Soron battled fiercely against his opponent countering the speed of his attacker with his own speed. They moved so fast and swiftly that it would be hard to keep track of them both with an untrained eye. Soron dodged sword strike after sword strike and on the last on caught it between both his hands before yanking it to the side and tossing it a good distance away. He launched a swift kick which of course was dodged. They were both wearing down and running out of options. Soron up until this point had been conserving energy but now that time was over. He formed a series of handsigns before launching a large ball of fire that exploded meters away sending dust and debris everywhere. Soron had won... or so he thought. He felt a sharp pain as a sword tore through his midsection piercing his heart. He crumbled to the ground and died with his opponent standing over him.

It had been a dream, he awoke in his bed breathing heavily. After regaining his posture he decided to head out, it was the dead of the night that calmed him. It was the cloudless moonlit sky that he welcome as he walked down the main road of the hidden leaf village soon to find himself standing at the main gate. He sighed and made his way out of the village and into the forests for which it was surrounded. He figured this would be a lonely walk but even so, after the dream he had just awoke from maybe a walk in the dark by himself would be just exactly what he needed in order to clear his head. One thing did bother him throughout the walk and thats the fact that he hadnt known whom he was fighting in the dream but she had seemed familiar in some way.

Training

Spoiler:

Nyctophilia. (n) A love of darkness or night, finding comfort or relaxation in the darkness. In some ways this definition can be applied to the deaf Uchiha. When the sun leaves, and the moon takes it place and the blanket of darkness covers the world in shadow, bringing out the stars that reminds hi of candle,it's only in darkness he can let his guard down. As silly as that sounds.

After all, darkness means a quiet world right? People who prefer the day rush to the security of their homes to escape the fear that night brings, that strangers will prowl the streets looking to wreck havoc. But in Masaaki's eyes, the dark brings peace he rarely has, the knowledge that he doesn't have to lip-read and here he can allow his inner world to engulf him like a womb protecting the still developing babe.

He had been going out a lot more often now, to train. Before he used to, back before he was a genin  where he tried so hard to become skilled with weapons but atlas, it only when after the academy did he begin to train his elements and get a good idea of what he is good at, and so far it's ninjutsu and summoning. He wants to expand on more though, but he also needs to train his Katon element.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!" shouted the boy as he smacked his hands together to perform the tiger seal, inhaled a breath of air and gathered his chakra before letting loose a flamethrower that heated the air near him and illuminated the darkness but Masaaki couldn't hold the flame any longer before he quickly snuffed out. "Damn it." muttered the boy as he turned his gaze to Shiro who was just sat there, panting softly with a lantern besides him as caution measure in case someone shows up, Masaaki can't lip read in the dark after all. He tightened his knuckles and sighed before straightening his headband "Again." said the boy as he pushed himself to perform the same jutsu, only to get the same result. But he is deterimed to master this katon jutsu, even if it takes a week to do so. He will show his father that he is indeed his son.

Training: C-rank 433/1000

The night was calm and the darkness pure, not a single star occupied the sky, only the moon shone above and not a single gust of wind hampered the night air. What was Soron to do about the dreams he has been plagued with suddenly. Were these dreams even dreams at all or were they something more, visions maybe. Another thing to haunt him and another answer he now needed to find if he was to ever know peace within himself.

Just then a light in the distance shattered the nights calm even if only for an instance before it faded away. "I suppose I should go check it out and see what it was that I saw." Soron said as he took off towards the light. It took him just a few moments to reach the source of whatever he had seen. He was surprised however to find it had been another person, a shinobi of the leaf village just as Soron was. It appeared as though they were training a jutsu of some type and from what Soron had spotted earlier it must be a fire style jutsu. Soron sat atop a tree, watching.

Really, it wasn't fun to be disturbed while taking a nap outside in a tree, sure, the nap had become a full sleep of over six hours, but still it wasn't nice according to Risu, who simply yawned and tried to find the origin of the ruckus, which indeed wasn't that hard to find with those constant flashes of light not far from her position, not mentioning the burning smell and sickening heat that had been spreading around with each of those flashes.

Thinking she could have some fun with this, the kunoichi started jumping from treetop to treetop, until she reached a tree close enough to be observing clearly, yet still far enough to ensure her own safety.

As she clambered down that tree, Risu noticed she was not the only one observing the young man, who quite clearly appeared to be someone of the Katon element and given the technique he was trying to learn...she simply started to hope that it was an uchiha down there.

