Board Thread:Konoha Logs/@comment-24937485-20160414034136/@comment-24937485-20160414035931

Taller, but with shorter hair, a sharper jawline, and overall more laid-back expression, Kei stepped through the familiar gates of the Training Grounds. He hadn’t been here for a while as al ROOT related training often happened indoors. But he wasn’t training something specifically for ROOT today, no, today he was going to start creating his very own technique. For a while now, the 16 year old had been thinking about an attack similar to Yasu’s Chidori, instead using fire release or wind release. Thanks to his intellect, he had already theorized that whichever way he went about it, he had to start by focusing and gathering chakra in a single point where all energy is concentrated. He needed something powerful to pierce through defenses and guarantee a lethal blow, even on strong opponent. If the fight against the Masked Rogues, and his past 18 months as an ANBU member, had taught him anything it was that there were Shinobi out there far more powerful than he had ever expected. “Not knowing the limits of those I face, I cannot underestimate my future.”. His cold eyes scanned over the empty grounds before he activated his Sharingan. The ocular jutsu had become closer to a second nature to the Uchiha who had been training with it close to every day. Turning it on, and off, required nothing more than a quick mental command. But he still heard the loud screech of agony whenever the crimson consumed his hue and the three tomoe pierced the veil of truth that is life. ‘First… it’d be logical for me to find out which element would best lend itself. Fire… or wind.”. With this in mind, he stood in front of the waterside and pondered.



The last year and a bit had been a bit up and down for Kuin. She had spent at least 3 months bedridden again when her disease came back with a fierce determination to end her. But she persevered and was soon back out in the world, training quietly, as much as she had hated it she need to take it slow sometimes. She had changed a bit over the year; her white hair was now much, much longer and tied back in a loose ponytail that barely collected all her hair. Her skin, while still pale had managed to tan very slightly however the dark lines of illness still lingered around her piercing green eyes. She was taller now, and wore a sleeveless crop top that revealed her stomach, the rest of her outfit was much the same as before. She approached the training grounds, somewhere that had become like a second home for her in recent months. She stopped at the gates of the grounds when her eyes caught sight of someone else. The young Senju thought for a moment before placing her small bag on the ground and approached the waterside. She stretched when she stopped next to the boy “Alright day for training yeah?” her voice was always like honey. She looked into the water and let her mind wander for a moment as she limbered up, stretching her arms and legs and just generally to get the blood flowing*



“Alright day fo-“ Before she could finish her sentence, Kuin would Kei’s left arm extending outwards while a hidden blade unlocked from below his arm-guard, extending past the underside of his hand before locking again. The move was executed fast enough to through a falling raindrop with enough precision to leave half of said drop in perfect balance on the edge of the blade. Not saying a word, he just stood there, aiming for the blade to stop less than an inch away from her neck as he slowly turned his head while continuing to gaze at the surface of water in order to see her reflection. –Kinshi?- Was the first thing that went through he mind due to the similar color of hair, but it took him less than a second to realize that it wasn’t her. –Who then?- Finally lifting his gaze, he set it upon the girl to his left and upon seeing her he’d flick his wrist to retract and lock the hidden blade while moving his arm back to his side. “Has nobody ever taught you not to sneak up on strangers?”. The way he said it was less of an emotionless stab through the heart as it would have been two years ago, and more of a taunting comment that held the perfect blend of humor and logic; at least it did to him. He crouched down by the water and dipped his finger in the surface… then lifting it to see the drops fall of while reflecting the bright light of the sun. –The sun.- His eyelids narrowed as the wheels in his mind began to turn. –To harness the power of immense heat… it would mean being able to pierce through anything. But how can I even come close to a fragment of the sun’s power. Such a thing seems almost impossible. But that still means there is a possibility.-. To her it seemed like he zoned out for a moment but then he finally addressed her again, his voice having grown quite sharp, less soft, and more direct, as he had matured over the past year and a half and the increase in confidence and self-acceptance allowed his personality to shine more trough how he communicated. “If you know Suiton, we might be of use to one another.”



