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Ota got the week off of class and studied a bit on the fine arts of chakra flow but mostly just went out and practiced. He didn't expect that the next class to be as challenging as it was. This time the strong teacher from the water walking technique class was going to teach again. Ota wasn't a big fan of him but he couldn't say that his methods didn't work because, well, they did. The teacher wasted no time in staying in the class, once everyone was there he took them all to an outside training ground surrounded by a bunch of logs and rocks.

"Most of you know that today we will be studying the substitution technique, it's pretty easy to learn but a pain to master so pay attention." The teacher placed one hand into the tiger position and looked the entire class over. "You must concentrate on a log, a rock, anything that has about the same mass and size as you and trade places with it." He smiled. "Easy, huh?" With that a puff of smoke enveloped the man and as it cleared all that was left was a large log. The students freaked but the teacher stepped out from behind a tree and they settled quickly. He laughed. "You see? It's a very useful technique that you'll learn to love." He paired the students up for a sparring match with each other to practice the skill.

Ota was paired up with another boy that didn't seem as strong as him but commanded respect nonetheless. The teacher began the sparring session with a word, "Start!" and so they did.

His opponent was quick, he was dodging almost every punch that Ota could throw. Soon though, when one landed, a puff of smoke ejected into the air but the boy still took the hit and fell to the ground. "Must have not been concentrating enough." He laughed and got up but in the fighting Ota almost for got that he was supposed to be practicing the substitution jutsu.

"How about we try some coordinated attacks for practice before we head into real fight for now?" Ota suggested and his opponent nodded contently to the idea. They began and Ota spoke to himself as they planned the the fight. "Jab, left hook, step, knee, dodge, grab, elbow, and poof." they agreed on a simple and quick fight and went onto it. Ota jabbed and came in with a left hook then stepped back and threw a knee at his opponent who dodged and grabbed his leg. At this point his opponent came in with an elbow to which Ota attempted to substitute for. It worked a puff of smoke appeared and Ota was placed where the log he had chosen was. His opponent was left holding a branch. His opponent congratulated him and they went on to keep practicing. After, maybe, seven successful tries a piece the teacher stopped the class.

"I've noticed a lot of you getting it and finally learning the technique. Now we're going to try this under real combat situations. You've all had time to get to know your sparring partner but under these conditions they will be your enemy, not your opponent." He raised his hand, pointing at the dense woods in front of him. "One team at a time will enter and will fight each other, the first of the two to admit defeat will be retaking the class with the rest of the losers and with the students from other classes. The winners will move onto the next lesson without a problem." He then lowered his hand. "But if the winner doesn't use the substitution technique at least three times then both him and his partner will be retaking the class." He explained why, "It is very difficult to find things to substitute with in the wild but that's what makes this technique so much fun: you have took keep an open eye and take notice of everything there is around you to be able to find something. That's what you're really training today, your visual skills." He sat the pairs down and started picking them one by one to go in and fight. Ever time, someone came back with the teacher as the winner and the other as the loser.

"I guess there's no way of the both of us winning this, huh?" Ota looked over at his sparring partner. "Well then, good luck to you." He extended his hand.

His sparring partner took it and smiled. "We'll see who wins this one and the loser has to buy the other some ramen?" The boy, Ken was his name, asked merrily.

Ota nodded and just as that was said they were picked to spar. A straight face came over both opponents and they were followed by the teacher into the woods. "Are you too ready?" They both nodded in agreement. "Then ready, set, go!" they both faced each other and went over the coordinated fight that got them started and then continued from there. The fight went over for a few minutes before one of them used the substitution technique on the other and then went to attack. Another substitution that lead to another and another. At first the teacher was keeping count but after about twenty substitutions he had lost his place. The two, both Ota and Ken knew what they were doing and were doing it perfectly. Soon after about the thirtieth substitution the teacher had to stop the spar. "You two are too equal a match for each other." He paused and thought. "You two are also the most powerful in the class, there's no one I can pair you with to completely tell who would win." He sighed. "Both of you pass." The insurmountable joy on their faces weren't easy to hind and so they just laughed and fell over in agonizing pain. They had gone on for so long that their bodies already began forming bruises.

