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Xyn's eye stayed away from Shisei's general direction, but his attention was still on him. How could someone like him dare to call someone else rude? The Douken picked his right arm up from his side for a moment to, rubbing his fingers against his exposed forehead to try and figure out how anyone could act in such a way. Was this narrow-eyed boy really picking a fight with everyone, or did he simply lack the self control needed to be aware of such facts.

"... Munin." Xyn whispered just under his collar so that only the raven could hear. He figured Maya wouldn't listen in, so the fact that she was next to him did not matter at the moment. There was something he had to know, and a direct confrontation seemed only to play into Shisei's hands. If he desired the reaction he received from his meaningless banter, Xyn would have no part of it.

"... Will you do something for me?" Xyn couldn't remember the last time he had actually asked Munin for a favor, but he thought this method would cause the least amount of trouble.


Munin was still examining Sukotto when Xyn's voice literally shattered his focus. He nearly jumped away despite Xyn's calm tone. The boy was addressing him directly? Munin's first thought was usually what had he done wrong, but Xyn was trying to tell him something... maybe the boy wanted him to retrieve something, hopefully food. Besides saying his name, a word he had heard dozens of times before, Xyn's tone was too mild. Even by staring at his lips the raven couldn't figure out what any of the words were. Still, the boy wanted something, he'd just have to listen more carefully to the next thing he said.


Xyn: Talk to Munin
1d20 + Focus(13) + End(1) =30

Munin: Understand Xyn
1d20 + Sense(2) + Int(3) =7

"Ahh...ha." Serena slowly nodded her head, trying to comprehend what the Kage had just said. Her mission? When did that happen? Where was Sorri? Does he actually expect her to figure this out on her first mission? The questions kept coming up, but the Raiken was definitely not going to ask any of them. Quickly, she ran through her head some ideas and started to tremble out what she though was a decent idea.

She took a deep breath and shrugged. "Well...I was thinking about figuring out how to turn him human again, but I also keep wondering whether or not it would be best to try communicating with Mizugi first to actually see why he's here. Like..he might have come for a different reason..now, after all of these years.." She bit her lip and looked at Shinichi for an answer, wondering whether or not he was going to kill her for having such a bad idea. Not to bad, she supposed. At least it made a bit of sense. At least she came up with something other than just leaving Mizugi there to melt.

He shook his head. What had all that been about? He was struck with this curious feeling of nostalgia, too. That had been really weird. And suffocating. Remembering at last his stretched limb, he quickly moved out of position, flexing his muscle. Damn... that kind of hurt. Well, nothing more but to move on.

Although it was quiet in this secluded section of the training grounds, he could hear the beginnings of something interesting happening outside. His interest piqued, he resolved to finish his stretches with the minimum time possible so he could get his butt there and be a part of it. Now finished with his arms, he decided to move on to his legs. He had to stretch these well since it would help him in the physical challenges that lay ahead. It would be difficult to compete against Maya, but hell if he wouldn't try.

He squatted down, smoothing the ground and brushing away dust, imaginary or no, as best he could. Then he carefully sat down and extended his legs straight in front of him. After that, he lowered his torso down, stretching his arms out, until he could firmly touch his feet.

Stretching
d20 + dex mod [5] = 27
DC: 15
Train: 4/5

Maya and Baki vs Sukotto theme

Sukotto matched Maya's grin with one of his own as his heart began to pound hard and fast against his chest. His new taijutsu style would take a lot of grace to use effectively, especially for the first time, so he did his best to slow his breathing and focus on even the most subtle motions of the Tagtegami and her lion companion. The Uchiha predicted that the pair could do some heavy damage if they managed to land a hit on him, so it would be vital to avoid taking any at all. However, Sukotto figured that the pair constantly trained together, so they would be quite coordinated when it came to executing attacks. This being thought, the genin knew that his taijutsu alone wouldn't be enough to defeat both Maya and Baki together. He knew that he would have to develop strategies on the fly if he hoped to even stand a chance. Deep down, Sukotto knew that the fight could be over in a matter of moments if he was hit only a few times, but didn't allow that fact to stifle his spirit. No matter what, this sparring session would benefit all three of the contenders involved and that was what was truly important. Without much more thought, Sukotto held out his arms in front of him in a defensive position, allowing them to relax so that they would be able to respond more quickly to any sort of situation that he was presented with. He slid his right foot back a little and placed most of his weight on it while tracing the other against the ground out in front of him. Since his front leg was burdened by only a little weight, it would be able to attack, defend, or help him to doge strikes more quickly. Sukotto took one deep breath and fell into a different state of conciousness, keeping his eyes on Maya and Baki, deciding if it would be work out better to make the first move or to allow his sparring partners to do so.

