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| Konaga Clan | Speed/Offensive Type | Iwagakure | Chuunin |
|| Shinobi Profession: Teaching Master || RPC Profile ||

After posing his question, Shinji watched as Yasashi began examining his blade once again, his hands combing over the blade and knuckles rapping against the metal. From what it looked like, it seemed that Yasashi knew a fair amount about weapons, at least as much as it would take to analyze a weapon's makeup and durability with a few simple tests. Once the man's analysis of the blade was complete, he began to list the blade's qualities, which Shinji slowly nodded in agreement with as he went on. Shinji was already well aware of the blade's unique and durable quality as he had both battled with the weapon for many years and had done a great amount of research on the blade in his travels to attain it. After all, the man who had designed and made the weapon was renown as the finest blacksmith the ranks of the Konaga had ever known, who was responsible for many other Konaga-based weapons.

When Yasashi began to mention the effect of the engraving, Shinji felt more comfortable in allowing Yasashi to continue, and with the mention of adding the Kyouka seal to strengthen the blade further, he was sold. "Alright then, an engraving it is, and that Kyouka seal sounds like a great idea as well. However, I would like to have you put an artistic spin on the seals as you engrave them. Would it be possible for you to incorporate the shape of a dragon into the engraving?" Shinji had heard him mention this earlier, but he wanted to make sure it was still possible as the sophistication of the array of seals incorporated kept increasing. On one hand, Shinji simply wanted the engraving to look 'cool', but on the other hand, it would be nice to 'hide' the seals so as to conceal the array of abilities it would have underneath.

Just the planning of all of this was starting to make Shinji's adrenaline pump, and he was starting to see his ambitions come to life again. He hadn't even begun to figure out what the price of the seals would be, but he had quite a bit of savings from his career and now that he was a member of the Sunagakure, he was sure to be able to make money easily enough as well. With all of the revelations Yasashi was opening his eyes to, he could easily see himself blowing a fair amount of his money on this shop as it seemed the usefulness of the seals was seemingly endless. After the sword, Shinji would have to have Yasashi take a look at his other weapon and see what his thoughts would be, or maybe just pursue other, one-time seal solutions which he could carry with him for various purposes.




[Chakra Reserves: 51 / ∞]
[Stamina : 69/85]

[Shinobi Profession Benefit: Improved Chakra Control, -1 cp cost on all ninjutsu)]
[Shinobi Type: Offensive, (1.5x Offensive jutsu cost, +1 rank effective power)]
[Shinobi Type: Speed, (Move, Dodge, Attack speed = +1 rank)]

Current Pain Stress Degree = 0 (Stamina = 83%)
Die Rolled: d20

0 - 1 : Pain Level 3
2 - 3 : Pain Level 2
4 - 5 : Pain Level 1
6 - 20 : Pain Level 0

"Let's Do This."

| Konaga Clan | Speed/Offensive Type | Iwagakure | Chuunin |
|| Shinobi Profession: Teaching Master || RPC Profile ||

"A catalyst... Hmmmm" Having been reassured that his blade would survive the engraving and that it's structure could be further fortified by a Kyouka seal, Shinji stopped worrying about Forza's safety and began to think about what he would want as the catalyst. Thinking aloud, Shinji tried to muddle through his options... "Well, I tend to get pretty fevered in combat... so anything that would require me to stop or slow down would be out of the question. The thing you set up earlier seemed to work well... but it'd be kind of a pain to have to position my hand a certain way or be touching a specific area of the blade to activate a specific seal."

Stopping for a bit to scratch his chin, Shinji tried to think what would be the best way to activate the seals, but was then suddenly struck with an idea. One of his favorite manga involved involved the main characters 'calling' out to their swords to awaken them with a specific command which was unique to each weapon... perhaps Yasashi could accomplish something similar. "Alright, how about this?... Would it be possible to use a verbal catalyst?... like a Command, or a phrase which would activate the specific effect I'm looking for?... Like saying 'Suiton' to activate the Suiton effect, or 'Katon' to activate the 'Katon' effect? That would be sweet!... oh, but what if someone else said the phrase... I wouldn't want the sword to activate on it's own while I was holding it... maybe I'll have to be more inventive with the command, but could that work?"

Excited by the prospect, Shinji wondered if Yasashi could do such a thing. Naturally, he was assuming the man could... to Shinji's eyes it seemed like Yasashi could do anything with seals. Continuing to think of verbal commands, Shinji came up with a few, but he couldn't help bu wonder what would happen if someone else said the same phrase... or was able to get a hold of Forza and use the phrases they learned to activate the same effects against him. Somewhat muttering underneath his breath, a small comment escaped his lips, which wasn't truly meant for Yasashi, but was said out loud anyway as part of Shinji's thought process..."I wonder if it could have a security system attached..."




