Welcome to Gaia! ::

A small settlement found at the furthest end of the Earthen country. It relies heavily on the Village Hidden in the Rock. It is currently growing slowly, but surely. The people here are content and merry.

The settlement get's it's name due to an old petrified runoff strip from the surrounding mountains which splits it in half. The petrified area is hard, but glassy and smooth, making it look like a petrified river. Caves lead into the mountains behind many of the houses located here.

After the Chuunin exams, once Shinji was well, he, Seijiro, and Riko were brought back on the boats, the three Konaga traveling together back to the Rock Country. However, where the road parted, one route splitting off to the Iwagakure, Riko, Shinji, and his father took a separate route leading back to the house where Shinji grew up. He would not know it at the time, as his father simply requested that Shinji come home to see his mother and invited Riko along, but he had planned to take this opportunity to conduct the Right of Passage which would name Shinji the Konaga Clan Head, as he had always had planned for his son. After arriving home, seeing his mother and eating with his family for the first time in over a year, Shinji and his father finally set out for the back of the house to commence with his father's teaching, and Riko was invited along as an observer considering that it was highly relevant to her as well.

Leading Shinji into the caves behind their house, Seijiro stopped, putting down the large chest he was carrying as he began to walk around the room, placing a few oddly shaped rocks all around the room. As he did this, Shinji took the time to look around and reminisce. He had spent a large chunk of his time as a younger man in these caves, his father having instructed him to use it as a training grounds for ninjutsu and in the clan's augmentation control exercises. Looking around, he could still see many of the sizable crater sized holes he himself had created and in many cases, the much more impressively large indentations of his father's techniques not far away.

"So I take it this means we're going to be training in a few new techniques?", Shinji said turning to glance at his father continuing to set up before looking back at the wall and tracing the marks with his hands...

"It's much more then that Shinji." Seijiro said as he continued setting up the cave around him for what would be Shinji's next lesson. "My time as the Clan Master will not last forever. I've dedicated my life to the study of our clan's abilities, trying to learn as much about ourselves as possible, but that knowledge will be useless unless it is passed down." By this time, Shinji's father had finished setting up and turned to his son as the boy turned to face him already knowing what he would say next. "It's time I finally passed my knowledge down to you so that you can be the next Clan Leader."

Without moving, Shinji processed what he had just heard quietly to himself. He was his father's son, so he knew that he would be the next in line one day, but he figured it might come later in life when he was capable of mastering more of the clan's abilities. "I will of course do whatever is requested of me for the clan father, but what sense is there in making me the clan head when I'm clearly not the most experienced member? I can't do half as much as you can with our abilities and it will likely be years before I can attain the level you have."

"That's not the point Shinji. A leader does not need to be the most powerful one of those that he leads, he need only be the one who guides the others. You may not be able to use all of the techniques yet, but you are my son and I have trained you to understand all of the techniques I have discovered. How many nights did we spend where I showed you our techniques and explained to you how I had uncovered them? You may not be able to perform them due to your current limits, but one day you will. And until then, you will carry the knowledge. As a fully fledged shinobi of Iwagakure, you are bound to meet more Konaga then I ever will, and as such, it is imperative that you retain and be the central hub of that knowledge. All Konaga learn different ways of dealing with the pain and as such, most of them find their own ways of manipulating and augmenting our chakra. I know that I could not have discovered everything a Konaga can do... it would be impossible, but you have a much better chance then I to meet others and absorb their knowledge for a more complete recounting of who we are and what Konaga are capable of."

All of it was beginning to make sense to Shinji and his father's reasoning was, as usual, air tight and logical. Just hearing him explain it all was beginning to empower Shinji, making him feel the weight of the responsibility, yet exciting him to be the one to hold it. "Very well father, I understand. So where do we start?"

"The same place we always start son." Seijiro said with a wide smile... "With training."

[Chakra Point Total: 80/80]

[Augmentations Used: R.Arm (0/4), R.Leg (0/4), L.Arm (0/4), L.Leg (0/4)]

"Let's Do This."

Eager to see the world as his father said he could see it, Shinji mimicked what he saw his father do, closing his left eye as he prepared to try and control his chakra. flooding his arms and legs with the raw power had become childs play through all the times he had done so, but this woul definitely prove to be a much different experience. though it wasn't necessary, Shinji formed his hands into the seal he used for meditation, as it helped him relax and concentrate as he first tried to feel the chakra within his eyes and under stand it. His eye immediately began to itch annoyingly until he received a sudden sharp pain as if struck by a massive headache, which caused him to recoil back, opening his eyes wide.

