.:Equal Grounds Preparations:. [Private]

[Leonov]

Saton no Jutsu (Sand Release Skill)
Rank: "B"
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 Sand. This means that any NinJutsu or specialized TaiJutsu that deals the Sand Release will need this in order to be performed correctly.
Limit: Must have Fuuton no Jutsu (Wind Release Skill) and Doton no Jutsu (Earth Release Skill).

0|80

The sunlight was shining, and it was a perfect day for some training.

Leon walked around town, looking at the sights and having a pretty good time, but he knew that he should have been spending all that time training. Training is important to Leon, and that is all that Leon needs to pass the time. After half an hour going through the city, he had time to go to the outskirts of the city and find some peaceful, calm places to have silence, and that could help Leon get everything in order.

A one minute walk from the edge of the city, Leon found a lake nestled in a small clearing with sandy edges to it spanning the whole circumference of the lake. It was a nice place, with an almost serene aura around it, and Leon knew he would have a good time there, training as much as he could. He was at loss at figuring out what he wanted to do, walking around the lake twice already, thoughts racing through his head, trying to figure out what he wanted to do. After the third run around the lake, he soon stopped looking at the lake, and down at the sand, and after a few moments to think, he suddenly remembered one skill that would be perfect.

He had heard stories of people who were able to manipulate sand, to be able to control them, and to use them for powers that seemed to be almost god-like. It almost hungered Leon, giving him the lust for power, for strength, and so, after finding a good space on the ground to sit, he got on a lotus sitting position, and closed his eyes. he did this whenever he wanted to learn something that really didn't need hands-on practice, but just a general understanding of the object being learned. It was a very convenient method, and Leon used it whenever he got the chance.

The first thing that he did in this stance was to clear his mind of all distractions, of anything and everything that could bother him. Outside influences, sounds, sights, feelings, nothing but himself, his mind, and the element he was to master. Sand. When he was calm, collected, and had a good concentration, he started to allow his mind to wander out into the area around him, into the sky, the ground, and mostly, the sand. After a few minutes of getting the hang of everything around him, he then plunged all of his concentration down, into the Sand.

And, to no surprise, there was much to be seen...

[/blockquote]

[Leonov]

Saton no Jutsu (Sand Release Skill)
Rank: "B"
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 Sand. This means that any NinJutsu or specialized TaiJutsu that deals the Sand Release will need this in order to be performed correctly.
Limit: Must have Fuuton no Jutsu (Wind Release Skill) and Doton no Jutsu (Earth Release Skill).

??|80

Leon was amazed at how complex and immense the sand was.

When he reached down into the sand with his mind, he felt like he was part of something huge, and yet, composed of the smallest of objects. The sandy beach, if that's what you could call it, was composed of hundreds of kilograms of sand, with millions of billions of grains of sand, each one as important as the other, each one just as potent and significant as the rest. It was as if they were all part of something, and yet, totally separate from each other.

Leon sighed to himself, for he knew that he would be there for a while, learning the Sand release, but he first had to get the hand of the sand. He let his mind wander out into the area around him, and into the sand, and tried to feel what the sand was like, how it moved, how it ebbed and flowed, what made it ding, and what was needed for Leon to be able to manipulate the sand. It was hard, but everyone had to start somewhere.

At first, all that Leon got was the feeling of a huge mass around him, immovable and unimportant, but he had to get pass that illusion at to the matter at hand. Leon sat there, just feeling that the whole beach was just a huge mass, but after a few minutes, he started to concentrate more on small sections of the sand. At first, he started at the sand around him. He concentrated more and more on a small patch of sand, and soon, he was able to feel the grains of sand that made up the area, if not all of them, just vague impressions created by them.

And as he was able to feel more and more sand in that one particular area, he concentrated even more deep down into the sand, until, he was able to feel only a small area of sand, about three inches in diameter, right in front of him. He needed to narrow the search, so he decided to try to start small and widen out his range from time to time when he is sure that he has a good grip of the release.

