The weather was pleasant today. It only took three words to describe it. Sunny. Dry. Cold. It was perfect, crystal clear if you will. A bit nippy outside when the breeze blew, but that was fine. Well, if you were out of the city and in the forest like Kou was, it was lovely.

In a split second the muscles in her body relaxed, extended, and tightened in a fluid movement as she stretched up towards the sky, arms reaching up above her. She let her back and legs relax until her hands were touching the ground behind and beneath her, her abdomen, and body in general taking the general shape of a bridge. Hence the reason why it was called the bridge stretch. She relished the feeling of relaxation as the tension from her muscles disappeared. Tilting her head back to look at the ground she cursed at her long hair. It was basically in a orange pile on the ground. Untangling herself from the warm up she pulled the few leaves and twigs out of her hair as she tied it back into a tight and high up pony tail. Her hair was still long, but at least it was more uniform and out of the way than previously.

She looked down to her Ninken she smiled. "Amaya-Sensei is supposed to be here any minute. I can't believe she is gonna help me learn this new Ijutsu technique! Can you?" Nori's response was pulling his lips back and up, letting his tongue drape over his lower set of teeth in the grin he was known for.

271/1000 words

Ah, training. Better than guarding and patrolling the gates as it were, and an acceptable enough excuse to escape. Not that she would've minded helping to train one of her squad members to begin with, but Kou couldn't have picked a better time to want to do this. She'd been looking for an escape route for a little bit, and this was the perfect opportunity - add in the fact that she'd be helping to train something that was her passion? An extra bonus in her mind, as it were. She didn't honestly care for seeing the exams, being sure she was going to have to clean up some of the bloody aftermath of them, so it's not like she felt like she had to miss anything important.

So, without further adieu she'd set out, heading off in the direction she'd been informed the training would take place. She'd already made sure her long white hair was up in a braided bun, knowing the length of it tended to get in the way a lot. 'Just can't bring myself to cut it.', had been her mental musing as she'd done it up and out of the way. Because of the slightly chilled but otherwise dry weather she'd taken to wearing long black pants, closed toe shoes that more resembled boots than anything else, a black shirt, and a long white colored coat of sorts with several pockets located on both the outside and inside of the coat.

It didn't take her long to reach the location as she'd chosen to run most of the way there for the sheer enjoyment of it. This felt like an escape of sorts after all, and the running only helped to further that feeling. She even went so far as to run her way up the side of a rather ramp like boulder and launch herself off the end of it, resulting in her being air born for a few seconds before hitting the ground running again. Upon reaching the location she skidded to a stop by a nearby tree, slightly breathless, but otherwise with a smile on her face. "Hello, there.", she said as way of announcing her arrival.

She leaned her back against the tree she'd stopped closest to, folding one leg over the other while reaching into one of her right pockets of her coat. She pulled out from it a worn book whose title was far gone, but that otherwise would resemble something like a medical book, which was in fact what it was. She opened it to one of the most recently dog-eared pages, but didn't look at it yet, her red colored gaze steadied on Kou. "So, have you tried doing this jutsu at all yet, or is this your first shot at it?" There was no judgement in her voice, of course, only curiosity, which further showed as her head tilted a bit to the side and a slender white eyebrow raised while she awaited her answer.

She turned as she picked up the sounds of someone running. Amaya-Sensei. Her hair was in a bun and she was wearing long clothes, were as Kou was dressed in her normal attire, that of which consisted of of a mesh armour short shirt with long sleeves that revealed the soft and smooth skin of her belly, black fingerless gloves. The thin green cloth of her jacket was open in the front as it usually was, the tail of it ending just at the knee, only to reveal several belts and an open sided skirt and mesh armour leggings. At her waist a supply pouch to hold her ninja tools. "Hello Amaya-Sensei. The way I heard you running, I'd think you were escaping from a prison. Hahaha!" She couldn't help but smile.

Amaya pulled out a worn book and held it out to her. "So, have you tried doing this jutsu at all yet, or is this your first shot at it?" Her tone bore no judgement as she titled her head and raised an eyebrow.

Stepping closer to the book Kou bent over a bit to read about the Jutsu, Nori standing up and following her. In all honesty, she hadn't learned any Ijutsu that she could remember. She used to watch her father, Akira, and read his books when she was at home, but he had warned her to never ever attempt what she saw. She had promised, and now she had permission to actually do the things she had seen and read about all those years ago.

