[Graded] On the sidelines

[Zao]

It was a traditional day within the village hidden in the leaves, the sun was already pushing up towards its noon peak as the sounds of throwing weapons hitting and sometimes missing the target could be heard. Other young shinobi were locked in hand-to-hand combat or even some pushing the boundaries of safe with full on weapon combat. Off towards the edge of the training area other ninja understudies were reading over scrolls and some even had elder family members there helping to personally instruct and critic their actions. Yet, off on a bench that seemed to have been specifically placed under the shifting shadow of a large tree on the eastern side was a simple looking young boy of short stature.

This was Akujin, mostly called Jin by his friends, he hadn't specifically come here to train, at least not in the normal sense of how most shinobi when about their daily ritual of physical training. Instead the body was leaned back, appearing to be rather relaxed with a pencil and sketch book as he was taking down rather detailed looking sketches of the actions of those within his view. To a member of the Sozo family, thought hardly known, he was a lover of art and for him this type of thing was actually useful. There weren't a whole lot of Ink users like himself, perhaps even few clay users within the village even within his own family. Details was where it was at for the slightly older genin.

Glancing up the boy seemed to move naturally flipping to a knew page in the over half way used up book that rested in the left hand, pencil twirling around the fingers of the right hand as he took a break letting his head tilt back to look at the rays of sunlight attempting to penetrate the green canopy providing him currently with the cool shade. Golden eyes seemed to only hang about half open at this point, "It really is a nice day, today.", his words were a bit muffled as the half face mask he work shielded the majority of his lower face, even concealing the gentle smile currently on the teens lips.

[hobnob]

Casually walking through the training fields, Izaki pondered how he was going to spend the day. Clink, clank, clonk, the sounds of other shinobi dedicating their time to perfecting their skills, gave him no motivation at all. This was a beautiful day, and the youth simply wanted to spend his day enjoying this gorgeous day. He carried on walking through the fields, minding his own business, trying to figure out how he could dedicate himself to this day. Nothing sprung to his mind. In the distance he saw a figure, chilling on a bench under a tree that provided valuable shelter from the blistering sun. 'He's got the right idea.' The youth thought as he carried on walking along his path of desire. But, as he walked and the figure came became more visible, he realized that the boy, slightly older than himself, was busy scribbling something on a piece of paper. The boys interest has been captured; unlikely, but could it be? 'It can't be.' The youth muttered under his breath, before he diverged from his path.

A steady pace led the youth to the boy perched on the bench. His curiosity growing with each step. A strange, tingling feeling in his stomach made him feel a little uneasy. He has never come across anyone with the same set of skills as himself. The realization that today had the potential to become even more interesting washed over him. His steady pace had finally led him to the bench as he arrived. His hands tucked in his pockets; he stood for a brief moment watching the hand movements of the boy; and looked at the boys face. 'Yo.' He let out in his childish, but calm voice.

[Zao]

As the boy's pencil twirled around the gloved right hand and it's index finger, his golden eyes had already closed over three quarters of the way at this point and his consciousness was wavering between thoughts of different thoughts of improving his drawing speed and taking a quick nap. Yet, from his side came a calm but young sounding voice as his head rolled to the left as the bright eyes fell upon another genin. His eyes would flutter a bit returning to their slightly more than half open appearance as the genin's consciousness that had began to become a bit blurry refocused on the approaching shinobi who'd spoken to him.

It wasn't a common occurrence for someone to approach the mask wearing Sozo member, most simply glanced over and lost interest so when this newcomer spoke out of course it garnered some level of interest from Jin. Rolling his neck back to the other side stretching out his skinny neck the pencil was grasped in the right hand as the left hand which had let the book come to rest in his lap tightened its hold, as well. Which was followed by both arms stretching up into the air as he arched his back for a moment before rocking forward so that he wasn't laying back any more.

As both hands came back to rest in his lap, the pencil twirling once around the index finger, a subconscious movement that he'd learned to do as a younger child from his father who had the same habit, Akujin nodded his head and spoke the same short word in reply to the small framed boy to the left of the bench. Taking notice of Izaki's appearance and what equipment that he brought along with him... "Yo."

