Home is Where The Snow is. (Perm. Training/Living)

[Masakuni]

Kuri Buki
Rank: "E"
Skill: Ninjutsu
Effect: The user creates an ice weapon of any shape or size, depending on the amount of chakra the user has, from a body of water. The weapon's liquid-like structure is an excellent medium for sound and can use sound at a much larger capacity than just with your bare hands. permanent
Special: -dragon- -rat- -dog-
Drawback: -Requires sufficient water per rank-
Description: The user summons up water from a near by body of water, the size of a fist; the water can then be shaped into a weapon of any shape, and any size depending on the amount of chakra the user has. Once the shape and size of water is determined, it is hardened into a dense ice, as if it was an actual weapon.
Limit: Blood limit of Haku

* E: minimal chakra: kunai sized weapons that are somewhat brittle
Estimated water needed: cubic foot

Masakuni yawned, stretching. As always, the Snow Village was cold. Not that he minded the cold. Masakuni loved the cold. It was one of the reasons he loved his village. Content, he walked quickly to one of the icy ponds of the village. He wasn't here this morning to enjoy the view. He was here to train.

Masakuni focused on what his mother had told him. The first step, she had said, to many Kaishin techniques, was the Kuri Baki, the art of forming things from ice. He sat down next to the small pond, folding his legs. He breathed in deeply. Masakuni's eyes fluttered shut as he reached for his chakra. His hands went through the three handseals slowly. Calmly, he called to the water in the pond, willing it to come to him. The surface of the water quivered. He resisted the urge to smile; his Kaishin bloodlimit made water manipulation much easier than normal. He called to it more confidently, and this time a globe of water, as big as two fists held together, rose shakily from the water.

Masakuni opened his eyes, looking at the sphere. He breathed in and exhaled slowly, trying to calm his excitement. He willed the sphere to come to his hands. Slowly, but surely, it did, coming to float between them. Masakuni frowned; this was the hard part. He willed the water between his hands to condense and freeze. It quivered, and Masakuni felt a chill spread into his hands. A slight crackling noise reached his ears. He looked down, watching the water reshape and lighten. It a spiderwork of ice appeared within it. Masakuni willed harder, focusing on the ice in the floating water. The ice spread quicker, freezing the ice into the shape of a crude knife.

Masakuni inhaled sharply. Had he managed to learn the technique in that try? He wrapped his hand around the handle of the cold ice knife softly, making sure that it was in fact real. The ice beneath his fingers, he found, was certainly real. He smiled, gripping the blade. It shattered under the pressure, dropping fragments back into the chilly pond. Sure, it was utterly useless in battle, but it was a step.

[Satu Akira]

Originally +4... However i hate leaving people for 1 TP to go.

5/5

[Masakuni]

Sweet, thanks.

Kuri Buki
Rank: "D"
Skill: Ninjutsu
Effect: The user creates an ice weapon of any shape or size, depending on the amount of chakra the user has, from a body of water. The weapon's liquid-like structure is an excellent medium for sound and can use sound at a much larger capacity than just with your bare hands.
Special: -dragon- -rat- -dog-
Drawback: -Requires sufficient water per rank-
Description: The user summons up water from a near by body of water, the size of a fist; the water can then be shaped into a weapon of any shape, and any size depending on the amount of chakra the user has. Once the shape and size of water is determined, it is hardened into a dense ice, as if it was an actual weapon.
Limit: Blood limit of Haku
* D: small chakra: Any weapon creatable using two cubic feet of space, solid as ice

(0/10)
Masakuni stretched, sitting beside the pond again. He'd stopped by the shinobi store after mastering the first step of Kuri Buki, and then gone to consult with his mom about the next step. He breathed in deeply, relaxing.

The next step, she had said, was learning to form true, hard ice, not the brittle kind he had created before. She had offered no hints on how to do it, but he was determined to find out. Calmly, he stretched out his hands and performed the handseals, focusing on the water again. He tapped into his chakra, willing the water to rise. Shakily, water rose again in a small ball. He called it over to himself and held it in his hands again, like before. Breathing deeply, he willed the ice to freeze. Spiderworks of frost formed inside the sphere, forming a twisted mass of ice inside the sphere. He focused inward, causing the ice to consume the sphere quickly. Sighing at the familiar technique, he let the sphere drop from the air. It shattered as it hit the snow, flying apart into a million pieces.

He frowned. "That's the easy part." He said, crossing his arms. "But the ice is still brittle." He performed the handseals again, calling out a larger globe of water, twice as big as the last. "It's not a question of how much water I can control either." He said to himself, inspecting the large sphere hovering before him. He put a hand out, willing the ice to freeze. As before, ice crackled in a random pattern throughout the sphere. He inspected the freezing closely. there seemed to be no pattern to the freezing. Thin fingers of brittle ice randomly projected from the mass of ice slowly. After a few moments, the whole sphere was frozen over.

Sighing, he reached out a hand. He gave the ice a firm smack. It splintered from the point of the crack. He sighed as the shards dropped to the ground. There had to be some sort of pattern to the freezing that hardened it somehow. Some sort of method...

He sighed, sitting down. There had to be some sort of method. If he thought hard enough, he had to figure it out...

