparing for a Piercing Fang when Kazuo quickly darted forward, reached out, and grabbed his dog's leg.

He put one foot down firm and twisted the other, spinning himself a little and sending his partner flying as he released the grip on the leg. The dog slammed into the ground and rolled across it, actually rolling into the water of the river and sinking into it. Kazuo stepped back on both feet firmly and had just enough time to take a deep breath when Koji practically exploded from the water. A spray of mist caught Kazuo and he flinched just enough from the water to get a connected hit in the face, quite literally. Koji's arm flashed out and smashed his fist into Kazuo's cheek, sending the man off his feet a little and backwards, twisted in the air as he landed on the ground. The dog was wet and soaking, but he didn't stop to dry himself off. This was serious training and there was no room for light fighting. He shot forward again, feet smashing into the earth as it raised its arm again, aiming to hit Kazuo when he was down.

Kazuo's legs swept up suddenly and he spun around on his side, shifting onto his back and he aimed a sweeping kick from the ground at the dog's legs, which sent it falling to the ground and now Kazuo pulled himself up, ignoring the bruise on his cheek that was no doubt already forming from the blow. He had just gotten to his feet when the dog joined him, standing up quickly and shifting back into a fighting stance with his arms moving within inches of the other, waiting. The durability of the dog wouldn't hold up for much longer. This time, Kazuo was the one to run forward.

Koji lifted his leg to kick as Kazuo got close enough but Kazuo's own leg shot up as well, both of them meeting for a quick kick and then return, then they both switched kicking legs and again their legs met in mid kick, pushing against each other hard as they attempted to break the others block. The lock continued for several seconds, both legs pressing against each other in an almost typical stance of blocking a kick with another kick. And then the dog's wet feet worked against him, as standing on one leg with so much pressure around did little to help the situation. He started slipping, but caught himself and actually 'bunny hopped' on one leg back, which shifted the centre of his kick back and let Kazuo's leg break through, smashing into the dog's side again and sending him stumbling back, hard.

Koji was almost as good as Kazuo though, he used his stumble to hide the movement of his arm as Kazuo closed in for a final blow and instead of connecting, he was connected with. Koji threw his palm up suddenly and smashed it into Kazuo's jaw, which sent the Inuzuka reeling back. The dog then pressed forward, his feral grin from earlier having turned into a snarl sometime during the sparring match. Fists had become open hands; nails had sharpened into claws. Kazuo would need to be a little more careful from this point forward.

His hand flung out and caught the elbow of the transformed dog, gripping it tightly and then planting both feet firmly to catch his stumble, then pulling Koji's arm to the side. All the momentum was misdirected and it sent the dog stumbling to the side, but Kazuo wasn't finished. His other arm came up and he put his hand against his dog's throat while at the same time shifting his hand past the dog's arms, sending a palm strike to his chest while pushing at his neck. This combination sent Koji down, hard. He slammed back and then down, crashing into the ground below and Kazuo released him as he fell.

Koji was kind enough to remain down just long enough for Kazuo to catch a breath and then stood back up straight, standing in front of Kazuo with a bit of a pained and angry expression. Koji broke the slight stalemate of staring by shifting one foot forward and then pushing off with it, sending himself at Kazuo with both arms ready to spin once more. The dog went wide as Kazuo quick stepped around the attack, turning his head just in time to see the whirling mass tear straight through one of the trees at the edge of the clearing. The Inuzuka shook his head and squared himself off as Koji quickly rebounded, coming right back at him. What he was about to do was a trick Kawa had used on him back when he was a Genin. As Koji's Piercing Fang came into his range, Kazuo side stepped once more but reached into the whirling mass and grabbed the transformed dog by the collar, forcefully stopped the technique at the cost of a few cuts up his forearm. Bringing the dog earthbound, he made sure he had Koji's arm firmly within his grasp.

He twisted the arm of his dog hard and he yanked it outwards. The pose was fairly simple now: Kazuo had pushed his dog past him and was now behind him, holding one arm out behind the dog's back. Kazuo then lifted his leg and put it against Koji's back, smashing down with his foot hard while keeping a firm hold of the arm he had in his grip. There was a struggle, with Koji going down towards the ground but putting his other hand and arm out to push himself up. Koji gave a great deal of resistance and at the same time Kazuo was losing strength, relying on the awkward pose to limit Koji's ability to move. And then finally the duo was enshrouded in a plume of smoke as the transformation finally broke, having sustained too much damage.

Panting loudly, Kazuo fell back a bit and looked at his arm, where he was covered in small lacerations. He smirked to himself a bit and then shook his head as Koji flopped down next to him, panting just as hard. Reaching out, he ran his fingers through the dog's fur and chuckled tired. "That was a good morning workout, huh?"
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
Posts: 3130
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Location: Australia

Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Mon Jul 11, 2016 4:56 pm

NinjutsuTraining
[Word Count: 1539/1500]
Kazuo sat alone in the clearing he had made his way out to the previous day, his weights having been discarded in favour of giving his physical muscles a chance to relax while he stretched his chakra muscles, so to speak. An oversized scroll was unravelled in front of him as he sat with legs folded and eyes closed, his breathing steady and even as he focused on his meditation. Unlike those few weeks back when he was a Chuunin where he had studied the basics of converting one's chakra into a fire natured variant, he was now attempting to learn how to wield another element. The scroll in front of him detailed the process one had to go through in order to convert one's chakra into its earth release variant, something Kazuo had read from start to finish multiple times and really only had just in case he forgot one line or another.

Unlike fire release techniques which were focused almost on a kind of speed; vibrating the chakra until it became combustible and ignited in flames, earth release techniques focused on solidity. The exercise involved taking one's chakra and compacting it, making it dense, like folding a piece of paper over and over again, the layers coming together to make the once flimsy paper as hard as rock. That was the concept at least. Taking that concept and applying it to his actual chakra was another thing entirely. It required him to do something that he had never even considered before. Though, he had never considered vibrating his chakra in order to heat it before he had started with fire release training either.

Bringing his hands together in the hand seal for Snake, the most commonly used hand seal when it came to earth release techniques, he brought his attention away from maintaining his meditative state of mind and focused instead on the pool of chakra located in his stomach; his core. Bringing this chakra up from his core was a simple matter for the Special Jounin; he had been doing it since he was a child after all. As he drew it forth he began to focus on the way it flowed and how it was shaped, trying to manipulate the way it formed so that it would fold together. The sensation was strange, like his stomach turning, as his chakra attempted to fold in on itself but he only succeeded in having it spin around and settle back into place once more. Letting out a sigh, Kazuo recognized one simple fact.

"This is going to take a lot more time than I thought," he muttered under his breath.

Opening his eyes, he turned his attention to the scroll laid out in front of him, going over its contents for the umpteenth time. Earth Release Ninjutsu revolves around the principle of stabilizing. Unlike the untempered nature of Fire Release or the fluid, relaxed nature of Water Release, earth release is solid, steady, calm. The meditative state would be considered 'grounded', feeling the earth beneath oneself, connecting with that earth, completely calm and in control. This same process can be applied when learning nature manipulation. One's mindset needs to be clear, calm, and grounded in order to successfully convert one's chakra nature to the earth element.

Clear, calm, and grounded were three things Kazuo did not consider himself to be.

The principle of earth-type conversion is in compacting chakra to stabilize it and make it strong. Folding one's chakra again and again, compacting it, is what causes it to become 'stable' in nature and thus usable in earth release ninjutsu. A simple training exercise is to take a handful of dirt and hold it between the hands, using chakra to stabilize the dirt, compressing it, folding the layers of earth with chakra in order to create a single solid stone. Kazuo frowned a little. He had honestly forgotten about that training method. It made sense though, burning a leaf with nothing but his chakra was the training method he used when first learning fire release ninjutsu, so it was only natural earth release ninjutsu had a similar training method.

Digging his hand into the ground beside him, Kazuo tore up a chunk of earth and grass. Picking through it to get rid of the blades of grass so he was left with nothing but loose soil and dirt, he closed his other hand over it and let his eyes slip shut once more. Focusing on his chakra once more, he brought it up from his core and allowed it to travel the length of his arms and out of the tenketsu in his hands, flooding the soil and earth between his fingers with raw chakra. Once it was in there, and had something solid attached to it, something he could actually feel move between his fingers rather than just getting a vague sensation of, he focused on moving the chakra, making it bend and fold.

The process wasn't much easier than it had been when he was trying to do it completely internally. The soil barely moved. He managed to get it to fold once before his chakra just decided to not play ball. So with each attempt he had to focus on drawing more and more chakra from his core and trying to control it with enough precision to stabilize the loose soil into a solid rock of earth. Sweat was starting to form on his forehead and the back of his neck. Despite the fact that the exercise wasn't exactly physical, it was taxing his chakra reserves immensely. He could feel himself growing more tired with each attempt to solidify the earth into a stone.

Drawing in a deep breath for yet another attempt at turning the soil into a rock, Kazuo brought his chakra to bare once more and funnelled it into his hands, passing it into the earth, and began to manipulate it. The first few folds were getting easier; it was after the third fold he began to lose control of his chakra. Remembering the advice of being grounded and calm, he breathed in as he began the folds and slowly exhaled as he completed them. It was a slow process, not ready to be applied to creating an earth-type ninjutsu. Each fold was slow, measured, careful. He could feel the earth moving within his hands, his chakra moving it. It was an odd sensation.

