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[+Spirit+]

Kinobori no Waza - Act of Tree Climbing
Rank: "C"
Skill: NinJutsu/Supplementary
Effect: Allows a Non-Ninja the ability to perform Advanced chakra techniques.
Special: ---
Drawback: Non Ninjas must learn in order to learn Advanced chakra techniques. Ninjas gain this technique for free in the beginning however does not add into Character Class like other starting techniques. Does not work on Animal Companions.
Description: Kinobori no Waza, the art of tree climbing serves a dual purpose. Taking part in Kinobori Shugyou (Tree Climbing Training) helps a ninja learn how to focus their chakra. It also teaches the ninja how to run up trees and walk on vertical walls. The training helps the ninja learn how to focus just the right amount of chakra to a particular part of their body. The amount needed to climb is small but it must be precise. The feet are regarded as the hardest location to master chakra focusing. So by gaining the art of this skill, the ninja will have any jutsu available (theoretically) because they will be able to focus their chakra as needed. Allows a user to learn up to "C" Rank Chakra related Techniques.
Limit: Universal NinJutsu Technique.

0/20

"Fe" was standing at the bottom of a tree, thinking things over in her head. Not only did she know nothing about herself, she also had no idea what her name truly was. It was not as bad as most would think when regarding the fact of a person being nameless. In fact it worked to the young girl's advantage, no one she didn't want to talk to ever tried to start a conversation, no one ever told her what to do which freed up a lot of leisure time, and no one ever bothered her, which left her stress free. For the most part. She still needed to find out about her history, but in a safe manner, since according to her only two "friends" the royal guard was busy looking for someone who matched her description when they found her.

She didn't use the word friend lightly when describing the two girls, because in truth the two girls were more like sisters to her. They were the ones who had her the name "Fe" and she wore it with pride. She brought her attention to the task at hand. Yuna was the "smart" one out the small group, and she immediately noticed that Fe could use chakra due to some sensor ability that the third member of their triumvirate was always raving about. Emiko, was very happy with that bit of news, sending Fe to go train her use of chakra as soon as she was better and able.

Fe made the hand seals and then closed her eyes. She had to focus real hard to even come close to sensing the chakra running loose in her body, and once she did it was another struggle to get it to listen to her whims. Once she felt she had a firm grasp of the chakra, she tried forcing it to her feet. It was slow going at first, the chakra refused to listen, but eventually she came to the conclusion that she couldn't simply make the chakra do what she wanted but she could get it to cooperate if she just went with the flow, instead of against it.

The chakra finally began to adhere to the soles of her bare feet, although not in the quantity that she had hoped. Once she could gather no more, she opened her eyes, taking in the tall tree in front of her. She had to climb this tree as high as she could, and hopefully, she could cling to the trunk of the tree when she became more adept at using her chakra. Fe pulled a kunai from inside her robes, the only one she carried for protection, and something she would need to mark her progress in the thick bark of the tree. Fe took off running full speed at the tree, her long legs covering the distance in three even strides.

Fe pushed upwards, using her powerful legs to gain footing on the tree trunk. The chakra on the bottom of her feet stuck loosely to the tree, offering her unsure footing on the tree as she continued pumping her legs and making her way up the tree. She began to slide and loose grip the higher she got, but she needed to keep going, she was not even halfway up to her best mark. Bark fell from the tree with every step as she continued moving along, every instinct inside of her screaming to quit, fear that she would fall and hurt herself. She was mentally strong however and she kept going, her thighs and calves beginning to burn as she went up. She passed her old mark, and a grin cracked the corners of her lips. She couldn't stop now. She kept going another three strides, and then realizing that she had no grip left whatsoever, she yanked the kunai across the tree trunk to mark her progress and then sprung backwards off the tree, backflipping once before landing gently on the ground a few meters later.

[+Spirit+]

0/20 Part 2

"I wish I had your grace Fe." Emiko said in her usually bubbly voice, smiling in Fe's direction.
"You have great taijutsu skills, and from what I've seen, you are not lacking in the grace department." Fe replied smoothly, although there was not any emotion noticeable on her face.
"Yea, but I learned grace, you seem to be one with it." Came the happy girl's response. "Honestly I just came to tell you that dinner is done, so whenever you're ready..."
"Okay." Fe nodded. "When I'm done here I will return to the house." Emiko, smiled briefly, then turned and headed inside. Fe turned back to the tree in front of her. This would require her undivided attention.

