Jutsu Mastery:
It was a bright day, a sunny day, and a day that Ikko had not had a chance to enjoy in quite some time. He had found himself in a familiar training yard as his eyes glanced across the multiple targets and dummies and random training apparatus that had been strewn through the clearing. He had spent quite some time learning monotonous things like reading, writing, and knowing how to clean himself. Boring stuff really. Here he would get a chance to really put the things he had learned into action, to really jump out and in to action. Ikko brought himself to his feet and his hands together into a seal before letting his right arm drop to his side. Moisture coalesced around it as his chakra pulled it from the air, the liquid forming an aquatic mass before snaking down, forming in to a whip. The first time he had used this jutsu, he accidentally snapped Hoshi in the face. It was remarkable how much easier it was to form and control now.
Water - Chakra Style:
Ikko flung his arm out to the left and the water snapped out in a flash, smacking in to and relieving one of the target dummies of their heads, causing the now severed straw skull to go careening into a wall. In one fluid motion, Ikko spun, snapping the whip toward the opposite side of the clearing and wrapping the whip around the midriff of another dummy. Planting his foot hard into the earth, Ikko pistoned his free hand into his hip and heaved the whip over his head, ripping the dummy from its pedestal and slamming it hard into another, smashing them both together. And then the next part was something he had been struggling with, but long hours of practice and plot demands made him feel like he could pull it off. Pivoting, Ikko flung the whip in between the remaining two dummies and as it flipped, the whip split down the middle, separating into two tendrils that shot out and slapped the dummies off their pedestals, a wide and ecstatic grin coming to Ikko's face at his success.
Elementalist:
The boy was bouncing up and down in jubilation. He had been facing, to put it bluntly, a fair bit of adversity lately. He had not had a whole lot of success in what most people considered the necessary next jump in his development. He had excelled at some things, but the whole package was still woefully behind. He also never really got a clear answer on how to fix it. He had an affinity for Water, but he wasn't "Adept" at it enough and he wasn't sure what other talents he really had, outside of exuberance. The next part of the training course reared its ugly head as he was lost in thought and he had to panic to react. A funnel appeared out of the wall and shot a violent torrent of water at the boy. Quickly weaving hand signs, Ikko aimed at the incoming spout and rebuttled in kind.
"Water Release: Impaling Hydro Jet"
Ikko's stream of water clashed into the incoming stream, the pressures colliding in the space between them in as dramatic a fashion as possible, locked in place and pushing against each other. However, Ikko wouldn't allow himself to lose this tug of war. With exertion, Ikko forced more water, more force, more energy in to his jutsu, overpowering the machine and ramming his own torrent straight through, overpowering and ripping the nozzle clear out through the wall.
Haku:
Ikko, as per usual, used up too much energy. He slumped to the ground for a moment, struggling to catch his breath. He let himself get carried away, like he always did. The thoughts of not being accepted in the place he desperately wanted to call his home were, to put it lightly, draining for him. Hoshi had always told him he belonged, he was meant to be here, but it was difficult to really feel that way. Ikko didn't know what a home was, not really. He had no baseline to really compare the sensation to. Was what he was currently feeling enough to be called a home? No, he didn't think so. He didn't really feel accepted, whether or not he actually was not especially relevant. It was a draining array of emotions. It was also a draining sensation as he remembered that the one water spout was not the only one. A stream of water crashed into Ikko's cheek, knocked him clear out of his crouch and causing him to sprawl out on the ground, rife with pain. He barely had time to ground before he had to desperately roll out of the way of a third watery projectile, soaking the ground where he was moments prior.
He shakily jumped to his feet in time to eat another stream of pain into his chest, knocking him right back on to his butt. This was painfully expected for him. This was a trial someone who had been here as long as he and was touted as being as full of potential as he, should be able to handle. It was what someone who would actually be accepted in the village should be able to handle. Another stream in his back and another cry of pain. This wasn't fair, Ikko should be strong enough to handle this, he'd been trying hard, harder than most people gave him credit for, but he still couldn't take that last step, make that last push, and as another stream of water crashed in to the back of his head, his temper boiled over. The boy howled in anger, in fury, in anguish and seemed to jump to his feet. He didn't really know what happened or what he did, his eyes were closed, but when his brain calmed down enough to process the information around him...he realized he was no longer being pelted by water. Ikko blinked his eyes open and saw something...something he wasn't expecting at all. Around him was a web of streams of water...but they weren't really water any longer. Arrayed around him were thick streams of ice, angled at him and the area in various ways. Ikko gulped, pulling himself to his feet. The nozzles were rattling, as if trying to still shoot water through their blocked hoses. Ikko quietly stepped out of the line of unmoving ice and reached out to gently touch it. It was cold to the touch, it really was frozen. Did he do that? How did he do that? Some of the ice near the spout began to melt but as soon as it caught Ikko's attention, it seemed to freeze right up again. He was doing this...but he had no idea how. It...it was probably a question for another day. The boy decided to flee for now before he somehow got in trouble for freezing the entire training ground. What in the world had he done? He would have to figure it out in a more...controlled environment for now, where he wasn't at risk of accidentally turning anyone, or himself, into a Popsicle.