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[Taijutsu -1]

Mamoru read through a bit on wind techniques. One of them fed from both wind and whi sword, making it an ideal surprise attack.
Flying Swallow Technique - This is a Taijutsu technique in which the user feeds their chakra into their weapon to extend the length of the blade. An extra extension of invisible chakra will create a sharp edge that functions like the normal blade itself. Even if the opponent manage to avoid the metal portion of the blade, the chakra portion may cut into them as well. With affinities to both wind and lightning chakra, this jutsu not being in his arsenal was a crime against his skill set. Dressing for a day at the quarry, he ingested a large meal. He would need the energy for the chakra he was about to expend. Once he arrived at the quarry, he asked the owner's permission to help pulverize larger rocks into gravel, free of charge. The owner agreed, after having him sign a few waivers.

Mamoru eased into the quarry, having been directed to a nicely sized pile of boulders. Given time, he would carve said boulders into rubble. Thinking ahead, he produced a pair of goggles and a mask to protect his eyes and lungs. He had no desire to cough every fifteen steps, not unlike Hayate Gekko.

Mamoru brandished his blade, and set to work on channeling his chakra. Soon enough, a faint outline could be seen around his jian. He grinned as he switched it back and forth between wind and lightning chakra.

After saluting the other quarry worker, Mamoru started hacking, slicing, carving, and slahing at the stone with the extended edge of wind in his hand. It was strange at fist, having to adjust to a weapon with a longer range than he almost see. Once he scrbbled his name in a boulder, several slashes reduced it to smaller sections. A nearby genin with a stone affinity joined him, crushing the smaller stone to gravel. They worked until lunch that day. Mamoru pulled an extra bento and treated the genin to lunch. They ate in a comfortable silence, as she was quite cute.

The energetic girl had slanted red eyes that are like two blooming roses. Her thick, wavy, violet hair was worn in a style that reminds you of a comet's trail. She is very short and has an hourglass build. Her skin is white. She has small ears. Her wardrobe was unusual for a kuniochi, with a completely red and gray color scheme.

Once the mean was finished, they proceeded to complete the workday. The owner was pleased with the combined effort, but she slipped away before Mamoru could acquire contact info. Maybe next time, ninja boy.

[459/400] Flying Swallow Earned.

Bone entered the academy with a smile upon his face. It was his first day within the academy and he did not want to disappoint anyone, especially his family who sent him there from Hidden Sand. Upon his back was a single wrapped puppet figure that was handcrafted by his father and loaded with various dangerous weaponry and ninja tools. Looking around, he noticed a few kids practicing their ninjutsu under a tree. Bone quickly ran over and waved towards them, catching their attention. "Hi, my name is Bone from the Village Hidden in the Sand. Today is my first day too so I hope that we can all become friends," said Bone with a wide grin upon his face and a small bow after his introduction. The kids looked at him and then greeted him with smiles, pats on the back, and hearty hellos. It was not long before they returned back to what they were doing. Bone watched in curiosity as a boy of the group quickly made a few hand seals and then transformed into an adult who looked like one of the instructors here. “Hey look! It is Iruka sensei,” called one of the children who proceeded to point towards the transformed child. They all laughed amongst each other but before long, a bell rang and they all started running towards the building. One of the children turned around and called to Bone, “Come on! Class is about to begin!” Bone blinked a few times before smiling wide and headed after his new friends towards the classroom.

As he entered the room, he found it was filled with children all laughing and talking amongst each other. Near the back of the room, he saw his new friends chatting and gossiping about everything and everyone. One of them saw Bone and then waved their hands to call him over. Bone quickly moved through the crowd and found a seat amongst his friends before turning towards the front of the room. The door slid open soon after he sat down and walked in a man who he now recognized as Iruka sensei, the man that one of the kids transformed into as a practice. The man walked behind his desk and then looked around the class before his gaze stopped upon Bone. “Alright class, before we begin, I see we have a new student. Would you please stand and give us your name new guy,” asked Iruka with a smile upon his face. Bone looked around to see that the entire class was now looking at him but that did not really bother him that much since some of them already knew him. Bone stood and then said, “I’m Bone Akasun from the Village Hidden in the Sand. I am here to train to become a ninja and I am happy to meet you all.” The classroom said their hellos as the bullies in the room made jokes through coughs and muffled sounds. Bone sat back down, not letting the remarks from the bullies get to him as he listened to the lesson being given by Iruka. “Alright class, we had covered Ttransformation techniques last class but we are going to review what you all learned. Now, I want you all to line up in front of the class and one by one, transform into someone you know so I can see how much you actually learned.