[Chakra Reserves: 51 / ∞]
[Stamina : 68/85]

[Shinobi Profession Benefit: Improved Chakra Control, -1 cp cost on all ninjutsu)]
[Shinobi Type: Offensive, (1.5x Offensive jutsu cost, +1 rank effective power)]
[Shinobi Type: Speed, (Move, Dodge, Attack speed = +1 rank)]

Current Pain Stress Degree = 0 (Stamina = 83%)
Die Rolled: d20

0 - 1 : Pain Level 3
2 - 3 : Pain Level 2
4 - 5 : Pain Level 1
6 - 20 : Pain Level 0

"Let's Do This."

| Konaga Clan | Speed/Offensive Type | Iwagakure | Chuunin |
|| Shinobi Profession: Teaching Master || RPC Profile ||

His grin growing as Yasashi spoke, Shinji was pleased to hear that what he was hoping for was possible and that even a security system could be implemented. Pleased with the development, Shinji couldn't wait to have Yasashi get to work engraving the seals into his sword, but was then surprised to hear that Yasashi didn't even know the techniques yet. His inflated view of the man was instantly deflated a bit as he had all the while been assuming that Yasashi could already do all the things he was mentioning... or anything regarding sealing for that matter.

Be that as it may however, Shinji found the man's request reasonable and was more then motivated to receive a drop in the price of the engraved seal in return for the scrolls. Naturally, the scrolls themselves would cost a fair sum, but Shinji trusted Yasashi's comments and nodded in response to his request. "Of course... I'd be more then happy to get the scrolls for you if it means we can make the modifications soon. Which scrolls would you need? I have access to the ninja facilities here, so just name them and I'll be off to the library."

Sure, it was becoming a little more work then Shinji thought it might be to upgrade Forza at first, but the rewards greatly outweighed the cost of a trip to the library and some time for Yasashi to learn the techniques. He was sure the man would have no trouble mastering the techniques quickly as he seemed to be an expert in the field... and the beautiful part was that even if he didn't have a natural affinity to learn them, Shinji could. He was a Teaching Master after all... a career path he chose knowing that it would make him useful and valuable in a wide variety of situations.




[Chakra Reserves: 51 / ∞]
[Stamina : 67/85]

[Shinobi Profession Benefit: Improved Chakra Control, -1 cp cost on all ninjutsu)]
[Shinobi Type: Offensive, (1.5x Offensive jutsu cost, +1 rank effective power)]
[Shinobi Type: Speed, (Move, Dodge, Attack speed = +1 rank)]

Current Pain Stress Degree = 1 (Stamina = 79%)
Die Rolled: d20

0 - 2 : Pain Level 3
3 - 5 : Pain Level 2
6 - 8 : Pain Level 1
9 - 20 : Pain Level 0

"Let's Do This."

| Konaga Clan | Speed/Offensive Type | Iwagakure | Chuunin |
|| Shinobi Profession: Teaching Master || RPC Profile ||

As Yasashi was creating his list, checking with the book he kept close by, Shinji looked around at the walls and looked for patterns of dragons he might like. He already knew what he wanted, a picture of a dragon with a long, slender body, coiling through his blade. After looking at the walls he found an example of such a picture, but decided not to say anything until he had gotten everything Yasashi had asked for. As the man seemed to be done creating his list, Shinji reached out and accepted it from him and looked down at the list just to make sure he could read the writing. Just a preliminary glance ran the total up over 3000 gold, but Shinji wasn't at all alarmed as it would be more then worth it.

Nodding at Yasashi's request for a receipt, Shinji tucked the list away and reclaimed his sword, clamping it back to it's holster on his back. As he did so, he heard Yasashi's final request which was to find him a 'marker', which confused him significantly... "A marker?... what the hell is a Marker?" Figuring it was something he could find at the Library or somewhere else in the marketplace, Shinji figured all it would mean was a few extra stops, and as such, didn't bother Yasashi to ask where he might find one.

"No problem." Shinji replied with a smile on his face... "I'll be back before you know it." With that, Shinji made a motion with his hand saluting the man before exiting out of the shop, a sudden brisk wind whipping a warm breeze through the store along with some granules of sand and dust. Well aware that the longer the door was open, the more cleaning Yasashi would have to do later, Shinji was quick to exit and close the door behind him before quickly running off to the Library which was back towards the Kazekage's tower.