[Masakuni]

Masakuni sighed, thinking hard. 'Ice...' he thought... 'what makes the ice hard...' He sighed again, mulling it over. He thought back to what he had learned about ice.

Ice, he knew, was frozen water. The only difference was that the molecules had slowed down and stuck in place. When he frozen the water, all he was doing was slowing the water until it stuck in place. The ice wasn't strong enough, though. It was riddled with cracks and broke at the lightest touch. He sighed... Maybe the ice couldn't be froze in such a random pattern.

He stood up and ran through the hand seals, drawing a staff of water to him. He let it hover before him for a few moments as he gathered his chakra. He breathed in, then forced his chakra into the water, willing it to freeze. This time, however, he focused on the the bonds between each individual droplet, and not the water as a whole. He willed the bonds to strengthen and the water droplets in the center of the rod pulled together. Slowly, a core of ice built at the middle of the staff. He breathed in deeply, focusing on adding drop by drop of ice to the core. Ever so slowly, the ice froze from the center outward, encompassing the two foot length of ice in a minute or two. He reached out for it, grasping it in his hand. As he took it, he felt minature cracks race across it's surface.

"Reinforce, damn it!' He muttered, pumping chakra into the ice's bonds. A shiver ran through the ice and the cracks resealed. He sighed, satisfied. He still had to test it though. He gripped it tightly. The ice didn't shatter. Masakuni smiled. He twirled the ice a few times, then snapped it in half over his knee. Perhaps he had a little work to do with getting it down perfectly, but the basics were easy enough.

"Real, solid ice." He said to himself. "Take some time to master this, then I'll find out what's next."

[Tieren]

(7/10)

[Masakuni]

Thanks Tieren...

(7/10)

Masakuni looked around. The sun rose highly over the horizion, setting the snow afire with blinding glare. The sky was a vibrant blue, without a single cloud. It was an ideal noon in the Snow Village. He sat down beside the familiar pond, fingering the handle of his wakazashi. He needed a Katana to go along with it.

Masakuni shook himself. Now was not the time to be focusing on his swordsmanship. Right now, he was working on his Kaishin techniques. The Kuri Buki, specifically, the base of all techniques. He breathed in deeply. So far, he had learned how to control ice and water, and how to create true ice instead of false, brittle ice. It was no longer a question of how. All he had to do was practice. He reviewed the principle inside his mind. Strong ice was formed by freezing the water as individual droplets bonding together, instead of simply chilling the whole mass. He nodded, checking over all that he knew. Expanding his abilities was nearly a matter of practice now.

Masakuni quickly made his way through the three hand signs, calling up a box of water roughly two cubic feet in size. He looked at it, hesitating for a moment. Perhaps he could combine his swordsmanship with his Kaishin bloodline. He thinned the block of water, thinning it into a long, tall blade. He sculpted a traditional katana handle onto the base of the blade, letting the rest of the water fall to the ground. He breathed in deeply, closing his eyes. He willed the first droplet to freeze, in the center of the blade. He added the next droplet to it, bonding them together. Slowly, he picked up the pace. Adding another droplet, then another. He took care to flow his chakra into each bond, making sure the ice was firm. Slowly, it spread down the handle, creating a thin ice core in the center of the watery handle. He began to thicken the ice, flowing his chakra through the handle and guard. In a matter of minutes, every drop of water in the handle was firmly frozen to those around it.

He wiped the anxious sweat from his brow. Next came the blade. He flowed his chakra through the handle up into the blade, quickly adding drop after drop to the ice. He furrowed his brow in concentration, attempting to speed up the process. The ice in the blade suddenly expanded, freezing at nearly twice the speed. After another minute, the blade was complete. Masakuni reached out a hand to grip the handle. The sword felt solid enough. He ran a finger down the ice katana's blade. It wasn't lethally sharp, but if swung hard enough it could slash, he bet.

"Now for the final test." He said to himself, gripping the frigid blade tightly. he lightly smacked the hilt across his knee a few times. It did not break. He frowned. It had worked, but the blade was too thin to be useful; ice broke easily at such thickness. He smacked the blade on his knee and it cracked. There had to be a way to harden the ice. But for now, he had mastered the second step of Kuri Buki: Natural Ice.

[Kareza (Kai)]

+3
Learned.

[Masakuni]

Thanks, Kisuke!

Kuri Buki
Rank: C
Skill: Ninjutsu
Effect: The user creates an ice weapon of any shape or size, depending on the amount of chakra the user has, from a body of water. The weapon's liquid-like structure is an excellent medium for sound and can use sound at a much larger capacity than just with your bare hands.
Special: -dragon- -rat- -dog-
Drawback: -Requires sufficient water per rank-
Description: The user summons up water from a near by body of water, the size of a fist; the water can then be shaped into a weapon of any shape, and any size depending on the amount of chakra the user has. Once the shape and size of water is determined, it is hardened into a dense ice, as if it was an actual weapon.
Limit: Blood limit of Haku
* C: moderate chakra: Any weapon creatable using four cubic feet of space, solid as iron
Estimated water needed: four cubic feet

0/30

Masakuni looked around for a moment, then smirked. He'd been sitting here for an hour, mastering the art of the second Kuri Buki. He smiled, and looked around. The Snow Village was quiet as always; compared to the other villages, they had few ninja. The perpetual snow lie five inches deep all around the village. Stetching, he stood up. He let the cracked ice katana fall from his hands. His eyes wandered past the store, to the residential area. He smiled, put his hands in his pockets, and strolled into the main street, his breath frosting the air.

