Welcome to Gaia! ::

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Mood: Heh. You people and your emotions.
Doing: Training
Status: Being a "diplomat"
Location: On a boat

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Ƚetting out a casual sigh, Ren took a seat. He looked out and let his eyes peruse the familiar, glistening surface of the ocean. It had been, what? A little over a year since he had been on a boat making his way over to the Udai Council. Woopie. Another fact of life that held little to ni significance. Neko-chan went on eating her fish while Ren decided to take a look at the gloves he'd.... acquired. Heh, looks like tha both'a us're theives, eh? No wonda' I gat stuck wi' ya. He pulled them out of his pocket and saw he'd grabbed a decent pair. There was a tag still on it, a tag that had been removed from all his other clothes by the shop owner, but it was no big deal. He just ripped it off. He tried one on- it wasn't thick, but it was warm. He placed them in his bag as well and decided it was time to do a bit of training. It had been a while since he'd last been able to, and they still had time before they reached Snow, so why not?
Ren reached into his back pouch of ninja gear and pulled out a few slips of chakra paper. It had been so long since he'd gotten these things, he didn't remember where from. Oh well. He tried running his chakra through a few, but found this task to be just as tedious as usual. But hey, the results would be being able to use another chakra element. So wasn't that worth it? He'd clean up eventually, but at the moment, a small pile of chakra papers was piling around his feet. Some had small, straight tears in them, running straight up the middle. But so far, the small rips weren't going very far. Neko-chan, having long since finished her fish, was lying curled up on a pile made by the papers Ren was dropping. When each one fell, she swept it up under her body with her tail or paw. All the while, she stared up at him with eyes saying to him, Wow, you suck at this don't you?
I'm gonna pratend I didn' unda'stan'at. Ren thought, making a point to keep his eyes off the black cat. He sighed as he stared at another slip of paper with a tiny slice in it. Though he had to admit, it was making a little progress. The cut was about half an inch long.
....Yippie. Ren thought in a sarcastic, flat tone.
He wondered what kinds of jutsu he'd work on learning once he learned to use wind-element. He could probably work on some more sword techniques. He wasn't remarkably creative, in fact the only ideas coming to mind were variations on what he all ready knew, but so long as they could work- functionality was the only thing that really mattered. Wind chakra... Just think of your chakra and making that thin little cut longer. he told himself. As if on cue, a breeze drifted across the open water. A few of the sheets of paper that weren't completely held down by Neko-chan's fluffy body were caught up in the wind and flew out towards the sea. Keh. Theft an' litterin'. My track-reca'd's pilin' up fast, ain't it? he joked in his head. Not that he'd very soon get caught for either of those accounts. That's the thing about being a ninja. Stealth was something you were supposed to master. It was funny how it seemed that so many ninja managed to miss that class.
As time on that boat went by, the air gradually grew cooler and cooler. He figured he should get his coat on soon, but it wasn't cold enough quite yet for him to really need it. A loud, clearly audible growling sound came from Ren's stomach. Ok.... so maybe it wasn't time to suit up, but it sure as hell was time for something to eat. A snack at least. Ren stuffed the sheets of paper in his pocket for the time being and pulled his bag into his lap. He had to dig around in his bag for a minute, but he eventually found it. A bag full of beef jerkey. Cheap, possibly just made out of chemicals but claimed to have some nutritional value and still delicious beef jerkey. The best part was- it was cheap.
He leaned back against the side of the boat and dug in to his -what he would call a- meal. He didn't rush eating. The last thing he wanted to do was eat too fast then throw it all back up. That would be a horrible watse of food/money. Oh yea, and puking wasn't exactly what he would call fun either. Though, even when he'd eaten just enough to keep his stomach satisfied, he ate a few more pieces. He wanted to stop acting like he still lived in the slums. He was still technically poor, but not nearly as much so as before. Since graduating even, he'd been earning well enough to keep himself alive. Since getting away from his older brother who constantly stole his money, he was earning plenty for him to live out his spartan existance.
But he wasn't about to cram the contents of the entire bag down his throat. So with the bag not even half empty, he put it back in his bag and pulled the chakra paper back out. He put his full focus on his task this time. He was going to finish this jutsu before he got to the Land of Snow. That was his immediate goal, and he wasn't about to fail. Hell, if he got it down fast enough, maybe he could even read a bit of one of his books. Well maybe just one of his manga. No wait- he was still in the middle of a book. He'd read that one first. Yup. Goals. He was pretty sure he was physically incapable of coming up with long-term goals, but short-term ones to be completed in the next few hours, days, weeks, maybe even months- he made those all the time. Finish the mission. Finish the jutsu. Find Seika so he could give her back this god damned cat. Things like that. "Hm?" He hadn't even reaized it, but in that one last push of effort, he'd split the chakra paper right down the middle. He gave a hmph of something that seemed like appathetic approval, crumpled the two halves into a ball and flicked it so it bounced off Neko-chan's head. She hissed at him, but did nothing more. She was too comfortable where she was. Yea, I 'ope ya get a papa' cut. On that note, it was time to read.... or get his jacket on because he just realized how cold it was. Yanking out all the clothes, he shrugged on the flannel shirt and pulled the jacket on over it. Neko-chan gave up her comfort spot for a warmer one in Ren's lap. He actually took some pity on her when he felt her shivering. Sure, she had fur but he didn't suspect she'd ever been way out here before. Tugging on his gloves, he rested one gloved hand on her back and petted her head, trying to offer some warmth. For once, she wasn't so haughty and even started purring.
With his other hand, he pulled out his book and got reading. He figured he'd have time for at least one chapter before they got to Snow.