"Relax Shinji... don't force it... just allow the chakra to move on it's own, but guide and form it. Your eye is a sensitive organ, it requires more finesse to augment. Imagine you are folding a blanket, or compressing layers of clothes to fit into a bag. Condense the chakra, then allow it to flow through your eye as you saw in mine." Nodding to his father's advice, Shinji reset himself, forming the seal again, but this time attempting it with his left eye while closing his right. Focusing on the imagery his father had set before him, Shinji made more of an attempt to relax and "fold" his chakra into a condensed form. Slowly the chakra particles in his eye began to intensify in their glow, the particles moving quite naturally into a spiraling formation within his eye as Shinji could feel the technique working.

"Good Shinji... good, now allow it to grow, continue to intensify, don't hold it back, you'll find it listens to your commands without a need to put it anywhere." Doing as he was told, Shinji complied as he could feel the chakra intensifying and could see the world before him begin to change. then suddenly as if a flood was released, Shinji could feel a stream of chakra particles enter and engulf his vision as the world went black, but then suddenly lit up in a brilliant glow of colors and lines. The world was like a black backdrop against an incredible array of lights and moving energy as Shinji looked around in amazement at this new view of the world. The walls of the cave could be seen, not by their rocky texture, but by the waves of energy radiating off of other things bouncing into them and suddenly stopping, creating a sort of thin outline which betrayed it's edges. "Incredible"

"It is, isn't it?", Shinji turned to look at his father, only to draw back from him at first sight... the man was engulfed in chakra, his entire body simply glowing with such intensity that he suddenly realized that it was his chakra which was creating the 'light' which by he could see all the walls of the cave around him. He could instantly recognize it all as Konaga chakra, with it's unbridled and raw, almost violent intensity, which seemed to almost permanently stream off of his father as if a rising plume of it rose off of him. "This is more or less what Konaga look like in the energy realm. You will see others with large amounts of chakra, but none as intensely as you will see ours with the rising plume. But never mind that for now. Look at the stones, what do you see?"

Shinji did as he was told, and scanned the room for the stones, looking at them one by one, amazed at how they had suddenly changed. Against the black backdrop of the technique, Shinji could see that each stone had a different color and pattern to them. One was red and looked like a ball, hovering in the air, it's chakra moving as if it was on fire. Another was blue, quiet and tranquil, flowing peacefully and calmly throughout the rock. The third was green, flowing like the blue was, but more erratically, with constantly shifting direction and intensity. Another was yellow, and the energy within it shot around in streams like bolts of electricity. The final one was brown, and the chakra patterns inside seemed to be vibrating and rumbling throughout the structure.

"Each rock is infused with a separate element, one of the 5 core elements which make up all things. Using your chakra site, you will be able to see many things about people, recognize their chakra signatures, gauge how much chakra your opponent's have and what elements their bodies are naturally aligned with. You can see the world in terms of energy, detect traps and pitfalls set up by others by recognizing their chakra makeup and see through solid walls, rock and stone... anything which has not been tempered or made to resist chakra. It is a great diagnostic tool and it will never leave you to wonder what it is that makes up the world around you. use it well Shinji." Feeling a pain suddenly begin to surge in his eye, Shinji released the technique, the light leaving his eye as the world was transformed back to the cave he and his father were in, everything turning back to the way it was.

Wincing in extreme pain, Shinji cupped his eye and backed up against a wall, clasping it as he suffered a severe headache as if in the interim of releasing the technique someone had stabbed him through the eye. After several seconds of the agonizing feeling, Shinji removed his had from his eyes and tried to open it to see the cave only to see that his vision in his eye was extremely blurred as it watered and was glazed over. Closing it quickly, Shinji looked through his right eye to find his father who looked none surprised at all at Shinji's condition. "As with all of our abilities, there is the inevitable backlash of having utilized our raging chakra. That eye will be blurry for at least a minute. the longer you have it active, the longer it will be be weakened afterward, but your vision will return. I would however not recommend augmenting one of your eyes more then 3 times a day. I'm not sure what would happen, but it's natural to assume that you could blind yourself permanently by going over that limit."

[Technique learned: Chakra Sight ]

[Chakra Point Total: 70/80]

[Augmentations Used: R.Arm (1/4), R.Leg (0/4), L.Arm (0/4), L.Leg (0/4)]

"Let's Do This."

Konaga Riko
Iwagakure| Konaga Clan | Genin

As she followed closely behind Shinji and his father along the path that would lead them to the clan head's home, Riko remained silent as she allowed her eyes to take in as much of her surroundings as possible.

