Morning mist in Kiri always seemed to be the densest, it blinded and loomed hauntingly all around you, making you question your senses. Every morning He would wake to its presence, even in his home duo to its exposure to the elements. It was too early, even for the birds as the sun had not yet woke up, four thirty to be exact. He walked through the village, its emptiness at that time giving the appearance of a ghost town. His footsteps echoed on the stone floor as he walked the street all the way to the training grounds. A couple ambitious shinobi such as himself were already awake and stretching as well as he walked past them. They would ignore him as always, not even questioning where he trained at.

He had a special place along the river, roughly a fifteen minute walk north of the training grounds that always seemed too busy for him. There was a stone, pointed like a sharks tooth or an arrow head; from there he would take a right into the dense forest. The forest was so thick you could only dodge trees and see nothing ahead of you, especially with the fog. His training ground was roughly a hundred meters through it and into a large clearing that seemed like it was a completely different country unto its own.

The grass was a rich green where the moisture from the morning left beads of water glistening along the rising sun. The river was calm as well; the river was crystal clear and flowing quickly from the small waterfall that was roughly as tall as a man. The river in the clearing started there and flowed the rest of the way under a small wooden bridge that Dameon had created to cross it, it was nothing more than a large plank of wood though. After all, the river was only about ten meters wide and there was plenty of forest around him to use for projects involving wood.

Dameon still has a large smile across his face as he recalled the night before. Having met Reina seemed to brighten his mood and gave him yet another reason to get stronger. It was a passionate urge to protect her, and as his only friend he felt compelled to do so. She also mentioned that she would want to train with him. He knew though that her hours of training were different than his own so he didn’t know when to expect or if she could even train today, but he hoped it would happen sooner than later.

Dameon took his usual place in the center of the clearing and began to stretch and loosen up for the typically rough training he always put himself through. Stretching was usually the most important part of training, if you didn’t stretch you could pull something and get injured and you wouldn’t be able to continue on. He was dressed in his usual attire; his coat wrapped around him but not strapped revealing his chest. He wished had had more to train with, he had a couple of logs dug into the ground into the ground for punching and throwing weaponry at it, but he lacked even a single kunai or shuriken. He was collecting and saving his money for something better though, an actual Katana.

At the moment he only carried a wooden training katana called a bokken. It was used to train people in the art of using a katana, but it was also used in training aikido. Dameon knew Aikido well self-training himself in it from books he collected when he was younger. Not only was it used for sword fighting, but it was also used without swords as a form of hand to hand to hand fighting that used your opponent’s momentum against them.  He grabbed his bokken from a small chest he kept there hidden amount the trees and took his form again in the middle of the clearing.

He practiced his movements artistically, smoothly moving with every step he took and every action he made with the bokken. Not in an attempt to harm or kill but to practice and master muscle movements with it. Martial artists and taijutsu users would do the same movement’s hours a day as to keep themselves fresh and their reflexes at perfection. Should a move or action be required their muscles would react faster than their mind could ever hope to achieve. He breathed freely, calmly, as he finished his movements and moving the bokken back to his side as if holstering it. Than he began to repeat the same performance he had just practiced.

His training wasn’t anything super advanced or uncommon. He always started things slowly as to give the body time to wake up and then he would go into the back breaking training he continuously put out day by day. To Dameon everything in life was training. Learning could be seen as a form of training as you enhancing something you didn’t know before. His life revolved around improving and become an absolute perfectionist in everything he did and would do. His thoughts were clear as could be, mind focused only at the task at hand and getting the most he could out of his training.

As he holstered his bokken again he turned to the wooden dummy that was behind him. It was dug into the ground and even had smaller logs coming out of the sides to mimic arms. He breathed in again slowly, and as he exhaled he yelled releasing his own personal energy behind the attack as his bokken whipped out and struck the log at the top where the head would supposedly be. It didn’t stop there he did the exact same performance he had just done without contact onto the wooden dummy but this time instead of lasing an entire minute he finished it within three seconds. He holstered the bokken again. A grin on His face as he prepared to do it yet a second time.

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Bukijutsu Training
C-B
1,011/2,000

A single drop of sweat streaked down his face as he felt his body warming up as the sun began to crest into the sky radiating its warmth on the village. His bokken was still drawn performing his series of quick strikes and attacks on it. The wooden dummy was beginning to signs of fatigue with countless number of dents from the wood to wood contact. The sound of the wooden bokken striking the dummy gave a loud snap that was impossible to mistake. Dameon yelled forcing all of his energy and strength into the attack with powerful exhales which were followed by smooth inhales. His posture from a kenjutsu standpoint was near perfect but he lacked the training against moving targets that was so crucial to the development of a swordsman.

He rested the Katana against his side again and broke from his posture grabbing his flask of water he had brought with him. He had already been training the same kenjutsu art for the past hour and half and against a single target. Next would be randori or the practice against multiple foes. He didn’t have even one actual foe but he did have something that was better than nothing at all. On the opposite end of the field he had a circle made with six dummies similar to the one had been practicing on earlier. He walked into the middle of them all. Dents could already be seen on them from his prior training and postured up again the same as before. He inhaled slowly and exhaled again fiercely with a yell that was quickly followed by six large snaps from the contact of wood on wood.

He postured up again the previous one he had done was the easiest way to deal with six opponents surrounding you. He would in theory parry and counter the first enemy in front of him with a vertical strike followed by countering the leftmost enemy’s attack as that would be the blindside he would have to overcome. With a quick sidestep and horizontal strike to the midsection he could separate himself from the group. Drawing on their fears of instantly losing two members.  From there he could attack the enemy directly opposite of him quickly moving forward with another parry into a thrust through the man’s mid-section, followed by the drawing out of the sword and performing a quick rotation to the side of the same man using his falling body as a potential shield. From there it was half the numbers and just selecting the appropriate action for that situation.

He had a new way though he wanted to practice; it was a lot trickier and required the use of other weapons in the process. He charged forward again the same as before but this time with a parry, followed by a countering thrust. To which he quickly drew up and stepped off the would be dead dummy and performed a backflip as he let one hand free of his bokken and grabbed two kunai launching them at the heads of the dummies that were on either side of his first target. He gripped his sword as he aligned himself with the ground ending up just on the backside of the enemy that was exactly behind him to where he started. He came down with a large cut to the back of the dummies head and quickly finished the two next that dummy off with two loud snaps.

