When the Sand Meets the Wind [training/open]

[psyche]

Ryo--- Learned!!!
Hanabishi --- +7
7|80

[cross]

Katsu stared back at Ryo as he seemed to be examining them. From the look on his face it seemed that he was wondering something and that it had to do with him since he was watching them. He watched the shuriken being summoned through his slowly sharpening vision. He was just now starting to be able to pick up some colors with it. Upon the first attempt it had all been black and white but now he could see the dull brownish color of the sand that was around them. For now this was the only one he could see, but he would work on increasing his ability. The sand seemed to be shifting in front of Ryo, the sand began to take the form of something... a person. It appeared that Ryo knew the sand clone justu, something that Jekren found to be cool. "This will be interesting"

The clone quickly sprinted forward, throwing punches and kicks at Ryo. None of the attacks seemed to be connecting, apparently the sand clone was not able to make contact. Jekren watched on, interested in his partners tactis. It seemed that he was using the clone as more of a what if thing instead of actually using something that could physically touch him. "I chose the right guy to team up with..." thought Jekren. The clone quickly made a punch, then a kick, and just when you thought it was done there came a sweeping kick toward Ryo's legs.

Ryo had jumped up out of the way, the clone seemed to have been expecting it as well as Jekren himself. With a few finger movements he moved Katsu's head up to follow the jump. It was just then that the clone made an upward kick towards the real Ryo's heel. If it could hit then Ryo would have been thrown off balance and most likely would have lost in that instance against a real Taijutsu user.

Ryo had moved his hand to make the sand move to block the spots from the front and below. Normally however a Taijustu user would come from behind quickly if he gave them that sort of opening. A few seconds later another color started to become more visible in the puppet eyes technique. He could now see the red eyes that Ryo possessed, something that would make him fierce in anyones eyes. Jekren was just about to praise him when he noticed that he had called in all the shuriken. A foolish mistake after training all day, he was pushing himself too hard. He had slowed down though, he seemed to be thinking which was good, he was very good at it.

The final attack seemed to be well planned. Ryo used a smaller version of the wall to trip the clone and used him as a shield. To be honest that was a tactic that was expected of most Chuunin. It seemed he was done. But his next comment made him laugh. "Well thats awesome. But I hope your speed with sand can match my speed with my puppet." he said smiling. It seemed he was having a little trouble getting back to his feet. In the end however he managed. Using the puppet eyes he watched carefully, preparing to dodge. "Bring it on..."

[.:Ryo:.]

[Added]

Suna Futoiude no Jutsu (Great Arm of Sand Technique)
Rank: "B"
Skill: NinJutsu
Effect: User creates a massive sized arm out of sand in which is used to grab their opponent. An arm that can be guided and stretched within up to usually a fifty feet of distance. This type of technique is also capable of being used in which crushes opponents with great ease.
Special: "Handseals"
Drawback: ---
Description: The user creates a massive like arm made out of the very sand being used. and tries to grab the enemy with it's large clawed hand. This jutsu usually forms an intro to Sabaku Kyuu, but can also be used as a shield or powerful punch.
Limit: Must have the Sand Release, Must know Sand Control C

[0/80]

Ryo closed his eyes, stood up straight with his heels clicking together, and put his index and middle fingers together. This technique (and the one that it lead up to) was something that he had wanted to try for a very long time. His fingers went into a number of seals, ending with the sand around the blonde boy quivering before erupting upward in a spew similar to that of a volcano. Ryo slowly managed to shape it into a giant claw-like hand, the fingers obviously seen, and a wrist too. But it quickly sank back into the pile of sand around Ryo. He cursed himself for a moment before calming down and glancing over at Jekren. "This might take a little while, so hold on..."

He tried again, getting back into his regular Ninjutsu stance. His fingers twisted and turned into the seals that he was very used to doing by this point. Again, a mass of sand erupted right in front of the user and shaped itself into a giant hand. This time the fingers were easily seen, going much higher than the palm they were attached to, though the technique was still smaller than it was supposed to be. The fingers had pointed nails at the end of them, the jutsu still growing and growing as more sand was added to it. Ryo was almost finished with it when his entire body started to shake and he had to discontinue it. "Almost that time..." He said under his breath.

Back into his stance for the third time, Ryo put his hands back into the signs at the same speed as he had been doing it. The hand came up immediately as did the fingers with the curved, pointed edges at the tips. His body not shaking this time, Ryo put his hand up and moved it, the giant sand hand doing the same. He smiled and moved his right hand to the left, the sand claw doing the same. He played around with it a little more, but knew that he was going to have to redo it since it wasn't exactly perfect in his eyes. And every technique he worked on had to be perfect or else he would doubt himself. Doubting yourself in combat was just not a good thing.

With a smirk glued on his face now, Ryo let go of the first hand and put his hands into the seals very fast. He was getting rather good at the whole handseals thing for his techniques. The hand came up into the air much larger both in width and height than before. Ryo willed it around, forcing it to smash on the desert floor, bounce up, and reform again. He did this for a while, watching the hand smash itself against the ground selflessly for its master. Ryo chuckled under his breath as the ground shook slightly with intensity. He then brought it back up in front of him and tilted his head, curious about something.