"Has he been going on for long?" Risu asked the second shinobi, who she had noticed earlier when she was already climbing down the tree, now after a pauze sitting on the same branch of the tree as him.

She hoped she did not scare the man, since she knew her appearance to be alot different than that of any ordinary person, with her pale white skin, snake-eyes and purple make up and that combined with black, long hair did not always make up for a good appearance during the night.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!" shouted the genin again, oblivious to his audience. A sphere of flame burst forth from the shinobi’s mouth as he gathered the required amount of chakra, he recalled what his mother told him before her death.

“Chakra is the fundamental concept of all jutsu and abilities, chakra is made up of physical energy and spiritual energy and by moulding both together chakra is produced, in others words it is our life essence. In order to understand jutsu Masaaki, you must first understand the chakra body circulation system.”

He must’ve been eight when he learned this, and he wasn’t even in the academy. His father had refused to let him go to the academy like all the other uchiha kids and wouldn’t listen to his mother, his mother was kind enough to teach him the theories though and cover for him when he wants to read his father’s book in his study. Naturally, Masaaki became quite intelligent with a fountain of knowledge. His desire to be a shinobi and beat the odds meant he’s a quick learner as well and a hard worker.

“Damn, still not good enough.” Puffed the boy as he performed the same hand seal again and let forth a flame thrower nearly 80 meters. Scorching the air, Masaaki took care not to accidentally set anything on fire, the worst scenario would be a bush fire.
Anyone outside the Uchiha clan would see Masaaki has potential despite his other shortcomings, but anyone within the uchiha would think otherwise, or at least that’s what Masaaki tells himself.

*Bark! Bark!* Shiro’s spotted the intruders and growled before yanking at Masaaki’s feet as the boy can’t hear his dog’s barks. “What is it shiro?” asked the child, quite perplexed but then again, Shiro is about the only one who looks out for him. He followed his dog as the young dog shot off to a tree, with a sigh the child picked up his lantern and followed and when he reached his dog’s destination and looked up…oh.

The child looked surprised, this place is normally a place of solitude at night. He couldn’t read their lips up the tree with the leaves and the darkness so he picked shiro, settled him on his head before pulling up his red hoodie and jumping onto the tree, lantern in hand. He then extended the lantern out further to see the faces of his audience. He was quite relieved to see they’re fellow konoha nin. “Err, hi.” greeted the boy with a friendly smile, yet a trace of wariness in his eyes.


Training: C-rank 813/1000

Soron had been sitting atop the tree alone for the most part. Just relaxing and watching the shinobi below him perform the fire style jutsu over and over again. From what Soron could tell it was the grand fireball jutsu, a jutsu which Soron himself already had mastered and set in his arsenal. It was a useful jutsu and one of Sorons favorite firestyle techniques. He had heard the approach of the female shinobi but remained fixated on the training Uchiha below. "Has he been going on for long?" The female shinobis voice drifted to him. He turned to face her and noticed instantly her white skin and snake eyes. He wasnt really caught off guard though as shinobi often come in all shapes and sizes. "Im not really sure to be honest i havent been here long and he was here already."

At that moment he heard the dog bark that was with the boy and he knew that instant what that meant, it meant he was caught and so was the girl next to him. He leaped down as the boy and the dog neared the tree and just after the boy greeted him he just nodded. "That was the great fireball jutsu wasnt it? Iv already mastered the jutsu and its quite useful." He motioned for the girl that still sat atop the tree branch to come down and join them. After a few more moments had passed he decided to introduce himself to the two he was now in company of. "My name is Soron Sarutobi nice to meet you after the fact."

Posting order:

So, the answer she got from the young man who sat atop of the branch next to her gave Risu at least an idea of how long that one below was training. Given the fact she'd been around for at most a minute or five and perhaps this guy was around twice as long, the other one could've been here for a long while or just twenty minutes. Not that it really mattered to her anyway.

After the alarming bark of the dog down below, the guy next to her jumped down to great the other young man who was training and as he motioned for her to jump down as well, she did so as gracefully as she could, landing on the tips of her toes softly and without a sound, the wide black shirt she was wearing waved behind her, as she got down.

"I'm not really fond of fire, so I wont ever master it, but still nice work," Risu laughed, looking at the scorched area, the obviously smell of burned grass mixed with that of overheated air stinging her nostrils.

"I'm Orochi Risu...sorry for spying on you," A soft grin appeared on her face, while she looked at the shinobi who had obviously been training hard from the look of things.