"It needs to be harder than ice." He said to himself. "Mom's Kuri Buki can't even be melted." He mulled it over in his head, trying to figure out the secret to it. There's only so much hardening that you can do with chakra, he figured. There must be a secret pattern...

His thoughts were interrupted as he found himself in front of his home. It was an average Yukigakure home, built sturdily and warmly. A deep pool of navy blue artic water was beside the front steps. His mother, Yuki Sakurai, was sitting on the front steps, reading a thick book. She was a thin, lithe woman, with soft features and long, straight, dark brown hair. She wore a traditional kimono in plain blue. A pair of square glasses was perched on the bridge of her nose. She looked up with a smile as he approached.

"Hey hun." She said. "How is your training going?" Masakuni smiled.

"Good, good." He said happily. "I mastered the second Kuri Buki stage!" His mother raised her eyebrows. 'Well,' She thought 'he is progressing fast' She smiled outwardly.

"That's excellent, Masa-kun." She said fondly, reaching out to ruffle his hair. "So I suppose you're here to learn the next step?" He nodded eagerly. She laughed, the held out her hand.

"The next step is Iron Ice." She said, performing three one-handed seals. Water flowed from the pool, coalescing over her hand. It quickly arranged itself into the shape of a wakazashi and froze. "Now draw your blade and try to snap this."

Masakuni nodded, frowning. He didn't see where she was going with this. He drew his wakazashi and swung, intending to shatter the ice blade. To his suprise, however, it held his swing like a real wakazashi, even sending a spark out. He raised his eyebrows in suprise, but his mother merely smiled. He looked at her warily for a moment, then sheathed his wakazashi.

"As the name shows," She said, clenching her hand into a fist as the mock blade turned into water and fell, "This ice is hard as iron." She marked her page in her book, closed it, and stood up. She regarded her son for a moment, then continued.

"When you made solid ice, how did you do it?" She asked. Masakuni looked at her for a moment blankly.

"Oh." He said vaguely, trying to fit it into words. "I sort of bonded each drop to each other." She nodded in approval.

"And did you do it in any sort of order?" She asked. He frowned.

"Not really." He said, thinking. 'I just added each new droplet to the mass of ice." Suddenly, a look of comprehension came over him. "Wait." He said, excitedly. "There's a structure to bond in?" His mother nodded.

"Good." She said fondly. "I knew I raised a sharp boy. It's called a lattice structure. Think of the way a house is built; orderly rows, all connected to each other."

"So, I need to bond the drops into rows and columns and lines?" He asked eagerly. He was starting to understand how the Iron Ice worked. His mother nodded. He smiled smugly. He could do this.

He ran through the hand seals with practiced ease, calling a globe of water to himself. He shaped it into a wakazashi like his mother had, focusing to line the drops up equally. The water shimmered as each drop tried to fall into ordered lines. That was easy enough; keeping them steady whilst he froze them would be hard.

He began by freezing one droplet, holding it steady in place. Slowly, he lined another droplet up to it and froze them together. He added another to the end of the chain, then another, and another until he had a single, thin needle of ice at the very core of the wakazashi. He wiped the sweat from his brow. It was difficult to maintain the bonds in a ordered line. He flowed chakra through the line to maintain it as he began to add ordered droplets to it's surface, thickening. After few minutes, a thin rectangle of ice had formed with in the watery sword.

His mother watched approvingly, a smile on her face. "Good, keep at it." She said encouragingly, discreetly forming a handseal. Masakuni didn't notice, instead focusing on forming a base skeleton for the icy wakazashi. A few minutes dragged by as he established the shape and began to fill it out.

"I'm wasting too much chakra to keep the shape..." He muttered to himself, sweating as he finished filling out the skeleton. The completed wakazashi hovered before him, glittering in the afternoon sun of Yuki no Kuni. He reached out a hand and grasped the icy handle.

'It took way too much chakra.' He thought, looking at it. The ice had a translucent, shiny look to it, instead of the transparency natural ice had when it was so thin. He held it out steadily. It felt, for all intents and purposes, like a wakazashi. 'Better test it out.' he thought. He smacked the blade against his knee. It sang out in a low tone, but did not break.

"Did I manage it on the first try?" He asked excitedly, looking up. His eyes widened and he parried to meet his mother's sudden strike, a frigidly cold ice wakazashi in her hands. His blade shattered when it met hers, leaving him holding the frosty handle of his creation.

"Not quite." She said sweetly, leaping back. She assumed a kenjutsu stance, still smiling fondly. "Now make another." He looked at her, dismayed. She smiled encouragingly.

"This is how the Kaishin trained their nin. Now that you're a genin, it's time I started teaching it to you." She lifted the blade, indicating that he should make another wakazashi.

Masakuni frowned. Somehow, he felt like this training was going to hurt...

[Naegi˚ 苗木]

+10

{10.30}

[Masakuni]

(10/30)

Masakuni frowned, trying to quell his anxiousness. He breezed through the handseals, calling up water from the dark pool again. A cool breeze tickled his face and sent a sprinkling of powder snow flying across the street. A few civillians had stopped to watch the strange scene of a woman holding a frozen wakazashi against a young ninja.