The small area he had in his mind wasn't much compared to the whole beach, but even the smallest grain of sand could be deadly if used correctly. He get his mind on that area, and tried to delve into the sand, to feel what it was like to be that grain of sand. It was tiny, it would slip through his fingers if he would to grab that area, and he knew that this was just one grain, compared the the plethora of others just like it in that area. He had a lot to do, and a long way to go.

So he would have to start now and try and get it over with...

[/blockquote]

[Leonov]

Saton no Jutsu (Sand Release Skill)
Rank: "B"
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 Sand. This means that any NinJutsu or specialized TaiJutsu that deals the Sand Release will need this in order to be performed correctly.
Limit: Must have Fuuton no Jutsu (Wind Release Skill) and Doton no Jutsu (Earth Release Skill).

??|80

Without the grain of sand, there can be no sand.

Leon had his concentration on that single three inch area of sand for about a half hour, concentrating on it, trying to find out as much as he could in that simple area, but he knew that he would need to go and try to progress up to a much larger diameter in order to get a good grip of the release. He opened his eyes, looked straight at that specific area, and stared at the sand that he had been concentrating on, and decided to go ahead and increase his radius and get a better feel of large areas of sand.

At first, he went ahead and increased the diameter, little by little, until he stopped at around seven inches in diameter, and was exasperated at the results. In that small area, in the top layer of sand that was plainly visible, had over hundreds of grains of sand already, and that was almost too much for Leon, but he knew that he had to keep going from there. This time, instead of increasing the radius of his mind, he decided to try and feel what was underneath the top layer of sand, to see what was underneath just those few grains of sands that hid something much more grand.

And so, millimeter by millimeter, Leon inches his conscious mind down into the sand, along with his chakra to be able to feel what was underneath, and was amazed at how much sand was underneath too. Much more than the top, with different compositions, more iron, more substances underneath, it was as if a whole world was under there... except, it was dead. It was sand. Sand isn't alive... It wasn't alive, but sometimes, to Leon, it felt like it had a mind of its own, like it knew what was going on around it, like it was a sentient being that just never showed itself to other people. It was invigorating to see such an object in this world, and Leon wanted to be able to master it even more.

Soon, Leon felt a breeze pick up, and the sand was lifted up and was sent flying, and he gasped at what he felt. It was as if a whole world was affected by the smallest of breezes, sand disappeared from view, and more flew to replace the ones gone, and the sand near the bottom shifted with the most minor of changes. it was amazing, that with the smallest of changes, the biggest of results can occur in response. This was something that didn't happen often in the real world, and for something to do this in nature... was just a joy to look upon.

This made Leon want to master the Sand release even more...

[/blockquote]

[Itsuki v2]

+17
::17|80::

[Leonov]

Saton no Jutsu (Sand Release Skill)
Rank: "B"
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 Sand. This means that any NinJutsu or specialized TaiJutsu that deals the Sand Release will need this in order to be performed correctly.
Limit: Must have Fuuton no Jutsu (Wind Release Skill) and Doton no Jutsu (Earth Release Skill).

17|80

Leon sighed, and decided to go from there and manipulate the sand.

Leon retracted his mind, and then leaned back, thinking on ways on how he should start and get this over with. He knew of different ways of learning how to manipulate something with chakra. To find the element and get used to it, to go little by little and learn more and more until he got a good hang of the jutsu, and try to improvise in between. Leon saw back up, and looked around him, at the sand, at the trees ten yards behind him, and at the surface of the lake in front of him. it was all peaceful, and he would feel the same after this was over with. He then looked closely at the sand underneath him again, narrowed his eyes, and cleared out his mind. He was ready.

