Makoto woke up late at night in the wilderness after a good day of training he began to remember what he had done that day. He had tried once more to create a variation of the hidden mist jutsu and ended up making a small minor mistake as he began to wonder if he needed to push a little bit further as he began to understand a few things. No matter how hard you work if you did not have a clear idea of what you were doing, it was going to be hopeless no matter what you tried to do.

Feeling a bit sleepy as he went over to the nearby river to splash his face a bit, he was dressed light and thought he would try again later and decided to take a short walk back to the village. He found the guards sometimes locked you out at night, until they identify you as he had no clan his forehead protector was not always enough so he always had to find a guard who knows him. He was on his way back and noticed some girl leaving the village to enter into the woods. He felt curious and followed her silently from a distance, she was a shinobi of the village so perhaps he could catch her doing some secret training. He wanted to get more ideas for his jutsu and so he decided he will see what he can learn from her.

She stopped a distance that was not too far from the village, so he felt a bit relieved that she was at least not trying to abandon the village since he would have had to report a girl with hair that seemed blue, or perhaps purple. It was hard to tell in the dark of the night, not to mention if she was really strong he would be in danger too so he decided to remain still, watch and observe in the hopes to discover something beautiful. Not that she looked that bad herself, but he was way more interested in jutsu then girls. Makoto waited with patience and fortitude while his mind was crying out for her to do something before he gets bored.

Words = 370

Taking in a deep breath of the night air, Kotone cleared her mind and steadied her breathing. She needed to be in perfect sync with her chakra and she needed to have a clear head to be able to do what she was about to do, without blowing herself up. Kotone had done her research about the Bakuton element, reading about it in scrolls and books. She learned the ways it could be used and shaped if one had a creative enough mind. Even though a destructive force, it's applications were endless in the right hands and Kotone was already in the mindset of having those hands. Gathering Doton chakra in her hands she began to mold clay, the very basics for what would be the future of her Bakuton jutsus. She liked using the clay because it was very versatile in what she could create, and that's what she needed right now, something easy to mold to get her footing in this journey of self teaching. As the Doton charka filled her hand she began to mold out a very simple sphere shape, a ball no bigger than her fist. Kotone decided to test the power of her explosions and how she could withstand if she ever got caught in her own blast. Once the round clay creation was to her liking she slowly let Raiton chakra into it being careful with the amount as too much too quickly would likely cause it to explode violently right in her hand.  lets see if I cant blow my legs off... her words slipped out in a hushed mutter, causing a slight smirk to play on her face at her own dark form of humor. Rolling the ball of clay in her hands, she quickly pulled her arm back and then shot it forward into the sky, releasing the ball with it.


The ball of clay flew a bit further than she liked but it was past the trees and that's all she needed. Counting down the seconds she made it to the number six before watching the ball contort and lose it's shape before ripping itself apart violently, a booming sound following the ball of clay's ultimate destruction. The explosion itself was quite impressive, enough to cause a little light show. She nearly expected to feel some sort of aftershock but wasn't disappointed that she didn't. Kotone would be lying if she thought it would be that easy, she was careful, painfully slow, and even though the explosion test looked to go smoothly it didn't really do it for her. In battle she would need to utilize that same sort of effect much faster and with a cleaner finish. Pushing a strand of her violet locks she began kneading more doton charka into her hand, she wanted to try a few more tests before taking notes on her findings. Kotone was careful with her first run, measuring out the chakra, she wanted to see what would happen if she wasn't so careful. Being so preoccupied with her task, she never even noticed the boy who was watching her, and she probably wouldn't have noticed either way as her amethyst ocular orbs bore into her hand, the clay ball growing much bigger than the last.

WC: 544 (858)

Makoto watched from near by as the girl did not seem to be so worried as she seemed to be breathing in normally. Though her breathing seemed so still and so controlled as he wondered is she was trying to sense her surroundings or if she spotted him some how. He watched as she did something unusual as it looked like she was creating something between her hands as he just kept watching, it looked like a small ball of something as he wondered why everyone liked making balls for their jutsu as it began to seem like some kind of pattern of sorts, or was it that making things round was just so much more simple.