He held onto the first claw while putting his hands into seals so that he could summon another one. He knew that he shouldn't strain himself by summoning a third since that would be near impossible this early in his training. Ryo moved both of them around with relative ease. He brought them up and down as far as his Sand Controlling would allow him and then put them down against the mass that was the desert floor. His breath was heavy for all but a few seconds as he caught it immediately. "Well, Jekren! I want to do some defensive training first... Then I'll get to you..."

[//Talo//]

Ryo -> +8 {8/80}

Jekren -> +7 {14/80}

[cross]

[14/80]

Jekren watched him as he stood up straight, even chuckling a bit as he clicked his heels together. He had seen this action done by countries that were not inhabited by ninja, countries that had regular military. Jekren suppressed a chuckle as he continued to view him through Katsu's eyes. Ryo started to make hand seals, Katsu's vision starting to be able to transmit the image more clearly and keep up. Jekren smirked, it seemed that the technique he was using was also a higher rank then the last few. Jekren watched curiously through his puppets eyes as the sand erupted around Ryo volcano style, a curious technique that he was not sure what the outcome was suppose to be. Perhaps it was some sort of shield again?

"Thats fine. Theres not rush, your training is also helping me train."

Jekren watched his stance go back to the usual, all the while he seemed to be making a series of rapid hand seals. From the way he did them it was easy to tell that he been doing them for awhile, or at least knew the order. The same eruption took place before him. At first Jekren was confused once more, perhaps it was not the outcme he was trying for, but then he saw what it was suppose to be. A hand made out of sand protruded from the ground, the fingers that were attached to the hand were long easily being the most notable feature. Jekren smirked as he moved Katsu around to get a better view of the palm of the hand, navigating almost flawlessly using the eyes technique. At one point he almost tripped but had managed to recover from it. The palm was at best almost the same as a humans but lacked the ridges.

The fingers had long nails on each, resembling claws. The hand was a little small however but was growing faster and faster with more sand being added each moment. This technique was actually quite impressive, the intricacy of the technqiue required alot of focus and control. As it seemed to swell, Ryo started to shake. Jekren shook his head, once again his teamate was over exerting himself, one of the reasons he chose puppeteering over using jutsu most times. Justu were quite exhuasting, but a trained puppeteer could use his skills for alot longer then most other ninja.

"Seems like your getting alittle tired pal. You may want to take a break before you end up doing yourself in. Unless you would like to become my puppet..."

Jekren chuckled after that. He found it to be quite humorous, although back in his academy days people were quite disturbed by his comments. It seemed his partner refused to give up, he was back at making the same hand seals with the speedy percision he had been doing it for the past few minutes. Jekren made Katsu back up just in case things got a little out of control. The hand reappeared once more, the claws and fingers were just as they were the first time, however he was no longer shaking from controlling the jutsu.

As Ryo moved his right arm the sand arm did the same, seemingly it mimiced the movements of the users arms. In Jekren's eyes this technique seemed pretty cool. The training with this puppet eyes technique was furthering increasing, he could now see the movement and the details of the sand now as it flaked off a little. Ryo seemed to be playing with the arm at this point, a smirk on his face like a child enjoying a new toy. As Ryo let the hand drop, Jekren took the time to disconnect the strings and attach new ones to his and the puppets vision.

"Almost there, keep up the good work."

Jekren watched as he went through the hand seals for the fourth time, this time they had come even faster but his puppet eyes were able to keep up now. The hand seemed to form larger this time, and now he was simply smashing it into the ground over and over again, reforming it afterwards. The ground shaking made Katsu rattle a little as it happened, the intensity was getting to be quite insane. A second claw was now formed, Jekren's eyes widened as Katsu's did as well watching it happen. The stamina on this man was incredible. Once they both dropped back to the desert floor Ryo turned and started to speak to Jekren. He smirked and nodded his head.

"Thats alright with me. As I have said before, I am training just by watching you work on your skills."

[.:Ryo:.]

[8/80]

It was about to hit the fan. Ryo knew that he tried maybe too hard at times, but he also knew that he needed to practice as hard as he could so that he could become a better ninja. Ryo noticed that Jekren was training his puppet's eyes. It had taken him a while to realize this, but he had figured it out as time progressed. His glance shifted from his partner back to the desert in front of him. He regained his energy and chakra after a short break and started right back up again. First he did the handseals to summon the clawed hand in front of him, but it wasn't like before. He wheeled the sand around so that the hand was on its side, the fingers pushed together to create a type of wall in front of Ryo.

The blonde haired kid then did another set of handseals to summoned fifteen of the spinning shuriken. Instead of spinning in circles as they had done countless times before, they went out in front of the claw and started spinning rapidly. Ryo snapped his fingers and all fifteen came crashing down upon the hand. Midway there, Ryo did the handseals again and summoned fifteen more of them. He did this until five sets of sand shuriken had been summoned. He wanted to make sure the claw would be able to take a good number of hits and he wanted to make sure he could use both techniques at the same time.

