Ninjutsu 101 (Beasts of Burning Youth)

[Kamaru]

Kamaru was sipping coffee when something flashed on the board. He frowned slightly but opted to read the notification while looking around. Everyone was on break or already teaching. No point in always slacking he thought as he stepped over to his desk and grabbed some material. Tonbo had given him the odd devices but he didn’t see how it would help explain ninjutsu or elemental principles. The note saying oddly enough ‘Just try it out you’ll figure it out.’ wasn’t reassuring but with the man on vacation at some osen Kamaru didn’t have anyway to ask for further details.

With his materials and coffee in hand he made his way to a door and took a back hallway. He always wondered how teachers were always getting around quicker than students. Now he had a bit of insider information as he closed the hidden door after entering the room. Looking from the student’s desks to the board and the instructor’s desk he dropped his things off and waited while sipping the coffee while it was still warm. Once it was cold it would be too rough to drink.

 

[Kari]

It was strange, to say at the least, how the marker reacted. Nothing remotely surprising ‒‒ it was far too rare a thing now for her to be. The last two things to surprise her was her own death, and before then, the death of an entire nation ‒‒ the reaction was. This was a safe place; even the obstacles deemed to be "threatening" or "dangerous" were only meant to be so for people at a much lower level of skill than herself. The real students.

An ashen trail appeared center of the Academy's walkway. Whether it was real or illusionary didn't matter too much; given that it began where she was, it was meant to be followed. To the class, likely. A short path across the school, not a place she made haste to reach. The trail finally ended at one room, not different in any major manner she could discern; at its front was one man. A familiar face. The director of the Academy? She had seen him two days ago. It was something Kari wasn't used to to see the Academy's leader teaching.

"Hello," she stated tersely, much more control over speaking and other movements than she had last he had seen her. Two days of intense training, and, while she wasn't moving perfectly, she hadn't any doubt she could perform to the standards needed here. "What class is," she paused for a moment, taking note that it seemed to be but the two of them, "is this?" Not that it mattered. She was ready to do this and get it out of the way, whatever this was.

 

[Kamaru]

Kamaru was still sipping coffee when someone opened the door and greeted him. Putting down the cup he was about to greet her when he realized who it was and she asked what kind of class it was she had entered.

”Hello Miss… Akiyama” he stated trying to remember her name and collect what the class might be like. ”It’s going to be a basic course on Ninjutsu and I think you have the fire marker.” he added to answer her question, ”If you like we can wait a bit before we begin and wait for other students to show up. If no one else shows up do you have a preference on a class style? Would you prefer a lecture, hands on class, or a little of both?” Kamaru inquired eyeing the odd white orbs on the desk. He wasn’t really prepared for what they’d do though but he was hoping they weren’t going to cause property damage.

The response from both questions were a gauging tool of sort for Kamaru he didn’t really know much about the girl besides the idea of her speech pattern stood out in his mind as different. Depending on her responses he’d try and cater a class to what he thought would be the best learning and teaching environment. At least that’s what he’d tell people officially, unofficially he didn’t see the point in going through a whole bunch of fluff students didn’t care about or pay attention enough to learn so he’d stick to the basics and what they were interested in, otherwise it was a lot of wasted effort and work on both sides that wouldn’t really amount to much.

(OoC: White glass like balls on the desk are visible. Any student wanting to join the class has 48 hours, an additional 24 period after that will put you as late. Class slots locked afterwards 72 hours.)

 

[Kari]

Ninjutsu, then? How long had it been since she had last used it? Memories of the Kiri islands came to mind; perhaps it was then? When he trained with the best of them and taught the worst; when he knew his affinity to water, and the incident that taught him to utilize blood in its stead.

Since then? None. Perhaps it was a hitting class. Kari stared blankly as the Academy's headmaster spoke. Facial expressions were a bit too difficult, still. Still listening to the man speak, she faced her head down to the marker she held: one of fire, apparently. Perhaps that was the reason for the trail being ashen. She was early, for some reason. Whomever had taken those other markers didn't come, for whatever reason they decided. Not that it was a problem; being alone meant she could show how powerful she was in actuality. Despite not practicing ninjutsu in far too long, it wasn't as though she didn't remember anything. Basics were ingrained into memory as though it were a second nature. It was supposed to be a second nature. You couldn't afford to hesitate or screw up on any aspect of utilizing the hand seals or chakra. You'd end up dead. "I'll wait."

