Of all the locations that Kirigakure had to offer, this one had the richest history. That was precisely why the young jounin was there. Strafe arrived to the misty graveyard for several reasons. He really needed a peaceful place just to think. His white and blue attire was the only pleasant site there, as the thick fog hung over the area with a gloomy atmosphere. The sun tried to pierce the veil of water vapor, but most failed as the mist was quite thick that day. The sapphire haired shinobi rode on top of his faithful companion, Momaru, who's dull colored fur blended into the surroundings. Strafe expression was one if deep thought as he looked to the very spot that one of the previous Mizukages, Hiroku, had died. Only horror had followed that day as Hao burned the village down with those eyes that gleamed like a demon's.

Strafe's train of thought was interrupted as Momaru spoke up with concern. "What is it?" The gigantic beast asked with his deep bass ringing through the empty cemetery. "I need to step up my combat abilities." He said looking down at the lion with an earnest face. "I can't protect the village in my current state." He said moved is gaze back to the infamous ground of a battle that changed this village. His eyes furrowed as he imagined the kage falling down in death as he was defeated in battle. "Then let us train." Momaru suggested with a voice of comfort. Strafe only nodded to the legendary creature as he jumped of his back with the grace of a dancer. It was time to take the next step in his training. 

Strafe's body twisted as he looked to the perfect location to train the jutsu in mind. He moved solemnly over to the are, covering about ten meters in distance. Momaru grinned in pride as he has already guessed the jutsu. They stopped at an opening of about thirty meters of grass. Whether it was an unused grave plot or basic landscape, it was the perfect size for the occasion. Strafe threw a few hand-signs at blindingly fast speeds, showing his talent despite his young age. He slammed his hands on the ground to make it easier to control the chakra for the jutsu. Following the contact his hands made, a wall of ice formed instantly, making the duo both chuckle as Strafe stood erect one again. His first try of the day was a success as the wall stood at a full 15 meters in height and width. This was a a jutsu that he would use to protect those he cared for, including the village.

Ice Style: Ice Encampment Wall Training: 453/1500

Chakra:

Jutsu Training:

A pretty day... It hasn't been a week since Suzumi graduated from the academy, with solid marks, and she already learned three new techniques. It was all pretty awesome for her, it's like she had a specific talent for learning new techniques. Yup, she was a quick learner. The sky was almost clear, a pretty rare sight in Kirigakure, the village hidden in the mist as the word says. The mist was hardly there, and the sun was heating up the stones from which Suzumi's birthplace was built of.

"One. Tiger. Two. Ox. Three. Monkey. Four. Ram!"

Her voice could be heard, echoing in the old playground. Nobody was ever here, and it was one of Suzumi's favorite places to simply think and, well, be alone. She blew a thin stream of water, which immediately started spinning in front of him, making a sort of... Vortex? It splashed into the old tree, hardly leaving a mark, and dissolved on the floor. This is a lot harder than I thought, hmff. Making water pierce instead of push is one hell of a task... She took her stand once more, standing in the puddle of the water she made with all of her attempts. It wasn't more than an inch deep, but pretty wide.

I'm not sure, Boar could work better than Ox. It would give me more force, and also widen the stream by a bit. Yeah, it could work...

"Tiger, Boar, Monkey, Ram!!!"

She weaved handseals in speeds expected for a genin, before molding her chakra, and blowing out a stream of water. It was obvious that it was stronger now. It started twisting and swirling around, widening and backing up, as it hit the tree. She didn't stop blowing, in fact, she kept even stronger. The water swirled and swirled into the tree, until she finally stopped, and it splashed on the floor. A mark could clearly be seen now, a spiral cut a couple of inches deep in the old wood. She ran her hand trough her hair, looking at the sun. I don't think I can do any better than that, for now at least... I should just go home. Suzu sit on a stump nearby, still gasping a bit, until she regained her breath.

She watched at the other side of the playground, into the thin mist surrounding the graveyard. Bloody cemetery, some called it. It was the main cemetery of Kiri, where she was many times. That where both her daddy and her grandpa are buried, under the thick stones... "Killed in action." Blarg. They'll see. It'll all be different one day. It'll all change, not one more kid will hear those words. Never again.

She stood up, and started walking out of the playground, towards the home. Something stopped her, though. A... Person? In the middle of the cemetery? What... What was he doing? A person in the cemetery is fine, pretty normal actually, but he... He appeared to be performing a technique of some sorts? Suzumi couldn't see well from this far, all she could see was a wall of some sorts, rising. It was huge, at least ten meters wide, probably even more. She put her headband back on (she likes to take it off while training, no reason) her head, to hold back her hair; she decided to go meet this fella. Maybe train together, even. There's nothing to do at home, except from bed... This could be fun, but I hope I don't embarrass myself... At that point, she ran towards the stranger, jumping above gravestones and various walls.

Wordcount: 627/900

(I get 10% off, Special Characteristic)

Chakra 150/150:

Yasuhito stepped gracefully over and around the various tombstones that littered the area, taking care not to tarnish any ornaments or reefs that had been left behind by family members. Eventually, Yasuhito reached his destination. Pausing at the large tombstone surrounded by far less well kept ones, he knelled down before it, producing a box of matches from his left pocket. Striking a match, Yasuhito lit a large candle that sat beneath the face of the tombstone. In-front of the candle sat a small hole, which had a wilted flower stem inside of it. Removing the stem, Yasuhito toss it aside before withdrawing what he had come to deliver; a single black rose. Placing the rose softly in the hole, the candle cast the shadow of the rose perfectly along the face of the ground where the man was buried. "Happy birthday, Grandpa" Yasuhito said softly, staring at the text on the tombstone. Hiruo Nara, Veteran of the Fourth Shinobi World War, died age 93.

