The mist grows cold (training)

I hate this place.... Taku said as he stood in front of the gate to the training grounds. Because of his destroyed eye, the mist made him worried as his sight was not the best. Luckily his hearing had improved greatly since his failure and now he could hear better then most people see.

Stepping into the mist he walked towards the center of the training pitch. Around him the mist swirled and swayed as he cut a trail which filled in behind him. He finally stopped dead center in the pitch his ears picking up the faint sounds of training. shuriken hitting targets, kunai clashing, and even a few choice swears. He sat down and pulled out a kunai which he used to write in the dirt. He had been asked by the Mizukage to help with the training of a few students one-on-one. This had gone well enough for the most part.

Heh, hope she shows up soon... this mist creeps me out. He said with a huff as he continued to write in the dirt.

Oko had already arrived to the training field minutes before the man known as Takumen did. She was an early riser, and after receiving the acceptance letter for her request on Jounin instructing given her specific requirement of the Doton affinity, she was besides herself. She knew that it was gonna be a man, and she did not like Jounin men for the most part, but her string of missions had toughened up her heart to accept these things should she continue her kunoichi path. This training field was well known for its relatively low visibility. Although Kirigakure shinobi were expected to have adapted to the village's natural mist, this mist was a little more obscuring than what was the norm. Still, as she was hanging around the center area, she could hear footsteps coming in and could see a dark shadow approaching her. Oko immediately had had muscles stiffened. What kind of a teacher was he? Nice? Kind? Harsh? Understanding? Hopefully not rough. If she were to be assaulted, she was more than prepared to at least escape from him.

She approached the man with her hand raised. "H-" she stopped immediately. The man was huge. Muscular. Large. Fit. Athletic. Gigantic. Manly. Wolf-like. He was clearly a physical guy, just by looking at his immense leg muscles, his brawny arms, his T-shirt, the toughness of his chest, the thickness of his neck, the hairiness of his face, that suspicious eyepatch, that blackened, uncouth hair, and especially the teeth....

Oko ran away from takumen, disappearing into the mist, and hide behind a nearby tree. That guy is HUGE! Why the hell did the Mizukage send such a huge Jounin to teach a young girl like me? There's no way I can hold a physical feat against him. He's going to break me! she thought as she held her hand over her mouth and nose. Her legs started to quiver, but realizing the ridiculousness of the situation, Oko tried to fight back against her body. Growing teenagers have little control over their nerves. She looked back at where takumen was, and decided to muster the courage to at least train with him. Only for a few days. Maybe only one day. Just so she could leech at least one Doton jutsu from him. She had to get stronger so she could fight against men as big as him. She walked back towards takumen, trying to imagine the emotional zeal she had gained during her battle with Kami Kaguya, and tried to focus it here. She didn't do a very good job, but she might as well just develop in during the session. She stopped just 2 meters from Takumen. "Err....Hi", she greeted with her hand raised.

Standing up straight Taku turned to see the girl he had been waiting for. "Hello there!" He said, happy that she had finally arrived. In his head, he went over her quickly.

Not very tall, nor muscular at all; quite small. Probably more used to stealth and surprise then a full out fight and more then likely a ninjutsu user. She was a genin, if he remembered the Mizukage correctly and only fourteen, so young to be so strong. She smelled of a mixture of fear and sweat, she had been running. Her breath was controlled and shallow and if it were not for the other sounds he could probably have picked up her heartbeat, racing like a drum. He felt a slight bit of pity for her, being thrust into the situation of being trained by a guy like him. Still, he would put her through the wringer first, see if she had any backbone.

Now then, Let's here your name and rank, loud and clear please! He said in a harsh tone. This would help him gauge how best to train her. Others had cowered in fear, some had spit in his face. in all cases he had dealt with these feelings. For some they required the backing of someone who was confident in their abilities. for others they needed a challenge to work against. She had run away from him earlier when she first arrived. She was more then likely afraid of his appearance and size. As such, he predicted a timid and more then likely fearful response. Still he had been surprised before.

Oko looked as he rise. What's he gonna do? What's he gonna do? What's he gonna do? He greeted her. The gruff greeting accelerated her heart rate by just a few beats per minute. Oko also erected her posture and placed her hands besides her side, sweat dripping down the side of her head. "Oko Haruhi... Genin going on Chunin!" she replied. Ah, but then she remembered that he wanted her to introduce herself loud and clear, and upon realizing her mistake, decided to raise her voice accordingly to the zeal that was expelled by Takumen as well as the zeal that she was building up and waiting to explode. "OKO HARUHI! GENIN, SIR!!" she shouted out, now worried that Takumen would strike her with a powerful blow for yelling too loudly. She had never quite screamed out so loud.