First, he extended his chakra into a small area in front of him, and went ahead and tried to get a good measure of control over it. he concentrated over a small handful of sand, about five inches in diameter, and tried to lift it up. At first, nothing happened. Not a single grain of sand moved. It was still for a few seconds, but soon, after using his chakra to try and lift up that sand for a minute, there was some movement. It was slow, and steady, but soon, that handful of sand slowly moved up inch by inch. Unfortunately, it was very unstable and wobbly, and before it got up three inches, if started to fall apart and lose stability. In the end, everything fell down, except for one grain of sand. It was that one grain of sand that Leon easily got control of, but it was still small. He needed to get the hang of controlling sand, not just tiny grains.

Leon decided to try and get another go at the sand. he moved his chakra into that area of sand, and concentrated as much as he could on that one, single spot. Most of the results were the same though. At first, as he concentrated more chakra into that single, small spot, nothing happened for a minute or so, but soon, it started rising slowly, but didn't reach high enough, and crumpled down to the ground, with a single grain of sand left there, floating. Leon sighed, and sat back, looking at the sand around him. he moved to another spot of sand, and tried to do the same thing there. He concentrated chakra into that specific area, and after a belayed reaction, it only moved up a few inches before crumpling to the ground, with the same thing floating there above the ground. One single grain of sand.

Exasperated, Leon fell to the ground, and lay there, staring at the sky above. He was tired of so much failures with this single task, and just tried to move grain to grain of sand from somewhere to the left to his right. Leon extended some chakra out into the sand, and soon, he was watching as grain by grain of sand was floating by his eyes to the right. It was unnerving, knowing that such a grand thing was so close, and yet, he was only able to do such a small thing. he knew he would be able to master it, but it would take a good, long time to do such a thing, but he knew that if he persevered, he would be able to do it sooner.

He just had to start now...

[Leonov]

Saton no Jutsu (Sand Release Skill)
Rank: "B"
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 Sand. This means that any NinJutsu or specialized TaiJutsu that deals the Sand Release will need this in order to be performed correctly.
Limit: Must have Fuuton no Jutsu (Wind Release Skill) and Doton no Jutsu (Earth Release Skill).

??|80

And as Leon sat there, grain after grain passed by his eyes from left to right...

And this went on for half an hour, Leon tired at the effort of trying and failing to have a good control over the sand. Staring up at the sky, he was bored of this already. He wanted to get this over with, but it was as if a fit of laziness took over him, one that he has never experienced in his life. he usually was able to train quickly and effectively, but this was just ridiculous. Each grain of sand that passed by Leon's eyes was a sign that he was getting less determined, less potent at his jutsus. This made Leon go into what seemed like a depressed state, one that he also has never experienced. He doubted himself, hated himself, was sure that he would fail at everything he plans to do, it wasn't a very good feeling. In fact, it was the worst feeling he ever had about himself...

And as if a switch was turned in his mind, Leon's head snapped up, eyes wide, and his mind rid of those feelings of hopelessness. He would never give into weakness, ever, and he would never give up on a training, not now, not ever. Leon sat up, and looked at the sand pile the he accumulated for the past half hour, about a foot and a half tall and about seven inches from one side to the other at the base of it. Leon chuckled to himself, and sighed afterwords. He then got into the lotus position, and cleared his mind of any distractions. After taking a few deep breaths, he then looked down at the sand pile, and went ahead and decided to use it for training. With a close look at the sand, Leon began.

First things first, Leon let his chakra move out and into the sand, and after he was sure that enough chakra was in the sand, he began trying to gain control over the sand. At first, nothing happened as he tried to get the sand to go up into the air, so as the seconds went by and the sand didn't move, Leon channeled more and more chakra into that single area, until, soon, he saw a shift in the sand. At first, it was a barely visible change, with only a few grains of sand to see the change, but soon, it was plainly visible, the sand was moving up, albeit very slowly. It inched its way up, with a few trickles of sand falling over the edge, but the results were much better than previous tests. This time, the sand was able to go up eight inches, compared to the measly five that came up previously.