When he finally opened his hands and took a look, he hadn't managed to make a stone as the scroll had suggested the training exercise was supposed to do. The soil had hardened and clumped together a little, but the second he stopped flowing his chakra into it the clumped up earth broke apart once more. Another aspect of earth release ninjutsu was the fact that it was lasting. Once created they simply existed. He needed to be able to achieve permanency with the stone before he even attempted to mess about with other types of earth release techniques else he risked them falling apart on him as well. The last thing he wanted was for a stone wall to crumble under the pressure of a single attack.

So, his frustration bubbling, he closed his eyes for the final time. This was it. His final attempt for the day. He needed to do something else for a while lest he risk giving into his rage and giving up on earth release ninjutsu altogether. He brought his chakra to bare, rushing it down his arms from his core and through his palms, trying to imagine it converting to its earthen nature before it even reached the soil held in his hands. The energy mixed with the dirt and he began to mould and shape it. Perhaps the most difficult part of all of this was the lack of hand seals. His chakra control had never been the greatest so this was a lesson on control as well as conversion.

The shape shifted and contorted in his hands, soil scraping at his hands as his chakra churned it harshly, his lingering annoyance affecting his control. The sensation forced him to take a deep breath and slow his heart rate, calming his mind, and he went back to carefully folding and compacting the chakra and the soil. With each fold he took another breath, until he was folding his chakra completely in sync with his breathing and had fallen into an almost meditative state; not something the naturally rambunctious Inuzuka came to easily. When he finally came out of the trace, he looked down at his hands and found that, while it was still rough around the edges and if he scraped at it hard enough bits would come off, the soil had clumped together and solidified enough to at least somewhat resemble a rock.

The Inuzuka laughed, a mixture of elation and annoyance. He wasn't even sure what he had done in that last attempt, having lost track of time with the breathing exercises. Tossing the cruddy rock between his hands, he pelted it at a nearby tree and watched as it shattered back into soil. He still had work to do, but at least he was making progress.
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


User avatar
Sanjuro
Posts: 3130
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Location: Australia

Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Thu Aug 04, 2016 2:26 am

Taijutsu Training
[Word Count: 1542/1500]
It was meant to be a simple mission. Track down the scumbag who had thought he could steal from one of Konoha's most important clients, take him down, and retrieve the jewel he had taken.

Simple, right?

Ducking as yet another bolt flew at his face, Kazuo snorted to himself. Nothing could ever be simple.

Autumn leaves crunched underfoot, spreading their scent in the air as the Inuzuka took a second step forward. His hand flew up, opening as it did so to show his palm rather than a fist. He slapped away the oncoming fist of one of the thugs that had surrounded him, ignoring the crossbowman in the tree tops for the moment. The true intention of the move was a faint as his second fist followed a moment later. The closed fist met flesh as he drove it as hard as he could manage into the thug's solar plexus. The scent of bile rose to join the smells of the crushed autumn leaves as the harsh thud of flesh hitting earth seemed to echo on the morning wind. Kazuo leaned back slightly as a kick came in high from his next opponent. A trained hand reached up to deflect it, slapping the kick from its path and sending the man spiralling away.

His long jacket flared outwards as Kazuo spun, providing a distraction as he lifted his arms and used it to cover his opponent's vision. The feint was cut down by the incoming sword, adding yet another hole to his jagged sleeveless trench coat, but the damage was already done. As the sword was risen, a clawed hand reached out dug deep into the wielder of said sword's arm, digging in deep enough to grind against bone. The sound was enough to almost make Kazuo wince, and drew a scream from the man's mouth as Kazuo danced around him and took him in the back of the neck with another blow, this time with his elbow as he focused his attention on the other three thugs remaining. The man fell onto his knees with his one arm hanging limp and the other clutching at the gaping claw wounds, sword forgotten. A swift kick in the back had him on the ground, passed out cold.

A battle cried echoed and more leaves were crunched and drew Kazuo's attention, the scent mixing with the blood and bile. A sword, falling from on high, approached Kazuo's head. He stepped to the left, but was too late, and received a cut along the side of his face. He cringed at the cold, sharp feel of the katana as it parted his skin and aggravated his nerves, piercing blood vessels as it went. Maybe he was taking it a little too easy on these guys.

A few steps closed the gap between his opponent and himself, arms moving in a blur as he slapped the sword away time and again. Now, he was too close for a katana to be used effectively. He settled for a quick jab to the neck, which was hastily deflected by the tsuba of the man's blade. Too late the sword twisted and his feet moved back to block another incoming jab, as sharpened claws took him in the abdomen. A sharp intake of breath was the only satisfaction that Kazuo received, but it was enough. Pulling his bloodied claws free, a wet slurping noise reached Kazuo's ears which he did his best to ignore.

The man was not given time to retrieve his weapon as Kazuo continued his assault. A kick to the face, which was met with two hands but lacked any real strength behind. Kazuo followed through with enough force to lift the almost disembowelled man from the ground and sent him barrelling into a tree with enough force to snap his spine, leaving him to bleed out. Another hand was in his face as soon as he had finished with the second. He reached up and grabbed the arm, ignoring the pain in his side where the fist had connected. With a feral roar he twisted, throwing the man over his shoulder and down into the ground with an earth-shaking thud. Dropping to a kneel, he pinned the man's throat with his knee and raised a hand to pummel his face in when he heard the whistle of another bolt.

Rolling out of the way, he ignored the scream when the bolt pierced the man he had previously had pinned. It was time to deal with this damn crossbowman. A burst of chakra launched him skywards into the trees. He knew crossbows took at least a minute to load. It had taken him a minute to take down four men. He really was getting sloppy. Kazuo had backtracked the sound of the crossbow bolt and wasted no time in hunting down the bastard, grinning ferally at the horrified scream the man let out when the Inuzuka burst through the leaves, his fist cocked back. A crash, scream, and thud later, Kazuo was on the forest floor once more and the crossbowman was at his feet, blood pooling around where his skull had met the earth.

Footsteps sounded behind him and he sniffed the air. There were only two left to go and one of them was the bastard he had been tracking in the first place. Rather than dodge or block the incoming sword swing, Kazuo stepped backwards into their approach and turned to the opponent while ducking. The sword which had come in from above, drove straight into his second opponent. The steel bit flesh and tasted the other man's blood. The scream that came out as an arm was dismembered seemed to echo in the forest. One down, one to go.

He rose and jabbed into the underside of the man's jaw with a closed fist, forcing his head up with a direct hit to the point of his chin. His balance was taken and the man stumbled backwards This gave Kazuo the time he needed to spin, bringing his elbow around to drive into the side of the man's ribs. Another bruise was added to his growing collection as the man stumbled to the side, dropping his sword. Kazuo dove in to continue his offensive, but was met with the man's secondary blade, his short sword. The wakizashi danced right before his eyes as his opponent misjudged the distancing. A misjudge which gave Kazuo reason to reflexively step back regardless. Now on the back foot, Kazuo had to bring his arm to intercept the blade, catching it in his open hand and grabbing it by the blade. Blood dripped from his palm down the length of steel and he growled in annoyance, ripping the weapon from the man's grasp and tossing it aside.

There was a certain level of natural intimidation that came from catching a blade mid slash, barehanded and coming out on the other side with nothing but a minor cut. It would have been more impressive if he hadn't been cut at all but he was running short on time and patience here. So, naturally, the man staggered backwards and tripped over his own feet. Kazuo slowly stalked forwards, taking his time, and watched as the man scrambled back up having retrieved his original sword. Shaking his head, Kazuo rolled his shoulder and opened his hand, lifting it to reveal bloodied claws.

It was time to end this game.

Kazuo dashed in with his claws extended and landed three sweeping blows, but dealt little damage overall. He was casually moving around him, slicing at the man in shallow but painful slashes. Blood droplets and bits of cloth flew before Kazuo as he worked to show this thief the level of mistake he had made. Kazuo finally knocked the sword to the side on the final attack with his right hand claws by connecting with the back of his opponent's hand. He used this opening to strike the opponent in the face, breaking his nose. A swift follow-up came next, with a jab to the sternum. The man stumbled backward and Kazuo pursued him, pummelling him with closed fists now rather than open claws. He was losing blood from his face and hand, not a huge amount, but it was enough that it had aggravated Kazuo into toying with his prey far more than he usually would. With a final jab to the opponent's abdomen, Kazuo put him on the ground.

Crouching down, he stared right into the thief's eyes. "Don't move an inch, trust me, the pain you are feeling now is nothing compared to what I can do if you test me." Finding the a heavy leather pouch, he pulled open the drawstring with his teeth and tipped it upside down. A ruby the size of his fist fell into his waiting hand. "Well, aint that pretty. You really shouldn't take things that don't belong to you, ya know. Stealin' gets people hurt." With a smile, he reached down and harshly patted the man's cheek twice. "You be good now."

Standing, Kazuo looked around at the carnage he had caused and frowned. He really needed to step up his game if he had resorted to such sloppy methods against a group of six thugs and their leader.
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
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Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Tue Jan 24, 2017 2:17 am

Strength Training
[Word Count: 1513/1500]
There were a lot of things he had expected when he had asked his old man for advice on strength training. Lifting weights, or some ridiculous number of pull ups, maybe even dragging the old man around on a sled filled with boulders. The Inuzuka blinked and stared skyward, the sky almost being blocked out by the walls of the ridiculously deep ravine he was in. Getting thrown down here and told to climb back up without chakra was… not quite what he had had in mind. In fact, it was so far from what he had had in mind that he had spent the last ten minutes swearing all kinds of pain on his father when he got out.