*Kuin didn’t really react too much, she flinched as was the usual human reaction when something came flying unexpectedly. After a moment of silence she laughed softly, her eyes scanning the blade as she stood still, trailing up his arm towards his face, she noticed the sharingan and mentally rolled her eyes. Uchiha. She smiled at his comment and stifled her laugh “Ahh but life is more fun with surprises right? Like just now” she grinned, a stupidly happy go lucky expression, or was it the expression of a fool who feared no death? Who knows? She watched him retract the blade and turn his attention back to the water, she did much the same, watching it casually, it was calming to her in a sense, he piped up again eventually and she turned her head to look at him, an eyebrow raising slowly “Please is usually a good start when asking someone’s help after putting a blade to their neck.” She went quiet, driving the seriousness of her comment home, that was until she laughed “Ahh I don’t care, you made my day interesting, Yeah, I know a bit of Suiton techniques I can lend a hand. Just, remember, I’m nothing incredible yet. I’m a little bit” she motioned her hand as if to make a low shelf “Lower on the ladder, haven’t been able to train too much in recent years” she coughed and threw a peace sign up “I’m Kuin Senju by the way”



<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'TimesNewRoman',serif;">Saying please, introducing himself, both weren’t really aspects of the special agent who was yet to receive an official nickname. Things like that never even crossed his straightforward mind as he stood up and extended his right hand. –The molding process of fire chakra should be similar to that of the great fireball technique, however more focused, hotter.- While thinking, he began channeling fire chakra through the tenketsu in his hand, causing a small flame to flicker in his palm of his hand. –Far too weak.- The flame didn’t even approach the heat of his fireball. Even the chakra flow around his weapons was more impressive. –More. I need far more power.- He began forcing more and more energy into the flame which eventually grew brighter, but also larger, rather than maintaining a compact shape. The fire consumed his entire hand and actually began to burn his skin as he stood there studying the chakra itself through his dojutsu instead of worrying about his physical state. It was up to Kuin now to react, and if she didn’t, Kei wouldn’t stop what he was doing until the pain got so bad that he’d suddenly cry out, kneel down, and press his hand underwater. Of all natures, fire was perhaps most wild and difficult to control, even for the skilled Uchiha who knew that he had to train the art of shape manipulation to a whole new level.

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'TimesNewRoman',serif;">Kuin watched for a little bit as he began to channel fire natured chakra into his hand. When the fire expanded and consumed his hand she still waited. Not sure if one, it was part of his plan, two he could handle it and three what she should do in the case of emergency. The smell of burning flesh reached her nose and she grimaced, bringing her hands into handseals and condensing chakra in her mouth. Dragon to Tiger and finishing on Hare, she focused just enough chakra that she could easily douse the flame but not enough that the pressure would be enough to harm him. At most he might stumble or have his hand pushed aside. “water Release: Wild Water Wave” she spoke softly, not raising her voice or showing signs of panic and a quick stream of water shot from her mouth towards the Uchiha’s hand. If the fire had at least died down she would shake her head “That was a bit dumb don’t you think? What are you even trying to do, I mean there’s better ways to barbeque yourself” she grinned, if he kept doing this, and she kept extinguishing him it would be some good practice for her hand seals, she might even eventually work out a way to perform the technique with one instead of three different seals “Ready to retry?”