((Training: Wind Element: C-Rank [Word Cost- 1,000] 1,000-1261=LEARNED))

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Mood: Focused
Doing: Reading.... nope. More training
Status: Being a "diplomat"
Location: On a boat

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Ȉf it was physically possible for a human being to literally freeze their a** off.... Ren was pretty sure he'd done it. Despite that, he’d managed to sit perfectly still while he read. Yes it was freeze your a** off cold, but the book was getting so good he was almost sure he could keep himself warm from it's pure badassery. (Sure. Not positive. Only fools were positive.) It was so good, that where he'd thought he'd only have enough time for a couple chapters- he'd managed to finish the entire book. He closed the novel in his hands with a small, satisfied, uncommonly rare smile. Taking a look around, he saw they weren't quite there yet.... and it was then that he really started to realize how cold it was. He guessed the book really had kept him warm.... or you know, just distracted him well enough for him not to notice. He was really glad he was wearing layers right now. But that was only keeping his body so warm. He was going to save training for later, but now he was thinking would be a good time for physical activity. Get his blood pumping and all that jazz.
So he stood, knocking Neko-chan out of her warm spot on his lap and earning a very peeved meow from her. He kinda deserved it, so he made no protests when she climbed into his bag, curling herself up in his old pants for warmth..... and probably about to take a few bites out of the bag he'd just bought for her. He gave her a look that discouraged eating too much, and her return stare seemed to comply, but he entirely trust her word. Or- eyes rather. Still, he just shook his head and took out his sword, Hyarinondo. The sword he really had worked his a** off for! He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, to get at least some of the shakes out of him that were brought on by the cold. A little trick he'd learned all those winters with no heating. Not quite the same, but it still helped some. Now for what he wanted to test out was, simply put, his Quick Draw with wind element chakra added to it. Nothing too fancy, but Quick Draw had been a difficult jutsu to invent/learn as is. Eh. Not that that really factored in to Ren's equation. He was still going to do it. Thus, he extended his arm and focused on sending chakra only to his arm, this time- infused with wind element. He didn't start by going all out like he had last time. A: He was pretty sure he had come close to dislocating his arm. B: If he wound up with similar results as his first try with Quick Draw, he might fling it yards away again. In the enclosed room at the Udai Council, that was all well and good so long as he avoided skewering someone. But out here, on a boat, he may very well end up sending his sword overboard! And that would suck beyond all comprehension. He had only taken him, what? Five years to get enough money for Hyarinondo?
But I digress. Using a small amount of chakra, his arm moved at enhanced speed, but it was no different from Quick Draw. He could tell there was no wind element in it. Well, he hadn't expected to get that part very easily. He just had to try it again, and of course he did- making swift slashes at the air. It wasn't nearly as fast as Quick Draw at full power, but he was trying to focus more on getting the wind element into it. It was different than using earth element, he had to keep remind himself of that. With earth, he had to think strong, sturdy, immovable. Wind was more or less the exact opposite. Light, free... airy. And at the moment, bitterly cold! Another chill passed through Ren's body as a freezing cold gust of air brushed over the boat, but he commanded his body to ignore it. He shoved wind chakra into his arm again, using the cold wind as a center for his thought, and this time he knew he'd gotten it. Great, now I jus' gatta learn ta do it at full force. he grunted in his head as he gradually put more chakra into his arm. Making his slashes faster, stronger.