Grumbling to himself the entire time, Kazuo walked over to the cavern wall and put his hands on it, expecting to find it rough and earthen. To his utter dismay and misfortune, it was smooth like it had been carved and polished. There was a certain slickness to it as well, like there was an invisible layer of moisture covering the already smoothed walls. Clicking his teeth in annoyance, he took a few steps back and ran straight at the wall. Running up a wall without chakra was something Kazuo could do, had done before, but it was always against something like brick or wood. Something with natural traction.

He made it all of three steps before he lost his footing and plummeted head first back to the ground.

"Did you think it would be that easy? This is strength training, remember?" The amused voice of his father came from above though it echoed all through the ravine. Like he was being mocked from all sides. What a dick.

Teeth grinding and jaw clenched, Kazuo scrambled to his feet and ran at the wall once more. He pushed all of his strength into his legs, causing the ground to crack as he jumped at the wall and attempted to run. The smooth earthen wall actually showed signed of cracking under the pressure and he made it a grand total of six steps before he fell back down. Prepared for it this time, he flipped backwards and landed in a crouch. The cracks were already repairing.

It was a mother fucking Ninjutsu. That cheapskate old man was fucking with him.

Obviously the old man wasn't going to let him just try and run up the side of the wall. He doubted he could manage to make it all the way to the top anyway. He could probably jump from side to side of the ravine, but the slicked walls would have made that almost impossible as well. He did, however, now know that the wall wasn't impervious to damage. Clenching his fist, gritting his teeth, he cocked his arm back and punched straight into the wall. The pain was bad, he could already feel the skin on his knuckles tearing and bleeding, but it gave him a hand hold.

One that was quickly beginning to seal over. He'd need to be fast if he wanted out. Pulling himself up by one hand, he could feel the muscles in his arm strain under the pressure but it wasn't a difficult task for him. No worse than a one-handed pull up, just a little more painful when he considered he could feel the earth resealing around his fist embedded into the wall. Rearing his free arm back, he slammed it into the polished stone and again it crumbled under the assault, giving him another handhold to pull himself up with. The only problem was he had taken too long and in order to pull his first hand free he required all of his strength.

He went sailing back down to the ground when he finally managed to break the earth around his wrist free. There was a moment where he felt like he was floating as he was launched backwards, then gravity abruptly kicked in and left him with a giant throbbing egg on the top of his head. When he got out of here he was going to kill his old man, slowly and painfully. Rolling his wrist, he looked down at the scrapes around his knuckles and scowled. Punching a hole into the wall took too much effort to remove his fist and continue climbing. He extended his fingers, shifting from a fist until they made a claw similar to his Jujin stance.

Could he dig into the walls with just his fingertips? With the Four-Legged technique he had no doubt about it, but without the addition of the claws and chakra enhanced strength he wondered if it was possible. There was only one way to find out, regardless of how painful it sounded. Standing up and dusting himself off, Kazuo ran at the wall and made it up a few steps before he threw himself at the opposite wall, using the momentum to drive his fingers forward. Pain erupted from his fingertips and it felt like the bones in each of his fingers had snapped, but he found himself hanging from the wall rather than falling onto his ass for the umpteenth time.

Tears prickling at the back of his eyes due to the sheer pain of the process, Kazuo tipped his head back and looked upwards. If he wanted to make it up he would have to be fast and strong, using only his fingers to break the wall. He reached up and dug his fingers into the earth, rearing his wrist back and essentially spearing the stone. He could feel his nails being pulled back by the force and he bit his lip to keep from screaming, but he pulled himself up and his arms screamed at the strain. This was way worse than any pull-up. Tensing his core, he curled his legs up under him and pressed his feet firmly against the wall, twisting his back before launching himself up and across the ravine.

Crashing hard against the opposite side, Kazuo's fingers jammed into the earth, breaking it apart and he felt his left pinkie snap in the process. This time he did scream and found himself slipping, his fingers losing their strength and falling from the holes he was making. With a feral snarl, he drove them deeper into the walls until his palms were pressed flat and his fingers were knuckle deep. "I will not be beaten here! Not by you, you shitty old man! You hear me!?" Again he pulled his legs up and felt the strain on his core, though the pain in his finger overwhelmed any pain his muscles might have been in. Slamming his feet against the stone hard enough to crack it, he launched himself across the ravine and smashed into it like a cannonball, the rock cracking under the pressure of his fingers like glass splintering.

He could see the top now, could taste freedom awaiting him and punishment awaiting his old man. It was like a switch had been flipped in his brain, the pain fuelling his drive. Turning, he hung from the wall with one hand so he could better aim his next jump in spite of the fact that it was putting more pressure on his fingers. He could see the path he would take, he had to believe that he had the strength to take it. Crouching against the wall, coiling like a viper ready to strike, Kazuo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He felt the wall begin to repair around his fingers and his eyes snapped open, his legs exploded forward and he shattered the wall almost entirely.

His arms swung in the air, gathering momentum midway through the jump, and he drove the fingers of one hand into the wall while already twisting his spine and pulling his legs up under him, preparing to make the next jump. There was no hesitation to his movements anymore, only pure determination and explosive power. He landed, drove his fingertips into the earth, and jumped again all within the span of a few seconds. He was beginning to move from wall to wall so fast that he was creating a line of craters up the ravine walls faster than the Ninjutsu could repair the damage.

As he finally reached the last few meters, he heard the sadistic laughter of his father echo once more. Just as he was about to make his final jump and pummel his dad's stupid face in, the edge of the wall he had been jumping to shifted. Not up, but away. Kazuo felt his heart sink down to his stomach and his stomach drop even further as he floated in the air, staring at the elusive wall and the tips of his father's feet like he could will them to come back into reach. The last thing he heard before he fell back down into the darkness was a parting platitude.

"Good job kiddo. Now do it again and again until all your fingers are broken, then do it once more."
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
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Sanjuro
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Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Fri Jan 27, 2017 11:55 pm

Taijutsu Training
[Word Count: 2108/1500]
"They can't know you're a ninja for this mission, Inuzuka-san. We have a seal that can suppress your chakra but… once it is in place you won't be able to deactivate it. You must complete the entire mission, not just the infiltration, without the assistance of any chakra."

Kazuo frowned. "Do it." He understood. The mission required him to appear as nothing more than an exceptionally skilled civilian fighter. Any hint of chakra would scare away the people he was trying to lure in. Kazuo knew why he was being sent on a mission like this. It wasn't just because he had the skillset to make it as an tournament fighter, there were plenty in Konoha who could do that, it was because of all of the candidates he was the most expendable. And with this seal in place, the chances of returning alive were moderate at best.

Never let it be said that Kazuo wasn't one to face up to a challenge. "If I don't come back, I expect there to be floods of tears at my funeral. I want a parade and a day named after me, ya here?"

The elderly council member smiled and nodded. "Of course, Inuzuka-san. Excuse me, Kazuo-san. Good luck and may the will of fire burn brightly for you."

Looking down at the seal that had been traced over his heart, disguised amongst a myriad of other temporary tattoos, the Inuzuka smiled a little melancholy. "It always does." But one day, that fire would go out.
Kazuo sniffed the air and sighed, shaking his head. They had finally decided to approach him. He had found the slavers three days ago and had begun patrolling the area dressed as a wandering fighter, drifting from village to village in the area they habited. He was sorry for all of the fights he had started in those villages but he had needed to get the slavers attention somehow. His mission was to allow himself to be captured and taken to wherever they held their little underground fight club and then assassinate the leader of it. He was an elusive man that Konoha had been hunting for six months ever since a Genin team had turned up beaten and on deaths door after a run in with his men.

Instinctively Kazuo went to reach for his weapons, though when his fingers brushed nothing but the cloth of his shabby pants he cussed under his breath. There were no weapons, no jutsu, no Koji on this mission. He swallowed the lump of fear that rose in his throat and turned to face the four men that were approaching him along the road.

"'Ello there cobber. You been causin' quite a ruckus round these parts lately."

The man who spoke was smaller than his compatriots, standing maybe a few inches shorter than Kazuo, though he was no less intimidating. All muscle, a katana slung haphazardly over his shoulder, covered in gang markings and scars. The three behind him were all as tall as Kazuo, one even a head taller. The first was muscular, broad, and likely lacking in any kind of speed or finesse. The second, the tallest one, was lanky and carried sasumata which was basically a long stick with two forks on the end that if they got around Kazuo's neck he was finished. The final one had squat features, more fat than muscle, but his arms were thick and Kazuo had no desire to find out how hard that man could slam him into the ground.

"Yeah?" Kazuo finally questioned, sticking his nose up in the air and rolling his arm out of the sleeve of his ratty kimono, revealing the false tattoos that mimicked the tribal style of his facial markings. "You got a problem with that, do ya?"

The apparent leader cocked his head to the side and offered a toothy smirk. "A problem? Nah. Was wonderin' if ya wanted to make some coin, eh?"

The bait had been taken. Now to reel them in. "… I'm listenin'." Even as he said it he took a step closer to the group, as if desperate for any money they would offer him. The smirk on the leaders face grew wider and Kazuo knew that things were about to kick off.

"See, me an' my friends 'ere, we're a part of a… organization, you might say. We find fighters, like yaself, who could do with makin' a bit o' coin, and we hook 'em up with some… wealthy and bored folk who's got too much money and time on their hands. Bit o' mano e mano, e'ryone likes a good blood sport, eh? They get to bet, indulge their fantasies, you get to make some coin and apply ya trade. E'ryone's a winner, see?"

Kazuo shifted forward and licked his lips in anticipation, eyes widening at the prospect. "I mean, everyone likes a good fight, right?"

"Right? I knew you were the sort we was lookin' for. Now, my boys 'ere are gonna have to give ya a little… test. See if you got what it takes to make it in the big leagues, aye?"

