Things had been going very well lately, or so he felt. At least he could feel himself making progress and a lot faster than most people anticipated. He was dedicated and with a drive and single focus that never slowed him down. Though his feelings of loneliness slowly were starting to overtake him again. He hated the idea of being alone; he didn’t mind it when he was training, not as much anyways. The void that had seemed to vanish with making a friend slowly had returned after not having seen her in a few days. He wondered if he had done something wrong that made her not want to be around him. He constantly he had that feeling with everyone though, his fear of abandonment looming strong in his mind.

He pushed those feeling away and sniffed the fresh air quickly, one could mistake it for a sniffle but it was simply a means of distracting himself. After all he was in the middle of training and doing of all things vertical pushups trying to break his personal record of two hundred and five. He didn’t need to lose concentration now. After he did his physical training he would begin to work on jutsu practice where he would work on new jutsus and elemental techniques, it was sort of a cool down while his body recouped. He was approaching his max number and he could feel it as he struggled more and more with each pushup. His coat lay beside him as to keep it from getting too sweaty. His bare chest covered in the scars of his childhood as well as the bit marks up along his forearm.

Two hundred and ten; he could feel his muscles begin to give out and he pushed himself back touching his feet to the wooden bridge he had created over the small calm river. He calmly breathed in and out restoring his breathing to normal as sweat glistened on his body. He looked out across his training field that he had always used. The bright green grass, the river, and the small waterfall that lead into the clearing. The place was only really found because he was looking around the village for a place to train and discovered a boulder shaped like a sharks tooth pointing toward the clearing through the group of trees. He assumed it was a place the old seven swordsmen used to train or have meetings. He assumed this because a lot of the dummies were already there but it had been slightly decayed till Dameon had gotten there and fixed everything up nicely.

At this point he was already doing crunches off the edge of the waterfall. Being held up by nothing more than a tree root that ran across the water. The fall was small though nothing like a big waterfall; this one was only around five meters higher than the rest of the training ground. He had a jutsu he pictured in his mind he had been working on for days leading up to now. It would be his first long range jutsu meant entirely for attacking. His other jutsu were mostly defensive or close range. Water ran across his body as he leaned back into the fall of the water and escaped off of him as he pulled himself up. He was only fifteen turning sixteen soon but he looked a lot older, his body seemed to be perfectly toned and overall healthy minus the scars.

He had already finished a good hundred or so crunches in a couple minutes and his abs began to burn and tighten. He was approaching one hundred and fifty his highest amount as he ached past it and doing an extra ten that he hadn’t before. He pulled himself up and hopped down into the grass are again and began to stretch to loosen his muscles up. Yesterday he had already gotten close to perfecting his new jutsu and now he was about to attempt it again.

===========================

670/1000 (Raiton Style: Electric Cannon)

Dameon was in mid-stretch, bent over touching the ground only able to see with the limited range behind him from looking between his legs. He could feel a nice cooling breeze though, which was a nice change of pace.  The day had been a long and hot one especially with the degree of training he had been doing lately. Trying to fill the void in his heart by keeping himself so occupied he could hardly move. He could feel the breeze getting colder and he realized how strange that sounded in his head. He looked up noticed a young kunoichi floating above the ground on a sheet of ice. ‘Well that explain it’ he thought to himself as he looked over at her still hunched down noticing how high up she was.

He raised himself standing straight up as she hopped down and now it seemed like he towered over her. He was only a few inches taller but it was a drastic change to where she was just two feet taller than him moments before. The woman spoke and he listed grinning a little bit as he grabbed his coat and put it on, not bothering the strap the front of it up. Fewer scars showed now but the bigger ones were harder to hide. He reached into his jacket and grabbed his head band revealing the Kiri symbol and put it back into his coat. He often opted out of using it feeling like it hindered him at times.

“Yes I am,” He said scratching the back of his head. He couldn’t imagine someone finding his hidden training ground, except the one person he had told, Reina. He took a second glance at the woman and leaned in forward closer as he scratched the back of his head slower in though and deep concentration. She kind of resembled her, granted the woman in front of her was older as had different color eyes, and hair, other than that it was pretty close. Plus she had used ice as well; they had to be of the same clan as well.

