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That was years in his future no doubt, a far off goal for him to reach for, be he did intend to reach it eventually, he did intend to get there in time. After all, his senpai had done it. Kyojin Kotei was a genius, yes, but many forgot that once upon a time he too had merely been a young student with his now oft concealed eyes filled with hopes and dreams of the future. And now? Now was the last laugh. Close to, if not worthy of, the rank of Jounin, and one of the more feared missing Nin in the business...merely because of his unpredictable nature and, to be completely honest, because Byakuran suspected he spent much of his time figuring out how to come off as naturally frightening as humanly possible. His personality was so unsettling, his general air so very...off, that even men twice times his size found him terrifying. Byakuran was determined to reach that level...determined to surpass it... just like...

Shunshin
Stage 2:
DC: 20
Formula: 1d20+Chakra control
Chakra Control: 18+4= 22
Train: 7/10
Roll: 14

Now he thought about it though, the Medical ninja there would no doubt want to know how he had sustained just an odd internal damage...there was even a strong possibility they would be able to discern his second sensory system...though, if they could do that with their diagnosis chakra that generally came along with the medical technique, then the village was already aware of what he was. They would have been aware since the day they first examined him after finding him. That said though, it might not really have occured to them what a second sensory system MEANT. His clan were long forgotten if nothing else from the public mind, and more so their abilities were rather ambiguous in the first place. True they claimed they had a second self, but Byakuran doubted that people at large really knew what they entailed.

Shunshin
Stage 2:
DC: 20
Formula: 1d20+Chakra control
Chakra Control: 18+4= 22
Train: 9/10
Roll: 13

Byakuran had been studying water jutsu for as long as he’d figured outit to be his affinity. It had not been such that he would call it an obsession, but it had most certainly been one of the things to encompass much of his time over his time at the academy. He had turned it into something of a passion of his, and as such it had only led to his further enjoyment of the water itself. Since he’d been very small, even before he’d freed himself of the trial all young Otobe faced, that being the lack of control of their second sensory system, he had still found the simplest enjoyment from the sea. He couldn’t be entirely certain of course, so much of those days was a blur of pain and aguish, but he suspected strongly that the old Otobe Clan compound, the one that his family had evacuated too in the far west, far beyond the elemental countries, had been by the sea. Though all the sounds closest to him back then had only caused him earth shattering pain, pushing him so close to cusp if madness as it did his many brethren, at the dge of hearing the sea had always been there, just at the edge of his hearing, a calm distant shifting of tides and salt water. Like music had been, it was a ray of light amidst the darkness for him, a sign to the senses of a child to whom every moment was a nightmare of pain and confusion, that there was beauty in the world.

In fact, when he truly thought about it, the water had been closely tide to his destiny in little ways, even from the time before he could rightly remember. When he was but a young child, a refugee along with the rest of his clan as they fled Oto and made their way across the sea, the ocean was all that had existed to him. Young Otobe, or at least in his experience, tended to not use their eyes very much. They had very little understanding that the world around them was anything but madness, and so the idea that the light coming from the least powerful of their senses had some meaning to the world around them was only partially acknowledged. They learned what they needed to via their second selves, through sound. This often caused many to be undeveloped and in dire need of the rehabilitation programs their family used to train them all, but it also meant that to many of them, when they’d put on that boat to the far west, spending weeks in a dark cabin with little talking from outside and the most sound within the ship the creaking of the boards, the sea, flowing just beyond the wood of walls, was all that they knew.

For that time, with the ocean surrounding him, free and vast, powerful and encompassing… Byakuran could remember only one thing.

He’d wanted to be like that ocean. He’d wanted to be vast and powerful, everlasting and free of restraint. Many people, when asked who their childhood hero was, would list a family member, someone they’d always looked up to or learned from. Some others would list people from history. Noble ninja or wise scholars who’s deeds or words still reached to them across the gap of time. But to Byakuran, no single thing had gone to far to earn his aspiration and admiration as the ocean. The thing he tried to emulate, the entity that he looked up to and tried hard to become like…was the sea itself.

