The art of lightning release was something passed down through the generations of the Ryuzoji clan, an element of which most members specialized in as both their dominant element and as a part of the kekkei genkai – the ability to see electrical currents around them. And for Miyako, this was no exception. It was raiton that she felt most comfortable with; the crackle of electricity flowing through her when she trained was a feeling that she had long since gotten used to. Even at a young age, it became clear that her primary element was raiton, much like her predecessors – her mother had been thrilled, or as thrilled as she allowed herself to be before demanding that Miyako train until she perfected it. But while she was passionate about utilizing raiton in battle, it was kenjutsu that she poured most of her time and effort into training, and after her first training session with her squad, she had realized that it was time to change it up a little and spend some time improving her raiton jutsus.

It had been some time since she last reviewed the jutsu that she had accumulated thus far, and after her first training session with her squad, it had become evident that in order to keep up with the others, she would need to improve her ninjutsu in addition to her kenjutsu. And so bright and early in the morning, after taking her usual stroll to lighten her mood after last night’s episode with her mother – which thankfully involved more verbal conflict than physical – she headed off towards the Battle Plateau, a place she didn’t frequent often as she normally spent more time training in the Ryuzoji clan training grounds.

Standing off in a corner alone at the Battle Plateau, she removed her katana from the strap on her side and placed it carefully on the ground, standing up once more and turning her back to her katana to ensure that she wouldn’t cause it any damage. The first thing she had to practice was her Sparkler technique, knowing that it would prove most useful when used in combination with her Misty Flame Dance. The idea of the jutsu was to release a stream of sparks from her finger tips and, if done correctly, it would be able to administer painful first degree burns to anyone within 5 meters of her. But for Miyako, she had other intentions for it as well. Her Fire Style: Misty Flame Dance jutsu was the conversion of chakra into a gaseous substance that was dangerously flammable – perfect to be lit aflame by the raiton jutsu she intended to perfect right now. Extending her hand out just a bit with her fingers pointed upwards, chakra began building up at her fingertips, and within moments sparks began to fly. It wasn’t her intention to fire them at anyone, and so she left it within her palm, watching as her blue-gray sparks danced across hand. Well, that was easy enough. Letting out a soft sigh, she put a stop to the jutsu.

As much as she was uncomfortable with other people, training alone wasn’t going to get her anywhere. But what could she do? It was far beyond her comfort zone to simply watch up to someone and request for them to train with her. The sparring match with Ikki had been somewhat of a weird misunderstanding, but to actually approach a stranger – hell, she wasn’t even sure if she had enough confidence to go ask her squad mates to try with her, even if both Miho and Masayo were raiton users.

Jutsu Used:

Chakra Level: 145/150

Raiton Training S>SS - 608/9000

Juyo set out for another day of training, leaving his house early that morning before any of his clan were up.  It seemed he was having a lot of training lately all thanks to the Chuunin Exams.   After his few spars with others, he knew that he needed to improve if he wanted to make it through the exams.  He was determine to see to it that he’d become stronger and bring honor to his family, even if the rest of the clan didn’t want it.  Today, he would get one step closer to that by training and honing his skill at Raiton ninjutsu until he was perfect at it.

With clenched fists and a hard look in his eyes, he made his way to the Battle Plateau.  Already this place felt like home to him, more so than his clan’s residence.  It was here that he could train without dirty looks or constant mockery.   He couldn’t stand to just let his clan watch with their posh smirks and whisper between them.  He couldn’t let them even get a chance to make them feel better about themselves by cutting him down.  No, anywhere in Kumogakure no Sato was better than at his clan’s residence.

Stepping onto the plateau, finally arriving to the training grounds, Juyo took a look around him.  It was rather vacant, only a small handful of people were training in the big plateau.  He searched among the few who were present.  Almost everyone seemed to be training with a partner, and Juyo himself needed one for the training he desired.  Training by himself never helped him much unless it was a new jutsu, then he’d prefer to be alone so as to keep it a secret.  That was the way of shinobi, as told to him by his mother.  A shinobi was to always be full of secrets so as to best surprise their enemies.

Although most had training partners, Juyo noticed one girl setting her katana against a rock.   She had shoulder length black hair that waved faintly in the wind.   Her eyes looked dark from a distance, and when she took a look of her surroundings, it seemed like her mind was someplace else.  Her attire suited her well and Juyo could tell she took herself seriously by her uniform looking outfit.  Watching her from a distance, it seemed she was going to train alone.  Something about her made Juyo want to train with her.

