Gyouki entered the Koudo Sutajiamu, an underground stadium that he had designated as the place where he would train Bachi. He pulled the puppet from his back, and strings connected to his from his fingers. One flick of the fingers send Bachi jumping forward to an offensive stance on front of Gyouki. "It's been a while since I've trained with you, but it's about time." The puppet moved with every twitch of the hands, every sweep of the thumb, every jump of the fingers. It felt natural, and smooth. This shouldn't take too long. he thought to himself.

The sound of nearby footsteps interrupted his bolstered focus. Gyouki turned his head without moving his fingers, and noticed a figure standing many meters away. The absolute silence that held the stadium made the footsteps sound much larger then the were; echoing through the building, approaching, menacing. His eyebrow raised in curiosity, as he wondered who would be around the Koudo Sutajiamu at this hour.

---

Mastering Gurēsuzumebachi
Word Count: 167/800

Tame quite simply entered the Koudo Stadium. Nothing too ornate about it...though it was colossal. Almost enough to leave one speechless---oh wait. Tame had that covered.

He gave himself a silent chuckle for his droll yet self-deprecating (or was it self-abusive?) humor. Whatever. He wasn't here for any particular reason. Though, he supposed he was up for a fight....why else would he come to a Stadium when no matches were scheduled to be held. As he expected of one of the Hidden Stone Village's fighting areas, it was being used as a training ground. 

He stepped forward from the small door that was the entrance to the large room. It had bleachers, of sorts, on either side of the 10-meter-wide, circular ring, which he assumed was meant for tourney matches. The rest of the ground was just loose dirt, perfect for training on. Tame looked forward at the young man who was currently training what seemed to be a puppet (either that or his sparring partner had some reaction time issues), and walked toward him. He tried to suppress the knowledge that even if he spoke without an actual voice, he was going to get a vocal response....which still bugged him even after regaining some semblance of speaking. Well...Let's see if I can get this thing going again. Ahem... Hello. I'm Tame, Yamada Tame. Sorry if I'm startling you with the 'telepathy' thing.

OOC: Bolded italics are his telepathic speaking. non-bold are his personal thoughts.
[Training the C-rank Diamond-Dust Dance. 246/800 with Gifted.]

Hello. I'm Tame, Yamada Tame. Sorry if I'm startling you with the 'telepathy' thing. Gyouki heard the words like whispers in his ear, . Gyouki gave an amused smile, and turned fully to face the man. The man was close enough to be seen clearly, and his mouth wasn't moving at all. Bachi floated in the air with an ominous grin, and the chakra strings left a soft blue glow on the ground. "How the hell did you do that? Pretty cool trick." he said in a soft voice. Taking a few steps forward, he released the strings from his right hand and held it out in a handshake. "I'm Yamada, Gyouki. And you're not startling me, although you are impressing me both with the 'telepathy thing' and your surname."

Gyouki honestly didn't know much of his family, or his heritage, as he had taken much more of an interest in puppetry rather than learning to master his kekkei genkai. Crystal Release was just as natural to him as Earth Release and Wind Release; what was the point of learning how it worked, or about the clan that possessed it? Maybe he needed to learn about his heritage, even if only to find his exact relationship to this Tame man. He looked nothing like Gyouki; almost a foot shorter, with dark green hair and pitch black eyes, compared to Gyouki's plain brown hair and blue eyes. He held out his hand still, waiting for the returned handshake from Tame.

---

Mastering Gurēsuzumebachi: 421/800

The man before him spoke with little volume, but Tame's ears could still perceive what he said. "How the hell did you do that? Pretty cool trick." He thought he owed him an explanation, just for the sheer oddness of the ability. I'm...mute. Found something that amplifies mental energy so I can project it thus. After that quip, the man, now introducing himself as Gyouki, held out his hand in greeting. "I'm Yamada, Gyouki. And your not startling me, although you are impressing me both with the 'telepathy thing' and your surname." Tame shook his hand, and raised an eye at his puppet.


An oddity indeed....most Kugutsu-nin made their puppets obviously so; monstrosities or things that obviously could not be human. But this...was a very convincing double. Expert craftmanship, no less.

He sighed knowing he would have to rest his brain for a bit. Hypothetically, anyway. He didn't want to strain this power so quickly after obtaining it. It was quite taxing on his Keirakukei. So...he would need to be careful. The young Yamada was still versed in using bodily gestures to convey what he meant; he wasn't that used to 'speaking' yet.

