Cloudy Skies

[Training Post]

Out in the field, Elixar stood in the centre of a clearing. A round, table top style mountain like many of the other mountains that surrounded his own was the platform in which he stood, a light breeze brushing across him as he stood there. The dark folds of his coat trailed in the passing breeze, his eyes shut to the surrounding light he took a slow, deep breath, opening his eyes slowly. Darkness that expanded from the pupil out to the iris gazed upon the world beneath him, from the tallest of the tabletops he gazed at the lower platforms, his vision panned across the view. A view that he would likely gaze upon again at a very near point in time. The corner of his mouth bent upwards in an appreciative smile. The strength of the wind increased as it started to spiral around him, he did not flinch against this wind, but embraced it, crouching low and pausing.

He burst from his stance into a straight run, leaping from the edge of the table top, he spun in the air, keeping a tight form to increase his rotation speed. He succumbed to gravity at the peak of his jump, loosening his form into a free-fall position. He tilted to the left, performing a roll as he drifted in the same direction, he repeated this movement in reverse, putting himself back in the centre. He rolled forwards and landed on the diagonal slope, skidding down the smooth, rock surface, he jumped, curling into a ball and twisting into the air, landing again on the slope before hopping into a large jump to push him towards the platform that was rapidly approaching. He landed feet first near the edge of the mountain, performing a safety roll into a continued run. He brought his right leg up and tucked backwards as he pushed upwards into a tight backward flip.

As he landed, he tucked low and pivoted to his left, swinging his right leg across him for a sweeping kick. He turned and stood, flinging his right leg up once more to perform a backward rotation in the air, this time dragging his trailing right leg behind him and flicking once upside down, performing a tight flip kick. He landed and stood up slowly. He scanned his surroundings, looking for any onlookers. After confirming there were none, he turned his vision back to the mountain top that he had left behind him. He considered the best route for him to take as he returned to the top of the mountain for a short rest. He eventually narrowed it down to just doing the simplest; running in a straight line. He took quick breaths as he hopped from one foot to the other,bursting forward without warning towards his goal.

He widened his strides as he neared the jump, flinging himself towards the taller mountain. He hit the slope running, applying chakra to the soles of his shoes in order to prevent himself from falling and or sliding. With a straight 20 seconds of full speed running, he flipped onto the tabletop and rolled to his feet, making a large exhale as he stood and walked to the centre.

[538 words - 10 CC]

[Training Post]

The mountain that stood before Ryuko was in a word, steep.  Not impassibly so but enough that any civilian or a ninja that was too fresh to know the wall walking exercise would have a difficult time ascending it.  Heck for a gennin like her even being able to cling to the side would be no walk in the part since it was tall enough that it would probably exhaust her charka reserves.

Using her Vernier was out of the question since while that allowed her to jump in mid-air it was only in increments of fifteen meters at a time which was nowhere near enough to even get to the half way mark and  considering it was a higher ranked jutsu would using it would only fatigue her quicker.

Perhaps that was what the Jounin who wanted to meet her at the top wanted. For her to exhaust herself getting to them so they could test her will to fight on at a low ebb.  Perhaps if she could subvert those expectations and fine a way to get up there without tiring herself out entirely she’d gain herself a useful edge.

Glancing around Ryuko looked to see if there was any short cuts to the top such as a hidden passage way and came up empty. Sure it was probably against the spirit of the training exercise but what kind of ninja would she be if she didn’t at least attempt to cheat?  

That left climbing it the old fashioned way which would still drain her stamina but at least wouldn’t leave her with an empty tank once she made it up.  Running towards the cliff face Ryuko leapt up seconds before crashing into the wall clearing a good ten meters before landing with her left foot only just narrowly touching an outcropping rock before leaping again fearlessly.

After all what did she have to be afraid of? She was a Dragoon and had been training on mountains similar to this one for years. Sure they had been smaller but the principles about jumping around them remanding the same.  Who needed a safety line when it would be child’s play to anchor herself with a little bit of chakra and worst come to worse she could always catch herself with her lance by trusting it into the rocky Craig.

She jumped, and then jumped again just as the ground beneath her started to crumble apart and almost sent her sliding downwards. That had been a close one but she paid it no mind as she grabbed hold of a ledge with an outstretched arm then hauled herself up before skipping into the sky once more.

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed as she continued her assent but soon she saw the top within reach. She’d certainly gotten their quicker than if she had climbed by using ropes but couldn’t help but feel that her time could have been just a bit better with a little bit more experience as she’d had a couple slips and near misses along the way.

Panting heavily from exertion Rose grabbed the edge of the top and used it to flip herself onto the flat table like peak landing with a heavy thud. She was going to allow herself to lay there for a moment to rest but quickly rolled to her feet when she realized that she wasn’t alone.

Standing in the center of the clearing with his back to her was a man with long flowing silver hair. From the looks of him he couldn’t have been much older than Ryuko herself so she naturally assumed he was another gennin here for training just like she was.

Birds of feather the two of them were both clad in their dark black outfits though his overcoat hid his figure much better than her bodysuit did causing her to frown slightly as that made it harder for her to appraise him other then it was quite apparent he wasn’t breathing nearly as hard as she was at the moment.