Bone and his friends stood and proceeded to the front of the class, getting in line near the left side of the room, being near the end of the line. The kids turned towards Bone and said, “Well, do you know the hand seals to do the technique?” Bone shook his head no as this was the first class he had ever attended. The kids looked amongst themselves and then nodded to each other before lifting their hands. “Alright, just copy us and try to envision your chakra changing your appearance when it is your turn.” Bone nodded towards them as he watched them practice the hand seals needed to perform the jutsu. It was just a simple three hand seal technique apparently as Bone watched. Soon, it was their turn and Bone watched as his friends went up one by one and flawlessly execute the technique. It was not long before it was his turn and he stepped up in front of the class. Iruka walked forwards towards Bone before saying, “Since you are new, you can skip this exercise today and try it tomorrow when you have more practice.” Bone shook his head as he brought up his hands and then started the three hand seals. He then started to concentrate about his chakra enwrapping him in a cloak and taking form to transform what he looked like. Soon, there was a cloud of smoke where he stood and he was replaced by a copy of Iruka. Sure, it was not perfect by any standard but it was close enough that Iruka passed Bone on his first attempt.

As Bone changed back to normal, Iruka applauded Bone and said, “That was a very good first attempt. I also noticed that your friends tried to teach you before you went up so you have made some very good friends there Bone.” Bone smiled towards Iruka before walking over to his friends who then gave him remarks on how well he did and how impressed on how fast he learned. Bone responded, “Well, if it was not for you guys, I would never have been able to pull that off.” Bone smiled towards his friends as they returned back to their seats and then watched the rest of the class finish their attempts before Iruka turned to them all. “You all did a very good job with your ninjutsu and I am proud that you all are taking this very seriously. Unlike one student that I had a long time ago, I am grateful none of you had pulled any pranks this year,” said Iruka while he clapped for the class. “But now, we start our next lesson. The clone techniques. Clone techniques are a little more difficult to pull off since it involves making a replica of yourself and moving it around at your whim. To execute this technique, you need to perform the following hand seals: Bird, Ox and Monkey. Afterwards, extend your chakra outwards next to you and craft a likeness of yourself from that chakra. Then you are to complete the form by solidifying the chakra and giving it color. The control of the clone will come nearly natural to many of you after you make it so do not worry about that just yet.” Iruka then demonstrated to the class by performing the hand seals and then created a clone next to him. The children looked at the clone and some of them were impressed, others like the bullies just scoffed and commented on how easy that would be. Bone knew that nothing is as easy as shown to them and then started practicing the three hand seals, trying to get faster at making the seals. He then had an idea on what he could do. Slowly, Bone stood up and then walked towards the front of the class causing everyone to look towards him with raised eyebrows. Bone quickly made the Henge no Jutsu hand seals before transforming himself into Iruka once more. Iruka was about to comment on Bone’s Henge and to tell him that was the wrong technique before he saw Bone start making another set of hand seals. This time, he finished the Bushin no Jutsu hand seals and then a copy of Iruka sensei appeared next to him. Bone then returned back to his form, a little tired from doing the technique like this but then turned towards the clone and said, “Why, hello there Iruka sensei! How are you today?” Using a form of ventriloquism that he learned from his grandfather, he then spoke for the clone in Iruka’s voice. “Well, I am doing well. How about yourself Bone?” Bone smiled before turning towards the class and said, “Well, I thought that your clone was great and wanted to show how well I can make a clone. What do you think?” The clone looked around and looked towards the real Iruka before walking up towards the man and inspected him up close. “This clone is horrible! He looks nothing like me,” cried the clone through the use of Bone’s ventriloquism. A few of the class started to laugh as the real Iruka looked a bit confused as he looked at a clone that was made from a Henge. Suddenly, Iruka burst out with a chuckle before saying, “That is the first time I have seen the Bushin no Jutsu used in this manner. I am rather impressed by what you were trying to do. However, I must say this is the worst clone of me I have ever seen.” Bone chuckled a little as the clone disappeared in a puff of smoke and rubbed the back of his head before heading back to his seat. Bone sat down as some of his friends nudged him in the side with snickers and wide grins on the play that Bone had pulled, obviously thinking that was a rather good act.