The first set of shuriken just hit the claw and did no apparent damage except for a few possible dents in the sand. The next two sets made more cracks and dents, but still, there was no real damage seen. In the third set three or four shuriken burst through, but had lost their momentum by this point so they fell flat. Ryo quickly moved more sand to cover all the cracks in his summoned hand, moving it like cement over the hand before the fourth set managed to get through. His breathing was much heavier now, but he was determined to keep this technique up for as long as he could.

The fourth and fifth set made more cracks and dents, but the damage was minimal. Ryo was proud that his claw was as good at offense as it was on defense. It made him think of all the possibilities that it could have. It was also an intro to his Desert Coffin, one of his favorite jutsus that he had ever even read or heard about. "We're not done yet though!" Ryo quickly put his fingers into seals and, by this point, it almost hurt his hands just in order to put them into seals. He promised himself a break after this one to recoup and maybe even talk a little bit to his partner or something. After performing the seals, Ryo slammed his flattened palm into the ground and watched as the sand beneath him became a vortex of doom. A giant lizard, but not a dragon for it didn't have wings, emerged from the vortex with great claws and a whipping tail.

"We're going to have a little fun now," Ryo said as he silently connected to the wingless dragon. He was going to use this single technique that he was training on in order to try and defeat this dragon, who he had actually fought before so he knew it inside and out. The dragon sprinted away from Ryo before it turned and unlatched its jaws, looking like it was going to scream, but no sound emitted. The dragon jumped high into the air, keeping its mouth opened, coming down right on top of Ryo. He had expected it to spray a gust of sand at him, but it did no such thing. Before Ryo could dodge, it crushed him...

Almost. Ryo knew he wouldn't be able to dodge so he brought the claw up to his head and added more and more sand to it as fast as he could. The dragon was trying as hard as it could to bring its feet through the giant claw. Ryo forced the fingertips at the end of the claw to latch onto the belly of the beast and slowly brought it into the air. While the dragon was sitting on top of the hand in midair, Ryo leaped to the side, then let the hand fall onto the desert, but he had to disconnect the jutsu with it. The dragon stumbled back onto its feet, obviously hurt from the attack, but Ryo didn't do anything to even try to heal it. This was a fair fight, after all.

Ryo quickly made another sandy claw and this time he was the one charging the dragon. The claw came up from the ground and put forced itself over the dragon's head, smothering it. In the meantime, Ryo jumped onto the back of the dragon and unlatched his windmill shuriken, tearing the sand apart until the dragon was forced back into just a pile of soft sand. Satisfied for the moment, Ryo got rid of any active jutsus he had and sat on top of the sand, his gourd conveniently next to him. He turned to Jekren. "Allow me to rest for a moment, then we shall have a little training spar..."

[//Talo//]

+9 Jekren -> {23/80}

+10 Ryo -> {18/80}

Great posts! n_n

[cross]

[23/80]

Jekren smirked when he noticed his teamate examining him. It seemed he had wondered exactly why he was so far away and why he appeared to be sitting around doing nothing. "So he's figured it out then?" laughed Jekren to himself as he watched Ryo. Jekren still found his appearance a little odd. Blonde hair and red eyes were not eaxaclty a common combo to gaze upon. Jekren noted his stance and how he carried himself through Katsu's eyes and realized he had recovered during the short break. "I was right, his chakra reserves are amazing." thought Jekren. He watched closely as he summoned the clawed hand once more and smiled, this was starting to get interesting. He carefully watched and noted his movements as he turned the hand onto it's side and pushed the fingers together like they were to shield the eyes from something. "Thats actually rather brilliant" thought Jekren as he continued to watch with undivided attention. The puppet vision sharpened further. He could now see at the level of someone who needed minor corrective eye glasses.

Jekren watched his hand seals, one he had already come to recognize as the sand shuriken take place. Jekren raised an eyebrow when he saw that he was once again summoning more shuriken. WOuld he try his ability to move the sand arm fast enough again? He watched curiously as the sand shuriken moved outward towards the outside of the hand and started to spin rapidly. With the snap of his fingers it came crashing down into the arm. It seemed he was attempting to tests it's abilties to block. A smart choice to make before actually applying it to combat.

Once again with the shuriken. It seemed he was determined to make sure that it could stand up to a large assualt before it was destroyed. Jekren admired his teamates caution, something that would definitely get them far in their missions and other plans they may forge later on down the road. Who knew what the world had in store for two ninja who were willing to break their backs to complete their goals. Jekren was now able to make out the damage that was done to the clawed hand. The first round doing minor damage that was easily fixable if he felt like he needed to.

The second set of shuriken however had caused several large dents and cracks to form. It seemed that the clawed hand required several attacks before any serious damage was caused to it. This was a useful bit of information to know. When the next couple sets came however they had managed to burst through the outer shell of sand on it. They did lose momentum once inside but it offered very insightful information. Now he would know what the defensive limits on his opponents technique was. A very useful thing to know if one had to be defended by his partner and know when to move.

Next he used the sand to cover all the cracks and dents to fix the damage that had been caused. It seemed like he had used up a lot of chakra but he looked more determined then ever to stay standing and see this through. "He has guts. At this point I would have collpased." thought Jekren with an admiring smile. While his chakra was not low, it was not exactly on the same level as everyone else's. He was excellent at control rather then the violent usage most other genin seemed to demonstrate. A little for him went a long way. With the technique becoming more and more perfect it seemed that he would be able to train in it faster.

