Starring:
Date: September 21, 2013
Summary:
Ishino finds a new way to train Renai in using her ninjutsu
"Stop the ocean!"
Black-Sands Beach [Land of Water]
Black-Sands Beach [Land of Water]
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
Here lies a long, thin breakwater isle of volcanic black sands, surprisingly soft to the feet despite their fiery birth and the pounding since that has formed the beach. While barely 30 feet wide, the strip is well over 200 long- And is studded with spires of wind-polished obsidian, including the chissel-chipped, flat 'stumps' of stone where obelisks have been drawn forth from this beautiful creation of nature.
While little plant-life lives upon the few inches of sand that cover the volcanic glass and rock that make up the stable substrate, the garbage and refuse of birds can be seen everywhere- And their nests can be found nestled in the shadows of rocks. A single, larger 'hill' of solid rock reaches perhaps two feet above the generally fairly level isle, and upon inspection, a hole is seen in the side of it, leading into a black-glass tunnel lit by phosphorescent moss.
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
Contents:
Ishino
Exits:
North-East - (NE) [Chill River]
North-West - (NW) [Coastal Road]
Down - (D) [Obsidian Tunnel]
South - (S) [Rock-Strewn Beach]
The night was closing in, bringing with it the mists from the sea to blanket the village. It's starting to bring with it the mugginess of the warm winds, hinting at Kirigakure's fastly approaching summer humidities. Renai sits on the beach, her legs crossed and her eyes closed. It looks as though she's doing nothing, but someone with any chakra sensing might pick up on the chakra surrounding her. She's weaving and molding, working to visualize her genjutsu creations, working through her own pathways to refine what they will be. It's hard to find people willing to let her test out the new style. Which is probably just as well. She doesn't want to be accused of "torturing" people, after all.
The kunoichi rises to her feet after a few moments and pulls a small watch from her pocket. She finally invested in one after too many close calls. End genjutsu training session. She unrolls the scroll in her hand and peers down. "Student-teacher training session…" Renai rolls the scroll back up and looks about for Ishino. He must be here already. He always is.
A rock, one of the larger ones of the area, would shimmer, the henge fading away as Time Keeper stood up. Ishino, of course, had simply been standing behind Time Keeper, waiting patiently. Timing, as always, is of the essance. Walking over towards Renai, he'd give that sweeping bow in greeting with an easy smile. "Renai-san. I am glad to see you have invested in a worthy time piece to make sure you are on time. One from my parents shop? Interesting choice." Good, bad, or otherwise, he wasn't going to say. Instead he'd look out at the water for a moment. "We are going to test the limits of your ninjutsu manipulation. However, instead of simply having you throw rocks while I beat you up, how about we do something a little different." Ishino nodded at the lapping water. "You have to figure out how you are going to mold the earth, to make the water not reach where you stand right now. If it fails, then you spend the night in the surf, up to your neck. Understood?"
Renai shows him the time piece. It's just a simple thing. The Touketsu have never really been known for extravagance. As long as it ticks like it's supposed to.. She put the watch in her pocket when he's done looking and rubs her fingers together, feeling the chakra tingling in her skin from her prior exercises.
The challenge is set and she swallows… hard. She knows he isn't joking or lying. She really will spend the night out here if she fails. Her eyes turn up to her sensei seeming a bit worried, but up to it. Her eyes fall to her feet and she widens her stance a bit, digging into the sand to keep herself from being too quick to dart backwards. He /did/ say where she stands. "Hai, Sensei. When shall I begin?" Her eyes focus on the water then, mapping out the jutsu in her mind, what will work and what won't, what she can do and can't.
Ishino would pull his own time piece, idling leaning up against Time Keeper as he did so. The puppet was impassive, staring at Renai. As the second hand hit the 0 mark, Ishino nodded. "Now." He'd note the time before closing the watch, putting it away as he'd cross his arms over his chest, watching Renai with an interested study. She had something plotted, he saw her do it. Now to see how she was going to actually pull it off.
The pale light glints off the girl's green hair and the silver pendant around her neck as she turns the upper half of her body to peer back at the level the water typically reaches. She turns back around, counting softly to herself the second between each incoming of the tide, marking off the approaching feet in her head. Her lips keep moving. She's calculating. The only unknown to her… how far down does she have to reach before she can grasp something more moldable than sand? Her lips purse and become still.
She lifts her hands to begin forming seals similar to that which she uses for her earth dome and the sand trembles, vibrating as she attempts to pull it up from the ground. It's different than dirt, shifting constantly and needing more force to strengthen it. The girl emits a soft grunt as she feels her use of ninjutsu straining against it. She tries to draw more on the rocks deeper down, some pulling free and moving into the barrier. It's starting roughly twenty feet from her, the water lapping a good twenty feet away on the other side. A wall starts to rise up, three feet wide and increasing in length gradually on either side.