It was not long before the entire class had finished their practice trail with the technique having gone down to the front of the class and attempting the technique themselves. Of course Bone had to retry his because the clone was not of himself and he did a rather good job at that. As soon as everyone had finished, Iruka told them all to practice on their own time as they had two more lessons that they had to go through today. The children all moaned except for Bone who was actually rather interested on what else they had to learn today. Iruka then told them to gather outside which got everyone rather curious on what they were going to do. As soon as everyone was outside of the building. Iruka turned towards them all with a wicked smile. H then asked for a volunteer who will do what he is told, no questions asked. Bone looked around to see that the class was hesitant to raise their hands so Bone raised his instead. Iruka smiled and then pointed towards Bone who the proceeded to stand and walk forwards. Iruka then said, “Alright, for this next lesson, I need to you try to kill me with something sharp.” Bone’s eye brow raised for a bit before lowering. Obviously, this was going to lead to the technique itself but the class started to raise their voices in protest on the request. Bone turned towards them all and raised a hand before saying, “I am sure that he knows what he is going to do so let us see what we are going to have to do.” Bone lifted a hand and removed the bound puppet from his back before quickly unwrapping it. The students who were watching were now curious on what was so special about the puppet. Quickly connecting strings to the puppet Bone then flicked his wrists forwards, causing the puppet to lunge towards Iruka, a knife appearing from its wrists before stabbing straight into the stomach of the teacher. The class gasped in shock but Bone knew that something was wrong as the strike was too solid and not as if he had pierced meat. Suddenly, the teacher exploded into a cloud of smoke before being replaced by a wooden log that was stabbed by the puppet. The class grew confused as they looked around for their teacher but Bone looked up towards the tree and started clapping as he saw that their teacher was now hiding within the branches. Iruka chuckled a bit before jumping down and then explaining to the class how the technique it done. Using a form of flash step, he quickly replaced himself with a piece of wood that he cut from the tree nearby.

Having taught the students the technique’s hand seals, he then told the class to attempt to change with something as he attempts to hit them with a dodge ball. It was not long before half the class failed the exercise and a few of them passed the technique. Bone took his turn and watched as his teacher lobbed a dodge ball straight for his face. Bone quickly smirked as he made a single hand seal and then was hit in the face hard. But as he changed into a cloud of smoke, a puppet hand grabbed the ball in mid air before throwing it back towards the teacher who was then hit in the gut hard, knocking the wind out of him because he was not expecting that. Bone was clinging to a tree with the bottom of his feet using his chakra having seen Iruka do this method as he attempted to climb down from the tree after his demonstration of the Replacement technique. Bone smiled wide as the class applauded the execution of the technique and more for the fact that Bone was hanging upside down from a tree branch using nothing but chakra. Iruka looked over towards Bone and noticed that he was using the tree climbing technique to cling to the tree and then smiled. “Well, I guess this is the perfect time to show you all the next lesson. Climbing trees and walking on water using nothing but Chakra. Now, Bone here has already mastered climbing trees with nothing but chakra. Using your chakra, you are to cling your feet to the tree and keep hold while you attempt to walk up the tree. Walking on water implies the same mechanics. You push yourself above the surface of the water by extending your chakra downwards into the water and pushing against the bottom. Now, try either method and you shall pass. Bone, all you have to do is walk on water and you graduate from the academy.” Bone smiled towards his teacher and then proceeded towards the pond that was provided to the students of the academy. He then brought his puppet along side him as well and then started to focus hard, trying to push chakra through the feet of both him and his puppet before taking his first step into the water. It was a little wobbly at first but as he got both feet on the water, his balance became perfect. He then started to move his puppet upon the water as well but noticed that it was starting to sink and thought to himself, “Aw screw it.” With that, he started to walk across the water as he used his chakra strings to raise his puppet out of the water and dance it around like it was flying. Bone then started to jog, getting used to pushing down with his chakra to keep himself afloat. Iruka was standing on the edge of the pond with a smile upon his face as he watched Bone walk across the water with his puppet before returning to solid ground. “Congratulations Bone. You have completely mastered all techniques that you had to learn here at the academy. Whether or not you want to stay, it is completely up to you. Good luck with your career as a ninja and try not to get yourself killed you hear,” asked Iruka with a smile. With that, the teacher left to return to his students and Bone just stood there, a little confused but happy at the same time. He decided that it was time he returned back to Hidden Sand and continue his training in the puppeteer arts. With that, he headed out the gates of the academy and headed home.