“Ex…excuse me sempai” Ryuko managed to get out with some difficulty as the higher elevation was making it more difficult for her to catch her breath then she was used to. “You wouldn’t happen to have seen a Jounin around would you?” she asked sounding hopeful since it would be pretty funny if the two of them had managed to beat the instructor up here.

Glancing over the edge hoping to spot her superior officer coming with presumably another teammate in tow she sighed, boy it was going to be a bitch to get back down again. What an utter pain in the ass this location was, who in their right mind would deliberately pick it for a meeting?

[796/500 words - 10 CR]

There are a few things the Land of Lightning is known for. Besides the fact that it houses one of the five great shinobi countries, the great mountains are a sight to be hold, and quite the terrain to traverse. Any seasoned shinobi from Kumogakure had fond memories of training in the mountains. Either their wall walking techniques, or even just agility training by maneuvering through the tall spires of smooth rock. It was hard not to be so well built when you had such an environment to run around and train in. Touya was no different. He remembered running around the mountains, leaping from the top of one to the other endlessly, desperately trying to catch up to his peers. He didn't expect that he actually would have, let alone becoming Raikage, but even still he returned to the mountainous range to sharpen his ability, as did many others.

With an excited and nostalgic grin, Touya leaped from his position atop a flatbed-like mountain to another neighboring mountain. It didn't matter how skilled he became, or what he saw as a ninja, jumping from mountain to mountain would always be exciting and fun to him. It was exhilirating, simple, and reminded him of the parts of his childhood he could enjoy. Leaping off of the second mountain, he twisted in the air, kicking off the side of another mountain up toward another flat one. He stood on that for just a split second as he leaped off, kicking off the side of another mountain with his left foot, flipping over onto a lower mountain and quickly flying up to a higher platform from there. Touya looked around, taking in the fresh air. His senses were tuned to his surroundings, as they always were. As he moved further into the mountains range, he could feel two separate signatures. One was headed toward the other which was standing still. Perhaps it was another pair sharpening their skills. Actually, it was most likely what it was. Or maybe a couple looking for some privacy. Who could really tell from little information. Either way, Touya was curious, and he found his curiosity was too much to bear sometimes.

Touya quickly jumped from his position as well, keeping track of the chakra signatures he had detected. The mobile one was moving slowly, but making its way surely. He decided to take a slightly longer way around, sneaking up on the still signature. Judging from the mixture of elemental chakra, he could guess that the still signature was Takoyaiba-kun. He spoke with him semi-often and had familiarized himself with his signature. The other one was a bit weaker, and had not yet awoken their elemental potential. It was likely that this one was a genin. How nice it would be if Takoyaiba-kun had taken a genin under his wing. Touya couldn't help but to be a bit optimistic on the subject, and slightly amused. Though Takoyaiba has come a long way, any scenario that plays in his head ends in one of them going a little over the edge. Kumogakure's youngsters can be rather rambunctious, as Takoyaiba and Touya himself have proved. However, he does believe in Takoyaiba. If he could look past somethings and evolve with a student, then they could both benefit. But, as usual, he was probably looking too much into it. It could just be a sparring match, or a coincidence altogether. But that certainly was the Raikage, covering all the bases.

With some more elegant, seemingly effortless strides along the mountains, Touya now took a straight shot toward his destination. He leaped from one mountain top to the next, landing atop a spire that was above Takoyaiba, masking his presence for now. A moment later, he watched as Ryuko Rose appeared before him, tiring out from traveling the mountains. He was impressed she was standing up traveling that far, Touya remembered when he first began traveling along the mountains. But she will get used to it, and she'll become a long stronger with these terrains, just as the rest of them did. Touya chuckled to himself at Ryuko's inquiry, unaware that the Jounin she was looking for was most likely the young man that stood in front of her. Unable to keep himself from the gathering much longer, Touya flicked himself across, appearing quickly behind Ryuko. "Tsk, Takoyaiba-kun. You need to make yourself a little more imposing. Nobody even believes you're a jounin, nowadays." Touya teased him lovingly, guessing he might react a bit negatively toward it, especially after Ryuko's mistake.

He put a hand on the young kunoichi's head with a light smile. Ryuko came from a rather prestigious family, one Kumogakure was lucky to have around. Even more, they were lucky to have young ones like Ryuko. She was a rather loud and hot blooded individual, but that also meant she was quick to go into battle. And coming from a family like her's, one would also learn much of loyalty and devotion, something Touya valued. "And you, Hime-chan. Congratulations on becoming a genin. How are you enjoying being a full fledged shinobi?" Touya made it a note to be close to his subordinates and even the civilians of the village. But this girl in particular, he was interested in her future.

