Starring:
Date: March 30, 2012
Summary:
Shintaro and Mayoi have a training session by the lake.
"The Troublemaker and the Number One Cloudwatcher"
Konohagakure Lake
Just after lunch on a fairly nice day in Konogagakure, and Nara Shintaro is seen out on Konohagakure Lake. He stands ontop of the water with several kunai in his hands. He has placed several targets around, some already having kunai in or around the bullseye. He tosses one kunai at a seemingly aimless point before throwing another at a more rapid speed to connect with it and send both into a target it, one landing directly in the bullseye and another near it. He then moves through Hand Seals quickly and breathes out a massive amount of flame that forms into a wall in front of him. It burns higher and higher then starts to flow out and form a circle around him.
The lake was usually a nice, tranquil place to spend an afternoon pondering about why grass was green. On this afternoon, though, it was anything but tranquil. It was on fire! Nara Mayoi arrives at the lake and stands there in disbelief at the flaming lake, blinking in confusion. How was the water on fire? Mayoi's mind started to consider the possibilities… but she didn't consider how to put it out. How do you put out water that's on fire?
After a few more moments of billowing flame, the flames dissipate, and Shintaro is standing in the center of where the fire was extending out from. "Good afternoon, Mayoi," he calls out, lifting a hand to wave. It's quite obvious why he is training on the water - so he doesn't cause a forest fire! He moves his hands into Rat Hand Seal, and the effect is not quite noticeable unless one is paying attention directly to the water, at least until a hand of shadow rises up out if the water and pokes the girl on the nose. "How are you?" the Jounin asks, a faint smirk crossing his face.
Mayoi's look of curious delight faded as the flames died down, leaving her with an unimpressed, bored look. She wrinkled her face as the shadowy hand poked her nose, and she leaned in to bite the hand's finger… how well that worked is anyone's guess. "It's just you. I thought the lake was on fire. Instead it's just my cousin causing trouble like usual. Isn't that right, Troublemaker Shintaro?" Mayoi nodded as if having cemented a new nickname for her cousin in her mind. "Are you going to train me to do that some day? I can't say that setting water on fire would be a useful skill to have, but I'm sure it could come in handy."
The attempt at biting the finger brings a light chuckle out of Shintaro. The hand recedes as he drops his hands and walks over to the edge of the lake to meet her. "Better a troublemaker than a layabout," he retorts, that smirk tugging a bit wider. "Fire Manipulation is quite useful, but you'll need to learn something else as well to fend off attacks, as there aren't many defense options with fire." Bringing a hand up, he pulls the hood of his cloak back, revealing his blue hair and tattoos more clearly. "Show me what you know, and I'll see where we can begin."
Mayoi crosses her arms and frowns, managing to look a bit cute, somehow. "A layabout? That hurts, Shintaro. I spend most of my time sitting about, I'll have you know." With a soft 'hmph', she raises a dismissive hand and waves it about. "Fending off attacks, hmm? You mean I can't just use my charming good looks and feminine charm for that? Hmph." Shrugging her shoulders, the Nara girl ponders for a few moments. "Show you what I know, hmm?" she ponders aloud. She then reaches up and places a hand beside Shintaro's head, wearing a long sleeve, and pulls out 1 out from behind his ear. "See? Magic!"
"Sure, if you them as a distraction for a Genjutsu," Shintaro replies with a shrug. As she reaches up and pulls the ryo from behind his ear, he quirks an eyebrow and quickly moves his hands back into the Rat Hand Seal. "Let's see if magic can get you out of this," he says as a hand of shadow moves to trail up her body in a spiral to wrap around her and bind her down, unless she finds a way out. Seems the Jounin isn't quite as impressed with illusions as he is shinobi skills.
Mayoi was too preoccupied with being amused by her magic trick to notice Shintaro's shadow creep up her own, and by the time she notices, it's too late, she's unable to move. She frowns, trying her best to struggle free, but to no avail. "No fair… I wasn't ready," she says, frowning and glaring at Shintaro. "How could you use such a dirty tactic on your favourite cousin?" She eventually stops struggling, closing her eyes and growling softly in frustration.