But, like always, the sand crumpled to the ground when it reached the eight inch height. Chunks of sand just fell to the ground, and withing twenty seconds, the sand in the air was all but gone, with one grain of sand remaining in the air, that one sign that training was incomplete. Leon smiled, but that smile disappeared quickly, and Leon went on to trying that out again, this time, aiming for the sand to reach at least a foot in hight before crumpling. He concentrated on the sand pile that appeared from the previous training, and went ahead and channeled chakra into that pile. At first, like always, the pile didn't even rise up, but within the minute, the pile inched its way up into the air, and Leon, struggling to keep the sand in the air, channeled more and more chakra. This was able to keep it from falling, and soon, the sand was able to rise up about a foot, before eventually, it crumpled to the ground. the results were much better, and this made Leon feel much better about the fact that this wasn't impossible.

But training was far from over...

[Leonov]

Saton no Jutsu (Sand Release Skill)
Rank: "B"
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 Sand. This means that any NinJutsu or specialized TaiJutsu that deals the Sand Release will need this in order to be performed correctly.
Limit: Must have Fuuton no Jutsu (Wind Release Skill) and Doton no Jutsu (Earth Release Skill).

??|80

The progress was going well, and soon, Leon will make sure that the progress will be great. The previous attempts at controlling the sand were failures, but not as horrible as the previous ones. Leon was happy that he was getting some progress down, and that soon, he would be able to get this over with. He had a few problems along the way, but mostly, they weren't serious and with each practice, Leon was improving more and more. he was happy that at least success wasn't far away, and that he would soon be able to meet up with his current team and meet with the Stone ninjas. Hopefully, that would happen sooner than later, because Leon already felt that he was late. He bet they were already sitting in a table chatting it up while Leon of course was training as much as he could to get ahead. This was no joke to him, he would finally get this over, and when he would, he'd have to run his ass over to the Konohagakure Branch Office.

In the lotus position on the ground, Leon was staring at the three piles that were located in front of him, each one of equal size and height, and each one the fruit of his labor. Each one he lifted up from the sand and moved over to the side to make a sand pile, and he repeated this two more times in order to get those three piles, and they were ready for more training. He started at each of them for a few minutes, and before long, he channeled his chakra into each one of the three sand piles. Of course, there was no movement as his chakra got into each one of the piles, but he channeled more and more chakra into those three piles, and within the minute, they were visibly reacting to the chakra. At first, just a tremble or two here and there for each pile, but soon, they were starting to very slowly lift up and inch their way slowly into the air. they were finally moving.

They made it up to five inches, and Leon had to struggle and put in more and more chakra into the three piles, and they were able to barely keep their structure intact. They inched more and more up, eight inches... one foot... a foot and three inches... they were barely able to move up, but fortunately, they were keeping up and were staying in the air. Leon smiled, but still kept a very stern face and concentrated more and more on those three piles, and soon, they finally reached two and a half feet into the air. They stopped rising all of a sudden, and a vein popped up in Leon's forehead as he trained to keep them up in the air as much as he could. They wobbled up in the air, before, finally, if unfortunately, they collapsed to the ground, but due to their height, they fell and dropped into one giant pile. Leon sighed, but then looked at the big pile, and got an idea...

He stared at the pile for a few minutes, and then channeled his chakra into that pile. It didn't move at all for a while, so Leon channeled more and more chakra into the pile, and soon, within the minute, it started to move. It trembled a little, and started shaking violently as Leon struggled to raise it up in the air, but soon, it started to inch it's way up into the air. It was much harder, and it took more concentration and chakra than usually, but it was still going up, and it was a success. Up it went, inch by inch, with Leon pumping more and more chakra into the giant pile, and soon, the pile reached three feet into the air, and it then collapsed, with Leon panting from the exertion. he had never tried to lift that weight, but at least he knew that it was possible to lift it. With a smile, Leon finally knew that this won't be as hard as he first thought.

