[Training Doton (and thus Shouton) C->B.]

Tame sighed. What to do, what to do.... he wasn't much for doing things monotonously. He certainly knew he had to further his skills if he was going to be anything of a formidable opponent. Well, any more powerful than he was right now, anyhow. He certainly couldn't take on a Kage at his level....not that he'd want to. Most definitely, the young man now of the surname Itagaki was a long-range fighter. At the most, he might shoot a Kage from afar. That crime spree in Iwa really kicked his crazy side awake. Ever since his mother died, he was willing to try more and more dangerous things....he supposed that the most dangerous thing of all was to be a danger to others.

That sparked a self-interesting yet deliciously malicious thought within the crystal-user. He simply focused....focused.....Aha. Got you.

His own personal ability, the Mind's Eye of the Kagura, found some victims-to-be nearly instantly. Ah, to be a ninja...so much freedom. And to be a ninja not bound to a village...there was nothing he couldn't do any more.

[195/1600 Gifted]

300/310:

Solstice landed having been jumping through the trees of Kirigakure, moving out to the boarder on a scout mission was something she more or less had to do once in a while, waving her arm for the teams she had taken alongside her to fan out, as the third kage to be appointed in the same lifetime she felt the need to at the very least keep herself safe, there had been some news of a ninja crossing the boarder of Kiri, but the location that the sensory ninja had given was vague at best. Solstice began to track through the bush alone, her people moving out of sight, but far from out of contact.

Solstice wore her mask over her face, looking to and fro as the black mask, adorned with the insignia of the cereal killer who had once plagued Kiri hung on her face, she stalked through the bush silently covered in the hooded now black shroud of the mizukage inside out to hide the obvious printed tell of its wearer. Her movements through the bush and plant-life perfect, never slowing down nor even barely making a sound as her hand extended to move a branch from her path, releasing it behind her gradually making no more sound or movement than a simple breeze. They had no information on the newcomer, and that is what they were sent for. The boarders of Kiri were on lockdown with people like Shichiouza whom were capable of eliminating a Kage should they be given the chance.

But therein lay the goal, never giving them the chance. It was more likely that the crosser was some kind of nomad, who was simply unlucky that the virtually disguised Mizukage had offered to take up the position of a scout as opposed to a builder or a stone mason or carpenter today to aid the city. It was not long before. It was not long before she heard a slight whisper on the wind, she was not yet a sage, and had only just begun to learn the arts of Senjutsu, but in being able to feel and draw strength from the chakra within the area around her, her natural senses had become more in tune while she was in such as position to be able to calmly use them.

flowing little chakra into the threads of her coat, Solstice became like a ghost amongst the misty rainforest. Little more or less than the faintest of shadows stalking toward what she had heard. Footstep after footstep she moved closer and closer, not even a ripple of sound escaping her feet from her footsteps as she moved more silently than the grave itself... The title was named 'shadow' for a reason after all. As she drew closer she could begin to see a simple figure. With a knock of her golden gloves on a nearby tree, she made her presence known politely. Not confirming who she was, very little word had escaped about her over the past couple of weeks, not even all of kirigakure knew of the new kage. Other than she was an Aisu, and wore black as opposed to white. Such fickle tells disguised her well.

"Greetings stranger," She spoke in her soft voice having announced herself from the mists, what little facade of her threads ended as she became seemingly solid once again. What brings you across the waves? Solstice would blend in here, her mask did not look like anbu, being known for a famous criminal and all, she would hide her identity until she could best decipher who this person was, as well as his intentions. One could never be too careful with kage killers about.

chakra 395:

Archery sub spec training - 625/1500

Tame sprinted through the oddly wooded areas of Kirigakure no Sato. He thought it was strange that a place supposedly covered in water would have a forest or two like this. The trees came on slowly, peppered around the landscape and slowly growing denser. One tree every five seconds. Every three seconds. Every other second. Pretty soon, the trees were so closely packed together that he might have thought it was Konoha. Once he touched a foot to the ground, the marshy texture immediately reminded him where he was.