{{Exit to Sunagakure Library}}

[Chakra Reserves: 51 / ∞]
[Stamina : 66/85]

[Shinobi Profession Benefit: Improved Chakra Control, -1 cp cost on all ninjutsu)]
[Shinobi Type: Offensive, (1.5x Offensive jutsu cost, +1 rank effective power)]
[Shinobi Type: Speed, (Move, Dodge, Attack speed = +1 rank)]

Current Pain Stress Degree = 1 (Stamina = 79%)
Die Rolled: d20

0 - 2 : Pain Level 3
3 - 5 : Pain Level 2
6 - 8 : Pain Level 1
9 - 20 : Pain Level 0

"Let's Do This."

Yasashii smiled, chuckling to himself as Shinji took off out the door so eagerly. It was going to break the boy's heart, he just knew it would, when he told him he would be unable to master those new seals sufficiently in a single day to perform the upgrades on his weapon. Leaning back in his seat as the door slammed shut behind Shinji, Yasashii closed his eyes, looking for all the world as if he had gone to sleep. Truthfully though, he was meditating on the seal that he had to make. While he didn't know the finer points of the seals needed, he knew enough to be aware of how to position them, and was constructing a rough draft in his mind's eye. Soon enough though, he hit a brick wall. He could not truly construct the mental image necessary without knowing the details of the parts. In essence, he could not put together the puzzle with missing pieces. No, with broken pieces.

Fortunately for his assured boredom, just as he found he could go no further, the door opened again, slamming shut an instant later. Cracking an eyelid, Yasashii looked that way, spotting the reason for the door so quickly closing. There was apparently a minor sandstorm outside, and a surprising amount had gotten into the shop in the short time it'd been open. He'd have to do something to correct that, as a load of sand was the last thing he wanted contaminating his workspace.

A quick glance over the one who entered revealed to Yasashii a woman, tightly wrapped against the desert sands in a battered looking old cloak. Deciding to give her time to explore the shop as he had Shinji, and perhaps read the list of seals he provided, Yasashii let his eye slide shut again, having opened it only enough to see, a slit so small even Kye had never been able to tell the difference when he'd done it so many times in the past. An instant later both his eyes were flung wide, and a grin slowly crawling across his face as she spoke. Spoke the words of his own design, his own language, created for the highest ranking members of the Otogakure. "I poddima ub tuerq, jrugr urdc or hewuh. Gxu zuedq qatnhuc on?" he responded the very instant she ceased her own words. His question in the end held double meaning, and she would know it, for he knew her voice even veiled behind that cloak to identify her by. The first meaning was the same as her own statement, the second a question of truly, who it had been who had found them. Who had laid in the shadows, waiting for both Kye and himself to be away so they could strike the weakened populous of their home.

But before Kye could consider responding, Yasashii stood from his seat, stepping deftly around the desk and took her hand in his, grasping it tightly in greeting. "My old friend, it is good to see you. Do you have any news of Kariko?" He called her old friend, because she had so very many names, and he did not want to blow her cover to any ANBU who might be in the area by speaking the wrong one. Their short coded greeting could be passed off easily with the story he had invented of calling the words on his sign a blessing. Their conversation could simply be called an extended one, or a traditional greeting of their people. But calling an old friend by the wrong name, that would bring suspicion on them both.

~
[Chakra: 115/125]

The moment Kye chose to break his grip, Yasashii began to move, slowly wandering about the room, inclining his head towards her ever few seconds as she spoke. As he moved about the room, he made himself busy adjusting the photos pinned upon the walls, to all appearances moving them to make the nicer ones more apparent. As she spoke of Kariko, the man's motion paused entirely for a few moments, and he simply watched her, his features sinking into a state of resigned grief. He had known that would be the message since he got the flag, so he had had time to prepare himself, but it still struck hard. They had worked so hard, for so many years, to bring Otogakure up, and Kariko as it's center had taken countless hours of careful planning and preparation. Now though, it was gone, again. He had to wonder if Otogakure, at least as a village, would truly be able to rise again in his lifetime.

As Kye moved on to another topic, Yasashii moved back into activity, going to a corner of the room and adjusting a few photos there as well, overlapping some so that their lines ran together, under the illusion once more of simply making more pictures take less space, giving the better ones more space to show. The new topic surprised him though. Oh, he'd heard about Iwagakure falling. Hard not to pick up such rumors when there were Iwagakure nin wandering the village before he even arrived himself, one of which had just been in his shop. He hadn't heard the finer details though, and it seemed Kye had.