Even as he spoke, the three thugs were moving forward and surrounding Kazuo on all sides. His eyes shifted from one to the next, his feet sliding back. He couldn't use any of the Inuzuka signature moves, they were too obviously related to a ninja. He'd have to rely on more traditional hand-to-hand. Maybe he should have studied a little strong fist after all. A shrill whistle came from the leader and the three attacked at once.

What surprised him the most was the fat one was the first to reach him. Kazuo shifted his weight backwards, narrowly dodging the ham-sized fist that could have taken his block off, and came back in under his now exposed guard to headbutt the fat pig right in the chin. Fatty stumbled backwards and Kazuo took the opportunity to get some space between them, turning his attention to Lanky. The polearm was thrust towards him again and again, aiming to catch his arm or neck, but Kazuo bobbed and weaved with an extraordinary amount of grace for the usually feral fighter. Sliding around the next thrust, Kazuo went to drive the polearm out of Lanky's grip only to be forced back by Muscly's series of rapid fire jabs aimed at his chest and head.

"You boys sure know how to fight, I'll give ya that. How about I show you a move my grandpa taught me, yeah?" The Inuzuka turned and ran to the edge of the road, the three following him, only to find Kazuo running up the side of a tree using nothing but the force and momentum of his steps. Pushing himself off, he backflipped and came down behind Fatty, landing low and spinning around in a sweep kick, knocking him onto his ass. Coming back up, Kazuo brought his arms up and started bouncing on the balls of his feet. "It's called 'I know Kung Fu'."

Lanky snorted while Muscly remained deathly silent but they attacked as a well-oiled machine again. It was apparent Fatty was either new to the group or just not well liked by the others. Kazuo raised his arms and blocked another series of punches, enduring the pain against his forearms until finally he felt a gap and snapped out with a jap of his own. His knuckles collided with the nose of Muscly and he felt the satisfying crunch of bone under fist. Following up he grabbed the man and hip tossed him, straight into the dirt road right on top of the recovering Fatty, sending them both collapsing once more.

During the motion though Lanky had gotten the hooks of his sasumata around Kazuo's ankle and he found himself being forced to roll with the twist of the weapon or risk snapping his ankle. He fell to the ground and rolled out of the weapon's grasp, the spikes catching on his pants and skin, cutting a long line that could have been debilitating if it had been a little deeper. Kazuo frowned. He didn't make stupid mistakes like that, not when he had access to his chakra anyway. Perhaps his supernatural energy source fuelled his physical skills more than he had previously realized.

Backpedalling, Kazuo made sure to keep some distance between him and Lanky but ran straight into Leader. He didn't think the man was going to get involved but apparently he had grown tired of waiting. Ducking purely on instinct, the sound of the blade cutting through the air reaching his ears moments before it reached his neck. Following through with the motion Kazuo tucked into a forward roll and sprang up, Leader on one side of him and Lanky on the other. "Hey now, that ain't really fair is it?"

"Life ain't fair. You wanna prove you're worth our time and money, you gotta survive. Simple as that."

With a scowl, Kazuo turned and dug his feet into the ground before pushing off with all of his considerable strength. He disappeared in a blur of motion before reappearing in the air right above Lanky. Driving his foot down as hard as he could, he slammed Lanky's head straight down into the dirt road and kicked up a cloud of dust as he landed. "Surely that's enough proof, right? I owned your boys, one versus three."

"You did at that, but see, they're fodder. Me? I'm the standard. You beat me, then the boss might think you're worth summin'."

Kazuo growled. "Fine." He needed to be careful of that katana. Without his claws or chakra enhanced strength a good strike from the blade could end his mission before it even really had a chance to start. Bouncing on his heels again Kazuo darted in and back out constantly, dodging the swipes of the katana as they came for him time and again. Leader was fast and strong, a lethal combination when armed. Kazuo could have destroyed him in two seconds with the help of a little Ninjutsu. It might take him five without.

Taking a deep breath, Kazuo's smile dropped from his face a little as he studied Leader's movements, looking for an opening. The man was favouring his left a little, so Kazuo shifted his position and forced an attack from an angle that left Leader wide open. Ducking under the blade, Kazuo moved in and drove his palm straight into the stomach of Leader. The pile and spit that covered his arm in response told the Inuzuka that he had hit his mark. Not letting up Kazuo stepped forward again and drove his knee upwards into Leader's solar plexus again, before bringing his elbow down atop the man's exposed back when he keeled over from being winded.

Standing over Leader, Kazuo looked around at the wheezing and gasping group and offered them a broad smirk. "So do I get paid now, or how does this work exactly?"

Even as he spoke he saw the group getting back up, some helping the others but they were all fine if not a little battered and bruised. Kazuo sighed and rolled his neck, popping it and cracking his knuckles as well. He dodged the polearm that came for him and the katana aimed at his stomach, but couldn't dodge the meaty fists coming at him from either side as well. He knew he had to put on a show, let them think they had beaten him. He took the blows, mitigating the damage in such a way that it looked like it had shaken him but in reality, had barely scraped him. He brought his arms up and blocked the blows as best he could, taking more than a few slashes along his arms and back for his efforts.

It was then that he heard the dart approaching, and he knew he could avoid it easily. But it would give away his training, his years of instincts that would reveal him as a ninja. He let the dart hit him and scowled, the gangsters immediately backing off. He reached up to pluck it from his neck; the metal smelled off. Poison. Kazuo blinked once, twice, and found it harder to open his eyes each time. Fast acting, some kind of fast acting sedative. He turned around, his long hair getting in the way of his eyes without it tied back, but saw a figure in the stepping out from the trees. Kazuo had been so caught up in the fight that he had missed the fifth member.

"You mother fu-"
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
Posts: 3130
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Location: Australia

Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Sat Jan 28, 2017 1:15 am

Strength Training
[Word Count: 1801/1500]
Kazuo groaned, the pounding in his head like a thousand stampeding elephants, and rolled his head back and forth along his chest. He couldn't really feel much, just some tingling in the tips of his fingers, and wondered if it was him trying to roll his head or if it was just gravity being an annoying bitch, adding nausea to his list of symptoms. "Well, look who's finally waking up. I was beginning to wonder if I had used a little too much venom. It would have been such a shame, losing such a pretty thing such as yourself." The Inuzuka tried to speak, to return the mockery, but all that came out was a mumbled slur and a little drool. "Oh no no no, do be careful darling. I've spent the last hour getting you cleaned up for inspection and, may I say, you are very well put together. You'll attract a mint, you will."

"Biiiite me." The words were barely intelligible, his jaw slacking as he opening his mouth to speak, but the message was clear. The feminine laugh echoed in his skull, adding to the stampede, and Kazuo wanted to break the woman in two. When he finally managed to open his eyes and pull his head up so that it was leaning against his suspended arms, he was surprised to find it wasn't a woman but a very lithe man he was speaking to. Great, a creepy guy into poisons had apparently been admiring his junk.

"You be good now, my pet, while I go and fetch the clients. Ooooh, I can't wait to see who buys you. I bet it will be Kyoma, he does like his fighters to be strong and handsome."

Apparently, the man had no qualms leaving Kazuo unattended as he strut out the door, sashaying his hips in a way no man ever should. Shaking his head, Kazuo tried to clear the fuzz and take a stock of his surroundings. His arms were bound to the wall by long iron chains and manacles around his wrists, preventing him from moving much at all. He looked down and found himself completely naked, bathed of any blood and his bruising from the earlier fight was completely gone. His tattoos were still in place though, thankfully they hadn't simply been painted on and had been embedded into his skin with chakra. The only difference between these and a real tattoo was that these would come off at the same time the seal suppressing his chakra did.

Pulling himself up, he tested the manacles and found they had at least a little give. Not enough to let him relax but enough that he could pull. And pull he did. Not much, not huge yanking heaves that would get him noticed, but small but powerful bursts of strength as he twisted and pulled, trying to loosen not the manacles but the pins that held the chains to the cement wall behind him. He lifted his legs, ignoring the stinging pain in his arms and shoulders from carrying his entire weight by just his wrists, and pushed his feet against the wall and pulled once more. The grinding of the stone was loud to him, his hearing focused in on it as it was, but he was careful that it made as little noise as possible. He just needed to loosen the stone, weaken the hold it had on the pins, so when the opportunity arose he could break free from his prison and get on with the mission at hand.

With each consequent pull on the chains, Kazuo's entire body was strained from the effort. Now the Inuzuka was by no means a weak man, in fact most would consider his strength well beyond that of any normal human. However, with the drugs still pumping through his system and his chakra locked away from him, he felt as weak as in infant child. The pressure was rubbing his wrists raw, he knew they'd be covered in welts soon and blood would probably give away that he had at least been trying to make an escape. He wasn't worried about that giving away his plan though; every slave tried to escape at first. It would have been more out of character if he had just sat here limply, awaiting his fate.

He could feel the stone on the left side beginning to give a little more than the right. He muttered a curse under his breath and began to focus on the right side, pulling his wrist as if he were trying to do a cross stretch. Of course, his arm didn't even come close to crossing his chest, as a matter of fact it barely managed to shift more than perhaps an inch away from the wall, but it put all of the pressure from his weight and his strength into the pin holding his right arm in place instead of his left. He needed them to both be loose so that when he broke out they would both come out at the same time. The last thing he needed was to try and spring a trap on his captor's and have one of his arms still stuck in place.