Walking up to the dark-haired girl, Juyo pulled out his right hand from his jacket pocket to greet her.  Before he got too close, she raised her hand up and shot out lightning chakra from her fingertips.  He stopped and watched the electric show as she played with the lightning in her hand.  Juyo smiled knowing he had picked the right person to ask to train with.  “Hey,” he said, raising his voice a bit and straightening his back for good posture.  “I know this is kinda out of the blue, but you wouldn’t mind training with me today would you?”  He moved his right hand to his head and smiled at the girl.  Hopefully she wouldn’t mind him training his Raiton with her, or on her depending on the type of training he eventually decided on.  Juyo had always thought having a partner would be better for training purposes, as it gave each person more motivation to work harder and instead of just doing exercises and drills, you could always spar with the other person for real combat training.

Miyako had been aware of the other’s presence before he spoke, even if she was still lost in her thoughts. It was strange how fate worked – here she was, thinking about how she wanted someone to train with but was too uncomfortable to approach anyone and someone had willingly approached her asking for the same thing. “Hey, I know this is kinda out of the blue, but you wouldn’t mind training with me today would you?” Jerking herself out of her thoughts the moment he spoke, her blue-gray eyes flickering up to see the face of the person addressing her. He was tall – at least, taller than she was by a decent amount – but there was a youthful touch to his features, like he was maybe a year or two younger than her. Green eyes were waiting for her reaction, but instead of the surroundings of his irises being white, they were an eerie yellow. But although she made such observations, Miyako wasn’t one to care too much about appearances. He didn’t appear to have been holding any large weapons, so while she couldn’t rule out Bukijutsu, it seemed clear that he wasn’t another Kenjutsu user. If he had approached her right after her display with her raiton technique, then he would have probably seen her use it – so that could mean he was a fellow raiton user looking to train. Should she agree to his request, then it would be one of the first times she has ever trained with someone of her own free will - quite the significant stage for her to reach.

“If you would like –“ She started off by saying, but realized it might come off as rude if she ended it simply with that four worded response, and so she continued, “I would also like to have someone to train with.” Her response was as mild and quiet as usual, eyes still carefully observing the other. Should she start by introducing herself? But he was the one who approached her – would it be weird to give out her name first? Clearly, her lack of socialization with others throughout her life had reduced her capabilities of deciding what to do in these cases. She was curious to know this person’s family name though, wanting to know what clan he was associated with. With some thought, she finally decided on introducing herself, dipping her head a little before saying, ”I’m Miyako. Ryuzoji Miyako.”

From the looks of it, he was probably another genin – but then again, looks can be deceiving. There would be no reason for someone of a higher rank to train with her, right? “Was there anything in particular you wanted to train?” She asked after a pause, knowing that his answer could reveal at least a little bit of what he was capable of. It would be foolish to jump right into a spar or something without having any background information, and if they both wanted to benefit from training, it wouldn’t hurt to exchange a bit of information.

Chakra Level: 145/150
Raiton Training S>SS - 1123/9000

The girl turned her head to Juyo, stopping her dance of lightning chakra in her hand.  She had dark blue-gray eyes that flickered in the light.  From up close, it seemed that she was a bit older than her, even though he had her beat in the height department.  Yet something about her seemed she was around his level, though he couldn't be completely sure of that.  For all Juyo knew, she could be a tiny little devil that could squash him in a fight.  Taking note of the katana leaning against the rock and the little lightning dance with her fingers, Juyo could safely assume she knew Bukijutsu and Ninjutsu, though there wasn't a clear way to tell which one she was better at.  That would require a bit more time and observation to find out.

“If you would like –“ she started, then caught herself mid-sentence for a bit, raising a curious eyebrow but she continued. “I would also like to have someone to train with.”  Well that was good, just what Juyo was hoping for.  It seemed this girl was fine with him being her training partner, which was good.  Usually people were opposed because of his eyes or teeth, and his iron scent definitely ran off quite a few others.  Knowing this, he had made sure to wash up this morning to dampen the scent as much as he could, though he didn't try to cover it up with cologne as couldn't stand using them.  She spoke up once again, "I’m Miyako. Ryuzoji Miyako.  Was there anything in particular you wanted to train?”

Juyo lit up in a big grin, unconsciously showing his sharp canines and incisors at the girl.  "Nice to meet you Miyako.  My name is Dākuchairudō, Juyo, but you can just call me Juyo."  Tussling his hair with his right hand, he tried to think of what he was coming to train for.  Miyako's answer had thrown him off so much that he had forgotten what he wanted to do.  After a couple scrates of his head his thoughts came back to him.  "Ah, yeah, for the training I was thinking Raiton, if you want.  We could do something else if you want, though."  He was still grinning, his right hand still stuck to his head as if he was nervous.  Juyo couldn't understand why he was, he'd sparred with a couple other people before, though he did it with a bit more anger than how he was now.  The only reason he could possibly understand was she was another Ryuzoji, and the first one to be nice to him from the start.  "You know, it seems there's a lot of you, Ryuzoji around here.  You're the third one I've met this week."

