Pushing Limits! [open]

A lone boy stood out in the middle of a mountain clearing between the various hillsides and mountains found within the Village Hidden in the Clouds. In this particular ravine, it was well known that ninja came to train if they planned to work exceptionally hard on a new technique or otherwise. While he wasn’t exactly the first person they wanted there as for most of his life, the village has hated him and treated him as less than worthy of even looking at, much less acknowledging. But, that didn’t deter him from going above and beyond to work his butt off and become a powerful ninja worthy of their respect and acknowledgement. Cracking his neck, he would attempt to use the jutsu he had been training once again, though it was to little avail. He just couldn’t control himself properly when moving at such speeds that he wasn’t used to. The strangest thing was though he did sustain some damage from crashing into things, he was healing pretty quickly and was fast to get back onto his feet. “Argh! This is a tough technique! I’ll get it eventually though, you’ll see!” He would yell to no one in particular.

It was pretty sad how he was treated by everyone in the village with most of them ignoring him but the civilian populace almost actively hated him and tried to abuse him either mentally or even physically at times. Sometimes he wondered if he would ever find anyone to relate to in this village full of people who hated him for what seemed to him as no real reason.

TWC: 269

Yami stretched her body while she arrived at the ravines, ready to train. The usual, in other words. The training grounds was an ideal place for most shinobi to improve aspects of their arsenal and combat skills. While Yami agreed, sometimes seclusion works better in her favor. She made frequent visits to the ravine where, most of the time, it was only her and what nature offered her, from weather conditions to the state of the ravine. That wasn't to say that other ninja made their marks on the ravine nor had she not encountered any shinobi in the area, but luck always seemed to be by her side when she appears with no one in sight. Just how she liked it.

As Yami prepared herself to work on new techniques, she heard a yell that echoed not too far. She didn't react as she kept her composure, but on the inside her heart jumped out of surprise. She could've sworn that she was alone. She could've just ignored the yell and went about her business. On the contrary, she knew eventually that voice would come to find her and so would come an unwanted interaction.

She decided to wander off and investigate who else was in the area. To her surprise, it was someone she's heard of and seen around. If she recalled correctly, this was the host of the Nine-Tails, the strongest beasts out of the nine. Also known as possibly the most hated shinobi, even at a young age. Poor thing. Unlike the host of the Two-Tails, this one was practically a small child. As a matter of fact, she pitied the young boy more than she'd like to admit. She always kept a neutral stance when it came to the jinchuriki unless they posed a dire threat against the village. Even then, unless it was in their control, there was no reason for her to despise them on a surface level.

Her deadpan expression softened at the sight of the young boy, she slowly approach him, but with caution. Not because she believed he'd harm her, but to comfort him.

"Are you... in need of some assistance?" Yami cooed at the young boy.


[TWC: 367]

"Hmm... here seems like a nice start."

Etsuko had plans to somehow try and communicate with the tailed beast inside her. Since birth, she never really knew who it was beyond the whispers among the village. She didn't know how to do it, how it was going to work, but it was better than sitting around knowing that she could unlock massive power and use it wisely. She may be the jinchuuriki, but that didn't mean the beast would automatically grant her its powers. It didn't matter; one way or another, she was going to figure out who this beast is and try her best to gain some form of respect and trust.

Right then and there, she spotted two people in the distance followed by a yell. Unable to tell who they were, Etsuko casually walked towards their direction. After a closer look, there was one person she was very familiar with. Although used loosely, this person was someone she encountered and left an amusing first impression. The other one was a much younger figure. She didn't know him personally, but the two had a very common topic; being jinchuriki. The only difference were the different types of beasts trapped inside of them. As much as she hated to admit it, he had a strong beast inside compared to Etsuko. Or so she heard.

A candid smile curved on her lips whilst she stretched her hands above her head. "I heard some yelling from over here. Seems like someone isn't fit for babysitting when it comes to controlling temper tantrums." Her eyes laid on the Chunin before giving a playful giggle.