[word count: 888]

[Yeah, so this post totally deleted itself halfway through ;-;]

With a heavy thud, another ninja made their entrance, rolling into view. Noticing the sound, he turned to greet the new appearance, a female not much younger than him was the new arrival. It seemed that she too chose to gravitate towards the darker colours when picking her colour scheme. Noting this small fact, Elixar decided he didn't immediately dislike the girl. Elixar turned towards her as she asked him a question about whether he'd seen any jounin. He refrained from commenting as another figure appeared from near nowhere. A familiar face, one so familiar, even though they semi-regularly, Elixar would have known who he was even if he hadn't met him personally; the Raikage, the 'most important' single ninja in the village. One would be hard pressed to not know of the man that ruled the country.

Responding to his jovial poke at Elixar's age and appearance, Elixar squinted and poked out his tongue for a brief second, beckoning the two to come to him with a single hand gesture. It seemed that the tradition of training amongst the mountains was one revived with the fresh ninja from the academy and even the great kage himself was one to come up to the mountain heights. He took a deep breath, gazing up at the strangely cloudless sky. Even his efforts to add clouds to the sky had gone quickly, the cloudless sky was definitely something very strange amongst the Land of Lightning, which was famous for its swordsmen and women, Takoyaki and thick, white clouds and raging thunderclouds.

Sighing, he looked back to normal level, hopefully to the pair being closer to him for them not being required to call out and instead could talk at a normal volume.

The young silver haired man had just turned slightly to regard her with a neutral expression on his face when she felt a sudden soft breeze of displaced air run across her back.  Strong winds were fairly normal at this elevation so she didn’t really think much of it until a robust voice spoke up from behind her causing the poor girl to nearly jump out of her skin with a loud eep.

"Tsk, Takoyaiba-kun. You need to make yourself a little more imposing. Nobody even believes you're a jounin, nowadays." said the voice in a playful tone causing the man whose name was apparently Takoyaiba to stick his tongue out for the briefest of seconds in response, fast enough that had Ryuko not already been looking in his direction she would have missed it.

Takoyaiba must have been the strong silent type since instead of speaking up he simply beckoned Ryuko and the person standing behind her to join him with a wave of his hand which seemed to break the spell that had fallen over the girl as she returned to her senses and glanced over her shoulder to see just who had joined them only for her mouth to gape with a mixture of disbelief and awe that it was the Raikage himself.

What was such a great man like him doing here?  Could he possibly be the one who had requested her to come?  That was an honor fair higher then she deserved. Sure she’d done pretty good in the academy but she was still far from the top of the class.  Besides hadn’t Oba said that it had been a Jounin that had placed the invitation?  

She doubted there was a man or women for the matter that would mistake Touya-sama as some mere Jounin. The way her father Lord Taiho spoke of him, the Raikage was one of the greatest military minds of modern history, a notion he’d done nothing to dispel the several times she’d met the man. Wait hadn’t he said something about Takoyaiba needing to look more tough otherwise people wouldn’t believe he was so high ranked.  

“He’s really a Jounin?” she asked skeptically since Takoyaiba seemed a bit young for the roll.  True it was possible to climb the ladder as it where early. The fact that her own mom had become elite at a younger age then Ryuko was right now was proof enough of that, but there was nothing about this guy that screamed at her that she couldn’t beat him up if they got into a scrap.

As if in response to her question Touya placed a hand on her forhead and lightly ruffled her hair affectionately the way he always did as a form of greeting whenever the two of them ran into each other brining a warm smile to her face.

"And you, Hime-chan. Congratulations on becoming a genin. How are you enjoying being a full fledged shinobi?" asked the Raikage causing the smile to turn into a annoyed pout at the use of her much detested nickname.  

Of course he was one of the few people who could call her that and get away with it without risking getting smacked.  Not because he was presumptively her boss but rather because he was one of the few men in the world she genuinely respected and admired.  

She could still vividly recall the day he had just happened to come by her home om some business related matter or other and ended up saving her from being kidnapped.  He had been like a force of nature tearing her assailants to shreds in the blink of an eye then afterword taking the time to check to make sure she was alright.  

“I dunno Tou-san.” Ryuko replied, paying him back for the early nickname use by invoking one of his sobriquets. “It’s my first day so it’s still too early to say much. Thought it beats being back at the palace again that’s for damn sure.” She said speaking roughly in an attempt to not sound princess like as was expected of her.

Breaking free of his Touya’s hand she walked towards Takoyaiba as he request then stood with her hands at her hips impatiently waiting for him to tell her what was going on here so that they could get the show on the road.  Part of her wondered if any other gennin would be showing up soon as part of a team meeting of if this was about something more political.

Touya let out a small chuckle at Ryuko's questioning of Takoyaiba's rank. Indeed, he was a rather young Jounin, not even Touya had become a Jounin until later in his own life, but if anyone had seen him in battle they wouldn't have questioned it. Takoyaiba had proven himself invaluable even at a young age, and thus far he's shown he will continue to be for a very long time. Touya finds himself gravitating toward Takoyaiba, watching him, making sure his allegiance is with Kumogakure, and that he is always prepared to lay his life on the line for it. Though if he was being honest, he never felt he had to worry about Takoyaiba, he knew he'd do anything to defend the village. It was just the more cautious side of the Raikage really.

