Diamond Heights University was probably the most popular academic institution in the five great nations, or at least the only one that Issei had heard of before. To be fair, he'd lived in Iwa and been surrounded by people who had attended the university, including his good friend Masa, so perhaps he was biased and there was a better university in one of the other villages. It just seemed unlikely, considering he had traveled so much and been to every village...other higher learning establishments paled in comparison to Diamond Heights. Issei and Masa had spent the previous night together, reminiscing on their younger days when they were both 23 and trying to find their paths in life. The only difference was that Masa had actually found his; he graduated from the University the previous year, just before Issei moved back to Kirigakure, and he was now an aspiring architect and civil engineer for Iwagakure no Sato. Issei was as lost as he had ever been, only having become a shinobi to support himself financially and allow him to improve his combat capabilities so he could protect himself. In the back of his mind, he always remembered his greatest fear; he wondered if the surgeon was still alive somewhere, just waiting for the right moment to return and try to kill Issei for good. Was the life of a shinobi what he really wanted? Would he be able to bear through it just to get what he wanted out of it? Or would he quit, and resign to the life of a struggling writer with no real purpose, no real motivation...

Masa had gotten up and gone to work, and Issei slept in for a while, enjoying the comfort of Masa's couch. When he did manage to wake up, he dressed in a red shirt with a gray cardigan over it, along with navy blue jeans and dark sneakers. He left Masa's house and stopped at a small tea house to get coffee. Strangely enough, he never liked his coffee sweet; he always took it black, no sugar or cream, just pure, caffeinated, bitter bliss, a warm sensation moving down his throat and pulsing in his veins with every sip. He purchased the biggest cup they had and starting drinking away, deciding his next destination for the day to be Diamond Heights. He'd been to the library there numerous times before to read and get some peace. It was rare for people to try to socialize with one other in a library, of course, so why would anyone bother talking to him there if they didn't know him? In his mind, it was the perfect getaway, a welcome reprieve from all the busy chatter that was a perpetual discomfort to him everywhere else. Arriving at the library's entrance and opening the doors, he walked in and headed straight for the nonfiction section.

Issei's eyes scanned the bookshelf for something of interest to him. The author's names were facing out...Edamura, Inoue, Kagami...he found a small book entitled "体術の現代学問分野", meaning "Modern Disciplines of Taijutsu", and picked it off of the shelf. He continued searching, and found "最初の土影" and "土の国における禁術発信の百科事典" ("The First Tsuchikage" and "An Encyclopedia of Forbidden Jutsu Originating in Tsuchi no Kuni", respectively), taking them both before turning to the central area of the library to find a seat. He placed all three books next to each other on the table and took a seat, scooting in so that his posture was perfect and his elbows could rest comfortably on the surface in front of him. He opened up "The First Tsuchikage" and started reading with an unintentional smile on his face, tenderly turning the pages as he progressed.

Reading away at the pages of The First Tsuchikage was an informative endeavor, and the man known by the name of Ishikawa had been a wise and skilled founder and leader to Iwagakure no Sato. He was theorized to have been a member of the Kamizuru Clan, a clan of shinobi that tamed and weaponized bees that fed off of chakra during battle. He'd heard of a similar clan, the Aburame that used kikaichū, but never of that specific bee clan. Furthermore, Ishikawa was a master of earth release and he had pioneered many of the jutsu that future generations of his family would learn. The position of Tsuchikage remained in his family for a number of years, with his grandson becoming the Third Tsuchikage and his great-great granddaughter becoming the Fourth Tsuchikage.

Centuries later, Issei knew that the current Tsuchikage was named Akira, but nothing aside from that. He'd heard stories and rumors about Akira, but never anything worth remembering, and he'd never met Akira so he didn't know how plausible the rumors were anyhow. Nonetheless, the pure strength that a Kage-level ninja was capable of absolutely confounded and intrigued Issei; there was a reason that they presided over their respective villages, and a large part of that was because they had proven themselves to be (likely the only ones) worthy enough to protect and serve a village like that. So, to put things simply, Issei had nothing but respect for the five Kage. When he next took his eyes away from the text below, he noticed that someone had taken another seat at the table, directly across from him. Young, but not exactly child-like in his appearance; messy black hair, generally small features aside from his eyes, and a pair of glasses. He nodded to Issei and gave a soft smile, which Issei returned in order to be polite.