Waking up early in the morning the first thing Aya did was dart out of bed and get dressed. Grabbing a bite to eat she hate as she made her way to the academy. It was today that she planned on finishing the last requirements she needed to fulfill in order to past. She refused to study in that place any longer. She was an impatient girl and wanted to get into the life of a ninja as soon as she possibly could. It was a good thing she was hardworking for if she wasn’t it would probably take her ages just to learn a new jutsu. But because she wanted to get these things done with fast she planned on pushing herself even harder then she normally did. There was no time for slacking, slackers never made it far in life and she did not plan on being the village bum. Entering the Academy she walked by her classmates without a single greeting. Aya was pretty cold at times, she didn’t care much for friends. She saw them as things that would get in the way of her goals. If she were to have friends then it would be ones with the same ambitions as her own and those who were strong, very strong. Aya wanted to be one of the strongest ninja ever so she had no time for weaklings if she was going to aim for lots of power. Everything in life required sacrifices and she was willing to make all the ones necessary to achieve her goals. Grabbing the scrolls she needed she took a sit in the far corner of the room like usual and began reading. Taking in every word she burned what was needed for the Art of Substitution technique into her mind. Rolling the scroll back up she placed it on a shelf as she headed out of the door. For this jutsu she had decided it would be best to learn it outside where she had more room and no one’s annoying voice to distract her. Heading off into the back of the Academy she looked around the area for and object she could substitute herself with and found a small log. It would do. Placing her hands she performed the necessary seals and did the jutsu with ease. Within seconds she was glancing at where she had been and where the log now rested in her place.

Art of Substitution

Smirking Aya was beginning to feel very proud of herself. Out of the 5 techniques she needed to learn to become gennin she had gotten 3 down within a short amount of time. Having read the other techniques inside before having come out here she stayed where she was. The last two things she needed to learn were also supposed to be down outside, it was tree walking and water walking. Now these two techniques would be something that would come in handy for a fight. Being able to walk on any sort of surface and inclination was a good skill to know. Closing her eyes she decided to learn the Tree technique in parts. From what she had learned from the scroll her chakra control needed to be very precise for if it wasn’t the technique would not work. Feeling the chakra move in her body she focused it down in her feet. She was finding this to be more difficult than she had thought. It wasn’t very easy to focus her chakra in one area when there were so many parts in her body and her chakra naturally wanted to flow to the other areas of her body. This did not put her down though, when she made up her mind on something there was no turning back for her. Giving up was not an option. She had just began to try Tree walking so there was lots of room for improvement, room which she intended to fill up. If all the other academy students before her had been able to learn this after a while she could as well. No many how many time she would fail she would simply get back onto her feet and try again. Birds didn’t always fly on the first try. Training on focusing her chakra she kept her eyes closed, she was in deep concentration and would stay this way for quite a while before deciding that it was no time to try walking up a try. Step by step she made her way to the tree nearest to her, which was not far, it was only a couple feet way. Within a few steps she had reached its trunk. Raising one foot she placing it on the trunk and felt in somewhat glue to the trunk, this she took as a good sign, it most likely meant she had the right amount of chakra on her feet to stick to the tree. Taking the risk she lifted up her other foot and placed it onto the trunk as well. She didn’t fall. She simply stood there horizontal to the ground. Grinning Aya began to take some more steps up the tree as she was delighted. Her joy quickly ended when she became to caught up in her own success to continue paying attention to the amount of chakra at her feet. This is where the law of gravity kicked in, with nothing to keep her against the tree her body would crash to the ground. A moan escaped her lips as her back in the ground hard causing the air in her lungs to rush out. Staying where she was for a bit she then rolled over and got back onto her feet. Stretching she did her best to ease the pain on her back. It was a good thing she hadn’t been that high or else it would have been really painful. Was the pain was gone Aya prepared herself to give it one more go, or two, or three, on her third try to finally did it right.

Tree Walking.