"You might not believe it just by looking at him, but Takoyaiba-kun is quite skilled. Even I admire his strength. If you're here to train with him, you're in for a treat." Touya meant it. He wouldn't choose anyone better for Ryuko to learn from than Takoyaiba, beside maybe himself. Touya didn't think he'd be able to take anyone under his wing just yet anyhow. He still had much to learn being forced by honor into the role of Raikage, and often times he wondered if he could actually provide the village with the leader they truly needed. But one thing was for certain, he couldn't let the former Raikage blindly lead them to their destruction, so he did what he needed to and tried his best along the way. With many things in the works and more questions and issues arising each day, he didn't want to promise Ryuko anything on his end he couldn't provide a hundred percent. He just hoped that Ryuko and Takoyaiba could be patient with one another. They were both invaluable in his eyes, in their own ways.

Where Takoyaiba held much military strength, the intensive support from the lightning daimyo was much to be desired, and helping one of his daughters grow to be strong and insure a great future shone a good light and Touya, and in turn the village. He remembered that night he was able to rescue Ryuko luckily. Or rather, not too luckily. He had knowledge of some high class missing-nin in the area, their intentions were merely questionable. However, it became clear when they attempted to capture the Daimyo's young daughter as a bargaining chip or some sort. Appalled, Touya handled the matter himself, decimating the despicable fools in no time. The look on Ryuko's face was one of fear, but he also noticed awe, and a hint of gratitude. While the look on the daimyo's face assured much of Kumo's future. Touya has kept an eye on her since, and admittedly he has been more susceptible to feeling a sort of fatherly feeling toward her aside from just the tactical advantage she would provide.

"Well, in due time you'll find the importance of being a shinobi. You're already off to a good start with Takoyaiba-kun, here. You have a bright future ahead of you I'm sure, and don't be afraid to seek my guidance."

Touya looked up toward the sky. Many wouldn't see much, a simple shift in the clouds in the village hidden in them. But as expected, the Raikage often saw more than most in the village would. He saw something that needed to be taken care of. Looking back toward the two, he bowed his head slightly. "Well, it would seem I have some business I've forgotten about. How silly of me sometimes. I apologize for interrupting your training. Please, take care of Takoyaiba-kun for me, will you Hime-chan." He flashed a joking smile, before turning around. "Happy training." He leaped off the mountain top down off of the range, headed back toward his village.

[exit]

[I hope you don't mind me using a simple, standard blade for the exercise as my equipment was so late to get looked at that it has only just come under scrutiny >_> If you prefer, I could use it on approval, but nah, yo choice.]

With Touya's quick disappearance after an equally quick burst of praise, the two were left alone. Elixar spoke for the first time since their arrival, it was somewhat deep, but not unnaturally so, clear, and had a mutual disapproving tone that he had been met with. "You have the option to take his word on that, or you can see for yourself first hand." He paused, turning full on to face the younger girl. "But, like Tou-sama said, under my tutelage, you should be on the fast track to be where I'm at with some effort. As the only one who responded, you're already on task. You'll have to do this challenge alone, but that should give me a good show of where you're at." He stepped backwards, giving the girl a little bit of time to respond, or ask any questions. If there were any, he'd answer to the best of his ability before moving on to the main task. He reached into his pocket, withdrawing a small keyring with an octopus dangling from the end of it, it had a smug, smiling face and a monocle with tophat.

The Keyring:

He looked at it affectionately, turning back to the genin. "You need to steal this from me before you become too tired to fight. If you succeed, the keyring is yours and you succeed this task. If not... We'll think of something." He waited to see if there were any questions, immediately getting ready in case she attempted a surprise attack.
"Prove to yourself that Tou-sama wasn't wrong, about either of us."


[Would have done a better drawing of the octopus, but I forgot, so, 2 minute version on paint, yolo]

[yay go ahead and use a standard blade for this]

"You might not believe it just by looking at him, but Takoyaiba-kun is quite skilled. Even I admire his strength. If you're here to train with him, you're in for a treat." replied Tou-san to her earlier question causing a shiver to run up Ryuko’s spine. The black cloaked guy might not look like much on the surface but in this case appearances really where deceiving.

If Takoyabia was as good as the Raikage claimed (and she had no reason to doubt her liege) then there was no way she was going to be able to beat him in a straight sparring match like the one she had almost suggested they have when she had thought he was just a gennin like herself. Boy was she lucky Tou-san had cleared up that misunderstanding before she ended up making a total fool of herself.

"Well, in due time you'll find the importance of being a shinobi. You're already off to a good start with Takoyaiba-kun, here. You have a bright future ahead of you I'm sure, and don't be afraid to seek my guidance." said Tou-san as if it was in the remote realm of possibility that she was actually going to bother him with her petty problems.

"Well, it would seem I have some business I've forgotten about. How silly of me sometimes. I apologize for interrupting your training. Please, take care of Takoyaiba-kun for me, will you Hime-chan." Commanded the Raikage as he leapt off the mountain vanishing nearly as quick as he had arrived.