"Just ignore them." He muttered to himself, shaping the mass of water into a wakazashi again. He grasped the watery handle, his fingers hovering just over the water. He focused the droplets into ordered rows again, holding them in place with a thinner band of chakra this time; if the technique would be any use in combat, he had to exert less chakra. He breathed in, freezing a starting droplet. He added another droplet on either side, taking his time with the jutsu. The jutsu was relatively easy if you considered his Kaishin bloodline, but he didn't want to waste any chakra messing up.

Suddenly, the ice in his hands shattered. He reeled back, only to find his mother inches away from him, her wakazashi held low after a strike. She smiled at him sweetly.

"You'll have to make ice faster than that, honey." She said fondly, raising the frigid wakazashi into a fighting position. His eyes widened as she took her stance. He opened his mouth, to try to reason with her.

"Mom, you can't be serious-" He began frantically, but was silenced as she thrust the wakazashi at him, causing him to leap back. She smiled at him patronizingly, like one would to a child who refused to take their medicine.

"Less talk, more ice, honey." She said, swinging the wakazashi at him horizontally. He swore under his breath and ducked under it, forming the handseals frantically. He quickly called over a length of water and began to freeze it haphazardly into a rod. It froze over in less then a minute, spreading from where his hand gripped the water. He hefted it in a rushed parry as his mother cut diagonally at his legs. The two blades met in a flurry of ice as the rod shattered under the pressure.

"That was only natural ice, hon." She said disapprovingly. "We're past that, aren't we?" She twirled and sliced downward at him. He shrugged out of the way of the cut, forming the dragon hand seal. He switched quickly to the rat seal, anxiety still rushing through him.

"Give me a break!" He said, dodging under another slice and forming the hand seal known as dog. "I can't manage that sort of thing under pressure." A blob of water rushed to him, quickly aligning into a crude wakazashi in his hands. He gripped the icy handle, his touch freezing it. He leapt back as his mother thrust at him, barely escaping. He frowned. 'I can't concentrate on dodging and freezing!' he thought, frustrated.

He charged, taking the initiative. His mother looked surprised for a moment, then smiled amusedly. He swung his crude blade at her in a vertical slash. She parried in a swift motion, meeting his blade impeccably. The cool sword shattered in Masakuni's hands as the two weapons met, broken by the force of contact.

"Better!" His mother said, her eyes gleaming. In a fluid motion, she swung at his side. He dodged, but she was already waiting for him. Swiftly, she locked his arms behind his back and held the frozen wakazashi to his neck.

"Try again!" She said, moving the wakazashi and kicking him forward. He landed on his knees and rolled, forming the hand seals as he went. He held out his hand, flowing his chakra through it. A mass of water jumped from the snow into his hand, freezing swiftly into a sharp blade reminiscent of a kunai. He hurled it at his mother, forming the hand seals again rapidly.

She sliced through the ice kunai, twisting to parry Masakuni's strike. The crudely shaped ice wakazashi in his hands snapped in his hands. His mother smiled fondly, kicking his backwards.

"Innovation." She said. "That's good, Kuni-kun." She leapt forward and thrust. He dodged around he, forming the dragon seal. He switched quickly to the rat hand seal as she twirled, swing another strike at him. He dodged under the strike, forming the final seal. A length of water rose from the snow and pond, coalescing into the shape of a basic wakazashi. He funnelled his chakra into it, freezing it from the hilt. He smirked, forcing more chakra into it.

His mother swung around, her sword coming down in a deadly arc. He brought up his own to parry. They met in a frigid clash. Masakuni's mother's wakazashi bit into the blade of his, but had not shattered. She smiled; he smirked back.

"Closer." She said, slicing through the rest of the blade. "You've learned the next step; making strong ice under pressure." He leaped back, shoving his sliced wakazashi into the snow. He formed the three hand seals, gathering a blade of water. He picked the wakazashi back up and reformed the severed blade, freezing the two haves together.

"So now I just need to make it hard enough." He smirked again and hefted the repaired ice blade. This had just gotten interesting...

[Kareza (Kai)]

+10
Nice.

[Masakuni]

Thank you, thank you, good sir. Much appreciated.

(20/30)

Masakuni grinned, swinging the newly remade wakazashi experimentally. This one was definitely harder than the others. The crowd of onlookers had grown as the minutes passed. Now, a ring surrounded Masakuni and his mother, hemming them in and shielding them from the sheets of blinding powder that was periodically blown across the street.

A brief pause came over the battleground. Masakuni gripped the handle of the wakazashi tightly. It was not yet Iron Ice, this much he knew. It was a dull, opaque ice, not the vibrantly blue-white translucent ice that his mother held in her hands. It was somewhere in between the second and third stage of Kuri Buki. He breathed in, running his chakra through his body. He looked anxiously at the ring of onlookers. He breathed out.

The sun glinted off their blades as he and his mother suddenly charged each other, slamming their swords forward to meet one another in the center of the circle. Her blade dug into his, slicing half-way through the hardened ice. He pulled back, tugging his blade free from hers. She smiled at him fondly, acting for all the world like a mother baking cookies as she crossed swords with her son.