Dameon looked up, his kunai had hit there mark dead center to where the nose would have been if it was an actual enemy. He smiled with happiness of his success, he felt like he was generally improving. Now he had to see what his limit was and how quick he could perform it. He felt like knowing one’s limit was how you pushed yourself to be better. He walked back into the ring, pulling the kunais out of the dummies and placing them back where he had them to start. He looked at the six dummies and began to think of other ways to effectively and quickly dispose of 6 targets. There were many different ways, but he was going to keep practicing and mastering the one he just learned for it to become second nature, just like the first one.

He postured up yet again and prepared to perform the exact same maneuver.  With a large yell he had started again completing the maneuver in less than four seconds. He practiced the same maneuver over, and over for a good hour somehow reducing the time to three seconds. Happy with the result he grabbed his flask of water yet again and prepared to work on something entirely different from what he already had been practicing. He just needed at this point to do straight out physical fitness to improve everything from his striking, to his cardio.

Dameon exited the ring of dummies and made his way back into the field that was at the center of the clearing and began to stretch again loosening his muscles after having practiced for some time now. While he rested momentarily he wondered if Reina was going to be showing up or not. He practiced unusually longer than most though so he wouldn’t be surprised if she came later. She also would have to find some way to sneak away from her grandparents to even come out to the training grounds, or so he gathered from their conversation the night before.

He made his way to the wooden bridge that went over the river and postured himself facing away from the small waterfall as he lifted his body up into a hand stand and began to push himself up and do vertical pushups. It was an extremely difficult thing to do as it required absolute body control of balance all the while pushing up the entire weight of your body. He had been doing them every day since he was capable of balancing himself in such a way, and could now do over a hundred and was pushing himself to hit the two hundred mark.

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1,011+1,022=2,033/2000
Bukijutsu Training C-B: Complete

The boy is good, he shows a lot of promise... Sanosuke mentally took notes from a tree he was sitting cross legged on a branch while eating an apple. The tree was a good couple meters away from the boy so he was far enough to observe and at the same time be hidden from the boy as long as he didn't make any loud noises. He was still chewing on his first bite when he saw the boy. It was already a day since Sanosuke and Navi had touched down onto the village hidden in the mist. They haven't been in the land for a minute and Navi was already on a tangent looking at things she never have seen before. Her voice chimed with "oooh, look at that. And wow that's amazing!" Before long she went off by herself. Sanosuke tried tracking down Navi by going into sage mode but she had flown out of his range rather quickly. So Sanosuke was looking in the woods for the wasp in hopes that she might pop up in here being mystified by the trees and how they look in the mist. That's when Sanosuke noticed a boy was training in kenjutsu. He watched the boy train taking swipe after swipe with his wooden sword at the training dummies. A wave of nostalgia washed over him when he saw the boy. It reminded him about how he was when he was just starting off as a shinobi being a chunin. He had always trained by himself, so it was certainly a treat to see that someone else was also doing the same thing. His training method was something that was rather basic  rather than the things Sanosuke was doing. Even so the boy showed much promise in being a swordsman. Right now Sanosuke was a silent observer in the boy's training. If Navi needed him, she'd find her way back to Sanosuke. They were linked so it was only a matter of time. In the meantime he would just watch the boy do vertical push ups. The boy still didn't know that Sanosuke was watching him, the kumo jounin must be getting better at hiding his presence. He opened his mouth to take a bite of his apple as he watched the boy train.

"Sano! There you are! I was looking all over for you!" a voice rang loud in his ears as he heard the familiar bells of his partner float up to his side. The Wasp startled Sanosuke slightly. He was so enthralled with the boy training that he didn't even notice his partner coming up behind him.

‘Two hundred and thirty’, he said to himself wincing a bit as he pushing himself up again. He heard something coming from a tree that wasn’t all too far from where he was. It was definitely the sound of someone speaking. For a while now he had felt as if someone had been watching him he didn’t need to look however. If the person watching him had wanted confrontation or to stop him with an important message of some kind, he would have already taken actions. Still now that his suspicion had been confirmed and he hated being watched when he didn’t know who was watching. He wondered subconsciously if that’s why he had been holding back in his training. He pushed himself up one last time harder than he had been doing and with enough momentum upward to rotate into a front flip as he grabbed his kunai hidden on his leg pouch and took one look and launched it. He was aiming high on purpose just to get the man’s attention. He landed standing straight upright his body noticeably more tone than other shinobi of the same age. He walked forward off the bridge grabbing his coat and wrapping around himself as he approached.

“I know you’re not here as an enemy but your also not from the village. You are also a fairly high leveled shinobi from Kumogakure. Welcome to Kirigakure but what brings you out this way?” He asked making simple observations about the man. The observations he made were not overly complicated to figure out, at least not to Dameon they weren’t. It was entirely possible the ninja could have been a rogue ninja but he somehow doubted that theory. Any sign of a missing ninja would have been reported to the kages mansion and hunter ninja would have been dispatched as well. He would assume the ninja was here about the enemy that was approaching the village as he knew the Mizukage had requested assistance to try and stop the threat. He waited for the man’s response from up in the tree as the glowing things he had nearly hit with a kunai flew around curiously.

“And what the hell is that thing?” He asked raising his eyebrow a bit at the floating ball of light.
================================================

3,037/3,000 Bukijutsu (Kenjutsu) B-A [Compelte]

"Geez Navi don't scare me like that" Sanosuke said tiredly as he continued biting his apple. He was fairly certain that the boy had heard Navi's outburst and so that alerted the boy that he was being watched. Sanosuke didn't want this to be a big thing. He just wanted to observe the boy briefly before continuing his search for Navi. For some reason, Navi decided to NOW find him and nearly scare him out of the tree even though Sanosuke could have easily sensed the wasp's presence. When the boy talked about how he was a fairly skilled shinobi, it made Sanosuke feel embarassed. He knew that he was good but he had no idea that he was so skilled that it can be told by just a glance at him. With the boy welcoming Sanosuke to Kirigakure, the jounin of Kumo nodded his thanks.

“And what the hell is that thing?” the boy said.