Maybe Ren was imagining it, but with his wind element giving an extra boost, he thought his arm was moving faster. But he soon realized that wasn't it. There was a difference he felt with this technique, but it wasn't speed. He found that it was easier to focus on precision, and he could almost imagine himself cutting through the air. Maybe it was part of the wind chakra, but he thought he could feel it too. When he realized this, he started focusing on slashing deliberately, instead of wildly only trying for speed. He looked to aim at something, anything, to test it out. Alas, being on a boat- there was nothing. One piece of chakra paper that hadn't yet fluttered off the boat was caught on a light breeze and drifted up towards him. It was being kept away from his imaginary target area by the air currents, so he aimed for it. Not only did he aim to cut it, he aimed to cut it a certain way. Once diagonally then cut one half in half to make three pieces. It was all in a flash, but he did it! Perfectly! A thought of triumph surfaced to his mind, but never made it to his lips in a smile. He only had about half the chakra for Quick Draw focused in his arm. How could he know if he could keep up the same precision with the technique faster and stronger? By trying it out, that's how!
His arm would be feeling a bit strained after this, he knew that. But he also knew that while Quick draw was fast, if he had something that could give him the kind of precision he accomplished with the piece of paper- it would be of great use sooner or later. Back in the academy, basic sword practice- they'd all been told of the different uses for a blade. There was no limit to the amount, their sensei had said. No limit unless you didn't have the brains to think of it. That was his way of telling them if they can't figure it out, they're dumbasses. A lot of sword masters knew that not only did one have to be able to kill with a blade, but to not kill with a blade. Ren didn't yet know all the places to stab and kill vs. stab and not kill, but he would definitely learn and this new technique could very well be his ticket to mastering the art of stabbing and not killing. But that goal aside, the main reason he was still going at the jutsu was it was keeping his blood pumping and his body warm! The could would probably numb out any aching he may feel later anyway.
The addition of chakra in his arm was gradual, much slower than he'd gone with Quick Draw. This technique was all about precision and he wanted to make sure he was still getting the wind element in it. He was new to this element and like hell was he going to let himself botch the first Wind Release jutsu he learned! When he was sure he'd adjusted well enough, Ren would reach into his pouch and take out one of the few remaining slips of chakra paper and tried to cut it in very specific ways. Usually, he messed up and would have to try again. However, now and then he was able to slice the paper with exact precision on the first go. The process was slow, and so tiring that he periodically had to stop to give his arm a rest. Not only that, but for the cause of thinking ahead -here, for the case of ever losing his sword-arm- he had to practice with his other hand as well. Getting up to the same point as his other arm took even more time, but not nearly as much as Ren thought. Tiresome, fairly boring work just had a way of making time seem to go slower.
He would have thought it was impossible, but Ren was actually managing to work up a sweat despite how cold it was. Thanks to his new jacket, the heat his body generated, he kept. He was now able to use his new technique at about an equal level in both his arms. But it wasn't quite perfect. Not just yet. He knew he could make it stronger, more powerful, more accurate. He needed to. Why? He honestly didn't know. He was probably the farthest thing from ambitious, he hardly had any motivation to do anything at all! With a boy like him, one would expect him to only do the bare minimum. Ren however, knew that achieving the bare minimum would do nothing to help him survive. Ninja had a tendency towards ambition, often taking it to the extremes of insatiable lust for power- at least so said his years being raised in Mist. There would always be someone stronger than himself and even with peace-keeping being the goal of the Udai Council, there would always bee another battle. To be useful to the Udai Council, he needed to be able to win those battles or at least survive them. He wasn't worth much, but a corpse was worth nothing. If he didn't want to end up a worthless corpse, he'd have to keep getting stronger.