Ryuko rolled her eyes slightly at the remark. How the heck was she supposed to take care of a Jounin who in theory was supposed to be much more capable then she was in pretty much every aspect? Wasn’t it supposed to be the other way around? She hoped that Takoyaiba wasn’t expecting her to bake him lunch or something because if so he was going to end up with a bento shoved in face.

"You have the option to take his word on that, or you can see for yourself first hand." said Takoyaiba deciding to finally speak up now that they were alone again. Ryuko gulped at the slight disapproving tone of his voice. Great now he was ticketed at her skepticism not that she could blame him. If someone from the village had doubted she was a gennin she’d probably want to show off as well.

"But, like Tou-sama said, under my tutelage, you should be on the fast track to be where I'm at with some effort. As the only one who responded, you're already on task. You'll have to do this challenge alone, but that should give me a good show of where you're at.” continued the Jounin.

“Aw man” Ryuko cursed inwardly at her misfortune of having to take this test by herself. At least if she had a couple of team mates it’d be harder for him to single her out, but she was just going to have to roll with it since she couldn’t count on having people with her on every mission she was going to get from now on.

“Screw the fast track” she exclaimed being far to used to people offering her shortcuts to greatness that would only ultimately undermine her in the long run. What use was being ranked up early when the rank up was only on paper and she couldn’t truly handle herself when the shit hit the fan?

Seemingly amused by her outburst Takoyaiba reached into his pocket then pulled out one of the swankiest key chains Ryuko had ever had the privilege to lay eyes upon. Looking like the mascot from some cartoon it featured high class purple octopus complete with a monocle and top hat and was cute beyond words to the point Ryuko actually had to hold back a girly squeal of excitement less she ruin her tough girl reputation.

“You need to steal this from me before you become too tired to fight…..” The silver haired boy started to explain but Ryuko never gave him a chance to finish that sentence as she leapt forward slinging the lance off her back in one smooth motion and trusting the pointed head of it it towards the hand holding the keychain in an attempt to knock it right out her sensai’s hands.

Was she jumping the gun? Hell yes but why the heck should she wait around for him to get himself into a ready defensive stance when she already had a clear objective to accomplish? Since she knew he was a jounin her best chance was to go all out right from the start and not hold anything back instead of holding back like she would have when she had thought he was a gennin. In this case knowing really was half the battle.

As expected, she jumped the gun. She slung her lance from her back, leaping forwards in one swift movement. Elixar already was analysing her performance. Her weapon draw was smooth, it had been practised, she was was obviously familiar with her weapon. With a pointing style attempt, she was aiming to poke Elixar's cute little octopus out of his hands before he was ready. Whilst there was no such thing as ready in the ninja world, sometimes a drop of patience would go a mile, especially when it came to timing attacks.

She hadn't committed fully to the thrust, making the strike weak and loose. Elixar rose the finger holding the octopus, causing it to rise, he rotated it and flicked it into the air, clear of the oncoming lance, it passed under his raised arm. He would then move his arm so that he slammed down on the pole of the lance whilst stepping into Ryuko's personal bubble, swinging his right leg at hers as he moved in. He would aim to hook her leg and kick upwards whilst pushing further down on the lance pole.

By doing so, her end of the pole would likely catch her in the underarm, pulling her over as Elixar destroyed her footing, throwing the girl over his shoulder. In being half hearted with her attacking, she was going to be experiencing likely 1 of the many hits she would suffer during their exercise. If things went well, Elixar would make the Ox seal before catching the keyring on his finger and hooking it to the right side of his hip, reaching under the back of his coat to brandish a  standardised blade, modelled so that both edges of the blade were cutting edges, with a wide flat of the blade. He would hold it rather loosely in his right hand, giving a few practice swings to test its weight. It would be clear to Ryuko, who seemed well accustomed to weaponry, that with these few movements of the blade, if she managed to catch a glimpse of it, that Elixar was using a blade he wasn't fully accustomed to.

Ryuko hadn’t had any real expectations her surprise attack would actually work. She’d have had to have the luck of the devil to get the keychain off a jounin on the first try, but even so she hadn’t expected him to react to her ambush so quickly as he causally rotated the octopus around using the momentum from spinning it to toss it into the air.

“Shit” Ryuko cursed under her breath. If only she had brought some kunai or shuriken with her after all that would have been the perfect time to take a hand off her lance and launch a projectile to try and knock the darn thing off course while it was in midair. It seemed her bad planning had bit her in the ass after all.

That thing about not holding back earlier hadn’t been entirely true since that wasn’t the best trust she was capable of pulling off, no she was saving that as her trump card since she knew she was likely to only get one real shot at using it and couldn’t afford to carelessly waste it.

Even so that hadn’t exactly been a half assed attack either so she was shocked that he was actually able to bring a hand down and grab hold of the pole shaft grabbing it just under the hooks that sat behind the lance head with expert timing.

Well it wasn’t so much that he caught her weapon in itself that surprised her but where since the margin for error had be so low that small mistake would have been enough to slice his hand open. Normally someone would try to grab it further up the shaft but then she hadn’t had it in his airspace long enough for that to be a practical option.