She straightened her back and smiled, shaking her head. "No, I haven't tried yet. It's my first attempt." She, reached down, ruffling Nori's thickening winter coat. She stood again and clasped her hands together in front of her.

583/1000

Chucking, "Yeah, something like that, indeed." She nodded a bit and then tapped her chin with her free hand, momentarily slipping into deep thought. 'Hmm... how should I go about this. Guess I should do it just as I learned it.' She tuned back in to her surroundings, gaze focusing on Kou once more. "Well, the easiest way to go about this would probably be the way I learned."

She nodded her head in the direction of a small nearby pond not too far off with a few fish swimming around in it. "The one who taught me simply made a small slice on the fish we were practicing on, and then had me try and fix it the best I could." She tapped her chin a bit more. "I'm thinking that will be our best bet to start out with, I can make the slice and see if you can heal it, I'll even demonstrate how it's done a few times if you need me to so you can see close up how it's supposed to be done. Then have you try, perhaps start with something small - about the size of a paper cut - and then move onto larger wounds once you have the smaller stuff down. How's that sound?"

"Sounds awesome! Lemme go get a fish." And with that she was off, dashing to the pond Amaya had gestured to as Nori stayed behind. He looked up at her, tongue lolling, as if to say 'yeah, she's crazy. I know'.

She reached the pond. It looked to be thirty feet by twenty feet, and was most likely four to seven feet deep.

Well, water never hurt anyone... Except for those people that drown. Yeah, it hurt them. Actually, rephrase that; killed them. Kou was an Inuzuka. A little ol' bit o' water wasn't gonna hurt her! Backing up a bit she looked over the water for the shadow of a fish. Looking... Looking... Loo- AH HA! Found one! Sprinting, she full on pounced into the water. No grace that most people used while diving. Grace was for pansies when it came to hunting the terrifying and dangerous fish of Konoha's forest.

SPLASH

Her outstretched hands hit the water first, clawed fingers closing around and scooping up a medium sized fish. Feet, knees then elbows hit the water next and within the second her entire body was submerged. Cold. COLD COLD WATER WAS COLD. The lake wasn't was shallow as she thought, as it turned out to be about nine feet deep and it was colder than she thought. She kicked up to the surface, holding the struggling fish with half of her might, which was more than enough. Climbing onto shore she held the fish's tail with her teeth as she rang two gallons of water out her hair and stripped out of her green jacket. Shivering as the wind smacked against her sopping wet skin. Insta-regret? Maybe. Fun? Hell yeah. Holding jacket in one hand, fish in the other she returned to Amaya.

"Gotta fishy for ya." She said with a dumb ass grin on her face.

900/1000

'She's crazy... utterly, completely, crazy...' was her mental musing as she watched Kou jump right into what Amaya assumed was extremely cold water. She could only shake her head a bit before holding her hand out and taking the fish. She then proceeded to plop herself down on the ground right where she'd been standing, forcing the fish to lay on its side. "Alright, lets get down to business. First I'll show you the general idea of what you need to do, and then you can try it."

So, with that said she didn't wait any longer to get started. She didn't bother wasting what might be needed chakra, so she picked up a rock with a sharp enough point that would serve the purpose she needed, and made a slice along the fish's side. "There we go." Finishing with that she placed the rock back down and then proceeded to place her hands over the fish. She then proceeded to concentrate and focus her chakra into the palms of her hands, forming a small healing ball. With this she passed it over and through the fish, the wound she'd inflicted upon the fish healing. Once finished she removed her hands, reddish gaze moving from the fish to Kou. "That's basically how it's done. Focus the chakra into your hands, making it into a ball of sorts, then the rest is self explanatory."

She made another slice into the fish, this one far smaller then the one she just healed. "Now, you try."

Spoiler:

"Okay. Chakra balls. Focus. Need that." She glaringly stared at her hands. Willing and urging the chakra to form into a ball. GO. GO. GO. YOU CAN DO EET KOU! WOOT! and nevermind.

Concentrate.
Concentrate....
CONCENTRATE DAMN IT.

Meh. For the love of everything good, do it. Glllllaaaaaaare. Oh! Did she get it? No. Damn. "WHAT SORCERY IS THIS?" She exclaimed as she flopped onto her back, staring at the clear blue sky.