[hobnob]

The twirl caught the youths eye. It appeared to be a movement well ingrained in his muscular memory. A cue that supported the youth original thoughts; this boy must have spent a lot of time using it. The youth was now eager to find out more about this boy who was busy improving his craft. Witnessing his half opened eyes, and his head roll made him realize just how laid back he was, it seemed that he was at the point between sleep, and being awake. At this rate it would not be long before they were both passed out on that bench.

The response the genin offered to his greeting, he was not too sure how he should take it. So, he forgot it the moment it left his lips. He shuffled forwards and sat down on the bench next to the genin. Trying to take a peek at what it was that he was drawing, he was really allowing his childish curiosity to get the better of him; he was only twelve after all. 'Whatcha' drawing the boy let out as he was trying to peek over his shoulder.

[Zao]

With only a half reply the next thing the stretching genin knew was the new guy had taken a seat, but he just didn't take a seat on the other end of bench the pair now shared in the training area. Instead he scooted across the length of the bench and took a spot right in the teenager's personal space and all Jin could think was 'What the heck?' Leaning away with his upper body he kind of shot the fellow ninja a bit of side eye as if telling him to please back up a bit, noticing right afterwards that he seemed to be interested in what he was doing.

Even though Izaki was a bit odd, perhaps weird some might say, in his actions on the other hand that drew attention to the drawing pad resting on his lap once more and this was enough to cause the small amount of nervous tension that had built up to relax. Anyone that held interest in his art was already considered a friend. Though his smile was hidden by the half face mask, Akujin nodded his head shifting his body and arm slightly in order to allow the boy who was more or less looking over his shoulder to see the drawing on the filled out page.

It was a quickly sketched drawing, having been an exercise to develop not only his speed drawing further but also attention to detail simultaneously. A style of training both his mother and father had done as children, passing on the exercise to Jin as his skill level began to develop. To have been drawn in such a short period of time it was still very vivid and expressed the emotion and action of the shinobi who appeared to have leaped in the air performing a spinning round house style kick to a hanging target. "Just practicing some drawing technique. Do you have an interest in drawing or art, too?"

[hobnob]

Izakis eyes quickly scanned the page the genin had been working on. The boys proficiency with a pencil could be seen at a glance. His passion for drawing was obvious, and it pushed Izaki further into thinking that, this genin might be a user of the ink style. 'Woah...' the young genin let out is awe as he gazed upon the sketch produced. The technique was great, and it was probably better than his own art work. 'That's really good...' the young boy began speaking, only to realize that his curiosity has completely captured him and he had never asked for the teens name. 'Sorry, what is you name?' the boy continued as he turned a little red from embarrassment, his right hand reached the back of his head, he gave it a gentle scratch and let out a short chuckle.

Assuming that the genin did offer his name; the young dark haired boy would do the same, 'I'm Izaki,' the youth let out, 'it's nice to meet you, and I do, mostly painting tho.' The boy finished speaking and then reached into his hip pouch and produced a scoll. It was bulky, but still a size that allowed the youth to easily hold it in one hand; there appeared to be two compartments inside the rolling pin. One took up half of the rolling pin, and the other was only a small round object. The youth hopped onto the ground and sat crossed legged facing the bench. He unrolled some of the scroll, using the bench as a table top, and finally pressed the round object which ejected from the pin and into his hand. The youth took off the square top to reveal a brush at the end of it. With a brush ready in his hand, he pressed the other compartment; this time however, it didn't eject like the previous did, it slid out only a tiny fraction, and it revealed a small hole, small enough to only allow the brush to be dipped in the contents; black ink.

In one, smooth, motion, the youth dipped the brush in the ink, moved the brush across the unraveled scroll in a mix of curves and lines, producing a rough painting of what he could see; the boy sat on the bench. It was not just a painting of him, it included the background and the bench itself; it was almost as if the youth stood back a couple paces. Letting out some air, the youth looked up at the genin and smiled; 'What do you think?' he said.