Rolling to determine who goes first
[1d20 = 8]

Phoenix Form [Hōsenka Katachi]
Description: A mind without intention is required to harness the true power of this fighting style. In the absence of doubt and fear, only action remains and this form certainly trains one to let go of such hindrances. Like the bird of fire that this taijutsu is named for, trainees will, in a sense, be reborn after completing their training. A focus on the legs for offensive strikes and the hands and arms for a defense by means of quick deflections is achieved by focusing on agility rather than strength. The primary stance is held by completely relaxing one's arms and balancing seventy percent of one's weight on one leg whilst holding the other in front of the body, barely touching the ground and ready to strike.
Cp Cost: N/A
Damage: 1 to 5 + Agi Mod + 1 per 10 Ranks Taijutsu
Requirement: 10 Ranks in Control, 30 Ranks in Taijutsu, 30 ranks in Agility
Avoid: Dodge
Special: Agility Mod replaces Strength Mod in all rolls and total skill that deals with taijutsu. User cannot use Tumble to dodge while in combat.

Once he was a fair distance away to observe the fight, Xyn made a quick spin to examine the area he had chosen, then faced the direction of the combatants, adjusting his stance carefully before crossing his legs and sitting. The ground was cold, even colder than the climate he was used to, but he was wearing his cloak now, and it stood as an extra layer between his body and the frigid earth, so there was no point in whining. Not wanting to be too idle, he slipped his journal from his right breast pocket, flicking it slightly with his left hand to make the sketching coal fall toward his lap before he opened the pages. Maybe if he watched Maya and Sukotto's expressions and wrote down his impressions, he could understand the alleged 'thrill' of combat. The thought that he was being too analytical came too his mind, but as usual he quickly dismissed it.


Munin decided to take this little job as seriously as possible. It was something Xyn asked of him, so if he messed up, not only would the raven be ashamed, but the young Douken would most likely not give him a treat. That alone made anything short of success unimaginable. What was the best way to approach this... first, he had to make sure Shisei didn't see him. The snake-child might just unhinge his jaw and swallow him whole. An unfortunate mental picture caused enough of a stitch in Munin's concentration that he nearly dropped from the sky. He remained circling high and widely over the grounds, trying to ignore the cold. moving around was helping, but the higher the altitude, the lower the temperature. He'd have to figure out his plan quickly. Where were the best places to keep out of sight from Shisei's position...?


Eh? These two were going to fight right now? Eri started to let her face lean toward a pout. She was hoping this boy would teach her a jutsu, not have his own fun. And this girl with the lion... ick. The young enchantress despised animals, despite carrying around so many toy versions of them. Live animals were so... so... disrespectful. They rarely did what she asked, so she had no use for them. Even an animal that was already trained was a bother. The problem came to be that the owner takes care of the pet, not the other way around. She had no use for such a relationship.

Despite all this, a fight might be interesting to watch, but... would it be appropriate for her to enjoy such a thing? it was probably best to interact with one of the other children... snake-eyed boy... eye-patch boy... someone stretching...

Eri smiled brightly as she chose her target. Her eyes almost sparkled as she looked upon Serena. Holding her plush dog tightly to her chest, she made several strides toward Serena in her usual manor, her wide skirt swinging back and forth nearly hiding the movement of her then legs. She let her knees bend a little more so it seemed more like she was gliding.

"Um, hello. I don't have any friends, would you mind if I stayed by you? I don't like to be alone." Eri turned up her charm as much as she possibly could in this situation. She had to manipulate someone into being her protector in case she crossed the wrong person. This girl didn't look as strong as Sukotto, but she still was a resident of this island and at the very least knew more about everyone else than Eri could find out on her own. She could make valuable use of such information.