973/1000
65/80

Spoiler:

She watched Kou closely, trying her hardest not to chuckle at her comment, all while taking note of both the things she was doing right as well as what she needed improvement on. She tapped her chin thoughtfully before smiling slightly. "Have you ever tried meditating? Just clearing your thoughts completely away? It might help you."

She positioned herself in an Indian style seating position, taking a deep breath in and out as she moved her own self into a halfway meditative state. "Just take a deep breath, let it out, try and calm yourself completely. Then, try again. It's harder to do then it looks, but meditating a small while before hand and then trying it again should help you focus more. Once you've accomplished it a few times it'll get easier after that, but the first few times are definitely tricky."

She then continued to watch Kou, waiting to see if her suggestion helped or not.

"Meditating? Isn't that the thing they tell you is bad to do?" Without further adieu she closed her eyes. Sighing she relaxed, trying to clear her thoughts. The forest was actually quiet, aside from the few noises the breeze made as it came across the trees, leaves and grass. After a few minutes of this Kou sat back up, concentrating on moving her chakra to her hands as she breathed in and out slowly. She kept her eyes closed as she positioned her hands over the fish. Her long nailed hands slowly lit up with the green glow of chakra, this glow flickered a few times, faltering before growing a bit stronger. She moved her hands over to the cut on the fish and opened her eyes. Watching in calm awe as the pink puckered flesh on either side of the cut began to merge together. The scales that hand been cut, or broken reformed, gluing themselves back together. "Wow." She remarked as the jutsu ended. "That's what it looks like when it's done right." Grabbing her still wet jacket she squeezed some water back onto the fish, watching it flop about once again.

1170/1000
50/80

Spoiler:

She grinned, and nodded a bit, as she watched Kou complete the jutsu. "Yup, that's exactly how it's done." She picked up the rock before leaning forward. She positioned the rock against the fish, the sharpest point cutting another gash into the fish, this one bigger and deeper then the last. "Alright, I'd say if you can heal this wound we'll call this learned.", she stated as she leaned back and placed the rock back down next to herself. "Then all you'll have to do is practice on being able to do it with distractions around, but at least you'll have the basic concept of it down."

She smiled brightly before taking a slow breath in and then... Out. She concentrated on moving the chakra back to her hands. Watching the entire process this time. The green glow returned, this time stronger, and no flickers. Kou knew what preforming the jutsu felt like now, she knew better what to do.

Again she watched in a quiet and focused awe as the flesh sewed itself back together, scales merging together. When it was done she wrang a bit more water onto it to see if it was fine. Indeed it was, and probably pissed and tired as well. Sitting up on her knees she grabbed Amaya into a hug, albeit a wet and cold one, but it was still a hug. "Thank you Amaya-Sensei!"

She was tired, cold and hungry. But she was happy she was grasping the concept of Ijutsu.

1314/1000
35/80

Spoiler:

She watched Kou with a smile, glad to see that she'd caught on so quickly. A lot quicker then a lot of people would've, that was for sure. She chuckled as she was hugged, giving a gentle squeeze of a hug back as she grinned. "You're quite welcome, Kou." She nodded to the fish. "Perhaps we should put the fish back into the water now, though.. I'm sure it needs a break." She chuckled again. "Just make sure you practice, 'kay? The more you practice the larger areas you'll be able to eventually heal, and the more severe of wounds, too."

She grinned, "I'll make sure I practice hard and long Sensei." Oh how she felt like skipping slowly through a meadow of wishing flowers. She picked up the poor fish, putting it back into the pond before returning to the clearing. "Is there anything I can help you with Sensei?"

.oO(OOC: gonna leave this topic and help with you with gate duty XD. I'm also not counting words anymore since it's the end of the topic and I'm not training anything.)

She stood back up gracefully, giving a light shrug. "Well, if you're bored enough for it you could always come help Ashi and myself patrol. Make sure everyone keeps in line and is abiding by the rules. It's boring work, but it's better than nothing, I guess." She chuckled. "Besides, someone might eventually break the rules, you never know. Tempers flare easily when people lose fights."

She watched Kou put the fish back and then nodded in the general direction she'd arrived from. "You're more than welcome to join me." With that she took off, knowing she had to get back to gate duty, but going slow enough for Kou to join her and keep up if she chose to do so.

-Exit.-

.oO(Sounds cool!)

Smiling she whistled for Nori. With him by her side she left the training grounds with Amaya.

-Exit. Thread End.-