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'TimesNewRoman',serif;">Before dealing more damage to himself than necessary, Kei’s wish for efficiency was interrupted by a timely approach of Kuin who successfully put out the flames after a few seconds; leaving the hand smoldering faintly. He had also noticed how she controlled her chakra to lessen the effects of her jutsu, perhaps hinting to a pacifistic mind underneath her white hair, or at a talent in chakra control. Yet her inexperience showed as her attempt would have left him pretty much soaked if he didn’t step back while only extending the burnt hand into the passing stream. -Dumb, no, I don’t think so. In the end, failure is a necessary part of every process. But you are right. There are better ways.-. The words ran through his mind but remained unspoken as he pressed his hands together in the tiger seal while molding chakra in the pit of his stomach. Yet, instead of expelling the chakra in the shape of a large fireball or a flame thrower, he decreased the power in an increased intensity to create a baseball-sized fireball. Yet, as he tried to move his hands up to contain the orb between them, it just shot forward as normal. The orb then crashed into the hillside on the opposite side of the stream they stood in front of; the resulting explosion large enough to throw up a good amount of water and dust. –I’m going about it the wrong way… I already confirmed that I need concentrated fire in my hand in order to ensure a close-range hit. But even a fully focused fireball wouldn’t be enough. Still.. perhaps this will bring me closer to the answer I seek.”. A flurry of handseals preceded the creation of an identical shadow clone that stood beside Kei. The clone then made the tiger handseal and, instead of building charka in its stomach, let a small stream fire chakra ‘drool’ out of its lips and into Kei’s opened right hand which was still suffering from the earlier burns. Again, he felt a sharp pain as the sensitive flesh flared up again but he pushed through, using his hand to manipulate the chakra donated by his shadow clone. And slowly, but surely, he held a swirling tendril of chakra that took up an orb-like shape. Yet, as soon as the clone moved away, he lost the ability to keep manipulating the chakra at which about five tendrils grew and extended from the fire in his hand, lashing around him and possibly hitting his while he’d suffer several minor burns around his torso. Then, the fire just vanished. But now he knew, he knew that fire could be tamed, it was just going to be a hazardous process in which he’d have to surrender his right arm to excruciating pain. –The pain is irrelevant. I must increase my level of shape manipulation… perhaps using both hands.-. Drifting off in thought again, he never even checked how she was doing and pressed his hand down in the water at which it began to sizzle and steam a little. Then, out of nowhere; “A Senju, related to Kinshi perhaps?”

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'TimesNewRoman',serif;">*Kuin rubbed the back of her head and laughed, the stream, while weaker, was not exactly pinpoint and had gone everywhere “Sorry sorry” she listened to him quietly as she ran the handseals in her mind, Was it possible to perform jutsu with less than the requested number of handseals? They were just focus points after all, a way to help mold the chakra and determine its amount. Curious. She watched the uchiha for a while, inspecting the techniques he did, paying close attention to his hand seals. “So I’m guessing the idea is to compact a huge amount of raw power before stretching it around your arm for a punch of sorts. Have you looked at a natural fire recently? In particular the embers, they contain all of the fire’s heat yet they only smolder, but when you blow of them, they flare back up again. Right?” She moved out of the way off the lashing fire and laughed, doing the hand seals for wild water wave once more, in her mind she measured how much chakra each handseal help maintain for the technique, every time she would shoot a strong torrent of water from her mouth towards the wall on the otherside of the water. Her ears perked at the mention of Kinshi “Ahh, related by clan, but definitely not direct family. Well, as far as I know anyway. I know her though, she’s helped me out previously in the past, and she checks up on my health from time to time. Do you know her much?” she sat down, a pondering expression on her face, her lips moved slightly as if she was talking to herself and occasionally she’d do a hand seal, tilt her head and release it only to do it again a moment later*

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'TimesNewRoman',serif;">The ember… she had struck a point that set in motion a train of thoughts that went as followed –The ember… the birthplace of fire. I have been looking at it all wrong. Rather than manipulating fire… I must give birth to fire from my very hands. Just like the sun gives birth to its flames.-. He closed his eyes, de-activating the sharingan so that he revealed his normal eyes upon parting his eyelids. “Know her much? I couldn’t say. But I know who she is.”. He had watched the torrent of water hit the wall with a good amount of concussive force, the malleability of the water proving somewhat inspiring. Yet the chakra control behind the Jutsu proved itself in the handseals that were required every time, although they were less than required for the Great Fireball technique which he could now execute with only one handseal. As if reading her mind, he’d look down at her being seated and practicing her handseals. “it takes time, experience, and a greater mastery of handseals, to be able to use Jutsu with less handseals. But before you focus on that, instead try and learn weaving your handseals faster. That is something you can learn at your current level, and it’ll give you the combat effectivity I’m guessing that you’re looking for.”