Uh-oh here we go again... Sanosuke thought to himself as he knew what was going to happen next. If Navi was a human, you could see a tick mark appeared on her forehead as she dashed right at the boy and get into the boy's face. She was a bright bulb of light so the sight of Navi dashing at someone at how fast she was flying would be enough to give anyone a small start. Stopping right before the boy the sound of angry high pitched bells ringing could be heard as she was floating a few inches from the boy's face.

"How dare you call me a thing? How would you like it if I called you just a stupid human? If you are rude to others then others will be rude to you. Do not treat me as a 'thing' who cannot think or feel. I have my own thoughts and feelings, so I would greatly appreciate me treating me like a living being!" Navi retorted angrily. The bells in her voice chimming louder and louder as her rant grew longer and longer.

Sanosuke let out a sigh and hopped down the tree. With several flips, Sanosuke made a slow descent to the ground with wind chakra he was pumping out to slow down his fall. If Sanosuke hadn't have done this he would have most likely bruised his ankle on the landing. Walking over Sanosuke whistled for Navi to retreat "Calm it down Navi." Sanosuke said tiredly. Navi looked at Sanosuke and the bells she was chimming grew silent. She looked at the boy one more time before returning to her partner's side. "Sorry about that kid, Navi hates it when people call her a thing. She's a wasp from the ancient wasp clan. I'm Sanosuke Flynt of Kumogakure. And you had the pleasure of meeting my partner, Navi."

Navi huffed as she was introduced by Sanosuke. She was going to be pissed for a while. It's been the 3rd time since they got to Kirigakure that people called her a 'thing.' She never minded when people called her a fairy, hell Navi took it as a complement. But calling her a thing would always lead to a very pissed off wasp.

Dameon simply blinked as the ‘Thing’ began to yell at him. Emotions like fear or rather just about any emotion seemed impossible for him to feel, even when he knew he should feel it. His eyebrow instead simply rose as his curiosity grew looking at the floating ball of light wondering how the hell it could be considered a wasp.  He simply scratched the back of his head a she leaned in toward it his curiosity getting the best of him as he stared it down his eyes focused on it, trying to see the whole wasp thing like he had said and he failed to see it.

“How are youtalking? I didn’t think wasps were actually able to talk. Interesting. I’m Dameon Shikyo and nice to meet you as well Navi. That’s Penpen,” Dameon said  pointing behind Navi to where his warm water penguin that was about waist high had managed to walk behind them. Penpen himself was curious about the light and had gotten close to it perhaps when she had been yelling at Dameon. Penpen was a lot like Dameon I the curious aspect and was staring intensely at Navi. Though Dameon knew Penpen well enough that he was wondering if it was edible or not. He simply waved Penpen over and took out a strip of beef jerky and handed it to him, who began to gnaw on it delightfully.

“Penpen is a warm water penguin. I took him in after I found him out here. He is a lousy at catching fish so he normally comes looking at me for food,” He said patting the back of Penpen’s head. He looked back up at the man. Still he hadn’t answered his question and he didn’t know if it was on purpose or not. Perhaps he dodged the question to mask his actual intentions. Dameon was much more persistent than that to just let the question go unanswered.

”So what brings you to kiri?” He asked again standing up straight and looking into the man’s eyes again, ignoring navi. The eyes of a person could tell you just about everything you needed to know about someone. Dameon had seemingly switched to a serious tone without hesitation looking for a straight answer from the man; he was very good at telling whether or not someone was lying to him. It was all in the eyes after all, or the gateway to the soul as it was often referred to.
====================================================================
412/2,500 Ground sensing technique.

While she was screaming her head off at the boy from the village hidden in the mist, who went by the name of Dameon Shikyo, a penguin that was to the boy's waist appeared and got closer to Navi. Since Navi was floating to eye level of Dameon she doubted that the penguin would try to eat him. But it was just the way it was staring at her as though she was going to be his next meal. "Don't even think about it Penpen." Navi warned the penguin. She was called by her partner to stop her outburst and come back to him. Navi did as that and went back to Sanosuke's side.

Sanosuke rolled his eyes at Navi's outburst. That was the best way to leave a good impression on someone he has never met: have their partner scream at them. However when Dameon introduced himself it seemed to have calmed Navi down a bit so she wasn't entirely furious with the boy, just annoyed. But then he asked how it was able for Navi to even speak. Sanosuke had to hold his arm out to restrain the wasp from tearing the boy a new eardrum at how loud she would scream at him.

”So what brings you to kiri?” Dameon asked Sanosuke.

So this boy was a shinobi of Kirigakure. It made sense. Sanosuke had already came to the conclusion that he was a shinobi of skil, so he couldn't possibly be a genin by how fluid he was moving. No genin could use a weapon or train that hard, so he was most likely chunun. Although his form had potential, there was still holes in his fighting style. Since Dameon was asking Sanosuke what buisness he had in the village hidden in the mist, it was safe to assume that he was asking this to the Kumogakure jounin because it's his duty to his native village that he asked all outsiders their purpose in being in his village. It was admiral that someone this young shinobi was attempting to find his reason for being in Kiri to someone with more experience.

"We have come to Kiri to lend our support in the fight against Seven Bells. Even though us shinobi from Kumogakure in the past have really never interviened in wars of this magnitude, we will not let Kirigakure be burnt to the ground again by Hao." Sanosuke answered back looking Dameon in the eye. He noticed that the boy was trying to read him in case he was lying. Sanosuke gave a small smirk, Even with a simple question, he's trying to analyze me. This kid is something else... Sanosuke confined to himself.

Looking around, Sanosuke tried to find the boy's teacher. He did this so that the boy could see that he was looking for something. Even though Sanosuke had already sensed the area to see that there was no one else in the forest besides Dameon, Navi, and himself. So his teacher was no where to be seen. "I'm curious kid; why are you training by yourself? Isn't your sensei somewhere around here?" Sanosuke finally asked as he put an end to his pretend search for the sensei that Sanosuke was sure was not in his area. He wanted Dameon to say it himself so that he can confirm that he was training without one.

The man’s answer had been precisely what he had predicted what he wasn’t expecting was to be asked where his teacher was. He didn’t know if he should be upset or feeling a bit of pride that he had seen his training and assumed a teacher had been involved. He saw no reason to lie to the man after all the man had been equally truthful with him. He exhaled and scratched the side of his neck thinking of exactly what to say. Perhaps the man already knew that there was nobody else around them and assumed he had no teacher, an assumption that would prove correct.

