The Lightning Saint [P][T]

Saint scratched at his head in frustration, having a hard time deciding which jutsu he would learn next. There were so many he would like to know and try out but deciding which to do first was hard. He couldn’t decide between Raikou Yama No Jutsu and Raiu Karasu and it was irritating him because he was wasting time he could be using. Rather than sit there and rack his brain further he decided to just pick one randomly so that the decision could be made for him. Saint pulled a coin out from his pocket, placing it on his thumb then deciding that Raikou Yama would be heads and Raiu Karasu would be tails. He flipped the coin into the air and watched as it spun on its way down, catching it in one hand then flipping it onto the back of his other. He lifted his hand to see that the coin had landed on heads, Raikou Yama it was.

Saint outstretched his hands and then splayed his fingers, pointing towards a tree off to his side. He then began to focus his chakra towards his fingers, waiting in anticipation for the sign of electricity being stored in them. He didn’t see anything happening though so he kept focusing, deciding to wait a tiny bit longer to see if he got any results. Unfortunately he didn’t and looked at the palm of his hands. “Why can’t I just learn these things on the first try.” He said to himself as he decided to switch to the tactic he always used whenever he couldn’t get a jutsu right because of his chakra flow. All he had to do was imagine what he wanted and he usually got the desired results, simple idea and easy to do with large results which worked for him.

Saint once again outstretched his hands, splaying his fingers as he did so and aimed at the same tree he had aimed at before. He focused his chakra, channeling it into the tips of his fingers while he visualized them filled with electricity. He specifically focused on the buildup of chakra in his fingertips and then the addition of the ration element to make it spark. He felt a small heat on his fingers and looked to see that his fingers were crackling with electricity and he made a triumphant grin. Saint then pulled his hand back and then flung it forward, expecting to see small balls of lightning fly out yet instead nothing happened although the sparks were still being emitted from his fingers tips.

Saint scratched his head with his free hand as he gazed at the hand emitting lightning and figured he would just try again now rather than start the whole jutsu over again. Saint pulled his arm back once more, quickly visualizing the balls of lightning being fired from his fingertips as he thrust his hand forward and was rewarded with success this time. Small, marble sized balls of lightning shot out of his hand in a pretty decent speed but not necessarily as fast as he thought they would. Saint continued to practice the jutsu so that he could increase the speed of the lightning bullets, each time slowly increasing the bullets acceleration and velocity.

Saint focused his chakra, channeling it through his hands to his fingertips as he attempted the lightning bullet jutsu once more. He was determined to do it perfectly and decided to keep training instead of switching to a new jutsu. He felt the lightning build at the tips of his fingers and watched as it began to crackle into existence. He focused on his target, a tree several meters away as he pulled his arm back, rearing up to fire. He shot his arm forward and watched as the bullets were launched from his finger tips, impressed by their speed as they collided with the tree. Saint walked over to evaluate the damage and was pleased to see some nice sized burns on the tree's trunk. He had gotten significantly better at executing this jutsu than he had originally though.

Saint walked back to his previous position and was ready to continue as he focused his chakra and began to channel it to his fingertips. He was beginning to feel the familiar crackle of lightning as he did so but then suddenly the feeling became painful. Saint made a small yelp as he looked at his hand to see the damage and was presented with his fingertips being raw and burned. He should have realized this would happen, it was explained in the scroll but he was negligent of its warning. Saint stuck his pointer finger in his mouth and slowly ran his tongue along it, easing the pain of the burn slightly before repeating the process with each finger. Saint made a mental note to refrain from excessive use of the jutsu because not only did his fingers sting and were extremely sensitive at the moment, he could only imagine what it would do to his taijutsu.

Saint was quite pleased with himself and the progress in Raiton jutsu he had been making. He figured he would give a more challenging jutsu a try and see how he did. Looking at the scroll on his lap he flipped through the pages, attempting to find a jutsu that interested him which wasn't hard. He mostly had trouble figuring out which jutsu he wanted to learn first and he hoped he wouldn't be stuck deciding again. His eyes eventually skimmed over an interesting jutsu and he carefully read about it and how it was done before deciding he wanted to try it out. He was mostly excited by the thought of the jutsu, throwing a lightning bolt always would sound cool, no matter who you were and Saint had figured why not. He stood up and stretched out his body for a moment before taking one more glance at the jutsu scroll before deciding he was ready to give it a shot.