"An enemy shinobi doesn't care whether or not you are ready," Shintaro says, shaking his head as he reaches to his belt and draws a kunai. He barely touches the sharp tip of the blade to center of her neck, eyes locking directly with hers. "Were your favorite cousin an enemy, you'd already be dead," he says with a wink before bringing the kunai down and taking a step back. He begins focusing chakra as his shadow falls back into its normal place, preparing for a spar. "Now, are you going to show me what you can do, or do you want me to use a fire jutsu this time?"
Mayoi glares at Shintaro as he brings a kunai to her neck. "It's not nice to take advantage of your loving, trusting cousin, Shintaro," she says with a look of disapproval. "You know I hate one on one combat. But if you insist…" Shrugging her shoulders with a bored sigh, she lifts her hands and presses them together. It was now her shadow's turn to seek out Shintaro's. She wasn't going to be gentle with him if she caught him, either.
Just as Mayoi's shadow touches Shintaro's he disappears in a puff if smoke. He apparently replaced himself with a clone at some point. "You'll have to try harder than that," his smooth voice rings out from behind her. He remains there just long enough for her to catch a glimpse of him before flickering and reappearing in front of her as he drives an elbow at her gut. Though he isn't being nearly as aggressive as he was in the Exams, he isn't just going to let her loaf around here either. Time to make the Number One Nara Cloudwatcher work!
While Shintaro was fast, thankfully Mayoi was pretty fast too… well, at least she was a fast thinker. When she wanted to be. She employed the same technique as Shintaro, stealthily replacing herself with a clone that disappears when hit. But where was she really? No sort of follow-up attack seems to come. Shintaro probably knew his cousin well enough to know what was up. Perhaps she was among the shadowy trees?
Shintaro grins slightly as Mayoi finally gets in gear, chuckling a bit. He predicts her path well enough and spots her moving into the shadows. He quickly moves his hands into a hand seal again, sending his shadow to intercept her and catch hers in an attempt to lock her with Shadow Imitation. "Good plan," he calls out. "But not enough."
Mayoi wasn't hoping to out-fox Shintaro - he knew all of her tricks, after all. But she did manage to make certain that the decidedly-unstealthy Mayoi that Shintaro caught wasn't her, but another clone that she had employed. The real Mayoi - not so hidden, either - sends her own shadow out from the trees, hoping to catch Shintaro off guard for just a moment to trap him with Shadow Imitation.
Though he catches sight of the incoming shadow out of the corner of his eye, Shintaro decides to let her connect this time just to see what she does. He simply turns to face her and waits for their shadows to connect and allows her to take control of his body via Shadow Imitation. "Let's see what your plan is now," he says, simply waiting for the girl to make her next strike or action. He seems to be slightly amused as he waits, obviously just allowing her to do as she wants for now.
Mayoi looks on as her jutsu connects, and she steps out of the shadows, walking toward Shintaro. Normally she would follow up, and Shintaro would know this, but she doesn't - it takes a lot to make her serious about fighting; she might not ever seriously fight a family member, either. Finally she stands in front of her cousin, then takes a seat on the ground, her legs crossed, forcing him to do the same. She then releases the technique. "You let that hit you, didn't you?" Mayoi asks with an unamused tone, placing her hands on her knees. "It's no fun if you let me win. Then again, it's no fun if you try, either. Guess I'm just not a match for you. That's why you're a Jounin and I'm not."
Watching Mayoi approach without attacking, Shintaro lifts an eyebrow, though he does sit down with her movements. "Actually, this whole fight has been to simulate someone just above your skill level, Mayoi," he explains. "This is nowhere near my skill level. I allowed you this hit to see what you'd do. Now, you've got about ten seconds to do what you want before I overpower you and use your own link to make my attacks. I suggest you act wisely." His eyebrow stays just faintly lifted as he speaks, a confident look on his face as he simply waits for what the girl is going to do.