It seemed by further inspection that the technique was also great for crushing an opponent. These sorts of techniques were always useful, ones with multiple purposes. Jekren moved Katsu a little closer from his comfy spot and 30 meters away. He would now examine the hand from a slightly closer angle. The shaping of this thing was actually pretty nifty, it reminded him almost of making the hands for a puppet. The perscion required was almost the same as when you crafted the hands of the puppet. Suddenly he was at it again, he made some hand seals that Jekren did not recognize which summoned a wingless lizard creature made from the sand out of what looked like a vortex.

Ryo looked like he was up to something, he lizard wheeling around to face him. Jekren almost didn't catch what he was up to when he realized it looked like it would attack him. So this was his game, he would use the lizard to test his combat abilities. Well thsi certainly would be a good show. Using the puppet eyes ability to navigate, Jekren moved Katsu to a safer distance so that he would not obtain any sort of damage. The lizard quickly managed to gain the upper hand in the battle, flying towards Ryo and landing on top of him. Jekren quickly got to his feet with a slightly concerned look on his face, one that could also be mistaken for curiousity.

The claw had moved in front of him to defend, however he had not been able to properly make lal this out with the current level of his ability. Slowly his focus adjusted so that he could see the Lizard being held at bay by the claw, it's nails raking inside of the beats belly and lifting it into the air. Both the claw and the creature both soon crashed back to the ground, the lizard staggering a little as the loss of it's substance seemed to be taking effect. This was very interesting to watch, especially through the eyes of a puppet. Ryo quickly charged the dragon with another sand claw which he used to keep it's head down so that it could not see the attack coming. Quickly landing on it's back he procceeded to destroy it with what was later revealed to be a Windmill shuriken.

"No rush." said Jekren as Ryo sat down on the ground. He would wait however long it took to help train. This was quite the show, perhaps the spar would be as well.

[.:Ryo:.]

[18/80]

After waiting maybe a total of ten minutes (though it felt even longer than that), Ryo stood back up to his feet, feeling re-energized. He looked over at Jekren, who had been very patient with everything to this point, and nodded silently. This was a signal that Ryo was ready to begin the actual spar with his teammate. He only hoped that he would understand this and be ready by the time all hell broke loose. And that really didn't take long. Ryo got into his Ninjutsu stance, which Jekren probably memorized by now, and put his fingers into the handseals required for this claw. There was a downside to this: Jekren had been watching Ryo train for how long? If he was smart then he might know some weak points. Ryo might end up using more than just this technique, though he would try not to do that.

The claw immediately sprouted from the ground as it did before, but this time the sand manipulator took more time than usual. He started to create more and more details to it like actual nails, creases and cracks like skin might have, and other things that just made it seem more realistic, but yet more deadly. An opponent might be scared if a giant hand is coming toward them, ready to crush them, but they'd be even more scared if that hand looked like their own... only worse some how. Ryo just wanted to put that fear into his opponent so that he would have a better chance of coming out victorious in the way. He doubted it would work on Jekren, who seemed to be a pretty calm guy. But Ryo hadn't known him for that long after all.

The claw swiftly moved through the sand and toward the puppet, but even this Ryo had to plan out more now. He was definitely turning into a perfectionist at this point. He had to make sure it slightly hovered or glided across the sand to make it inhuman. This was not only so that it looked a bit more scary and not like a human hand, but also because it just looked cool and gained more speed and momentum this way. The funny things Ryo thought about like putting a spin on a shuriken or gliding across the sand instead of riding through it. If you just went through it friction from the sand would slow it down. The claw did as it was told and hovered slightly.

Now it was time for the actual show to begin after Ryo broke out all the kinks and things that had been leading up to the actual 'first blood' hit. The claw's fingers outstretched as they neared the puppet, but the claw suddenly dispersed and sank into the ground as soft sand. Ryo did so many more handseals that nearly a quarter of the chakra he had left within him was depleted. Two more claws, one on each side of the puppet, came out of the sand like springs, attempting to smother the puppet. If Ryo managed to actually get a hit on the puppet then he would immediately cancel the jutsu. He didn't want to cause his partner, or his partner's puppet, any real damage.

It was supposed to be a surprise attack, and the claws were in a perfect position to completely eradicate the puppet with enough force. The fingers would be pointing straight up, just slightly curved at the tops. They would sort of CLAP against the puppet, sandwich it, if you will. The force wouldn't be at its peak, but it would be enough to stop the puppet if it tried to escape or anything like that. If the puppet didn't stop moving after the claws clapped on it then they would slowly squeeze inward with more and more force with each squeeze until it was just bits and pieces. Ryo didn't really want to do that...

[psyche]

Hanabishi --- +9 32|80

Ryo -- +8 26|80

[cross]

[32|80]

Jekren noted the nod and the sudden switch to his battle stance, so the time had finally come for the spar. Jekren was sort of excited to see what he would be able to do against the sand. Standing on his feet, Jekren tensed his arms and prepared Katsu for combat based on what he was seeing through his eyes. Ryo was preparing to use the same move on him, but luckily he had spent the past few hour studying his technique and could find a few ways to counter them.