A young girl leapt over the tombstone, knocking the flower out of place as she charged across. Instinctively, Yasuhito's shadow snapped towards her, and a small tendril began to rise out. Stopping himself, however, Yasuhito withdrew his shadow, and instead turned to fix the rose. People have no damned respect now days, he thought to himself as he put the rose back into it's port. Glancing up to face the girl, he saw she had approached what appeared to be a member of the Aisu clan, as he was performing an ice wall technique. Yasuhito's anger was suddenly replaced with morbid curiousity. He had never encountered a member of the Aisu clan, and reading about something was never as good as experiencing it. And so, his shyness melting away in the face of curiousity, Yasuhito rose from his grandfather's grave and began to approach the couple.

Word Count: 311

Strafe exhaled with relief as he released the jutsu, causing the wall to crack and shatter into thousands of tiny shards. They sparkled as the sun glanced off them making for a beautiful sight. Strafe's expression turned into a war smile as he observed the wonderful qualities of ice. It was a peaceful thought to know the controlled such a versatile element. His mind immediately stopped it's current thought process as his head snapped to the side. His eyes glanced to Momaru, who was already at an alert stance, being sure to defend the young shinobi. Strafe immediately noticed the two young ninja who were approaching him. They seemed to be new, as Strafe had never seen either of them. He smiled as he saw the Kirigakure symbol on their person, which sent his body into a relaxed position. Momaru went through a similar change in expression, back up to Strafe casually.

The two got within a close distance, allowing the pair to better observe them. One was female, while the other was a male. He couldn't help but wonder why they approached him in the middle of training. He quickly decided to introduce himself. "Hello, my name is Strafe Aisu, and this is Momaru" he stated as he gestured to the smokey colored lion standing beside him. "What brings you here?" He asked simply as he waited for the responses of both. They were not much different in age than him, so their was no need to be rude. He related well with people in general, so this would be a normal day. His mind then wondered to the possibilities of their jutsu. Were they powerful? He was sure he could get that kind of information out of them with due time.

Ice Style: Ice Encampment Wall Training: 749/1500

Second Jutsu:

While she was running, she passed by a boy, knocking a vase in front of him by accident. He was kneeling down, and it looked like he was the one who placed it, so Suzumi felt like she should apologize. She turned around, swirling on her heels, and yelled to the boy, who wasn't more than a couple of meters from her.

"Sorr-AAH!"

She didn't stop running when she turned to the boy, though, and because she (unfortunately) didn't have a eye on the back of her head, she couldn't see the gravestone behind her. She tripped, and from all the momentum she had, formed a full backflip screaming in mid-air. She landed, face first into the cold stone, knocking up some more vases as well. Suzu got up quickly, looking at the boy with a slight blush. I'm such an idiot! She turned around, and continued towards the icey-guy in a bit slower running pace, careful not to knock down any more flowers or vases. She got closer to the guy, who had just shattered what appeared to be a huge ice wall into thousands of mini-crystals that filled the sky, but soon disappeared. The guy was also a Kiri shinobi, as it seemed. Blue hair, nice clothes... Suzumi's observations were soon stopped though, by his voice.

"Hello, my name is Strafe Aisu, and this is Momaru. What brings you here?"

He, at the same time, pointed at the animal companion besides him. Weird, that I haven't even noticed it! It was some sort of, well, cat? A large cat? It also had some kind of fluffy thingey around it's neck? And was in the colors of the rainbow? Really weird, because Suzumi never heard of anything like... This. But it was fluffy, and cute... She spoke, with a cute voice, while squating down a bit to have a better look at... It.

"He's so pretty? Is... Is it a he or a she?"

After getting, or not getting the answer to her question, she would answer the question that was aimed at her at the first place.

"Oh, nothing much actually. Just saw a huge wall thingy... Wondered what it was. Never actually seen anybody doing anything like that here, heheh."

She let out a slight chuckle at the end, and a slight smile, waiting what would happen still with a slight blush on her face.

Wordcount: 900/900, 132/900

Chakra - 150/150:

"Momaru is a male, and I was just training my Ice Encampment Wall Jutsu." He explained simply as he responded to the young girl with a bubbly attitude. Strafe eyed the other person following her with intent as he waited for the girl to respond with another question. He knew that she was harmless, but the other shinobi seemed a little off. Nevertheless, Strafe smiled and showed friendliness to both of them. "It is a simple Defense technique that I'm going to use in battle. I'm a Medical Ninja, so defense and survive are pretty key in my duties as a shinobi." He said attempting to start some conversation with the two of them.

The conversation was interrupted as Strafe and Momaru both looked up to see a bird flying towards them and a hasty pace. Strafe held his arm out immediately, recognizing it as a messenger bird of Kirigakure. The bird flew down and landed safely on his forearm, look at Momaru with fear. Strafe took the note that was tied to it's leg with a string and read it, making sure to respond to whoever it was that needed him. His vague expression turned into a smile as he read that he had been assigned a squad and needed to meet Lord Solstice as soon as possible. He lifted his arm in the air, signaling for the bird to fly away. It took off at a slower pace and headed back for the administration building. Strafe looked to the young shinobi in front of him with a smile before speaking. "It looks like I have some important business to attend to. Sorry to exit so suddenly!" He said walking over to Momaru and jumping on his back. "Hopefully, we can continue this conversation at another time!" He said smiling and waving before patting Momaru on the back.

Momaru nodded and looked to the two Genin with a similar smile. "Goodbye." He said simply before turning and racing off to the Mizukage's office. This was not a situation to be casual about, so speed was a necessary focus at the present time. Within a few moments, the two of them were out of sight and headed towards the next step in their lives.

- Exit Thread -

Ice Style: Ice Encampment Wall Training: 1127/1500 (To Be Continued in another thread)