The sound of voices and footsteps from outside the room made Kazuo swear and immediately drop his legs back down below him to the floor and he slumped forward, letting his wrists hold his weight and giving him a defeated look. When the steel door slid open, Kazuo looked up from below his waves of brown hair cascading over his face and looked at the three large, opulent men and a beautiful but dangerous looking woman that entered along with his original captor. "This is out latest contestant. He is in peak physical condition, as you can clearly see. He's a fighter too…" The feminine man whispered with an almost reverent hiss as he leaned forward, dragging his tongue along the blood that had begun to trickle down Kazuo's forearms from his raw wrists.

Kazuo didn't even try to suppress the shudder that ran down his spine at the action, nor did he stop himself attempting to grab the shit and rip his head off. The man darted away, giggling like a school girl. "You see, you see? A real fighter. We haven't had one of his calibre in quite a while. I'm thinking we should start with a minimum of a million, yes?"

Without any warning Kazuo found his head being yanked upwards by a meaty hand on his chin and the chains tightened, dragging him up off the ground and pinning him to the wall. He grunted in pain and tensed his shoulders and biceps, holding his weight himself rather than letting the force of the chains being pulled by the pulley system he hadn't noticed earlier take his weight and punish him. The strain was intense, far more intense than trying to pull the pins free from the wall, and sweat began to bead along his forehead and chest, dripping down his neck as he was inspected this way and that by the potential buyers. Each one hard their turn, and each one took longer, meaning Kazuo was suspending himself for an extended amount of time. It felt like the longer he was holding himself up rather than letting the chains hold him, the more pressure the chains applied. Like whoever was controlling the pulley system was trying to get him to submit. Kazuo growled, low and deep in the back of his throat, and pushed off the wall a little as if proving his dominance. The man currently inspecting him quickly backed away, shock visible in his face, before the look turned to considering.

"I was promised money and a fight. Give me that, and I'll kill whoever you put in front of me." His voice was strained, his neck as tense as the rest of his body as he fought against the chains.

"Oh if only I could afford you myself. We could have so much fun, oh yes we could." And just like that the chains slackened and Kazuo dropped to his knees in surprise. The chains were removed from the restraining pins and he was dragged back up onto his feet, still shackled but no longer bound to the wall. "Turn around now darling, they need to see… all of you before they make their decision." Kazuo spat in his face and immediately received a whip across the cheek for his rebellion. "Do that again and you will find that I'm not so pleasant when I'm defied."

Kazuo was placed back against the wall, the chains were resecured, only this time he had his back facing to the room. He knew what he was going to do. He had a point to prove, he couldn't afford to let any of these buyers walk away without agreeing to get him into the gladiator arena. As the chains were put into place and the pulleys were turned, Kazuo was dragged back up until he was suspended once more by nothing but his wrists. Pulling his legs up, he slammed his feet against the wall and ignored the sudden commotion behind him. The pulleys were rapidly spun, tightening the chains, but Kazuo already had his grip well in place. He heaved as hard as he could, roaring at the strength and energy and sheer fury it took, but the loosened pins came free and Kazuo sailed across the room in a backflip.

Landing roughly against the ground, he spared not a second as the buyers and his captor scrambled to figure out what had just happened. He brought his arm up and swung it around, using the chain attached to the manacle around his wrist like a lasso. The length of iron wrapped around his sadistic captor and Kazuo pulled the effeminate man to him, grabbing him by the throat. "Bite me." With that he wrapped the chain around his neck and pulled. The sheer amount of adrenaline and rage pumping through his veins right now served as almost like fuel, giving him back his strength even without access to his chakra. He made one final tugging motion and then there was a cracking sound that echoed throughout the small chamber. The man collapsed in Kazuo's grasp and the Inuzuka stared down at his captor, no pity or guilt or anything of the sort flooded him. He felt nothing but satisfaction at killing one of his targets. He still had a lot more to go but it was a start.

Tossing the corpse to the ground, Kazuo turned his feral glare to the buyers and offered a dangerous smirk. "Now which one of you rich fuckers are gonna pay my way to glory?"
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
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Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Tue Dec 26, 2017 2:57 am

Ninjutsu Training
[Word Count: 822/800]
Kazuo flicked through a set of hand seals, eyes closed as he focused on the bond that had existed between himself and his partner for years. As his fingers folded into the shapes that would normally guide his own chakra, he willed that imagery and power down that link and to Koji, the semi-feral hybrid wolf-dog ninken and all around pain in this ass. The ninken growled as its chakra swirled seemingly of its own accord before his fur grew spiky and seemed to slant forward. Koji hunched his forelegs, lowered his head so his neck was exposed, and felt as a good chunk of his coat was forcibly ripped from his skin and launched through the air like a handful of needles. The chakra surged into the place it had pulled the fur from, causing the torn threads to grow back almost immediately, but it wasn't a comfortable experience.

Before Koji had a chance to take a break, the ninken could feel its chakra moving again and heard a whistle coming from his master, Kazuo. The wolf-dog leapt from his place on the ground, twisting his spine in a manner that most animals couldn't achieve without it being possibly lethal, and managed to aim directly down at the ground in time. Kazuo formed the hand seals and willed Koji's chakra to do his bidding; in this case, he pulled the chakra from Koji's core to his maw, forcing it to build up and shake rather violently until Koji finally let out a loud, menacing bark. From that motion the chakra was released, blasting downwards and violently tearing apart the grass and dirt of the training field while Koji himself was rocketed up a little higher into the air from the blowback.

Flicking his hands through another set of hand seals, Kazuo guided Koji's chakra through a series of pathways that connected to his nose, more specifically to each and every one of the olfactory receptors which numbered in the hundreds of millions. Koji's already powerful sense of smell was sent into overdrive as the energy stimulated each and every receptor. Kazuo snapped his fingers, drawing Koji's attention, and held out a random piece of paper. The paper had a unique scent, as did everything whilst in this state, and Kazuo jerked his hand down in a signal to find the other end of the trail. Chakra pumping into his nose, it took Koji all of five minutes to trace the scent through the training grounds, across trees, ignoring the false paths that his master had laid and retrieving the piece of cloth that had been buried underneath a hefty mound of earth.

A three minute trek at full speed later saw Koji back within eyeshot of his master, who was already forming even more hand seals, sending the commands over their unique bond, moulding Koji's ever dwindling chakra supplies. The chakra spread from the core of Koji's being to every fibre of muscle, every bone, every miniscule chakra point on the ninken's body, and then pushed outwards, forming a shell around the dog, twisting his bones just that little bit, straightening his spine, and within a cloud of smoke as the excess chakra from the Ninjutsu was expelled into the air arose not Koji but a feral looking version of Kazuo.

Kazuo nodded to himself, walking around the transformed Koji, inspecting every inch of the transformation. It was faster this time, more fluid, and the smoke cloud was less meaning less of Koji's chakra was getting wasted as the ninken grew more accustomed to his chakra being wielded for Ninjutsu. Kazuo ran through a simple kata, Koji following it flawlessly, showing the way the transformation had allowed the ninken a greater range of motion. Kazuo suddenly turned and punched his transformed partner as hard as he could, sending the unsuspecting ninken crashing to the ground. Blood sprayed from the cut on the transformed face, holding its form. Kazuo nodded to himself and then held out a hand to help Koji back to his feet. The transformation technique would break after a few solid hits; the better the transformation the more hits it could take.

Kazuo held up a single hand seal, sending the command over their link, Koji's chakra quickly rushing to accept the order and essentially channelled itself into the shell that made up the image of Koji's transformation before shattering it into a million piece of energy, the result of which was another puff of smoke that had Kazuo coughing and waving a hand in front of his face to try and blow some of it away. Kazuo looked back over their little training session; Koji had been quick to react to the Ninjutsu he was performing, his chakra was more responsive than usual, and his transformation was holding it's form through more damage. They were getting there. Soon they'd be ready to try a new technique or two.
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
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Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Tue Dec 26, 2017 2:04 pm

Ninjutsu Training
[Word Count: 850/800]
Converting chakra to an elemental nature was something most shinobi learned to do as part of a specific Ninjutsu. They rarely took the time to truly understand the element, how it was converted, or how to draw it up at a moment's notice. It was why so many of the rank and file shinobi only ever learnt a few techniques of an elemental nature and even then usually of their own primary affinity. For Kazuo, drawing up his chakra and converting it to a fire nature had become… while not as easy as breathing, it wasn't all that difficult for the Special Jounin anymore either.

Which was why his current situation was so frustrating.

Kazuo sat with his legs folded underneath him a few meters away from his partner, Koji. In theory, the ninken should have absorbed enough of his chakra over the years that they shared the same basic elemental affinity for fire. Yet, whenever he attempted to make the hand seals that would allow Koji to use a fire natured elemental ninjutsu, the best they could manage was the tiniest hint of smoke and even that wasn't laced with enough chakra to manipulate as an element of its own. So here they were, Kazuo practicing his old fire nature training, though this time he was doing it through Koji as a medium.

He closed his eyes and focused on the link he shared with Koji. It wasn't… supernatural. It was just a bond he shared, the two spent so much time with one another that they could almost feel the others chakra. It was what allowed for Kazuo to manipulate Koji's chakra with his own hand seals. He folded his fingers into the hand seal for Tiger, his first and middle fingers together and outstretched while his third and fourth fingers intertwined with the same of the opposite hand. Tiger was the hand seal most commonly associated with fire release ninjutsu and Kazuo hoped it would help retain his focus on Koji's chakra.

Koji himself was seated as still as he could manage, jaw snapped shut and locked in place with his eyes closed, mimicking his master's position. The ninken had a basic understanding of chakra, having worked with Kazuo for years, and his chakra while guided by Kazuo's hand seals was still his own; he felt it move, knew how it was meant to act. All of these feelings were exactly that, instinctual feelings based upon years of exposure and training. For all his prowess as a predator, Koji was still simply an animal. An incredibly intelligence and powerful animal, but still an animal. Animals were never meant to wield ninjutsu let along ninjutsu of the elemental variety.