[2644 - 2200 for all techniques here = 444]

Shen put down his gear, then went outside, to a nearby tree, dotted and marked up with signs of shuriken practice. The perfect spot. Shen quickly pumped both arms outwards, three shuriken slipping right into his hands, from his sleeves. He threw all six of them, watching quietly as two thudded into the tree's center, three cut into nearby low branches, and one went far, up into a high branch in the top of the tree. "Well, I have to work on that, then," Shen thought to himself as he walked towards the tree, to pick up his shuriken. Each one of them was rather small, somewhat smaller than normal shuriken, and had only three points, not four. They had been specially made, by his uncle. Murakura, his uncle, among other things, was a prolific blacksmith, and had made a lot of Shen's equipment.

The young boy threw the shuriken again, this time all six of them going close to his target. Shen continued to practice with his shuriken for the next few minutes, ignoring the small group of children gathering around him, watching the little prodigy at work. It didn't matter what others thought, only what he knew to be true. And what Shen knew to be true was that his shuriken throwing skills needed to improve if he wanted to pass with flying colors, something the young boy wanted badly. If grades and practice were what it took to be ANBU, then so be it, grades and practice were what would happen.

After the break was over, Shen sat down at his class. The teacher was a tan man with a line running across his face, and his hair up. "Welcome to the Academy, kids I'll be your instructor, my name is Iruka." Iruka began to write up notes on chakra control on the board, and Shen quickly jotted them down in a notebook, attempting not to doodle all over the pages, something he had a major problem with. Shen tapped a kid next to him, who had a wrapped puppet on his back. "Hey, I'm Shen. What's your name?"
After that class was over, Shen went outside again, to to practice some more with his shuriken. He realized that, as he threw them, his left hand began to jerk a little sideways, which threw him off target. Shen quickly corrected his mistake, and watched as, for the first time that day, all six went on target, driving thick gashes into the wood. Once again, a small crowd of children were gathered around him. After this, Shen packed up his backpack, and went home.
(New total, including last post: 600 words.)
Henge no Jutsu and Bushin no Jutsu learned!

Shen came back a day later, determined to learn either how to walk on water or walk up trees before he would catch a dock and leave. The young boy came up to the large tree where he had practiced shuriken throwing the last two days, and began to concentrate. With each passing second, he felt a little more chakra moving throughout him, circulating sluggishly, but still circulating. He closed his eyes, scrunching up his brow, as he attempted to move the chakra into his legs. "I've... Got... To... Do... This..." Shen suddenly, ran towards the tree. He climbed up the first step, leaped forwards on the second, and continued... to the ground. Shen fell badly, yelping in pain as he slowly brought himself up again. Well, that didn't work out too well. Shen tried again. He closed his eyes, breathed in and out slowly, and began to move his chakra to his feet. He simply sat there for a minute, until finally, he slowly began to walk towards the wall. He jumped up, and managed to make it three steps this time, until one foot became unbalanced, and Shen was forced into an an agonizing splits position. "Owowowowowowowowowowww!!!" Shen simply sat there, sulking silently as he began to recover feeling in his legs. This would be the last time. Shen closed his eyes, and calmed his mind completely. He thought only of the tree, only of ascending that accursed wooden trunk. He began to finally feel it, a sensation akin to vertigo in his stomach, and then Shen began to walk. He slowly, agonizingly ascended up the trunk of the tree, until his legs gave out. Shen was finished. Angry and a little sad, Shen packed up his stuff, and began to walk back to his house, and sleep.

