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The key to tenraiken was simplistic movements that allowed the user to concentrate on casting genjutsu. Akeru figured that she was better than the average shinobi, however, so she could try something a little tougher. It was annoying when she fought people like Akira and Kazuki and found herself unable to keep up with them because her fighting style was too basic and predictable.

"Okay, I just need to keep trying until I can fight at my full potential and maintain a genjutsu. Should be a piece of cake."

Akeru moved over to one of the training dummies for taijutsu. She made a fer hand seals and gathered her chakra, creating four illusory clones of herself. She just had to keep her genjutsu going while fighting at her full capacity. At first, Akeru went to throw a strong punch at the training dummy, but quickly found herself focusing too much on the attack and her illusion faded.

"Tch. This is a little more difficult than I thought. Okay, Akeru, don't forget the basics of tenraiken. I just have to find a balance, split my concentration over my genjutsu and taijutsu."

Akeru once again created her illusory clones and then went back to the training dummy. While keeping the balance in her concentration, she started to attack it again. This time, her illusions didn't fade right away. She tried again, and again, each time, the illusion was able to last a little longer.

It was a few hours later when she was able to hit the dummy and keep her clones going, even having each of them mimic fighting on their own.

"*huff huff* good...but I need to be able to see attacks coming at me as well..."

It took Akeru only a few minutes to set up a little contraption made to lauch kunai. It wasn't too different than the ones she would use while in an actual fight, but this time the kunai were aimed at her. She put ten kunai us and prepared to try to evade or deflect them with one kunai in her hands whill keeping her illusion going.

It took another few hours of trial-and-error training, but finally, she was able to get it down. It was all about precise control, just like all of her clan abilities seemed to be about. She needed precision control of her chakra flow and movement, precision control of her physical movement, and precision control of her mind. She had to chuckle at the thought; nobody would believe that she, a girl who seemed to others to have no real discipline, was disciplined to learn all that on her own.

"Heh, if everyone around here knew just how awesome I am, they would have made me kazekage months ago! Oh well, they'll all learn soon enough."

Akeru still had swore a promise, and it was one she planned on keeping. She would eventually get stronger, much stronger. Then when she reached the hight of her power, she would take on Tanto and beat him, then she'd be the kazekage. It was still far away, but she was sure she was getting closer. She had to admit, though, he wasn't nearly as bad as she first thought. He did make her a chunin and all. But she had already sworn it, so there was no taking it back.

After training for so long, Akeru felt very tired. Four didn't seem to have showed up yet. With a sigh, Akeru sat down. She didn't have anything else to do, so she figured she could keep waiting for Four while she was resting up. It was pretty quiet with most of the genin gone either at the exams or home crying cause they failed the first test. It was...peaceful. Akeru decided it would be a good time to do some meditation and center herself. It was always helpful to have some quiet time to yourself. That was usually where some of Akeru's best ideas came from. Akeru closed her eyes, focusing on nothing in particular, letting all of her senses soak up the peace and quiet around her...

Theme Music: -Akatsuki-

((Tenraiken rank D -> rank C 700/500
training complete))

Akeru felt extremely rested while she was meditating. In fact, so rested that she actually bagan to doze off a bit. When Four showed up, she almost jumped out of her skin.

"Waaa! F-Four!? Don't sneak up on people like that!!"

Akeru looked around, realizing that she wasn't at home. She had nearly forgotten that she had been waiting for him to show up.

"Oh, ehh, sorry. So what was it you said? My arsenal of jutsu? Well, I know all of the academy techniques and the flower petal escape technique. Erm...the rest of mine are pretty much special techniques using my kekei genkai. I've never really had much in the way of people to teach me, so aside from my tenraigan, you can pretty much consider me a clear slate!"

Because Akeru's attacks weren't standard, most of them being her own creation, it gave her something of an edge, because people weren't ready for them. The main reason was that unlike most people in the village, she never had a mentor or a trainer or anything. Most people avoided her, so she was left to her own devices. Actually getting a chance to learn from a jonin was actually a little exciting.

"Just in case you didn't know, I specialize in genjutsu. But you probably know that already and all about my kekei genkai too, right?"

Theme Music: -Akatsuki-

"Oh, that one! I remember reading a little about it when I was doing some studying."

It was a long time ago when Akeru read that book, however. She didn't exactly remember everything about it. She began to focus her chakra, using about as much as it took for one of her other genjutsu. She then tried to remember the seals to use. She thought there were three...or was it four? She did as best as she could and then began to feed her chakra into Four's mind, trying to effect him with the genjutsu.

Akeru felt the genjutsu starting to take shap...sort of. It wasn't happening as smoothly as a genjutsu of her own creation. Maybe since she couldn't fully see what she wanted in her mind, she was having trouble. Plus, her form was a little off. When she created the illusion, it was of an area similar to konoha's forests...sort of. There were parts where the illusion was distorted with some of the trees looking impossibly crooked. Plus, there were areas where the real landscape was coming through, making it look like some weird desert-forest hybrid.