[Zao]

"I'm Akujin, but most of my family just call me Jin for short." Though the new guy was a bit odd, it was the likable kind of odd and not the totally creepy kind. After giving his own the fellow genin gave his back, "Izaki. Cool. And painting?" He had already gotten a hunch that due to the excessive interest in his own art that Izaki was most likely a fellow artist. "That's awesome, I've never met another artist outside my own family." His smiling face concealed by the half face mask may have hidden the facial expression to an extent but his body language gave away what the mask hid as he turned so that he could better interact with the fellow art enthusiast.

Next the genin removed a scroll that was truly similar to his own that was current resting on his lower back in its storage pouch, only his was slightly taller but ultimately very similar in design and function. 'Could he be...' Though he kept his thoughts to himself his eyes widened a bit younger boy hopped onto the ground and sat cross legged and without another word dipped his brush in ink and began to paint. Most normal people would have been intently watching the painting that was developing with each stroke but for an ink user like Jin watch watching other things. The fluidity of the stroke as each flowed into the others, the pressure and angle of the brush tip as it swirled to create the details bringing a simple painting to life.

"That's awesome man! " The young Leaf shinobi nearly jump up from his seat as he landed on the left side of Izaki now, crouched down almost touching the fellow genin as he looked over his shoulder at this point. "You've really got some skills. Do you use any other mediums?" His friend, Izaki, was without a doubt a very proficient painter, like himself but he couldn't help wondering if the fellow genin also used other art mediums in his art form. The drawing book and pencil had disappeared into the pouch on his right hip as the left hand withdrew the drawing scroll inkwell combination tool from his lower back pouch. In only a few moments he had taken a seat right next to his new friend and the ink brush seemed to almost appear in his hand at his point, at this point he was certain that the genin had to be a fellow ink user as well, at least that was his belief.

"Let's compare out art styles!" Jin seemed overly excited as he began to rapidly draw out a rather powerful looking tiger on the now unrolled papayas scroll, each flick and swirl of the brush brought to life the open maw tiger with the last movement being a gentle tap that finished the last eye. What was different about these movements and the pencil drawing was the faint amount of chakra one could sense from the Sozo member as he drew the painting. At the end of the last eye being dotted forming the black pupil the beast began to rise from the paper and stretch before escaping the confines of the paper and before the pair was a two meter long white tiger with black stripping.

"Rawr!" The ink beast was only a few meters out in front of the two genin as it landed with a light thud on the bare dirt of the training ground, letting out a lower rumbling roar as it turned and peered at Izaki and Jin, lowering its posture but making no further movements...a

JutsuShow

Super Beast Imitating - Feline Predator
D-rank Ninjutsu
Using chakra-infused ink, the user can quickly and expertly draw a lion or tiger like animal onto their scroll. The moment the brush is removed from the scroll the image will leap from the paper growing to life-size around two meters in size, and act according to the user's will attempting to attack the target. This construct gains a speed and strength equal to [Control] and last four posts.

[hobnob]

'Jin,' the youth let out before taking a a deep breath and finishing his sentence, ' Nice to meet you!' he let out and offered the older boy a slight bow. He then commenced with the actions established prior, and waited to hear the boys opinion about his painting. Letting out a short sentence exclaiming his opinion about the painting, and even going to the extent of moving off the bench to get a better look. This warm feeling that praise created in his stomach was one of the reasons why Izaki had pursued the hobby of painting. Having someone else look at the results of years of dedication, and them telling you that they are impressed, was what gave the youth the most motivation out of all other possible sources of it. Izaki smiled and looked up, looking at the genins masked face, 'Thank you Jin!' the youth exclaimed as his own excitement was beginning to radiate out of him.

When the question about whether he used another medium was asked, Izaki shook his head before he returned his gaze to the Jin. 'No, I only picked this up because my father was a painted.' He let out before returning his gaze to the scroll before him. He folded the unraveled scroll a few inches inwards from the edge of the painting, and then slowly tore it off; he then proceeded the roll it into a neat scroll of its own and then he bound it with a small elastic string that stopped it from unraveling itself.The youths gaze then returned to Jin and he made himself comfortable on the ground, and produced a scroll that was very similar to his own. '...He must be!' he thought, as the boy proceeded to work his art.