For some reason Ryo seemed to be paying more attention to detail this time, forming more cracks like the ones that existed in the palm of a human hand. Watching curiously through Katsu's eyes, Jekren questioned this. It would only consume more chakra from him yo focus on that sort of fine detail on a jutsu that was only meant to block or crush the opponent anyway. "Perhaps this is a challenge to see if I will move first..." thought Jekren. He made sure to keep a level head, to make sure he first though of some sort of tactic to get through this.

Jekren moved his fingers in a few quick motions and released the arm blades from each of Katsu's arms. They would not be used against Ryo, but rather to deflect the sand attacks that would come for him. This was when he remembered a tactic that would help him deal with the majority of the sand attacks. A smirk came to his face as he realized that this was all falling into place. He was not so sure he would win, but he would at least try to make sure he showed his combat prowess. Most people would be scared seeing this, but not Jekren. He was one who enjoyed poking, prodding and playing with the dead. This was all so that he could further his puppet research and knowledge.

The hand glided like a ghost just above the sand, Jekren seeing this through Katsu's eyes. This was a cool effect, to someone who had not seen this all day he honestly may have been slightly uneasy at this. It was as if the desert it's self was rising up to try and pull Katsu down into the very depths to keep him forever. Jekren shook himself out of this mentality, Katsu shook as well with the movements he made.

When the claw came closer, Jekren prepared Katsu to make the counter attack but the claw fell back into the sand and vanished. The action had him confused for a moment or two it seemed, Katsu started to look from left to right showing Jekren the scene all around them. "What's he playing at...?" wondered Jekren. Suddenly he looked back to see that Ryo had just finished a series of hand seals. In a blur of motion the sand around Katsu formed into two hands. "NOW!" thought Jekren as he gave Katsu a vicious tug to the right. Katsu suddenly broke into a spin at 90 RPM's with both blades out stretched. Fromt he speed of the spin he would cut both sand claws in half unless Ryo managed to release them or move them in time to avoid the spin.

Used Jutsu

Oujou Rasen (Death Spiral)
Rank: D-C ranked
Skill: Ninjutsu
Effect: Much like Dagan Rasen. A puppet with blade type weaponry spins rapidly. The puppet acts like a spinning top which is controlled by the puppeteer. The said blades slashes and cuts anything that gets near them and can assault multiple enemies.
Special: Chakra strings
Drawback: Puppet may not spin for long (depending on rank). Doing so, may cause the puppet to shake uncontrollably and damage its structural integrity. The blades of a puppet are vulnerable to damage.
Description: The puppeteer must learn how to focus his or her chakra strings to a centralizes point in the puppet. This allows the puppet to be controlled during its rapid rotations. The puppeteer then commands the puppet to spin very rapidly, using its blades to slash. Momentum generated by the spinning increases the deadliness of each slash

"D Ranked"= The puppet spins at ~90 rpm. Lasts for 3 posts
"C Ranked"= The puppet spins at 120 rpm. Lasts for 5 posts. Control over the puppet is increased as well.

Limit: Chosen puppet must have blade-type weaponry (2 at least). Must be a puppeteer.

[.:Ryo:.]

[26/80]

Seeing his beloved hands chopped up to bits, Ryo moved both of his arms apart so that each claw would glide backward across the sand, away from the damned puppet. "I'll admit!" Ryo called out across the scene to make sure that Jekren would hear him, "That wasn't half bad! Let's try this on for size!" Ryo said as he quickly added more sand to each of the hands, creating the detail like he had originally. The hands moved up and down, as if they were actually breathing. They stayed by the puppet, but a safe distance away from it as not to attract enough attention to get chopped to bits again.

This handseal might look familiar, but by the time Ryo was done it wouldn't really matter. He was using the desert shackles to firmly lock the puppet into place. If it tried to escape then the hands would act upon it. The shackles slowly pulled the puppet further and further into the sand until it was at least knee-length deep into the desert floor. "Perfect," Ryo said as he gritted his teeth and called upon a third claw with another set of handseals. This was definitely his limit at this point within the training. He wouldn't be able to call in another claw until he had mastered more of this jutsu.

As soon as the third claw was called upon, hovering behind the puppet, actions were put into place. The two sandy claws on each side of the puppet would rise up and come crashing down upon the puppet with as much force as Ryo could muster. He couldn't hold back anything now. It would have a harder time spinning too since it was deep within the desert by now. The third claw, the one stationed behind the puppet, would literally jump high into the air and shape itself into a fist. Then it would smash down on top of the two other hands, adding that killing blow to the fight.

If the shackles somehow managed to miss or the puppet just started running in a certain direction then Ryo would have to change up his game plan a little bit. He would call in the third claw and try and catch Katsu with one of the hands, then add more force with the second hand, and do the jump with the third hand. Just keeping these claws up and moving was hard enough, but shaping them and adding force to the impacts was growing more and more strenuous each time he did it. He hoped that this fight would be over soon so that he could get a break because he wasn't going to surrender to his teammate. It would make him seem weak as a team leader.