Mayoi lets out a frustrated sigh as she stands up, facing her cousin once again. She then turns back towards the trees and steps towards them, stopping once she reaches them. "Very well. Let's pretend this is real. It's a fight to the death in an open field, a stealth approach has failed me and my opponent outclasses me heavily. I have no backup available either. In other words, my chance of victory is very slim. What do I do, dear cousin? … I do this." She breaks her Shadow Imitation Jutsu and dashes off into the forest, wrapping herself in a Cloak of Shadows in an attempt to elude being followed. Live to fight another day, Mayoi-chan!
Being stood up as Mayoi stands, Shintaro listens intently to her plan of action. Once she breaks and runs off, he chuckles a bit and shakes his head. "Not bad," he says as he watches her take off into the woods. "I'll make a Jounin of you yet… Of course, if you don't come back, you won't learn the technique I was going to teach you."
From somewhere in the woods comes Mayoi's voice. "I'll come out if it doesn't result in me bleeding or bruising or aching or dying," the Nara girl chirps. "I hate getting serious. Of course, if you were a real opponent, I'd set up a way to ambush you in the forest and use the shadows to my advantage. I'd never fight you in an open field, especially not someone like you." She steps out of the shadows and back into the light, her arms crossed, with a pretty discontent look on her face. "Here I am. If you beat me up now I'll never forgive you."
"Yeah, yeah, just come out," Shintaro replies, bringing his arms up and crossing them over his chest as he waits for her. When she finally steps back out, he gives a nod and reaches to his belt to grab a kunai. He then walks over and hands it to her as he says, "This technique will be your first step toward learning how to use Shadow Sewing. Once you get to that point, maybe I'll even teach you how to use my Shadow Form and Shadow Blister techniques." That said, he takes a step back and brings his hands up in the Rat Hand Seal. "Now, try to hit me with that."
Mayoi takes the kunai and lifts it up to inspect it, as if it was trapped with an explosive seal or something. Content that the kunai isn't explosive, poisoned, cursed or otherwise going to kill her in some fashion, Mayoi takes a few steps back and raises it, then throws it at Shintaro.
As Mayoi throws the kunai, Shintaro's shadow travels up his body and created a shell of shadow over him. This might seem pointless until the kunai actually just bounces off him onto the ground. "This technique is called Shadow Skin. It's the easiest way to conserve energy and still defend against a wide variety of attacks without moving. I used it to dominate the Survival Exams and took almost every assault a full-powered Jinchuuriki could throw at me. Since you can stay still and use it, I'm sure it's right up your alley." With that, he allows his shadow to fall back into place and drops his hands. "Now, your turn. Move your shadow over your body and push chakra into it to try to harden it around you."
Mayoi nods her head toward Shintaro, watching his demonstration before forming the same seal herself. She is able to draw her shadow up over herself - that part is easy, given her ability to use the Shadow Neck Bind - but hardening it was the difficult part. "Like… this?" she asks, her brow furrowed as she focused on infusing chakra into her shadow. It wasn't perfect, but it didn't seem like she would have a lot of trouble perfecting the technique with practice.
Shintaro crosses his arms over his chest as he watches Mayoi work on the technique. He studies her use of it, giving a nod. "That's a good start. Think of how you grip someone's neck with Neck Bind, that physical element. You are simply spreading that over the entire technique." Satisfied with her beginning of mastering it, he stretches his arms out and looks toward the village. "Up for a trip to the Ramen House? My treat."
Mayoi started tightening her shadow, frowning as it clung to her body, making her baggy clothes not quite so baggy anymore. At the mention of ramen, she nodded and let her shadow drop back onto the ground. "Hmm, I am a bit hungry. Very well. But if you think treating me to ramen will make me forgive you for trying to kill me, well… yes, I suppose it will. But only this time. Do it again and there had better be dessert involved." With a content look - about as content as the bored Nara girl could be - Mayoi steps closer and prepares to head into the village with her cousin.