Xyn: Observing People's Emotions
1d20 + Sense( 8 ) +Int(7) =19
DC: 30
Train: 0/3

Munin: Know Your Surroundings
1d20 + Int(3) =5
DC: 13
Train: 0/5

Eri Attack #1
The Eri Pout! Eri's lips are highly glossed with a sad frown. Although her expression is sad and her cheeks are drooping, her dimples still show clearly. Her eyes are the prize! The Eri Pout depends strongly on the emotion shown in her eyes. (In case you're wondering, I have these written down, she has 6 attacks so far, working on a maximum of 10)
1d20 + Seduce(3) +Char(3) =18
Counter: Sense

"Alright, then. Go for it," Shinichi nodded to Sukotto as he stepped back to give him and Maya room to spar. He was a jutsu addict and ones that generated this much excitement in the usually stark calm teenager was bound to be worth it. The fact that he was also going up against both Maya and Baki, two very powerful fighters for their age, proved that this fighting style was something special. Too bad he wouldn't be around to see it. Shinichi's attention was turned from the fight preparations when a high-pitched voice tugged at his sensei instincts. He opened his mouth to give the girl a lecture on jutsu and their wonderfulness, but just as soon plopped the hinge shut. Why waste effort in explaining something to a girl that obviously wasn't suited for the power of jutsu. There were other forms of the ninja arts, after all, and based on her eagerness for physical fighting and near killing, he guessed that Orika was better suited for nonchakra related arts. Pulling a short length of rope out of his bag, Shinichi motioned for the girl to hold out her arms, then tied them tightly together in front of her. "Nawanuke is a jutsu where you use chakra to bend your bones and joints so they're more flexible. Try and get out of those ropes. When you're done, come find me. With the others, of course," Shinichi instructed without so much as a change of expression.

Now it was Serena's turn to get pummeled for her obnoxious idea. Or not. "Hm," Shinichi grunted, actually giving deep thought into her idea, "It is weird how he didn't come out all those other years. He does seem intelligent. Let's give it a try." The ANBU started towards the Rice Farms and softly spoke to Serena on the way, "One thing I'm concerned about, however, is the fact that he will be who knows how old when we finally turn him human. He might not have long to live and thus might not want to turn back human. The actual transformation might be something he knows as well."

[Exit to Rice Farms]

Orika held her hands out, perplexed as to Shinichi's intentions. She whimpered when he tied her hands together too tight, as if he wanted to give her a challenge. "Aw, sensei, you're leaving?" the girl whined, trying to struggle out of her bounds. She tripped and hit the floor, then laid there wiggling on her back, once even using a foot to try and loosen the rope, but only succeeded in scratching herself. Orika winced at the memory of having to work with chakra, but realized that Shinichi had made the ropes tight to force her to face her hated enemy. Okay, deep breath, here goes. ... "Darn it, what was chakra again?" the girl asked, slightly more than a little confused. She remembered something about having to work with it during Henge, but she wasn't sure she could pull off a successful Henge to bring back this chakra business. It was something about inner energy or karma and jargon like that. "Chalk... ra..." the girl chanted, sighing heavily when an image of red chalk came to mind. No, she was just getting further and further away from the real meaning. Orika glanced at her knuckles, which were getting numb and tingly from cutting off her circulation. Soon they would be purple and then her hands would fall off!

Training I
To use this jutsu, you must focus your chakra through the part of your body being restrained. Try concentrating your chakra flow through your arms so that they can move more easily.
1d20 + Control 0
DC: 15
Train: 0/2

One of Sukotto's eyebrows raised into an arch as Maya demand that he make a move. Attacking or defending against two opponents was a complicated matter, especially since he wouldn't be able to utilize his most powerful weapon: the Phoenix Flower. However, the very objective of the sparring match was to finish the creation of a fighting form that would decrease his reliance on such a risky technique to use against any more than a single opponent. In addition to being unable to use his offensive ninjutsu, the Uchiha figured that attempting to hide to use a more stealthy form of attacking and defending would ultimately fail, since the pair he was fighting would be twice as efficient in detecting his position than any single opponent at his level. For this reason, he figured that using concentrated and direct strikes against either Maya or Baki would be his best bet in defeating the dynamic duo. Having analyzed the two from the start, Sukotto guessed that the lion would be slightly easier to hit with direct attacks since he was the larger of the two and was more likely to have trained his strength and attack power than speed and defensive maneuvers. Without prolonging the battle any longer, Sukotto kicked off with his back leg and approached Maya and Baki in a speedy zig-zag pattern, strafing back and forth so that they wouldn't be able to guess which one he was aiming for.