For some reason he noticed some strange expression on her face as he was not sure what it was as it was still dark out at night, if he had not been training his eyes and perception better he would not have even know what was going on at this point. She then pulled back her hand as he got on his guard forming the bird hand seal to perform a counter before watching her toss whatever it was into the sky as he looked up and then looked down as well to not lose track of the girl in case it was a distraction to attack him for some reason.

Then it happened as it came to a certain point it went boom like an explosion as it made no sense, rocks did not explode even though explosives did as it made no sense at all. Such a beautiful explosion that made Makoto want to cry from the beautiful art form, though the light seemed to hurt ones eyes slightly as well. He then looked back to her as she seemed to be playing with her hair that had this look of blue though in the fading light it may have be closer to violet or purple in color.

He watched her create an even bigger clay ball then before as a part of him felt worried and another part of him felt that he should simply remain as he was watching her from his hiding spot as he took care not to get caught up in her pace too much. He decided he would keep up with this and was trying to make sure if she was from the village as he tried to get a look for her forehead protector in order to determine if she was in fact a shinobi from his village and not some shinobi who had been planning to throw these explosive strange looking orbs of dirt or rock as he was not able to get a clearer look at it with the light having faded and shrouded them in darkness again as some animals had fled from the area. Though perhaps they were both being watched from far away, it would not be too much of a stretch, however it was definitely clear that this girl was unusual since he knew the earth style usually made hard rocks that were tough. It was what he knew about earth based jutsu having not witnessed many others in his time yet.

Words = 370 + 534 = 904

Kotone wondered what it would take to become the Tsuchikage as she continued to mold the clay ball from her Doton charka. Currently the village didn't have one and most people don't know what happened to the last Tsuchikage. Kotone found it strange that such a position would go unfilled, she would have thought that would be the top priority of the village. Her mind began to wander to fanciful thoughts of her being the Tsuchikage. Kotone found herself placing new rules for the village in her mind most of them dealing with orphans and how they should be treated, others were just some reforming of education and overall ninja training. She would make good relations with other villages and start some trading business for a boost in the economy. It all seemed so easy in her mind but she knew it would probably be alot harder than what she imaged. Pulling herself from her thoughts she finished up the ball of clay she was molding, in her idle thoughts she seemed to have lost track of what she was doing and now the ball was nearly double the size of what it originally was. She knew she could not set this thing off, but she also wondered what happened if she did.

Moving her gaze from her clay creation to the surroundings around her, she thought she spotted a figure nearby. Maybe it was the trick of the light but if there was someone there then that someone saw what she did with her last explosion. She didn't let her gaze linger in that particular direction too much longer and threw the ball of clay towards it instead. The would be bomb was really just a dud since it was only a ball of earth but if someone was there they wouldn't be able to tell and if someone wasn't there then it would just be her chucking a failed creation into the dark of the night. Ultimately her plan was to get some reassurance that no one was there and in order to do that she wanted to scare them out into the open, rather than have her make silly calls into the wind.

wc: 366 (1224)

Makoto was watching intensely for some time, though if it was just bigger and more explosive then he would perhaps lose interest as he wondered what strange kind of technique this was. It seemed rather strange as he began wondering if he could do the same things with water and fire themselves. The ball was twice as big as before and she seemed to pause for some time as he kept looking while being a bit careful. Then it looked as if she spotted him, but he knew that if he did not move then maybe she could not actually see him. He figured maybe she was just looking at an owl or something as she seemed to decide to throw the thing at him as he panicked jumping up the tree as it hit the ground.

Bracing himself for impact it just hit the ground as he held onto the tree branch as he just stared at it, then he realized she must have spotted him. Though at least she did not make it explode or would it explode later as he was not sure what to do now that he was revealed as he just decided to do the simple thing.

"Hi...?" as he kept an eye on the lump of earth on the floor and the girl from the angle as his arms were getting a bit tired as he would stay hanging there as he would have to be careful he did not fall into that explosive muddy clump of earth or was it something else. It was still a bit too dark to tell at this point as he was looking mainly at her wondering why she did not simply call out to him, or say that she knows he is there or something simpler. It made no sense at all, but he did not have more time to think on that as he hoped things were going to be okay as his forehead protector slid from the top of his forehead and then hung loosely around his neck.

