Blink of an Eye [Training]

[Setsuko]

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Shunshin no Jutsu - Oshi (Body Flicker Technique - Push)
Rank: "C"
Skill: NinJutsu/TaiJutsu
Effect: A Jutsu that allows a user to rush forward in almost instantaneous speed. Used to draw the user close to the opponent.
Special: ---
Drawback: May use 3 times a day. May perform 1 more each time learned. Passing amount renders the user's legs immobile due to severe pain. Unable to perform again unless gained medical treatment. Must move through an opening. Unable to maneuver around obstructing objects. Can't attack while performing any Shunshin or Variation.
Description: User is able to move forward in a straight line along the ground in almost instantaneous untraceable speed while temporarily masking the user's movements within 10 meters. A puff of smoke is occasionally used to disguise the user's movements. It is accomplished by focusing the user's chi along the ankles and foot. User mostly moves just with their ankles and feet. Jutsu takes up no movements. User may only use this Jutsu half of the movements may allow in a single round while rounding down. Example: User has 5 movements, user is able to perform Jutsu 2 times per round.
Limit: Universal NinJutsu or Universal TaiJutsu.

As ever, the Land of Wind proved itself to be aptly named that morning, a steady gale clouding the area outside of the great mesa with the swirling dust of the desert.  Fortunately for the ninja of this country, their village Hidden in the Sand was well shielded from the harshest of the natural terrain due to its nestled position - When Setsuko Akiyama took her first few steps out into the early day, nothing more than a slight if persistent breeze gently blowing warm air toward her.

A hand reached up to cover her eyes as she observed the position of the sun - It wasn't like her to oversleep, but still she checked.  There were still at least five hours of morning left before her duties would call her to the shinobi center for whatever business was abound.  Time she intended to put to good use - As her determined stride toward the greenhouses at the back of the city told.

Two weeks out of the academy, Setsuko had completed five missions - Hardly something to brag over, given the simple nature of D-class assignments, but it was still progress...Someone in the chain of command had to take care of the minor requests, and a genin was most suited for that.

Not to say she wasn't impatient to get on to more important things, but one step at a time.  A true ninja knows patience as secondhand nature, or so her parents used to tell her.

That did mean she had quite a bit of excess energy to burn, however.  Her intended activity was just another way of dealing with that - A good side benefit to the prospect of learning a new technique.  She wasn't aware of how many of her fellow genin would go to such lengths in their own free time, but what was considered "normal" didn't concern the determined young girl.

Eventually the urban space gave way to raised, craggy territory, the botanical houses nearby likely already full of medical ninja brewing the potent poisons and antidotes that would be brought to bear on their enemies.  The path wound upward from there, further into the hills, until the village had disappeared under the top of the mesa's lower ridges.  Here there was a small patch of scrubland, a sizable clearing: The place to begin.

Shunshin...The Body Flicker Technique.  A technique varying in levels of advancement, but allowing near instantaneous movement.  Though she was trained with both her blade and in hand-to-hand combat, Setsuko had only a single taijutsu technique under her belt.  The ability to close the distance rapidly with the enemy was an invaluable notion, and the idea of developing this move had so excited her that the genin clasped her hands together shortly after arriving, forming them into a meditative gesture.

Of the two ways to bring about Shunshin, Setsuko had chosen to focus on physical energy.  She had excelled at the academy in both ninjutsu and taijutsu, but it seemed wise to conserve her chakra for any long range techniques, given that she had the option of relying on her own body.  Closing her eyes, the Genin clasped her hands together.

For a few moments, she went through the basic notion of molding chakra once more - Physical energy would surely have a similiar principle.  Though she winced a little at the difficult of focusing toward her ankles and feet, Setsuko had enough skill to monitor the flow of her own chakra carefully.  Next, with her eyes facing forward, the young girl bent her knees and dug her feet into the ground, envisioning the way that chakra had flowed and given strength to her body...Using her own physical ability to imitate that.

Her physique was above average for a Genin, seeing as Taijutsu was one of her focal areas.  It wouldn't be easy to obtain the level of speed she was aiming for, even for a split second, but what about being a shinobi was easy?  Even the outright failure of her first attempt didn't deter her - After merely skidding a few feet forward at very much visible speeds, Setsuko shook her head and crouched once more, willing to try this as many times as she needed to.


0/30 TP

[Deleted]

+10

[Setsuko]

The sun traveled further upward, beginning to bathe the village in its morning rays properly - And Setsuko was still at work.  This wasn't a Genin level technique she was learning, after all, it wouldn't just come to her like nothing - Not without putting her all into getting it down and under control.

Slow hops forward - The occasionally jittery leg movement aside, no real progress had been made.  It was fortunate for the Genin that she wasn't easily frustrated.  Pausing for a moment to stare up at the cloudless sky, Setsuko took a moment to reflect on how she'd seen other make use of this technique.

For those utilizing Shunshin as a ninjutsu, a simple molding of chakra was necessary.  Her own mother, however, had been an expert with this technique and its derivatives, and by her words had never made use of chakra whilst doing so.  Those memories were always a bit painful to look back at now - But in truth, there was no better way to honor their memory then by following in their footsteps.  Somewhat literally.

So Setsuko cast her mind back to those days when her parents could vanish at the drop of a hat whenever official business demanded it.  When the genin closed her eyes, the image of her mother's mask came into view almost at once as it slid over her face, ankles bending - Vanishing in a whirl of sand.

Again and again she played the memory in her mind, trying to deduce everything she could about the nonchalant way in which her mother had been able to blink out of sight.  Everything about that body stance, its movements...Then it hit her.  Only the ankles and feet had moved.  Everything else was still.  Even her knees...

