Gather the Earth [T]

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00 of 30——— 

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Doton no Jutsu (Earth Release Skill)

Rank: "C"
Skill: NinJutsu
Effect: ---
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: With this skill, or release, the user is now capable of using, and performing techniques that deal with the element of Earth. This means that any NinJutsu or specialized TaiJutsu that deals the Earth Release will need this in order to be performed correctly.
Limit: ---

A thin figure made its way over a grassy knot which lead to a flat plateau some twenty meters above the horizon. Nestled at the now visible Tsugahara's back was the sheathed Makkura, as well as his ninja tool pouch wherein his usual inventory lay. His clothing fluttered freely on his slender frame as an early morning breeze picked up over the high steppe; his stood still a moment and took in the nurturing sun's rays with his left hand placed on the hilt of his blackened blade. His free hand went to his brow as he peered into the mountainous east land where the sun shone just over the peaks separating the lands of Stone and Rain.

"I feel as though this would be an ideal place to train," he said, speaking to himself. He would walk several more meters before placing his equipment down upon a large boulder that seemed to have been thrown wantonly into the plains. As he began to stretch his body, so would he stretch his mind as he took in the air through his nose and looked at the raw material before his feet. For miles the earth went: it ran flat into craggy places where it then jutted out of the earth in monstrous spires. He was excited to be learning his first elemental release and he was doing it on his own. The Earth had become his mother in the absence of the two natural mothers that he had left behind. He would learn to use it for protection; he would learn to use it for aggression. Upon finishing his requisite exercises, Tsuga stood and began to channel his chakra throughout his being. Focus. He told himself as he repeatedly performed the kata no Mi - the seal most common to the Doton arts. It was through his hands that he would control the earth, and through his feet that he would soften the former element with his chakra, to help further subjugate it to his will.

The non-ninja hadn't been an avid reader but he had been an avid practitioner of what he thought. He thought that through focusing chakra into his hands to help mold and through his feet to help soften, that the earth in a certain radius would become tangible and thus willed by his physical and spiritual vitality. His hands went into the ground and immediately, he grew amazed. The philosophy he had come up with had worked! His fingers easily broke through the raw material as he haunched over keeping the flow of chakra through his feet steady enough to cause the ground to 'vibrate' with his energies. How great it felt to be able to move the soil easily through his fingers; it was a small step, but one that made an impressive imprint in Tsugahara's mind. He then, after digging a circle around himself, begin to pull small chunks of the earth out of the ground and he studied it. He could feel his chakra flowing through the medium, it intrigued him with its primitive concept: chakra is the spirit in which nearly any known element could be manipulated, but of course he would stick to learning these basics before going on to try sticking his hand in fire, or controlling the winds around him. His stopped the flow of chakra in his feet as he began to squish and mold the soil within his hands. He had seen how soft he could make it with a slow and rather steady pulsation of chakra, so he then began to feed the medium fast, copious amounts of the stuff, all the while focusing his mind to make sure that the effects that he sought would come to fruition.

"Aha!" he exclaimed as the soft earth vigorously began to churn in his hands and harden. He was even further amazed after a solid thirty minutes of digging in the soil and playing with soft earth. His chakra had hardened it—he had hardened it. It was obvious by the way that he was smiling that he was blowing his own mind by his seemingly small feats. These workings had harvested the reward much quicker than when he learned how to walk along vertical planes with chakra. The once mushy mass had turned rock solid; with a little effort, Tsuga threw it. As soon as it left his hand, it dispersed back into its natural state of loose soil - immediately a gust of winds swept through the flatlands and carried the dirt away. While he was nowhere near fatigued nor complete with his task, he did allow himself a brief respite before he would continue in his earthen endeavors.

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?? of 30———

He found himself stripping off his upper attire as the sun's rays grew more intensifying the higher the lurid orb climbed up the atmosphere. Sweat beads dripped from his brow as his learning of Doton no Jutsu continued - just an hour after he had been able to make the earth tangible with his chakra, Tsugahara had began trying other methods of earth-style manipulation.

"Haaaaaaa—" he voiced in an effort to make known to the universe his level of strain: he held the Snake seal at about chest level as he made long and slow lunges across the plateau; in his wake, the Stone native's feet could be seen leaving rather noticeable footprints some inches in the soil as he pressed his chakra through the soles of his feet. He had placed himself some ten meters away from the boulder where his equipment lay, trying to further test the level of his current capabilities. With chakra coursing steadily through his entire being, Tsuga broke off into a brisk sprint back towards the massive stone - he maintained his focus as on his return, small imprints had been made and pieces of soil stuck adhesive to his feet; apparently, his chakra had some magnetic hold on the element, and the added layer of tissue didn't seem to bother the usually clean man as it squished and clung between his toes.

While the earth had been extremely abundant in amount, the Saxum eighteen year old could hardly think of anymore to do with it. He sat legs criss-crossed as he closed his eyes. In doing so, he pulled all of his chakra toward the center of his chest, causing the caked on soil at his feet to crumble away as he pulled on his spiritual reigns. He listened to the wind blow; he could hear the avian beasts overhead chirping in intervals. With his eyes still closed, the boy focused his chakra to his hands which where now in front of his chest. The same Mi kata had been held as the chakra circulated through his clasped hands into their respective phalanges in a steady ebb.