USED JUTSUS

Sabakusari Joumei ((Desert Chain Lock))
Rank: C-rank
Type: Ninjutsu
Effect: Locks a targets feet by forming the surrounding sand on the ground into hardened sand Shackles, and locking.
Special: Horse, Rat, serpent, dog, tiger.
Description: The user performs the necessary hand signs to mold the surrounding sand into shackles, containing the target with added force. The chains run from underground, and pull inward, making it seem like they are being pulled underground by the chains from a certain area.
Drawback: N/A
Limit: Sand Release.

[fina]

+7 for both! Keep up the good work!

[cross]

39|80

Jekren watched through the spinning puppets eyes. It was a little harder to pick up the hands when he was doing this but Katsu was already spinning so fast that he needed try and work on a system to get better perception. With a quick jerking motion, Jekren sent Katsu flying into the air during his spin. He then quickly started to guide Katsu towards the hand on the right of him. Each time Katsu's eyes passed the hand he could make out where it was more and more each time.

Jekren had inadvertantly managed to avoid the desert shackles by a mere whim. Something that made him smirk when he noticed them come up but find no target to hold down. Quickly Katsu moved towards the claw on the right, passing through it in a deadly spin and hitting the ground. With a few more complex motions Jekren was able to guide it away from the hand on the right towards the one that was on the left.

It was during all this spinning that he had managed to see the third hand. How could he have missed this? A bad combo of the crazy spinning and the puppet eyes technique that he was trying to learn was most likely the explaination. As he closed in towards the hand ont he left, Jekren stopped the spin and stared directly at the hand. The level of detail that he had achieved with it was still present and still as astonishing as it had been the first time. But what would he do now against these techniques? It was then that Jekren realized that most of his techniques were not offensive and that he really had no way to deal with the sand at the moment.

Jekren had not noticed that the third hand was now moving, he did however manage to avoid the first one that would hold him in place so that the other could apply more force. Katsu's head spun around only to see the claw clasp around him. "Tch...damn..." thought Jekren as he watched helplessly. "You win this round Ryo..." he said with a smirk and a bow. His teamate had him clearly out thought and out muscled.

[BLEEEEH that sucked]

[.:Ryo:.]

[33/80]

The sand manipulator was ready to get started again when an annoying noise irked his attention from his right. He quickly spun on his heel, expecting to see a group of enemy ninja and, surprisingly, he saw just that. A group, seemingly a gang, of Genin Sand ninja were making all kinds of noises and sounds, annoying the hell out of Ryo to be frank. "This is our spot now! Clear out bastards!" The leader said, his arm outstretched, his index finger pointed at Ryo's head. There were... four of them. Ryo quickly did a set of handseals and managed to capture the leader's feet, but one of the other ones used the Body Flicker technique and quickly managed a kick to Ryo's gut.

He was sent flying backward onto his ass. He got up and clutched his stomach. "These guys are a bit better than I thought Jekren... Let's bring the pain." Ryo knew that the one who had attacked him was a Taijutsu user, Ryo's weakness. Another set of handseals were all the leader and Taijutsu user would see before two giant claws emerged in front of them. "This... is over!" Ryo shouted as he moved his hand forward, one of the claws going for the leader while the other one jumped into the air toward the Tai user. The claw quickly came smashing down upon him, stopping him from moving, but keeping him alive for now.

The leader was using the jutsu Zeus's Bolt, powering up an electric chakra ball that he used to smash through the claw. Ryo put his hands back into the sequence of seals and called out a third hand, both of his claws smothering the user. The leader kept up his jutsu, slashing the sand into pieces. The Taijutsu user, however, wasn't able to break through. Every time he tried to kick or punch the claw just smashed down further and further until he stopped again. The pressure of the hand was more than he was able to handle, and Ryo knew this. He smirked, but then frowned, realizing the leader was still causing trouble.

The claws continued to pound themselves into the lightning, each time managing to push the leader back a bit more, but not enough to be at full power. Ryo added more sand to them and made one of the claws jump up above the leader and hover there. Out of reaction, he moved the lightning bolt up and tried to slice through the sand. "Mistake," Ryo muttered as he let the other claw slam into the idiot's torso, causing him to cancel out his technique as he was sent onto his back on the desert floor. By this time the other two Gennin would have tried to go for Jekren, but Ryo couldn't divert his attention yet.

The Taijutsu specialist had managed to punch a hole through the sand using his Goken fighting style. "This is just a little more than annoying..." The blonde haired kid muttered as he filled the hole in his technique. The hand-to-hand combat kid came running at full speed toward Ryo, but was suddenly tripped by shackles on the floor. "Tsk, tsk," Ryo said as he smirked, commanding his claw back over to smother him. This time Ryo took a deep breath and did his handseals, causing another claw to emerge and help crush the Taijutsu user. He then sat down, using an appropriate amount of chakra to keep all four claws going.

He moved both of his flat palms down to the ground, the hands doing as they were told by their master. The fingers curved on all of the claws and pushed down, the heads of the younger ninja causing small impact holes in the sand. If they didn't manage to get out of their fix soon then they would find a few ribs crushed and extreme lung damage from both the pressure and lack of air. The claws, as well as Ryo, showed no mercy. He continued to push the claws down, shrugging and laughing, his red eyes glowing in the sun. "C'mon punks! Let's see what you got!" This was fun...