Music was close to his heart, but the ocean, and the rhythm of it’s waves passing in and out of the shore, the sight of it’s shifting tides…they were a close second. That he was sent across the ocean yet again to live here in Kiri, was possibly one of the few examples of gratitude that Byakuran owed to his family…even if it had been incidental.

As he stood now, focusing his chakra through his coils, standing atop the surface of one of many small ponds dotted amidst the groves numerous trees, he felt it trying to emulate the water, trying to shift as it did, trying to ebb and flow… It was of the simplest purest logic to him that he was of the water affinity. He couldn’t really see himself as anything else. Adaptive, ever changing, shifting and free… wrathful and yet at peace.

The key to the jutsu was, first and foremost, being able to create water within the user’s own body. Producing within the mouth a steady flow of water, that would eventually be formed into the syrup for which this jutsu was based. It wasn’t easy. Forming water from nothing was one of the many things that Master Water Specialists were known for, and for it to be, even on a small level, a basic aspect of the first water jutsu he intended to learn was bold, if nothing else. The key, it seemed to him, was to understand water.

Water was a part of life. There were many religions and belief systems that assumed it WAS life incarnate. Even the human body itself was 50-65% water it’s fully grown adult form, medical nin and their expertise confirming this. He supposed the easiest way to start would be to use water from his own body, merely as a basis, but even drawing forth the smallest mouthful just caused him to grow dizzy and thirsty.

Though this was easily enough solved with a bit of rest and drinking some of the water from the pool around him, it wasn’t going to be of much help with the jutsu itself. He’d need to actually utilize his chakra…he’d need to actually create water from nothing…no, not nothing…his chakra.

He tried to follow this line of thought. His chakra. His chakra itself was of water affinity. It was already half way there. He just needed to bring it the rest of the way. His chakra seemed to flow easily even as he attempted this process, this transition. He watched water below him intently, sometimes scooping it up with his hand and watching it pour out back unto the surface of the water. The ripples of the pond, the echoing waves of sound that reached his own senses, these all seemed to be building a vision for him, a blue print in his mind.

Water was boundless…it was without true form. It could harden and be as ice, it could dissipate and be as vapor. It adapted and shifted as it needed, as was required by it’s situation. It was reactionary, but it had surface, it had resistance and might. It could hold a ship of steel larger than any man could hope to, it could rip through a mountain with a single cutting stream…

It was the source of life, yet it could swiftly end it…it composed life, yet it could crush it…

It was as ambiguous a thing as the world itself… it was as vast a force as man had yet to encounter…

Byakuran’s eyes closed serenely as he formed a hand sign before him, his chakra converging in his mouth as, all at once, a spewing waterfall, emerging like the spout of fountain, came from the boy’s mouth, the boy stopping the flow at first, coughing and hacking, half surprised by his success, before smiling and continuing on.

The task of actually changing the viscosity of the water was another task all together. Having just managed to manifest water, it was a rather steep curve to suddenly be expected to be able to manipulate its structure so soon, but after working on the problem for a while, Byakuran came to conclusion that he once again already had a model to work from. True, it wasn’t quite as sticky and viscous as the final product needed be, not by a far cry, but his own saliva was at least a step in the right direction.

For some time he focused entirely on the structure of the spit itself, it’s somewhat more slow and plodding consistency when compared to the water he’d been producing, attempting throughout the process of translation to narrow down what aspects affected what and so on and so forth. It was time consuming certainly, but he didn’t really know how else one might go about it. In the end he’d managed at least to form the water he was producing into the consistency of spit…but that, even still, was only the first step. He still had to actually continue that escalation till it was the proper texture of syrup. As far as he could tell, the key to the trick was thickening it, increasing the density of the mixture, and therefore achieving the proper texture. Now knowing this was all well and good, but it was still quite as simple as that. The gap between understanding the concept and the actual process were entire leagues apart. The process of actually perfecting the transition was a slow and plodding one, bring him closer and closer until he finally was able to call his efforts moderately presentable.

