Welcome to Gaia! ::

Mamichi looked up as someone spoke to her and noted his rather vagabond-esque appearance, and the heavy smell of alcohol. She smiled at him, drunks were always fun, usually had pretty good stories too, "Of course, please have a seat..." She said after he sat down more as a confirmation that it didn't bother her than anything, as long as he didn't bother her she didn't mind if her set himself on fire, though chances were that would bother her so it would have been a moot decision anyways. When he offered her a drink she kind of looked at him for a second, "Alright..." she said sound almost a little wary of him. It was direct interaction something she hadn't quite gotten used to with these people with their weird supra-opaque bodies. Something about not being able to see through them made them weird to her, just as weird as they found her clear(ish) body; Unnatural and something to stare in awe at. Mamichi looked at the cup for a second and then, gripping it, pulled it toward her and she stuck a finger inside of it absorbing a bit of it into her system. As her body broke it down she tried to figure out what it was... 'Rice Liquor?' she thought to herself as she felt a slight warmth travel through her body displacing the cold and making her shiver a little. Mamichi was enthralled by the feeling and her hand pretty much took the entirety of the cup into her body and it drifted around for a second and then popped out empty. "Mmm~" Mamichi purred a little savoring the feeling once more.

500 + 277 = 777 XD

Mamichi smiled at him positively, "The name's Mamichi Maliea, a pleasure to meet you Korono..." She said, and she spied his stack of texts and noted a few similarities in their piles. "So what are you reading?" She asked with a modicum of interest in his activities, she basically wanted him to talk and keep giving her this alcohol that he had with him. She knew about it but had never really imbibed of libations before so she was quite eager to continue with it. The warmth it gave her had actually made her bubble a few times which tickled in an amazing way. It was a rather enjoyable feeling that little tickling sensation.

777+ 114 = 891

Mamichi listened as she once more took the liquid into her body, and then he asked the question. "I'm a Maliea..." she said concisely, and then scooped the first book from the stack off and slid it over to him, it was a light history of her clan, and she always picked it up because there was a picture of Hedoro in it that she liked to look at. It pretty much explained that their bodies were made up of various compound mostly water but they were comparable to being a sort jelly person. She noted that he had left the bottle on the table and her slime snaked out and grabbed it and drained it. Mamichi blushed as she bubbled visibly almost like a jug of water or something, it was an amazing feeling this warmth.

891 + 137 = 1028

"Tree Climbing and Bushin no Jutsu techniques..." she said with a catty grin answering his last question first. And yes, this delightful drink has me feeling... bubbly." She said making a rather crude pun on literally bubbling and having a bubbly personality. She giggled at her own joke actually not all too affected by the alcohol except for the bubbles which had her feeling uplifted so to say. She felt a touch lightheaded actually but she paid no mind to it. She’d found some mushrooms that had a similar effect on her but they had a few scary affects too, she would even look at ferns for a week after that night’s weirdness.

1028+ 113 = 1141

At his mention of the water walking technique Mamichi kind of stared at him. Another one of these people wanting to walk on water instead of be in it. Her slime fished the scroll from Korono and gave it a quick scan and slides it back over to him. "Well let's see...” she said scratching her head but her hand sort of went into her head instead and she pulled it out with a slight pop and a blush of embarrassment. "Well with the Tree Walking exercise," she said holding up its Technique Scroll as a sort of visual aid, "You make a set amount of chakra on your feet and us it like a suction cup." She said explaining with a touch of detail. "Now with water walking it seems that you get that amount of chakra, and instead of just keeping it there you have to keep a steady flow of it going kind of like a current that pushes against the water to keep you afloat." She said and she heard his next question responding with a shrug, “A few months.” Mamichi said staring at the whiskey with intent eyes.