Words = 904 + 344 = 1248

Her suspicions were lifted as she saw movement in the area and the ruffling of the leaves of some nearby trees in the direction of where she threw her dud bomb. Who could be out here so late at night? Was it someone from the village? If it were she would be lucky then, but if not she would most likely have to fight who or whatever was out there until help came, which she would absolutely have to  call for. Even as thoughts who of could be out there filled her mind she didn't make any moves to get closer to that area, even when she heard the questioning " hi ". It didn't sound hostile but she couldn't be sure and she wouldn't make the mistake of letting her guard down because of some voice from the trees. Identify yourself. Or I'll alert the guards of your presence.. Her voice was firm and unwavering, she didn't need whoever it was to hear any fear coming from her. Kotone also made it a point not to let this person know that the bomb was a dud, she could use the fact as a scare tactic if she needed to, if this person was actually a danger to her.

This little interruption in her training only served as a mild annoyance. Because of it she decided she would end today's session and figure out who this individual was before heading home. Tugging on her headband that showed her Iwagakure affiliation, she skillfully turned it in a way that the person would see it as it sat around her waist like a loose belt. It probably didn't mean much but if the person saw that and was apart of Iwa as well then the two could get past the interrogations of identity and talk on an even playing field,  something Kotone was really hoping would happen, the best case scenario.

WC: 317 (1541)

The girl told him to identify himself or she will alert the guards of the village, he began to wonder if it was too dark to see his forehead protector from that distance as he thought to himself for a moment. "I am Makoto of the hidden stone village, who are you?"

Makoto's arms felt sore as the pain build up was a bit frustrating, while he may increase his strength through this method if he spent too much time hanging out like this, he may end up falling into whatever was at the bottom. However he was a bit too confused at the time to think of just swinging up and sitting on the branch as he did not want to show his back to a potential enemy. She then began to show off her waist as he was staring for a bit wondering what strange ritual that was until he noticed she was flashing her village symbol as he blinked a few times, though he still waited for her to identify herself since she could be up to no good as well.

However in the worst case scenario he could always toss a kunai to the bottom to trigger the explosive earlier if it even works like that at all as it made no sense to him. It was in this moment that Makoto felt he would need to train in order to perform foot seals which may sound stupid, but if he could perform seals without using his hands he could save himself a lot of trouble as he hung out with the strange girl below. She was definitely bigger then him and he was not sure how much older she might be if she was even older in the first place since he was rather small himself. Though from up here he had the high ground which essentially gave him a large advantage over his opponent or it would at least be a good advantage in offense, it was really bad for defense though. Makoto decided to chill and analyze the situation as best he could as his heart was beating slow and fast alternating with his shifting thoughts as he was a bit too worked up at the moment from the explosion of earlier.

Words = 1248 + 380 = 1628

So it was another person from Iwa spying on her training session. This put Kotone at ease but she was also annoyed. Moving closer to the person she made sure to still keep some distance between the two, her eyes honing in on the individual who called himself Makoto. Kotone, I am from Iwagakure as well. You can come down out of that tree now, I promise I won't harm you, unless of course you give me a reason to do so. Also that's not going to explode, it's a dud. Crossing her arms over her chest, a part of her really hopped this person had a reason for just lurking around in the dark and that he would explain himself and not make her have to ask him about it. Her mind began to churn about, trying to put a face to the name of the person in the tree. To Kotone the voice didn't sound all that familiar.

Could she even really remember a Makoto in the village? It was too dark to make out the person's features from where he was in the tree, especially with no light  other than the faint moonbeams peaking through the leaves.As she struggled to bring up any real connection to anyone in the village, she would curse herself for her lack of social interactions. She could really only trust her siblings, so she had a habit of treating anyone outside of them as nothing more than an acquaintance.  It was something that she really had to work on if she wanted to make any sort of impact on others. In this world nothing could be done alone and as much as she disliked the idea of making friends she was sure in the end it would further her future goals. With this in mind she would wait for Makoto to respond to her.

312 (1853)

Makoto's eyes would dilate and refocus as she moved in the darkness of the night as he got a better look of her face as she moved towards him. She was still keeping her distance and introduced herself as Kotone of the hidden stone village, since they were fellow shinobi things should be simple. However everyone is usually taught to not trust anyone while being taught having to trust people at the same time. This contradiction paradox was always confusing in a way that Makoto may never understand so all he knew was that he would need to be careful.