Ishino studied what she did intently, watching and waiting, patiently gathering information. He knew how poor the material for an earth user was here and there was nothing saying she would win.. But with the walls he was forming, there was a definite possibility. Of course, with the wall she was making out there, the shifting of ground to heap up, that left an area behind, a shallow, the moat, behind the wall, as it were. Due to the length of the shore, it didn't take long for the water that was beyond her wall to seep into that depression, already eroding that wall she was making. Good idea, but seemed not enough yet.
Renai notes the formation of the moat and her brows furrow. Sand is… horrible. That's all she can see about sand. It sucks. The wall isn't quite high enough yet but she has to reinforce it. The sand behind the water starts to shift up, compacting in close to the wall while shifting to fling the water away. On either side of her, the stand starts to move as well, drawing it from behind her body and around just so long as she doesn't move. She forces it deeper to compensate for the emptiness her jutsu is creating. The kunoichi's hands are tense, her arms trembling with the effort she's putting into the jutsu. Pure experimental molding. And this much movement all at once is definitely an exercise.
Ishino gave a small nod in appreciation of what she was doing. She was adapting. That was good. He'd continue to stand leaning against Time Keeper as Renai continued to work against the nature of the location they were at. The boon of this manipulation? By tomorrow no one would be able to tell, the water would and could eventually claim it all back. However that was neither here nor there. Instead, the water was kicking up stronger. It seems what she was doing was working, but more and more of the tide was coming in, definitely making trying to keep it up tough. But hey.. she's dry, for now!
Renai exhales heavily. She can feel the water pressing back into her wall. Higher. The wall starts to grow again. Only a few feet more, and a little farther out. She puts more of her chakra into the forward wall, binding the particles together. They push in, packing like bricks, compressing into hard lumps. Well as hard as she can make them. The depression behind her, meanwhile, gets deeper and at one point, she has to push the sand in around herself to keep her body in place. It's the pressure that's getting her. She put it into her calculations, but it's as though she's fighting the entire ocean.
Ishino's only movement was to pull out his pocket watch, clicking it open to check the time for a moment, then put it back away. He'd refold his arms, watching as Renai would continue dealing with the incoming tide. It was relentless, as many things in nature was. Even with how much she was pulling in.. she wasn't going to make it. Ishino figured that might be the case. It is a lot of water she's dealing with and it's not exactly simple either. She was doing quite admirable. So the next question was to see how far she could go. If she went far enough, he'd give her the by. However the next two minutes was going to be the crunch time he sensed. If she held up after this….
The kunoichi looks up to the wall. Bad, she can't see the tide on the other side. She didn't think of that. Damnit. One of her feet slip and she lifts her knee, balancing until she can put it back in place. Whatever spark that's in her is flickering weakly. She spent too much chakra too fast.
Can't fail. The girl puts everything she has into reinforcing her barrier. The sand and rocks lurch up from behind her and slide into the ramp off the back of the wall even as water starts to breach the top, cutting rivulets down toward her.
Ishino shakes his head slightly. Well, that looks to be about the limit of what she can do. The water was coming over the wall anyways, starting into the moat near her. She had pushed well. Thought it out, but it was a matter of needing more strength. That comes with time and she did delay the inevitable for long enough. Ishino straightens up as Time Keeper would move then, an almost blur as the puppet leaped forward, scooped Renai up as if she was weightless and would leap back with her, landing in a small puff of sand near Ishino to set her on her feet. "Good. You survived the time mark I had planned for that. Now.. the second half of the lesson. What did you learn?"
The Touketsu makes a small 'meep' noise when she's gathered up. Her chakra usage cuts off abruptly and the sand starts to break apart, letting more and more water through to reclaim the beach. She wobbles a bit when she's set down, the more solid sand throwing her off her guard a bit. Renai still has enough strength to stand though and she straightens out, chest heaving a bit as she looks to her sensei.
"Not everything can be calculated and I have to be able to adapt." Her eyes turn to the shifting sands, watching them as they disperse with every incoming wave. "And that sand is really, really hard to control."
Ishino chuckles, tousling her hair. "Yes. That's good. Also that nature will react to any jutsu you do. Your actions have reactions. Your pulling up the earth left holes that were exploited. You may of lasted longer if you had simply created deep enough holes to redirect the water around you, instead of trying to resist nature, work with its normal flow." Ishino muses for a moment, before pointing down the beach. "there's a river that meets the sea down there. The water is constantly flowing. However there are spots of dry land within that area. Try to study it."