Feeling his chakra shake violently and abruptly caused Koji to tense and his natural instincts were to try and calm the energy racing through him. For Kazuo, it was matter of keeping the ninken calm while still letting his energy run wild; fire was a volatile element, dangerous and difficult to wield, as dangerous to the wielder as it was to everything else. Whenever Koji tensed, it either suppressed the nature transformation entirely and cancelled the technique or threatened to burn Koji as badly as whatever he was attempting to incinerate. Kazuo whistled gently, causing Koji to open his eyes, and the pair stared at one another, Kazuo attempting to soothe Koji, convince him to allow his chakra to respond to Kazuo's commands.

Again the chakra started to shake, race back and forth, swirled around and around, spreading out in all directions and yet remained contained within Koji, making it feel as if he were being shaken apart from the inside. The ninken fought against his natural instincts, trusting in his master, staring him down and baring his teeth but otherwise remaining still and allowing his chakra to be guided. Kazuo nodded and folded his hands through a set of simple hand seals; it wasn't even really a ninjutsu he was trying to cast more serve as a focus for what was to come next. He ended once again in the tiger hand seal, the one for fire. With each hand seal, Koji's chakra moved in response to the command, recognizing what was to come as a ninjutsu and Koji allowed it to happen, despite the pain he was fearing would come.

Kazuo motioned for Koji to open his mouth and the dog did so, feeling the chakra come racing up from his stomach, along his throat, like he was about to vomit back up some particularly bad meat, except the sensation was warm and raced up less like liquid and more like air, like a belch. What came out wasn't barf or a burp, but a puff of red flames that immediately scared Koji as the smell of it singed his nose and a few of the hairs around his maw. Kazuo let out a whoop of delight, they had finally achieved fire! Now he just had to get Koji to allow it to come more naturally and they'd be ready to start firing fireballs like mad bombers.
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
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Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Tue Dec 26, 2017 2:50 pm

Ninjutsu Training
[Word Count: 929/800]
Kazuo stared at the scroll in front of him, eyes wide in surprise and more than a little incredulity. There was a hidden technique that the Inuzuka had, an advancement on the normal beast-man clone. Kazuo had spent years training Koji's physical strengths. His power, his speed, his fighting skills. All of those in an attempt to make their combination technique even more powerful. Today he had been handed a scroll, told that Koji was finally ready for a technique of this level, and had basically found out that all of their training was for nought. Well, it wasn't entirely wasted, there would be times when they couldn't use this technique, but still!

The Shadow Beast Man Form wasn't just a simple transformation from ninken to human-esque as the Beast Man Form was. Where the Beast Man Form was useful, it had its limitations; they gained a human form but their physical power remained the same, which was why Kazuo had focused so much of that on Koji's training. The Shadow Beast Man Form took things one step further and applied the principles of the Shadow Clone technique to the Beast Man Form; it didn't just copy Kazuo's form and apply it over the top of Koji's, it made Koji into Kazuo. Kazuo's strength, speed, skill in taijutsu, all of it became Koji's.

But it looked difficult to perform. Even Kazuo would have trouble casting this level of technique upon himself. Having to split the technique between himself and Koji, though? That sounded damn near impossible. But, his dad had thought they were ready to learn it and damn it they were going to give it that good old Inuzuka try. And by that he meant do it over and over again until it finally worked.

Nodding to Koji, who was standing only a few feet away from him, the ninken bowed his head right back and Kazuo began the process of the hand seals. The scroll explained that for the technique to work, Kazuo had to first take his own chakra and use it as a guide, essentially the act of creating a clone just with more substance. He then had to take that guideline and apply it to Koji, matching the chakra networks, so that Koji's own chakra could link up with the shell and create a body that was an exact replica of Kazuo's rather than just the outer shell that the technique normally created.

Focusing on his own body in its entirety was something that didn't come naturally to the Inuzuka but he did it anyway, taking the time to make sure he didn't mess it up, and then sent the image of the link between himself and his ninken, guiding Koji's chakra to do the same. The ninken's chakra pushed out through the chakra node that the dog had, not anywhere near as many or in the same spots as a human, but linked up where they could and he assumed the transformed state Kazuo had grown to recognize.

Kazuo frowned, wondering it that had been a little too easy. He stepped forward, Koji doing the same, before taking a kunai and passing it to his clone, gesturing for him to throw it as hard as he could at a tree. Koji's strength was lesser than Kazuo's. Kazuo did the same and the duo threw their kunai in a synchronized motion. While Koji's motion was smooth, Kazuo's was flawless and added more power than one would expect from a kunai throw. As expected, Kazuo's kunai sunk to the ring where Koji's was only buried to the handle.

It hadn't worked properly. The form was identical, but the physicality of Kazuo's body hadn't attached itself to Koji. Raising a hand, he cancelled the technique. He performed the hand seals again, this time standing right next to Koji. Instead of guiding the image and commands over their link, he placed his hands on either side of Koji's head, trying to will the transformation into being. It wasn't a perfect method, certainly not suited to combat, but they could work on that later. His willed the technique into being, guiding Koji's chakra, and brought up a picture in his mind of the two; Koji's chakra network was less complicated than his own. He had to find the right place to sync up their networks. The heart, the head, the arms, the legs.

The core.

The technique allowed for Koji to copy Kazuo's technique. All of them. All of a shinobi's power came from their core, the blending of their physical and spiritual energy. If he could sync that, the rest would fall into place. He guided the image of his core to Koji's, the dog's chakra reacting as naturally as it always did to his commands. Kazuo stepped back as the transformation settled and a cloud of smoke erupted around them. Once again, Kazuo was staring at his own face. He gestured for Koji to do something he had never done before; use one of Kazuo's techniques on his own.

Koji stared down at his hands, flexing his fingers, adjusting to this strange new body, before he started stepping side to side. The motion was fast, faster than Koji normally achieved, and there was power to it; his chakra was naturally leaking out of every point of his body, more physical than spiritual, and soon enough with each step there wasn't simply a burst of displaced wind but a flickering image of Kazuo, an afterimage.

Man grinned and transformed ninken howled. Now they could really get started.
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
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Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Fri Dec 29, 2017 3:22 pm

Instinct Training
[Word Count: 2635/2400]
Wanijima Heihachiro, Kazuo's new 'owner', had been forced to pay for not only Kazuo but the man Kazuo had killed in his display of sheer strength. The man was a criminal overlord, renowned throughout the underworld apparently for his gambling halls and pleasure houses that raked in coin by the hundreds of millions. The cost had been negligible to his overall funds, especially if it was in return for such a powerful warrior to fight on his behalf in the arena. Soon the name Wanijima Heihachiro would be synonymous with not only wealth, but power as well.

Kazuo himself couldn't give two shits about Wanijima Heihachiro. In fact, right after he was done breaking this entire slave pit-fighting ring up, he was likely to string the fat bastard up by his pants and let the blood rushing to his head eventually knock him out and suffocate him. But the man had done as Kazuo had needed, and the Inuzuka stared at the crowd that was surrounding the edge of the pit he found himself in. There was a chain-link fence over the top to prevent the gladiators from escaping. It wouldn't hold for long under Kazuo's assault. He scanned the crowd, looking for his quarry but did not find him.

He was going to have to make it all the way to the final bouts to see the organizer it seemed then. So be it, Kazuo was itching for a fight.

What came out of the other side of the pit though wasn't a fight, but a soon to be massacre. A dozen men, all armed with some kind of weapon and others in armour came through. Kazuo's head snapped around to glare at his patron but found the fat shit was glaring across at the other side of the pit. Apparently this hadn't been planned. Kazuo turned his attention back to the oncoming shitstorm he was going to have to endure and cracked his neck and knuckles accordingly. A smirk settled into place and Kazuo lowered himself into a simple stance, opening his senses. He could smell the sweat from each individual opponent, hear the subtle shift of their feet in the sand that signalled when and which they were going to move, could see the minute twitches in their arms and necks as they tensed and adjusted the grips of their weapons. "Come on then ladies, show us ya goodies."

And just like that they were off. Kazuo grit his teeth and dove into the fray, twisting his body at awkward angles and sliding around the lumbering oafs, using their legs and backs as pivot points as he dodged attack after attack. The assault was constant, unending and unyielding. He had no chance to counter, forced entirely to remain on the defensive. Never in his life had Kazuo been so forced into such a situation, he was so used to being the aggressor, the dominant force, in a situation that he was trusting his instincts entirely and it was resulting in gash after gash being added to his collection of scars. For every blow he anticipated there was another that came from the opposite direction; for every sword that whistled through the air there was a punch that was almost silent.

It was becoming too much. There were too many weapons, too many scents, just too many of everything. Kazuo was good, he was a premier hand-to-hand fighter back home in Konoha. But that was with access to his chakra, with his partner Koji by his side, with the Will of Fire burning in his heart. He had endured depravity, torture, and killed with reckless abandon since he had started this mission. He didn't think it had affected him but with each hit from his opponent's he saw another incident; strapped to a wall, naked. Another hit, being pet by a freak who had drugged him. Another gash, having to tear himself from solid concrete and iron. This mission had been a disaster from day dot, he should never have taken it solo. He had been cocky, arrogant, so sure of his ability to fight as a commoner and not a ninja.