"Not bad Oko, not bad. Most don't bother to try again, or even attempt at all." He said with an edge of approval in his voice. He didn't mind mistakes so long as they did not defeat a person. To fail is to give up hope and to abandon all attempt at success. She, in that second attempt, proved she was not willing to fail.

"My name Is Takumen, Jounin of the Land of Water. My orders, under the Lady Mizukage, are to provide special training for you and your fellow genin. I have a few questions for you to answer. He said all of this in a slightly bored style. Formalities were never his strong suit and he wanted this part to be over. However, by the look on her face he could tell she was not at all comfortable with him. Kneeling down as to be on her level he reached out and set his hand on her shoulder.

"No need to be so frightened of me. I promise that by the end of this, you'll never have to be frightened of anyone ever again." He said to her, his eye starring into her's. He hoped his radiating confidence would help her relax a bit. "Besides this is just some simple supplementary training, nothing too life threatening i promise." He said jokingly, trying to lighten the mood.

Oko's stress and tension lessened after hearing Takumen's praise, and she felt it slightly easier to look at his face when he's talking to her, or at least focus right under his eyes instead of looking right at them. It would still look like she's paying attention .

Her heart beat started to accelerate once again. W-w-w-w-w-w-why is he touching me? Wh-wh.... She felt a growing discomfort being touched by men. Especially stiff, brawny arms that she knows she cannot fight back against. Arms that can crush her physically and emotionally. She wiggled her shoulders by a little.

Oko then channeled her eyes to look directly at Takumen's eyebrows. "O....okay..." she said.

Cocking his head to one side he stood up. Again there went her confidence in an instant, it had to be more then simple nerves. She had a deep seated fear, something traumatic in her past? Or it could just as easily be a problem with figures of authority.

Hmm, guess we'll just have to instill that confidence later, for now I want to see what you've got" He said taking a few steps back and turning to her. This place may creep me out, but it is the perfect place for you to train. Now here is your first test. I will walk into the mist and then I will release this flare." Here he pulls out a small handheld flare. Your mission is simple. You have to hit me. You can use a frontal assault, stealth, ninjutsu if you wish. This will show me the areas you excel in and the areas you lack in. He said before turning to walk into the mist. Word to the wise though, before you trek of into the mist, make sure you know where you are, get your bearings. This might help. He said throwing back what looked like a small pendent on a chain. In fact it was a compass, perfect for navigating the mists of the training grounds.

Oko was not bothered by the disappointment she had received from Takumen, for it was replaced by an air of patience. Oko looked around the general shape of the flare - she dared not look straight at it for any more than two seconds. Oko nodded. She watched as Takumen walked into the mist with his back to her, the flare in hand. She caught the compass in her hand, and strapped it around her neck. In addition to that, she took out a kunai and stabbed it an inch into the ground with all her force. The kunai would serve as a stomp post, as she knew where the kunai was relative to the trees. It was tilted in such way so she can tell directions. With this and the compass, she could manuever through the mist. It didn't seem like Takumen could see well in the mist either, but since Oko was not accustomed either, she didn't want to make any further risks. He seems to be a nice guy.... she thought, but she still didn't like him touching her.

Oko could see Takumen's flare faintly through the mist. He was several meters away from her, but so long as she could see the flare, she could detect him. Walking forehead, Oko formed an array of five handseals as her upper body was mostly covered by the mist, disguising her actions. Earth Style: Swinging Logs "I will hit him with all of the Earth style ninjutsu tactics I worked up on...." she muttered. Four pillars will rise up from the earth surrounding Takumen who would be at the center of the square-like formation. He would be 4 meters from each pillar. The pillars will then launch themselves at significant velocity towards Takumen from all four corners, who would have trouble seeing them coming while in the mist and with only his one eye. At the same time they launched themselves at Takumen as if they were living entities, Oko would rush towards the flare and once she is within semi-visible range, she would launch a rock-shattering flying straight kick towards Takumen's chest after those pillars would smack into Takumen's immense body.