'Yes let's do it!' Izaki let out with excitement as the boy offered to compare their styles of art. Izaki nodded and awaited patiently for the youth to finish his painting. Taking note of the smooth, quick movements of the brush, he could have expected what came next. The tiger leaped out of the scroll and landed on the ground a few feet away from them with a gentle thud. 'Whoah!' the genin let out with a wide smile on his face. This was the first time that he had met someone who used chakra to manipulate their works of art. 'That's awesome! Watch mine!' the youth let out, his excitement radiating like the sun.

With the brush still in hand, he dipped it once again and pressed it against the scroll before him. The pressure applied, and the quickness of his strokes, resulted in his tigers to appear smaller, and slender that the tiger produced by Akujin. The pair leaped out of the scroll simultaneously after the youth had charged them with his chakra, they both landed on each side of the individual tiger. Their tails were facing the genin, and both adapted a stance that was similar to that of the tiger they were facing;

'Rawr!' the two roared simultaneously.

[Zao]

"I knew it!" The young genin exclaimed, his tone of voice actually raising to an excited one now as he watched the young man beside him go through the same finesse movements with the ink brush, each stroke demonstrating the level of artistic skill the genin at his side had reached. It was awesome to watch and soon the fellow Leaf shinobi finished and a pair of more streamline and slender tigers leaped off the page now and landed on either side of his own. If this was the wild one might have mistaken the two smaller tigers as mates to the larger centralized one as the actions caused the tiger to straighten up as though it had some semblance of intelligence as it glanced back and forth to its side. Though only a construct and not a clone, this proved to be the limit of its own ability to think without instruction from its creator as it simply turned back its focus on the position of the two young genin.

"Very nice my friend!" The excitement was still easily heard in Jin's voice as he looked from the two tigers that let out a roar together as though they were on a single mind, his hidden smile remained plastered on his lips behind the half face mask as he looked back down at the now empty parchment and dipped his brush back into the inkwell on is special scrolls center piece before beginning to draw once more. This time he decided to do something similar to that of his companion and produce two drawings. Though he moved on from the tiger into something a little bit funner, at least in his mind, as the swirl and slashes of the ink brush soon took shape. It was a pair of predatory like birds, closer to a hawk in appearance as the last stroke was to create the pupil of the bird on the left.

As it was removed from the paper and both images were refined and completed the two paper white birds with their outlines in black sprang to life from the pages growing to have a wind span of around a meter each as they flapped their ink wings and climbed into the sky. Acting as though they were real birds the two large birds unfolded their wings completely catching the gentle breeze allowing for them to glide over head slowly circling above the tree the two genin were seated next to. "Something a little different." He spoke calmly, tamping down his excitement a little and returning to a more calm state of mind as his golden eyes were lifted to the sky in order to see his creations flying through the air above them.

JutsuShow

Super Beast Imitating - Bird
D-rank Ninjutsu
Using chakra-infused ink, the user can quickly and expertly draw a bird like animal onto their scroll. The moment the brush is removed from the scroll, the image leap from the paper growing to life-size no more that a meter in size and act according to the user's will for scouting and reconnaissance. This construct gains a speed equal to [Control x1.5] and strength equal to [Control/2] and last four posts.

Super Beast Imitating - Multi Beast
C-rank Ninjutsu
Prerequisite: Lower rank Beast Imitating technique
Using chakra-infused ink, the user can quickly and expertly draw a three matching animals onto their scroll. The moment the brush is removed from the scroll, the images will leap from the paper, grow to life-size as described in their technique, and act according to the user's will based on the animal type. Last 6 posts.

[hobnob]

The youth smiled as he watched the the hawks fly out of the paper scroll. The thing about ink techniques was that regardless of how much eperience you had with it. It was always an amazing sight to watch the creations come to life. One skilled with the brush could create anything, anything their imagination allowed them; by the looks of things the two artists were only beginning their artistry career. Izaki jumped to his feet as the two hawks began circling above the tigers. Izakis excitement was still growing, he wanted to see more of Akujins art work, he wanted to share more art work with him. 'Wow! The detail you put into them in incredible! I love them!' he screamed with excitement. Today was truly turning out to be a much different day than he had originally anticipated. A wide smile grew on his face as he reached for his scroll and once again began to scribble something.