The next day, Shen walked to the academy, his legs still sore from the day before. He sat down, and picked up his notebook, jotting down notes on the Great Wars. It was such useless information, Shen foolishly thought, it couldn't help me walk on the stupid tree. Iruka noticed something was wrong, and stopped him after class. "There's something wrong about you, Shen, what's wrong?"

Shen put his head downwards, looking at the floor. "I tried to walk up the big tree yesterday, three times, and each time I failed. I don't think I'll be able to handle any of the other, powerful techniques that I've got to learn if I can't even handle something as simple as walking up a stupid tree."

Iruka suddenly laughed. "Is that what this is about? Come on, I'll help you with it." The two walked to the tree, where Shen had tried and failed to climb.
Iruka began to close his eyes, then ran up the side of the tree, even pausing to hang upside down for a moment. "Now you try. Its not in getting the chakra there, that's simple, its all about consistency." Shen tried this, and managed to make it up another twelve or so steps, to the point Iruka had hung upside down from. It was a thin branch, and snapped almost immediately when both men were on it.
Iruka fell quickly, coming to his feet, catching Shen. After this, they tried for a few more minutes, until once, finally Shen managed to climb up the entire tree.
He concentrated, letting the energy flow freely. He walked up to the tree, and kicked out, letting his kick propel him up an extra two or three feet up the trunk. Using the momentum, Shen ran parallel up the tree, not stopping until his legs gave way, and he sat down promptly on a thick branch.
(Total: 1621 words, this post: 616 Tree Walking Jutsu Thingie Learned!)

Hanai watched the day go by, seeming to pass through it in a sort of, unawareness. She had steadily made her mark on her classmates recognition boards, skillfully executing the task that had been given to them today. She heard their whispers now and focused on what was happening.

Which turned out to be not much at all. When she had came to this place, she had expected much more than this. It was excruciatingly boring and she was near ready to just up and leave. But no, she had to master Tree Climbing, and Water Walking. All of which they were heading outside to preform now. She wondered briefly if she could slip away without being noticed.

Hanai studied the tree in front of her, blinking lazily. She had watched her peers stare and glare at their targets as if they would up and declare defeat, refusing to subject themselves to their ridiculous goals. To Hanai, it was just a tree, simply the object of her focus at the moment. She would not have cared if it was a hill or the side of a dojo. She slid her eyes shut, and the world around her simply slipped away. She did not need it. Did not want it. What she wanted was hidden...all she had to do was gently lift the veil...

She opened her eyes, swinging up onto the branch and looking down at her classmates. They looked small from up here, their faces non-important, their clothing drab...she longed for the darkness that shrouded her village. With darkness, you were not forced to focus on the details of any one person's looks, therefore, there was no criticizing in that aspect. If you were beautiful, it did not matter. Nor did it if you were better off hiding your face beneath a sack. The darkness hid it all away. It hid it away, and you were left with everything else. It was everything else, that determined if you were respected or adored, shunned or pushed around.

"Alright, you've had your fun. Come down here so we may continue, yes?"

Hanai blinked, stepping down from the tree. Her classmates gasped, but she landed upright on her feet, as if she had stepped down from a simple bump in the road. She had made her decision. She would do what she felt, regardless of whether it was above and beyond what was expected, or anything less. Things never went exactly as you planned- you just had to learn to just go with it, and hope that it turned out to be pleasant.

She fallowed behind the group as they moved on to the river nearby. She ignored the occasional glances she received on the way there, her mind wondering. Supposedly, moving water was more difficult to walk on. It required a bit more chakra and a butt-load of concentration. Hanai was not particularly worried.

