[Training] You Say Run

[Tsedas]

Rays of light broke through the clouds, shining down like angled pillars upon the village of Konoha. The clouds rolled across the sky, as if threatening to unleash a deluge of untold proportions yet the world below was still dry as a bone. Within the village, people carried on about their days, their movements only really noticed by one individual who cared to idle away his day with meditation and people watching. Resting atop the corner of a roof overlooking an intersection of moderate volume, Takamori Jubei sat in a meditative pose while looking down upon the citizens below.

A breeze washed over him and tussled his hair, the genin pondering the next course of action he should take. His battojutsu training was reaching a point where his physical body wasn't ready to contend. He needed to train but he found training by himself only got so much done in a single sitting. Pondering on his options, he tried to think if there was someone he could turn to that wasn't his father. That Ibakuro girl Aiya seemed like his best bet, but he wasn't sure if she was down to do physical training with him or not.

Pushing himself up, he plucked Juzumaru off the rooftop as he'd removed his sword from his sash while he had been meditating. Tucking it back into his waist band, he made his way down to the street level with some well placed navigation of the building and any protrusions, footholds, and such that would ease his transition down. Once on the ground, he began to wander, asking around for a way to the Ibakuro's home. It took longer than he anticipated but eventually he reached a stretch of road that sprawled into the woods. Walking along, his eyes flicked to tiny bits of movement as he noticed a large number of spiders about. "I think they might be overdoing the spider thing just a tad."

Jubei eventually reached the compound and gave the front gate a loud knocking in the hopes that someone was home. "Hello? Is Aiya here?"

[TyDie]

A large woman, towering over the young Jubei at a whopping 6 feet 7 inches tall, looked down at the child with a small smile as he asked about Aiya. "I believe so, child. I will take you to her home." the woman said simply, nodding to another guard on the other side of the gate before pushing it open and guiding Jubei into the Ibakuro compound. All along the forest canopy were white webs, draped like curtains over the tree tops, while the forest floor seemed lightly dotted with bushes and other such natural landscape. The walk didn't take too long - Aiya's house was near the entrance to the compound.

With a couple of knocks on the door, the guard would stand by Jubei's side until Aiya's mother, a normal looking woman with brown hair and green eyes, answered the door. "Yes? May I help you?"

"The kid was looking for your daughter, Rin. He's a shinobi by the looks of things."

"Oh, of course! she's out back right now, I think she was exercising but I'm sure she could use the break."

Aiya's mother would take Jubei off the guard's hands, allowing her to go back to her post, while Rin simply guided the young Takamori to the back yard, where both of them could watch as Aiya was, indeed, exercising.

At the moment, the girl was balanced upside down on her staff, Ruyi Jingu Bang, with one hand planted firmly on the round end of the staff while the other was balanced on the earth beneath her. Sweat dripped from her brow, falling to the ground beneath her staff like tiny rain drops while she let out deep, focused breaths. Slowly, the girl would lower herself down towards her staff, maintaining her straight posture and her balance on the staff while descending towards her own hand. Once her elbow had bent out a good deal, she'd then grit her teeth and let out a seething breath of effort as she pushed herself back up to a straight-arm position. It would be clear to the both of them now that she was performing push ups, one handed, balanced on her staff.

With that one push up completed, she'd then alternate to her other hand, wobbling only slightly as she switched hands with a grunt of effort. She'd bring the other hand up by her side while she once again slowly dropped herself down to her balancing hand, the staff teetering a little this way or that while her legs and torso reflexively shifted to maintain her balance. Her long black hair dangled down past her own hand as she came down to the staff's end, slowly pushing herself back up again as she sighed. It was after this that her mother finally spoke up to interrupt.

"Aiya honey, you have company."

At the sudden voices around her, the woman 'eeked' for a moment, losing her balance before falling end over end down to the ground with a 'THUD'. "Owwww! Mom, I told you I was - " The girl suddenly trailed off as she looked through her sweaty locks of hair to see the young white haired swordsman of Konoha. "Oh, Jubei! Well uh, this is embarrassing, heh." Aiya scratched the back of her head before rising from her spot on the ground, dusting herself off and picking up her staff before channeling a small amount of chakra into the weapon, causing it to disappear in a poof of smoke as it was replaced in her Fuuinjutsu.