"Not bad." She said approvingly. "It can survive a hit now." She thrust with her wakazashi, striving to pierce his chest. He deflected the strike, pushing it off to the side with his own blade. A spidery crack spread through his wakazashi, but it remained solid. He leaped back, hefting the sword. He threw it his mother, who slashed at it, shattering the blade. As she did so, he ran through the hand seals again. He called two globes of water from the pond to himself, molding them into the shape of two simple kunai with his chakra. He froze them swiftly, then hurled the first at his mother. She blocked the first, cracking it. He threw the second, forming a rapid set of hand seals.

She dodged the second kunai, letting it whistle by her to thud into the wall of their home. The onlookers murmured, nervous. Masakuni powered more chakra down his arms, forming a wakazashi out of the snow below him. His mother loomed over him, her frigid blade falling like the Sword of Damocles. He rolled and parried with his newly frozen sword, smirking as her blade bit only halfway through his.

"Melt..." He muttered, letting the blade of the wakazashi liquify. The water slid off of his mother's blade, collapsing into the snow. He quickly jumped back and dropped to the ground, forming a new blade from the snow. He frowned, wiping sweat from his brow; he had used a lot of chakra today. His mother smiled as he reformed the blade.

"Now you're thinking like a Kaishin." She said fondly, swinging her sword in a defensive pattern. He smirked, racing at her. She held up her blade in a parry, but he feinted around it and swung low. She leapt over the slash, bringing her own blade down at his unprotected back. He dropped the wakazashi, making the hand-signs with practiced speed. The water rose behind him, solidifying into a thin shield of ice. Her strike slashed into it, biting almost all the way through. He rolled out of the way a moment later, grabbing his ice wakazashi and letting the shield collapse.

'That one was weak.' He thought, 'I didn't have enough time to strengthen it.' He brought his sword to bear, swinging at his mother. She instead of parrying, she swung right back at him. The blades met in a storm of frost and ringing ice, jarring Masakuni's arm. His mother's blade sheared through his, slowing tremendously. He growled and jumped back. He formed the hand seals quickly, frowning.

"That was closer." His mother said encouragingly, her hair wiping in a sudden gust. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, reflecting blinding sunlight of them. Masakuni frowned, forming a wakazashi of ice, along with a kunai. He hurled the kunai at his mother, who deflected the blade, blunting it's tip. He rushed in through the wake of the kunai, looking for an open spot in her technique. He swung his wakazashi strongly, bringing it down on his mother's sword. The two met with a nigh-metallic cacophony. He leapt back, smirking.

His mother raised her eyebrows at his smirk. He indicated his sword with a hand. She spared a glance at the blade, and then smiled; only a small nick adorned the spot where the two blades had connected. She nodded in acknowledgment.

"Close, very close." She conceded, smiling at her son happily. He smiled, dropping the wakazashi to the ground. It stuck into the ground. 'I can get away with some theatrics.' He thought, smirking. He willed the wakazashi to melt beneath his palm, pushing it down into the ground. To an onlooker, it would have looked like he had made the sword vanish beneath his hand.

"One last try then, for today." He said, forming the three hand seals with care. He flowed his chakra down into the snow, gathering it into the shape of a fresh wakazashi. He took a few extra moments in freezing it. He refroze it a second time, then hefted the blade.

As if on a silent cue, he charged forward, swinging the sword at his mother. She parried, and a clash of metal rang out as frosty sparks flew from the blades. He and his mother looked down at the struggling blades, and smirked; neither sword had conceded or broken.

"Iron Ice." His mother said, letting her sword melt and ruffling her son's hair. "Let's stop for today. The next stage will be much, much harder." Masakuni smiled, willing his wakazashi dissolve into water as well. The third stage of Kuri Buki was complete, or infinitesimally close to it. He was grateful to be done training, though. He'd used much of his chakra today. It was time for a rest.

[colbaltknight]

almost there +8
28/30

[Masakuni]

Many thanks, CK.

(28/30)

The sun set over Yukigakure no Sato, infusing the snow covered village with a crimson glow. The frozen trees and fields glowed with the light from the sun, reflecting off the gathered snow. It was like blood, beautiful blood, soaking the city.

An omen, Masakuni supposed, and not a good one. He sat on the village wall, staring out at the ruby-stained ice and forest. It had been a long day... The Yukikage had returned, he'd begun to learn the Kaishin art, and two identical boys had appeared, bearing no headbands. They looked like civillians, but they were obviously ninja. One could feel the killer intent radiating from that with just a glance.

Masakuni shifted. Either way, the day had ended. For better or worse, it was time to rest and move on to the next day, to more training. 'Training.' He thought despairingly. 'So much to be done. Mom is so violent.' He yawned. He was not, however, quite finished with the day. No, he had to prove to himself that he had really learned something on this day.

Masakuni formed the dragon seal, then the rat seal, and finally the dog seal. He conjured up a ball of water from the wet snow around him, shaping it into a wakazashi. He smirked at the rippling, wet blade before him. Either he had learned the art of Iron Ice, or not. It all came down to this. He breathed in, gently wrapped his fingers around the watery hilt, and began to flow his chakra into the wakazashi.