“Did Reina tell you about this place?” He asked puzzled. He had been training here alone for the last seven years and she had been the first person to stumble upon him. Either Reina had told her or it was just pure coincidence that someone from the same bloodline had stumbled across his training grounds. Either one seemed entirely possible he just didn’t know exactly what to do. He was still kind of new with the whole human interaction thing. His social skills were horrid compared to others.

“What…brings you out here?” He asked posturing himself upright so he didn’t seem like more of a weirdo than he felt he was coming across as. People he talked to tended to mistake him and his social skills. He seemed to stutter and talk as if he was talking to the prettiest girl he had ever seen and was fumbling around about how to talk to her. In reality he didn’t know how to talk to anyone. He did find it amusing though out of the two people in the village that had stumbled across his existence they both happened to be kunoichi. It seemed at least to him that women cared more about the well-being of people more than most men.

He wasn’t entirely sure if there was anything left to say. He slipped his hands in his pockets and looked into the kunoichi’s purple eyes wondering what she would think or how she would react to him. He would be lying if he said he didn’t at least seem suspicious training alone on the edge of the village in a hidden place only two people have found in seven years.

==========================
670/1000 (Raiton Style: Electric Cannon)
+
631/1000=1,301 (Raiton Style: Electric Cannon) [Completed]

Dameon thought about her question, in some ways training with someone else would prove to be very beneficial. It would make things easier in a sense rather than learning something on the spot in the middle of a mission. He watched as she walked toward the water. The river itself wasn’t overly deep; it was about a couple meters at the most and only about ten meters across, it was a calm flow of river though the current of it was deceptively fast. He walked over to his chest that he kept by the edge of the forest. It was nothing more than a narrow beaten and weather torn box with a loop for a lock. He had found it when he had first found the area and had found the bokken that was inside of it. He wasn’t entirely sure how serious of training she was talking or what exactly she wanted to do with training.

He grabbed the bokken deciding not to grab his katana that was also in the chest. He didn’t want to accidentally get carried away and potentially hurt her. He had a made a makeshift sheath for the bokken to portray his actual sheath and katana and he strapped it around his back. He turned back toward her and began to walk back still thinking of what to say after having fully processed her questions and statements that she had made prior. He was somewhat puzzled however, the woman before him hadn’t heard of Reina yet they appeared to be of the same clan. Apparently he had assumed the Aisu clan was close or that it was one big family that branched out, either way he had assumed that they at least had heard of each other.

“It’s not that this place is guarded or defended. It’s just that, I have been training here alone the last seven years and you were the first person other than me to find it. If I seem…different it’s because you are only the second person I’ve really talked to from Kiri. It’s a…long story, nothing treacherous I promise,” He said trying to anticipate what she would think and how she would respond to his statement. He got the feeling personality wise that she was different from Reina. Reina while slightly guarded of her emotions and feelings had at least displayed some toward him even if it was only kindness. The woman in front of her seemed to be the exact opposite, while she may or may not have been kind she was bold in her words and didn’t seem guarded at all. He personally had never met someone like her and it peaked his interest.

“What kind of training did you have I mind?” He asked as he approached her coming within only a few meters of her. He had a sort of blank expression on his face. Not one that would come from a pervert for seeing such a beautiful girl, but not one that seemed completely disinterested or cold hearted. He was simply being himself. He had never experienced things those things growing up that would define someone’s personality. In fact he would be as so bold as to say that his personality was still being shaped, and it was being shaped by the people he met along the way. He had remembered a couple nights ago what Reina had done and he questioned if it would be appropriate to do now, he honestly didn’t know but he would at least try.

“Oh, and my name is Dameon Shikyo,” he said bowing slightly and formally toward her if only for a moment. He had heard other people talking near the marketplace where he lived, they had said actively offering your hand as a greeting was considered rude. He didn’t know if this was actually the case but he didn’t want to make a worse impression than he already feared her had. From up close once could easily distinguish his scars, not from weapons or training. He had claw marks across his right pectoral from what seemed to be a bear, and just about everywhere else like his abs and opposite pectoral from wolves, some even having bit marks across his collar bone where the other set of teeth were along his back shoulder blade. If she had vision of his forearms it was also covered in bite marks. The wilderness back then had nearly taken him but it also had made him as strong as he was today.