Normally someone grabbing on wouldn’t be much of a problem. That was expected to happen now and again and she’d developed several tricks to deal with such situations. The second his fingers latched onto the poll she reacted by trying to launch a giga drill to twist it free but Elixar’s grip was like steel preventing her from being able to revolve the lance the way she wanted.

The Jounin would give her no time to try one of her other tricks as he stepped in towards her with a quick leg sweep that she was able to narrowly avoid by taking the hand closed to him hand the shaft of her weapon and jumping back.

She might have avoided being tripped but it mattered little as the fancy footwork she had done to get out of the way left her without a stable grip on the ground as Elixar pushed down on the end of the poll he was holding hard.

Too late Ryuko realized her mistake. In moving further back Ryuko had actually given him superior leverage sending the part of the lance she was still holding under her right arm slamming painfully into her limb and lifting her into the air with enough force to send he flying over the Jounin’ shoulder.

“You jerk” she cursed at Takoyaiba sounding angrier then she really was, something that she had a lot of practice with. Honestly if anything she was happy for what he had done since tossing a dragoon like her into the air wasn’t exactly the smartest thing to do. Sure the process of getting their had hurt but she was right in her element now so it’d been worth it.

That’s when the Exliar made his own mistake as he actually let go of the shaft in order to form a hand seal not that Ryuko could see that at the moment since she was busy making her move by spinning around in mid-air while simultaneously raising her lance up so that she was holding it firmly by the base.

“EAT THIS” She shouted as channelled a Vernier thought the shaft of her weapon to accelerate it as she gave it a mighty downward heave while aiming straight for Elixar’s head as if she was actually trying to crack it open. Not that she’d actually expected to be able to land the blow. In fact she was quite counting on it to miss especially after telegraphing it like she had.

Instead when he moved to get out of the way she would strike the ground which would generate an explosion of debris ten meters wide which would hopefully be enough to give her the opening she needed for her real attack. With any luck he’d believe she had actually lost her cool and was blindly going after him directly now instead of her true objective.

Elixar succeeded in throwing the girl into the air by using her own weapon against her, probably the only time that he would be able to get away with doing so. As he turned, he made the hand seal and hooked the keyring to his waist, moving to remove the sword from under his waistcoat. With the alert from Ryuko, announcing her attack as she swooped, Elixar dived to the right as the cloud formed and started to spread, rapidly absorbing the moisture in the area. He drew his sword properly as he rolled.

Debris was blasted at him as she followed through with her attack. Elixar reached his feet and swung his blade on a horizontal plane, cutting a thin line of sight for him to observe through for a brief second. He made 3 hand seals as he hopped backwards, Ox, Boar and then Horse. A mass of swirling black clouds encompassed him and moved the lighter bits of debris out of his way, a small stone clipping his shoulder as it moved through the cloud. He made the Ox seal, firing burst of brilliant blue lightning in a straight line, the multiple bolts covering a 1 meter diameter as they raced forwards at high speed towards Ryuko's position. As they reached the moistureless area, they would each expand in thickness quickly and increase in strength.

It would be a rather powerful hit if she was hit full on. It was a quickly put together counter but he believed that Ryuko would be able to dodge at least some of it.

(Will be hitting at A rank full on thanks to Storm Front)

“Yes” thought Ryuko her heart practically singing with glee as Elixar rolled out of the way of her downward strike as she’d expected he would only to get caught in the resulting debris field that quickly followed her lance head striking the ground with extra ordinary force.

The damage dealt would be negligible at best but that was ok as far as she was concerned since the primary purpose behind her actions hadn’t been to hurt the Jounin testing her but to obfuscate his vision since if couldn’t see what was coming next until it was almost on top of him then his reaction time to it would hopefully be slower.

It was no coincidence that the rubble was blasted away from her instead of in every direction thanks to a bit of chakra applied to the tip of her blade as it hit the dirt helping to shape it into a cone directed forward and to the sides of where the hit had landed.

Even before she had landed Ryuko had pulled her lance back and was channelling chakra into her arms in preparation for her follow up move, the only problem was the cloud of dust and dirt she had generated was so wide that it was blocking Elixar from her view as surely as it was obscuring his view of her so she wasn’t quite sure where to strike.

Her best bet was his last known position, but that was a gamble at best since if someone tried this same trick against her she’d have already moved from that spot. Maybe she shouldn’t have used a Vernier to argument the move after all but then again the smaller the debiree field the higher the chance Elixar could have avoided being caught in it in the first place.

Ironically it was Elixar himself that solved the dilemma for her as he swung a cheap looking sword thought the grime parting it just enough from him to be see thought it for a brief moment. But such a window was a two way street since if he could see out from it she could see in allowing her to verify his location.

She caught sight of him just as he was beginning to weave a hand seal and cursed inwardly. God only knew what sort of jutsu he was trying to get off but regardless it couldn’t be anything but bad news for her.

Realizing that it was now or never Ryuko struck out, using her thunder thrust technique to plunge her lance forward at incredible velocity towards the Jounin’s right side in a desperate bid to interrupt Elixar before he could finish entwining his fingers to form all of the correct signs needed to get his move out.