His instincts were screaming at him to move, to dodge, to avoid taking so much damage, but his heart and mind were weighing down his body. It was all just… too much. A sudden blinding pain from his stomach brought his attention back to the present, the taste of blood and bile rising in his throat as the force of the attack forced it from him. Looking down, he saw a spear head jammed into his gut. It wasn't deep but still deeper than the superficial gashes he had been receiving. Looking up, his eyes wide in pain and shock, he saw the face looking at him to be filled with a combination of fear and remorse.

These people were slaves too. Like he was. Captured, sold, and forced to fight. Stumbling backwards, he stared at the group as they paused, wondering if they had won the fight. There was something rising in his gut, something that wasn't pain or blood or fear. Anger. Not anger at the men who were trying to kill him. Righteous anger. Fury at this situation, unbridled rage at the people who dared force another man under their thumb, to do their bidding for entertainment. This was why he had taken this mission. To save these people.

Kazuo's head snapped up, his eyes suddenly alight, his jaw clenching. With a feral roar, he ripped the spear from his stomach and used it to pull his attacker too him. The movement was so sudden, so without warning, that the poor kid had no chance. Kazuo drove his elbow forward with all his considerable strength, right into the other slave's solar plexus. There was a moment when time seemed to stop before he was sent rocketing backwards. No sound escaped his lips and he crashed to the ground, the other slave fighters parting for him. He was out cold in a single blow.

Another roar escaped him as he dove into the fray once more, all of a sudden more hectic than before. He moved like a man possessed, swerving in and out, using the bodies of the other fighters as human shields and turning points. There was no thought, no weight in his heart, just the pure instincts of an animal. There was no more pain from the strikes as they all seemed to curve around him; he wasn't just more ferocious, more in tune with his instincts now. They were afraid of him. The combination made dodging the incoming attacks even easier, his ears pricking every time a weapon was just a touch too close, his eyes darting around without pause, searching for openings on his opponents while mapping the best path to follow to take them out without killing them.

An elbow strike to the neck delivered with just enough force to knock out and not break the spine was something that Kazuo wouldn't have trusted himself to do normally but right at this moment, there was something primal taking over that had absolute faith in his abilities. The result was another of his opponents crumpling before him, reducing the threat level, not that he took notice. He simply used the unconscious man's back right before he collapsed as a point to jump off of and threw himself at his next target. Landing with legs around the poor slave fighter's neck, Kazuo twisted his back to the point his hands were on the ground and his legs were still tightly around the guy's neck. With a cry, he brought his legs through and dragged the man with him, slamming his skull into the ground with enough force to leave him unconscious and probably heavily concussed.

Kazuo didn't even notice he had dropped to all fours. He couldn't access his ninjutsu, his body wasn't adapted for fighting like this, but it didn't matter in this state; his body was reacting to instinct, processing information as quickly as possibly and his body simply reacting to the situation. Running forward, he planted his hands down and swung his legs through the gap, bringing his entire body through, as he planted both of his heels into the sternum of his next target with enough force to lift the man off the ground and flying into the nearby arena wall. Landing on his own feet, Kazuo was immediately met with three swords being aimed at him. His ears and nose twitched as he traced their trajectory before jumping and turning his body horizontal, spinning as one cleaved above him and two below him, just barely avoiding his skin but trimming a few locks of hair.

Better his hair than his neck.

He threw his legs out midway through the spin, landing his ankle on the collarbone of one of his attackers and heard it snap, taking him out of the fight. The ball of his other foot found the face of the second attacker, driving it down into the ground as he completed his spin and landed harshly against the dirt arena floor, kicking up a cloud of dust. He rolled immediately as the third blade was brought through the dust cloud and cleaved the ground where Kazuo's head had been a fraction of a second ago. Spinning around, kicking up some more dust, Kazuo swept the attackers legs out from under him while using the momentum to perform a kip up.

Before he had a chance to finish off the one he had knocked down, another attacked from behind, his ears picking up the sound of the incoming attack just in time for Kazuo to bend his back and pivot his hips to avoid being skewed through like a shish kabob. He brought his elbow down on the point where the shaft of the spear attached to the head, snapping it in two with a loud crack, and turning the potentially lethal weapon into little more than a bo staff. His hand flew up, opening as it did so to show his palm rather than a fist. He slapped away the oncoming fist of one of the remaining gladiators that had surrounded him. The true intention of the move was a faint as his second fist followed a moment later. The closed fist met flesh as he drove it as hard as he could manage into the slave's solar plexus. The scent of bile rose to join the smells of blood and sand as the harsh thud of flesh hitting earth seemed to echo on the morning wind. Kazuo leaned back slightly as a kick came in high from his next opponent. A trained hand reached up to deflect it, slapping the kick from its path and sending the man spiralling away.

Kazuo was heaving, panting, but his mind was whirring, eyes snapping from one remaining slave gladiator to the next. Five remained of the original dozen, making it easier to track their movements and dodge their blows, but his sudden burst of energy was wearing thin and he wasn't sure how much longer he had before he straight up collapsed. Heaving, he turned in place as they made to circle him. Cracking his knuckles, he did his best to ignore the flames of pain that raced through his body from the bruises, cuts, stabs, and probably more than a few fractured and broken bones he had at this point.

A battle cried echoed and more dirt was crunched underfoot which drew Kazuo's attention, the scent mixing with the blood and bile. A sword, falling from on high, approached Kazuo's head. He stepped to the left, but was too late, and received a cut along the side of his face. He cringed at the cold, sharp feel of the katana as it parted his skin and aggravated his nerves, piercing blood vessels as it went. A few steps closed the gap between his opponent and himself, arms moving in a blur as he slapped the sword away time and again. Now, he was too close for a katana to be used effectively. He settled for a quick jab to the neck, which was hastily deflected by the tsuba of the man's blade but left his mid section open for Kazuo to drive his knee upwards.

As he doubled over in pain, Kazuo followed with a kick to the face, which was met with two hands but lacked any real strength behind. Kazuo followed through with enough force to lift the man from the ground and sent him barrelling into the arena wall. Another hand was in his face as soon as he had finished with that one. He reached up and grabbed the arm, ignoring the pain in his side where the spear had connected earlier. With a feral roar he twisted, throwing the man over his shoulder and down into the ground with an earth-shaking thud. Dropping to a kneel, he pinned the man's throat with his knee and pummelled his face with one punch. It was enough to send him off into la-la land.

Footsteps sounded behind him and he sniffed the air. There were only three left to go and one of them. Rather than dodge or block the incoming sword swing, Kazuo stepped backwards into their approach and turned to the opponent while ducking. The sword which had come in from above, drove straight into his second opponent. The steel bit flesh and tasted the other man's blood. The scream that came out almost made Kazuo wince; these men were trying to kill him but only because they had been forced to. He rose and jabbed into the underside of the slave with the sword's jaw with a closed fist, forcing his head up with a direct hit to the point of his chin. His balance was taken, and the man stumbled backwards. This gave Kazuo the time he needed to spin, bringing his elbow around to drive into the side of the man's ribs. He went down like a sack of potatoes and Kazuo danced away in time to face off with the remaining two; one picking up a sword and the other relying only on his fists, though he was shaking in place like he wanted to run and hide from the monster Kazuo had become.

Kazuo dove in to continue his offensive, but was met with the short sword. The wakizashi danced right before his eyes as his opponent misjudged the distancing. A misjudge which gave Kazuo reason to reflexively step back regardless. Now on the back foot, Kazuo had to bring his arm to intercept the blade, catching it in his open hand and grabbing it by the blade. Blood dripped from his palm down the length of steel and he growled in annoyance, ripping the weapon from the man's grasp and tossing it aside.

There was a certain level of natural intimidation that came from catching a blade mid slash, barehanded and coming out on the other side with nothing but a minor cut. It would have been more impressive if he hadn't been cut at all but he was running short on time and patience here. So, naturally, the man staggered backwards and tripped over his own feet. Kazuo slowly stalked forwards before driving his heel into the man's temple, knocking him out cold. The last man, the one shaking, dropped to his knees and held his hands over his head while Kazuo himself nodded to him, before turning to look up at the crowd. He hadn't noticed during the fight but the cheering was so loud he could barely hear himself think now.

"What?" Kazuo questioned with a feral grin. "That all you got? Gotta say, I'm disappointed!"
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
Posts: 3130
Joined: Fri Jul 02, 2010 8:00 pm
Location: Australia

Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Tue May 01, 2018 12:46 pm

Instinct Training
[Word Count: 820/800]
Kazuo was beginning to realize just how fortunate he was to have been born in Konoha. With the assistance of medical ninja, even the most basically trained of which, wounds healed in a fraction of the time they normally took. After the exhibition match had ended and the adrenaline had faded from his blood stream, the young, currently chakra-less, Inuzuka realized that he had taken quite the beating and proceeded to pass out. When he awoke, he was in what passed for the medical centre of the illegal slave fighting pits. His deeper wounds had been cauterized and the rest had simply been bandaged or poorly stitched.

Closing his eyes and leaning back against the hard mud wall, he took a breath and did his best to relax. His heart beat began to slow, he felt every thump in his chest, so focused on it, that it echoed. As his heart beat slowed his other senses faded, all except his hearing. Each beat of his heart was like a loud gonging sound and his ears twitched in response like a dog's. As that sound was drowned out, he became more aware of the sounds around him. The heartbeats of other slaves, those he had beaten and battered in the arena, thankfully unconscious. One heart beat was steadier, louder, and moving position.

Their attendee.