[cross]

??|80

Jekren watched through the puppets eyes as the little gang came up and decided that they would try and take this area for themselves. It seemed that they thought that they would overpower Ryo and Jekren with superior numbers. What they didn't know however was that numbers didn't matter in the world of the shinobi. In this world it all came down to the skill of the user. Katsu's head turned to follow the blow to Ryo's gut, his eyes now being able to accurately keep up and follow just as Jekren would see it. That would not fly here.

Katsu watched as Ryo went staggering backwards onto his ass. He had to supress a small chuckle, but it was not at his expense but rather the fact that they had now enraged him. A rapid procession of hand seals from Ryo and suddenly two massive claws made of sand emerged before them. Jekren had been expecting this but the fools in this gang would most likely be caught off guard by the technique. Jekren smiled as he watched the hand move forward through his technique and smash down upon the opponent, they would have no clue what to do about it unless they were smarter then they sound.

With a third claw being summoned Jekren laughed, the leader would soon be out of commision and the other two seemed to be shaken by this display of power from one boy. It seemed the leader did not want to give up but it was time for him to ignore what Ryo was doing and focus on the other two. The puppets head rotated back around and looked at them. Both of them took a step back, slightly creeped out by it. They seemed to be looking around as if they were trying to find the source however Jekren was well concealed and he would not give up his hiding spot anytime soon. One of them quickly reached into a pouch at his hip and brought forth a kunai. "Hmph...is that it?" wondered Jekren as he moved his fingers and caused one of the arm blades to slide out.

The first out of the duo charged forward at him, making a zig zag pattern in case he had any sort of long range. Jekren smiled, they of course would have no way of knowing that there was a second blade being concealed in the other arm. As he approached Jekren watched carefully using Katsu's eyes to guage distance then parried the kunai slash. He then made Katsu spin and kick the genins legs out from underneath him. With a quick sprinting movement Katsu jumped onto his gut then off heading towards the other genin.

Raising his arms in a block the second genin had been caught off guard and seemed more cowardly then the last with the leader out of commision. It was unlucky for both of them, Jekren seemed to be slipping out of his lawful good alignment more and more since he met Ryo. The last mission had done something to him, he was not so sure what. Jekren made Katsu thrust the first blade forward which the genin easily dodged, however the second blade followed without the boys knowing, peircing into his arm. The boy let out aloud scream as Katsu's head shifted to look at the blood flowing out. Jekren smiled at the damage he had caused, he could now see the crimson color through Katsu and this brought a smile to his face. It was only a pity that he did not know how to speak through Katsu properly just yet.

The other Genin stood up and made a choking sound, obviously afraid that he would take it this far. Katsu's head spun around to view him, he jumped back in fright from this. "Run rodent..." thought Jekren as he removed the blade from the other boys arm and turned the body to face him. The genin however did not run, he charged head on even though he was shaking slightly. Jekren just watched through Katsu's eyes, waiting for the right moment to strike. The kunai came towards him, Katsu dodged out of the way taking a slight scratch and quickly shoved the bloody blade he had drawn into the boys right leg.

[.:Ryo:.]

[??/80]

The leader was buried beneath the claws, unable to even push up, so Ryo stopped pressuring him against the desert floor. He looked over at the puppet just as it pierced one of the kid's arms. There was something about Jekren that Ryo was growing to like a bit more, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was exactly. His attention was changed again as the Taijutsu user burst through the sand claws again and came flying through the air with his heel high above him. "He might be the fastest one," Ryo started, repairing his sand hands before moving them in front of him, "But he's not the most powerful by far!"

Ryo's opponent quickly came around to Ryo's back and tried to cheap shot him but one of the claws immediately outstretched its fingers and protected its master against the surely powerful kick. The kid came around to Ryo's side now and threw a barrage of kicks and punches, but all of them hit the second claw hand, which was bunched into a fist. The kid kept trying his best to reach Ryo, but all of the attacks were countered or shielded by the two claws that Ryo whirled around himself with ease. "You'll never win," the manipulator said as he moved the two hands around more. Too easy.

The Taijutsu user backed up further, his chest going up and down from heavy breathing caused by his rash actions. Ryo moved his flat palm over to the gang leader and pressed it down against the air, the two claws pressuring him even more. By this point at least two ribs were broken and he had a very limited amount of oxygen left. "If you don't defeat me soon then he just might die. That's what you get for messing with us though," Ryo said with a slight shrug. The kid grew angry and threw four Windmill Shuriken which cut threw the air violently. The blonde haired boy, frustrated, moved the claws in front of three of them, but didn't see the fourth one circle back around him.

"Shi--" He started, but didn't finish, doing a flying leap over the top of the claws. The bottom one moved up slightly while the top one moved backward and down. Together, they took the damage from the last windmill shuriken, protecting Ryo fully. So far he had only taken the one kick to the gut. He got back up and looked for the Tai user, but didn't see him. A shadow started to cover him. "UP HERE!" The kid shouted, coming down with a sword in hand. Was he a Taijutsu Specialist and a Weapon Specialist? He was annoying... Ryo jumped backward, commanding one of his claws to block and the other to basically tackle the kid.