"Erm...I guess I did that wrong..."

This was what usually happened when Akeru tried using one of the more conventional techniques. The genjutsu just wouldn't seem complete. She knew she could control her chakra correctly, so the reason always escaped her, and never having anyone to tell her what was wrong, she usually had no choice but to give up on it in the end.

Theme Music: -Akatsuki-

(( Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique - C Rank (?) 264/750 ))

"Something that would scare you? Well after seeing your fiance, you obviously aren't a guy that scares easy..."

Not even noticing that she had just insulted Fours fiance, she started trying to picture something in her mind. Maybe the forest picture wasn't coming out clear because she hadn't been to the forest often, and the landscape wasn't really burned into her mind. She began trying to think of something that was firmer in her mind, something scary.

It was then that a nightmare from Akeru's past re-emerged in her mind. She remembered a place from when she was very young. These had to be some of her first memories, since she had no idea where the place could be. It was a forest, but instead of being full and green like the ones in the land of fire, these looked sickly and black. The twisted shapes looked almost like demons, standing still and waiting for you to go to sleep so they could feast on your dreams and turn them into nightmares. The equally black grass looked almost like small spikes covered in tar sticking out of the ground. All around, there was a dark mist, making it hard to see more than a few feet in any direction and enhancing the demonic look of the trees. To the sky, one could see darkness. There were no stars, they too were lost behind whatever dark mist covered the area. However, the moon shone through the mist brightly, seemingly giving the only light in the area. The most disturbing thing about the forest was the utter silence. There were no sounds of animals, no birds chirping or owls hooting. Not even a rustling of the grass from rodents and insects. It was just pure silence.

It's been so long since I had nightmares of that place. I used to stay up all night because I saw that place whenever I closed my eyes...

When she was younger, she thought that the dark area in her nightmares was hell or some equivalent. It didn't have the fire that people talked about when they mentioned hell. It definitely looked like some land of the dead, though. However, she had gotten over the nightmares long ago when she first started becoming a ninja. It seemed that the place was still etched into her mind, however.

Akeru gathered her chakra once again, this time having a clear picture of what she was trying to accomplish. She once again weaved her chakra into Four's mind, imprinting the image she saw in her head into his mind.

Theme Music: -Akatsuki-

(( Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique - C Rank
312 + 438 = 750
750/750 Technique learned!))

"That woman was Ichi's sister? Well, they sure as hell don't share the same personality..."

Akeru didn't know why Four would want to marry Ichi's sister, especially after how she was acting when she saw her at the Scorpion's Tail. It was true that she was drunk, but people didn't do complete personality turnarounds just because they were drunk. Akeru doubted she was ever as calm as Four usually was, and if they were so different... Actually, Akeru let the idea float out of her head. She wasn't one to give a critique of matters of the heart; according to her, there was no reason anybody should like anyone else ever. She just didn't understand everyone's urge to 'hook up'. Well, she understood the perverted reasons for men at least, but she didn't get the need to fall in love and get married and all. It just seemed stupid to her.

Putting that out of her mind, Akeru returned to her training. Four wanted her to layer her illusions to make them more difficult to see through. Akeru figured it should be simple; she already had training using her genjutsu while using taijutsu techniques, and using and sustaining concurrent genjutsu, so doing two at once and layering them didn't seem like it would be any more difficult.

"So you just want me to layer them? Ha, this'll be a breeze!"

Akeru focused her chakra and made the hand seals, preparing to use the genjutsu lake before but double it. However, as she did, she felt the genjutsu slipping. It was like she couldn't find the balance between the two genjutsu when she tried to layer them. After a few seconds, it was clear just by looking at Akeru's face that she wasn't getting it exactly right. It was a look of the anger and annoyance of doing something you thought was simple and finding it was very complex and difficult. The longer she tried to do it, the more her concentration seemed to be slipping because of her annoyance.

"Grr...this damned technique... Why does it have to be so damn difficult!?"

Akeru didn't get it. Genjutsu was suppose to come easy to herbecause of her clan's abilities, but she couldn't get this, and it was only a genin-level ability. It was a powerful genin-level ability, but it was genin-level nonetheless, and as a chunin she shouldn't be having problems with it. For a brief second, she thought back to when she actually went to the exams. She didn't make it to the last round, and it was basically just lucky that she ended up making chunin. Maybe...maybe she actually wasn't ready for it then. It still bothered her, the feeling that she didn't truly earn her rank.

...No, I'm a chunin now for a reason. I just have to calm down and just focus on the technique. I'm Sukami Akeru, damnit! I'm not going to fail learning a genjustu of all things!

Akeru completely relaxed herself, shaking the negative thoughts out of her head. Thinking negatively wasn't like her (unless it was about other people) so she just had to remain positive. She could do this. No, more than that, she would do it.