This time, it was going to be something different. It wasn't going to be an animal; it was going to be himself. He was going to paint a self-portrait and allow it to come to life before Akujin. This was his most complex drawing, but it was far from being his favorite. He lifted up the scroll before him and held it handing down. He only required to apply very light pressure to what he was doing, but instead he needed a lot of space to make it. He started off with the feet, feet in the ninja sandals that he always wore. He then moved up, drawing the knees clothed in his usual attire. Then onto the torso, with a sword poking out above the shoulder. Finally he reached the head, and give his drawing the same wide smile that he currently had across his face. Transferring chakra into the brush, and then charging the painting with it, but before it followed in the the other painting, the youth held the painting away from him, facing the bench; soon enough it was released from its binds, and he landed with a the gentlest touch on the back rest of the bench, crouching down as assessed the surroundings, and eventually turning to face the two genin.

The youth turned in anticipation to Akujin to see what amazing painting he had in store. Seeing the amazing painting the young male had shown-off so far had given Izaki great expectations of him. Of this very moment, the youth considered the young adult his rival; a rival, so far, only in the world of art. Izaki turned to face Jin, the excitement was almost beaming out of his eyes, if one didn't know that the youth was very energetic, they would think that he is a little crazy, a little crazy about art.

JutsuShow

Ink Release: Charging Tiger
C-Rank Ninjutsu
The user draws an image of tiger which upon activation will dash towards the target in an attempt to maul them over. The speed and strength of the jutsu is equal to [Control] and the user is able to cast no more than three tigers per use. This jutsu has a homing effect, due to which he is not able to cast any jutsu while this is active, it will remain active for as long as the user chooses to, or it lands on the target.

Ink Release: Self-Portrait
C-Rank Ninjutsu
The user performs a string of hand seals in order to create an identical copy of himself. The clone is an exact copy of the user has the same stats, but it is only able to use Ink release and lasts for the users [Control]/5 Posts, whichever comes first.

Note: For some reason I thought my tiger jutsu, made two tigers with one use... ma bad!

[Zao]

There was a screech that echoed out from above as the two hawk like birds cried out, continuing to simply circle above the two genin's head now leveling off at around thirty meters causing them to appear small in size in comparison to when they had been at ground level. The excitement in his friend's voice caused for Akujin to bring his eyes off the circling ink creations overhead and back down to earth. A grin forming on his masked lips before he couldn't help himself from asking Izaki now, "What do you have next?!" It wasn't often that he was able to simply have fun like this with his art ninjutsu, as his father and mother mad it much less fun and more like training...far from the exchange he was having with the other genin at the moment. Now he looked on with an excited and interested look in his glowing eyes as pondered what would be the next creation from the young boy.

He was not disappointed at all with the next creation, his friend standing up to make some space before he then altering the way in which he was holding the scroll so that the loose end was now hanging vertically towards the ground before beginning to draw. 'What could he be drawing like that?' Jin felt that it might be something large in size but couldn't be sure until the Leaf nin started to touch brush to paper. 'Shoes...is it?' Starting at the feet it took a second for the artistic shinobi to put one and one together to understand that it was a type of portrait technique, something he hadn't really mastered for himself at the moment. Training in two separate art mediums had somewhat slowed his progress down but in the future he felt that it would pay off.

"A clone type technique?" The question flew out of his mouth as he stood up, perhaps it was better to say that the genin jumped up from his seat as the clone of the artist leaped from the paper of the scroll and came to life. It had leaped from the page and landed ever so gently upon the back of the worn looking wooden bench Akujin had previously been seated upon. "That's awesome! I haven't progressed my ink skills to that level, yet. This is the last beast I've learned to draw well enough to utilize in my artistic ninjutsu." He couldn't help but admit to his new friend that his ink skills were lacking a bit, but it wasn't something that he wasn't actively working on either.

If there was one thing about Jin, it was his tenacity to work hard to accomplish his tasks and work towards his own dreams. Giving a silent nod to his friend he passed the ink brush by the ink well with a quick movement and began to draw as the scroll unrolled to a longer length as he brought the scroll holding hand across in front of him. This action caused the scroll to float horizontally for a few moments as the right hand and brush bustled into actions. Though the animals lacked some detail when compared to the others which he had drawn several more times, what would stand out the most in this action was the sheer speed of the penmanship that was borderline a blur as the brush moved through creating not one, not two, but three twisted snakes. Finishing the scroll lost its momentum and sagged to the ground as the brush hand formed a hand seal, three five meter long python looking serpents stretched and slithered out from the scroll on to the ground circling around the two genin. "Whew..."