“Long story short. I was never assigned one, I was assigned to a squad but they all pretty much vanished without structure. Perhaps they felt I never needed one so early especially after being promoted to chuunin after only a month. Then everything else started happening with the fighting I would venture to say there’s nobody left to be instructors. So I have been taking on missions alone and training alone for the past eight years now, give or take. Maybe it’s because I’m not originally from kiri that they push me aside. Everyone knows kiri isn’t to prone to outsiders after all,” He said to the man. He didn’t know whether he would only just confirm the man’s suspicion or if he would truly be surprised. Either one made no difference to Dameon. He took his bokken that was on the ground where his jacket had been and walked it back to the old chest near the man had been watching him. He opened the chest and put his bokken back and grabbed his katana.

His katana was old and rusted but it was the best he could afford for the lack luster money he had been given during the past month. A month out of the academy though and he owned a real katana though. As crappy as it was it was still the means by which he had achieved chuunin to begin with. He put the sheath onto his left hip and the black beaten up handle sticking out ever so slightly. His training times seem to have been getting shorter and shorter now that they were always being constantly sent out to defend the village. He looked back at the man not knowing exactly what else to say. Perhaps he would have trained longer but he hated being hawkeyed while he trained. He wasn’t used to people let alone people taking an interest in him or his training methods. Everything he had done up to then had simply been a warm up and he felt loose and ready to get onto the hard stuff. On the other hand he could always not train and see if any new missions were available.

He closed his eyes if just for a moment and he recalled his past from what little he could remember of it. Then it dawned on him the man in front of him was from the same country he was born in. He was also a highly ranked ninja so if he had spent time reading books all perhaps he knew about his clan, and maybe even his parents.

“Have you ever heard of the Shikyo clan? It’s a scattered clan with multiple neutral towns. I believe the one in lightning country is to the northern shore,” he asked as he let his hand run along the back of his neck over the scar that was branded there, a scar that in kanji read ‘Shikyo’.
================================

1,009/2,500 ground sensing technique

"You're preaching to the choir kid. I was on route looking for a certain somebody" Sanosuke began to say. He applied emphasis to the somebody part and shot daggers at Navi. She just had to be such a tourist when they were here on business to lend aid to a village that was in war with a madman. The wasp shied away from her partner's gaze. Even she knew that she may have gotten ahead of herself when she went off on her own. She looked down and slowed her wing speed. Sanosuke could usually tell Navi's expressions by how fast her flying is. The faster she zips through the skies the happier she is; but now she was just levitating. She must have felt guilty about what she did.

After giving Navi that glare of disapproval and annoyance Sanosuke turned his attention back to the boy who was now getting a sword from a trunk that was nearby. It was ancient and looked old. The blade looked like a piece of crap. Just one swipe from his own sword and Sanosuke could swear that he would be able to break it. "When I was a genin, I was never put on a squad. After getting the genin title, most of the genin were already put in squads long enough to participate in the chunnin exams. So I was forced to train myself. I climbed the ranks without the help a traditional sensei, so I get it kid."

“Have you ever heard of the Shikyo clan? It’s a scattered clan with multiple neutral towns. I believe the one in lightning country is to the northern shore,” Dameon said to the Kumo Jounin.

"I can't say that I have actually. But it does sound familiar. I must have heard about it during a mission briefing a long time ago." Sanosuke pondered to himself, but was loud enough for Dameon to hear his thoughts. He might have heard it when he was still a genin doing small chores such as delivering books to clans. Those days were so long ago, it made him want to pay a visit to the old librarian of the Kumogakure library to see how she's doing. "Since this is a scattered clan, you wouldn't happen to be from Kumogakure?"

“No…but I am from the same country in that town. I was kicked out of it at the age of seven because it was a neutral town and I wanted to become a shinobi. The town became scared of what would happen if another Shikyo became strong. My parents protested because I was just a boy so they were put in jail. I walked for two years out of lightning country and to the coast that leads here. I fought and killed wolves and bears almost every night trying not to die but wondering why I should even live. That’s what all the scars on my chest and arms are from, claws and teeth. Eventually I was found and taken here and been living alone here in a dump of a room. I’ve trained every day since then trying to prove my clan wrong and show that I can be strong and protect those that can’t defend themselves. Just like my ancestor. My blood is the same blood as the shinobi who first discovered the ration element. I’m sure your familiar of the stories about the sage of the six paths. When ninjutsu was created the five men who discovered the elements called themselves Shikyo. Each of them an emperor to their respective country until their passing. My clan was afraid I would become the next ‘Lighting Emperor’ or so they said,” He explained as he turned to face the man again after having been staring into the tree’s recalling his past. Because his jacket was open the scars he had talked about were clearly visible.

“So that’s why I was wondering if you knew anything. I don’t even know if my parents are alive. I just expect the worst when it comes to them because it makes living a little easier than constantly worrying. It’s like everyone I’ve told that story to has abandoned me for one reason or another, whether it was out of fear or because I was an outsider. Even if I have to be alone the rest of my life I will prove to my village and my clan that I am better than what they think,” He said again throwing another link of beef jerky over to penpen who let out a small cry of happiness before he started devouring it. Dameon wasn’t entirely sure why he had told the man all of that but it seemed necessary to explain what he had talked about earlier about being alone. He hoped he would never truly have to live alone forever but he wasn’t going to let it slow him down.

“Good luck finding that someone. I best be off unless you need help finding that someone. I may not know people all too well but I know this village very well.”
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1,477/2,500 ground sensing technique

Throughout the whole time of Dameon's back story, Sanosuke tried to listen as best as he could. But he kept on thinking back to his own past. They had similar stories; they were each from a village that hated shinobi. But the difference was that Sanosuke's parents hated him because of what he did and almost killed him because of it. But Dameon had parents that actually loved him and stuck up for him until the very end. Then there was the time when he noticed that Sanosuke was never chased out of the land where he was born, he got to stay while Dameon was chased out.

At the end of Dameon's backstory, Sanosuke rolled his eyes and with a puffed chest walked over to Dameon. He placed his hand on top of Dameon's head. He had the intention of turning Dameon around to look at the penguin Penpen snacking on a piece of jerky. "So everybody who hears this story abandons you right? How many times do you think Penpen heard your autobiography? As long as you keep giving that little guy jerky he'll never leave you."