======================
753

753/2,500 Electrolocation Technique

“I am actually a ninjutsu user first and foremost, bukijutsu and more specifically kenjutsu is my second area of focus. When I asked what you wanted to train, I meant it as an invitation to train with me, not the opposite,” He stated as he took a step toward her as she started to walk across the surface of the water. He stopped again and stood upright as he scratched the back of his head more out of confusion than anything else. She had come to train and asked to train but when he asked what kind of training she had started walking off. He wondered if he would ever begin to fully understand people. His skin cracked with the distinct sound of lightning as an arc of it snapped out his hand and into the air. She had already shown him that she was a kunoichi that used ice ninjutsu and by what she had said earlier he assumed she wasn’t a strong close range fighter either.

Ninjutsu was a given but she knew more about him than he knew about her. Most ninja had two areas of specialty his was ninjutsu and bukijutsu. He only knew that she was a ninjutsu user and wasn’t an adept at close range fighting, but he also knew she was an ice user which meant she could use suiton and futon, and he didn’t particularly like futon. Because of his clan he only had a single element that he would be able to excel at past what normal ninja could, and that was ration, futon was his natural weakness.  He didn’t know how she wanted to train in terms of just jutsu practice or if she wanted to have a full on spar, or get better at something he did well at like weapons. He looked over at her more as he built his chakra up steadily. Either way if she left this is where h would begin to do his jutsu practice. As his chakra build up more and more arcs of electricity shot out from his body in its natural reaction. He exhaled again and seemed to completely change his demeanor.

“I am not sure how you typically train, but I’ve trained alone every day for the last seven years twelve hours a day. I would very much like to train with you. What I meant to ask before is how you wanted to train,” he stated more firm than his previously spoken words toward her. It wasn’t rude or threatening but it was strong with confidence. He breathed in and out carefully as his body stopped sending out arcs of electricity as his chakra settled at a stable amount. Dameon tended to always tried to suppress his chakra simply because while he was always at full capacity his skin tended to arc out uncontrollably like when he got angry or upset, and sometimes for no reason at all. It was a bad thing to have when walking around in public.

The area around them in the training field had seemed to grow quiet. Birds usually would frequent the area for the water and the food that was all around them within the forest. He suspected though that the electricity that had made those snaps had scared them away. A faint breeze had formed though as his jacket waved in the wind, the tails of it flying off to this right along with parts of his hair. He lowered his hand down from the back of his neck and rested both of his hands against his hips. He looked carefully at her and opened his mouth again.

“Of course if you don’t want to its fine. I won’t make you train with me if you’d rather train by yourself.”

===========================
629
1,353/2,500 Electrolocation

182/3000 Bukijutsu(Kenjutsu)

Dameon’s keen eyes could pick up on the faint smile she so quickly hid after saying he did want to train with her. He gave a bit of a smile as well and as he ended his next sentence he could see she was focused elsewhere and he could quickly see why. As she flicked her wrist and five senbon came flying out of her sleeve. He could tell they were not normal senbon as normal senbon would have glared in the sunlight, these however were most likely made of ice seeing as she was an ice user after all. Not a moment had passed before he was running toward her at his full speed. He concentrated his ration chakra to his skin and began to glow blue and start making the crackling sound lightning made once it was being used. As he raced forward the senbon would have hit him but instead were shatter upon contact with the ration chakra leaving Dameon completely unharmed.

He then prepared two kunai and tossed one aiming just above her head, he knew she would notice and was hoping to predict her movement. Generally speaking if something was tossed at you high enough and it was something you worried about your first reaction would be to duck, or so he figured. As he jumped into the air launching the second kunai at an angle toward the first one. The second kunai was thrown much faster as to both meet directly above her head. Should she move down and not to the sides the second kunai would hit the first one ricocheting it straight down. Her only means of escape was to move horizontally or at least that’s the way he pictured it. Normally he would have prepared more kunai and thrown them to and area to either her left or right forcing her to make the exact response he wanted and easily follow it up, but this was a spar with a fellow ninja. He in no way wanted to physically hurt her.