Ever so slowly his eyes opened, his hearing was now attuned to the minute sounds of the world around him, letting him 'see' far more than his eyes alone could perceive. He could estimate the position of the doctor who was assigned to keeping the slaves alive, knew from the heavy wheezing sound of his breathing that he was likely unhealthy, and from the heavy sound of his foot falls that it was likely due to weight rather than lung problems. All in all, an easy target but one Kazuo had no interest in capturing. He was simply an obstacle to get by so that he could scout the area more thoroughly.

Waiting until the heavy breathing moved to the complete other end of the room, Kazuo moved as quickly as his battered body would allow. His stomach in particular protested, the seared flesh where the stab wound had been cauterized pulling in a painful manner. Disregarding his discomfort, Kazuo pressed forward until he reached the only visible exit to the small, poorly managed infirmary. Taking a moment to ensure the doctor wasn't heading back this way, and considering the way his breathing had slowed Kazuo guessed that the man was napping, he pressed his ear to the door and closed his eyes once more, listening carefully.

One… no, two sets of shuffling foot steps directly on the other side of the passageway. Not moving, stationary. As his ears grew more attuned to the sound, he heard the rustling of cloth and metal. Likely a pair of guards assigned to the infirmary. Kazuo grinned a little to himself at that. He wondered if this was common or if they had assigned extra hands because of the devastation he had wrought in the gladiatorial arena. There was a tap of wood on stone next, right next the shuffling feet. A spear, maybe? Or a staff. So, at the very least they had some kind of armour and a longer weapon. That or one of them had a peg leg.

Waiting until he heard a hitch in their breathing, Kazuo opened the door with as much speed as he could muster before ducking through and immediately driving his fists to either point of origin of the breathing he had heard. Flesh impacted flesh on the left hand side and Kazuo felt the bone of the jaw give way underneath his fist. On the right, however, flesh impacted metal and Kazuo winced as his knuckles dented a helmet. He turned his full attention to the right, using his touch on the helm to grab it, hold it firmly in place, and then bring the rest of his body through the door while driving his knee upwards.

The sudden dead weight on his hands told him all he needed to know. The sound of heavily rustling cloth and air being displaced to his left reminded Kazuo of his original victim and he snapped his leg around from the solar plexus of the one he was holding to rise in front of the falling man, catching him on his extended calf. Gently he lowered the two to the ground and closed his eyes once more, focusing on the sound of breathing coming from the infirmary and the hallway beyond. No sudden shifts in audible noise, no heavy foot falls running towards his position, no wheezing breath that suggesting the napping doctor had woken up. Letting out a slow breath, he stood up and leaned his shoulders back. It was time to find his prey and then get the hell out of here.
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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Sanjuro
Posts: 3130
Joined: Fri Jul 02, 2010 8:00 pm
Location: Australia

Kazuo Training and Lonelies.

Post by Sanjuro » Wed May 02, 2018 5:14 pm

Instinct Training
[Word Count: 1614/1600]
Koji was sitting on his hind legs in the middle of a clearing in a small forest on the edge of the village. Kazuo was somewhere out in the forest, supposedly, waiting for Koji to come and find him. He had also taken his forehead protector and tied it around Koji's eyes, the heavy weight of the metal resting against the bridge of his snout and completely blocking out any light that would have otherwise filtered through the length of cloth. Even opened his eyes he saw nothing but darkness. Kazuo had used some kind of chakra trick to block his nose, meaning all he had left was his sense of hearing and touch. The ninken out a long slow breath and began focusing all of his attention on his ears and his sense of hearing, standing them up right and constantly twitching in search for nearby sounds that would guide him to his supposed master.

The sound of crunching leaves was the first to reach Koji's ears, trailed by the whooshing sound of the wind being forced to move in a direction it wasn't naturally blowing, the ever so soft huff of air that signified the intake and outtake of breath from a nose or mouth. Low to the ground, too low to be from a standing human. An animal then. The crunching, mashing sound of chewing, too loud to be grass; the animal eating was something solid, likely something once living. A dog or a wolf then, maybe. There was a rustling of leaves above him followed by the trill of a songbird that seemed to echo in his ear drums. A series of softer, higher pitched chirping came after the songbird's cries. A mother bird returning to her chicks.

Their excitement caused the branch the nest was rested on to shake, the sound of a droplet of water falling from a leaf attached to the branch. He followed the droplet as it fell to earth, making an ever so tiny plop in the puddle that had gathered below the tree. Another droplet of water fell, another ripple echoed out across the puddle. The sound seemed to paint a picture far better than his eyes ever could. The constant dripping had his mind focus on water and his ears found the sound of the nearby rushing river.

The way the babbling brook flowed around the rocks had its own distinct sound, the disruption in volume and consistently letting the ninken picture exactly where the rocks would be in the middle of the stream. A cluster of them, three small ones surrounding a much larger stepping stone. Koji followed the sound of the river downstream, the occasional fish breaking through the surface before plunging back into the watery depths. Each time it did he could hear its fins slapping against the side of its body, the way the air flowed around it as it flapped about in the sky like it could fly for a moment before it once again returned to its home in the river.

A howling gust of wind passed through the forest, the ancient trees creaking and groaning under the sudden pressure of mother nature. The wind disrupted the meal of the birds, causing them to suddenly stop chirping happily and start squawking in a combination of fear and anger. The canine stopped crunching on the bones of its kill and it shifted its body so that it was laying around the carcass, protecting it from getting blown away by the harsh winds. The sound the wind carried to Koji's ears however served to complete the picture of the forest he had been painting using nothing but the sounds of the wildlife and nature itself.

The unnatural snapping of a twig had Koji's ears pricking and his head turning in the direction of the sound. There were footfalls, soft but not silent. Human, trained, likely a ninja. The rustling of the intruder's clothing was soft, the fabric used to make them light. The ninken slowly lifted himself from his sitting position, his head turning back and forth as he realized the footsteps were increasing in speed and changing directions constantly. Someone was running through the forest, attempting to mask their presence by lightening their tread. Koji likely wouldn't have been able to pick it up if not for their first mistake.

Using only the sounds of the forest and the feel of the earth under his paws to guide him, Koji started moving from his clearing and into the forest, tracking the foot falls as they moved away from him. He stumbled and tripped at first, losing the picture he had built of the forest as he focused entirely on the escaping footsteps. The ninken shook his head a few times, cleared his mind of the haze that built up from sitting still for so long and not being able to smell anything, and focused on his hearing once more. The picture was back again, the way the wind bounced off the trees and roots providing him with an image of how best to proceed.

Progress was slow but he was moving, stepping over roots before they could trip him up or ducking under branches by listening for the vibrations in the air it made when the strong wind pushed them around. As his body got acclimated to moving without the aid of his sight or his sense of smell, Koji began to move faster. His walk slowly turned into a jog which turned into a steady run as his small hops turned into complete vaults. The owner of the ever so soft foot falls seemed to know they were being followed as their own pace increased as well and they changed directions once more.

A soft ripple on the surface of the water reached his ears, similar to the droplets landing in the puddle earlier. It was too soft, too precise, to be the splashing of the fish who seemed to be obsessed with jumping out of the river but it was in the direction he knew the river to be. Another soft splash, another ripple, this one slightly ahead of the first. It was the sound of footsteps atop the surface of water. Definitely a ninja like his master then if they were employing that little chakra trick. Something that his master had been trying to teach to him. The ninken was quick to follow, flowing chakra into his feet as he moved just in case he reached the river faster than he anticipated.

The first step onto the water was a little wobbly, the weird chakra trick strange and uncomfortable to perform for the ninken, but the next step he took was far steadier and Koji was running along the surface of the river, heading up stream if the sound was anything to go by, following the trail of whomever was in his part of the forest. It was like they knew he was following them and was simply playing a game with him; they weren't making a lot of effort to hide their movements and they seemed random, not heading in one particular direction to or away from the village proper. Which meant it was almost definitely Kazuo just trying to mess with him in this so called training session a little more. Koji let out a growl and planned to bite the hand that feeds as soon as he caught up to it.

He heard the distinct rippling of the water as it passed around stones and the image of the stepping stone he had heard earlier was firmly placed in his mind. Whoever he was chasing had ignored it, going around and continuing up stream. Koji made for the larger stone in the middle of the group and stepped lightly on it before he suddenly pushed off with all of his strength. He was rocketing through the air, following the path of the stream, not that he could hear it any more. The faster he moved the more the rushing of the wind filled his ears and drowned out the image he had managed to create. When he landed again, it took him a moment to recalibrate his hearing but he could hear the footsteps louder now, he had gotten closer with that little charge.

The sound of leaves and grass being pushed aside by feet told Koji that his target had left the river and was heading back towards his clearing; the grass got longer and thicker the closer one got to the clearing while the majority of the forest was earth with only the occasional patches of grass spouting up here and there. Koji started moving towards the clearing, leaping over the wolf he had heard eating earlier and the sound of his maw snapped at his heels had the Inuzuka grinning. He bounded off an overhead branch, the momentum propelling him through the air and sending the mother song bird flying up from her nest in anger and the chicks chirping in fear as the branch shook.

Koji landed in the clearing with a flip and on top of a human who let out a loud 'oof' at being forced to the forest floor. Koji shook his head violently, making his master's forehead protector turned blindfold fall off in order to see who he had been chasing this entire time, coming face to face with the dark brown spiky hair that made up the back of his master's head. The Inuzuka rolled over all of a sudden, throwing Koji from him with a broad grin and a nod of recognition. It seemed their training session had come to a close.
Name Village Rank Color Code
Hirohito, Hideki Kirigakure Bannin #0047AB
Higurashi, Kazuo Iwagakure Special Jounin #FFC40C
Akechi, Gendo Cold Country C-Rank pink
Courtesy of SiaShow


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