Sanosuke let go of Dameon's head and crossed his arms. He saw that Dameon had his sword being shifted. "I guess that while you were killing animals you were insulting them by using technique so bad that a preschooler could do better." Sanosuke said with his eyes closed and looking up, he paced up and down through the forest floor as he began thinking. His arms were now behind his back.

Finally Sanosuke stopped walking when he was back in front of Dameon. "Well you haven't got a formal teacher and I'm bored enough so why don t you show me what you can do. Aim to kill Dameon" Sanosuke said as he drew out his sword from his sheathe. He waved it out to his side and laid his fingers on the blade tracing it with blue chakra. When he stopped his sword was lightly layered with a thin membrane of chakra.

Jutsu Used- 330/335:

The man apparently wanted to spar which seemed odd. The man was looking for someone but apparently wanted to stop in the middle of his man hunt to train with him. The man was a high ranking ninja what did he need to train with Dameon for. Simple answer was that he didn’t he was simply measuring Dameon’s strength for some reason. What he was said was right to some extent, Penpen was always fairly smart but he never once considered if the penguin had actually understood what Dameon had been saying. There he was sitting on the little bridge reading the daily newspaper from the village. Dameon had only just recently been promoted and though his skills with his katana had gotten extremely good he knew the man in front of him was much better. Still he loved to train and he could learn something from the man if he had anything to teach. After all he didn’t have anything else to do and having a sensei for once could have been fun even if it was only for a little while.

Dameon’s body began to spark with electricity. It wasn’t anything chakra related but rather his clan. Arcs of lightning shot out a good five feet as he raised his chakra after having it suppressed to keep his presence unknown. The sparks calmed down but still crackled along his skin every couple of seconds. Dameon extended his finger and a bolt of lightning shot out and struck the man’s weapon which would then transfer to the man’s hands.  No effect, just as he had expected. It wasn’t a waste of chakra to him however now he knew just how strong his opponent was or rather how weak he wasn’t. A new jounin’s sword would have been dropped from the small burst of electricity that had been sent into their weapon. This meant the man was at least an experienced jounin or higher. Dameon drew his sword and postured up taking a defensive stance. Dameon was never the aggressive type and never was one to give the first attack always seeing better opportunities in defending and counter attacking.

Dameon’s eyes scanned the man knowing he was stronger and simply testing him but everyone had a weakness. The man knew he was stronger perhaps that was his, if Dameon had any chance of ‘winning’ he needed to take advantage of him knowing he was stronger. He also wasn’t sure if the man was aware of his sword style being based off of aikido. Aikido wasn’t a popular kenjutsu style these days and was more popular to his clan’s old ways going back to the emperors. It used an enemy’s momentum against them. He needed to make the opponent use momentum in this case though seeing as the man wasn’t going to make the first attack just like Dameon didn’t want to but standing around was getting boring. Dameon  charged forward maintain his balance as he came down with a vertical strike with a strong exhale of energy.
==================================
1,984/2,500 ground sensing technique

Spoiler:

There was hesitation when Sanosuke proposed for Dameon to aim to kill Sanosuke. That was a lot for anybody to take in. Sanosuke had just met the boy and was already taking him on as a teacher. If the situtation was in reverse, the kumo jounin would have been baffled as well. There was a significant time of awkardness before Dameon finally decided to get into a stance. A small smirk went across Sanosuke face. Good, the boy has nerve. Now let's see what the boy can do." Sanosuke said mentally as he got into position. Lightning chakra was building up around the boy's body as he kept on focusing more and more chakra around him. Static was filling the air, it made Sanosuke's hair on his neck slightly elevate to the sky. Now Sanosuke was interested what the Kiri chuunin was about to do. Dameon stretched out his hand and sent an arc of lightning chakra at Sanosuke's hands. Static danced on Sanosuke's bronze plated leather gauntlet that was holding his sword. He held his broadsword with a reverse grip and having it held behind his back. Sanosuke had to admit it tickled slightly as though he was having his hands being flickered by Navi's wings. The lightning stopped and crackled away. Cracking his open hand, Sanosuke opened and closed it. So the boy was trying to disarm him? Clever, but the chuunin must have known that he will be holding back a great deal of his strength in this sparring match.

The boy got now into an Akido Kenjutsu Style stance where his body was even balanced between all parts of him. It was done so that the user had more of a chance of successfully blocking and counterattacking a strike from the target. Sanosuke was skilled in not only kenjutsu but also swordsmanship that he learned on his journey. He learned kenjutsu ever since his academy days so the stance that Dameon was in was purely for defense and just waited for Sanosuke to strike. It would be a fool who would attack Dameon using this stance. Sanosuke stood there solid waiting on Dameon to stop waiting. "You will have to attack at some point Dameon. Akido is a defensive art, so unless you know the opponent will have the first move always go offensive." Sanosuke told the boy.

Dameon must have known that Sanosuke had no intention on attacking so Dameon took the alternative route and went on the attack. The boy held his sword high above his head to come down on Sanosuke's head with a vertical strike. Already Sanosuke could spot major flaws in his style and it had to be addressed. His stance was balanced and maintained as though he was going to attack, but he was charging with the intent to attack. He was in a conflict of interest of either attacking or not attacking. This was something that would always lead to failure. "If you are going to attack, attack. If you are going to defend, defend" Sanosuke continued to lecture as he pulled in his sword from behind  his back and switched his grip from reverse to neutral grip. Using the muscles in his fingers, Sanosuke pivoted the tip of his sword to come in for a swiping blow at Dameon's rib cage. Sanosuke's blade was longer than Dameon's by a few inches so he would have a better chance of striking. If Dameon continued this path of attack it would meet the crushing blow of Sanosuke's blade. It would have been a lethal blow but thanks to the chakra layer that was around his sword, it would cushion the blow so that it would be more similar to getting hit with a baton. The worse he would get would be a broken rib which could be treated. "There is no middle ground!"

The boy's only choices were to get his with the strike of backpedal away, but seeing how the boy's momentum was going it was unlikely he was going to stop. If he did stop to backpedal, Sanosuke would pursue the boy with the task of striking first.