He did however begin to charge his new ranged ration jutsu into his right arm. He aimed at her slowly as the ration in his arm sparked dramatically before a sphere of ration was launched toward her hoping to have lead her movement enough to at least hit her once. Hitting her once however would not cause a serious injury it would shock her and cause pain but the effect would only make her body numb to pain for a short duration. He landed back onto the ground still extending his hand as he waited to fire a second shot. While he did so he canceled his protective ration skin that had given him armor beforehand, as he did not want to waste too much chakra.

He hoped she was as skilled as he thought not wanting to seriously injury her after just meeting her but he also wanted her to realize that he was someone that could take care of himself, even if he was only a genin. The entire process of his defense and attacks had only lasted roughly around five seconds as he was now only about ten meters from her, though she was still higher than he could reach without giving up balance. Any smart tactician knew that the one with eh higher ground usually won the exchange.

==============

687/3,000 Bukijutsu (Kenjutsu)

125/150

Spoiler:

‘Very nice,’ he thought to himself. She could apparently use that platform of ice to move anywhere she wanted and quickly as well. He had no answer for it out in the open other than to try and lure her down to his level. On top of that his cannon while was on target got blocked by a defensive jutsu though it was made of ice, this meant she was of a higher level than he was. His smile on his face grew even larger as he sprinted forward catching the falling kunai in midair, the same one that had ricocheted down toward her. He still had two charges left to fire of his ration cannon but they would disperse soon, but she had run into the forest all the same and he would have to wait a bit before he could use it again. He released the jutsu not wanting to waste chakra by keeping it active while he still didn’t have a target to aim at. While he had wasted some chakra he benefited overall. The forest surrounding the training field was dense and he knew them well. It would be hard for close or long range jutsu to land and even harder to maneuver out of the way of a close range assault.

He took his time walking to the tree line trying to find a sign of her position. He walked slowly forward into the trees of the forest remaining vigilant and expecting to be ambushed at any point in time. He had seen exactly what she had done or at least to some extent. He saw the collision of his ration against her walls of ice followed by two figures splitting up, not just one. His only reasoning behind this was a bunshin but he had no idea which one was the real one. He stood at the point of impact where she would have cast the jutsu and split up into the trees. If she had a visual on him and was keeping visual contact he would at least be able to see something even if it was a little bit of hair standing out, or an eye peeping around the corner. The issue was he could see it but from two different targets still not letting him know who was who but it at least gave him time to do something. He knew where her blind sports would be for visual on him and she didn’t know he knew where the both of them were.

He couldn’t waste too much time going after the wrong one or perhaps it was better to let her come to him or make her feel uneasy knowing how he could stay out of visual contact given the fact the trees themselves would block her view to some extent. He casually kept walking forward and disappeared into the trees using his quickness to cling the trees as he worked his way behind them. He created a bunshin as well. Making it run to the left most targets trying to give the appearance that he was attempting to find either one of them. He himself his though wait to see what move she would make, remaining himself in a tall branch between both targets keeping an eye on either one.

===========================

1,238/3,000 Bukijutsu (Kenjutsu)

100/150 Chakra

Spoiler:

Dameon watched her every move from his vantage point and tailed behind her remaining quietly unseen as they moved toward his less than amazing clone. He kept approaching closer and closer while the distraction was still working in full effect. He wasn’t quite sure if it was the clone or not so he didn’t want to do anything lethal. A light came from behind him casting a shadow on the rest of the trees. He had been fortunate not to have been staring at it or else he surely would have slipped or messed up his approach but for now he was still hidden but time was short the light jutsu would have revealed his fake clone by now and he dashed straight forward closing the ten meter distance extremely fast. His kunai pulled out able to stab her in the neck and let her bleed out, if it had been that kind of fight anyways. She jumped off the branch and he immediately landed on it. She by now would have learned how close she had come to making a fatal mistake, simply because he didn’t want to kill her.