The young man came to a clearing, a place with firmer ground as well as fewer trees. As he landed, he heard a knocking sound, indubitably some tempered material on the equally durable wood. Turning to the source of the sound, Tame saw a rather odd figure. A black garment with a metal mask...He could see this person....but yet he couldn't. He or she sort of faded in and out of view....not only that, this one managed to evade the Itagaki's sensing radius....quite impressive to say the least. Then, a voice, quite feminine, rang out from behind the mask. "Greetings, stranger. What brings you across the waves?" Tame paused for a few seconds before replying. His lips did not move, his throat vibrated none, not an utterance from him at all. Words simply resounded around the area, from everywhere and nowhere. I come here simply on whims....seeing the world, honing myself. The young man cursed his inability to express himself as he pleased--the mystical object that allowed him to speak still had its limitations, but nevertheless he was thankful for the ability. Silently he looked around the area.

[480/1600]

Solstice listened intently as she noticed that he was speaking not audibly but through waves and patterns of the mind, it was a clever trick, and one only some of the most talented sensory ninjas in Kiri were taught to do over great distances so that they could communicate with the people who they needed to, be it the Kage or other important ninja on their various missions. This clicked to Solstice that he was either A/ hiding his voice, B/ was a strong enough sensory user to not need to use his voice, or C/ Had no voice. Because why would you use chakra on what solstice assumed was an ability while the person who was talking to you was little more than twenty feet away.

Solstice did not see or notice the gem's involvement with the skill, so she assumed it was a jutsu. Moving a little closer non threateningly, away from the tree her fuuma shuriken could be seen collapsed and sheathed like a sword to one side of her body. Out in the wilderness and out seeing the world is great to be able to hone your own skills, but I find it becomes very hard to learn new ones. Detatching one of the collapsible blades of the fuuma shuriken and holding it in her hand by the ring as if it were a dagger she observed either side of the weapon, parting her lips and once again speaking through the featureless mask. I have almost to date learnt and commited to memory virtually every means to attack, and guard with a blade, but as a lover of weaponry i find myself drawn to more, yet away from civilisation lack people to be willing to teach me.

Her eyes them moved up to the new comer, and cocked to one side quizzically, hoping that the two of them could reach an understanding, it was in the vein hope that he would be the user of some form of weapon or ninja tool to which Solstice would then be able to potentially learn more about this ninja. The other ninja who had travelled with Solstice at this point were some distance away and had taken up their normal positions at the boarders, though not so far as to be unreachable, they would not forget their Kage nor stray too far without her word, but each of them was some kilometres away by now which gave the two of them an air of peace without the threat of distraction which would give Solstice time to decipher the riddle of this man.

The name is Sera, Sera Aisu. She listed a name amongst unclaimed missing nin.

WC: 1073

Out in the wilderness and out seeing the world is great to be able to hone your own skills, but I find it becomes very hard to learn new ones. I have almost to date learnt and commited to memory virtually every means to attack, and guard with a blade, but as a lover of weaponry i find myself drawn to more, yet away from civilisation lack people to be willing to teach me. The name is Sera. Sera Aisu.

This young woman, too, seemed to have an oddly detached voice....though it was probably because Tame could not see lips moving, or even a face, remotely. The former Yamada relied heavily on his sense of sight, as he was quite the expert with small details and movements. It was what made him such an expert sniper. Oh? A weaponry lover? I am one, also. A fanatic of shots, myself....Lessons? Tame explained this as he summoned his signature weapons, the arrowguns he dubbed the 'Shard-Stingers'. They looked to be quite expertly crafted, yet it was his own design that created these, born purely of his clan's crystal. He was quite proud of them, and was quite proficient in wielding them....One of the reasons, no doubt, that no one dared pursue him after he defected from his home village of stones, Iwagakure no Sato.

The woman's words implied that she wished to learn something today. Thus, with the last word he spoke, he inflected the tone more as a question, to inquire as to whether she would like to learn, say, the art of arrows. Tame was vindictive and a bit off his rocker, but one thing he knew about himself was that he loved Kyuu-jutsu. It pleased him to no end to be able to teach it to someone else, to spread the joy. Well...that was IF this woman wished to learn the art. If not....well, he wouldn't be happy about that. Might accidentally off someone. He hated when that happened to him. Oh, what a hard existence was his.