1141 + 193 = 1334

Drocell walked into the premises of the Shinobi Academy and looked around, adjusting his top hat to sit upon his head a bit more comfortably. He looked at the building itself and said, “The same as usual... And so I thought to myself, 'Will I be able to make the place more grand? Or am I limited to making only puppets.' It seems tiresome to do anything else other than to make more puppets out of materials to make them grand.” Drocell cocked his head to one side suddenly, almost as if it could have snapped a normal persons neck. He could remember the times he had spent there at the academy. It was a long time since he had actually done any training since he had left the Shinobi Academy. He had merely been going around, looking for materials to make puppets out of. But what was special about him was that he wanted to make puppets out of every type of material known to man kind. If he could, he would even make the puppets out of those special armors and weapons that he had heard so much about. He started to walk around the building, looking at the decor, wondering if there were anyone around whom he can turn into a puppet. Maybe if they were pretty enough, he could make them out of gold and silver? That would be an interesting puppet to have after all. Drocell stopped as he saw some children playing with one another using jutsu to portray who was it since they were playing tag. It seemed like those who played and were 'it' had to transform into what looked like an adult that taught at the school. “And so I thought to myself, 'It has been a long time since I mastered that particular technique.'” With that, Drocell lost himself in a memory where he stood amongst children, not wearing a top hat like he was now but he himself was only a child back then too. “Alright children, it is time to start your training today with some exercise! We are going to do a lap around the school building! The first one back can take a break from the rest of the exercising.” The children around Drocell started to groan as they heard their teacher say something about running around the building. They were probably hoping to throw kunai or transform into something they they thought they could use. Drocell looked at them all and put a finger to his chin saying, “Is running around the school really that bad? So I thought to myself, 'Then I will not have to run at all.'” The children looked at him like he was an idiot for not having to run but then were shocked as they saw a small girl walk up behind Drocell and picked him up. Drocell was controlling this puppet through his fingers, having her start to run around the building, although the speed of the doll was not that great. Drocell heard the yelling of the children behind him and was quickly passed by those faster than him in his class even after he got the head start. But he did not care. He was told they were supposed to run a lap and by his logic, he was running. After he finished at where he started, there where children huffing and puffing, tired from their sprint around the building. Drocell was amongst the first of the actual runners to make it back but sadly was definitely not the first person to go all around the building. “Well done Terry! You can go take a breather. As for you Drocell, good thinking using your chakra to do the running and not your actual body. Since you are a puppet user from Hidden Sand, it would be best for you to train and hone your skills in perfecting your chakra manipulation. Drocell's head tilted suddenly to one side in an angle and speed where the other children jumped at the sight. “What ever do you mean good sir. You told us to run so I ran. Chakra had no purpose for this exercise so I did not use much of it. But can we please continue, I grow tired of waiting to getting back to making my dolls,” said Drocell as he put a finger upon the side of his cheek, looking at the instructor with the same face he pretty much always had. The instructor looked at Drocell a bit intimidated from the idea that the boy was talking in a way that was confusing the hell out of him but he soon did not care anymore. “Alright, the last of you kids made it so let us start the next one. Push ups! Do a full set of ten! Come on everyone,” yelled the instructor as he got down to the ground to. Drocell stared at the people around him as they got down to their stomaches and started to push themselves up off the ground. Drocell merely had the doll lay on the ground and sat on her back, making her do the push ups with relative ease. After ten sets, the children collapsed from exhaustion but Drocell had the doll stand up and he started to inspect her hands, curious to see if the joints caught any grass or dirt on them or if the fabric caught any stains or tore from the strenuous activity. He searched around in his pockets and pulled out a rather small brush which he proceeded to use to try to get the dirt out of the joints. “You always get such filthy things within those delicate fingers of yours. But then I thought to myself, “Will I ever be able to create a puppet that can avoid becoming filthy,'” asked Drocell to his doll as he continued to brush the dirt out. After that, he put the brush back into his pocket before feeling a hand upon his shoulder. He calmly looked towards who it was that was disturbing him to see it was the instructor. “Drocell, I have already instructed the children on how to use the Henge no Jutsu. Did you not pay attention the entire time?” Drocell looked at the man and back to the doll before saying, “A beautiful make this doll was, it would have been a shame if I do not clean her after something that had dirtied her.” “That does not answer my question... Drocell, look at what I am going to show you. This is how you use the transformation jutsu. It may not be perfect but it can deceive those who are not used to going up against copies,” said the instructor as he turned Drocell's head towards him. He slowly showed the hand seals needed for the technique before enveloping in a cloud of smoke. As the smoke cleared, the instructor apparently took the appearance of Gaara of Hidden Sand to make a point. Drocell had watched the man use his techniques before looking at his doll and sighed slightly. He really did not want to leave the light grass stains unattended on her dress but it has been too long already and the stain must have set in. Drocell turned back towards the instructor as the doll walked up next to Drocell. Drocell and the doll then made the same hand seals as they were both enveloped in smoke. As the smoke cleared, there stood two dolls, pretty much completely identical in almost every aspect other than how the hair lies so it was still pretty hard to tell which doll was Drocell. The instructor's eye brows raised as he saw this, a little curious on how Drocell was able to do something like this on his first try. He looked at both of the dolls before he looked toward the doll that stood where Drocell was and said, “Not bad. You did well for your first test. If you want, you can leave the academy and come back when you think you need to learn the remainder of the techniques we can provide you.” Drocell cocked his head with an eyebrow arched, wondering what he should do but then decided that he was low on supplies to create more dolls. “I can leave then? Hrm. So I thought to myself, 'I can go and gather more supplies for my doll creation,'” said Drocell as he then started to walk towards the entrance of the academy, the children looked towards Drocell's direction, wondering why the hell he was leaving. The doll looked at them all, the instructor, and then finally started walking after Drocell, having the same expression that Drocell had on his face... Pretty much just emotionless. Back to the present, Drocell caught himself from the flash from the past and sighed. He turned towards the gate, not really caring anymore about the academy as it held no real possibilities for him to find another doll. Drocell then headed out of the academy grounds where the gate was and where that same doll that he had back then stood and waited for him. “Let us go to the Land of Sand, Land of Sand, Land of Sand. Let us go to the Land of Sand. My Fair Lady,” sang Drocell and the doll started to follow behind, tilting its heads back and forth along with the song. Drocell continued this song all the way towards the docks, making people wonder what was really wrong with the guy.