The uchiha was always wary of new people, even if they shinobi of his village. People wear masks after all, and you’re never sure who your friends are truly. The boy lip-read quite well despite the limited amount of illumination in the area. “Yes.” Answered the boy, the unfamiliarity of being noticed making him anxious. “Sarutobi?” replied the young male, he knows quite a bit about the Sarutobi clan. Strong willed individuals who go on to hold positions of high authority, the most reent one being the third Hokage.

The snake girl joined them shortly after Soran gestured to her, her comment brought a sheepish smile to the genin’s lips “I emm…might have gone overboard.” Said the child, a little embarrassed yet pleased. Honestly he didn’t expect to scorch the area, perhaps he should’ve trained near a river instead. “Nice to meet you both, I’m Masaaki.” Said the boy as he introduced himself but did not give out his clan name.

WC so far: 974/1000

Soron nodded as the young male spoke his last name, the Sarutobi are quite famous within the village hidden in the leaves because of the many ninja whom had come from the roots. One being the legendary third hokage. Soron himself was no legend of course but maybe he would be one day, although that day was far off in the distance if it even existed at all. "Nice to meet you Masaaki and Risu... hey wait a minute. Risu you look strikingly familiar to someone iv seen before, i remember reading about him in one of the books my mom used to keep lying around. What was his name?" Soron couldnt remember whom he was talking about but he knew it was someone legendary.

He had read about the man in an ancient book. The man said to be a snake sage and not only that a man said to be an immortal man whom had the ability to pass o his soul to the body of another person of his choosing. Soron looked up to the sky for a moment and wondered, could that man still be alive today? No theres no way... even if he was really immortal theres no way he would still be around right? He shook it off it was meaningless to think about at the moment. He regained his posture and looked to the other male "I recognize the jutsu you are trying to perform. Its the great fireball jutsu isnt it? I have already mastered that jutsu i could show you if you would like?" Soron didnt wait for a reply he simple formed a succession of handsigns before inhaling deeply and launching a rather large fireball into the sky as to not scorch the trees. The ball of fire lit up the clearing before disappearing high up in the sky with magnificent beauty.

A frown appeared on Risu's face, as she felt quite ignored for a moment, hearing about the fact that the Sarutobi clan had many well known and even legendary members within their ranks, while her own Ouroboros clan usually acted in the shadows of Konoha, as part of the ANBU's finest and historically speaking, some of the worst people Konoha had to offer, brilliant, but bad.

When Soron suddenly hinted at that very member of her clan who had been cut from almost all records due to his betrayal towards his duties and his village, only a few books and scrolls talked about the legendary Sannin Orochimaru, who in the eyes of the Ouroboros was still a shining exaple of their strength and intelligence, yet at the sale time it made the current generation look like useless brats.

"I know who you mean and yes, he was part of the Ouroboros clan," The young kunoichi sighed, knowing all to well she could not be compared to that particular ancestor of hers. "Not everyone's a prodigy like he was and just a fun fact, wasn't he trained by that legendary Third Hokage coming from your clan?"

As for the jutsu, that was something Risu couldn't do, wrong element to begin with and she didn't really wished to show off with jutsus that were too easy for others.

Strikingly similar to who? Masaaki wondered as he shifted his gaze to the third shinobi, and when he observed him properly…well she certainly does. What was his mother told him about? The legendary Sanin Orchi-something? Something to do with reptiles of some sort.

He nodded in reply to Soron’s question regarding the jutsu he used, good observation skills. “Sure, why not?” answered the uchiha, truth is he rather do it on his own as he isn’t used to people helping him but well…he needs to socialise with people more right? Wouldn’t hurt to make a couple of friends…just as long as he hides his deafness and his clan at first.

“The Ouroboro’s clan?” he repeated, he heard about them. His mother was a former member of the ANBU and she was in a squad that contained a Ouroboro member, but of course his mother never revealed his name because that sort of information isn’t supposed to be spread around. “Wasn’t he also the reason why the third died?” said Masaaki without thinking.

(sorry for late reply, been working my ass off getting this uni project done.)

Masaaki looked to the sky and noticed the full moon, ha...he should probably go home now.

With a apologetic grin to both "It was pleasure to meet you both, but I must hurry back! Hopefully we'll meet again." said the boy as he casually waved before pulling his hood up and rushing off before he skidded to a halt to turn around and shout "And have fun training!" added the male before he disappeared into the wildness and back into the security of his home.

[exit thread, final WC: 1,218.]