Turning to face the opposite end of the clearing and once more entering a state of focus, Setsuko put this new knowledge to work.  It wasn't easy - Her training with high speed movements mostly involved maneuvers in which the knees bent.  It would take true discipline to keep them still when her body rumbled with the urge to dash forward.

Discipline, luckily, was her strength.


TP: 10/30

[Deleted]

+...8.

[Setsuko]

The sun had long since ascended into the sky, erring closer and closer to the middle point that indicated high noon. The village was awake now, the slow rumble of just another day beginning to carry up into the hills on the wind. Stubbornly, in spite of the hours passed, in spite of the sweat clinging to her skin and the hefty breaths escaping her lips, the Genin was still at work.

It was only a few hours until Setsuko was to report to the center of town for the day's business. Somewhat abashedly, she hoped now that nothing too strenuous was on the agenda. Even the failed attempts at channeling physical energy were wearing her down as much as any workout. Though "molding" it grew easier over time, her failed attempts at performing the technique still brought fatigue. It would appear that Shunshin was less easily mastered than she would have expected.

It would have been wise to conserve her strength for another day, but the lack of progress was beginning to severely dent the young Genin's pride. After a few moment's staring up into the late morning sky, Setsuko ground her teeth and fell back into the stance once more, determined to at least make one last hurdle of progress before her time to practice ended.

Keeping the rest of her body still and moving with just the lower part of her legs alone was all the more hard when most of it was twitching with fatigue, but she took solace in the fact that mastering such here would make it far easier in live combat. Knees bent, feet position a good distance apart from one another, the genin stared ahead at the point beyond her, willing the energy gathering in her feet and ankles to propel her forward.

It was a moment of absolute focus.  The spot ahead was visualized within her mind as completely as it was within her eyesight.  For this instant, her entire being was centered on making the jump forward.

With a jolt, the energy built up released - And the next second blurred into the surroundings along with her vision.  Wobbling, her legs gave out almost instantly in the rush that followed, sending her crashing toward the ground even as she shot forward.  The transition, however, was certainly instantaneous, to the point where one moment Setsuko was upright and preparing and the next she was facedown on the ground, ankles giving off an ache that seemed to spread slowly throughout her entire lower body.

A few seconds of groaning later, Setsuko pushed herself up with her arms, panting heavily and turning about to see the imprint her boots had left in the grass - A solid five feet away.  The sight of it filled her with excitement.  Alright, sure, maybe it was only half the distance the technique was said to go and maybe it had ensured that she'd be sore all day, but progress is progress!

With an uncharacteristic smile on her face, the Genin pulled herself into a sitting position, taking a large gulp of water from the skin hanging on her belt before jumping to her feet, wincing slightly at the pangs that occurred.  Slowly, Setsuko ambled out of the clearing and back toward the path down into the village proper. 

Definitely had to take it easy for a bit...But she would be back here soon.  And then, she'd master Shunshin conclusively.

TP: 18/30

[Father 'Suke]

+8; 26|30
Just a little bit left to go

[Setsuko]

Of course, for all the progress made in her first endeavor, it wasn't as simple a thing as learning the theory. Theory and application were the two vital halves to any technique. After Setsuko had managed to grasp in full the method behind Shunshin, it was no longer a matter of stumbling in the dark, but of constant and consistent effort on a day to day basis. Obviously, the idea of her mastering the technique in just a few days was highly unlikely, as nice as it would have been. For all of her talent, Setsuko was no prodigy, having graduated at a regular age and in a time of peace. Still, as one might expect from the stoic Genin, the prospect of needing greater effort yet did not daunt her.

A morning's hard work turned into two mornings, and then three. Every day it was the same - She pushed herself just to the point where she felt that her daily duties would be compromised, and then broke off. It made for some interesting moments in her life...But it would be worth it for the sort of instant mobility that the technique offered her, a close combat fighter. Her footprints did not last from day to day, what with the winds, but if they had no doubt the constant flashing forward would have left some truly bizarre patterns indeed.

At last, however, a day came in which she could devote all her time needed to training - A pair of days off from active duty. Normally she balked at such, but slowly she was coming to appreciate how much downtime was needed to truly learn new maneuvers. A shinobi had to constantly seek to improve themselves, or their duties would claim their lives. It was a simple truth that she felt all should know.

And so that day proceeded much as the ones before it, only without the noontide interruption. Legs positioned and ankles growing tense, Setsuko expended her physical energy as she had before, channeling it through her body and releasing it and the precise moment necessary. Once again, a few varying skips and hops were all that she started out with...But today, that did not last for long.

Something about today was particularly good. Only a few tries into her efforts and she found herself covering far greater distances than ever before - such was her sense of triumph that the numbness in her legs hardly even effected her. Breaking for lunch, Setsuko returned to the spot beneath the crags once more and took a few moments to position herself properly, letting herself patiently go through everything, body and mind, that needed to be prepared before making such a jump. She had a good feeling about the next attempt.

With a jolt that coursed through her legs and seemed to ratchet up into the rest of her body, Setsuko dashed forward at nigh-instantaneous speed, covering the distance in the blink of an eye. Landing with a huff on trembling feet (but still upright!), the Genin took a moment to catch her breath, panting with exertion. Her head turned about to measure the distance traveled with the aid of markers she had set up before hand...And her face lit up with a heartened smile. Eight meters. Nearly the entire length of the intended Shunshin, and she'd landed on her feet this time, as well.

This was the first technique she would be learning on her own. There was a certain satisfaction she felt toward improving her body under her own power that couldn't quite be conveyed with words.