She took a seat at one of the desks. The Headmaster continued speaking. Asking for the student's preference? That was a new one. Was he not confident in his teaching skills that he couldn't decide how he desired to teach her? "Hands on," she offered, "it's faster." It wasn't a lie; for just about any ninjutsu he could want, she could perform it based on memories from years ago. Hundreds of times over the course of years did he have to perform those jutsu. It was no problem to do it again now. She had the chakra to afford this time.

There were porcelain balls on the desk, obvious from where she sat. Since it didn't seem as though people were going to come as each second ticked by, tricking into minutes, suggesting they weren't coming at all, she finally spoke. "What are the balls?" It was as good a place to begin as any. "Ready?"

WC: 369​

 

[Kamaru]

The man nodded as the girl seemed to think through the questions and comments, she looked down to the marker she had picked before she answered as well possibly figuring out the meaning behind the fire marker. At first Kamaru wondered if she may be a little slow from the first meeting and how she talked. It was probably rude in a way to think as such but there was the possibility she was just one of those people that thought through things in great detail before coming to a decision. Regardless she stated she’d like to wait. In a way it was part of the class as well, judging how open students were to interactions with others was also a role instructors needed to take and monitor.

Hearing she’d prefer the quicker route got a knowing look. ”If that’s how you prefer to learn that’s okay with me.” Kamaru stated matter of factly. It was pointless to lecture students for hours if they didn’t learn unless they got to apply it in real time, others needed lectures to wrap their mind around what it was they needed to apply.

In the silence that followed Kamru opted to finish off his coffee before she asked the question. Yes the question. The mystery remained though when the question was asked about the white orbs. Kamaru didn’t really know either, he’d have to wait and see just like the first student. ”Well they’re sort of a surprise I guess we’ll only be using one of them. he replied.

The waiting game finally caught up to the girl and she opted to get the class rolling. Few classes were given passing scored for sitting in a room doing nothing for an hour or two so Kamaru opted to oblige the new request.

Take one of the orbs off the desk he held it in his hands and started to channel Fire based Chakra into the odd device. As it got lighter it eventually asscended out of his hands glowing red as it spun slowly before dropping to the ground turning black.

Is it a dud or did I just break it? Kamaru thought to himself.

A black ashen smoke erupted from the orb obscuring it from view before redden embers of coals seem to glow and an orange and black ‘thing’ stood up.

”What the )#(% is that?” Kamaru said looking at the creature. He looked to the young girl but she probably had just as many ideas of exactly what it was as he did.

As the creature regarded the two smoke bellowed out of it's nose and back.

"Well... you may not know... but I guess we'll see what we can learn about fire chakra from this creature. What do you think?" he concluded, they might as well make the best of the situation.

 

[Kari]

It was definitely seeming as though the Academy's director -- name still uncertain, not that it mattered, really -- was uncertain his teaching. Letting the students decide on how the lesson would play out -- not that was necessarily a bad thing, but it wasn't something seen among more experienced teachers that Karurosu had to deal with in his youth, it was something completely new for Kari -- and then there was also the matter of the porcelain balls. He hadn't any idea of their purpose, yet he brought them with him, for the purpose of the lesson. "Fair enough," she shrugged off the teacher's uncertainty. It wasn't as though it could be life threateningly dangerous, this was an Academy. The Academy. Even if the staff was well trained -- not that she wasn't -- certainly, they wouldn't want to have to deal with something that could be potentially difficult, especially for the sake of a single student, right? At least, that's how it was with Karurosu.

The director-turned-teacher grabbed for one of the balls; from his hand, she could see some kind of reaction. It wasn't noticeable immediately, but progressed rapidly. It was repelling from his hand and beginning to glow, much like metal in some furnace or glass over a flame. Fire seemed to be the element of the day, whether she liked it or not -- not that she necessarily had any kind of problem with the element. It was just not what she was accustomed to.