Fe made the few handseals necessary to start the beginner's jutsu, closing her eyes once again as she searched for that unfamiliar feeling. It took a moment to arrive, the small tingle that she felt coursing through her body, almost like the blood coursing through her veins. However, as was always the problem, Fe couldn't get the chakra to move according to her will. She had to just let it do what it wanted and try to rein it in. Imposing her will upon the chakra never worked, and so working together with it was key.

She didn't push the chakra to her feet, it was more like she was guiding it there. She could feel the tingle growing in the soles of her feet, adding a layer that gave separation between the girl's feet and the floor. Once she was sure that the chakra was ready, Fe opened her eyes and pulled out a kunai from underneath her robes. She judged the distance to the tree and then took off, covering the distance with her long strides extremely quickly. She ran up the trunk of the tree, her feet gripping the bark better than they ever had before.

She pumped her legs and in a few short strides, managed to push her way up the tree. Things were going much easier then before, her feet not slipping as much off the bark and tripping her up. Fe kept her legs pumping, until the muscles burned with effort, and even then she kept going, not wanting to stop or have any regrets when she was done. Her feet adhered to the trunk as if there was a layer of glue underneath them. She reached the last mark she left on the tree and passed it, her feet still moving her upwards. Finally her footing started to give, her feet slipping ever so slightly from the bark. Still she pressed on, a few steps from the very top of the tree. She slipped again, but would not be deterred. She would reach the top of this tree. As she reached the top, she positioned herself so that her body was no longer fighting against gravity. She cut the topmost branch off the tree, taking it and pocketing it before leaping from the tree. She liked to keep mementos and this one would mean a lot.

[kuragari]

+20 good job

[+Spirit+]

Screams pierced the air, waking the nameless female from her deep slumber. She sprung up off of the double flat mats that adorned the floor of the small room she shared with the only two people that had ever cared for her in the short period of memories she retained. She stood at full alert, her senses still groggy from sleep. The smell of smoke, along with the smell of burnt cloth and flesh struck her nose making her slightly dizzy. She wavered for a brief second, the stench so strong it made her swoon on her feet.

Emiko and Yuna woke a second later, panic and fear etched into their features.
"What's going on?" Emiko asked fearfully, as she rose to her feet.
"Stay low." Yuna whispered as she crouched low to the ground, analyzing the situation almost immediately. "Smoke and heat rises, staying low will give us the best air to breathe for the moment." She explained quickly. Fe quickly crouched and joined Yuna, Emiko following their example a split second later. The three girls quickly crept out of their small room and out into the living area, trying to figure out what exactly was going on.

A booming voice answered their question.
"CITIZENS OF THE IRON CITADEL! A TRAITOR TO THE COUNCIL OF HONORED BRETHREN IS AMONG YOU! RELEASE HER TO US AND YOU SHALL BE FREE! OTHERWISE THE FLAMES OF JUSTICE WILL PURGE YOU FROM THIS WORLD!" The girls shared a look between the three of them.
"They are speaking of me." Fe said without hesitation. "I will turn myself in."
"That is a very heroic notion Fe, but we all know how the iron citadel is run. They will kill you on the spot, and anyone else who might've seen you." Yuna always seemed to get straight to the crux of things, a trait Fe might have admired- if she knew what admiration felt like.

"So what do we do?" Emiko asked, her voice high pitched. Yuna began to cough from the smoke. Beads of sweat began to show on all three of the girls faces from the heat.
"Yuna, Emiko. Escape through the back, and I will turn myself in..."
"I thought I told you-" Yuna began before Fe cut her off.
"There is no time for this. Now go." Fe's words were strange, calm in the sense of extreme adversity. The two girls started to shuffle to the back. Emiko squeezed Fe's hand for a brief moment before Yuna pulled her away. Fe stepped outside and had to shield her eyes from the bright fires that had sprung up in the area.