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'TimesNewRoman',serif;">*Kuin stretched, one handseal techniques or even one handed hand seals were still far out of her reach, but hey, that’s what made training fun, that sense of accomplishment. By about the 5th torrent of water Kuin was feeling mildly drained, a little tired and her heart rate had increased a little, but she had made an impressive dent on the wall. She looked up at the Uchiha as he spoke, giving a shrug at his comment of only sort of knowing Kinshi. Kuin was a little surprised to get some advice from him and looked down at her handseal “Ahh, yeah actually that makes sense, start back at the basics right? No matter how advanced you go the basics are still core” she put her hands together making a handseal, the dog to be exact. Though she did not channel chakra into them, instead it seemed she was just doing exercises everyone did waaay back in the academy, she was strengthening the muscle memory of each hand seal. She moved to the dragon and the rat and so forth, going through the loop, saying them out loud and gradually getting faster, when she fumbled her words or messed up a hand seal she would start again, slower still and gradually speeding up again. This behavior showed a certain level of determination in her, whereas others may try to find short cuts or complain she just went with the flow, happily doing the hard yards despite how tedious and basic they were. She looked up at him again, still doing the hand seals without watching “You still haven’t given me a name you know, at the moment my mind just refers to you as Haha” she looked back at the wall “dog … dragon … rat… “

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'TimesNewRoman',serif;">He smiles a creepily forced smile and nodded at her while watching the sequence of handseals improve a little with each loop until she’d eventually get tired and find her hands slowing down. After all, one’s body only allowed for so much and given the paleness under her eyes, and fragility of her build, he guessed she wasn’t in the best of physical states. He wondered if she was one of Kinshi’s students, she would be a good student given both their affinity for water, but then again this girl might be too ‘weak’ for the white haired prince to consider. Kei crossed his arms and sighed while walking over to a tree and sit in its shade as a small amount of smoke still lingered off his scarred hand. He knew how he was to continue his training, he was already vividly imagining the pure-white orb of fire in his hand as he thought about the future. –An ember, the heart of fire, the hand of the sun.-. Ever staring at the helix-like burn pattern around his hand. His eyes cold with focus, it was clear that he wanted to continue training right away but in doing so he’d risk losing his own hand. Pushing oneself was fine but one had to now his/her own limits. Kei did, and as such he sat up, stood up, and began walking off the training grounds. -“Be a friend.”- But he found himself stopping upon remembering those words ‘she’ had said not long ago. Turning back around, Kei walked over to Kuin and extended his unharmed left hand to her while going against his own nature and ROOT protocol. “My name is….”. It didn’t work, the seal on his tongue simply forbid him from saying anything. Thus he’d simple shake her hand if she accepted and then turned to walk away.

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'TimesNewRoman',serif;">*Kuin did two more loops despite how tired she was and eventually laid back to catch her breath. When her breath had returned she would stand, wandering over to her bag and pulling out a small bottle, she popped the lid and poured two pills onto her hand and put the bottle away. She put them in her mouth and swallowed, cringing at the bitterness of them. She’d have to spend a while practicing the hand seals she figured, but for now training was done. She stretched a bit and looked at the boys hand as he extended it. She grinned and instead of grabbing his hand she grabbed his wrist in such a way he could do the same “Hmmm, No name huh? How odd … lets see, a name, a name. What about Locke? Since your tongue seems to lock up” she grinned and let go of his wrist, giving a peace sign and trundling off with her bag over one shoulder “I’ll see you here again sometime so I can pput you out when you blow yourself up, catchya”

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'TimesNewRoman',serif;">“Locke?” Kei pondered and imagined it best to just go along with the nickname in order to prevent further confusion or certain tedious names such as girls being called a prince. He chuckle, yes, actually chuckled, and shook her arm by the wrist before turning around and walking away. There was nothing left for him to say, at least not in his mind. If they’d meet again, then so be it, if not, then not. In the end, making promises or agreements was useless. After all, he was simply a tool. And a tool could break, or be pulled into usage, at any given time. He knew the burden of joinin ROOT, but in all honesty, it wasn’t a burden for him. For him it was more like he could finally be himself in an environment where it was accepted, which actually led him to become less heartless and detached to the world around him. Due to his passive lack of empathy, he did not have to train or learn how to control his emotions. In theory, he was the perfect fit for ANBU. What they didn’t know, was that the freedom of mind was slowly allowing him to see the light in darkness; which left his future an unknown twilight.