She then told him that he could now come down from the tree and that she would not harm him, she also mentioned that the bomb was a dud. However he was a bit carefully as he thought about it for a while and swung his legs back and then forwards and then back once more as he let go and did a front flip while moving backwards to avoid the location of the dud as he slid down a tree behind him before landing on the ground safely. Though to be honest he felt like he hurt something, but would probably feel whatever it was the next morning.

Upon landing on the ground once more and facing her from a distance he could finally make out her features a bit better, even though it was dark they were facing each other unlike earlier where he was watching what she was doing. When he looked at her more carefully it appeared as if her skin was darker then his and she had these bright violet eyes that looked so full of energy as if she was trying to steal your soul with her eyes. Her lashes seemed rather thick as he felt a bit sad about his lack of features which was a feature itself. He was a bit bothered that she was a foot taller then him, but he was used to people being taller since he was still on the small end of the spectrum. She looked rather fragile, though he knew better then to judge a book by its cover having misread a book titled 'Jutsu in Bed', the book made no sense and only after the librarian noticed did she point out that it was in the wrong section and was not actually a book on jutsu.

Makoto was not sure what else to say as it seemed to be an awkward silence, before he finally opened his mouth to speak. "Nice jutsu" as that was the only thing that stood out for him in this strange encounter in the night.

Words = 1628 + 446 = 2074

Titling her head ever so slightly she wondered if he was joking. Of all the things he could have said he commented on her jutsu first? She honestly thought he was stupid but quickly let that harsh thought pass. She didn't know this kid and it was rude to just pass that kind of judgment on him. Shifting her weight enough so most of it rested in her right foot, her eyes bored into the boy in front of her. A part of her really didn't want to deal with him right now, maybe later, but not right now. Thank you, but what are you even doing out here, or better yet, why were you spying on me? Watching me without making yourself known? She wasn't flattered in the slightest with his comment and she hopped he could tell by the slicing in her words as she spoke that she wasn't really in the mood for anything but a straight answer.

She was ready to go home, and maybe some force in the world knew that because as she awaited an answer a flash in the sky followed by a boom in the night and the sky opening up letting a torrent of rain fall to the earth below. Shaking her head she wouldn't wait for a response and quickly left the area, running as fast as she could towards the gates of the village, dodging branches and rocks, making sure not to slip and fall on the muddy ground below. She would deal with the likes of him in the morning, she made sure to place it at the top of her list of things to do for the next day. Kotone didn't even look back to see if the boy was following her and she didn't care if he did. She was upset that her training had been interrupted and now she was even more upset that she was soaked to the bone thanks to this ungodly downpour of rain. Nothing in the weather even indicated that it was happening, it just happened! Giving her no chance to even prepare for it. What a night it had been so far, at least she got a little information out of it and she could go home with some satisfaction. Kotone was particularly satisfied with her clay approach to letting off her Bakuton. The things she could do with it were limitless and she only now realized that her seals could play such a major part in it that she was almost happy for tomorrow to come to test some new things out.

- exit -

WC:433 (2286)


75 (Speed E > E1) + 150 (Speed E1 > E2) + 225 (Speed E2 > E3) + 300 (Speed E3 > D) + 325 (Speed D > D1) + 400(Speed D1 > D2) + 450 (Speed D2 > D3) = Original WC Price:1,925 (After Prodigy SC Word Count Price:1,732*)

Makoto did not understand everything that the girl said, but before he knew it she had left him all alone as he arrived back in the safety of the village. He began to wonder if it was all a dream or if he would see the explosively beautiful awe inspiring explosion again. He was not that interested in the girl, he just cared about the explosions and the art form known as ninjutsu as he took a deep breathe and began to relax for a while, it was time for change and time for him to become stronger as he moved towards a nearby wall and punched it as hard as he could with his fist. A few seconds later he felt tears in his eyes as he ran home to go cool off the pain of his failed punch.

It was clear that Makoto still had a lot to learn and he would not stop here, he would master all that he should master.

Words = 2074 + 165 = 2239

[exit]

Training C-rank Jutsu Mist wall and Hidden Mist 2 = 1000 + 1000 = 2000
Training Strength E2-E3 = 225

Total = 2225