At the last moment, the Uchiha ran directly in between the pair, attempting to split them up so that forming any sort of team oriented attack would be slightly more difficult. Sukotto firmly planted his foot nearest to Baki into the ground, lifted the other into a kicking stance with his knee held high, and used the momentum built from his approach to send his body into a spinning motion. The genin at first kept his eyes on Maya, making it seem as though he was going to hit her with a charging knee strike. Instead, he allowed his motion to continue to whirl him around until Baki was just about within the male shinobi's center line. He tilted his knee so that his shin was parallel with the ground and then snapped his foot out, throwing a roundhouse kick towards Baki's front leg, hoping to take the lion off balance for a moment. Whether the first strike was successful or not, Sukotto would then plant the leg he had kicked with and used what was left of the initial spinning momentum to continue his turn and launch a side kick with the other leg, aiming for the section of ribs just behind Baki's shoulder. The Uchiha hoped to disrupt the harmony that made Maya and Baki so powerful together. Doing so would be the only way for him to stand a chance.

Honor of the Phoenix
In the final stage of this technique's training, trainees must find a willing sparing partner to have a taijutsu duel against. If the trainee's skill is greater than that of their opponent's, they must wear training weights to make up the difference. On the other hand, if the trainee's opponent's skill is greater than that of the trainee, the trainee may have the opponent wear weights to eliminate the difference as well. This is a taijutsu spar in the sense that damage dealing ninjutsu, damage dealing genjutsu, and weapons are prohibited. The training is completed whether the trainee wins or loses, the importance of this training is to understand the workings of the technique in a combat situation and the importance of trust between two shinobi.
DC: One Taijutsu Sparing Match
Special: Attaching one ankle weight yields -5 to dodge, one belt weight yields -5 to tumble, one vest weight yields -5 to dance, and one wrist weight yields -5 to taijutsu. Multiple weights may be added until the difference in skill is as small as possible.
Note: To balance the fight, Sukotto has agreed to take on two opponents at once instead of using the weights.
Train: 0/1

Targeting Baki:
[1d20+44(Taijutsu)= 62]
[1d20+44(Taijutsu)= 56]

A small cloud became invisible as quickly as it was born. Xyn let a few long breaths curl around his fingers while he began writing. The Uchiha seemed to already have the advantage, and the actual fighting hadn't even begun yet. This was strange, was this person even taking the fight seriously? This older boy could use sharingan, but he wasn't using it for this fight..?

Xyn started to look toward Maya's face. He didn't even want to begin trying to analyze the emotional state of a lion about to attack, so it was best to focus on the humans. He was slightly concerned for her, even though it was two against one. She looked on edge, not at all like her fight with Karite. Maybe it was something about facing an unknown jutsu. The Uchiha, on the other head, looked calm, a little too calm to be facing two opponents... what was he thinking...?


Munin flew in a wider pattern, not wanting to draw attention by appearing to be circling the same area over and over. Eventually he'd have to land just to take a break, but he'd have to pick a spot where Shisei couldn't see him and where he could observe the area around the boy for positions to use in order to get closer. Shisei was still by the large rock, so approaching from behind was possible but not the best position to observe him. He could use the person next to Shisei as cover, but then he'd have to deal with avoiding contact with two people instead of one. Munin finally descended toward one of the trees, shaking the cold from his bones. If only it wasn't so cold... not only would his movements be more agile, he'd have the tree leaves as cover.. at the very least the lack of the white snow making his black feathers stand out would be of great benefit.

Eri was slightly dazzled by Serena's response. Her eyes twinkled before she bent her slender neck down and giggled innocently into her stuffed dog's head, rubbing it against her left cheek when she was done. The temptress had much greater patience for girls than with boys, and Eri was somewhat flattered by the girl's pleasant consideration.

"That's okay. I don't want to be a bother." Eri smiled, her eyes squinted with the curl of her lips. It seemed her efforts had no affect on the girl, so Eri would have to be more careful approaching her in the future. If Serena had seen through her so easily, it was best to gain some distance and come up with a different plan. Looking around, further interactions might make her look either too needy or suspicious. Perhaps she really should visit the rice farm.. oh... which way was it again? That kage had mentioned it...

Eri looked back and forth for a moment, trying to hide her confusion, deciding to simply follow that meddling adult as he left.

[Onwards Eri goes]


Xyn: Observing People's Emotions
1d20 + Sense( 8 ) +Int(7) =24
DC: 30
Train: 0/3

Munin: Know Your Surroundings
1d20 + Int(3) =12
DC: 13
Train: 0/5