Ren had his arms dropped at his sides, Hyarinondo clutched in his hand. God damn, 'is is self-torture. he sighed in his head. And to think that so many ninja willingly trained like this every day. He was starting to wonder if the whole world was full of nothing but masochists. He sighed out a heavy breath that was visible in the frigid air. He started wondering what this immortal would be like. The other one seemed... "normal" enough in appearance. He acted friendly enough too when they came back to the council, but so did Lady Mizukage on a good day- but he wouldn't walk around expecting her to always be that way either! Then his mind wandered to the fact that he'd probably have to end up saying something. His shoulders dropped at the thought of that. Tatsuya had been right- he was no diplomat. He barely knew how to even make casual conversation! He looked down at his sword. What tha hell 'm I even tryin'a prove bein' out 'ere? he groaned to himself. What use could he even possibly be to the Udai Council? As soon as self doubt had come, it was pushed to the back of his mind for the moment. He had no time for emo moments. He had taken his minute to rest his arms and now it was time to get back to his training. If this was all he was good at, he may as well do it!
Dragging himself away from his thoughts for a brief moment, he looked to see if they were any closer to Snow. They were. Land was in sight. As they drew closer, it began to snow. They'd reach the Land of Snow soon. And Ren had only one more stretch to go. Using his off-hand first, he used his technique full-force. The speed was crazy. It took a minute for him to get it under control. When he was fairly certain he could control it enough, he flipped out a sheet of chakra paper. In a flash, it had been cut up into six even pieces. He sheathed it and ended the flow of chakra to that arm. Sending it into his other arm, he repeated the same process. Being his dominant hand, he was able to get it a bit quicker. The snowflakes that fell in his target space were sliced into bits even smaller than they had been, and were blown away by the wind his arm was making. Pulling out the last paper, he folded it three times before tossing it in front of himself. The thing about cutting it so precisely was, after making the cuts, making sure he didn't hit it again afterwards. The cuts he made now were made completely out of curious impulse to see if he could do it. He made a couple cuts, a slit there, half-square here, little triangle- then he sheathed his sword. Grabbing the paper with the hand that didn't feel numb, he grabbed it and opened it up. It was one of those crappy paper-snowflakes like you'd make when you were five. He gave a half-chuckle at the sheer stupidity of it... Before crumpling it up and throwing it in his bag to land on Neko-chan's head.
With an exhausted sigh he was silently glad he only meant that technique to be used for a few seconds per go. Meanwhile, he made sure all his belongings were packed away tight and Neko-chan was out of his bag. She hissed at him when he lifted her out, but he made up for it by not making any fuss when she climbed up on top of his head. He just flipped his hood on over her. Hey, it kept her warm and his head warm. Win-win.
When they docked, Ren simply waited for Tatsuya off the boat. Then a thought dawned on him. He hadn't made up a name for his sword technique. Thiking back to how the snow was cut up to bits and how it used wind-element, he decided on Windcutter. Short. Simple. Kinda catchy.