Fe raised her hands in surrender. "I am here! I surrender!" Her voice was loud for the sake of communicating over the fires, but there was no trace of emotion in the words.
"THERE SHE IS! FIRST PLATOON, FIRE!" Fe had just enough time for her eyes to clear the haze of smoke and the brightness of the fire to see soldiers lined up with crossbows pointed at her. The sound of flitting bolts filled the air when suddenly Fe was thrown to the ground.

[+Spirit+]

Fe felt dead weight pressing down on her, a sharp pain in her left leg and warm liquid leaking onto her. She placed her hands on the dead weight, and came face to face with her friend Emiko. Her eyes were wide open, but glassed over and lifeless. Crossbow bolts riddled her back, no less than fifteen of them. The warm liquid was her friend's life source- her blood leaking onto Fe's dark violet kimono.

"THERE IS STILL MOVEMENT! SECOND PLATOON, INTO POSITION!" The sound of shuffling feet reverberated off the ground as the next platoon moved into position. Fe pushed her friend's lifeless body off of her and scrambled back inside just as the order to fire was sounded.
"SECOND PLATOON! FIRE AT WILL!" Bolts flew through the air, barely missing Fe as she threw herself back inside the small shack, and just beyond the opening of the curtained doorway. Bolts penetrated the doorway, embedding themselves into whatever they reached. Fe's thoughts went to her now deceased friend, but she knew that if she were to survive the night, she would have to wait until later in order to reflect on the shining light Emiko possessed before her unceremonious demise.

Yuna staggered out of the small room the girls had shared, from both the smoke inhalation and the bolt that had impaled her in the midsection. She promptly collapsed at Fe's feet, clutching a small bag in her hands.
"Fe..." Yuna managed to sputter as she grimaced in pain. Fe crawled on hands and knees to her injured friend.
"Yes Yuna?" Fe asked so flatly that it almost didn't seem like a question.
"I had just enough time to pack a few things for you-" She started coughing and her body trembled as she coughed up a bit of blood. "Take the bag and go. You don't have any time."
"But what about you?" Fe asked as she flung the bag's strap over her shoulder. "Emiko has already passed, I will need your strength and fortitude if I am to continue." Yuna shook her head.
"No, you don't. Take the horse and leave with these last words of mine. None of this is your fault. Someone is playing a game with you as their pawn, for if they really wanted you dead, they would've activated that seal on your back and ended all of this years ago."

Yuna fell into a fit of coughing, and she pushed Fe away from with all the strength she had left. Fe stood into a crouch and headed for the back as the fire seemed to catch onto the shack, beginning to burn it to the ground. It wouldn't take long. There was a chance for escape, but it was not certain. It was most certain however, that if she stood there looking at her dying friend that she would die with her. Just then a soldier walked through the curtained doorway and put a bolt into Yuna's head, ending her pain. Fe turned to the back entry way but something gleaming in the darkness caught her eye.

The katana that the girls had found her with all those years ago. Fe grabbed it by it's hilt and made for the curtain in the back that resembled her freedom and ran smack dab into a single soldier who was entering through the back as she was leaving. Without a second thought she lifted the sword and cleaved off the arm raising the crossbow towards her. He cried out in pain, and she pushed him to the ground and out of the way as she went through the curtain and into the fresh air outside. Placing two fingers over lips, she whistled loudly and was greeted with the familiar whine of the girl's shared steed, Naomi. Fe mounted the strong horse, whispering into it's ear to calm it before the raging fire.
"Naomi, both Yuna and Emiko are not coming. We need to leave with much haste." The horse seemed to understand, taking off at a full gallop, leaving the soldiers and the burning shack behind them.

Blood Steed
Rank: "C"
Skill: Regional Trait
Effect: User's nomadic culture gives them a profound knowledge of and respect for the horses that roam in their homelands.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: User gains a Light Horse. While riding this horse bareback, the user is treated as though they were riding it with a riding saddle (placing any actual saddle upon the horse negates this benefit). The horse can fend for itself outside of settlements in all but the most hostile environments. If whistled for outside of a community, the horse typically arrives within 1d6 minutes. If their horse is slain, the user may receive a new horse by returning to their clan and performing a vigil for its spirit. This trait replaces 1 Freebies.
Limit: Must start with Character; replaces 1 Freebies.