A vibrant blue ice spread from the hilt, freezing the guard in a matter of seconds. It froze up the blade, forming a bright, shining wakazashi from the water. Masakuni regarded it with a smirk, the hilt cool in his hands. He swung it lightly; the blade sung a faint, pure note as it bit through the air. The balance was slightly off, and it weighed less than he was used to, but here it was. Level three Kuri Buki, the art of Iron Ice.

He smirked, tossing the blade over unto the wilderness side of the wall. It was time for dinner, then bed. Tommorow would be a new day, fraught with new techniques to learn and new enemies to face. Perhaps he would find himself a kenjutsu sensei...

[Axcel]

+2

[Masakuni]

Thank you, good sir.

Battojutsu Stance
Rank: E Rank
Effect: Allows the use of Battojutsu forms
Special: None
Drawbacks: None
Description: The practitioner moves into a bow stance, their main hand gripping the hilt of the sword and their offhand resting halfwaydown the sheath; they stand slightly crouched, able to easily move to a kneeling of standing position for their forms.
Restrictions: Must have a Senpai/Sensei of a Kenjutsu Dojo to learn.

(0/5)

Masakuni yawned, blinking rapidly. The blood red light of the morning sun had just barely crept through his window, casting it's ruby glow over his sleeping form. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat up in his bed, looking blearily out at the window. 'Just barely dawn...' he thought sleepily. He shook himself again and rolled out of bed.

He took a brief, scalding shower, ate breakfast, and dressed in a matter of minutes. He quickly scrawled a brief note to his parents and left it on the kitchen table. Strapping his wakazashi to his side, he smirked. Time for a new day. He glanced briefly in the kitchen mirror to make sure that his headband was visible, than walked out of the house.

Dawn in the Snow Village was a quiet, but exciting time, when the life of the village thawed out from the frozen night and began anew. Some of the perpetual snow of the day before had melted, showing small spots of green through the snow. Spring was merely a time of lesser cold here in the Snow; any green plant life was a rare and exciting thing until the summer came.

Masakuni made for the tall mansion on the outskirts of the town. It was a simple, yet expansive compound, enough to hold a lot of people in decent conditions. More importantly, though, it was the house of Nagi Makasi, the sole Kenjutsu Master of the Snow Country. He was a rough old man in his fourties, kind at heart and very polite, but brutally unforgiving to the rude and dangerous.

Masakuni strode straight into the courtyard, where Old Man Nagi stood swinging his blade about in graceful, fluid motions. His eyes were closed in a meditative bliss. Masakuni approached silently, almost reverently. The light shown through the open roof of the courtyard to reflect off of the master's blade, whose graceful movements directed it like water. The lord of this light show wore a simple gray gi, with a red and gold sash trailing down crossing the heart. An unadorned sheath rested on his left hip.

"Master Masaki?" Masakuni asked cautiously, his stance apologetic. The kenjutsu sensei opened his eyes lazily, turning to look at Masakuni with blade in hand. He raised his eyebrows in question as he regarded the boy.

"I would like to learn Battojutsu Kenjutsu, sir." Masakuni said respectfully. The master looked him over, nodded, and turned his eyes back to Masakuni.

"Do you have a blade of two shakus?" He asked, sheathing his sword at his waist. In response, Masakuni drew his wakazashi from it's sheath. Nagi nodded, circling the boy slowly.

"First, you must learn how to stand before you learn how to fight." He said in a wise voice, his intense gaze piercing right through Masakuni. "Assume a bow stance." Masakuni did so, bending his knees at the appropriate angle. Master Masaki nodded.

"Now rest your main hand upon the hilt of your blade." He continued. Masakuni slid his left hand across his body onto the hilt, gripping it firmly. Masaki shook his head.

"Not so tightly. Battojutsu is a dance of flowing water, not one of hard, unmoving stone. Your grips and stances must be fluid and light, not jerky and tight. " Masakuni relaxed his grip on the wakazashi's hilt, committing Old Man Nagi's words to memory. Said old man nodded with approval.

"Now place your other hand halfway down the sheath, lightly." He concluded. Masakuni did so. "Do you feel the lightness and power of this stance?" Masakuni nodded, breathing in slightly. He did feel the power, the ease from which any move could be made from this stance. The master of kenjutsu paced around him a few times, looking his form up and down with a critical eye.

"Very good, very good. You have grasped it within a short amount of time. Practice this whenever you can. This is the basis from which your skill in kenjutsu will arise. " Masakuni nodded as Old Man Nagi spoke.

"I can teach you nothing else today. This process of learning is slow, and must be committed to memory. Go train, and come back tomorrow with this stance imprinted in your memory." Master Masaki said, drawing his own katana from the sheath and wielding it gracefully. Masakuni bowed respectfully, then sheathed his blade and left the compound.

[colbaltknight]

learned

[Masakuni]

Thank you, good sir.