((Training: Windcutter B-Rank [Word Cost- 2,000] 2,000-2,190=LEARNED))
((To the Land of Snow~))

The boat ride was cold-chillier than it had been before. Something just didn't feel right...even San felt it. The link between them kept the things that needed to be wordless, wordless; it was a helpful thing to be an Inuzuka sometimes. Kiko shifted against the side of the boat, remaining quiet. She wondered what kind of soldiers they were going to send to aid Konoha...Kumo was low on civilians and ranking shinobi/soldiers, but they could spare a few. Nearly three years had passed since the attack and they were still rebuilding Kumo....She sighed a bit wistfully to herself, and stared into the distance, the fog enveloping them as the boat drifted along.

(Akeru is on auto-follow as dictated by Van and Riko.)
Tsukiko Jounin Theme

Fundojutsu, the art of chain fighting. It was an interesting read on the long, silent boatride over towards land. And it definitely seemed like the answer to Akeru's problem against enemies with weapons. It was a style that incorporated both offense and defense, a tricky style that left the user ready to combat anything. Akeru though even just the description fit her well.

Akeru couldn't exactly practice in the middle of the boat. Not only could she cause it to rock unnecessarily and possibly even capsize, but it would also look quite foolish trying to practice chain fighting without a chain. Luckily Akeru was blessed with a very vivid imagination, and just as she planned out her genjutsu in her head without physically training it, she could do the same with this chain fighting style. Akeru shut her eyes and went into a meditative, almost dream-like state. While like that, she could see herself training, almost feeling the weight of the chain as she swung it. She knew this was no substitution for actual practice, but when the time came she would be much more ready than just trying to start blind.

Going everything in the short book in her mind, Akeru then opened her eyes, seeing the shore not to far away from their position.

"It looks like we made it across the water. Now we're in territory I'm more familiar with, at least."

It was probably the first thing that Akeru said to Kiko the entire trip. Which was probably a good thing, seeing as if Akeru was talking for freely, she could easily see this girl and her dog getting 'accidentally' drowned, which would have been really bad for relations between cloud and suna.

Akeru Theme: Will

Fuundojutsu (rank E taijutsu): 290/250
Fuundojutsu (rank D taijutsi): 40/500
Next Post in Forests
Tsukiko is on auto-follow

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(¸.·´(¸.·´(¸.·¨¯`☆☆☆☆☆☆

Seika was quiet the whole way, never once moving from her position. She wasn't going to make anything harder for Shun, moving around and rocking the boat might just leave her stranded.

Neko-chan seemed to be avoiding Seika like the plague. She was perched at the back end of the boat, staring off into the distance with the occasional mew. She missed mooching food off of her buddy Ren.

Seika let out a soft sigh before unwrapping her scarf and folding it neatly in her lap where Shun's Megaphone was currently placed.

This was going to be a quiet trip...

MƠƠƊ: PMS Meek.
lιѕтeɴιɴɢ тo: Thanks for the memories.
Side note: I think my Cat hates me. ;-;

How would you like to see what d e a t h

is like? ✞

The cool air that surrounded the Udai member and his companion slowly began rising to a temperature that both Aoiro and Tatsuya were comfortable and for the first time in what felt like weeks, not requiring the large coat to keep warm. Though, the new uniform had brought him something he rather enjoyed, someone had once again mistook him for Brother, something outside of the tense situation he could truly smile about. Then as if on cue the lizard sprang up, basking its cold-blooded skin in the sun seemed to bring the lively spark that Tatsuya had seen when Aoiro had first come to him, also mistaking the child for Hiyo. That in itself had felt like such a long time ago, immediately after the assault on cloud by the Wild Card and the day he had graduated from the Cloud’s ninja academy. He couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle at the kind of luck he had, the day he gets his headband his brother is killed in front of him, the mission that he had taken as Hiyo’s replacement was a complete failure, and now he was beginning to realize that he was nearly alone. Great couple of years huh?