[829/1600]

Solstice looked and marvelled for a moment at the crystal apparitions as they were summoned from thin air, they were fantastic, crafted from chakra from which did not seem too dissimilar from her own. The weapons seemed to be more or less firearms similar to what puppet users were known to wield within their automatons. It was only natural for the Chikamatsu weapons to evolve into something which the ninja of the world would be wielding in the palms of their hands with deadly precision. Similar to normal every day Senbon launchers she wondered on their range and capability. Then she noted the skill it would take to use them.

Kyuu-jutsu was not something that was often seen in kiri outside the Daimyo palace to the west, where they were experienced in many many forms of combat. She had planned to travel there later and learn their art of basic archery, but she felt that this opportunity heralded vastly greater potential. The masters of basic Archery, though this seemed something more advanced, and something that even the kage could learn to use with skill, depending on the skill of the user. Solstice stepped forward at his question and bowed her head in response. I would be honoured to learn the art of ranged combat, forgive me for my silence and surprise. It's not often you see a weapon as stylised and interesting as that.

Solstice spoke raising a hand with a light arm and pointing at one of the weapons as she spoke thought i would be letting a limited opportunity to learn something interesting if i turned down your offer, so i feel as though i must accept the generous offer, and should you wish to trade knowledge i would be more than happy to offer you lessons in the blade. She smiled only slightly beneath her mask, and stepped forward a few more paces to be amongst the clearing that Tame stood in. Archery i have always thought as one of the most majestic disciplines. It is simple and poetic, I think we should begin.

Solstice tilted her head in a bow of respect, using subtle tilts of her head and theatrical gestures to portray her emotions as she felt them, bringing the mask to life in a near kabuki sense. Should he teach her as he had offered Solstice would have gained a valuable skill to ad to her arsenal, and one which was not easy to come by through peers around the village. Especially for free, but she still had no idea who this person was, they had not given a name, meaning that their history to a massive extent was still yet unknown. But Solstice was digging and dredging out her memory for who they might be, trying to remember old records to think about the bizarre kekkei genkai of which she herself had not seen or heard of in her studies.

It was like a doton release, but forming diamonds of various colours from the air that glistened and reflected coloured light with even the slightest touch of the sun. They fibrous and no doubt brittle crystal formations seemed to her like instant tempering of earth into a material which if crystals were anything to go by would be able to come to the most wicked of points, though not quite as potent as the particle thin points that ice was capable of making. The memories of the diamond forest passed her mind so strongly that she actually had to physically shake them off for a moment before looking back to the object at hand.

The crystal formed weapons looked like they were made exclusively for him out of his crystal, Solstice began to wonder if she would be able to wield them, especially if they were some form of jutsu.

Word Count Kyuujutsu 1500/1500

I would be honoured to learn the art of ranged combat, forgive me for my silence and surprise. It's not often you see a weapon as stylised and interesting as that. Though i would be letting a limited opportunity to learn something interesting if i turned down your offer, so i feel as though i must accept the generous offer, and should you wish to trade knowledge i would be more than happy to offer you lessons in the blade. Archery i have always thought as one of the most majestic disciplines. It is simple and poetic, I think we should begin.

Tame smirked as the young woman, Aisu Sera, was eager to learn another discipline of the broad spectrum of Bukijutsu. Frankly, the young man thought his own art was a bit too different from the others to be considered the same specialization, but that would be a discussion for later. Yes, much later.....the one whose surname was now Itagaki had big plans for himself. He was planning to join the criminal group which had become infamous five years ago and was still at large. What their plan was, who knew....but joining one of the major five villages was not an option for him. And the only way they would notice a simple ninja like him was if he did something big. Really big.  Pushing that to the back of his mind, he got back to the task at hand.

Less skill....than concepts. Steady hand, unyielding mind. Training improves these.