After having completely learned the Bunshin technique, Omaru had placed himself against a tree with his now sleeping Kami on his lap. The little pup had been very critical for his clones. Omaru had tried to hide himself and produce a clone before the pup, but it simply walked through it, as if it wasn’t there. Omaru reasoned that is was because these bunshins can’t have any smell, and the little pup already imprinted himself with Omarus smell. He absently caressed the pup while thinking of how he would practice the next technique, the Art of Substitution. He predicted this technique is going to be harder than the previous two he had mastered. He gently lifted the pup from his lap and placed it on a lump of moss next the three he was leaning on. It grunted, and lifted its head to look at his warmth source walking away. Omaru went to stand in the open spot. He searched for something to substitute with and closed his eyes after a medium-sized rock had caught his attention. He took a deep breath and performed the hand seals needed for the technique: “Tiger-Boar-Ox-Dog-Snake” He gathered the chakra needed and exploded in a cloud of white smoke, revealing just a rock at the place where he had been standing. Kami, who was already getting used to the explosions, went to investigate the smoke and later on the rock, and constated that the boy had disappeared. The pup whined and looked around to find him again but he couldn’t find him. Helpless, it put its nose in the air and searched for his smell. Strange, the smell is coming out of a tree now? The wolf stumbled to a nearby tree on its clumsy paws and looked up, trying to see where the boys smell had come from. A mocking laugh came from a nearby branch and Omarus smiling face appeared above it. How did he get up there? Kami put his paws on the bark and stretched himself out to get closer to Omaru, but in his puppyish clumsiness, he tilted a bit too much backwards, and the pup rolled backward doing a somersault. This all resulted in even more honing laughter, but the boy quickly came down to comfort the puppy. Agitated, the pup bit Omarus finger as he picked him up to cuddle him. Omaru tolerantly let it chew and suckle his finger, and not much later, the pup was already asleep.
(412 words -400 words= Art of Substitution learned!
12 words left + 128 form previous post = 140 words left)

Omaru had gone home after he had mastered the Art of Substitution. It had been already dark, and he still had to walk a whole distance before he arrived at his shack. Because a shack it was, consisting of nothing more than wooden boards nailed together with an improvised door and window. He had found the abandoned shack a couple of years ago and refurbished it. It seemed to be long forgotten, because he had to replace several planks. The only thing that stood in it was an old mattress filled with straw, a stained blanket, an old rusty coffin and a table and a chair. All things he had found while wandering in the village and searching dumps. To eat he most of the times goes out to beg, and if that doesn’t work he steals some. That caused that he wasn’t really loved and couldn’t get any job to earn money. It was a vishious circle he had landed in, and it has been spinning for as long as he can remember. It’s not for nothing that he was so skinny, same for the pup. He went inside and opened the metal coffin with a key he had in his bag, and took out a can of ravioli and a spoon. He went to sit on the chair, opened the can with an old kunai he had found on the academy ground, and ate it without heating it, giving small pieces of the pasta to the pup, who ate it with great taste. It’s not for nothing that he was so skinny, same for the pup. After the improvised dinner he went straight to bed, keeping the Kami close to save body heat.
The next day he was early on the training grounds, and went to the same spot he had gone the day before. To his surprise, he noticed some beer cans lying around, and concluded that some other people found out about this fine place too. Omaru frowned as he picked them up to put then on a pile. He would throw them away when he left. He put the shoulderbag next to the tree again and opened it, so that the pup could come out for himself.
Today, Omaru was going to climb trees. Not the regular tree climbing, because he was already good in that, but the one where one can walk vertically up a tree. A perfect practice to gain chakra control. A bit too much can result in harming the tree, and a bit too less can cause a loss of grip. The tutor had said that girls are better with chakra control. Omaru was to proof that otherwise, or so he was planning.
He chose a tree with a fairly straight stem with not much branches in the way. He looked up. In theory, he would be able to run all the way to the top, and sit on the tip of the pine tree. That would be so cool, he imagined, and he went to stand in the good stance. He put his hands together and his feet wide, and molded chakra in his stomach, before leading it to the soles of his feet. When he had enough chakra molded, he dashed forward to make enough speed for the climb, and was able to run several steps up the tree, but then he felt his right foot drill in the bark and he was frightened that he would get stuck. He jumped from the tree and landed –almost fell- back on the ground, after doing a backflip.
He would eventually need several attempts, but eventually got the hang of it.
(610 words -600words= tree climbing learned!
10 words left+ 140 previous posts = 150 words left)