It was glowing. Not long, but it did. It was interesting, to put it lightly (pun not intended). It was a short phenomenon, immediately after, the glass ball came crashing down, surprisingly not shattering upon impact. It was burnt. Blackened on its exterior. Even that wasn't the end of the show: almost immediately after, the ball began smoking, as though it were making the setting for some mysterious opera scene. Like the ones in a cemetery or something. The smoke obscured some figure within; it took a moment, and the headmaster obviously saw it before she did, exclaiming his surprised shock upon seeing it.

For the first time in a long time, Kari was actually surprised. It was a creature she had never seen before; it wasn't exactly ugly, but it was, by no means, natural. It was like some kind of fire elemental spirit attempting to take its own twisted form of a turtle. Its shell was like obsidian, without the sheen, with openings emitting strong steam and heat akin to what vague memories she had of the Incident.

"What is it?" she asked, evidently unafraid. "How do I learn from it?" The thing couldn't be competent, could it? Was she supposed to attack it? Was it intelligent? Was it like some of the stories, where creatures were able to speak and easily communicate with people?

This was certainly an interesting way to kick start her education.

 

[Kamaru]

Kamaru was about to answer the girl’s question when the creature started looking around the classroom. It seemed disinterested with most of what it saw until it noticed the sky and looked at the window and then at the wall in front of it. Its shell started to glow brighter slowly as he clawed the ground as it focused on the wall in front of it. Kamaru quickly realized its straight forward intentions.

”Whoa! Whoa whoa! No-no-no-no-no” Kamaru began running over to stop the creature getting in front of it and opened a window big enough for it to get out. Forming hand seals Kamaru ushered the creature out almost comically since he wasn’t trained really as an animal handler, a faint image of a ramp out the window could be seen. The creature seemed to understand and shuffled up the mostly invisible ramp and out of the window landing heavily on the ground below and walked off to the Proving Grounds. Rubbing his eyes with one hand Kamaru sighed before he shoved something into his ear and started talking about if something was spotted moving around on the Proving Grounds it was a part of an exercise in his class. Pulling it free and shoving it back into an inside jacket pocket Kamaru addressed the girl cheerfully now that the minor crisis was averted.

”As for the creature besides being a creature born of fire I really don’t know the specifics to be honest.” Kamaru admitted. He was unsure if he had just let loose something dangerous or not but at least the classroom wouldn’t get destroyed.

”How you’ll learn or what you learn really depends on you. You said you preferred hands on and I don’t see the point of lecturing students until the pass out from boredom. If you need to recite things or regurgitate information that’s great but if you’re going to be a shinobi you need to understand the theories and application and how they relate more so than prove you can recite or remember a list of static facts. Everything can change in the field and it’s good to keep on your toes whenever possible.” Kamaru said as the ramp flattened and disappeared.

”For now we can observe and see what something with a fire affinity creature acts.” Kamaru explained pulling out a scroll and unfurling it quickly putting his items on it along with the left over orbs. With a puff of smoke he was putting up the scroll and stepping out the window since he had packed up everything he had brought into the class.

”You want to watch it from the window or do you want to go outside? Also if you know any Ninjutsu you can practice while we’re out and about. Just don’t destroy parts of the Academy Building, they usually frown on that and make you pay and repair it.” Kamaru asked already half out the window as he sat on the frame waiting for a response.

 

[Kari]

Everything after the fire elemental's summoning seemed a tad underwhelming: the fire turtle thing had about as much interest as Kari had in being here. It took but a moment to survey its surroundings before attempting to leave, prompting the headmaster turned teacher to act. That the director obviously had minimal, if any, idea what he was dealing with, or what he was supposed to be doing with it was rather sad; this was the guy who was directing students to be Iwa's newest and finest, yet he couldn't even handle a simple summon meant to teach them.

Kari made no reaction as the headmaster reacted, rushing to get the creature out of the room atop some transparent ramp. As it made its way down, he finally turned his attention back onto Kari. He knew nothing; not that it mattered to her, she was familiar enough with the ninjutsu element, but how the hell would another learn from this guy? She offered no comment to him, and him, taking that as a cue, continued his answers.