Tsugahara would open his hands before him and keep his eyes closed. The focus here was to try to create earth from nothingness—rather, create it from chakra alone. He had been around the element his entire life but never did it occur to him to try to mold it from his very essence.

Relax your mind.. feel your chakra slowly begin to evolve into the natural earth element... Focus.

His hands rotated around the empty space between his palms as he continued to pour chakra onto chakra and focused solely on the mushy feel of the earth. He focused on the smell of it, its look and texture. In roughly twenty minutes of meditative focusing, he could feel granule crumble away from his chakra as he heard it smoothly hit the grass below him. He could not help but to look in amazement: a small orb of earthy soil had been created!—Within his own palms, no less! As he continued to feed the ball chakra, it grew in size. As before, he fed it slow, steady amounts to quicken it, then turned to fast, copious amounts to harden it, thus increasing its size. He rotated his chakra tempos as the earthen mass grew to be about the size of his head. With a great huzzah, he lifted his arms high to hold up his prized creation, which caused a brief disruptive static in the flow of chakra. His albicant hairs became engrossed with the browns of the earth as it seeped onto his soft face and down his chest. He wasn't angry nor disappointed. Quickly, he gathered his things and went down the way he had came; on his way to the steppe, he had seen a flowing river and that was where he was headed.

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?? of 30———

The steppe had been at least half a mile away from the river he so sought. Upon finding it, the warm colors of autumn struck Tsugahara in his chest by way of falling leaves. He took note of the docile environ: birds flitted past the reaches of trees as smaller forest animals began to run to and fro from the banks of the river; reds, golds and browns floated amongst the lilies of the river while fish wantonly sprang forth from their aquatic realm to catch insects that hovered above the water's surface. He could appreciate the earth, water and air that he took in with his senses as he stripped off all forms of clothing. His black blade lay across the bundle belonging to the non-ninja as the entirety of his inventory and apparel rested underneath a thick tree trunk. Like the swimming fish, he jumped into the brisk waters of the river and submerged himself underneath their susurrant waves.

The midday bath had been refreshing for the man of Ochi. He stood along the bank and just looked out into the watery expanse. "How great an element this is: free and flowing like wind but tangible like the earth. I wish I could walk above its surfaces to peer deep into its depths." Apparently Tsuga had a thing for nature. It just called out to him with its energy from so many years of meditation under his belt. Now clean, he walked to an opening in the forest that hugged the river and lay out in the high sun's rays. Eventually he would return to learning Doton, but what would a brief nap cost him but lost time?

After awaking and dressing himself, Tsugahara continued where he had left off on the high plateau. He focused his chakra by way of the seal of the Snake and slammed his hands into the ground. In spite of his bath, he became dirty once more as his forearms plunged into the deep of solid ground. Doton no Jutsu was a rather caveman release; he could feel the worms tickling his arms before he pulled the appendages out of their prison, sure to keep the hold on his chakra, thus keeping the soil stuck to his arms as if by magnetization. What's more - he stamped even his legs up to his calves into the ground as it smoothly gave way to his chakra and force, causing the same effect that had taken place on his upper extremities. He was more than confident in his grasp of the art of Earth release, so much so, that he endeavored to try something that he hadn't the whole day; and now the sun was just breaking the treeline, causing an array of reds and bright oranges to light up the small clearing he had been in since naptime.

Having cast away his earthen 'armor,' Tsugahara began to hold the Mi kata once more: his focus was steel as he stood erect in front of a pile of soil and rock, his efforts now focused on trying to manipulate the raw form of earthy material with his mind and chakra alone - he wouldn't touch it physically. Slowly his chakra worked its way through his body into the soles of his feet; therewith snaking out into the earth itself, toward the pile of earth instruments. For an instant he thought he saw the pile shudder from his spiritual energy - he hesitated, and the pile stopped moving. His efforts hadn't been in vain—he did--[albeit minutely]--manage to move the earth without physically touching it! He felt like he could become the king of the world once he began to train more fruitfully in the Earth style with learning a few techniques from sources around his long sought oyster.

Once more.. he said inwardly, as his chakras surged from his center into his roots, into the surface of the earth and out toward the conglomerate. Through focus of the mind he channeled himself through his spirit--[chakra]--and into the element that lay about two feet in front of him. The rocks slowly began to tremble as the soil shifted; with an explosion of spiritual resolve, the soil erupted from its small mountain form as the rocks burst forth from the former into the air. This was it—this was what he had wanted! Now, as he focused on keeping the falling rocks afloat, several thoughts shot through his mind——

Am I capable of doing this quicker? Will any Doton jutsu have me performing slowly as I have here—or will it be faster? A series of questions that could not be answered at this given time, he had to keep focusing on levitating the rocks before he could move on to the real fundamentals of the Earth ninjutsu.

As his chakra poured from him, it seemed that all he had to do was cast a strong leer at the rocks to seize them in place. He had managed to catch and hold five of the eleven stones with his hardened mind. Not bad for how quickly they were falling nor for how his mind kept jumping tangent. Having felt satisfied with his work here, Tsuga gathered his things and headed back toward the steppe. If he truly needed to work on Doton no Jutsu again, he felt that a sign would come to him; otherwise, he would go to the mountain range separating Ishi- from Ame-no-Kuni, where he would train in other ninjutsu before passing the borderlands into the land cursed with torrential drizzle.

——exit

[Draven]

Learned