So, he now would have to try out harder training exercises...

[|Ayame Unbound|]

40|80 Half way there

[Leonov]

Saton no Jutsu (Sand Release Skill)
Rank: "B"
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 Sand. This means that any NinJutsu or specialized TaiJutsu that deals the Sand Release will need this in order to be performed correctly.
Limit: Must have Fuuton no Jutsu (Wind Release Skill) and Doton no Jutsu (Earth Release Skill).

40|80

With a sigh, Leon began to look at the sand surrounding him, instead of at the single pile that was just sitting there, in front of him. Leon thought that that he should try something bigger in order to get ahead in the training. He knew that he had much to do, but he would have to do it quickly in order to meet up with the other shinobi. He wondered on what he should do now in order to try and get a good grip on the sand release, but the ideas escaped him and he didn't know what he could do in order to finally finish this. At loss, he lay back and closed his eyes, and rested up. he was bored, and wanted to finally do some meaningful training, but this wasn't meaningful, this was just training, and he needed to finish this before he could do anything else.

Leon opened his eyes, and decided to go ahead and try to experiment with a few things. First, he extended his chakra out into the sand around him, and concentrated more and more chakra into the area around him, and not on a small area, but the whole area around him, so he could get the maximum results. He calmed himself down, cleared his mind, and kept on putting in more and more chakra into the area around him. At frirst, nothing happened, but two or three minutes later, the ground underneath Leon trembled, and soon, grains of sand started to lift up in the air, higher and higher, and stopping a yard above ground. Leon looked around, and saw that the more chakra he put into the sand, the more sand that moved up into the air around him. It was an interesting discovery, and Leon decided to try and manipulate it.

At first, he stopped putting chakra into the sand beneath him, but kept on channeling chakra into the sand that was floating above Leon. They stayed aloft, and they barely blocked out the sun above Leon, but it was obvious that a decent amount of sand was in the air. Leon smiled, and tried to manipulate the sand itself to try and move it around. He willed the sand to try and move into a single clump, but they didn't move. He tried to put in more chakra into the sand, but still, nothing happened. Then, when Leon just thought of the sand, all of a sudden, Leon's chakra reacted to the will of Leon, and it began to move to a single spot in the air. Within the minute, all of the sand in the air moved into a single ball in the air, and there it floated, not moving, but just floating there.

Leon then willed it to separate, and after putting some thought into it, the sand separated, and the grains of sand appeared, covering the sky. Leon then made it turn into numerous small balls in the air, and they did. He finally got a small degree of control over the sand, but he would need more practice in order for the sand to fulfill exactly what Leon wants it to. He then tried to move the balls in the air rapidly in different directions, but some balls got a little too far, and they crumpled as soon as they crossed what seemed a boundary of his chakra control. They were only able to stay in that small area he had under control, but he knew that as soon as he loses one bit of control over the sand, it will crumble and fall to the ground. This was a very fragile release, and he knew that he would need more practice t get it to become more durable under his control...

[Leonov]

Saton no Jutsu (Sand Release Skill)
Rank: "B"
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 Sand. This means that any NinJutsu or specialized TaiJutsu that deals the Sand Release will need this in order to be performed correctly.
Limit: Must have Fuuton no Jutsu (Wind Release Skill) and Doton no Jutsu (Earth Release Skill).

??|80

Bored, Leon tried to experiment with moving the sand in the air.

Although they weren't fast and in perfect coordination with Leon's commands, they still moved in a good general direction that Leon commanded them to move, and they were effective in getting the hang of controlling the sand. Soon, after fifteen minutes of controlling the sand, he got a good hang of how the sand works and reacts to Leon's commands, and he was happy that he was succeeding in controlling it. He moved it into clumps, into thin layers, into different kinds of shapes and sizes, and moved at different speeds and velocities for the heck of it. He was enjoying himself, but he had to do something in order to get some improvements. He noticed that he was running out of sand since some of it was getting out of his range, so he decided to try and get some more.