Taking a break Aya sat down on the grass as she thought about her progress so far. She was very happy about it and if all things went well she would be able to learn the last technique today. She was tired from all the tree walking and needed to regain her chakra levels and energy before she went on trying to walk on water. Closeing her red eyes she leaned back against the tree and rested up a bit. She fell a sleep for a brief moment and woke up half an hour later. Stretching she slowly got up and looked around the area. In order to do the water walking she needed to find some type of body of water. River, pond, lake etc. Fortunately in the Mist Village water was some of the things they had the most of. Knowing exactly where she needed to go she headed off in the direction. She knew that there was a river near the Academy so she was heading off towards it. It only took her a five minute walk to arrive. Looking down at the down at the water she noticed that it was running in a steady pace. The current didn’t appear to be too strong, nor did the water seem to be too deep. Focusing her chakra to her feet was more she then took a step onto the liquid surface only to have her foot fall right in getting wet to the ankle. Water was apparently a little trickier then walking on a tree. Water was such a flat of a surface as a tree or a wall. It moved and things fell through it because it wasn’t solid. She shivered slightly, the water today was pretty cold and it sent chills running up her spine. Stepping back she focused her chakra some more taking in note what had just happened. Learning from her mistake she intended on getting this one down. She had managed to do all the others so she was going to be able to do this, or at least that was what she thought. But the first part to success was believing you could do it. Going in for another attempt she placed on foot on the water and then the other. This time she stayed standing up on the surface. So far it was going well , all she needed was to keep it this way. Taking a few more steps she decided to make it to the other side of the river. As she walked across something irritated her nose causing her to sneeze. Not expecting this thing to happen her focus on the water walk was lost and she fell into the water. Although it wasn’t deep she still managed to get herself soaking wet from head to toe. Shivering chills ran throughout her body as the cold water lowered her body temperature a bit before she got used to it. Walking back to the river bed she ignored the fact she was wet and simply continued on giving the water walk another go. There was no point in drying if she was going to fall in the river and get wet again. Starting everything from the beginning she collected her chakra on her feet, this time she was absolutely sure she had done it right and no matter what happened nothing was going to distract her from making it to the other side of the river. Step by step she made sure each one was firm before continuing on. After a while it started to come naturally and it felt like she was actually walking on land.

Water Walk

Art of Substitution

The next morning Asuka returned to the academy, well rested and ready to learn something new. When he arrived in the classroom, every desk had either a small log or a large rock sitting on it. There were also scrolls on every desk. Since Asuka was there early, he opened the scroll and read ahead. The scroll described how to perform the substitution jutsu. First Asuka memorized the hand signs and practiced them until he could perform them with great speed and accuracy. Then he began learning how to correctly focus his chakra. This took Asuka a lot of time to understand. He was not used to such covert maneuvers. Asuka prefers a much more direct style, but he realized that’s all the more reason to learn such an unexpected jutsu for him. Finally when he could interpret what the scroll was saying, Asuka began to practice.

Asuka tried over and over again to switch places with a rock, but instead kept smacking his head on it. After receiving several bumps and bruises on his head, Asuka decided to practice with a slightly softer log instead. Eventually the sensei came in to the classroom to find Asuka practicing. Of course, he could immediately tell what Asuka was doing wrong.

“You are thinking about this technique all wrong Asuka. You’re trying to put the object in your place before you’re out of the way. Focus on moving away before you move the object.”

Once again the sensei had made incredible sense in such an obvious way that Asuka felt like a complete dunce. So once again Asuka went back to practicing with this new information in mind. He finally began performing the jutsu correctly. Through practicing more and more Asuka learned to place himself farther and farther away from his starting position. When the other students began to file in, Asuka was substituting himself across the room and back in rapid sequence. When Asuka had realized his incredible mastery of this new technique, he threw out his chest and flaunted to the other students. He look over to his sensei who once again held a look of pride.

“You’re excused from today’s lesson, Asuka.” The sensei said. “Go outside and practice something else.”

So Asuka left the room with a pep in his step and went outside to continue practicing. Asuka reflected on everything he had mastered so far in the academy and once again reassured himself that he would redeem his clan by becoming Raikage.

After Haru had picked up the splinters from the ground, he stretched and yawned lightly before brushing his hair to the side and cracking his knuckles. It was time for him to move on to his next class, Weights. He'd been practicing long and hard with the weights to build up his arms and torso for his kenjutsu as his sword, Wolke-Schneider, wasnt exactly the lightest thing in the world and he needed the strength to move the deadly great sword with speed and momentum. This, however, wasnt a conventional day in the gym..Weights was a class full of students pouring their hearts, sweat and blood into their work. Haru was one of those students as he didnt like to play around when it came down to actual business and effort towards his graduation into the ranks of true shinobi warriors.

During Weights he began to warm up with his stretches. Making sure one was loosened up and ready to go before exercise was important as a shinobi couldnt afford to get their chakra network all tangled up along with pinched nerves. Keeping the physical in check so the spiritual can grow was what Haru kept in mind as he then went to grab some dumbells and begin working on his swinging motions with the weights. This was to get his arms into shape to make faster and deadlier strikes with his sword. Each motion of his swings with either arm was creating a stronger bond in his protein structure of his musscles which was in return giving the growing shinobi warrior the power he would need in the real world.

The sword was his primary focus in combat anyway as Haru had dreams and aspirations of one day becoming a Legendary Seven Swordsman. Those dreams wouldnt be met by pure slacking as one would have to keep on their toes if they were to continue down that road of adventure.