With the sound of the large lizard letting out a loud sigh of relief Tatsuya was snapped back to the present, Aoiro looked as though he was ready to do some sort of exercise; he had gotten up on his feet and stretched the drowsiness from his muscles. “You wanna do some training? It would be cool if we could both fight together instead of me just defending you, I-I don’t want what happened at the chunin exams w-with Shiso to happen again… I-I thought you died.” Tatsuya wasn’t even sure if they little lizard could actually do anything at all, from what he understood Aoiro had served as strictly a means of communication between the former Raikage and Hiyo. Well, a little exercise didn’t hurt, the lizard hadn’t been sent with a message in a year or so, so the reptile’s muscles were starting to turn into useless mush, he would never be useful if he couldn’t move.

In a quick minute Tatsuya had gotten his lizard up on his feet and got to stretching himself, if he was going to be doing any exercise he wasn’t going to run the risk of pulling any of his muscles, especially since he himself was a taijutsu based ninja. Losing his ability would result in his uselessness in the off chance they were attacked or they had to go into combat, for whatever reason. After he felt his body was nice and loose he faced Aoiro who had made his way to the railing on the small ship, it looked as though the companion was going to be the one leading the training session, at least until he was exhausted, which the extent of the lizard’s energy was completely unknown to Tatsuya, this was certainly going to be interesting.

Quickly the lizard jumped up and used the basic tree walking technique to latch onto the massive mast on the ship, to which Tatsuya followed along, amazed that the lizard could perform a general ninja skill let alone a jutsu like that. However, the lizard was nowhere near finished, as soon as it’s feet touched the smooth wood it kept going, in a sort of full sprint (for a lizard) upwards to the top to the tip of the mast before swan diving down to the water. Still astounded Tatsuya could only follow, the lizard was kicking it into high gear and what kind of ninja would he be if he was going to be showed up by the animal that rode on his back for the last 3-4 days? As he applied chakra to his feet to land on the mast he nearly had to catch himself, he was rusty, but nothing that he could easily recover from. The boy made his way upwards, following Aoiro’s path until he inevitably realized that the lizard hadn’t jumped back down to the deck, he had suicide dove straight to the water, what was he thinking? After a moment of hesitation he realized that the lizard had once again amazed him; the lizard had also been able to run on water, utilizing the water walking technique.

While perched at his vantage point, squatted down on the tip top of the ship he thought it over, the lizard had an affinity for chakra, maybe he could be trained to use some jutsu, maybe even some sort of element, which got the boy even more excited, oh how amazing the day was turning out to be! After the moment he drew a deep breath and pushed off from his safe point made his way straight down to the water. As he neared he placed his hands in front of him and forced a constant flow of chakra into them as well as his feet to help him land in a way that he would not just burst through the thin buoyancy of the water. Luckily for him Aoiro had placed his large tail out to brace the boy for impact and slowly lowered him to the point that he could stand. “T-thank you, Aoiro!” Tatsuya exclaimed, he hadn’t expected the lizard to be able to do something like that, then again, most of the things the lizard was doing recently was amazing the boy.

When Tatsuya was placed down on the water Aoiro immediately continued to run around, though instead of just staying on the water he began running on the lower hull of the ship, essentially doing laps on the ship. This, in Tatsuya’s eyes looked more like he was trying to get some cardio, however with all the crazy tricks the lizard had been doing it wouldn’t amaze him if Aoiro sprouted another set of legs and pimp slapped Ren in the face. Nevertheless, the boy followed his lizard and began performing laps.