They were just going to watch it walk around? It sounded like this would be a lovely class. "Okay, let's go." They were going to do this from outside, right? Whatever the headmaster had done with the scroll had had a little ago removed the ramp, permitting for them to simply jump down, or whatever. He was obviously readying to leave, already pushing himself out of the small window and all. It would have made more sense to exit from the front doors and walk the short distance to the field before them, but she wouldn't comment on such. Perhaps that kind of sound logic was just a Kiri thing.

"And I have a fire affinity..." she also spoke, almost muttering. She knew powerful jutsu, many of which she would refuse to show, for now, simply due to the risk of people taking excessive interest in her. Something decently powerful for a student, though, wouldn't be too bad. She just needed something to end this class sooner rather than later. "Should I demonstrate?"

WC: 356​

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OOC: In which it takes me so long for a short post. Sorry about that.

 

[Kamaru]

Kamaru was mostly paying half attention to the young girl as he watched the animal looking for spurts of fire into the air. She seemed to agree with the idea even though they were mostly just jumping out of the class window, it probably looked more like they were skipping class. As he walked with the girl she mentioned she had a fire affinity. With the question of if she should demonstrate Kamaru nodded, ”Sure feel free to go all out, as long as major property damage isn’t done and you don’t injure other students I think it’s find these are the proving grounds after all.”

She didn’t seem like the show off type so Kamaru was kind of curious what she’d do. Meanwhile he eyed the creature that had taken to finding stones to chew on and ‘eat’ it seemed. Kamaru wondered what it was about himself.

(OoC: Just trying to progress the class a bit. Have at it)

 

[Kari]

Major property damage? Well, it made a bit of sense; no one would expect a student, a real student, to have control over their chakra, nor, as an extent, their jutsu. Though, the headmaster also seemed worried about her injuring other students; given the fact that none were in the yard they were, he must have assumed she meant showing her proficiency at a later date. "I meant now..." she said, urging for this lesson to hasten.

With no effort, she finally pushed herself from the window, to reach the ground the teacher and beast were. "Watch," she'd murmur, focusing her attention to the hand seals; she didn't form them quickly, but each with the precision required to properly work. Though not properly equipped for it, Kari went through the motion of inhaling, something she hadn't done in too long; it felt far too foreign a motion. It was uncomfortable, in a sense, though not that she could feel it. She knew, but couldn't feel as well, pressure building up in her torso. As soon as she exhaled, the teacher would see she was more than capable.

Her head jerked towards the fire beast; it wouldn't be injured by a flame. Not if it were like other elemental spirits that tales were told about. She'd exhale then: a massive flame, numerous times larger than herself, blasted towards the turtle beast. The flame roared in its intensity, and one, from a distance, might see that it almost resembled the dragons of old, if but for an instant; in the next, it blasted forward, hitting the dirt ground and beast, scorching the dirt, giving it a blackened appearance. In this new body, Kari couldn't haven't anticipated the power of the blast; it knocked her back several feet, but through some effort not down. She managed to stand the blast. Dirt knocked up to make a small cloud, and residual smoke from the blast made it impossible to see how the beast withstood the blast, not that Kari gave it a second thought. There was no way it couldn't have managed, it wasn't even all that powerful a technique.

Perhaps that made her seem as though she wasn't completely ready, but not without potential. Slowly, she'd turn to face the school's headmaster. "See another?" she'd ask, softly. She didn't feel weary, not yet, but performing stronger jutsu, while having to maintain control of herself, or more like that would certainly be enough to have her exhausted by nightfall.

---

OOC: Dragon Fire, for reference.

 

[Kamaru]

She seemed determined to show him her current level of skill currently as she climbed out after Kamaru and they made their over to the beast in the Proving grounds where it seemed to have found an area to graze in. Once out in the open areas of the proving grounds the small girl asked for him to pay attention to which he smirked slightly wondering what she would do. The jutsu wasn’t small and showed a level of complexity but this didn’t really surprise Kamaru since he had seen a wide scope of ability from ninjas of all ranks and ages. But the small girl next to him did indeed let loose, from the way she acted and spoke she didn’t seem to be the social or bragging type when talking about herself but from her actions it did show she had talent.