At first, when Leon concentrated chakra into the sand above, the grains of sand above started to drift down, and as Leon saw that, he quickly pumped in more chakra into the space above him to keep the chakra aloft. This time, while keeping a strain of chakra into the space above, he channeled chakra into the sand below him, and soon, the sand on the ground began to rise up into the sky, where they joined the sand above him. He did this for a minute, and the sand kept on rising up very slowly, and when he reached his limit, he stopped channeling chakra into the ground and kept his chakra on the sand above him. Soon, there was much more sand then before above him, and there the sand floated, looking safe, but Leon knew that if used correctly, they would be deadly.

And, like previously, he had the sand moving in different directions, in random, erratic motions, and shaping into different shapes, sizes, and objects, until he had a whole carnival above him. It amused him to some degree, but he got bored quickly, and decided to try and shape them into more unique shapes than just circles and squares. He tried to make three dimensional shapes, starting with a cube, then a sphere, and a few other shapes, until he tried to make all the sand pack into one huge pyramid. It succeeded, and the pyramid was about one and a half feet at each side. The shapes were successful, but he then decided to try and goof around with some other aspects of controlling the sand.

Then, Leon decided to make some letters out of the sand and make out words and sentences. at first, he tried to make the alphabet, and afterwords, tried to make some small words and maintaining the shape of the letters the whole time. It took more control in order to keep more objects in shape then just one big one since the control was over a larger area then over one object. He then went on to larger words, and finally ended with the largest word that was in his vocabulary. "Antidisestablishmentarianism". And with that, he added on his full name underneath the huge word as a signature. With that, he smiled, and then got rid of the letters. He finally got the hang of the controlling the sand to a limited extent, and concluded that he would have to go on to something much more advanced in order to get the hang of the sand release...

[Zetsumei]

+18

[Leonov]

Saton no Jutsu (Sand Release Skill)
Rank: "B"
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 Sand. This means that any NinJutsu or specialized TaiJutsu that deals the Sand Release will need this in order to be performed correctly.
Limit: Must have Fuuton no Jutsu (Wind Release Skill) and Doton no Jutsu (Earth Release Skill).

58|80

Finally, Leon decided that he should go on and try out a more complicated training exercise. He thought on something that he should do, but he couldn't find out what he could do that was new. so he just shrugged and decided to just do a previous training exercise, only a little harder. He looked around at the sand below him, and at the sand that was floating above him, and decided to let them fall to the ground. He willed the sand to float down, and with his chakra, they started to float down to the ground. Leon made sure that none of the sand got in his hair, and in a few minutes, the sand fell to the ground, leaving the space above Leon clear, showing the sun above Leon and the sky as clear as the lake beside Leon. The day was beautiful, the birds were singing, and the lake was as calm and still as a calm, sunny day. Leon was calm and at peace, and began the next exercise.

At first, he looked around at the sand around him, and decided to try and make ten or so sand piles around him so he could train with them later. He extended his chakra into the sand around him, and willed as much of the sand to try and move into a pile, and make them as large as he could. At first, the sand didn't move, and it took a few seconds for the sand to start to move. At first, the sand barely moved, with a grain or sand or two shaking, until more and more grains of sand started moving at random directions, and in about a minute, all of the sand started moving in random directions, zig-zagging and moving erratically in all directions, until soon, they found a definite direction to start moving. Soon, the sand started pile in random piles of sand around Leon, making the piles grow higher and higher, slowly but steady.