(Companion Training 1002/1000(2nd Element Equivilent)

As Tatsuya followed behind Aoiro, the lizard slowly began kneading chakra in its belly, for what the boy would not see coming. However, it would take a few more moments to completely prepare, so in the mean time he would continue sending the boy on a long trip of follow the leader or whatever the boy wanted to call it. So, to keep him on his toes the lizard picked up speed, and then combined the speed with his type of movements. Aoiro would hop back and forth from water to wood, and then back on top of the ship. The lizard seemed to be doing all it could just to mess with his owner, sending him for a loop while continually focusing a bit of chakra into his belly. In the mean time the lizard had began stepping up the sort of training the boy and he was doing, by quickly switching between the solid wood of the boat and the liquid sea around said boat, all the while withholding the chakra it had been storing up in his stomach, slowly kneading it into a unique form. Still, as they switched freely between the two unique surfaces, making sure to alternate the way they allowed their chakra to flow with each surface to compensate in the change of elemental make-up.

Tatsuya had gotten so tied up in the training he hadn’t realized that was he had been doing was more than likely making his teammate’s ability to find rest that much more difficult, as the lizard constantly bombarded the side of the ship, making light tapping sounds to show the lizard’s ability to easily switch between its base techniques. By this point Tatsuya had pieced together that this was more than likely how the Cloud Village trained its messenger lizards, seeing how even after some two years of not delivering a message the lizard was able to perform as if it was nothing, the techniques were obviously drilled into its head. “A-Aoiro… I-I didn’t know you were able to do all this!” The boy called out as he himself followed the lizard, having small struggles when he got off time and would lightly sink into the water before correcting his mistake and returning to the surface only to have to jump back onto the ship. Tatsuya’s landings were relatively light, though they would sound like someone knocking on a door if Ren was still conscious to be listening.

The time came for Aoiro to let loose the chakra he had been kneading within his stomach, in a motion he turned his entire body around and paused long enough to force what he had out towards Tatsuya. Which, what came out was a bit disheartening for the lizard, a simple small ball of water, perhaps a failed attempt at some sort of jutsu, however, Tatsuya saw it as one of the most amazing things he had ever seen, it was completely unbeknownst to him that Aoiro could focus chakra, let alone use an element like he had just attempted to. “Y-YOU CAN USE J-JUTSU!?” The boy called out as he was met with the failed attempt. This lizard sure was full of tricks, had Hiyo known of the animal’s abilities? More than likely not, Tatsuya remembered almost every single written word in the scroll that Aoiro had given him that fateful day, and the only mentioning of Aoiro was when he had separate things to deliver, like passports and written business scrolls. The lizard had kept such a secret from the pairs of boys for so long that it wasn’t even funny.

In response to Tatsuya’s loud statement Aoiro gave a slight nod and quickly shuffled his feet to get back to the deck of the ship to once again begin molding a chunk of chakra in its stomach. The lizard could fill his stomach filling up with a liquid, the water natured chakra it was able to use wasn’t unheard of among animals, there had even been an all animal squad in the Leaf Village many years ago, however to the boy who had only seen “normal” animals the fact that his little buddy was able to perform such a thing was still nothing short of astounding. In a way to help Aoiro Tatsuya followed suit with the lizard and sat back down beside him and placed his hands on the reptile’s back, from here he slowly massaged his companion’s muscles, sort of helping him relax. The Udai member knew when he was first trying to mold chakra himself, the main reason he had so much trouble was because of the amount of stress and tension the training caused, however once he was able to relax the jutsu seemed to come much easier; hopefully the same would work for Aoiro. At least Tatsuya hoped anyway.

After several moments of Tatsuya encouraging the lizard and continued massaging the lizard began letting sounds that could be heard as sounds of happiness before he opened his mouth and shot out another failed attempt, however the water had taken the proper shape, still though it didn’t have any pressure at all, looking more like a watering can attempting to water half dead flowers. “T-that was a good attempt, keep it up!” The boy happily tried to keep the lizard’s hopes up, which probably led to Aoiro letting out a squeal of joy before going back to focusing his chakra. For several moments the two sat in silence, the only sound escaping was the sound of Tatsuya’s skin rubbing Aoiro’s scales and the faint noises of the lizard’s stomach and chakra pulsating within but other than that silence filled the air. When the silence was just about to feel normal the lizard let out an unusual sound as it opened its mouth and pointed towards the sky, the kind of sound a doctor wished you to make when you opened your mouth so he could see inside. In that moment the lizard shot out a stream of water in a sort of violent nature, it shot across the sky until the lizard had expelled the chakra he had built up… SUCCESS!