He also wanted to make sure he would be a viable member of the squad he was placed in so, Haru continued his training with the weights, attaching weights to his legs as he then began to run with them to increase his leg strength. Being able to support his top while wielding a sword was important as he would be useless if he couldnt carry weight and move quickly. That was a trademark of a shinobi anyway... moving quickly. He grinned as he ran alongside some of his fellow classmates who were doing the exercises to keep themselves in tip top shape for graduation. He, of course, wanted to make sure he was at the top of his class when it came down to the nitty gritty of the matter, but for now..the companionship of doing the activity with others seemed to build a sense and desire for him to want to be a team player.

Haru was usually a loner, but it was during the weights class that he truly discovered the true meaning of others. Some kids in the class werent that strong, but they were faster than him. Some of the classmates were stronger than him, but not that fast. Some were smart, while others were mediocre.. It made him re-evaluate the potential and the credit he gave to others around himself, however..He didnt dwell on it too long as he felt such emotions, thoughts, and ideas would make him soft, but he still kept the thought in the back of his mind to be more tolerant and accepting of other's talents and skills, even if they werent the same as him.

The training Hatsaharu had started a few weeks ago with the Water Walking Technique was a pretty complex lesson and one he hadnt quite gotten down to a science at this present time. He had a decent control over his chakra, it was maintaining a consistant flow to his feet that would allow him to repel water and use it as a solid surface that was the main issue. "It takes practice... Lots of practice..." The words of his sensei echoed in his head, but were soon devoured by the deathly mist-like resolve of his heart. "Fine! If it takes practice.. then lets do this.." He said with determination to himself as he walked to the edge of the small lake in the training grounds. It was sundown now and it looked like he might spend the night training and practicing the chakra flow technique to allow him to walk on water. "Breathe slowly, keep your center focus, and..." Before Haru could finish the sentence, he lost his focus of concentration and he slipped.. falling into the water were he became drenched by the fluid of life. He stood up from the water, swearing obscenities as he then moved back to try once more... He was more or less grateful that not many people were around to witness his failure, the embarrassment would have been too much to deal with.

After a few more attempts, He was able to at least stand on the water, and it was now the dead of night. Even with the sun being down, he wasnt giving up as he continued with fierce determination to keep on walking with all of his might. He was able to make small steps now with this new determination, and his mobility was increasing. "Looks like im getting the hang of this.." He said with a wide grin on his face as he continued to walk on the water. If practice made perfect, then he was going to keep going until he was able to run along the surface. He was, afterall, a Mist Shinobi...or soon to be, and this technique was going to be part of his everyday life in Water Country, so he couldnt afford to be any less than the best in his class at this technique. All of his hard work and training wasnt going to be for nothing. Haru was going to be a Legendary Seven Swordsman one day and this academy wasnt going to stand in his way, this technique merely a speed bump at the most.

A couple of hours later, however, Haru had begun to be able to take it at a light jog across the top of the water. "Hmmm.. Maybe it's time for a full blown run?" He said with a cocky grin on his face as he then sped up the jog on the water to a run. He was wet from failed attempts and sweat from his labor pouring from his body, but his hard work had paid off.

There was still one more thing to master before he would seek graduation examinations and that was the ability to Substitute. This art was another of what was considered to be the base essentials of any shinobi's skill.

After drying off some and sitting there in the middle of the night, Haru looked up to the sky at the stars and grinned before pulling out a scroll and reading it in the moonlight. The quiet and the serenity of the moment seemed like a perfect time to push himself and his chakra reserves to the limit. "I wont be held back by weakness... Tonight... I will become skilled enough to prove myself worthy of my headband and my clan's respect." He said to himself as he studied the formula and methods behind the art of Substitution.

After some intense studying of what he needed to do, Haru looked to the water and grinned. His natural element was of the Water, so he could use it to substitute with, at least a puddle. With the theory in mind, the only thing needed to complete the process was the actual attempt and effort behind it. Haru clapped his hands together in focus, and formed a single seal with his fingers before emitting chakra to speed out of sight and range of an imaginary attack and to leave behind only a small blob of water to splatter on the ground. "Substitution Jutsu..." he said with a low growl as the chakra surged from him. He felt a tingling sensation and then 'wam!' he was up in a tree looking down as a small blob of water hung there momentarily before flopping to the ground in a cute little 'splash!' He had succeeded in the technique, and then again, it was pretty basic to him and all of his training. He didnt feel like an unskilled academy student now. He felt more advanced, like he was indeed ready for the next level of ninja life. It was there that Haru sat in the tree, and leaned against the trunk on a sturdy branch to catch some shut eye before he would begin a new step in his journey.