The man was right in some aspect but Dameon was not actually attacking had he been attacking he wouldn’t of maintained a balanced stance. He had been studying Aikido his whole life even in his town before he had been exiled. A broadsword was heavier than any katana and as such required more momentum and strength to use. He knew his opponent was a much higher level shinobi so he couldn’t take such factors into account and he was honestly surprise the baited attack had actually worked. The man was face aiming to counter with a horizontal strike aimed at Dameon’s rib cage. It was more than expected considering the sword from the position it had been held only had one direction it could have effectively traveled. A vertical strike from him would have taken more time and effort. The aim was to kill as the man had said. The man didn’t seem as knowledgeable about his sword style but he would probably quickly learn if they continued to spar.

Dameon stopped his vertical strike since his opponent had not moved from his spot. Dameon moved his back foot back and to the left turning to his side as he finished his fake attack with a counter attack slash to the right side of the man’s neck and letting the momentum continue to block the attack from the sword. He knew from his surprise counter attack that the swords attack would have lost the momentum it would have had initially. It still took some effort to block before he stepped away back just out of range of the broadsword before posturing up again back into his defensive stance. Generally a broadsword and a katana were exact opposites of one another neither having an advantage or disadvantage but his opponent was stronger and faster and he was still holding back. He might have caught him off guard a little bit but it more than likely wouldn’t happen that same way again. Dameon’s eyes were keen and could spot just about every detail but even he was having difficulty reading his movements simply because of his opponent’s speed.

“I was never attacking. That’s why I kept a balanced stance; I was waiting for you to move. It was a gamble but luckily you’re not fighting at full power. You told me to come at you with intent to kill but fighting on an opponent’s terms is quick way to lose. Something you will learn about me if we continue to do this is that I don’t fear anything and certainly not death,” He stated keeping his breathing natural as he relaxed again keeping his body loose for movement not stiff. Penpen himself who had been reading on the bridge looked up and placed the newspaper aside to watch the fight. Dameon knew he couldn’t take the man in a one on one fight if the man decided to up his game a little bit. His words weren’t wrong there was no way you were going to win going half attack or half defense but Dameon hadn’t done that. Dameon initiated a fight from a completely defensive stance something aikido masters were particularly good at.
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2,516/2,500 ground sensing technique [complete]

Thought you might like this, extremely good representation on Longsword vs Katana

Spoiler:

Sanosuke had to admit, he didn't think the kid had the skill to block Sanosuke's half ass swipe at the boy's ribs; not only that but also had the skills to counter attack. If Sanosuke hadn't backed away in time and he was using a live sword, Sanosuke would have been forced to take the fight seriously and killed the boy. Sanosuke hopped back to gain some distance and began circling around the boy. Akido was taught at the academy but he only knew the basic principles. The rest however he wasn't paying much attention since he was more of a battojutsu type of fighter. Using a broadsword with battojutsu was unorthodox but with the right amount of strength Sanosuke was able to master the concept fairly well. It irritated Sanosuke at first that he was being lectured by a child who has probably never been fully trained. But then again maybe it was Sanosuke who had screwed up. Beating a child to a blood pulp with his chakra dulled sword wasn't going to change the fact that he should be taking the boy slightly more seriously; he didn't get the rank of chuunin in just 1 month by just twiddling his thumbs. There was a reason why he was promoted so early.

Smirking to himself as he put his sword on the back of his shoulder, Sanosuke patted his back with it. "You're right. Perhaps I have slightly underestimated your capabilities." Sanosuke said with a smirk. This time it would be Sanosuke's turn to strike. Dashing at the boy, Sanosuke made sure that he ran without any restraints that might make Dameon feel as though Sanosuke was still holding back. Aiming his sword, Sanosuke swung at the Kiri chuunin. Either two things would happen: A, Dameon the Akido specialist would block his strike to try and use his own momentum against him; or B, dodge. If he did dodge, Sanosuke would just strike at the bottom part of Dameon's blade. Either way, Sanosuke's technique would work. Focusing a bit more extra chakra on Sanosuke's sword for his technique Sanosuke rose his blade from his back and swung at Dameon aiming for his left shoulder.

The technique was made to counter someone who was a close quarters specialist like Sanosuke. Upon striking, Snaosuke would make an adjustment to his blade and strike at the part of the opponent's weapon with enough force to cause vibrations to travel up the opponent's arms and numb them. During this intervention, Sanosuke would swipe down at the back of Dameon's legs to trip the boy so he would fall to the ground. With his speed and accuracy, Sanosuke was fairly certain that Dameon wouldn't be able to defend this time. This jutsu was something designed for defenses like Akido. The boy told him to take him seriously, and Sanosuke did..to an extent that is.

305/335; Jutsu Used:

‘So fast’ he thought to himself briefly. He knew his opponent would completely out scale him in every physical aspect and that wasn’t surprising. Seeing how much was the factor that surprised him the most. Still his eyes could follow him even if it was only slightly. He needed to focus his eyes and attention where it mattered the opponent was fighting with a sword after all. As long as Dameon focused on the man’s sword, grip, and foot posture when he decided to attack he could effectively dodge by sheer prediction alone. It was risky but his eyes never failed him, details. Fighting and winning a fight was all about details even the slightest ones. He exhaled slowly as his opponent stopped in front of him to form an attack with his sword. The way his feet were set, the way his elbow was cocked out just a little as he swung suggested the attack would go for the left side of his body the angle suggested hear or the shoulder.

Dameon now understood the speed of the man’s attack and quickly dove at an angle going to his opponent’s right side just shy of hitting the man’s right leg. As he dove he sheathed his katana and extended his right hand and a surge of ration extended from his hand forming a blade made entirely of ration. Since his energy was in a diving roll moving past the man’s leg the katana made of lightning would hit the man’s leg if he didn’t notice it quick enough. The blade of lightning wasn’t anything that caused serious damage but if it did hit it would simply paralyze the man’s leg for a short time. He completed his roll knowing that this would be the point in which he would be caught off guard the most. As he landed he turned and postured himself back into his stance about three meters away from the man. His only trick he held up his sleeve was now used and likely ineffective since it couldn’t block and be blocked. The blade of ration was completely and totally stable in its form, most ration based attacks were erratic and shot out in arcs but not Dameon’s. Dameon had a mastery over lightning because of his clan that allowed him to focus the power of it into even dangerous attacks with all the energy highly focused.  