The room was dark. Not the dark of evening, not even the dark of a power failure. This was a complete and total darkness that was the absolute lack of light. Well, maybe not absolute. Within that pitch blackness, a pair of red eyes seemed to glow balefully. Their owner sat there in silence, just as they had for several hours before. Patience was one of their skills, one they had had to hone over long years. So waiting a few hours was barely requiring an effort. Instead, they let their mind wander, to all that they wished to accomplish. They were new to this world, of a sort, yet felt like they had lived for countless eons. Perhaps they had, in a sense. After all, they were of the infamous Death Swallower clan, created from the evil and darkness of the world and those who lived on it. And that evil had certainly been around for as long as humans had, so she could certainly have been present in a sense from that moment on. None of that mattered, though. She didn't care about her history, or about the history of others. She just desired to control everything, to own everything. Created from rampant Greed, she desired more. Now that she had a corporeal form, that ever-present drive was even now urging her to go out and take for herself everything that she desired. She wasn't foolish enough to think she would not be opposed, however. That was why she was showing an uncharacteristic display of patience now, and wound up enrolling in the Academy like any normal, mortal student. She would play the part, and she would gain knowledge. She had a basic understanding of Ninjutsu and the other forms of combat, but now was an opportunity to make that knowledge truly hers. She liked that. So she would stay for as long as it took to gain as much knowledge as she could. She was patient, when she had to be.

Morning came, but still the room showed no sign of lighting up. That was because she was the source of the darkness, and only when she willed back that effect, only then would the room look more like it properly should. Which seemed to be now, as the room began to visibly lighten, just scant moments before the class was supposed to start. No sooner had the light revealed a perfectly ordinary classroom - ordinary, that is, save for the slightly ominous looking figure sitting motionless in the middle of the room- than the door opened and someone walked in. This was the instructor, a nameless practitioner of the ninja arts that would be the first stepping stone in her quest for power to take all that she desired. The human undoubtedly had a name, but it was unimportant. Names were ultimately pointless, save as a means of exerting control over something else by naming it and making it your own. This human appeared particularly nondescript, and would likely be forgotten in a crowd within seconds. Which, of course, was the entire point. Ninjas were supposed to be skilled in the arts of stealth and subterfuge. They were supposed to blend in with the crowd, disappear in an instant, and above all, avoid suspicion until it was too late. That fact alone gave proof that this instructor was actually a lot more skilled than she had first thought. Perhaps they would make a useful thrall? All in due time. For now, she would stick to her role as student, learn the lessons presented to her, and then be on her way.