Dozens of pages into reading about the Tsuchikage, Issei's attention span and interest level started to dwindle and he accepted that as a reason to close the book and move on to another one, for now. He went to pick up his next book, the one about forbidden techniques. As he turned to grab the title, he noticed that the person sitting across from him was reading some kind of book about fire release, which piqued his curiosity. Having had an innate affinity toward the element alongside the water release he inherited from his mother, Issei wanted to read that book next. He had always been better with suiton anyhow, so reading up on katon might've been a good way to help him improve in his use of it. He fought through his generally reclusive temperament to ask the man reading that book, in a whispered and rough voice: "Excuse me, would it be alright if I read that after you?" he left it at that request, opting not to say anything more, and rather await a response. His elbows had moved off of the table and found a place at his sides, with his hands in his lap, and he tried his best to seem polite and warm (something that he wasn't exactly used to).

The boy took a short pause before he answered Issei's question with a polite, "Of course", clearly having been caught up in his reading. Issei smiled unintentionally before looking back down to the book just in front of him. This encyclopedia of forbidden techniques was filled with hundreds over jutsu that had been banned throughout the years, going into detail to describe each jutsu as well as when and why it was (and may have still been) banned. Since this specific edition was native to the jutsu created and/or banned specifically in Tsuchi no Kuni, most of the jutsu listed were earth release techniques. Now, there was a reason that this particular encyclopedia had caught Issei's attention; more recently in his training and overall, he'd grown fond of studying earth release and its many users. He'd known it to be a powerful element that was incorporated in many advanced releases, especially in those native to Iwagakure no Sato (lava release and explosion release). He found himself wanting to learn how to use it, which was no easy task for a shinobi; typically, people were born with either one or two nature affinities that gave them a talent for a nature transformation when molding their chakra. There were some that had three, through inheritance of an advanced element kekkei genkai (entailing the ability to use two basic elements, and an element that combines the two and creates a new one). Affinities could be found using methods like chakra paper, which react to the holder's chakra differently based on their natural element(s). Issei was lucky enough to have been born with his aforementioned two, Suiton and Katon, and he never had much trouble using jutsu from either element aside from the basics, like learning hand seals, proper chakra flow, and shape transformation.

Acquiring an element that a shinobi wasn't born with was another deal entirely; it often required a great deal of training, taking years of practice or some kind of alternative method (such as ninja that had tried to steal other nature transformations by taking chakra from their victims). Despite that, it wasn't enough to deter Issei from wanting to master Doton. He read through the forbidden jutsu more for pleasure than any practical application to learning Doton, though. There was one technique that interested him, known as the Forbidden Mud Golem Jutsu. It was similar to a cloning technique that worked against opponents by duplicating them using earth release, and it was apparently quite effective. Another was an unnamed kinjutsu that a man named Deidara had stolen from the village centuries back, a jutsu that allowed the user to knead chakra into materials by creating strange mouths on their body. The thought both intrigued and horrified Issei, as he recalled previous readings about Deidara as a user of explosion release and being a powerful missing-ninja, long ago.

There was one more jutsu that Issei paid extra attention to, some sort of method to turn people into stone (or the user) into stone. The encyclopedia was very vague concerning it because there wasn't much information on it, apparently, aside form the fact that it had been seen used by an Iwagakure shinobi and subsequently banned for how dangerous it was. He wondered if he could do something like that with his kekkei genkai; he doubted he would be able to turn people into bone because he only had control of his own osteoblasts, osteoclasts, and calcium levels, but he could probably turn himself into pure, chakra-enhanced bone for extra defense during battle. An exoskeleton armor. The idea just seemed to click in his head and from there on he got a few more ideas on how to develop his Shikotsumyaku, so he took out a pen and a notecard from his backpocket and scribbled down his ideas, ready to see how much he could manage next time he trained. Once the notes were taken, he returned the card and the pen to his pocket and closed the book of forbidden jutsu, with no more use or interest in reading further.