[246+203= 449/800]

"Well now, let's get to the point here. What brings you to the Sutajiamu at this hour?" he figured that Tame had followed him there. Maybe he was an assassin sent to kill Gyouki? Maybe he worked for the caped man. He honestly doubted it, though; the look in Tame's eyes was one of wise innocence. He couldn't have been that far in age difference from Gyouki, and he hadn't attacked yet. So, what was Tame's purpose here? The one believable option left was the obvious one, and the same one as Gyouki's: Tame must have been there to train, if he wasn't there to kill Gyouki.

A chill rolled through the underground stadium, gripping Gyouki tightly, so he wrapped his cloak around himself carefully, as he looked around. It was a fine stadium indeed; he was eager to hurry up and begin training. Gurēsuzumebachi still held his place, silently airborne, expressionless.

---

Mastering Gurēsuzumebachi
Word Count: 581/800

Well. Wasn't this lovely.... Gyouki cut right to the chase.

"Well now, let's get to the point here. What brings you to the Sutajiamu at this hour?"


To be honest....I'm not sure. Training...? Or perhaps walking around for its own sake.

Tame decided to choose the former. He had a lot to improve upon....he essentially had the same jutsu arsenal that he had when he was a Genin. Which naturally wasn't a problem for him, his abilities advanced with the arrowguns he managed to create for himself. But he needed to be better....he wasn't sure why. Maybe it was so he could defend himself while seeing the world....

In any event, Tame gave a more accurate, visual response to Gyouki's question. He lifted his arms, bent them so his hands were just below shoulder height, and summoned his Shardstinger arrowguns. He thought it best to tone it down a bit for him...no need to hurt the family. He already wasn't too friendly with them, so yeah. Though that was partially his fault for not accepting any condolences for his parents; but he was a big boy, he didn't need help. Anyway....time to start. He reverted to his Genin power of shooting, which would do just fine here. And then...he tried out his new jutsu. Or at least, it seemed new to him. Such speed, combined with a semi-masking power via his crystal...amazing.

Tame tried it. He created a mass distortion with his crystal dust around him, a bubble of sorts. Then he would move with frankly amazing speed to the center of the Stadium's arena, now floating upside-down about ten feet from the ground. He hoped that his voluntary distortion would dumb down the one that came along with his jutsu, as some could trace him by such a thing.

Battle! Vs. The Whimsical Sniper!

He stood there, no part of him betraying that he was upside-down, almost if he had his own personal gravity. He simply stood there, waiting for Gyouki's move. Puppeteers....interesting fighters indeed.

[352+449=801]

295/310:

Gyouki watched in awe as Tame executed some sort of jutsu, and suspended himself in the air, near a dozen feet from the ground, upside-down. He moved with a certain speed that indicated he was of a much higher level than Gyouki was. Thinking quick about his first move, Gyouki jumped back and created a platform to stand on in mid-air, raising it about 5 meters away from the ground before changing Bachi's stance. Bachi stayed put at ground level, its lifeless eyes staring at Tame's floating figure. I guess I'll be making the first move, then. he thought to himself before launching Bachi at Tame as fast as possible, the Stinger attached to its right arm rushing for Tame's torso.

Gyouki, honestly, was not prepared for battle. He was indeed prepared for training alone, as he was outfitted in his battle gear and cape, but there was no shuriken loaded into Gurēsuzumebachi's Swarm shuriken launcher, and he had no ninja gear on him at the moment. That could be a good thing, however; it would give him a taste of real battle, where all he had was his techniques and his puppet. No knives, no tools, no escape. At the same time, there was still a sort of sanctity in the fight, as it was mere training, no risk of lethality. Fighting with a fellow Yamada, user of Crystal Release, made Gyouki even more excited by the entire experience. This man he was training with could become a mentor of sorts for future. Gyouki settled down a bit and focused on Bachi, who was dashing, blade-first, toward Tame.

---

Mastering Gurēsuzumebachi
Word Count: 800/800

Puppet Weapon Training -- Mastering Dokubari
(C-Rank Right Arm Blade, "Stinger")
Word Count: 59/150

Gyouki's Chakra - 140/150:

Tame supposed he should probably dodge that puppet. But he...just didn't feel like it. In a relaxed fashion, he raised his arrowguns to block the attack, planning on catching the blade in the ring-like structure of the weapons. That....didn't go very well for him, to be honest. Being the rather weak person he was, the puppet forced its way through the rings to strike the Yamada. He was quite surprised at this fact; Jounin often weren't struck by Genin. But then again....Jounin weren't as carefree as Tame would think himself to be.