He knew there wasn’t a whole lot he could do but defend and try to react but even that last attack had only missed him by a fraction. It was becoming too risky to simply react and not act. That’s where he was at a loss though. He simply didn’t have a repertoire of jutsu and he hadn’t had time to make any that were equivalent to his rank and skill yet. He had to wing it and try to think of something. He only had one other thing he could think of that he would be able to do and from there he was unguarded and tactically at such a disadvantage he was better off suicidal running at the man trying to land anything. Dameon maintained his ration katana in his right hand as he took out two kunai. Using the advantage to being at the opponents back for only a moment now he tossed a single kunai aiming square for man’s back and kept the other one in his hand. The only advantage between a katana made entirely out of chakra and an actual sword of any kind was that there was no weight and because of that he could swing and use it a lot faster. He was still trying to make up for the speed difference somehow.
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2,528/2,500 Electrolocation [Completed]

185/200 Chakra

Spoiler:

Just when Dameon rolled to Sanosuke's back, the jounin saw this coming a mile away. This boy was something else. Not only had he predicted the obvious strike but also could know that he was aiming to hit the blade. Dameon even sheathed his sword so that Sanosuke wouldn't be able to strike at his blade as he rolled to the ground. It caused Sanosuke to curse under his breath in irritation. It was as though Dameon had a mysterious deity watching over him and telling the chuunin every single movement Sanosuke was doing and acting accordingly to it. Each swipe he did was dodged by the boy and now he was reading Sanosuke's body movements as though he was gifted with a seasoned sharingan eye. But that kind of mental focus and physical capability must be draining on the boy as Sanosuke could see the obvious signs of exhaustion on the boy's face; meanwhile Sanosuke hasn't broken a single sweat so far. It was only a matter of time before Sanosuke's blade would strike the tiring boy, delivering a devastating blow on him.

The boy focused raiton chakra in his hand and swiped low at Sanosuke's legs. The amount of static the boy gathered wasn't enough to give him a lethal blow but was enough to caused the hair on Sanosuke to stand up slightly on ends. It was a good effort but the boy had to do better than that. With a simply side step out of the way, Sanosuke evaded the swipe. The boy was quick on his feet, but Sanosuke was quicker. The boy retreated and threw a kunai at Sanosuke. With a smirk Sanosuke decided that now he should push his speed. As of now he had been fighting with just about 65% of his power. Maybe he should push himself to maybe 80% now. Dashing at Sanosuke, he made sure that he was close to the speed he would run when fighting someone he would see as equals but not quite. It was certainly enough to outclass Dameon. The kunai came at him and Sanosuke simply caught it in between his fingers but he kept on coming at the boy.

The boy was following Sanosuke's steps until now. He was reading's Sanosuke's body language and acting accordingly. So how does he stop that? Simple, distract him. With on hand Sanosuke angled his sword so that light would bounce of his blade  so that it would blind Dameon's eyes in case he was trying to read him. Using his expert timing and muscle control, Sanosuke quickly kept pivoting his sword in different positions to bounce the blade at Dameon's eyes to blind him and he did it quickly enough to get the boy to try and read his movements. If the boy wanted something for him to read, well Sanosuke would be more than happy to comply. If Dameon was going look at his feet, Sanosuke made sure that when he got close, he feinted around the boy spinning around quickly while angling his sword  to bounce off light to blind the boy from all angles. Sanosuke made sure he had a tight radius around Dameon as he made revolution after revolution around the boy at speeds that Dameon would struggle to read. Whenever Dameon would look to read Sanosuke, all he would see is light distracting the boy. Sanosuke would go in for the kill with a raiton tipped blade stabbing motion to stun the boy if he: tried to look down at his feet to read his footing, or if he tried to look at Sanosuke's sword for too long. In the case where Dameon would try to retreat, Sanosuke would swiftly with his talented reflexes put his sword at Dameon's neck from behind him to trap the boy.

285/335, Jutsu Used:

Just as he had thought the man’s reaction time was far superior than his own and now he was just going to use his sheer power difference to win the fight. Being the strategist that he was he saw no way to win or even touch the man at this point. As the man surrounded him he simply dissipated his ration katana and closed his eyes. His eyes were useless when his opponent was using the glare from the sun to distract him. Realistically his tactic he used wouldn’t have been as effective if the sun wasn’t directly overhead. Fighting at this point was meaningless it was checkmate. He simply waited as the man kept circling around him feeling the slight breeze her was creating. He had proven his point which was that he was faster and stronger, something Dameon already knew, at this point he was just rubbing it in and trying to make up for the fact he didn’t try a little harder right away against him.

He felt the man’s sword touch the back of his neck. ‘About time’, the thought to himself as he turned around to face the man a sort of blank expression in his face as he stepped back away from the weapon. He just stood there looking into the man’s eyes his blank face still staring at him. He wasn’t entirely sure of what to say. Penpen himself had resorted back to reading the newspaper after the skirmish had stopped.

“That was expected. I was wondering when you were going to stop holding back. I assume you were gradually holding back less and less to find out exactly where I fit in strength wise against you. I knew before we started that you were stronger than me so I didn’t hold back. I also was only just recently promoted so I don’t know a lot of other techniques yet but I am working on them as we speak,” He stated. He didn’t really know what else to say Dameon now knew the limit his eyes could handle as well. Based off of his initial attack to attempt to disarm and how his eyes had kept up with him to a certain point, he now knew his own limits as well.

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378/1,500 Raiton Bunshin

170/200 Chakra (for raiton katana being sustained)

The boy had given up and dropped his guard. Static that was coming from Dameon's hand died down slowly he stopped fighting all together. So the boy knew when he was outclassed, that's good. It would be good for him to know what it feels like to be topped by someone who surpasses him. With that, he would know when he should back down and not fight a battle he cannot possibly win. He had to say though, he had gravely underestimated the chuunin. When Dameon told him that he had just recently been promoted to chuunin, he was sure that he could fight against the newly promoted shinobi without having to take the boy seriously. It forced him to fight well above 50% of his power. On average Sanosuke was fighting at 70%, that was enough to tramp the chuunin. When he stopped moving around to know Dameon would not fight back, Sanosuke sheathed his sword back into its sheathe and looked at the boy.