The creature the target of her jutsu has found some rocks which surprised Kamaru to watch it ‘eat’ them. As the blast of the jutsu emitted from the small girl dwarfed her size with a fiery display and explosive power Kamaru let out a low whisper. Kamaru watching the technique reached down and tussled the girl’s hair, ”That was pretty good, but going off the vector of your attack you’re not use to the feedback force of the technique yet are you? Or do you practice while standing on top of something and shoot off into an open area when you practice? You might want to practice aiming higher to compensate. Doing things the way you do now isn’t bad either. If you have a an advantage of altitude in a fight or you’re jumping through the air while using that technique it’s good to know how to compensate for the deviation.” Kamaru offered which may seem odd for a teacher who didn’t really seem to know or teach anything.

As Kamaru was about to going to the dynamics of his thoughts on the technique she offered up if he’d like to see her do more. Either she was wanting advice or for the odd thought maybe she just wanted someone to see what she was capable of. Before he could answer the question a warbling growl came from the beast it’s eyes burning like small ember flames.

It was odd to see the creature jump backwards from the two of them and wiggle its tail before a stream of fire erupted from its mouth as well shooting out, the fire had a more liquid form it seemed as he spewed out what was realized to be a thick stream of lava from its mouth. The burst fell short of the duo by a few meters and the odd look from the creature and it’s wagging tale had Kamaru letting out another whistle and clapping. Seeing the creatures tail wagging it seemed excited to be in part of the activities. Kari wasn’t really sure but it kind of looked like the beast was smirking at her.

”I think it wants to play or challenge you to a jutsu display bout… Don’t worry if it tries to kill you I’ll step in… “ Kamaru said out the corner of his mouth as he bent sideways still looking at the creature.

Kari would find herself with a sash on her suddenly reading “Contestant #1” as she stood next to the blacken fire breathing turtle with a similar wooden plague handing from a chain around his neck marked “Contestant #2”.

”Ok lets get this content underway. You have three tries at displaying jutsu. Points will be determined on creativity, accuracy, and techniques used. Although you two could try and beat each other up in a fight there is a chance I’ll have to step in if you try and kill each other. So don’t make me do stuff I should have to. Oh an winner gets a prize. Kari's up first.” Kamaru explained after clapping his hands to get their attention.

 

[Kari]

Admittedly, it was mildly embarrassing to have not accounted for such an obvious detail; too many years had made the assumption of her body size something that wasn't even considered any longer. Now it was anything but; it was at the top layer of her conscious thought: if such a weak technique knocked her off her feat, what could she do in the case of her more powerful? Perhaps she did need the Academy more than she realized; the teacher offered valid advice that was more than obvious. As a trained shinobi, a leader of the students, even, he ought to know that one wouldn't always have that advantage. Hell, when it came down to real combat, strategic advantages almost never existed, unless you determined where you were fighting. Still, she offered to perform another technique, if it was necessary, to end this class sooner rather than later. It could, additionally, provide more information on how she was going to have to cast in order to not lose her balance in more critical situations.

Through the debris of the blast, the fire spirit didn't seem in the last phased. The stub-like appendage from its rear was moving side to side, as far as it could with its rather limited motion, as though it were some excited canine. In some kind of happy retaliation, it it spewed some thick liquid, super-heated to the point of glowing a dull red, as though it were lava; it blasted a short distance away, and there was no doubt that she'd be feeling the heat, were she actually able to. A moment of silence, after which the headmaster turned teacher made a terrible suggestion; she was supposed to display jutsu in a bout? What was this? Some kind of fucking pageant for shinobi in training? It wasn't the threat of danger (which was practically in existent even were he to step in) that bothered her, it was the entire concept.