Reaching the home of the Konaga head, Riko was amazed by the modest appeal of the place and once more found herself at a lost for words. Meeting Shinji's mother, Riko felt an almost immediate connection with her and was glad to be in the presense of another Konaga female. Finding herself relaxing in the presense of such familiar people, Riko took this opportunity to enjoy the feeling of living with almost no pain. 'Such a rare opportunity indeed.'

After enjoying a fun meal with Shinji and his family, Riko followed the two out back and into a set of caves. Settling herself comfortably against the side of the cave, Riko waited anxiously to see what kind of training would be happening between her friend and his father. 'This is going to be so epic!' Taken aback by Seijiro's words, Riko couldn't believe she was witnessing the Right of Passage that would make Shinji clan head. 'I've only vaguely heard about it in the passing but to think I would get to witness it...'

Listening to the clan head's words, Riko could hear the wisdom in them and inwardly agreed with his words. 'A leader does not need to be the most powerful...he only needs to be the one who is able to guild the others. Meaningful words indeed.' Repositioning herself so that she was in a more comfortable position, she watched with great interest as the training began and was amazed the sort of training Seijiro was implentmenting onto Shinji. 'Amazing, so much power. This techniques seem so difficult to control...I wonder if I would ever be able to handle it all.'

[Chakra Point Total: [50/50]
[Augmentations Used: R.Arm (0/4), R.Leg (0/4), L.Arm (0/4), L.Leg (0/4)]

"Never wish upon others what you wouldn't wish upon yourself."

((I didn't have time to grab the format...))

Gage followed Death throw the passage into a small settlement, where they would begin leading the caravan of goods. It took about two hours before they stopped and Death gave them a little more information and said ti was time to train. 'About time...' Gage thought as Death Spank walked up the tree. He declared that IF they make it they would learn some taijutsu. 'Better believe I'm making it...' Gage thought as he slammed his fist together and made the Kai hand sign.

Gage summoned as much chakra as he could to his feet and walked slowly towards the tree. His first step was a little wobbly and so where the next few steps. 'Dang, this is harder then it looks...' Gage thought as his strides finally started to straighten out at the twenty foot mark. Then he looked down. 'Holy crap...' He thought as he lost his chakra control and feel from the tree. He summer salted and landed in a knelt down position. "Hell, it's harder then it looks..." He whispered to the other two, but that didn't stop him...
[Wall Walking Technique - (1/2)]

Gage immediately repeated the steps he'd taken the first time. He made the Kai hand sign and made sure he could almost lift himself off of his feet with his chakra. 'Here we go, round two...' He thought as he walked towards the tree, a little faster this time. He hit the tree perfectly, making good time. He reached his first mark with ease and walked slowly towards the top. When he made it, he found a branch that could hold his weight and sat down. "Right on..." He said out loud. "Come on up, the breeze is perfect!" He said with a laugh.
[Wall Walking Technique - (2/2)]

((Didn't use my Tactical Ninja Bonus...))

Gabriel nodded and focused his chakra into his feet as a dull green glow appeared over his feet as he made his way over to the tree and began to make his way up the tree. As he started however his feet started to slip and he sent more chakra into his feet to stabilize himself. Then a thought crossed his mind as he brought his other foot up in front of him and lowed the amount of chakra so that his foot would slide back down but had enough friction to allow him to bring his other foot back up in place of the first one. After a few seconds of testing he laughed and began to dance in place on the side of the tree. This continued for a few moments before his laughter died down and he walked up the tree with relative ease. He chuckled and said," Sorry about that I mean how ofter can you dance sideways on a tree."

[Wall Walking Technique - (1/1)]

Chakra Control: This Shinobi is a master of Chakra Control, allowing them to more easily learn to mold their chakra to perform jutsus, as well as allowing them to use their chakra more efficiently when using jutsus. At higher ranks they even learn to mold chakra without the use of hand-seals.
(-2 posts for training, reduced chakra costs (see Chakra System), can perform jutsus that are two or more ranks below you without hand-seals.)

Gabriel lowed his stance and with his incredible chakra control rode the tree down with relative ease. As the tree hit the ground he rolled off of it and hopped up with a smile. This Jounin was entertaining at the very least. When he asked him what he wanted to learn Gabriel smiled again and said," Well I want to learn how to put this sword to good use. I want to learn the Tetsu No Ryo style. Are you familiar with it? " He hoped the Jounin knew at least enough of it to teach it to him or someone who would at the very least.