"What brings you here?" Aiya asked, as Rin was already making her way back to the house, chuckling to herself at her daughter's blunder.

610/550 words for Strength Training

[Tsedas]

Jubei looked up to the guard, followed them, met with Aiay's mother apparently, and then was promptly escorted around to the backyard where the person he sought was practicing for a circus performance. They failed their performance sadly as they fell to the ground, but he wasn't too bothered by it. As Aiya spoke, the Takamori boy pulled his sheathed sword from his waist and gave it a shake. "Training brought me here, seems you've had a similar idea in mind, so I'm assuming you wouldn't be opposed to having a training partner?"

[TyDie]

Aiya tilted her head with slight confusion as the young Takamori mentioned training with her, and she immediately remembered - Oh, Right. She offered to train with him some time ago. "Oh, of course! That'd be just fine! Well, why don't we make out way to my clan's training ground. I don't wanna wreck up my mom's back yard... You understand, right?" She chuckled with a bit of embarrassment, scratching the back of her head as she motioned for Jubei to follow her, making a quick leap over the back fence of her back yard and dropped down on the other side before making her way through the trees. "It isn't too far, and it's nice and open. Just... watch out for spiders."

As the two arrived at the training area, a thirty meter clearing in the middle of the Ibakuro's forest with fencing around the area and artificial lights overhead due to the dense canopy blocking out much of the natural light, Aiya skipped over to the middle of the training area and smiled at Jubei. "I'll lead off with a new Doton jutsu I've been itching to try!" As the girl spoke, She glowed with chakra for a brief moment, this chakra surging through the ground towards Jubei's location and infusing the earth beneath his feet. Then, with a sly grin, the girl shifted her left foot backwards, causing the earth under Jubei's feet to shift a meter towards Aiya. The sudden shift wouldn't hurt him at all, but he might lose his balance and fall down, which would earn a laugh from Aiya.

"Heh, good for a prank, as well as dropping someone's guard in a fight." Aiya would cross her arms and wait for her training partner to get up before motioning to him to go next.

302/200 words for jutsu below

Jutsu TrainedShow

[Earth Element • Earth Flow]
C-Ranked Ninjutsu
This simple jutsu only requires the channeling of chakra and contact with the earth within a 30m radius of the designated section of earth. After filling this area with their chakra, the user can focus on any portion of the area up to 5 meters in diameter and shift it up to 10 meters in any direction, with a speed equal to their [control] and pulling with strength equal to their [control]. The ground remains so charged in this way for four posts, and the user can shift the earth once per post during this duration.

[Tsedas]

Jubei followed after Aiya, hopping over the back fence and darting around spider webs that seemed almost strategically placed at eye height for any passerby. As he ran, they reached a clearing before she started speaking of trying a new technique out. When she glowed, he was prepared to try a new technique of his own when the ground under his feet started to slide and take him with it. His eyes snapped to her as they glowed, a skeletal arm materializing before grabbing him by the collar and catching him as he started to fall backward. Hoisting him up, it held him by the collar of his robes in the air as the dirt slid a bit longer before ceasing.

When she chuckled and stated it was a good prank, he made the arm lower him back onto his feet as he quirked an eyebrow at her. The glow faded from his eyes as the armor dissolved away and he just shook his head. "Really? Here I was hoping to defend myself using a new technique I thought up. While it did take me by surprise, I think it would only be useful once or twice before the enemy starts to anticipate it."

As he spoke in a relaxed pose, Jubei's hand quickly shot to his katana's handle. Drawing his sword, her used his wrist to perform a simple rotation as he performed an overhead cut. As he cut, his index finger shifted around to the other side of the hilt along side his thumb. With his finger shifted, he spun the blade as the cut continued along with the handle held between his middle and index fingers. Shifting his thumb up to maintain a hold on the blade, Jubei shifted his other fingers around to give himself a reverse grip on the blade as it continued along it's circular path. As the blade came back up along his side, the Takamori boy shifted his sheath until the back side of his blade was resting atop the scabbard's opening. From there, the Genin began to draw the blade forward until he started to resheath the weapon. The motion seemed a little jerky in the middle of the circular cutting arc with his fingers repositioning, but ultimately the whole thing looked like a smooth draw, cut, and resheath action with a tight radius. Well suited for close quarters reactionary defense or surprise offense.