Still he didn’t want it to end here seeing them all grouped up sounded like fun especially since he was a close range fighter and he was a glutton for punishment. He would be falling right into her trap which was true but he didn’t know how bad her traps could be, plus he had the element of surprise with him being so close to her. He launched himself down right behind her gripped the handle of his bokken which was still in its sheathe on his back. He looked like he was going to be coming in for a horrendous close range attack and he wondered what she would do. He had already accomplished what he had wanted to do by being able to close the distance and analyzing her tactics for keeping him away, but now he wanted to see what she would do if she was in a bind.

He didn’t really care how it ended up he just had to know if this shinobi he had met would be someone he could rely on in the field of battle, should a day come where they battled side by side. Someone who hesitated to attack or defend was a liability not only to themselves but to their entire squad and potentially their village as well. She had made quite an impression on him as a fine shinobi that thought her tactics out before performing them, just as he did. Now he was essentially asking for the proverbial cherry on top. To see if she was as well rounded as he assumed her to be. He didn’t pull his bokken from his sheathe right away. He wanted her to assume it was an actual sword and put her into the mindset of defending for her life. He came at her his face looking like it was ready to kill his intent unwavering as he stared her down as he got closer.

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1,752/3,000 Bukijutsu (Kenjutsu)

This was I, she wasn’t hesitating just like he had hoped and he could feel and sense something else as well.  Feeling you didn’t get from just simply talking to someone but rather fighting with them. She was just like him, or in some way like him. So serious and ready to prove herself a smile came to his face as the whips of water sent him flying straight down. He didn’t care what happened now, he had found out everything he needed to know. Still his situation was serious enough to warrant defending himself to some extent. The senbon were coming just as they had before he rotated himself slightly positioning himself for defense. He wouldn’t avoid these victories never came cheap and sometimes it meant taking a punch you could have otherwise avoided. The five senbon hit home, two hitting his forearms, along with one in each shoulder, and the fifth one hitting him in his upper leg. The sword attack was next it was actually kind of similar to his own but with long range utilization. This is what being a shinobi was all about.

The wind attack hit tearing him across the chest before his body hit the ground seemingly snapping its neck. Just a second later though and a small cloud of smoke appeared revealing his sheath as Dameon landed carefully behind her, his wooden bokken in his hands as he lunged forward and simply poked her in the back with it. Not knowing anything to say really he smiled and began laughing playfully, greatly enjoying the fun he had just had asset his bokken aside. She was good, very good, much better than he had anticipated and was good at keeping her distance from him, which proved to be in her favor but now he was right there just like they had been talking earlier. He bowed respectfully before standing back upright.

“You win,” he said with a warm smile. She in fact had won at least in his mind. He was essentially skewered by senbon and he pulled them out on at a time happy the cold at least had numbed some of the pain. His body was already beaten and scarred a few more wouldn’t hurt him. In his method of training sparring meant the person to land the first blow usually won, so she had won. He however didn’t want to let it go unnoticed that had this been an actual fight it would have been more of a challenge for her.

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2,173/3,000 Bukijutsu (Kenjutsu)

95/150 Chakra

Spoiler:

"No, but no means was that a win for me. There were various occasions where you could have taken advantage of my mistakes and inexperience."

He caught a glimpse of her smile and couldn’t help but smile back as well. She tried to hide it like he was used to doing. It was because he was similar to her that he could read through her and know when she was feeling happy. She was right about their having been moments for him to take advantage of an actual life or death scenario but it was never about that. The Aisu clan was primarily known for their mid to long range attacks and he was practicing on how to close in on an attacker from long range.

“Well I don’t know about inexperience. I’ve only been a genin for just about a month and I think I am being promoted to chuunin soon. I had a good time, I can see you did as well,” he said smiling and scratching the back of his head actually happy as his adrenaline was starting to come down and he could feel the flesh wounds she had caused earlier start to burn and sting. They weren’t too deep or by any means the worst wound he had ever experienced but they still hurt enough to cause him to wince as he lowered his hand from the back of his head.

"Would you mind if I tended to your wounds?"

“A medical specialist, that’s your other area of focus. I would very much appreciate it,” he said standing still as he watched her. Another familiar sound seemed to be walking through the woods as well. The sound of flat feet lightly hitting the ground. As he expected the head of a penguin popped out from behind a tree and looked at the two of them before the rest of his body followed and walked up to Dameon coming up to roughly the height of his waist.