Spoiler:

120 - 12.5 = 105.5 CP left

The crumble of earth beneath his feet told taku that his world was about to get a few meters smaller. As this thought passed his mind four eight foot high pillars of earth jutted up from the ground and enclosed him. he was trapped, for now, withing the prison of earth. Digging into his pocket he pulled out a kunai and stabbed it into the pillar in front of his right arm, the arm he was holding the kunai with. He did this several times until the top part of the pillar fell off. Now that he was free, he decided to have his fun. Making hand signs he gathered chakara in the pit of his stomach and rolled it, forming it. He then released it from his mouth in the form of fire. "Fire Release: Snapping Wolf" He said as the fire flowed from his mouth, rolling and taking the form of a giant wolf. The fire wolf sped off in the direction the attack was aimed. This was more for affect, and to dissipate the fog as the water was being sucked from the air by the fire.

195/220

Spoiler:

Takumen had tanked her four earth pillars, and had pulled off an impressive wolf-fire attack right as she was kicking off the ground and propelling herself right at Takumen. The 1-meter top part of the rock pillar that was snapped off by the kunai had flipped over towards Oko, and her foot connected with the thing as it was in free-fall, propelling the pillar fragment and herself off the ground. The pillar half, now cracked, provided something of a wall for Oko, who pushed the thing through the 5-feet tall fire head, in hope that it would catch on fire and speed itself towards takumen's chest, and spread the fire to his body. The fire would melt the part of the pillar that was facing the flames, but not enough to significantly diminish its velocity, and thus the damaged good would force its way through the wolf head and onto takumen.

Oko fell to the ground after kicking the rock pillar, missing the rest of the flames that passed through the fragment by mere inches. It was hot. Sweat beaded down Oko's forehead, as she did not like it when men spew hot fire at her. It gave her a foreboding sense of doom. Still, Oko would recover from her all and run backwards to keep a 5-meter distance between takumen and her. The mist that had been scouring the field significantly diminished, although there was definitely still some obscurity. Oko felt the back of her hip - some kind of minor cramp or muscle knot had developed there.

"Crap...." Takumen said as he was cut off by the sight of the pillar of earth, now red hot and jagged, flying at his chest. No time to dodge or to attack, the only option left was to defend. Raising both hands he held them out and grabbed the pillar by the sides. The red hot stone burning his hands. He stopped it just three inches from his chest and threw it to the side.


"OW, OW, OW, Ow, CRAP!" He yelled as he swung his hand through the air to cool them off. He took off running and found the small river that wound it's way through the training area. He plunged his hands into the water as steam rolled from them. If he hadn't focused his chakara into his hands, his hands would have been destroyed. For now a new callus or two were the least of his worries. "This girl is resourceful, using my own power against me. I'll have to keep things simple for now, no more fire and no more earth." He thought to himself as he plunged into the river, swimming his way upstream. "Let's see if she is as good at defending as she is at attacking." He said to himself as he burst out of the water into the air. As he flew up he pulled out several shuriken and threw them at Oko. These shuiken had only four sides and each side was serrated so that when they hit a target they must be wrenched out..

Oko watched as the flare Takumen carried flaired about in the faint mist, clearly showing the man in dire pain. Although Oko no longer needed the flare, as she could see takumen running into the river and diving into it. Eh?! Oko thought, panicking. Is he running away? Did I hurt him too much? "W-wait, mister!" Oko called out, as he was swimming in the river. Then, takumen sprang up from the river and threw four, five shurikens at Oko.

However, due to the considerable distance between Oko and him that was opened up due to Taku swimming upstream, Oko could have easily dodged that, but instead she prepared four handseals, and some kind of manifestation of rock emerged from the ground, intercepting all those shurikens that came at her, and even causing three of them to bounce off. A rock clone of Oko formed, with two shurikens each stuck at her shoulders, although it did not matter to her at all.

"get him!" Oko cried out. The rock clone rushed towards takumen, trying to get within melee range of him so that the rock clone could engage in Taijutsu, and threw the two serrated shurikens back at him.

It was then did Oko realize how limited her ninjutsu arsenal was. She lacked an actual, offensive, ranged Doton technique. She can't hit her opponent with projectiles at all. She had to rely on directly hitting an opponent or trapping them. This would definitely lead to her defeat in a real battle......


93 CP

"Using clones and my own weapons against me.....smart..." Takumen said as he formed hand signs and plunged his hands into the ground below him. Releasing his chakara into the ground he willed the strongest stone to form, change and mold. Soon his hands were completely covered and he ripped them from the ground. Formed along each finger was several inches of stone, segmented to allow for finger movement and serrated. His hands were covered in stone up to the wrist, also segmented, which protected the hands from the claws themselves when the fist was clenched. Not taking the time to admire his handy work he slashed both hands through the air, knocking the incoming shuriken to the ground. Standing fully to look at his young charge as the mist began to slowly work it's way across the battlefield as if a snake curling around it's prey He smiled. She was quite an intuitive ninja, full of tricks and deceptions.