“A C rank huh? Hopefully this doesn't take too long.”

Saint held out his hand in front of him, palm facing upwards as he focused his chakra to his hand. He would need to take his chakra and disperse it out from his palm to make the bolt and although it sounded pretty straight forward, he already knew he would have some trouble with it. Saint had his chakra focused and made his first attempt of forming a lightning bolt in his hand and was disappointed to see that nothing had happened. He focused again and tried once more quickly but yet again to no avail and he scratched his head for a moment as he thought about the concept. He needed to solidify his chakra with his palm as the focal point and create the bolt along a horizontal axis. Saint swooned a little as he thought of this, he was very unaccustomed to thinking scientifically like he had just done and it took a toll on his brain. He did however have a good idea of what he thought he should do to get the bolt to form however and was eager to get it right this time.

Saint looked at his palm and quickly went over what he was going to do and then began to focus his chakra, sending it to the center of his hand. He envisioned the lightning and how it would form, what it would look like, all the different things that needed to happen. In any action done, Saint knew that the brain was the most important part of it because what you think your body can respond and help produce the desired effect, kind of like with singing. Saint watched expectantly as he focused his chakra and then attempted to pull it out to form the lightning bolt. He watched as lightning appeared in his hand and began to spread out, slowly stretching into about a 3 foot length however he was disappointed with the results. Rather than the glorious lightning bolt he was expecting, he had ended up making a long needle of lightning that was hardly the width of his pinkie. He laughed a little at the fluke before figuring he would give it another shot using the same method before giving up, he was making progress and that was all that mattered.

Saint cursed lightly under his breath as he made his way back to his original spot, he didn't want to chance forgetting his scroll. As he was walking back he took a moment to admire the Sound village and take in his surroundings, the smell of the fresh wind and the farms, it was peaceful. He realized then that he was back already, figuring he must have just been absorbed by the sounds and smell of the village and that's why it seemed so short. Saint then raised his hand up with his palm facing him and stared at the center of it. He focused his chakra and quickly formed the bolt of lightning in his hand. Then in a sudden movement he turned and hurled the bolt, watching it streak across the sky before exploding on impact with the ground.

“I can do it standing still just fine but not when I'm moving, what the heck?”

Instead of trying to perform the jutsu at full sprint again, Saint figured he would do it in intervals, first of which would be walking. He began to walk in his normal pace and as he did so he opened his hand and began to focus and channel his chakra, then at the center of his hand he began to shape and mold it into the form of a lightning bolt. It was incredibly easier to do now that he wasn't sprinting full speed and when he lifted his arm up to throw the bolt he was greeted with the full thing and not just a tiny strip of it. Saint hurled the bolt and figured that he didn't need to pay attention to it any longer since he transitioned into a jog. Saint once again performed all the setups steps for the jutsu and once again when he pulled his arm up to throw, he had a fully formed lightning bolt in his hand and then hurled it off into the distance. Now came the hard part.

Saint built up his speed, changing from an average jog to a fast jog and then finally to a full out sprint. He needed to be able to multitask to be able to pull off the jutsu so he began switching all of the things he was doing consciously to his subconscious. He was no longer paying attention to the motion of his legs or his footing or even the surroundings, it was just his chakra flow as he began building it in the center of his hand. He then began to mold it into a lightning bolt, feeling the now familiar weight of it in his hands as his fingers closed around it. Saint abruptly dug his right heel into the ground, stopping his body but the momentum all went into his throw as he released the bolt. Saint smiled as he watched the bolt in its entirety soaring through the air for the longest amount of time yet before descending and crashing into the ground, although he could hardly see it land because of the distance. Saint then flopped onto the grass and decided he needed a rest from all the work he had been doing, he was exhausted.