Lorn had been left by his teacher to practice on his own, the art of substitution. He practiced the hand signs while pacing around the log in the center of the clearing he stood in. The sky above him was light blue, with wisps of clouds that seemed to drift into nothingness after some time. The light smell of the forest around him filled his nostrils as he took a deep inhale. He quickly made the hand signs, and a thick cloud of smoke appeared in the air around him, and the log. Less than half a second later, he sat on the ground between his goal of a location, and his origin, holding his head. He had met with the log mid air, and it had struck him in the face.

Stumbling to his feet, now realizing his mistake, he prepared to try again. "By the war god, that should of been obvious!" He declared with a snarl. Urma watched him with great amusement, smacking her tail against the ground. Once again, Lorn quickly moved his hands in the proper motions, and the clouds appeared again. However, this time, Lorn was successful in taking the place of the log. He had managed to dodge the object, but had failed to remember to take note of the position of the log. Which had appeared to have disappeared though some sort of witchcraft. Flailing arms, and kicking a tree in frustration, he clinched his teeth, and snarled.

The woods were dead silent as if Lorn had preformed this action in a crowd, attracting attention. Sighing, and rubbing his head, which now had developed a small lump, he walked over to a pile of logs that had been lain in the tall grass on the side of the clearing. Picking up an ax, Lorn split a log, taking one half to practice with, and throwing the other into a pile of wood intended to be used for various other purposes. Proceeding to try one final time, he sat the log down, and walked across the clearing. Clearing his mind, and focusing on his task, he made the hand signs, the puff of smoke, and finally, success! Urma smacked her tail against the ground a few times to show her approval, being too lazy to say anything. Lorn lost sense of direction for a moment, and danced for a moment once he realized his victory. Quickly, he ran over to the log, and threw it into the air. The hand symbols came quickly, and once again, success. He then made several forward flips, and landed crouched on the ground several feet off. He had properly performed the art of substitution. Then he passed out from exhaustion, he had practiced for hours.


[[ 458 - 400 art of substitution learned = 58 ]]

Auxone woke up early in the morning after his first day of Academy classes. He could still barely control his Nano bugs, even though he spent all day yesterday playing with them, feeding them, and letting them eat off of other students. He knew it was wrong to let them feed off of others, but they needed the excess chakra, and he made sure they didn't cause pain to the persons they fed off of. Although after feeding, the victim would fall to a small fever, and be sent home for bed rest.

Auxone slipped his dark black glasses onto his nose, and then pulled his jacket on with ease. It had more pockets than a flak jacket and tool belt combined, so it greatly helped in storing tools and scrolls. He opened a small breast pocket, inspected the contents, and pulled out a spherical tool. He had packed his jacket yesterday, but he did not remember putting these small spheres in. Squeezing it, the sphere blew up in his face, making a large popping noise, and emitting a thick white smoke. Noticing it as a flash bomb at the last second, he coughed and sputtered, and threw the remnants away.

Walking out the door, he waved at his mother, not even smiling, as most of the Aburame clan would have done. He released a female tracker bug onto his mother, ensuring she would be safe while he was away. He was quite surprised when the female listened, and sat still, attached to his mother.

Arriving at the school for his second day, Auxone was greeted by the academy teacher, and was given a pat on the back for arriving early. His face remained still and relaxed as he walked past the teacher, and into the building, taking a seat.

Half an hour later, more students started entering the classroom, and took their separate seats, all quite far from Auxone's own seat. Folding his arms into his chest, Auxone silently let his parasites crawl away, and feed into his fellow classmates. His teacher walked towards Auxone with great fierceness, and stated, "I have done some research, and now understand why these children have been recently sick. Your parasites have been feeding off of them during class. Correct me if I am wrong but, you, like Torune of the ANBU Root, possess the rare Nano bugs, that are not only venomous, but impossible to be seen, unless great numbers of them are upon one area?"

Nodding, Auxone grabbed his teacher's arm, muttering, "Nano Bug Feeding!" Immediately, thousands of his parasitic friends swarmed the man's arms, spreading throughout his body. Then seconds later, they retreated back to Auxone's body, and silently crept beneath his jacket. A stiffled scream was heard from the man for a short time, and then he dropped, clutching his arms where the insects were first spread to.