Soon enough, there were about twelve piles of sand growing around Leon, inching up and up, growing an inch every ten or so seconds. Soon enough, in about ten minutes of Leon willing the sand into different piles, and Leon decided to start with those twelve piles. The logic to this training exercise was that controlling more than one whole pile of sand was that if you had more than one, you would need to have an even amount of chakra around the whole area to keep up a good control of all of the sand in the area. Leon sighed, and cleared his mind.After doing so, he then concentrated on the twelve sand piles, and willed his chakra to try and raise the sand into the air. Like usually, the sand didn't even rise up, but a grain of sand or two started shaking, and soon, all of the sand piles started trembling slightly, and slowly and surely, it was visible that they were about to rise up into the air.

The twelve sand piles around Leon began to inch their way up into the air, and Leon struggled to try and control the sand as it went higher and higher into the air, but he never faltered, and soon enough, the twelve piles were three feet above Leon's and just floated there, ready for Leon to try and move them. Leon then concentrated on the sand above him to try and move them. Soon enough, they slowly and carefully started to move around in random directions, not colliding with each other but so close to each other that they almost bumped into each other, but Leon made sure that they won't hit each other. Soon enough, they started to circle around Leon, and he thought on what else he could do with them.

At first, Leon sighed as the sand moved around Leon, and tried to think of something to do with the sand. All he was doing with them was just moving them in the air, but soon enough, he lay down and kept his eyes on the sand piles above. They first just circled around him, but he then just willed them to spread out and afterwords, he combined them into a single huge blob of sand in the air. There it just floated, barely moving, waiting for him to make it do something else. He sighed, and decided to try and mess around with its shape. At first, the blob just floated there, but it soon started to flatten, until it was shaped into a disc, and then, it separated into two long strands, where he formed a helix with them, and then, they all just dispersed, and there was just a fog of sand floating there. Leon smiled, and decided that he should try one more thing before he would try to finish the training...

[C-C-C-Cryptekz]

66/80

[Leonov]

Saton no Jutsu (Sand Release Skill)
Rank: "B"
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 Sand. This means that any NinJutsu or specialized TaiJutsu that deals the Sand Release will need this in order to be performed correctly.
Limit: Must have Fuuton no Jutsu (Wind Release Skill) and Doton no Jutsu (Earth Release Skill).

??|80

With the sand mist over him, Leon tried to think of what else he could with it. Leon started to what he previously did with the sand mist, he moved it at random and erratic directions, where they moved here and there, twirling around, spinning, and just doing things that Leon didn't have any account of, they all just moved around with no distinct direction. He made letters in the air, he made different masses and shapes with the sand, and was just bored with the activity. He looked around, and just shrugged, there wasn't much for him to be doing at the moment. With his chakra still moving the sand above, he let a few sand fall down, since he wanted to try and make sand rise up into the sky from the ground, only try it a little faster than he previously did. He closed his eyes, and thought on what he could first do.

Leon opened his eyes, and decided to go ahead and try to try out a few things with the sand. First, he channeled his chakra out into the sand around him, and concentrated more and more chakra into the area around him in the whole area around him, so he could get the maximum results. He kept on putting in more and more chakra into the area around him. At first, nothing happened, but a minute or two later, the ground underneath Leon trembled, and soon, grains of sand started to lift up in the air, higher and higher, and stopping a yard above ground. Leon looked around, and the more chakra he put into the sand, the more sand that moved up into the air around him. It was good, but he let the sand drop to the ground. Though not all of it fell to the ground, he decided to try and repeat the exercise, only to make the sand react faster.

He started to concentrate as much chakra into the sand below him while still having a bit of control over the sand above him, Leon began to will the sand below him to start rising up and join the sand above. It was a very slow process, but soon, the whole top layer of sand was already in the air, though not all the way to the sand, nearly there. Soon, in about a minute, the sand joined the mist and there they floated, not moving at all, just floating, sitting there, almost antagonizing Leon to try something else with them. And that was it, he had no idea, he tried to think of something to do, but he was out ideas. He then allowed the sand to float around and circle around him, until he got an idea. His head snapped up, grinned, and began to pump in more chakra into the sand above him. Soon, the sand was racing in random directions everywhere, and Leon began to make sure the sand was in a special form.