The teacher gave no sign that they had noticed her presence, but surely they had, they wouldn't have made it this far in their lifestyle as a ninja if they were that inattentive. How could they not notice the young girl sitting in the middle of a classroom that was supposed to be empty for another thirty minutes? All the more because of her rather unique fashion. An elegant if gothic dress, coupled with a hat that seemed at first glance several sizes too small but was in fact just right for the ensemble she had put together. All of this framed a form that suited it well. Pale porcelain skin lent a doll-like air to the girl's look, accentuated by the overly formal and rigid looking clothing. Long black hair that was as lustrous as the rest of her coloring was muted. And red eyes the color of freshly spilled blood, that seemed to stare not into your eyes, but into your very soul. All of this coupled with a face completely devoid of emotion, with all the expressiveness of a statue or a mannequin. This, then, was the avatar of Greed that had come to take what was it's by right. This, then, was the one known simply as Noze.

The teacher greeted her warmly, to which she replied with a barely noticeable incline of her head, a briefest nod of acknowledgement. The teacher just shrugged, there had been dozens of standoffish students in their time, after all. One more was to be expected, every class seemed to have one. Over the next handful of minutes, several students began filing in. They came from several of the surrounding villages, even a few from especially far away that had shown promise enough to be worth the trip. Some of them had already formed connections and chatted animatedly with one another. A few tried greeting Noze, but were quietly rebuffed in the same manner as the teacher was. Noze was almost certainly capable of speech, there had just not been a reason for her to utter anything yet.
And then it was time for class to begin. Just as the teacher had countless times before, the first lesson was almost entirely lectures, explaining the various types of techniques, along with the core tenets of the way of the ninja. What it meant to be loyal to your village, what it meant to do your duty, and what could be expected of those who became especially great. All of this was interesting enough, in a dry historical sense, but ultimately the students were, as always, eager to actually learn the flashy techniques that made ninjas so famous. Or infamous.

Which led to the final lesson of the day, a practical example of chakra manipulation. even the prodigies were generally not yet ready to perform actual techniques, so this wouldn't go to quite that extent. But all the same, it would give the students a tangible example of the slight progress they had already made, merely by learning all of this information. The example, of course, was merely to use each student's unique chakra signature in a personalized test to determine their strengths, weaknesses and capabilities. Even what path might be best suited for their advancement. The test itself was simple, almost to the point of being overly simple. Merely by holding an ordinary glass of water, and focusing on the chakra that the students should be capable of feeling already, a reaction would occur. There were a whole string of possible reactions, but each student would only have one reaction. That reaction would be a clear sign toward what methods and techniques would work best with that student.

If the water would increase, bubble up and spill out of the glass, that would indicate the student would be skilled in emission-based skills, such as summoning jutsus or scroll work. If the water were to change color, that would be an indicator of the student being inclined toward manipulation. Which meant the student might be skilled at puppetry or subterfuge. If the water's flavor change, then the student would be skilled at enhancing, which meant they would be favorably disposed toward the physical arts, Taijutsu and the like. If the water changed state, froze or evaporated, then the student might be more likely to be adept at elemental manipulation itself, though the actual element they aligned with might well be something very different. And so on, a nearly countless number of possible reactions, for a nearly countless number of possible students. With only two dozen students in this class, there would not be too many different results, but the odds were pretty good that there would be one or none repeats.

The students seemed eager enough to get themselves tested, the majority of them clamoring to the front of the room when given leave to do so. Noze was much more sedate, only getting up from her seat and walking to the front after all of the other students had finished. The glass of water was set upon a small stool, she was instructed to pick it up and concentrate, focus on the chakra that was even now flowing through her like a river, the basic energy of life that filled her as well as everyone else. She picked up the glass, and kept her gaze locked on a point on the wall, almost seeming to slip into a trance-like state. Within moments, the water began to grow murky, then darker and darker, until it looked like she held a cup of motor oil or ink. So she was a manipulator type! That was useful information, though now that she thought about it, it made sense enough. Setting the glass down, she returned to her seat, to see if there was any more to the day's lesson.