Hyouton - Tsubame Fubuki (Snow Storm Swallows)
Rank: "D" Rank
Skill: NinJutsu
Effect: Creates ice swallows to push forth to attack towards the opponent.
Special: "Hand Seals"
Drawback: Must be learned multiple times in order for the user to be capable of truly mastering.
Description: When first learned the user is only capable of creating up to Five Bird like swallows in the size of a large like kunai. The user either creates the snow or uses ice around them in order for the user to create the technique to push forward towards the user. Each time learned the amount of Swallows may increase by five. The maximum number a user is capable of using is Twenty each. Every time the user gains a new Difficulty Class the Maximum number increases by Ten.
Limit: Must have the Ice Release

(0/10)
Masakuni stood in the stance master Nagi had taught him, concentrating fiercely. He was doing his best to imprint it in his memory, just like the old man had told him to do. He'd felt the flow and power of the stance, and recognized its importance. But try as he might, he was simply running out of patience, standing in the same stance all day.

He glanced out the window. The noon sun rose high over Yuki no Kuni and the Snow Village, casting a cheery glow over the snow. He'd stood in the same stance for hours, since nearly dawn. He growled. He'd done all he could in kenjutsu for today. Masaki-Sensei had sent him home with all he claimed that could be learned in that day, and he'd done so for hours. Now, it was time to learn something new.

Masakuni knew just what to learn, too. He'd spent a day, when he was still an academy student, picking through the family scrolls for jutsu he wished to learn. They had sat, throughout his academy career, on a bookshelf in his room, neatly collecting dust. He smirked. Not anymore.

Masakuni sheathed his wakazashi, slowly unbending his sore legs. He grimaced as he straightened; his muscles were set into place and stiff. He walked over to the bookcase, pulling the top scroll off of it. He checked it briefly, then vaulted out of the window. He landed in front of his house, attracting a little attention from passerby. However, in a village of ninja, people appearing, falling, and jumping to and from nowhere was to be expected.

He yawned, running around to the back of the house. A large field of white snow stretched out before him, ending a hundred yards away in a drop-off to a river, far below. Masakuni was very proud of his backyard. It was the perfect training ground. He walked leisurely out across the glittering snow, coming to a stop about ten yards out. He unrolled the scroll, looking over it's contents.

"Hyuton..." He read aloud. "Tsubame Fubuki..." He looked over the instructions in the scroll, reading and rereading them to himself. After a few minutes, he put the scroll down. He straightened his back and formed a few hand seals. He flowed his chakra through them, aspiring to make a beautiful flock of icy birds.

"Hyuton." He said, forming the last handseal. "Tsubame Fubuki." The snow in front of him burst upwards, shaping itself into three crystalline birds, soaring straight forward. Masakuni frowned. 'There's supposed to be five.' he thought. He watched them soar straight, fast as a thrown kunai. 'I wonder...' he thought idly.

He focused on the birds, willing them to turn around. For a moment, nothing happened. He sighed, scratching his head. Then, a moment later, the bird sudden soared in a 180 degree arc, turning to head for him. He grinned. He knew how to control ice, being a Kaishin, but this was different. The ice wasn't obeying him... It was listening to him. It was a breathtaking feeling.

"Still, three birds..." He said, frowning briefly. "I need five." He breathed in deeply, attuning himself to the world around him. He'd done the technique properly, he knew it. It was a matter or practice, like everything else. It wasn't that hard to do. Suddenly his eyes flew open. 'Go the other way!' he screamed in his mind at the birds, who very nearly impaled him.

"Sheesh... I've got to pay attention." He said, shaking his head. The bird, flustered by the sudden, confusing orders, thudded into the side of his house. He grimaced. He'd be patching that up if his mom ever saw those cuts. He shook himself, refocusing on the jutsu. He formed the hand seals slowly, taking his time with each.

"Hyuton." He said, flowing his chakra through the seals, spreading it down to the ground. "Tsubame Fubuki." The snow before him exploded outward in a tiny tremor, letting loose four roughly formed swallows of ice and snow. As the flew, their features became more and more defined. Masakuni smirked. One more to go. Just a bit more.

Suddenly, the swallows wavered in their flight path a little. Masakuni frowned, directing them to wheel around and fly back to him. It was harder, he precieved, feeling an odd, almost straining feeling on his mind, to command more of them. He watched them make a half circle turn, coming back to fly towards him. He frowned. He looked at the snow below him, thinking through forming the fifth swallow.

As the birds approached him, he directed them to wheel in a circle overhead. Watching them do so, he sat down and crossed his legs, closing his eyes. He opened his mind to the presence of the birds, feeling each one wheel overhead. He summoned up his chakra, flowing it through the hand seals he formed. Once more, his mouth formed the words.

"Hyuton: Tsubame Fubuki." He whispered, releasing the chakra. The final swallow burst free from the snow like a bat out of hell, joining it's comrades to wheel overhead. Masakuni smirked. Eyes still closed, he directed the birds to fly forward. Instantly, he felt the strain on his mind increase as the five birds each listened to his commands. He opened his eyes slightly, watching the beautiful frozen swallows flap elegantly past the noonday sun. He knew, from this moment on, that he would remember this jutsu. He would remember the birds...

[Tieren]

Learned, but just barely

[Masakuni]

Ah, thanks Tie.

Ice Cling (Koori Bou)
Rank: "D"
Skill: Ninjutsu
Effect: Allows the user to be able to walk, run, and jump on ice without slipping.
Special: Ram
Drawback: ---
Description: By focusing chakra into their feet, the user is able to walk, run, or jump on ice without slipping. This can also be done with the hands if the user executed a backflip or a handstand.
Limit: Snow village only.