Unamused eyes slowly turned to the teacher. "If I comply, is the class over?" She might've added a sigh, were she more into the conversation and had finer control over herself. This time, not an actual ninjutsu, but a technique that resembled a fire jutsu; a liquid filled in her mouth, and, like how the previous technique had went, she inhaled; upon exhaling, hand seals being formed all the while, the blast came out as an even larger torrent of flames; this one didn't knock her off her feet. The stream lasted, unending and unweakening. She ensured she'd burn everything in reach (albeit it was all dirt ground). Seconds past, until finally, after some time, it ended.

She didn't give time to be met; this was a bout of three jutsu, the unnamed headmaster put it, and she wanted to be done with this already. This time was a jutsu, but not of the element of fire; with the smoked ground, and small embers and fires where there was brush or dead materials that caught light, she decided to act differently. Chakra was concentrated on her palms; bringing her hands outward and starting to rotated herself in some kind of childlike motion. Though, not quite visible, one might feel a breeze blowing towards her lightly. Around her, it was concentrating in some strange motion; like some kind of weak tornado that hadn't picked up dust to be visible, it was. And that was part two. To conclude it, she'd make this thing visible, and quite the visual masterpiece. Again, the Dragon Fire technique, only, this time, she wouldn't let the blast go beyond the vortex around her; a tornado on fire is what'd surround her.

A short time would pass, and finally it would dissipate. She wouldn't speak, not yet. The beast was supposed to do something. After that, she'd see if she could go, but not before. That'd just be plain rude.

WC: 648​

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OOC: Flamethrower Stream; Whirlwind Stream + Dragon Fire

 

[Kamaru]

”If you want it to be...” Kamaru commented with a shrug. She didn’t seem all that excited about it but that might just be her personality or demeanor towards the subject. In the very least it got her thinking and doing things for herself in her own way which made things easier for Kamaru from his point of view. As he sat and watched the girl’s mouth gapped open sending out another spout of flame in a more controlled fashion burning the area around her. As the embers died she spun around until a spiral of condensing air surrounded her at first it handled been visible but it seemed to be a precursor of sorts before she blurted inside the vortex losing visibility as fire sparked being pushed to the end of the vortex clouding the image of the being inside with fire and smoke.

After a bit the ember laden air floated up and disappointed the girl slowing down and stood looking and waiting.

Kamaru hadn’t noticed the beast had opted to sit down and watch, which was odd since it meant he might actually understand what was going on. As Kamaru waited for the beast to start doing something as well it did a trick Kamaru wasn’t expected. It pulled its head, legs, and tail into its shell. The body bounced into the air a several centimeters off the ground, and fire sparked from one of the openings, Kamaru figured it would have been where the head was, before it landed it began to spin from the force of the fire bursts moving vertically on its side it spun on the ground supported on a trail of fire as it dug into the ground. Kamaru realized it was a mix of fire and lava as it slashed into the ground at an angle carving a groove before slipping underground.

Kamaru wondered if that was the whole drink and felt a bit underwhelmed. As a fin of lava and flame sprung out of the ground at an angle closer to Kari a slanted circle was carved in the ground before the beast burst from below into the air darting up and suddenly dropped rapidly onto one side of the carved circle area. Kamaru raised an eyebrow which turn to on his feet quickly as the disk of earth shot Kari almost a good two meters into the air the creature flying down as the disk spun upside down and then right side up as he fly up after the girl.

Kamaru had stopped moving towards the two to try and catch the girl since he felt the push off the ground as he got closer and understood. They landed about the same time safely and Kamaru looked from the girl to the beast who looked at the girl and moved a rock over towards her feet before he picked up a similar one in his mouth and started crushing or chewing it as if bored.

”Well that was kind of disturbing for a second... You learn anything?” Kamaru said finally after sighing and scratching the back of his head addressing the girl.

Kamaru was trying to figure out who to pick for a winner without getting someone’s feelings hurt or himself burned in the process.

 

[Kamaru]

Kamaru looked at the girl in thought since it had been a while. ”Well I’m going to go get some coffee and use the little ninja’s room. You think about that for when I get back.” Kamaru didn’t know if she needed more time to think. But considering the amount of coffee in his system. He just needed to excuse himself for a bit.

[OoC: Realize the situation since it’s been in our PM chatter, ping me when you get back man to finish the class.]