He supposed though, that this was how it always was. He was the sort of person who was always willing to set himself against a wall and push until it gave out. Slow but steady progress was fine with him, so long as he could somehow measure that progress. If it was a battle of attrition, then he was likely to win. His patience for such things, and dedication in completing them was something of an aberration for one so young, but he supposed it was rather inevitable for one such as himself…who’d been forced to endure so much during his years under the over exposure to his senses. One such as he, who’d had no choice but to endure or break, was bound to develop a knack for muscling his way through all that he faced. For in the end, he’d managed to outlast that pain. The agony that had once seemed insurmountable, had been conquered. That trial…had passed. And it had only made him stronger.

That was the way of his life, and it was the ideal he held high as he faced it.


Suiton: Mizuame Nabara (Water Release: Syrup Capture Field)
Stage 1:
Formula: 1d20+Chakra Control
DC: 26 ((raising for challenge)) 32
Chakra Control: 18+4
Train: 7/10

((Since I'm going to be busy, I'm just going to train in chunks. So I'll roll ten, then post 40 lines here, and so on, that way I can do most of my writing offline, so please don't mind me.))

The spreading of the syrup was more complex then he’d earlier suspected. It wasn’t just a matter of manipulating the syrup, it was a matter of configuring the chakra in the syrup itself to be able to expand as you needed it to, when you needed it to, without breaking down. The composition of the syrup was strong enough from his earlier efforts, but it still wasn’t going to be easy. It had to do with actively controlling it, as well as making it so that it could be properly controlled, making the process a dual sided balancing act that was going to take him a bit to pin down.

It might have struck him, had he really been the sort to notice, that he was currently mastering the art of being able to control chakra enhanced spit… with the end result of weaponizing it. This might have struck fair few people as positively bizarre, but as he was constantly reminded, Byakuran didn’t really have a very good grasp on the bizarre. Though he was intelligent and was rather good at getting people to like him, there were times when he simply didn’t take full advantage of his ability to read others. It was a matter of getting distracted, but it generally led to him being completely socially awkward more then coming off as someone with a short attention span. He was simply such a withdrawn individual that little nuances involving the society had passed him by, leading to holes in his understanding of the everyday life. For example, he’d been a little confused as to why people took their shoes off before going inside certain establishments, or why people took off their clothes when they went to sleep, or even, in a particular moment that had sent everyone in his class back at tha academy aghast, that when one said “I’m gonna kill you” this wasn’t always to be taken seriously and certainly not reacted to by treating the situation as a life or death battle…

In retrospect that boy probably wouldn’t have made it to being a ninja anyway…

The point of the matter was that it was the little things about common behavior which oft eluded him, causing to misunderstandings on his part. This was, of course, not to be compared to the rather hilarious instances when it was merely his not CARING about social norms that caused him to come off as odd. For example his rather blunt nature when it came to asking questions. This had gotten him into trouble several times across the course his life, naturally, but he simply couldn’t be bothered to care. It was just the way he was wired. He HAD to know. For example when asking the question to the baker as to why his bread tasted like dead rats, he didn’t expect it to be taken as insult. Or in another instance when he’d asked a woman how old she was and again, promptly offended her. It was difficult to really come up with every single example, but they were all there sure enough. He supposed that was merely the price one paid for asking whatever questions occurred to them. It had, he felt, led him to improve upon his deduction skills quite a bit, so as to avoid asking certain queries, but it still didn’t stop him from asking more often times than not.

The Syrup seemed to be spreading far more evenly now, his ability to manipulate the process having at least greatly improved to the extent that he COULD vaguely manipulate it. He couldn’t help but feel that this whole process was more difficult then it needed to be. But why? What was it that he was doing wrong? The structure of the chakra seemed to functioning much as he had intended, actually going to great lengths to assist in the issue of control, and more so, it was even assisting him in maintaining the syrups structure. There didn’t seem to be any problems there, certainly, but if not in the structure, then where was he running into his wall? After fidgeting with the process for a little while longer yet, he actually caught an idea as to his answer. While it was true the structure was doing it’s intended job, it hadn’t really been made in the mind of being easily stretched and bent to far from it’s original composition. Meaning that when he tried to manipulate it after spitting it out, it was stubborn and none to easy to budge beyond it’s prepared structural consistency. But if that was indeed the case, then all he needed to do was find a way to…scrunch up the structure of the chakra.