"Close one," he muttered, the claws doing exactly what they were supposed to do. One of them took the full blast of the sword while the other hand came sweeping forward to nail the punk along the entire side of his body. The sheer weight of the sand knocked the boy over, but the power of it was what struck fear into him. The claw literally dug into his skin, but it was only sand, right? A few cuts along the boy's neck and face were made, drops of red hitting the ground. "How many hits is that for me?" Ryo asked, pulling both claws back to a defensive mode again. "Leave whenever you want."

Again, Ryo's palm moved in a swift motion to the gang leader and pushed down. The hand now met with the desert floor, crushing any air left in the kid's lungs, but not killing him yet. He still had five more minutes at the most, three at the least. He must've been freaking out, though nobody would be able to hear him. He probably had four broken ribs (or approximately that much), but Ryo pushed it down even more. His face was basically eating sand now and the only reason he was still alive was because he could breathe out of his nose. "This is fun!" Ryo said with a chuckle.

[//Talo//]

Jekren -> +4 +7

Ryo -> +7 +7

[.:Ryo:.]

[47/80 - Gonna try to finish this up today! 10TP POSTS!]

The Taijutsu, weaponry specialist was starting to get a little pissed off, but Ryo couldn't blame him. He would do all he could in his power to save Jekren, though the puppeteer probably wouldn't need saving given his skills and abilities. This kid must've been rather wealthy given all the weapons he had at his disposal. Ryo sighed as his enemy straightened up and revealed kunai in between his fingers. Ryo directed the claws back into a defensive mode and just shrugged, looking at his opponent. "Go ahead, try it. You know you'll never beat me." But the kid wasn't going to give up it seemed.

Ten or so of the knives all came flying from the same direction, the claws sitting there, hovering above the sand. They took every hit without a single scratch or dent. Ryo smirked, glad that this training was finally paying off. He thought he had been doing all of this for nothing, but it appeared as if he was making some headway. When the claws moved to the sides Ryo's opponent had vanished. Multiple sounds went through Ryo's ears as he crouched onto the ground, one of his claws reaching over him. Two windmill shuriken sliced through the sand right above the sand ninja's head, his claw taking the damage.

Quickly repairing it, Ryo spun around, still crouched on the ground, to see the Taijutsu user above him. He unleashed a mass of Senbon needles beyond counting. Ryo slid down onto his back, desperately trying to move his claws in front of him. The claws outstretched their fingers to take most of the hits, but five needles made it past this defense, two of them slicing into Ryo's left shoulder. He put his hand over it for a moment, but realized it wasn't that deep of a wound and there was no poison on the end of tips of the needles. He jumped to his feet and looked around, but this guy was better than Ryo had expected.

"BELOW YOU!" The kid said as hands grasped Ryo's ankles and attempted to pull him down. "Jeez, kid, you're pretty dumb." Ryo said as he commanded both of his claws to burrow into the ground. They quickly grabbed the kid and pulled him out of the ground, throwing him very high into the air. The kid landed on his back, a crack echoing through the air, his breath took away so much so that he couldn't even yell. "In case you don't know... We are in the desert... All of my techniques are sand-based. Quit being so stupid and think about this shit so that I don't have to explain it to you!"

Ryo looked over at the team leader, the sandy claw on top of him, still suffocating him. The sand manipulator took the claw off of him and moved it over to himself in a defensive stance so that he had three defending claws. The gang leader was knocked out and had many broken bones and ribs, but he would be fine if he received medical attention within at least two hours. "Looks like he's not quite dead after all... Well, yet anyway. You're gonna have to take him to a hospital... Thing is... I don't think I'm gonna let you." The Taijutsu specialist carefully rose to his feet and, once he did, Ryo sent all three claws after him at the same time.

The first claw was a diversionary tactic to attract attention from the enemy, which worked perfectly. The kid went after this one while the second hand had been traveling underneath the surface. It jumped up from the sand and turned into crashed down on the backside of the kid, scratching his back so that it was very bloody and scabbed. The third claw had also been underneath the kid, following his movements beneath the surface. It came up, all the fingers except for the thumb on one side while the thumb was on the other side. It literally clapped into him, opening up old wounds as well as creating new ones.

But... that wasn't the kid. It was a sand clone. Ryo, caught off guard, turned around only to get a kick delivered into his cheek. He hit the ground as the kid drew dozens of senbon needles, immediately throwing all of them at lightning speed toward Ryo. He canceled his connection to the other claws and desperately made a new one, many of the needles getting past and slicing into his ankles. He tore them out and made a second claw, blood dripping onto the ground. "Looks like I underestimated you there. It won't happen again..." Ryo's red eyes glowed in a malign way in the red sun.

A few handseals were made and shackles attempted to clasp the boy, but he was aware of what to do as he hurriedly leaped into the air, but he had already made a mistake. One of the claws stayed in a defensive mode while the other went into an aggressive state, commanded by its master, and grabbed the boy while he was in midair. The kid had in a kunai in his sleeve, quickly drawing it and attempting to slice the fingers off of the hand. The claw managed to dodge some, but did take a few minor hits. Ryo repaired it with more sand, still letting it attack the boy while he tried to defend himself.

"I can keep this up all day if I need to..."

[adero]

+5...

plz write more about training the jutsu itself rather than combat...