Akeru made the seals once again, and once again began to focus her chakra. In her mind, she pictured two separate landscapes, one an underground labrynth of caves, and the other a near replica of the training canyons she and Four were in. In her mind she looked over each in great detail, making sure not to leave any holes in her genjutsu. It had to be perfect or else it wouldn't be a success.

Once again, Akeru tried to mesh the two genjutsu, layering them perfectly. She was encountering the same problem as before and was having trouble balancing her chakra, but instead of getting annoyed again, she stayed calm and patient. It would come eventually, she just had to stay calm and wait.

Finally, her chakra began to balance itself. She snaked it into Four's mind but also into her own. She wanted to see the illusion herself, to make sure that it was perfect. The illusion began to take form quickly, and soon Akeru and Four would find themselves in the labrynth of caves like the one Akeru had pictured in her mind. Akeru looked around with a critical eye, looking for anything wrong with her genjutsu, but it didn't seem like there was anything.

"So, what do you think, Four-sensei? It looks pretty good to me."

Akeru crossed her arms and had a satisfied smirk on her face. She did good work, though she was a little upset with herself for having doubts. She was Sukami Akeru, there was no way she'd ever fail.

(( Layered Illusion [Double] - C Rank Genjutsu
815/750 Technique Learned ))

Theme Music: Blue Sky

Akeru may have made a little mistake, but she didn't sweat it much. It was her first time trying the technique, so it would definitely get better with practice. The important thing was that she learned it.

Now Four wanted her to practice some taijutsu. Akeru was much more physical than most other genjutsu specialists she had heard about. She heard stories that some of them neglect physical training altogether and needed to hide behind their genjutsu to prevent physical confrontation. Before Akeru could even cast genjutsu, she was brawling in the streets, since her personality made her plenty of enemies. Still, besides the basic principals or Tenraiken, which was only really useful in defending oneself while sustaining genjutsu, she had to admit she was pretty much untrained in taijutsu. She was always too hard-headed to pay attention to it in the academy, and while she did it well enough to graduate, it was far from battle-ready.

"Well, I'll admit I'm not really trained in taijutsu. I mean, I can fight just fine, its just that, well, you could say I'm more of a street fighter when it comes down to it."

Usually, if Akeru was fighting a skilled opponent like another ninja, she would try to outsmart them through use of traps. People skilled at taijutsu or ones with weapons were too much for her to stand and fight with, since her fighting strategy boiled down to punching as hard as possible.

"I'll attack like you said...but I already know what the outcome will be...*sigh*."

Akeru clenched her fists and ran directly for Four. She cocked her right fist back, and swung at him with all of her strength. Compared to the usual trickiness and cleverness that Akeru displayed when using genjutsu or traps, this attack was amazingly straight-forward and predictable. She had quite a bit of force behind the punch (for her size, at least) but it was easy for even the slowest of ninja to not only block or dodge, but easily counterattack. In fact, if this were a real battle, she would be leaving herself open for an attack that could possibly end up being fatal for her.

(( ??? - ??? Rank Taijutsu
372/???
You didn't tell me what technique she's learning...))

Theme Music: Blue Sky

Akeru was expecting the sharp pain of a counter-blow and to be sent tumbling down to the ground or something. But she was very surprised when her arm was grabbed and she was suddenly falling down on her back to the ground. She was kind of speechless, just because of how it had happen. Four seemed to take her down so easily.

As Four explained the style to her, she began to understand it. It made a lot of sense.

"So...instead of overpowering an opponent...you use their own attacks against them?"

Akeru stood up, brushing the sand out of her hair. She started to think of it in theory. There were only certain ways the body could move, certain directions the force of a blow could travel. Instead of trying to be quicker to avoid them or stronger to nullify them, you could alter them. It was lacking in damage, but it would allow her to tire out enemies using less of her own energy.

"I see. So the stronger your enemy is, the stronger it makes you! Their energy is wasted, you avoid damage, and there's the added insult of sending them to the floor! That's awesome!"

Akeru went over how Four had diverted her own attack. He grabbed her arm, making it miss him and adding extra force by pulling with his arms and pushing with his legs to send her flipping over. He used his own body for leverage, so it didn't even take a great deal of force to cause her to flip. This would be perfect for her; not only was she not quite as large and muscular as some of the other ninja (not that she would want to be), but these moves also made your opponent look like an untrained amatuer if done correctly! It would just allow her to trash talk more, which was one of her favorite hobbies.

Because Akeru was quite smart, she was able to figure out some of the moves with just what she had seen. Once you knew how the body moved, it was a simple matter of finding a way to redirect the force from an attack. However, she was smart enough not to let theories of how it worked supplant actual training.

"So Four-sensei, can you show me a few more of those moves, please? This is way better than the boring stuff they taught way back in the academy."

(( Judo - D Rank to C Rank Taijutsu
418/500 ))

Theme Music: Blue Sky