Soon, it was visible what Leon was doing with the sand. The sand began to take shape as a funnel, with the large end near the bottom, and a tiny hole at the top, showing a small ray of sunlight that shined upon Leon's face as if to show that he was the God in the area, that he had control. with an evil grin, Leon closed the hole, and commanded the sand to circle faster. Soon, it was as if a tornado was above Leon, whipping his hair and clothes and giving him a wild look. The sand was just spinning there, crazy and almost seemingly unstoppable, and yet, all Leon had to do was retract the sand away from the funnel and the sand would fall to the ground.

"Such an interesting release... I think I'm beginning to like it..."

[Leonov]

Saton no Jutsu (Sand Release Skill)
Rank: "B"
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 Sand. This means that any NinJutsu or specialized TaiJutsu that deals the Sand Release will need this in order to be performed correctly.
Limit: Must have Fuuton no Jutsu (Wind Release Skill) and Doton no Jutsu (Earth Release Skill).

??|80

And there it was, the spinning vortex, a miracle to Leon, seeing that only about an hour ago, he was having trouble with picking up a single pile of sand, there was a huge bunch of sand swirling just over his head. It was a good achievement, and he was happy that he got it finally accomplished. He knew he had a few kinks to work out, but with that done, he could finally get himself out of this place and back to his other ninjas and settle the plans. He felt like something was wrong though, but he disregarded it. It was just a slight case of paranoia, and Leon rid of it from him quickly and easily. he got back to the matter at hand He looked up at the sand funnel above, sighed, and stood up. As he did, the funnel rose up in order to not hit Leon in any way, and when he stood up all the way, he looked up, raised his hand, and brought it down. The sand funnel slowed down, and soon, it just stopped spinning, and slowly floated to the ground.

He then decided to get another try, and quickly, channeled chakra into the sand below him and willed it to rise up. It did, albeit slowly, and Leon was soon watching as four piles of sand was above Leon's head. He formed it into four letters, each one as significant as the next, and with that done, He brought them down onto the sand. Soon, it landed on the ground, as perfectly shaped as it was when it was first made, and not moving at all. Although there was still some sand above him, he ignored it and looked down at the four letters, making out the word. he smiled, but soon, he looked away and got to the other matter at hand. The word was:

L E O N

It took about two minutes, but soon, Leon was able to make the sand fall to the ground and for it not to get in his hair. It was beautiful having the sand fall to the ground like that, as if he had total control, but he knew that he was far from it, and that he would need to put in some more time into controlling the sand in order to get a better handle on the sand. Leon looked around, at the lake, and how it rippled as handfuls of sand fell into the lake. he walked over to his stuff laying all over the ground and grabbed it all. He put on his glove, strapped on his long sword and scythe, and just stood there looking at his gourd in his hands. He then looked back at the sand, and back at the gourd. Sand, gourd, sand, gourd, until he thought up of a plan. Although the gourd won't be able to hold much stuff in it, he took it to the sand, and began his plan.

He concentrated chakra into the sand beneath him, and pumped more and more chakra as he was able to get the sand to move. At first, like always, it trembled, but soon, it started to rise up, and started to trickle into the gourd that Leon was holding. And there he stood, for about five minutes, as the sand slowly started to fill the gourd. Soon enough, it was full, and Leon lifted it up and put it on his back. he was done with that, but he knew that there was a few things that he could do with the sand... but what...?

"Now... what now...?"

[Tenkai]

Learned.
Add it~

[Leonov]

OOC:
Really...?
Oh god... *sniff*... th... th... thank you...!
\o.o/
OH, PRAISE THE LORD!!!
...finally...

And with everything done, he decided to go ahead and get on with something else, but first of all, he would need to meet up with the Stone and Leaf shinobi about the mission. With one quick look at the lake and the sand, he left, with a sinister smirk in his face.

[Exit]