Scrunch perhaps none to technical a term, no, but it seemed like the right one to use here. What he needed was to make the chakra’s structure within the Syrup compact. Still dense enough to maintain the needed texture and properties of the syrup, but also loose enough that it could be expanded and contracted without breaking said properties.

Set to this new aspect of the task, Byakuran tried continued to fiddle around with the composition, his knowledge of chakra control being stretched to their limits as he continued to mess about with the matter.

Chakra control in and of itself, was actually a rather fascinating prospect from a philosophical standpoint. What did it mean to be able to control chakra? Chakra was the fusion of body, mind, and spirit, the very things which composed the self. Was then, chakra itself, the soul? Was it the power emitted from a person’s very will? What then did it mean to one who could control this chakra? What did it mean to a person like a ninja who learned to use there chakra as a weapon? The questions and possibilities were endless on such a matter, something that old men in white towers could debate over for centuries. But what did it mean to Byakuran personally? He wasn’t really sure what to think of Chakra. He didn’t really hold it as sacred as such, he didn’t believe it to be the soul itself, after all, there were techniques and such that could steal chakra, and what then was to be said of them? No, he believed it more as like that chakra was a byproduct of the soul. Metaphysical power given form. It was the physical energy given off by the metaphysical colossus that was the fusion between mind body and soul. It was the wake of an object cutting through the ocean, the echo of a voice already spoken. That was what chakra, he supposed, meant to him. And the art of controlling it? It was merely the art of controlling one’s own wake. The ability to take the reflection of one’s self and face it…use it, to further one’s own ends, and become as one with the nature of the chakra itself.
Byakuran’s efforts bore fruit at last as he seemed to have managed to condense the chakra within the syrup to a proper degree, at last allowing him to properly expand and contract it where needed, to control it’s flow.
Now though, it was on to the final step, and most important, he might add. He needed to actually apply his knowledge of jutsu and, once he’d managed to spit the syrup out properly, harden it to the point when it could hold a fully grown ninja in their prime.

This was, obviously, not going to be a cake walk by any definition of the term. He suspected that he was going to have to apply his knowledge not only of water and chakra control, building upon all the efforts that he’d extended so far, but also break new ground in the sense that the chakra would have to do this quickly and efficiently, while still not wasting any chakra.
He quickly ruled out the idea that he should merely spit it out at this maximum viscosity, that slowed it’s flight path, as well as made it easier to shoot, and by and larger, easier to avoid, which wouldn’t at all work for practical application. That left the idea that he could use his control over the syrup once it was fired to cause it to reach the viscosity after it had already hit. This offered it’s OWN groups of a trials and issues. The first and most pressing was to actually get it to reach that viscosity in the first place.

Logically, he would like to have a fully grown ninja here to practice on, but as he didn’t, he ended up merely having to play it by feel, his knowledge of his own ninjutsu actually coming through for him here.

He was fairly aware of the pressure and limits it would take to hold a ninja from a stationary position, arresting their movement and holding them for at least as long as the chakra in the syrup was able to hold… it was just a matter of getting the syrup capable to withstanding that kind of force. Now this was only a place to start, but he was willing to bet that if he continued to condense to chakra, to fold in the syrups already goo like properties, or perhaps even find a way to compact it into the right state as a whole, thus achieving the proper degree of viscosity. Though, as stated, this theory was only ground work, there was still the matter of putting it through.




Suiton: Mizuame Nabara (Water Release: Syrup Capture Field)
Stage II:
Formula: 1d20+Chakra Control
DC: 28 ((raising for challenge)) 32
Chakra Control: 18+4
Train: 10/10

Suiton: Mizuame Nabara (Water Release: Syrup Capture Field)
Stage III:
Formula: 1d20+Ninjutsu
DC: 24 ((raising for challenge)) 26
Chakra Control: 16
Train: 2/10

((Since I'm going to be busy, I'm just going to train in chunks. So I'll roll ten, then post 40 lines here, and so on, that way I can do most of my writing offline, so please don't mind me.))