(0/10)

Masakuni reveled in the feeling of the rudimentary, chakra born minds of the birds. The birds, of course, were not alive in a strict biological sense, but the chakra that had created them allowed them to fly like birds, react like birds, and hear and understand their creator's commands. Of course, Masakuni's control of them was shaky. It was very shaky, in fact. Even in a meditative position, he could feel the tenous mental connection straining.

"More practice." He said to himself, shaking his head. "More practice is all it takes." He opened his eyes, shaking free from the deep state of meditation. The birds overhead wavered, feeling the connection strain. It was time to break the link and end the jutsu.

"Release." Masakuni said, letting the birds fall to the ground. He felt a twinge of sadness as the connection abruptly snapped. The birds, he had percieved, were not a souless as the ice they were formed from. He sighed, rubbing his neck. The sun beat down on the field, reflecting of the powder in a radiant show of blazing colors.

"It's a cool technique." A voice said behind him. Masakuni smirked, not turning. His mother came up to stand next to him, her arms hidden in her sleeves. She glanced sidelong at him, removing her hands from her sleeves. "I want to teach you another technique." He turned to look at her, frowning.

"I haven't mastered the Tsubame Fubuki yet." He said, putting his hands in his pockets. His mother laughed, a clear ringing sound like crystal. She rubbed the back of her head, smiling at her son.

"No one masters the Tsubame Fubuki in a day." She said amusedly. "The art of the Snowstorm Swallow is very difficult to truely master. Few manage it." He frowned, crossing his arms. He was not so easily dissuaded. His mother smirked and ruffled his hair. "You might master it, don't get me wrong, but not today."

"Besides," She continued, forming a few quick handseals. "This is a skill every Snow Nin must know, so lets get to it." She finished the hand seals, slamming a palm to the ground. The snow in the field quickly reformed into a uniformly flat plain of ice, covering the whole of the backyard. Masakuni felt himself slipping and quickly corrected his balance. 'Correction.' he thought to himself. 'Slippery ice.'

His mother stood evenly on the surface of the ice, as firmly rooted as though she stood on solid wood floors. He regarded her warily. She smiled, walking over to him nonchalantly. He noted that she did not slip on the ice at all, continuing to behave as though the ice had no effect at all.

"This is Ice Cling, or Koori Bou." She said, indicating her feet. "A way to train chakra control and a jutsu." He raised an eyebrow at her, telling her to continue.

"By focusing chakra into the feet," She said, jumping and jogging to prove her point, "We can stick to the ice as though it was a solid landing. As a Kaishin, this is doubly advantageous, as you will probably be standing on ice more than most." He nodded, forming the ram seal. She smirked at him.

"Not so fast." She said, holding up a hand. "Learning to focus chakra into the soles of the feet is one of the most difficult things to do with chakra. It's one of the hardest places to focus a controlled amount of chakra. Too little chakra, and you'll slip on the ice. Too much, and you'll crack the ice and slip." He nodded, calling on his chakra. The ram seal guided it to him, sending it floating through his system. He willed it to his feet, careful not to add too much. As soon as he felt comfortable with the chakra in his feet, he breathed deeply and ran forward.

Then he slipped and fell on his rear. Masakuni growled, rubbing the sore body part. His mother chuckled, watching with bemused eyes. He frowned and stood back up, carefully balancing. 'Way too little chakra.' He thought, forming the ram seal again. He focused dramatically more chakra into his feet this time, making sure his soles were completely covered in a shield of chakra. He took a firm step forward this time, eyes closed.

A cracking sound rent the air as his foot touched the ice. It broke outward from where he stepped, pitching the ice under his feet. He very nearly slipped, but managed to keep his balance. 'So it's between those too.' He reformed the ram seal, focusing his chakra down into his feet. He lowered the chakra this time, stepping out onto the ice quickly. His foot stuck.

Masakuni smiled excitedly, stepping forward with his other foot. The ice splintered beneath it, his chakra flaring with his brief excitement. He slipped and fell, bruising himself. He grumbled, pushing himself back up to his feet carefully.

"It's not finding the amount of chakra," His mother said, smiling and putting her hands in her sleeves. "but rather maintaining it." He nodded, focusing the same amount of chakra into his feet. 'His chakra control is good.' his mother noted. 'He communicates with it very well.' He took a step out unto the ice again, his foot holding onto it like a rubber floor. He reached out another foot, regulating his chakra flow carefully. He stepped slowly, one by one, his feet slipping slightly or cracking the ice here and there, but maintaining grip.

He smirked, walking faster and letting his hands fall out of the seal as he continued to flow chakra to his feet at a steady rate. He grew more and more confident, walking faster as the cracking grew less common. Soon he was striding across the surface of the ice with excitement building in him, astounded by the feeling of solid ground beneath him when it was clearly slippery, wet ice.
He jumped slightly, landing with a slight cracking of ice.

He wavered, beginning to fall. On instinct, he focused chakra into his hands as well, catching the ice firmly. He held instead of sliding across it, balancing himself. He lifted himself up again, leaving some faint indents in the ice. His mother smiled. 'He's a fast learner.' she thought fondly.

"This is awesome!" He said, now running across the surface of the ice. He jumped and skidded to a stop, all across the frozen surface of the ice. His mother smiled at him again. This boy was destined for something, for sure...