As he held his sword in it's sheath, he furrowed his brow for a moment before shaking his head. "Sorry, I messed that up." He stated before his hand fell to his side. This technique clearly useful for transitioning from an at rest position to an attack rather quickly. With his body back in a relaxed position, he shifted his legs and his right hand once more. The boy's left hand shifted forward several inches away as his right hand grabbed the blade's handle once more. However instead of drawing the blade away from his body, his left hand pulled the scabbard away. Once the sheath was free of the blade, his right wrist twisted and began the motions anew. However, Aiya might notice that the boy's index finger was pointed straight up and out instead of curled around the blade.

Twisting the edge of the blade upward and arcing in a circular motion, his finger movements seemed more fluid and the blade spun at a faster pace than before. As the blade came back around and up near his shoulder, Jubei shifted his left arm forward to bring the back of the katana's length to rest upon the hole in the scabbard. Gliding the blade along the hole, he eventually slipped the tip into the sheath until the weapon was once more tucked away in it's protective covering.

428/730 words for Flash Cut technique

[TyDie]

Aiya giggled a little as the boy stumbled, the earth under his feet shifting and sliding about in ways that was far beyond normal. Were it not for Jubei's unique body modification and the skeletal arm it had created, the white haired Takamori would've fallen flat on his butt. He seemed a little miffed, or at least he was being serious, and so Aiya's laughter petered out as she put a hand on her hip and smirked. "Ahh, but once or twice is all I need it for, Jubei. If that hand hadn't of caught you, you'd of been ripe for a finishing blow. When you can't even trust the dirt under your feet, what can you trust? Which brings me to my next fun idea..." Aiya's grin widened a little as she watched the boy practice his new maneuver, an interesting style of Iaido draw that included a flip or blade flourish. She wasn't yet sure what the final product would be, but she knew how to help him... though he might not like it.

"If you want something to defend against, say no more!" The girl exclaimed, as she let loose a deep breath and put her hands together in the form of the Tiger seal. She would then flash from Tiger to Rat, Rat to Dragon, Dragon to Dog, in a flurry of seals as she gathered a great deal of chakra within her body. Taking a deep breath, the girl allowed this chakra to flow deep into the earth at her feet... And at first? Nothing happened. Everything was quiet, the battlefield appeared unchanged. But if Jubei allowed his guard to drop like he had with the first technique, he'd have a lot more to worry about then dirt on his butt if he fell.

"Don't lose focus, Jubei. It's coming for you." She crossed his arms and smiled, a sort of sly smile, as if she knew something the boy didn't know. If Jubei took her advice and began to focus, he'd slowly begin to understand what she was saying... the ground in front of him began to rumble ever so slightly. This rumbling grew in intensity, slowly but surely, until finally two large, thin legs of stone emerged from the earth in front of him. Those legs, each measuring a little under one meter in length, appeared sharpened - blades, just like the boy's own sword. They ended in wicked looking barbed tips, making clear they could stab as well as they could slice. As more of the spider emerged now, it's stone maw bore two fang, each 15 centimeters in length, while two more of it's front legs broke through the earth. The Cephalothorax of the creature bore no eyes or any sort of sensory organs, making clear the beast was simply a construct of Aiya's creation - Rock given temporary life.

Finally, the rest of the spider emerged, it's bulbous abdomen and four remaining legs pushing it up through the dirt to stand before Jubei. All in all, the creature was a mere 2 meters from end to end - a fraction of what it was truly capable of. With a mighty push forward, it would aim to attack Jubei with it's front legs, bringing them down hard on his current position to slash into him with a strength and speed of 5.

550/400 words for the following:

Jutsu TrainedShow

[Doton • Spider of Stone]
Aiya will gather her chakra, funneling this chakra into the ground beneath her feet to shape the rock and stone into a large stone spider. When Aiya first casts this jutsu, she may choose to have the spider emerge from the earth within 10 meters of her, or she can create the spider underground, up to 10 meters below the earth. The spider measures up to 10 meters from left leg to right leg with up to a 5 meter long body, including a bulbous abdomen and large cephalothorax. The spiders legs up to 2 meter in length and are sharpened like blades, and the tips are barbed, capable of piercing and pulling a target in. Its fangs are up to 45 cm in length and can easily pierce flesh. The spider is capable of burrowing underground to ambush prey, and can move and act with [control] speed and strength.