Letting out a long exhale the genin felt a little weak from expending chakra like he had for each of the creations back-to-back, even performing them at a reduced level of control as these creatures at the moment were really just for practice and show for Iazki to see and not for combat. Shaking his head he dropped back down to a seated position as the scroll fell across his semi-crossed legs. "This is fun, Izaki!"

JutsuShow

Super Beast Imitating - Snake
D-rank Ninjutsu
Using chakra-infused ink, the user can quickly and expertly draw a snake onto their scroll. The moment the brush is removed from the scroll the image will leap from the paper growing to life-size of up to five meters in length and act according to the user's will attempting to bind the target. This construct gains a speed equal to [Control/2] and strength equal to [Control x1.5] and last four posts.


Super Beast Imitating - Multi Beast
C-rank Ninjutsu
Prerequisite: Lower rank Beast Imitating technique
Using chakra-infused ink, the user can quickly and expertly draw a three matching animals onto their scroll. The moment the brush is removed from the scroll, the images will leap from the paper, grow to life-size as described in their technique, and act according to the user's will based on the animal type. Last 6 posts.

[hobnob]

Izakis body jerked as he saw the slithering snakes slither out of the scroll and began circling them; 'Aghh!' he let out as his eyes moved between the three reptiles. The youth has come across a lot of animals and had gotten used to them, but he never really managed to come across snakes before. Seeing them circling the two of them put him on edge. In combination to his body being drained from extending a lot of chakra to show his friend his artwork arsenal. Hearing Jins voice brought him back into the moment, he eased off and relaxed before turning to face the older boy, offering him a nod; 'Very fun! I love it!' he let out. His excitement was slowly returning as he pondered on what other artwork he could show off; a smirk appeared on his face.

He looked around him, seeing all these creatures looking ferocious. He decided that it might be nice to make this, what might appear to be a hostile scene, a little more calm and relaxed. 'Watch this! This is one of my favorites.' He let out, before he once again dipped his brush in the ink and began jotting down some fine lines on the unraveled scroll. The lines were very fine, and were followed by four dots in total that mirrored each other on the opposite side on the single line. He hand was moving very quickly as he painted hundreds of the identical objects. Beginning to unravel the scroll further as he needed more space to finish whatever it was that he was painting. Every time he went to dunk his brush in the ink, he flicked his hand a little to relieve some of the strain placed on it from the painting, sending some of the left over ink flying onto the grass near the circling snakes.

'Fffft....' The youth let out as he took a deep breath. It appeared that he has finished this piece, all that was left was to execute a few handseals and watch the magic happen. A big smile could be seen on his face as his gaze turned towards Akujin, 'Hah, I hope you like this!'. His hands moved quickly to his chest level, and in a flurry of movements he performed a couple of hand seals. Transferring his chakra into his scroll, what he painted was beginning to come alive, all of it at the same time. Hundreds of the little paintings fluttered their wings, and began to fly out, and surround both of the genin. Each and every single on of these creatures, latched onto another in a locking manner, and slowly they began to make a wall that surrounded the two. The wall was only up the the waist, by surrounded them completely in an oval shape.

A moment later, Izaki led on his back and let out a loud, 'Whew...!'. He hasn't felt this drained in a while, and it was really beginning to have a toll on him. His hand moved up to his head, to wipe the sweat gathering on his forehead. The smile once again beamed across his face as he sat up and supported his arms, extended behind him. His gaze returned to Akujin, as he eagerly waited for for the older boy to show off his other works of art.

JutsuShow

Ink Release: Pretty Barrier
D-Rank Ninjutsu
The user draws a swarm of butterflies which upon activation fly out and form a barrier within a 5m radius of the user, around him in a dome. It is also possible for the dome to be imperfect for the purposes of allowing the user to see the opponent. The speed and strength of the jutsu is equal to [Control].