And Issei's second-to-last read was upon him, Modern Disciplines of Taijutsu. He ran a hand over the cover, feeling its worn, leathery surface and peeling it open gingerly.

Issei's eyes looked over each line from left to right before bouncing back and starting over for the next as he absorbed the text. The first chapter focused on the differences between popular fighting styles and the various pros and cons of each. His personal fighting style was akin to that of a foreign style called Capoiera, a traditional discipline of movement originating among slaves that was both a martial art and a dance form. The book claimed that Capoiera fighters focused entirely on speed and maneuverability, which was where Issei's style took a separate path; although he did have excellent maneuverability and easy control of a fight using jumps, flips, and somersaults, his speed was hardly comparable to his physical strength. He often stayed in close range, able to dodge attacks from time to time but more usually blocking them with his hands and using the opponent's weight against them. He caught them off guard by consistently shifting positions around them, to adapt to their movements, much like a dance. He read further into the art of Capoiera nonetheless, intrigued by the parallels that he shared with it. There were a few moves that he was foreign to, such as the "Au" movements, which were a number of variations on a regular "cartwheel". Taking mental note of this section, he moved on to the next chapter.

There was a segment on chakra in relation to taijutsu and how proper chakra flow could augment its effectiveness. Nature transformations, increases in physical strength, and even advanced applications of medical ninjutsu to make taijutsu extremely lethal. Issei remembered that Isamu was a medical ninja, but he wasn't sure if he knew taijutsu. Nonetheless, the next thought that came to mind was the chakra scalpel, a jutsu that the Surgeon had used on him during his captivity. The thought sent a shudder down his spine. The next few chapters focused entirely on proper taijutsu use, striking and grappling, and defensive styles. Issei figured he could go into better depth on his own, later on. A quick look at his watch indicated that he'd already been at the library for nearly two hours, which was longer than he had originally intended to stay but it wasn't as if he had anywhere important to be anyhow. He scooped all of his books together and put them into a stack, just as the boy across from him pushed a book forward. It was the book on Katon chakra that Issei had asked for earlier. Issei smiled and decided to extend his stay just a bit longer in order to get a little bit of extra information.

The book was divided by different types of Katon chakra, its uses in advanced nature transformations such as lava release and boil release, and various jutsu that used Katon and how to properly wield them. Of the jutsu listed, a majority were ninjutsu, which was something that Issei was trying to get a better mastery of in general. He already knew the Great Fireball jutsu, which was a very basic and yet powerful addition to any decent fire user's arsenal. The key to using Katon properly was to maintain just enough control of the flames to prevent any damage to the user while still using its volatile chakra and high temperatures to burn opponents. Now, this wasn't always the case, as some uses of Katon were centered around use of gasoline, oil, and smoke, which was more similar to using Suiton and Fuuton than typical fire jutsu. He thought of these more complex applications of Katon as unique to advanced users of the nature transformation, as all he could do was muster up a few flames and maybe some flammable gas, from what he remembered learning. In battle, it was obvious that he was far more skilled using Suiton, however, since that was what he had inherited from his mother and he had also learned a few basic jutsu using that element from her. He committed some of the key points in the book to memory in order to practice different mediums of Katon later on, but once Issei had skimmed through a few sections, he had gotten the information he needed out of the book and was ready to check out the remaining books he was holding.

He slipped the book back to the black-haired boy and closed it. "Thank you for letting me read that, I just wanted to give it a quick look. I'm going to go check out these three books and then head out, though. I'm Issei. It was nice meeting you." and with that, he headed to the front desk of the library and set the stack of books in front of the librarian. There was a lengthy process of getting a new library card (which he thought he would've circumvented since he had received a card last time he was in Iwa), and he had to pay a sum of ryo since he wasn't an enrolled university student at Diamond Heights, but he finally checked out the three books. He had to return them within three weeks, but he knew that he'd be finished with all three before his trip was over and he'd bring them back within a couple of days. He left the library and walked off onto campus, taking in the gentle sunlight.

[ Exit Thread ]

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