If this was one of those moves that required only one or two seals to preform then she was in for some serious trouble since then his jutus would activate faster then she could interject but she was counting on the fact that he probably wouldn’t use anything too serious on her.

Or at least she hoped so anyhow because her strike had another purpose behind it other than purely trying to stop Elixar from using a technique to either counter attack her or even worse change positions. No she’d aimed at Elixar’s right side because that’s where he had hooked the keychain to.

But that wasn’t all. To increase her chances of scoring the prize she’d added an additional twist to her attack, combing her echo flash technique with the thunder trust to rapid fire four additional strikes instantly following after the first in a scattered pattern around the original blow.

Even in the event she had been to slow to prevent his jutus activating if it wasn’t a body flicker, bushin or replacement technique of some kind then chances where that at least one of the trusts would managed to knock the key chain loose at the very least, or even hooked onto it if she was really lucky.

The problem lay if she failed to prevent his jutsu and he was actually attacking her. If that was the case then things where about to become a lot more complicated depending on what he threw her way. Ryuko was willing to take a few lumps if that was what it took to achieve victory but there where some blows even she wasn’t daring enough to take head on.

The nature and speed of her own attack was such that she had already fully committed to using it and there was little she could do to change that after the fact. Still she hadn’t been stupid enough to launch it without taking that into account and had a couple of tricks left up her sleeve if her little interference attempt failed spectacularly.

[Because of the IOOC event, we're gonna have to wrap this up soon. Same goes for our Current time one so I can claim my weapon. I'm thinking we cut this short by ending up falling from the edge of the mountain side so we can exit. And then re enter the topic after the IOOC event by landing on one of the lower mountain faces I described earlier]

Cutting through the cloud had backfired as Elixar back stepped to weave three seals. He jumped back as Ryuko burst forwards. She reached him far faster than expected, likely with the usage of a jutsu. He had barely left the floor as she closed in on him, thrusting with utmost focus towards Elixar's right side of the hip. Frowning, he tried to swerve his hip. His octopus swung out from the movement. Elixar watched in slow motion as the the tip of the pole arm brushed the hook of the key ring, pushing it slightly so that it was barely connected.

He continued to rise in the air from his jump. The single thrust turned into four more. His hand seals were complete and the black cloud formed and swirled upwards from his feet. The fourth thrust clipped the octopus by the edge of one of its tentacles after being pushed slightly off course by the swirling mass of black cloud. Caught in the current, the loose octopus rode the waves, a bemusing spectacle that had the octopus riding the black clouds as they swirled up around Elixar towards his mouth.

He snapped out and grabbed it in his teeth by the hook as he switched to the Ox seal. A brilliant burst of pale blue lightning flashed down onto Ryuko's position. If she had lost her balance from committing to the hit, which he severely doubted. She would be in a bad position to counter. In the current circumstance, she was already placed in a bad position anyway. She was directly below Elixar, negating her air advantage. She had just committed to a linear set of techniques, and would likely need the vernier to put herself out of harm's way as the lightning tore down on her position. In doing so, Elixar would have the ample time to analyse the vernier jutsu that she had been utilising to propel herself forwards.

All the while, the octopus jangled meekly between his teeth as the air current caught it and pushed it upwards and Elixar began to move backwards from his jump. In his head, he congratulated her for such speedy movement, forcing Elixar onto the back foot almost immediately. They were about half way from the centre to the edge, if the direction attacking didn't change soon, they would likely be running out of floor space very quickly.

[Considering the ooc event is going to be at least a month or two long if not more I'd rather not leave this hanging part way though. Let's just end it now shall we please]

If you asked Ryuko after the fact she would swear she felt the moment when the tip of her lance connected with the octopus keychain though realistically speaking she couldn’t have possibly felt that thought the fourteen inch shaft of the poll arm she was holding.

It went to show just how good her aim was since her first strike would have knocked it fully lose if Elixar hadn’t managed to swing his hips away like that at the last second and even then she’d still managed to tag it at least partially, enough so that it was now hanging on by a preverbal thread. Still If it hadn’t been for the debris slowing the Jounin down she likely wouldn’t have managed the feat.

As the young kunoichi had feared her attack hadn’t been enough to stop the Jounin from completing his hand seals, rather she had merely delayed them ever so slightly as a black cloud began to form around Takoyaiba’s feet even as her echo flash lashed out thought it didn’t really seem to do anything straight off.

Ryuko couldn’t help but wonder what the strange black cloud was for since he hadn’t attacked with it directly at least yet and it wasn’t enough to conceal his entire body, thought why would be bother to conceal himself when the dust haze she had kicked up did that just fine? In any case Elixar wouldn’t have gone to all that effort to make it for nothing so it was something to be wary of.
Her rapid repeated thrusting absolutely obliterated what was left of the debris from her earlier thunder clap technique giving Ryuko a clear field of vision as her fourth and final thrust struck true finally knocking the keychain free.

“YES” thought Ryuko feeling a rush of adrenalin surge thought her body at the sight of a well put together plan coming to fruition, especially since it had been such a costly one. That particular combination she had just pulled off had been a rather taxing one straining her arms especially the one that Elixar had struck earlier.