“Penpen, were you fishing in the creek again looking for me? By your expression you didn’t find any fish did you? Here.” He said reaching into his pack and pulling out a pack of beef jerky to which Penpen happily jumped into the air and grabbed it before using his break to tear open the package. His eyes were wide and even tearing with happiness.

“Penpen is a little strange. He is a warm water penguin but his favorite foods are beef jerky and ramen. I don’t know if he would ever like fish if he could ever find one to eat,” he said laughing as he pet the back of the penguins head. Dameon had discovered Penpen out at the training grounds a couple years ago and started following Dameon everywhere. He eventually gave in and took the penguin as his pet and made him a collar with his name.

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2,655/3,000 Bukijutsu (Kenjutsu)

Penpen full description in my items.

Dameon watched her as he removed his coat to expose the wounds so they would be easier to see and as such easier to heal. He then realized that she wasn’t even with him anymore as he waved his hand lightly in front of her face as she kept staring at his penguin. He scratched the back of his head not exactly sure of what to say in a moment such as this. He simply waited and exchanged glances with Penpen as even the penguin himself was wondering why he was receiving so much attention. Penpen himself stared at Dameon with a confused and somewhat worried look. He then slowly slid his way behind Dameon to hide. After a few awkward moments she spoke.

“No he is a normal guy as far as I know. Except that he loved to read and watch tv, take showers, and loved to eat the same food people do but hates fish. Not exactly sure if that’s what you meant though. He doesn’t use any jutsu or anything,” he said patting the penguin on the head as blood continued to drip from his flesh wounds. They were beginning to heart too thinking that one might have actually hit a nerve as he pinky kept twitching for some reason.

“So, these wounds are actually beginning to hurt a little bit now that the fighting has stopped,” he said scratching the back of his neck with a bit of a troubled smile on his face as more blood continued to drip from the five holes he had allowed to be hit by. He was slowly beginning to regret his decision in being struck purposefully just to sell the bait before the switch he had done to deceive her. He knew his wounds would take a little longer to heal. He often got hurt worse than most and on top of it all his body seemed to reject medical jutsu to some extent.
========================================
326/1,500 white lightning beam

He waited for her as he smiled and Penpen sat behind him kind of on his guard and slowly walking away from the forest to back into the field with the river. His skin felt cold but it didn’t bother him, it actually felt enjoyable for the most part. He waited the couple minutes that it took and turned back round to face her with a warm smile. He was glad he knew someone that had the ability to heal it was very useful since he had an unnatural habit of going so hard in a mission or training that he often got injured. Being able to avoid medical bills was very handy.

“I will definitely keep that in mind. Thank you very much. When you have as many scars as I do a couple more won’t make you look much worse,” he said with a bit of a grin. Dameon truly felt that having as many scars as he did made him unattractive to some extent or rather hindered his appearance because of them. He looked around for Penpen and noticed he had vanished. Penpen wasn’t much of a fan of strangers let alone strangers that stared at him all the time and squealed.

“Sorry about Penpen he doesn’t like new people much. One time this young girl about your age disturbed him while he was reading the newspaper. He rolled it up and hit her on the head with it before walking away. I had to apologize but it was pretty funny actually,” he stated as he turned around to face her feeling the cold on his skin start to fade because of his body heat. He couldn’t help but smile at her. You could learn a lot about someone by simply fighting with them and now he felt like he could truly trust Keiko and her abilities. He also had a firm understanding of her capabilities which was also very important.

“Have you heard anything about the village soon to be under attack? I know the older shinobi are all away or scrambling to gather information. They say the attacks are fond of using puppets, and a lot of them at that. I am not sure I have a skillset against fighting a wooden puppet but I can fight the puppet masters pretty well I suppose,” he said scratching the back of his head finding the ability to form words into sentences increasing difficult. He wondered how he would feel if the village did get attacked. One side of his brain told him that the village hadn’t been that great to him and he shouldn’t fight for it so strongly. On the other hand though the other side of his brain told him it was still home and now he knew a few people he didn’t want to see get hurt or worse. He wasn’t entirely sure how Keiko felt but judging from her personality he assumed it was something similar but on the other hand he could have been completely mistaken.

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831/1500