Despite her words to the contrary, he was also certain she had already made her investigation. She wouldn't have come all the way to find him on hearsay when the village itself was much closer. He was sure there was hidden meaning to the subject also, so he picked into it a bit more than the casual observer would. A destroyed village, perhaps she felt there was a link between Iwa and Oto being attacked? Magnets implied a connection to her own powers, was the attacker then, a user of her bloodline? He would have to be incredibly powerful though. Power rivaling the tailed beasts, but they couldn't coexist with bloodline chakra for some reason. Then the perpetrator was either incredibly powerful, or had some other way of boosting their power. He would say they might have been incredibly patient and built the power over years, but someone would have noticed long ago. Even then, anything to boost power in such a way would have a trail... But without his information network... He was powerless to seek it.

Sighing slightly at the renewed feeling of loss and his helplessness in the matter, Yasashii nodded to Kye's statement that he might be able to help. He was unsure what tools she spoke of, though his first guess was information, which he was sadly unable to provide any towards the attacker's identity. Moving quickly on, he moved to another corner of the room, intentionally passing his desk to skim the paper she had dropped on it. Kyoko Natsumi? So Konaga Elise was on vacation then. Yasa allowed himself a light chuckle as he noted that of all the aliases he had seen Kye use, all of them seemed to include a name beginning with the letter K. The man turned more towards Kye as she addressed him more personally next, though his attention was still split into rearranging the photos.

After she finally finished speaking, Yasashii remained silent for a few seconds, before speaking, even as he walked across to the last corner of the room, behind his desk. ”You're a bit late to be my first, and you could never be a customer anyways.” he said, flashing her a smile as he began shifting papers some more. ”An interesting young boy took that honor. He just left a little bit before you got here, should be back in a bit though.” Frowning thoughtfully, Yasashii turned around from his work, looking back to Kye. ”Maybe you saw him on your way in. White hair, big sword on his back, incredibly excitable considering his village was just destroyed.” The irony of his words weren't entirely lost on Yasashii, though he didn't consider Otogakure destroyed. No, so long as he and Kye could stand together and discuss missions and politics, Otogakure was alive and well, even if it was just them. ”Konaga Shinji. Perhaps you've met him?” he asked, rasing one eyebrow slightly even as he turned again. He knew Kye had friendly relations with that clan, and rumor had it that Shinji was at least related to the clan head, a potential heir, if not officially head already. The title often passed young.

Sliding one last photo into what he considered to be it's proper place, Yasashii laid one finger on it, holding it there for a moment and slowly, almost undetectably due to it's speed and amount, channeled chakra into the paper. After a few seconds, he turned, and began arranging other photos on the side wall, though not with the same speed nor apparent artistic quality as before, seeming more as if it was just something to do. Truly, he was disguising what had already been done by doing more. ”We can't be heard anymore.” he spoke, finally abandoning his work, pinning a particularly attractive pheonix design above the rest and turning to face Kye. ”But we can be seen.” It was a rather important distinction he thought. Even if you couldn't be heard, one with the proper skills could still tell what was being said through a window. Or a wall, should Suna employ ANBU with such skills, though he may be able to complain about such invasion of privacy. It was doubtful though.

Returning to his desk, Yasashii leaned backwards against it, making himself comfortable in the half standing position. There were plenty of chairs available, but somehow, the mood didn't seem to call for sitting just yet. Now that they were presumably safe from prying ears, Kye would likely want to share more information, but first, she HAD asked a question of him. ”I haven't had time to think of any new ideas yet, but I have been working on something that should work for you for quite awhile now. A seal with near infinite capacity. Only problem is that I can't work out how to remove the limits without losing the sealed object into the void.” he shrugged, going silent a moment before realizing that to a non-sealer, that probably made very little sense at all. ”A storage seal, you see, creates a pocket dimension. The more advanced the seal, the bigger the pocket. But if you try to make the pocket too big for whatever you put inside it, it could get lost inside and not come back. That's why the commonly known seals are so limited in size. Anything bigger than the max requires a specialty seal designed for that specific item. But...” he trailed off, a grin growing on his face and an odd twinkle behind his eyes. ”With some more study into space time techniques, I think I can work out a way to at least make the seal stable so it wouldn't lose the object inside. Then, it would work well with your sand, since you could open the seal and simply call the sand out. That's if I make the seal a stable gate instead of a summon gate of course.” he trailed off at that, the twinkle in his eye now a manic gleam, and his fingers were twitching towards his notebook, so close, so accessible, but now wasn't the time, so he held himself back, even if he had accidentally switched his mind into a mode reserved for high grade seal development. (A state most people would consider madness if sealing were not a recognized art.)