“That was expected. I was wondering when you were going to stop holding back. I assume you were gradually holding back less and less to find out exactly where I fit in strength wise against you. I knew before we started that you were stronger than me so I didn’t hold back. I also was only just recently promoted so I don’t know a lot of other techniques yet but I am working on them as we speak,” He stated.

Stretching out his back, Sanosuke let out a yawn. "I have to admit kid. You have talent, hell you have more potential than I did when I was your age. I was in the same place as you when I was your age, training by myself. I made it out okay, but I don't think you should be like me. I think you deserve a proper teacher who can help you push past your limits." Sanosuke explained. He walked over to Dameon and quickly swiped his thump over Dameon's forehead to see that sweat was on his leather gauntlet. This was the sweat of someone who would work hard in the art of the sword, someone whom he was sure that he would work hard in learning the art of the sword. "You know, someone who sweats this much after a spar can only do so when they put in everything they had in it. That's good. Now then I can give you the power to protect others with the blade, but the choice is yours. Do you want to get stronger?" Sanosuke asked critically. He smiled at himself from the inside. He was sounding so preachy and cryptic that it would make Guru Pathik proud.

"I have to admit kid. You have talent, hell you have more potential than I did when I was your age. I was in the same place as you when I was your age, training by myself. I made it out okay, but I don't think you should be like me. I think you deserve a proper teacher who can help you push past your limits. You know, someone who sweats this much after a spar can only do so when they put in everything they had in it. That's good. Now then I can give you the power to protect others with the blade, but the choice is yours. Do you want to get stronger?"

“Of course I want to get stronger. There really isn’t a point in being a shinobi if you don’t strive to be the best. I’ll admit I haven’t had the time to learn any new jutsu of my current rank and ninjutsu is my best attribute but I want to become equally as strong with my blade. My most recent techniques are sensing jutsu my current range on them is fifty meters each. One of them which can be used in battle effectively to sense my surroundings and incoming attacks without having to use my eyes. I would have used it while we sparred but tactically it would have been more of a waste of chakra seeing as your speed was greater. Even if I could have effectively predicted your next movement my body wouldn’t have reacted as quickly as my mind. My other sensing technique is more effective in tracking a target and it can also be used to read chakra signatures so I can determine who someone is from far away, assuming of course I have had the chance to see their chakra signature before. Outside of those I haven’t had the chance to really develop any new offensive or defensive jutsu to add to my repertoire. I have a couple in mind that would seriously add to my capabilities, and I would greatly appreciate you being my sensei,” he said blandly as if he was talking shop with the man. It was true though Dameon was very good in a tactical mindset and knew his own limitations as well as his weaknesses. Because he knew all of this he could easily come up with jutsu to turn his weaknesses into strengths. He looked around and smiled at Penpen who had set down his newspaper and was simply lying in the water of the river floating with a pair of sunglasses on. Sunglasses he realized were probably someone else’s that had been lost, or Penpen simply had stolen it.

Dameon looked up at his new sensei not exactly sure of what to say next considering he had just blurted out a small speech. He scratched the back his head as he stood their eagerly not entirely sure of what they were going to do next or if they were going to do anything else at all while the village was under attack. Perhaps it was better to just go and see if the village needed them. Then again with his limited access to offensive jutsu he wasn’t going to be overwhelmingly helpful. So perhaps it was best to learn one while he was here before he left. He didn’t know what to do. He pulled out his katana and looked at it. The rust was getting worse and worse. He remembered another shinobi having a rusty katana themselves. When Dameon had asked about it he simply had said ‘Honor is the rust on a dull blade’, now he understood what he had meant. He and the sword had gone through a lot together, but he needed a new and improved one.

“So, what now?”

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1,010/1500 Raiton Bunshin

"Wow Sano, you almost got your ass handed by a brat like this? I guess by that logic anyone could take out Biosk" Navi teased Sanosuke and flew around his head teasing the jounin. Sanosuke clenched his teeth in annoyance. Biosk was his teacher and traitor to the Wasp Clan. He had murdered the previous Queen of the Wasps and friend of Sanosuke's, Melike and left the current Queen Titania in distraught. Sanosuke was the one to kill him when he tried to kill Navi in cold blood when she defended him. The fight was probably the most difficult fight of his life, and left him forever changed in the arts of senjutsu.

"Shut up you damn fly!" Sanosuke roared, a tick mark developing on his temple in annoyance. It caused Navi to laugh like crazy at her partner being so furious with her. It motivated her to fly around Sanosuke faster so he would strike her to silence her. Navi flew around Dameon in circles and then finally flew around Penpen playfully. Even though she can be a brat, she is also like a little kid so Sanosuke couldn't stay made at his partner. Plus he realized that Dameon was still there and was telling him about his weaknesses and strengths. The boy was well aware of his limits as a shinobi and knew he could do better as such.

That was good, the boy did want to learn under his wing. It was good that he wanted to learn, and even better that he wanted to be taught by Sanosuke. “So, what now?” the boy asked. That was a really good question. It made Sanosuke have to cross his arms and close his eyes to ponder on this. What now was a good question indeed. Being a sensei, he had to now think about how he should train the boy. What he should do to train the chuunin. The boy had good reflexes and was good at reading the movements of his opponents to the extent that could rival a sharingan. And he was just a chuunin. His speed and reaction time could use some work though. As of now since he was just recently promoted, his skill level wasn't ready for some of the techniques he could teach the boy. But maybe if he trained by himself for a while he might be ready.

A thought came across his mind that made him face palm himself. How could he forget. "Damn it! How could I forget? I'll be escorting a Suna shinobi to teach her the basics of senjutsu. I should be back in a couple of days. I want you to keep working on the ground sensing technique you created in the meantime. Also try getting a new sword, our lessons will now demand that you have a proper blade instead of a rusty one." Sanosuke said at first scratching his head while chuckling. He looekd at Navi and his partner flew to his side. "Not going to lie to you kid; this training I'll have you put through will strain not only your body but your will. This training can potential leave you crippled to the point where you don't want to hold another blade in your life. Come to Shore Side in 3 days time, I will be there waiting for you."

Making a single hand seal, Sanosuke and Navi was engulfed in a ball of light. The light condensed into a tiny sphere that was about the same size of Navi and soon danced away and flew from the forest leaving Dameon and the penguin Penpen alone to think about what Sanosuke said. Hopefully the chuunin will come so that he can teach the boy.

280/335; Jutsu Used: