Violence was the norm in the ninja world, it was not out of the ordinary for a ninja to find themselves in a situation that leads to them ending up as a sprawled corpse on the floor resting in a rippling pool of their own blood. It was for this reason that those who swelled the ranks of the ninja world had to try their absolute best to always stay at the top of their game, whether it was refining an existing skill, or learning a new one all together; it made no difference. The ninja had to be an adaptable warrior, it was for this very reason that a man in a long white duster found himself standing in the training grounds of the Kirigakure Ninja Academy. However, he did not plan to partake in the training alone, he had actually called out to an acquaintance of his yes that is what she was an acquaintance; but even then he could not deny the other shinobis effectiveness in battle. Despite them both being a couple of Genin ranked ninja, the lowest of the low, she had shown promise that day in the mission which the two had to work together, so as a result he had decided to call upon Ciera the Hoshigake fish girl as he had come to remember her.

If she showed to be even more affective as a training partner than he would begin to consider a more permanent partnership with the woman, the two were of the same rank, and the two could benefit from helping each other. Despite not knowing her very well, he knew that there had to be something she desired, he would look to pry further into the woman’s psyche learn her desires. It would be with such knowledge that he would aim to hopefully sway her to his side, she can become someone of use to him as opposed to a future enemy; no need for the hassle. Standing there in complete silence as his mind bounced around different ideas, and thoughts that branched out into several scenarios the man with golden orbs would remain almost statue like in his stance, waiting for the familiar sound of the fish female’s voice to ring into his ears. Once she arrived the two could begin their training, hopefully becoming a pillar for one another that aimed to ascend the other to a greater plane of skill, and knowledge.


WC: 409/1000 Fire Swarm Jutsu

A training session? Well, it wasn’t like she wasn’t planning on training anyways, so there was no harm in accepting the invitation from her very changed ex-classmate. The recent mission that she had attended with him must have left a good impression, otherwise why the sudden invitation? Still, there wasn’t many genins to train with, especially around her age. It felt more than awkward to be training alongside a 15 year old teenager, someone who was eight years younger than her. Even if they didn’t mind, she would mind. She supposed that she could look past their age, but she would prefer to leave that as a last resort.

Ciera walked into the clearing of Training Ground 42. Why was it such a high number? Well, there have been training accidents that had rendered more than a few of the other training grounds unusable and unsalvageable. Nonetheless, this was a pretty high number and was only created as a back-up, in case the other training grounds were destroyed. That was why there was no equipment of any sort at this training ground and as such, it was hardly ever used. There was a small forest surrounding the training ground, enclosing it like it was an arena. Through the middle, a river bisected the training ground into two halves.

Standing on her side of the river was Tsurugi of the Osada clan. They were famous in their own right, mostly because they held one of the more unique Kekkei Genkai. The boiling element. Though, besides that fact, she knew little else about the clan. It wasn’t like she was the focal point of any gossip or rumor mill, seeing as how she was from a famous clan with a very distinctive appearance.

Nevertheless, it was time to make a grand entrance. Attired in a dark yellow kimono with floral patterns, tied to her waist by a red sash, she was certainly dressed to kill. She had even redone the curls on her hair and use a new yellow hair tie to make sure that she was set. It was best to make a good first impression to support any future ties. With that in mind, she gathered her chakra through her chakra coils, letting it mix so that it would be prepared.

This was a technique that she had been practicing for a little while. It was a fuuton jutsu that would allow her to make the most dynamic of entrances. She had been practicing this technique since yesterday, and she thought that she had it down. It was a bit strange working with it, since it didn’t require any hand seals so it took a bit of concentration at first to get it right, but she was confident that she had done it enough to get the impression right.

“Tsurugi, I see that you’re here already,” Ciera called out as she walked into the clearing. With just a thought, she released her chakra. A burst of wind erupted from in front of her, blowing directly at her as she walked. Her hair flew backwards and upwards as the sleeves of her kimono fluttered in the wind. Yet, in spite of that, she kept walking forward. As the wind died down, she casually brushed aside a lock of her yellow highlighted hair. When she reached a fair distance from him, she smiled.

“You invited me for a training session so we might as well start.” Ciera widened her stance and moved her arms into ready position. “I’m ready whenever you are.”

Chakra 155/170:

---

WC 600/1000 Great Breakthrough

The man remained perfectly still, his unblinking eyes staring off at the surrounding forest that encased this single stream that cut across the middle of the training grounds; it was not until he heard the familiar feminine voice ring into his ears that his attention was taken from his surroundings, turning his head those golden eyes of his glared directly at the woman, not a menacing glare but more of a calculative stare carefully watching her every move. The woman made no hand seals, and no sudden movements yet out of nowhere a violent wind seemed to hit her, the golden eyes would widen for a moment, and his muscles would become tense ready to avoid whatever was heading his way. Yet ultimately in the end nothing happened to him, good thing he had not reacted with a wide stance could make himself look weak, staying where he stood he gave the woman a nod of the head. “You choose interesting attire for a training session, but then again who am I to judge” he said as he turned to fully face her with his body. With that motion the long white duster of his rustling at his ankles, giving her a nod he would agree with her last comment it was time for them to begin, they did not come here for idle chat after all.

“So then…” he would say as he quickly performed a series of six hand seals, admittedly he almost messed up the chains of seals seeing as this was a relatively new technique still, so he was note entirely used to the hand motions; muscle memory was a bitch like that sometimes. Holding the final seal he would focus his chakra, manifesting it around him in the form of multiple orbs of fire that hovered above the ground, and all around Tsurugi. In total he created only six, still unsure of what the maximum number of them was, but the six would have to do! “...we begin!” he declared releasing the balls of fire that measured roughly three feet in length, instantly each fired themselves directly at the blue skinned woman. The group was neatly clustered together, increasing the chance of all of them hitting the woman, his golden eyes would observe, admittedly he was half expecting her to throw out some Suiton jutsu to counter his fire one. It would not even surprise him if she did, judging from her clan this one must have had some powerful water jutsu at her disposal.

Just the thought of how intense this spar could get, was actually making his heart race a bit so much was the excitement inside of him that it manifested itself in the form of a smirk, a rare sight for the blue haired individual who normally found himself lost in thought rather than smiling at people. Whatever the outcome of this battle would be, he would emerge from these training grounds with newfound knowledge, for now though his eyes observed watching as his opponent would soon find herself reacting to the volley of fireballs heading her way, threatening to smash into her firm feminine body, and burning into her smooth flesh.

941/1000 Fire Swarm Jutsu

Chakra: 135/150:

Looking back on it, maybe that dynamic entrance wasn’t quite necessary. That wind jutsu, the one that she had just used to blow her hair and kimono for that dramatic effect, would have been immensely useful as a counter for Tsurugi’s first move. While it was a burst of wind, if it had caught that fire spells, it would have enflamed it and turned it into a torrent of fire right back at him, such that he would have had a taste of his own medicine. As it was, though, she had just so recently used it so it wasn’t usable again until a little bit later, far longer than she would have liked. Still, it wasn’t like she didn’t have other ways to do with it.

It was a fact that katon jutsu’s were weak against suiton jutsu’s, a natural consequence of their elemental affinities. Water against fire. As such, she had the perfect technique to counter it. To put insult to injury, it was even a lower ranked one, coming at only D-ranked.

Her hands shifted through the three hand seals that composed the jutsu, her fingers blurring as she made each animal seal. Her chakra coils burned with energy as it flowed through her and burst out on the jutsu’s activation. She raised her hand and cupped it over her lips—as if it were a trumpet—as water filled her mouth. If she could smirk, she would. He really should have released them all at the same time.

Without a moment to lose, she spewed a jet of highly pressurized water out of her mouth and through the opening in her cupped hand. Aiming the stream at the first projectile, she quickly changed targets the moment the water touched and the fireball sizzled away. By the time that she was done and her jutsu ended, all that was left between them was steam and puddles of water.

“Oh come on, what was that? You know that I’m part of the Hoshigaki clan, right?” Ciera asked proudly and condescendingly. “Water is our forte. You’re not going to be doing much with fire against me.”

While this certainly was a training session—or rather, a spar—she certainly was going to treat it as a bit more serious. That was the reason for those words; if she could get her opponent to get angry, then he would get sloppy. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, his chakra control and the speed that he formed those six hand seals were higher than her own. That meant that in a straight out contest, she would probably lose. However, this was—thankfully—not a straight contest. Instead of attacking, she decided to play it a more with the psych game. It was best to find out as much as she could of his techniques before truly counterattacking. She only had a limited amount of jutsu’s that could do real damage to him, so it was better to wait for the right moment.

“Aren’t you going to use that steam of yours? I heard about the Osada clan, but I haven’t heard about your clan actually doing anything. Maybe it’s only famous because of your kekkai genkai,” Ciera taunted. “Show me what you got.”

Chakra 145/170, +1 power (clan):

---

WC 1000/1000 Great Breakthrough
WC 161/1000 Gunshot

Not surprising that she did what she did, the man only watched quietly as the girl fired off her water jutsu manipulating a stream of water from her mouth to spray each fireball individually, this did not only show good chakra control on her part but it also showed decent enough accuracy, and timing to hit each other separately. Either way the man would only stand there quietly listening to the woman as she taunted him, was she really trying to get a reaction out of him? All he would do is stare at her quietly as she continued to speak, “Heh…do you think we are still children?” he asked her as he took a firm stance. “But if you want a reaction out of me, to charge you in a blind rage for offending my clan or for offending my attack choice…well then here you go” he would kick off the ground forcing his body forward with a quick dashing motion. As soon as his feet hit the ground again he would begin to rapidly run across the ground towards the woman, yes this was possibly a bad idea judging from how tuned her reflexes were she would possibly attempt to intercept him. Of course he was planning to make this more than a simple wild rush attack, as it was coming off as.

So using his previous attack was out of the question, despite the simplicity of it on the outside it did actually take quite a bit of chakra control to pull it off; hence he needed to allow some time before using it again. So for now he would come at Ciera with a different tactic, a melee attack something he was not the best at but it was not the main drive of his attack. Once the distance was closed, and he entered striking range, Tsurugi would launch a very obvious straight punch his entire body practically projecting the attack. Whether the attack landed or she avoided it completely, it did not matter. After the fail or success of the punch, Tsurugi would quickly one a single hand seal, inhaling deeply he would allow himself to manipulate his chakra that had mixed with the air that was expanding his lungs.

With that he released a single burst of wild flames directly in the direction of Ciera, these flames had a reach of six feet maximum from where he stood. The fire was meant to catch her off guard, hopefully causing some burns if it made contact, yes perhaps it was a bit much for a training session, but then again they were shinobi they had to get accustomed to the pressures of battle.

1000/1000 Fire Swarm Jutsu

391/1000 Violent Vapor Stream

Chakra:125/150:

Huh. Her estimation of Tsurugi rose a notch when he didn’t rise up to her banter. While it wasn’t that subtle, she knew a lot of people who wouldn’t take an insult like that lying down. Of course, the fact that most of these people that she does know are other clan members could be eschewing the result and thus her conclusion from it. Though, mad dog or not, it was still his move. Her eyes watched him carefully as she positioned her hands closer together so that she could perform the appropriate jutsu to counter them.

However, he did something unexpected. She narrowed her eyes when she saw that Tsurugi was using a ninjutsu, but was actually rushing in to close the distance. Was he trying to engage her at close range with a jutsu or was he trying to get into a melee fight with her? She had seen how nonexistent his skills were in regards to Taijutsu, little more than an amateur fighter’s. However, she could say the same for herself.  And quite frankly, if they were to engage into a hand-to-hand fight, she would probably lose out due to experience. Still, she kind of doubted that he would engage in taijutsu. It was more likely that it was a ninjutsu.

She frowned. As much as she didn’t want to use this jutsu, especially since it was one of her few close range attacks, she was left with no other options. However, the technique was a bit dangerous in the hands of the Hoshigaki clan. Because of their affinity with water, the power of jutsu was increased, such that her training partner could be seriously injured from it. It was also true that she could simply concede the impromptu sparring match, before any of them got hurt.

But it was also true that she had the pressure of her clan’s pride on her shoulders. It wasn’t so simply to surrender even a sparring match that easily. She just hoped that he was skillful enough to avoid getting too hurt. As much as she liked to cause pain, she didn’t feel right to do it to someone who wasn’t an enemy, and it would totally raise questions among the village security force that would probably take her the whole day to finish answering. She was mostly not looking forward to the latter.

She began to do the hand seals on the jutsu, but Tsurugi—instead of stopping in front of her and trying to do his seals faster—reared back his arm for a punch.

“Whoa!” Ciera leaped backwards, nearly tripping upon landing. Damn it, she should have saw that coming. She quickly resumed her hand seal making, but she saw that Tsurugi was already doing likewise, competing with her for speed. They both finished at the same, activating their jutsu’s. Oddly enough, both jutsu were similar in nature.

While her training partner was exhaling a wave of flames from his throat, Ciera had opened her mouth wide and spewed out a large volume of pressurized water from her mouth. Both fire and water made contact in the middle, battling with each other for supremacy. However, it would only take a moment for her suiton jutsu to completely overwhelm the fire as it was not just one rank higher, it was on a magnitude of two ranks higher in power. If Tsurugi could not get out of the way, then he would be hit by the full force of the jet of water. If he took a direct hit, he would have more to worry about than just broken bones.

Chakra 130/170, +1 power (clan):

---

WC: 777/1000 Gunshot

Oh this was quite the mess, the girl had avoided his sloppy punch as he had expected, but what he did not expect was that she would begin activating her own jutsu in response to his attack, the two moved their hands as fast as they could, then at the same time the two unleashed their respective jutsu at each other. However instead of both jutsu hitting their intended targets, they found themselves colliding with each other, there was just one difference Ciera was continuing to feed chakra into her stream, whereas Tsurugi’s jutsu was a single moments burst without him feeding anymore chakra into it the fire was not reinforced. Meaning that the girl’s water jutsu soon overwhelmed by the powerful blast of water that washed away the fire. Lucky for Tsurugi he was able to rely on his finely tuned reflexes to avoid the stream of water, pushing off his feet once more he would roll off to the side avoiding the water attack although his landing was rough it was a much better outcome than being hit by that attack.

Once he was down on one knee he would begin to execute his next attack, he needed to counter now that Ciera was going to be recovering from using her attack perhaps he’d have a better chance of landing a blow on her; this back and forth was getting a bit tiresome. Performing the necessary hand seals as quickly as he could he would lean his head back as he inhaled, then shot his face forward opening his mouth to exhale, this time it was not a katon jutsu as he had been using before. Instead this was a jutsu representing his clan’s unique kekkei genkai, from his mouth a direct stream of compressed vapor was fired from his mouth. This vapor stream however was super-heated as was his bloodlines ability, the superheated steam was aiming to his Ciera’s torso, he would have aimed it for the face but he understood this was a sparring match there was no need to get too deadly about it. Assuming Ciera was wearing just that thin looking kimono on her figured, he would bank on the fact that the heat of the vapor would be strong enough to burn through the fabric of her clothes hopefully getting her skin under it.

Golden eyes remained fixed on the girl as he directed the stream of vapor at her, his chakra feeding the attack to help it travel across the ground aiming to smash into her at the point of impact. This of course was all if he managed to hit her, he would have dealt first blood in their little spar, giving him a psychological edge even over his training partner.


1000/1000 Fire Swarm Jutsu

851/1000 Violent Vapor Stream

Chakra: 110/150:

When Ciera had seen Tsurugi move out of the way of her Wild Water Wave, she canceled out the jutsu and started moving her hands to create another. Now that there was some distance between the two, this jutsu would be more effective, though it was an untested technique. She had only recently started learning it and while it was a bit of a stretch to use it in a combat situation, this was just a spar so that made it okay, right? Her hands flew through the complex seals that made up this C-ranked jutsu as her chakra flowed through her coils.

“Water Release: Gunshot.” While it wasn’t necessary to speak the name of the technique when using it, it helped her concentrate on the activation of it. This certainly did make a bit easier, especially with using techniques that haven’t been used in a combat situation before. There was often no telling when a mistake like the wrong hand seal used or a bad amount of chakra was fed into it until after the results happen, which is very dangerous in a real fight. As such, she needed whatever could make the technique easier until at least after she finally mastered it.

As she completed the seals, the water in her mouth would condense into bullets that could be spat out at high speeds, enough that it could pierce skin at the power level that she was using it at. It was another of her more powerful techniques and quite dangerous at that. She wasn’t going to hit her partner with it, but it should be enough to scare him into submission.

However, before she could even do that, she saw a wave of steam rolling towards her, blurring her opponent from sight. It was like vapors from a bathhouse or a hot day, it didn’t quite obscure the person from sight, but it made it harder to tell the exact position. She didn’t want to accidentally hit him when she was aiming to miss him by a few inches. Ciera had to get rid of this steam first. She spat out a couple of the water bullets into the steam clouds—more towards the ground so it wouldn’t accidently hit Tsurugi—but what space they cleared up was almost immediately filled up with more steam. Before she could do more, the steam reached her.

But it wasn’t just regular steam. It was incredibly hot and began eating through the fabric of her kimono. Ciera leaped backwards out of the steam, tugging and throwing off her dissolving kimono. Underneath, she was wearing a kunoichi vest and pants, both of a dark blue color. On a couple of parts, there was a little bit of residue from the steam that continued to eat through the fabric.

As much as she hated to admit it, she had lost this one. If Tsurugi had aimed it more upward, toward her exposed skin, she didn’t want to think how much that would have boiled her face. Just the thought of looking like that was enough to give her shivers. She breathed out a sigh.

“Looks like you’re more than just talk, Tsurugi. It’s your win.”

Chakra 120/170, +1 power (clan):

---

WC: 1000/1000 Gunshot
WC: 321/1000 Rising Slice

The attack hit its mark he watched as the steam smashed into her kimono, the boiling heat of the condensed stream eating away at her kimono on contact threatening to get to her flesh in no time, yet surprisingly the girl jumped out of the streams trajectory causing it to travel forward uninterrupted until he chose to stop feeding chakra onto it. This caused the stream to subside, and eventually become useless, looking over towards the girl he raised a brow as he watched her throw aside her kimono,  what was she doing exactly? It was not until his gutter mind took a better look at her that he realized she wasn’t wearing a skimpy set of lingerie under as he had hoped she was actually wearing a combat ready uniform of the typical ninja. This was a good thing for him, seeing as anything else he would have found himself rendered helpless in this battle, clearing his throat lowly trying to play off any break in his normally calm demeanor he would take in the woman’s words.

“Not exactly” he would say to the girl, his golden orbs remained fixed on her as he walked towards her his footsteps calm, and his pace steady so he did not give off the sense of hostility that would trigger an attack from Ciera. “…had I not reacted in time to avoid your previous attack that overwhelmed my, I would have been crushed similar to the men you killed during our mission. That, and in a true battle, I would eventually fall to your advantage, your natural affinity to Suiton based jutsu renders most of my arsenal useless…” a pause would follow the blue haired man’s words, as he stared directly at the woman. “You are a skilled ninja, which is exactly why I chose you…and which is exactly why…we are far from done here!” he would yell out the last part, his masculine tone booming with a sudden surge of  determination. Quickly the man would perform a single hand seal, the tiger hand seal his golden eyes seemed to glare at the blue skinned woman with a burning set of eyes that pierced into her very being; it was almost as if he was done playing games now.

Inhaling deeply he would fill both his lungs, and throat with oxygen his chakra immediately knitting itself into the form of intense flames that would soon burst form his mouth I the most violent way possible. Tsurugi had no intention of hitting Ciera with this, he just wanted to see how she would react, the distance between them would offer her enough time to react IF she was as good as he had come to assume. “Katon! Gōkakyū no Jutsu!” he would yell out before exhaling the manipulated chakra form his mouth in the form of a roaring orb of flames that aimed to smash directly into the blue skinned girl. It raged across the surface of the ground leaving behind a burned scar as it trailed along charging straight for Ciera.

1000/1000 Fire Swarm Jutsu

1000/1000 Violent Vapor Stream

366/1000 Towards Suiton training C > B

95/150:

Really? He wanted to continue fighting when it was clearly his victory? Well, Ciera couldn’t say that it was that surprising. She did come from a clan filled with warriors that had a similar mindset. Keep fighting until you can’t, which often meant that they would need to be knocked unconscious. Of course, that kind of fighting style did cause a normal of casualties in regular sparring and training, but those that make it out were typically fearsome in their own right.

Still, if he wanted a fight, then she was more than willing to give him one.

“It’s still your win, but if you still want to play, I’ll be happy to oblige,” Ciera said. Despite the fact that a raging orb of fire was heading her was, she was nonplussed. After all, she was feeling quite secure in the fact that it would never reach her. She had used it for a dynamic entrance and now, she was going to use it for a dramatic end.

Sending out a pulse of chakra from her back, the chakra converted into a burst of wind that exploded towards and past her, ruffling her hair and clothing. The sudden draft flew at the approaching fireball and met it. However, instead of an explosion when both techniques met, the fire of the katon was sucked into the burst of wind, igniting it. The entire body of the wind was inflamed, turning it into a massive torrent of fire that was rushing right at Tsurugi.

However, even as that raging torrent was heading right for her opponent, Ciera was already moving onto her next move. She had learned from her mistake, and she wasn’t willing to be caught off-guard again. Her fingers flashed through the series of seals before she called out its name.

“Water Release: Rising Slice!”

At her feet, four blades of water came into existence and launched forward, ripping through the ground as if they were the fins of a quartet of land sharks. Two swerved off to the left side while the other two headed for the right side. Whichever way that Tsurugi dodged to from the torrent of wind and fire, the blades of water would be there to greet him.

Chakra 90/170. +1 power to suiton jutsu (clan):

---

WC: 704/1000 Rising Slice

The fireball was great, and he damage it would cause was devastating however Tsurugi seemed to have  become too confident in the power of his attack, unfortunately overconfidence was one of his major character flaws this is why now he would learn a harsh lesson from his companion, and not even see it coming. Golden eyes would go from calmly examining his training partner to widening with shock when he witnessed the fireball deform itself as it clashed with something, only to be reformed into a giant torrent of wild flames that aimed to burn him to a crisp. “What!?” was all he managed to say as he quickly reacted by sprinting to the far right, perhaps because his dominant hand was his right was why he chose this side; either way it did not matter for he would find himself running straight into another attack. He was out of the flaming torrents trajectory now, leaving it to rage passed him the intense heat that radiated form the attack irritating his skin just a bit, yet his eyes would soon find themselves staring down another problem which was the second attack. ‘When did she…’ his thought was given no time to complete as he found himself reacting to the incoming attack out of sheer instinct, manipulating his own chakra to layer over his forearms as best he could in this last minute situation he would raise them up!

This was a half assed defense for sure, but it was the best he could do at this moment here it came the inevitable impact, bracing himself with a firm stance he would withstand the impact of the blades. Even with the chakra layered over his forearms he felt it the sting of the sharpened water blades compressed edge digging into his flesh, the man would flinch from the stinging pain but luckily that was the worst of it, the water blade would disperse the chakra that had done little to defend him faded soon after. Dark crimson blood dripped from his forearms which were now decorated with a slash each that went in as far as three inches into his flesh having slice through his sleeves. His eyes would look down at his arms as the blood trailed past his hands, and dropping from the tips of his fingers to the ground below leaving multiple splashed specks of blood below him. One would imagine he was greatly disappointed in this, but instead he began to chuckle, it was a soft chuckle very subtle almost could go unnoticed by Ciera if she was not paying much attention; raising those golden eyes of his he focused them upon the girl once more.

A smile would creep across his facial features as he stared at the girl, “Well then, that was an interesting little combination…I must say I do find you to be quite the interesting one, Ciera” with a pause the man would not bother wiping the blood from his hands. Standing there with arms at either side he remained in a neutral stance, “Now its your turn to ignite the sparks of battle, come at me!” he called out smiling almost manically at the girl waiting for her to make a move.

907/2000 Towards Suiton training C > B

Chakra:

“The match is over,” Ciera said as she calmly made her way over, ignoring the fact that Tsurugi was still rearing to fight even with how injured he was. “It’s still your win since you won first. If those vapors had gotten to my face, I would be the one lying on the ground in pain.”

She had tried to avoid causing too much damage to her partner—especially since she only wanted to discourage him from sparring further—but as she got closer, she saw that the cuts had gone a little deeper than anticipated. It was probably going to need to be washed and bandaged, though she had no bandages on her. As she walked closer, she raised her hands, palm facing forward to show that she meant no harm.

“We need to stop that bleeding before it gets out of hand,” Ciera said. “I don’t want to have to drag you to the village hospital when you fall unconscious from blood loss. Besides, a spar isn’t the end of a training session so we’re not done yet anyways.

“Though, we will be if you don’t stem the blood flow.”

---

WC 900/1000 Rising Slice

Her words would stop him completely, pausing his entire thinking process he was imagining already how to react to whatever attack she was going to launch his way, he was already waiting for the opportunity to counter. When it never came he relaxed, the tense muscles that had tightened themselves in anticipation would simply release him from their tense grip; golden eyes followed the woman as she approached him whilst talking her words. He was seeing no hostile action so he had no reason to react to it, also he did not take Ciera as the type to use some cheap tactic such as this just to get a cheap shot on him, besides this was a sparring match after all. When her words were done he would nod at her, looking down at his forearms, “I guess you have a point” he would says in response to his sparring partners concerns. With that he reached for the belt unhooking it around his waist, and allowing it to drop to his feet. With the belt no longer holding it in place the white duster would flow freely around him, until he removed it from his being revealing his form fitting long sleeve shirt that hid under the white duster, with every visible muscle flexing, and contracting he began to pull at the already weakened sleeves of his duster forcefully tearing them off.

Once he had done that he approached the nearby river, dipping his forearms into the icy cold water a chill running up his arms causing Goosebumps to line his skin, the rivers calm current washed away the blood he could see the crimson streaks flowing in the rivers current. Pulling his soaking arms out, he would grab each sleeve he had torn off, then began to wrap them tightly around each arm luckily the cold water had number out the wounds just a bit. This was enough to prevent him from feeling the sting that could come from how harshly he was treating the wound, once each was tightly secured by the makeshift bandages, he would rise to his full height once more. Turning over to face the woman full body he raised both arms up to show her his handy work, it was crude but seemingly affective for the most part at least. “Now that the bleeding has stopped, I should be okay until we get back to the village, you mentioned the training session not being over. So what’s next?” he asked her clearly more eager to get this training back on track than actually being concerned for his wounds.

WC: 1341/2000 Towards Suiton training C > B

“What’s next? Really, you’re asking that? Weren’t you the one who invited me to this training session?” Ciera asked incredulously before a sudden thought came to her. Yet, even as she thought it, she couldn’t quite think it applied to this situation. It was just too ridiculous. Still, she had to ask it. “Did you really think that training only consisted of a spar?”

The moment she asked it, she regretted it. She didn’t realize how embarrassing it was to even ask it. It was like saying that the person had a one track mind. That was even insulting, so much so that she knew she had to change the topic quickly.

“Anyways, moving on, we should probably discuss the spar. I noticed that you kept using fire techniques against me even though you knew very well how proficient the Hoshigaki clan is at water jutsu’s. Water will always counter fire so why didn’t you use water or steam more?” Ciera asked. For discussions like these, it was best to focus on the weak point to better learn from them. Though, now that she thought about it, something was very strange. “Actually, I never saw you use any suiton jutsu at all. Why weren’t you using it?”

---

WC: 1000/1000 Rising Slice
WC: 115/750 Body Flicker Technique

He raised a brow at the woman’s tone, what was with her he asked for her input not like he had not thought this through, he remained quiet however those golden orbs of his observing her as she continued to talk to him. Until her following comment hit him, the male crossed his arms over his chest “Of course training does not consist of just sparring, you need to step down from your high horse Ciera” his tone seemed more sinister this time, as one would expect a warning growl to come from one animal to the next; a simple warning to watch her step. Luckily the topic was dropped, soon enough distracting him from trying to figure out what she was trying to suggest with that last comment, listening to her once more. The male would give her a nod of the head, she had pointed out something that was a crucial weakness in his jutsu arsenal his lack for jutsu that took advantage of his other elemental affinities he really had an abundance of Katon jutsu, but very little in anything else. Before he answered her question his mind was replaying their sparring match, the way the match had gone his katon jutsu had proven useless, but the moment he used his boil release he actually managed to get a hit on her, perhaps she had a point in pointing out this obvious flaw.


“I lack very much variety” he said simply, no shame in his tone and the words emerging from his mouth rather flatly; “Honestly, the bulk of my jutsu are Katon, as for Sution and Futton, I have very little as my disposal. Though I do aim to change that by becoming better attuned to my other elemental chakras.” The man spoke directly, and with honesty this was training after all so there was chances here to improve, and make mistakes without dying, as well as discovering ones own flaws. “…as for you, you seem to be better versed in two elements, however you seem to lack much to choose from. If I did count correctly you used the same jutsu more than once? I am assuming you plan to further expand your move pool” he would say to the girl, giving a pause for her to answer. This was interesting conversation yes, but unfortunately not what he was entirely interested in, after she had answered he would completely wash over whatever comments she had, to ask a simple question.

“Why do you desire more power?”


WC: 1762/2000 Towards Suiton training C > B

It was true enough. She had to expand her inventory of jutsu’s for both her fuuton and suiton. Having more moves allowed more variety and more freedom, which was why she had tried out so many different moves in the match. It was a training spar after all.

“Most of those moves were ones that I was trying out for the first time. I am trying to learn more jutsu’s in order to have enough variety to account for every situation,” Ciera said. “Once I have these techniques mastered, then I will move on to a few more. For now, though, I’m content to keep practicing my current ones.”

The topic was changed once more as Tsurugi moved on to the next question. Specifically, a question about motivation. Why did she want power?

“To elevate my clan’s power and status,” Ciera responded. It was a simple answer, but it was also a simple question. Her clan had been there for her, taking care of her and raising her through all the hardships. Even when she had decided to quit being a genin, they let her become a simple fisherman like other unskilled, but most importantly, they didn’t look down on her.

That was very important, because especially in a ninja village, that was something that wasn’t to be taken for granted. Worth was often based on your ability to contribute, and as this was a shinobi village, being a ninja was the epitome of prestige. When one faltered from that patch, it was not uncommon for them to take normal jobs in the village, but it would also be looked on badly by the clans.

However, for the Hoshigaki clan—or perhaps most fish clans in the village—their unique appearance meant that they had their own miniature community which had to be tight-knit. Despite what the village was, there was always some racism, especially with how much of a reputation that the Hoshigaki clan had.

“They have done so much for me. I want to return the favor to them,” Ciera said. “It’s not exactly duty or anything. But I still want to do it.”

---

WC: 479/750 Body Flicker Technique

An admirable goal, one that for a moment made Tsurugi question whether he wanted to continue this relationship, Ciera seemed to have a selfless goal that involved helping those she had deemed worthy; those being her clan members the ones who shared her bloodline. Yet in the end it would be her very ambition that would be the driving force he would use to manipulate her to achieve his own goal, perhaps in the end even help her achieve her own goal if they survived such a wild plan. One that he planned to expose to her, “Your goal is one I can admire, you alone have taken it upon yourself to raise your clan to the highest point. With your own sweat, and blood…truly it will be an admirable achievement, one that I will help you gain” the male’s golden eyes would stare at Ciera in silence for a moment; analyzing her facial features for reactions. Stepping further out of his comfort zone, he went on to speak more,  “…Kirigakure, as it stands is a nation in need of change. Just like the brothers, and sisters who share your blood, the villagers of this nation as a whole need to be elevated to a status of greater power. For too long have the Mizukages sat in comfort, content with this, and content with their petty achievements. I will not be…” a pause came to his speech, as the man raised a hand towards Ciera.

It was not meant to be shaken, he was just pointing his finger at her, “Help me in becoming Mizukage, we will take this village…” his hand turned at the first making it so his palm faced upward with his fingers apart, “….and one we have attained the control we seek, once we sit at the top of the tower with all others at our knees. I will elevate your clan to the highest peaks of power, and I will honor their greatest warrior as the hero of Kirigakure, who helped bring about a great change. A brand new era to this world” his tone carried his words smoothly yet it demanded respect. With his speech done he lowered his hand from the woman, allowing it to stand at your side “You wish to secure your clans wellbeing, and I wish to revolutionize this village. Stand by my side Ciera, and together we will attain our goals, from here on out we will grow strong as ONE, and when the time comes we will crush all opposition!” his tone at the end elevated with his excitement, he was passionate about this topic, and he never helped himself from showing it.

Now however it was up to Ciera to make her decision, would she help the madman achieve his goal?

It was a long speech, one that Tsurugi seemed very passionate about. Maybe it was his manner of speaking or the hand gestures that he used, but it was like the man was completely convinced that the insanity of his words would come true. It was ludicrous, too fantastic of a fantasy to ever become reality. It was treason, pure and simple. Yet those words were also enticing. Seductive in their sway. Power and greed were two words that came hand in hand, both needing the other just as much as they needed themselves.

“You’re insane.” It was a simple statement, but it was true nonetheless. Insanity was never far from radicalism. Doing everything for the sake of the village… Was it really for the village or just empty words that played upon the listener’s logic and reasoning?

They were both at the bottom of the pole, rising up for their own respective goal. Hers was for the sake of her clan. His was for the sake of the village as a whole. Did either needed or wanted their help? Was it all necessary? She didn’t quite know.

Change was necessary, that much was definitely known. To bring about the prosperity and prestige that she wanted for her clan, they had to become as great as they were in ages previously. While they were still in quite good standing, none of the Hoshigaki that came after the great wars have truly made a name for themselves. The greatest Hoshigaki was a traitor to the village named Kisame, who helped orchestrate the greatest gamble in history—and lost. Despite that, his legacy as a powerful warrior was held in high esteem by the clan.

It was an unusual route, but Kisame had achieved greatness that was recognized by history, even if he was portrayed as a villain.

Was it necessary, therefore, to take a different route?

“I’ll think about it.”

It was another simple statement, one to end the conversation. She knew she was stalling, but she needed the time to think on it. It was a decision that was pure treason and thus, it wasn’t something to take lightly.

Her hands began to move in flashes. This was another new jutsu, but she was confident nonetheless. Releasing the energy within her, she called out the name of the technique.
“Body Flicker Technique.”

In a flash of mist, she was gone.

[End thread]

Spoiler:

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WC: 888/750 Body Flicker Technique