Time seemed to speed up, or perhaps she just stopped paying quite so much attention to the instructor. Either way, the remainder of the day seemed to fly by, even when the instructor spontaneously announced there would be a special class after the proper lessons had finished, for those who wished to attempt trying actual jutsu right away. This was a test both of their arrogance or cockiness, as well as to find if their were any prodigies in the class. It seemed each class had one or two, this was just an unspoken aspect of the actual curriculum. Of course, almost all of the students vowed that they were good enough to complete a jutsu with less than a day's training. Almost all of the students, save one of the more quiet ones that Noze had only paid scant attention to. This new, quiet girl seemed rather odd, her form was unique to the point of being too different. Thus, she seemed to be shunned by all of the other students. A kunoichi like that had their uses too. If nothing else, once the lessons were completely finished, perhaps she would track her down, find out if she could perhaps make for a fitting ally for her plans? After all, she desired everything, having a follower so soon into her path was an appealing prospect.

The class eventually settled down after that last bit of news, some of the more energetic types still whispering about it to each other. Until the teacher silenced them by the simple expedient of throwing pieces of chalk at them, each and every piece hitting the target, the chatty ones' heads. They got the message and quieted down, and the instructor was finally able to move on with the lesson. There wasn't much else to go into, just a basic description of the jutsus they would have the chance to attempt, and the basic requirements of actually performing those jutsu. None of them had particularly extensive requirements, none of them was that great of a leap from the basic exercise they had each performed already. It was certainly possible that some of the students would be capable of performing at least a single jutsu properly, even with such short notice and lack of training. It was that distinction that would become the barrier between being fodder, and being great. And Noze would be great. Of that she held no doubt, she knew she would go on to do great things. There was simply no other acceptable option. She already considered herself as having passed this special exercise, before it had even begun. Cocky? Of course, but her confidence was born of an absolute assurance in her own abilities, she knew she could perform a jutsu successfully as definitely as she knew how to breathe or walk.

Finally, the time came for the class to be dismissed, though none of the students made a move to leave. after all, there were the special lessons next! It seemed even the students who had not decided to partake in the chance, had grown curious enough to stay and watch the braver students make their attempts. The special lesson would consist of a single chance. Each student who was taking part would be called to the front, and given the name of a random jutsu from the described list. They had a single attempt to perform it. If, by chance, they succeeded, then they would be allowed to graduate then and there if they so wished. If they failed? Well then they would be humiliated in front of the whole class, and expected for lessons the next day. Quite a gamble for those who weren't confident in themselves. This did not apply to Noze, she knew she would succeed. She was not called first, a source of minor irritation. The first few students were called up, and given their jutsu to perform. One by one, they tried, and failed. One was close, however. They had been told to perform a Hensojutsu, to change their appearance into that of the instructor. Their final result had been close, but being able to compare the two made it all too obvious that the attempt was not good enough.

And then it was Noze's turn. She stepped forward, ready to be the first to succeed. The instructor waited a moment before telling her jutsu would be the dreaded Bunshin technique, to create false copies of herself. This was her chance to look good, her first opportunity to get others to notice her, and perhaps be willing when the time came to become hers. She took a breath, mentally preparing for what she needed to do. Several hand seals and the proper application of chakra, that was it. She was ready. Clasping her hands, she let her internal energies flow out into two assigned locations near her. She heard a series of gasps, but only when the teacher began to congratulate her, only then did she open her eyes. Staring back at her were two identical copies of herself. Completely fake, of course, but they looked very real. She had done it, as expected. She nodded her head in silent acknowledgement of the praise she was receiving, before turning to take her seat. Her copies followed her, though they disappeared just before reaching her seat. So she had done it, she would now be allowed to graduate the Academy, to go out into the world and gain power, and gain possessions. This was but the first step in a long journey, but she was ready.
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