(Water Release: Violent Water Wave- C-Rank 1027/1000 Trained)
((DEAR GOD, THAT IS ENOUGH TRAINING FOR NOW.))

Official Theme of Tatsuya Miyaki

Oh, we're still so young, desperate for attention,

Amnesia
♠ Shuniji Fuku



Shuniji listened silently. His only interruption was the occasional splash of his arms as he kept pulling the boat. It was a strange occurrence to say the least. Perhaps he was just being careful not to accidentally swallow sea water.

Eventually after a prolonged moment of thought, he spoke.

"Of course there is."

...It was like he had been storing all of his... Shunijiness for that one line.

"You're human. That's just how it goes."

He put more energy into his strokes to counter the time he was wasting by talking.

"We're not supposed to be human, you see. We're ninja."

There was a break for more splashing.

"So yeah. That's how it goes."

One could have thought back to the one time Shuniji had opened up to Seika after meeting his parents; the way he kept his home; the kind of person he was in general. Shuniji wasn't being callous, for once. He genuinely understood what it meant to be conflicted in the face of one's assigned purpose in life and their assigned species: that being human. He didn't ask to thirst for the unobtainable approval of his parents or the pain of inevitable failure. He wasn't supposed to hesitate at the thought of becoming the Otokage's next vessel or wonder if the things he did were, to some degree, inherently evil. That was just how it was. In the face of their profession, it was simply wrong.

One could argue though... was what he was doing with his life... could that really be considered persevering?

Mood: Melancholy
Status: Swimming in relative silence
Thoughts: I... don't know what to think.

A liar, like me?
A user? A lost soul?
Someone you don't know?
Are you like me?
Are you... ugly?

Still Human
♠ Shuniji Fuku



Shuniji's strong strokes brought the team ever-closer to shore, which could actually be seen on the horizon. They were lucky the Land of Rice was a coastal nation. Shuniji was starting to feel tired, but kept swimming despite himself.

He took pause at Seika's reply, though, before dipping back under the water and resurfacing, almost as a sort of nod in agreement.

"That's the price we pay for innovation," Shuniji replied, sounding much more upbeat than earlier. "People become comfortable in their old-fashioned ways and become reluctant to change--they fear it. They condemn it as being wrong because it is different from what they learned as children to be 'right.'"

Shuniji began swimming faster as he wound himself up. He wasn't angry, though, but optimistic.

"And that's why," splash, "We're gonna," splash, "Succeed!" splash.

"The only thing we can do now is prove the rest of the world wrong. Sound is going to flourish and the Ninja World is going to be revolutionized by our ideals."

He skipped a beat while swimming and calmed down slightly.

"It's gonna hurt, though; not gonna deny that... Like I said, we're still human. It's only natural that we want to be liked--to be normal."

He shot to a standing position and whirled around to face Seika. The rope that had been tied to his midsection fell into the water around his shins as his torso was revealed to be back to its trim state.

"But that's our cross to bear! No pain, no gain, right!? By overcoming this... this... these... emo urges, we're going to shepherd in a new age! The next stage in mankind's evolution!"

He smiled genuinely while sparkling brightly.

"So get out of the damn boat already so we can go home and get our reward!!"

Mood: Excited
Status: Running across the beach into the Land of Rice
Thoughts: WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK WE ARE!?

A liar, like me?
A user? A lost soul?
Someone you don't know?
Are you like me?
Are you... ugly?