"Nice to meet you Miyako.  My name is Dākuchairudō, Juyo, but you can just call me Juyo." Dakuchairudo Juyo – she didn’t know much about the clan only that whatever their kekkei genkai was, it had something to do with their slightly different appearances. Not that she minded it much – unless he did something completely out of the ordinary and transform into a wolf or something. "Ah, yeah, for the training I was thinking Raiton, if you want.  We could do something else if you want, though." At his suggestion of training raiton, it confirmed her thoughts that he had seen her little display of lightning release. It was tempting to have a training partner to perfect the element she was most comfortable yet, but at the same time, it was extremely risky – a dangerous factor when considering her clan’s greatest secret. If she even took the slightest damage of a higher rank, it could very well incapacitate her.

“Training raiton is fine.” The reply came after a moment of hesitation. “Would you like to just train, or spar?” Training was definitely preferred; reviewing their raiton jutsu and giving each other pointers was appealing, not to mention safe, but sparring would be much more effective. Either way, she was going to have to start taking risks if she wanted to exceed her current level of power.

"You know, it seems there's a lot of you, Ryuzoji around here.  You're the third one I've met this week." At the mention of her clan, Miyako blinked. Third one? She couldn’t help but wonder who he had met previously. There were only about three other Ryuzoji members that she had personally associated with apart from her family members – her squad leader, Bokuden, the second heir, Ikki, and the strange special jounin she had met the other day, Aneki. All were formidable fighters, and if Juyo had encountered any of them, then he himself may be more than she had come to expect. Miyako was beginning to have second thoughts about training raiton with him, especially if he was going to be strong in that element. But still, her pride didn’t allow her to say anything except, “I hope not to disappoint you – my clan mates are likely to be much stronger than I am.”

Of course, that was her low self-esteem showing. It was partially true, there were many skilled shinobi from the Ryuzoji clan, but she had defeated Ikki in a sparring match, so there was no reason for her to call herself the weakest. Still, it was a habitual thing, and the hurtful words she heard every day being uttered by her mother didn’t help in the slightest bit. Tugging self-consciously on the red scarf looped around her neck, she suddenly just wanted the training to start so she could pool all her attention into training and not allow herself to be lost in such thoughts.

Chakra Level: 145/150
Raiton Training S>SS - 1618/9000

"Oh," Juyo thought about how he should respond. "Training raiton would be fine." Looking at the girl, she seemed to be not as confident once he had mentioned that he'd seen other Ryuzoji memebers. He thought it odd, as both Ikki and Aneki had seemed quite confident or even cocky to him. A thought occurred to him that maybe she wasn't from the head family like Ikki was. Aneki was a different story, being more serious and wanting to always fight that it made Juyo worry about him. Still, the tone of her voice reminded him of how he had used to think of himself and his parents whenever people from his clan yelled insults at them or humiliated him. "Don't worry about the others, you're just as strong, I'm sure of it." He couldn't tell if she was being humble or unconfident, though he felt like it was the latter. Being a fellow shinobi of his village, Juyo decided he would try to help Miyako as best as he could to be more confident in her abilities.

"Let's just do some exercises. One of us can do an exercise while the other critiques, switching back and forth. I think that'd be the best way to hone our raiton abilities." He thought that'd be a good place to start, and then maybe later they could spar for a bit. Switching things up each time they trained would be fine. "We can spar later if you'd like, but I'd rather focus on some exercises...err, I mean, if that's okay with you." Juyo wanted to slap himself for presuming so much. He didn't really leave much chance for the girl to choose what she'd rather do.

He stood and waited on her reply. While he waited, his thoughts turned to his sparring match with Ikki. Wonder if she has Doton chakra nature as well, he thought as he recalled Ikki's Doton Shackles that had caught him in the battle. He had learned a lot about fighting another shinobi in the sparring match, though he also wondered if Miyako had the Current Perception like Ikki did. When Juyo had asked about it, he didn't seem too open about it, only giving away that it was because of Current Perception that he saw through Juyo's Genjutsu. It was quite the curious thing and had been plaguing Juyo a lot lately. The most he had come up with was that the 'Current' meant electrical currents, and judging by 'Perception' it meant they could see electrical currents around them. How far and exactly how this worked was still a mystery to Juyo, although his constant meetings with the Ryuzoji made him consider sparring to find out more. Where things stand, he didn't think he'd be able to defeat one as of yet. He needed to figure things out about this 'Current Perception' in order for him to beat one of them.

Shaking his mind back to reality, he looked back to the girl with a polite smile. Usually he didn't really care for girls, as they'd usually get in the way, but seeing as she was a Ryuzoji he knew she was stronger than she thought. He was glad to have her as a training partner.