((Note: Because only eight of the following rolls will be required to succeed, this post will only be shorter, totaling 32 lines for literary minimum.))

Byakuran was not the sort of person to be openly say he was impressed with himself, merely because there was so much left for him to do in order to reach his goals in life. But even he had to admit that he admired hos own progress recently. There was much to be said for his new found desire to rise up and take hold of his destiny. He was finally on the path that he had chosen for himself, and for the first time in a very long time he felt he was moving forward at an acceptable rate. He was growing with each step, improving his limits with every quandary, every problem solved. With every little victory, he was so much closer to his goal that he felt as though he had taken off at a sprint, only having traced the path in his mind before this day.

The jutsu he was working on was yet another landmark in his career as a prospective ninja, the very first water jutsu that he’d ever learned. Like his Kekke genkai, this held a special importance to him merely because of the value he placed on water itself. Had it been before his recent endurance training, he would have even called this technique vital to filling in the hole in his defenses, keeping his foes from getting in to close, but that was a moot point now that taking a hit was a strength, rather than a weakness. In time he would come to realize this jutsu was just a simple step towards greater heights, of little use as a tool when facing more experienced ninja, but it would always hold a special place in his destiny, as the technique which started him on his path to more powerful ones. Though he didn’t even seem to realize it, there was much knowledge to be gained from mastering a technique like this, little things which would stick with him and improve his performance as a shinobi and in general. Small aspects of the learning process and in the actual fundamentals of Ninjutsu. He was not simply learning a technique he was building upon his current foundations of knowledge, training through a trial by fire.

In short he was learning more then simply the technique, but the sum of all it’s parts as well. It also illuminated to him little weaknesses in his overall status, such as his sore lacking of an adequate chakra supply. He supposed that he would have to continue the chakra meditation that he’d been at earlier, if he was to have a real hope at specializing in Ninjutsu as he planned. He needed to have a vast store in order to be able to not tire himself out after merely a few techniques. He suspected, knowing himself, that such a task was going to be as epic a quest as he had ever undertaken, but the end results would be worth it, he was sure.

After all, one of the key reasons he was struggling with this was because he was working on the proper chakra levels to apply. He suspected that if he was to work far more ardently with his chakra, such things would come easier. He had to admit he was also intrigued about the waking vision he’d had when he allowed himself to sink into his own chakra. The vision, he supposed, had been a product of his own subconscious, his own mind. It made sense, really, when he thought about it. Chakra was manifestation of the self and it’s power, so to fall into was to fall into the wake of the self. He was a little amused at such a prospect. He might have done it again even if not for the purposes of training. As it was, he felt as though he had left the vision incomplete, as though the journey ahead of him could not truly continue until he’d faced the rest of that mysterious vision…

Then there was also the question of whether or not he was truly ready to face the vision. The mist within it had seemed so thick…and the dog that had been following him insisted that there was nothing within but… but he’d been almost sure that something should have been. Almost positive that within the swirling mist formed by his mind that he could make out a shape beyond the haze.

But that was a task to muddle over for later, a question to address when he came to it. For now he had to complete the task at hand. The syrup’s texture was indeed able to take afar amount of punishment at this point, it’s strength and durability enough, he suspected, to hold whatever he might need to for at least a while, it was merely the matter of holding making it stay that way after his prompting. In the heat of battle he couldn’t afford to just completely focus on this jutsu to maintain it, it was ajutsu designed to divert his opponents, and even then not entirely, merely limit them. If it diverted him while it was active, then it was more of a hindrance then a help. Still, this was something that he could work on easily enough. The syrup was such that he just needed to work on triggering it’s viscous properties, and then focus on whatever he planned on doing to follow it up. With a little more work with his chakra it would be a marvelous move to proceed his Minor vibration, limiting the targets movement and restricting them to long range while he sniped them from cover with either his ninjutsu or even his bow. He wasn’t particularly skilled with it, true, but he was well versed enough with it to cause more damage than someone who’d never worked with one at all.