Being stabbed in what normal people would be the spleen/left kidney was not a nice thing for Tame, to say the least. He kicked (well, as much as he could, with his skills and the position he was in) the puppet away, unsheathing the blade that was seemingly its arm from his crystalline form. It still hurt, mind....he would have trouble once he reverted back to his normal human anatomy. Right now....no blood or anything, he might be able to ignore the wound. Heads up...!

Tame thrust his hands (and his arrowguns) to his sides, outstretched; small 'portals' appeared where he was going to thrust his hands, which of course enveloped them as well as the weapons held by them. Two portals appeared behind Gyouki, who wasn't too far from Tame; they were actually aggregations of crystal dust. From these emerged the arrowguns, along with Tame's hands; each arrowgun shot two bolts each. One hand was located lower, and aimed more at the platform; the other was aimed at Gyouki, his extremities would be a good target (upper body, the arms or such, just not a major artery).

You're puttin' me to sleep, bucko! He 'said' as he began to reload, twirling the arrowgun in his right hand above his head.

317+1 from previous post. Training Ninjutsu B>A.]

Surprisingly enough, Bachi broke through Tame's defenses (more specifically, the arrowgun he poised in a defensive position) and struck the guy in the stomach. A look of relief washed over Gyouki's face, glad that he was making some progress in the battle, until Tame pulled the blade out by kicking Bachi out of the way. Two black things appeared in front of him, which Gyouki couldn't tell were portals. He poised Bachi for another attack, and made the puppet charge forward again. A few more strikes from stinger would be enough to wear Tame down, and get Gyouki enough time to think of a better strategy. Suddenly, he felt a stabbing pain hit his arm, followed by the sound of shattered crystal and the sensation of falling.

Gyouki knew that the platform had broken based on the sound, but was still unsure of what had happened. He was falling lower and lower and finally regained his bearings, looking to his right shoulder and pulling the arrow from it. It bleed painfully, but he ignored the pain, considering he was about to hit the ground hard. Swinging his arm to the right, Bachi pulled back away from Tame, tackling Gyouki and softening the landing by sending him rolling. He felt the wound on his shoulder sting, and his ribcage didn't feel to great either, but he stood back up, moving Bachi in front of him as a shield with its arms outspread. Tame's voice echoed in his mind, You're puttin' me to sleep, bucko! Gyouki smiled and weaved a few hand signs, creating 8 crystal shuriken in rapid succession. Bachi's left arm clicked, and the shuriken loaded into the launcher that was hidden inside of it.

Gyouki's black cape flapped slowly as he held his defensive position; he wouldn't launch the shuriken just yet. He wanted to see what Tame would do, first. "You're pretty good, that trick you just did with those arrow blasters caught me off-guard. Worthy of the Yamada name..."

---

Mastering "Stinger"
Word Count: 150/150

Mastering "Swarm" Shuriken Launcher
Word Count: 100/100

130/150:

Tame chuckled silently as the ninja complimented his skills....odd that someone of his age wasn't one of his betters.

Either way, Tame released his jutsu, dropping with a flip back onto normal-oriented ground. In addition, he couldn't help but notice his abdomen starting to bleed. Well, now. Had a bit of fun.....time to go, sadly.

For once, the young man was actually a little sad to leave someone who retained their voice. Most of the time, he couldn't get away from those speaking people fast enough. But him....maybe family was better than others. Still, Tame couldn't put aside the coldness with which the clan elders and such disdained him. He never really worked out their reasoning for that..... Oh, well.


And with that, he would begin walking out of the large arena, the Koudo Stadium. Tame supposed that Iwa wasn't such a bad place after all....still. His mother's untimely (but natural) death had sort of shaken him, and that was going to cause some serious changes later on. Maybe not soon, but....

Bye, Stone.

And with that, Tame met with the exit of the stadium. Once he got out of Gyouki's sight, he would sprint so as not to be followed. He was quite speedy, after all. And he hoped with that....that no one would ever catch him. Because the old Tame....would cease to exist.

[500 words to Ninjutsu B > A]