~
[Chakra: 115/125]

Yasashii nodded as Kye spoke of the Rice country, somewhat relieved to hear the familiar names of those who had survived. He felt an odd pang he didn't truly understand though, as the mention of DaiChi's students brought his own nephew to mind. He didn't truly know the boy, having only had custody of him for a short few years since his sister's death, but the boy was his last living relative, and now, he didn't know if the boy was still even alive.

Shaking off the odd feeling as Kye began to speak again of Iwagakure, Yasashii listened closely. Most of what she said simply confirmed his own theories from her veiled message, but it still pushed the point home. There was someone out there with her powers, apparently capable of crushing an entire village. Not a pleasant thought. But there was a niggling feeling at the back of his mind, something that transcended the worries both Iwagakure and Otogakure brought him. And somehow, he had the feeling Kye felt it too. "You don't think the two are related, do you?" The methods were obviously different, or she would have stated it clearly, but two villages being destroyed in such close time periods begged the question, was someone planning this? Overseeing it? And if they were, were they planning to attack again?

Reaching out and taking the scroll she offered him, Yasashii smiled despite the direction the conversation was taking. Sealing was his passion, and compliments were always nice. Simple requests like this were also welcome, especially from an old friend. The array she was requesting was possible of course. He had had a similar array set up in his bar, to release sleeping gas in an emergency. After rolling out the scroll on his desk though, he frowned, turning back around to look at Kye again. "Unfortunately, I can't. It's a simple array, but there isn't enough space in the scroll. If I tried to fit the seals into the margins I'd ruin the storage seals." Smiling ruefully, he rolled the scroll up again and held it out for her to take back. "Sorry. Maybe if you get a bigger scroll I can do something for you." He didn't mention it, as it was rather a blow to his pride as a sealer, but he would also need to study the more advanced storage seals first, as storage had never been his main area of expertise.

~
[Chakra: 110/125]

Because I forgot in my last post...

Yasashii's eyes moved from Kye to Shinji the moment he stepped through the door. The boy's arrival marked the end of their conversation for now, but, as he had grown to understand in the short time he'd known the boy, began another bout of endless amusement. The boy had spoken before looking, and once he actually looked, cut himself off to apologize. Yet, rather than go silent as one might expect, he continued on moments later, detailing his purchases and... Offering assistance in the learning thereof? Yasashii couldn't help but chuckle at that. He looked at Kye again with an amused twinkle in his eye, before turning back to Shinji, moving out of the way of the desk so the boy could drop his armful. Kye would understand why he was so amused. He had made a point for years of sharing his research with her, showing her the notes he'd made on many of the techniques he'd studied. So, she knew better than most, that it was entirely impossible for someone who hadn't studied sealing to simply pick up a scroll and learn, much less attempt to teach it.

Picking up one of the scrolls, specifically the one for blood recognition, Yasashii smiled at Shinji, still with that amused look, and rolled it open slightly on the desk. "I'm afraid you won't be of much help in this. If I had to teach you to read the scrolls, it'd take twice as long to study them myself." And he wasn't joking when he said he'd have to teach him just to read the scrolls. The one he'd rolled out, being one of the more complicated mid-ranked techniques, would be like nothing Shinji had ever seen. Where a jutsu scroll would have detailed instructions on chakra manipulation and handseals, this was mostly composed of mathematical equations, and strange symbols unrecognizable to anyone who hadn't previously studied sealing. The few places actual words were used would seem almost like they were written in code to the boy, because they used unusual phrases only used by sealing specialists.

Rolling the scroll up after he'd given enough time for Shinji to see it and understand his point, Yasashii smiled at him again. "You must understand, unlike a ninjutsu specialist whose ability is determined by how many techniques he knows, a sealing specialist's ability is judged by the mind. It doesn't matter how many seals or techniques they know, only that their mind can comprehend them, and use them."

Giving only a mere moment for that bit of trivia to sink in, Yasashii turned back to Kye, gesturing towards her to bring Shinji's attention back to the woman. "But enough of that. Shinji, this is an old friend of mine. She was rather interested in meeting you, so how about while I get started on these scrolls, you two can get to know each other?" With his part said, Yasashii nodded to Kye, and moved to the back of his desk, settling into his chair and picking up one of the new scrolls, rolling it open to begin reading it. He would still be listening in on the conversation of course, but such multitasking was an ability he'd mastered long ago. He'd be able to absorb both bits of information just fine.

~
[Chakra: 110/125]