He was pleased with his progress with the jutsu however, now that he was all but completed with mastering it, merely working out the final details such as being able to perform it quickly and efficiently. He’d had to work for it, certainly, but in the end he’d won himself a rather useful technique. If he managed to catch them off guard, even a Jounin could be held by this move, allowing him time enough to complete an objective, or more as likely escape. It was a technique that could save his life given the right situation, and that was never a bad thing. More importantly perhaps, however, was the facts and experience he’d gained from working his way through mastering a true elemental jutsu. He was one such person who would never gain a second affinity, bound solely with water, but even if he’d know that, he wouldn’t have cared. Even if he was a water specialist, he’d make the most out of his talents… and make the most out of his single element. Besides, he’d always held more respect for those that specialized with a particular element then those who could perform all of them…he supposed there was something to be said for having a personal gimmick. He gave a chuckle. It was a purely esthetic appreciation, naturally people who could perform more elements were more adaptable, but style over substance won out in this rare case. He supposed it was a matter of principle.

At last, with a silent repose, Byakuran fired a volley of the syrup out unto the ground in a final perfection, content and satisfaction covering his face, as he finally confirmed to himself that he’d mastered the troublesome technique. He supposed, though he’d not really bothered to acknowledge it beforehand, that this was, in addition to his very first water jutsu, also his very first C-rank jutsu. He was officially surpassing what was normally expected of the genin fresh from the academy. And if he did say so himself…he was rather enjoying the prospect.

He gave a rather pleased nod to himself before adaptive his thoughtful pose. Now… he supposed that after some rest he’d start work on something new…or perhaps he should just move on to finishing Takahasi’s little errand… he pondered the matter over as he settled upon the grass cross legged, considering the water of the nearby pond amidst the grove as though it might hold the secrets of the universe…





Suiton: Mizuame Nabara (Water Release: Syrup Capture Field)
Stage III:
Formula: 1d20+Ninjutsu
DC: 24 ((raising for challenge)) 26
Chakra Control: 16
Train: 10/10
((Technique learned))

It wasn't very easy to surprise someone of Byakuran's particular...talents, without putting forth a modicum of effort, as such, he'd heard the boy coming from a ways off, but one would never know it to look at him. He seemed to be contemplating the nearby pool so intently it was a wonder he noticed the rest of existence at all. Upon hearing the other boy's question, however, Byakuran responded...albeit in his typically odd manner.

"Do you suppose it's possible to drown a fish...? Obviously you'd need to expand their general mass... but since much of their breathing process relies on osmosis, that might do it. How then would a giant summon spirit fish breath though? surely they exist..." he seemed to come out of his thoughts slightly, turning round to look at the younger boy who'd approached him. A Hoshigaki, by the look...not that they were easy to mistake. "I'm sorry...what was it you asked? What am I doing, was it?" he actually blinked turning his eyes upwards while innocently pondering the answer. "I suppose I was debating the best way to assault an illegeal gambling parlor...but I got alittle side tracked. That happens to me on occasi-" he looked rather peculiarly at the gills on the boy's face his rather flighty attention span wandering off without him. "Say, do you have to put forth a conscious effort to use those? Or is more an involuntary reaction..? Is it a-" and he carried on much the same way, his mumbling going on aloud showing no signs of stopping unless he was interrupted and gotten back on track.

Really it was a rather good thing that Byakuran was being assigned to a team that could keep him on task. While once he actually started on something he was fine, the boy had...whimsical priorities... when it came to his curiosity...

Byakuran seemed to nod to himself once. "So it IS a natural response then..." he seemed to give an almost rueful smile for a moment. "Lucky you." the meaning behind this statement, and the rather stark contrast with his own hidden kekke Genkai wasn't obvious, but it was of course what he thought of. Still, he fell into a more passive attitude, observing the boy in question with an aimless curiosity. "That aside. what may I ask are you doing?" his eyes flitted to the headband on the boy's brow. "Here for training, are you?" he hypothesized aloud. It seemed the most likely answer. Had he been Kyojin-senpai, he supposed he would be hoping for a more interesting response...but he'd learned that the most obvious answer tended to be the correct one.