She wouldn’t be able to repeat that anytime soon without drastically lowering her combat performance afterwards, luckily she won’t have to as fate would have it since timing was everything. If it had been any one of her other trusts from the echo flash she’d still have to go thought with the other thrusts first before she could do anything else with those arms, but because it had happened with her last she was now free to act.

Her last trust has left her with the pole arm still extended so as the loose octopus started to rise up she yanked back as hard as she could using the hooks that lay directly behind the lance head to catch onto the ring pulling it away at the last second and literally snatch victory from the jaws of defeat leaving Elixar to chomp on nothing but thin air.

“Mine.” She exclaimed possessively but the Jounin still seemed to have something to say on the matter since he’d preformed another hand seal at the same time as he’d been chomping down on some ozone. Unexpectedly a bolt of blue lightning burst out of the black cloud that had formed around him heading straight towards her.

“Oh so that’s what that was for” Ryuko thought to herself as time seemed to slow to a crawl around her and the electrical blast surged forwards towards her at prodigious speeds. It wasn’t quite as fast as real lightning but it was fast enough. There was no way she had time to preform hand signs in order to use the replacement jutsu and even if she could there was nothing on the mountain top for her to switch with.

Acting instinctively Ryuko channeled a surge of chakra thought her polearm blasting it from the lance head to send herself flying backwards and out of the way as the lighting blot struck the spot she had just been occupying only a moment earlier with a loud bang as the ground that was hit literally evaporated.

If her Olyndicus hadn’t been made of pure chakra metal making channeling spiritual energy thought it easier than normal her vernier would have been too late, and even as it was the force of the blast was enough to send her slamming down to the ground hard causing her to snap out of the time dilation effect she had been experiencing.

“Ow, what’s the big deal jerk? Are you trying to kill me?” She accused, her ears still ringing from being so close to the discharge. For what was supposed to be a simple test that last move had been clearly going over the top. If that had hit her directly she was fairly sure her flesh would have been frayed straight off the bone and then fried to a crisp.

Quickly pulling herself up to her feet Ryuko’s knees were trembling from taking such a close call thought she’d never openly admit how shaken up she was as drew the top of the lance with the keychain still attached to it close. Taking the chain off the hook with her free hand she held it to her bosom protectively in case Exliar tried to snatch the octopus back before plastering a shit eating grin on her face.

“I never gave you the chance to finish explaining earlier, but I take it this means I won.” said Ryuko confidently. Boy was she going to feel sore the next morning from being thrown around and knocked down but damn if she wasn’t on cloud nine right now from one upping her sensai.

[950/900 +10 to CR]

Ryuko was definitely nimble, she avoided the hit by the skin of her teeth. Elixar landed as be was berated with angry questions "Maaaaaybe" he laughed as he picked himself up. "Good to see you're capable of reaching your objectives, but, that last attack was to show you that the mission doesn't just end, there's always a sense of danger until you're safe back at home." He dusted himself off, examining the blade he had and discarding it. "The octopus is yours, let it be the first of your collection" with a friendly smile he turned, "see you around"

[Exit, phone post, sorry was short]

If their where any doubts about Elixar being Jounin material or not in Ryuko’s head the 'fight' they had just had if you could call it that had just done a pretty good job banishing them. Sure she had technically won by successfully snatching the octopus keychain from him, but she hadn’t failed to notice she hadn’t connected a direct hit on the man once during their little training exercise.

If that last move of his was anything to go by he probably could have fried her to a crisp at any time, he simply hadn’t because it would have been plain overkill to get serious against a lone gennin like herself. She knew being a ninja could be dangerous but seriously busting that type of stuff out on the first day was just plain nuts.

"Maaaaaybe" Exliar said sarcastically in reply to her acquisition causing her glaring at him to intensify. "Good to see you're capable of reaching your objectives, but, that last attack was to show you that the mission doesn't just end, there's always a sense of danger until you're safe back at home." He remarked.

“Idiot, not even home’s safe sometimes.” Ryuko muttered darkly under her breath as the Jounin casually tossed aside the blade he’d been using. Now that she could get a closer look at it she could see that it was pretty dull which made it a pretty good training tool since if he clocked her with it he wouldn’t take a limb off by accident. Well at least he wasn’t being entirely irresponsible after all.

“The octopus is yours, let it be the first of your collection" said Takoyaiba causing Ryuko to blink as she thought about his words. Collection? Collection of what? Keychains? It wasn’t like she needed a bunch of those. But maybe brining home little tokens of her victories wasn’t such a bad idea.

"See you around" said the Jounin with a friendly wave goodbuy as he turned to leave. Really that was it? The entire exchange from when the fight had started to it ending had been less than a minute. They hadn’t even had time to exchange proper banter and now they were just going to call it quits for the day? Screw that not if she had anything to say about it.

“Race you to the bottom.” Ryuko called out in challenge as she ran towards the precipice and leapt straight off it plummeting towards the bottom far far below without an ounce of fear taking a brief moment to enjoy the wind whipping though her hair as she fell.

[exit - end flashback]