"They told me you'd be a handful, that you were smart and creative...." He stood for a second then rushed forward, striking a smart blow to the clones stomach and attempting to follow it up with a stab downwards with the claws.


180/220

Spoiler:

Oko observed as takumen plunged his fingers into the earth, and out came rock-coated claws. The shuriken were smacked right across the ground as if they were merely specks of dust. An offensive jutsu - just what Oko needed. Now, she was more interested in her sensei than way of. Oko could see a certain daringness in takumen's eyes now. Now, he was going on the offense. Which was just what Oko liked to see. She wanted that brutal physical power takumen had, so one day, she could smack around her greatest nemesis...

The clone was blitzed by takumen's attack, and immediately splintered into a bunch of large pieces of rock, one of which would have smacked itself across takumen's chest at point-blank. Oko saw the rock pieces coming at her and intentionally slipped backwards, falling on her ass and elbows as she missed a small boulder by mere inches. "Ow...." she hissed. She would have liked to speak to him now. "S-sensei.... p..please teach me THAT JUTSU!" she pleaded.

A look of astonishment crossed Taku's faced as he stared at the girl sitting on the ground, her eyes closed and her fists balled up. The determination and command that edged her voice was unmistakable, she would have what she wanted. "Why/" He asked her plainly as he released the chakara that glued the stone to his hands; the rock fell away, crumbling on the ground. "Why do you want to learn this jutsu and what would you use it for?" He said standing and crossing his arms. The training he could handle, but when a student wanted learn his jutsu, he had to make sure it wouldn't be misused.

"Before you answer think long and hard on that question. It's answer decides whether or not this training is over." He said to her, before turning and walking back to the center of the training field. "Come find me when you have an answer worth saying."

Oko could sense distrust in sensei's voice, so she came to the conclusion that she said something misleading or could have been misunderstood. And now she was being pressured to think hard on her learning his jutsus. But that only increased Oko's interest. His Doton techniques must be deadly, if not devastating. All the more reason for her to learn them in her quest to imbue herself with Ninjutsu that can protect her.... yes, protect her... and her child. She had not come all this way as a kunoichi, fighting through so much... to settle with mere stealth skills and Genin-level jutsus. Her heart wanted more, for she did not have more earlier in her life. The Wanshin can be cruel....

Oko walked towards takumen in the training field. She felt like a dog pleading for something; disgusting and revolting. But her little spar with takumen had raised her adrenaline and heart beat, and thus confidence flowed with in. Confidence within the blood, and confidence within the spirit. "Takumen-...sensei". Oko said. "I-I am weak" she admitted. All she had to rely on were wits, but wits could only get her so far if her arsenal lacked any bite to it. "But I am strong enough to know that I cannot live this life without strength! There are so many enemies...." she said with her fists clenched. "Y...you wouldn't understand.... but there are so many people who can hurt me... I need your power to protect myself and my family! Please, Takumen-sensei!"

"Do not presume you understand me... nor the depth of my own understanding. You have both of your eyes,in that respect your are quite stronger then I am. Strength does not come from some special jutsu or from training..." He said as he sat, digging into the ground with a kunai, drawing wide circles and arcs. "Strength comes from facing the failures of your life, the time you have fallen and tasted the dirt, and putting them behind you. You cannot focus on the present and the future when your mind is muddled on the past...." He said finally stopping. He then stood up and faced the girl, Oko.


"Should you wish to become like me, free from my failures and regrets, then you will have to change the way you look at yourself. You are no longer weak, you are strong. The next time I catch a wiff of doubt on you i'll have you run laps with weights on." He said smirking. Confidence is what she needed, an extreme amount of confidence to improve her own frame of mind. Perhaps if this could happen she would see that she is not as weak as she thinks.

"Err.....okay..." Oko replied, scratching the side of her forehead with one finger as she looked dumbfounded rather than embarassed, her eyes nothing more than black dots now to emphasize it. She did not quite know what takumen meant, or the distinction between the two of them, but she gladly accepted his hands anyway.

She looked up at him and there was now a pretty laid-back expression on it, as if she had successfully tolerated him. She did understand from takumen's words that she had to stop lying to herself and move forward. "Okay" she said plainly now.

Ah. How could I have forgotten....

[Concluding Topic nowz]