Tame decided that teaching by example was better than trying to explain it with what few and very limited words he had to spare. Stamping his foot, a wave of crystal dust came over the area, rendering sight useless for the briefest of moments with refracted light. When the scene came into view again, six small, person-sized pillars of rock were standing in front of them, stalwart as the earth from whence they came. Tame gladly gave one of his arrowguns to this Sera person, and demonstrated how to fire as such. Pulse chakra. As he said this. he visibly flared chakra in his hand; aiming slowly so Sera could observe, he flared it again, and the arrowgun responded with his Nag'ya-no-Jutsu. A bolt, an octrahedral aggregate of crystal dust, shot out from the elongated pyramid of a barrel. The earthen pillar had a clear hole in the middle of it. He motioned for Sera to try it, flowing his chakra into the arrowgun he gave her so as to allow his jutsu to work.

[1263/1600]

Solstice watched with an amount of eagerness as the ninja used his weapon, he seemed to use a particular jutsu as a trigger to activate the hammer and fire the weapon, she was impressed as he stomped his foot and created the cloud of crystal dust which had become the weapon's ammunition. Even stepping back a number of little steps in an attempt to avoid the cloud, though each of them formed into small targets of which she assumed that they would be shooting at in the mean time. He demonstrated the weapon and with a sum od astounding accuracy there was a single bolt from the weapon with a pulse of his chakra fired into the crystalline monument crumbling it on contact.

Solstice was surprised by the speed and the power of the weapon, though she could not help but wonder with the speed of the bolt whether or not she would be able to catch it were one flying toward her chest. Shaking of the strange alpha thought process she found herself being passed one of the weapons. Having analysed the ninja's stance, she noted where he had braced for any amount of kick back on the weapon, as she was aware things like crossbows had a mass of recoil which was something not all ninja were familiar with, which pulled the weapon forward. Taking the weapon in her hand she levelled it attempting to mimic the stance Tame had used.

She began to understand the easy set of not so complex methods on why the weapon was held the way it was, much of it was simple posture the rest of it was the ease of holding the weapon and lining it up with the user's eye. But when it came down to pulsing her chakra, Solstice knew exactly what he meant, she pulsed her demon ice corruption in nigh on the exact same method she believed he used for the trigger of his weapons, because it was a simple mechanism which was effective and most ninja were trained in the ability to use the chakra gates which flowed through their palms and fingers. Looking down to the weapon she lined up the target.

The chakra control of her gates rivaled even the greatest of the Hyuuga clan, literally using the chakra gate in her palm like a valve she opened it, causing a pulse of her own not too dissimilar chakra to hopefully activate the weapon combined with the allowance on the weapon that the new user had bestowed, no doubt to essentially lock the weapons to himself. If they were his jutsu it would under normal circumstances prove very unlikely for other ninja to be able to use his weapons unless they possessed the same release that created them or the same jutsu.

Tame was surprised, honestly. The woman had picked up and inspected his weapon with unexpected familiarity, or at least a sort of calm. Only Tame, the one who wielded it regularly, had that sort of finesse-inspired sangfroid. This Sera was no doubt a connoisseur of weapons. If anything, she was intrigued by the strange anatomy of his arrowguns. She pulsed her chakra--which sent a small chill through him, though she did say she was an Aisu--through the Shard-stinger. It was an interesting moment, to say the least, a non-Yamada (even a non-archer) using an arrowgun made for a Crystal Release.

Tame knew, though....as a Nuke-nin, he could no longer afford to stay in one place for very long. He had been wandering around the Land of Water for some time now....he had to keep moving or someone might spread some info. It wasn't likely that anyone would have noticed him, though....what with him being mute and unable to talk to people, on top of not proudly wearing his stricken Hitai-ate on his person at all times. He thought that was just stupid, displaying to the entire world that you were in the Bingo Book. Either way....he had to wrap this up.

Admittedly very good. You grasp concepts easily. Now you must train yourself. Farewell.

And with that, Tame utilized yet another technique of his, the Diamond-Dust Dance. Collecting small particles of dust around him, he imperfectly refracted light around himself as he moved at high speed. Someone as adept (displayed by her Bukijutsu skills, anyhow) would probably be able to trace him, but his intent was not to escape the woman calling herself Sera. It was only to escape the Land of Water.

He ran through the marsh at top speed, the sludgy ground not even hindering him any more. The Yamada had only one thing on his mind now, after thinking to himself about the purpose of being a Nuke-ninja. Revenge.

[1600/1600 Doton and Shouton C -> B]

/ Leaves~

(may edit later)