---

WC: 277

Shooting into a jump as he heard a voice break him from his thoughts. He could have sworn he was alone here, so to have someone speak so suddenly had quite nearly scared the shit out of him. Once he regained his composure, he would turn to see a woman several years older than he with violet eyes and brown hair. She was quite stunning in appearance, but he wasn’t one to dwell on things like that too much, he was still a kid after all. She asked if he needed help and he took note of the headband that was visible on her person, so obviously she was a ninja. Though, it was unusual for anyone to offer him any kind of assistance, or really acknowledging him at all, so he was genuinely at a loss for words for a moment, “W-well I am trying to learn the b-body flicker technique. Just having a bit of problems controlling it or stopping when I want to, t-that’s all.” He was somewhat embarrassed at having such a difficult time with what was still considered a basic ninja skill. “O-oh my name is R-rizan… It’s good to meet you…” He had to admit, he was doing a lot more talking than he had at any other time to anyone. He had been ignored for so long he didn’t know how to react to someone actually treating him like a person, but introducing oneself was pretty important, right?

As he spoke to her, he kept his mind sharp, focusing on what he had just done in the technique and how to potentially figure out his problems, maybe she could help him? He really didn’t know how to master this jutsu, he just didn’t have the control over his chakra he supposed. It was then that another person approached, though from the way she made her entrance, it would seem that the two female’s knew each other. Wait… what did she mean babysitting?! This question fired up Rizan’s rather rambunctious nature as while he was somewhat shy, not being used to interacting with people, he also had some pride about him. “Hey now?! What the hell do you mean by babysitting?! I’ll have you know I’m a fully fledged ninja!” He would make a point to flash the headband tied around his neck with an incredulous look upon his face, seriously, did they just think he was some kid?! He would be the next Raikage if he could help it!

TWC: 685

Etsuko cocked an eyebrow at the young male's sudden outburst at her comment. Her eyes slid over to the headband before they momentarily snapped to the other woman, then back at the boy. A small smirk tugged at her lips as she tried to suppress her giggles. "What the hell I mean by babysitting? You tell me. For someone that claims to be a 'fully fledged ninja', you still sound like you need some babysitting with that tone of yours, young man." She crossed her arms over her chest and took a few steps closer to take a better look at the headband around his neck. She thrummed of contemplation before she took a step back. For all she knew, he had an older sibling and snatched their headband and pretend to play ninja.

But for now, she wasn't going too push too hard on the alleged ninja. For now. "But fair enough. You look like a big boy that can handle himself." She declared with a soft shrug. "You know," She started to circle around the boy while she looked at him from head to toe in every direction. "I'm a little bit of a ninja in training. You know, academy student and all, believe it or not. You think you can show me a thing or two on how to be a 'full fledged ninja'?" No, she wasn't necessarily interested, but she couldn't help but pose a challenge to see how he'd react. Maybe he could surprise her, or maybe she'll get a good laugh out of it.

---

WC: 268
TWC: 545

As Rizan listened to the woman speak, he had to admit her own tone sounded kind of patronizing to him. She admitted that she was in the ninja academy though, so that meant she was trying to be a ninja as well, and he wasn’t one to be mean natured, so when she asked for help, that is just what he would do. “Well, I guess I can help you. First, there are three jutsu you’ll need to master to be able to graduate. The clone technique, the transformation technique and finally, the substitution technique.” As he mentioned each technique he would demonstrate them, creating a clone, transforming to look just like the girl he spoke to, and finally, he would replace himself with a rock not too far away before replacing back to his original position and releasing the other jutsu. “If you can get those down, you’ll graduate no problem!” He had to admit, he never thought HE’D be teaching anyone anything. He formed a couple more hand signs before taking off once more with the Body Flicker Technique. When he finally got it down, he would vanish in a small cloud of dust before reappearing nearby, almost instantly.

“I finally got it down!” He would jump for joy for a moment before stopping and rubbing the back of his head, embarrassed slightly for getting so excited in front of his new acquaintance. He turned to look back at her, wondering just what kind of person she was. “So, when do you think you’ll graduate? I know they allow people to graduate earlier sometimes or are you just getting started in the academy?” He supposed polite conversation was a good way to make friends. He wasn’t totally sure to be honest, he didn’t get to interact with people very often.

TWC: 987

"...Huh. Well, I'm be damned."

Etsuko eyes widen amusement and a large smirk marked on her face. in was amazed at how well the boy was able to perform all the basic jutsus required for promotion. It looked like he was a ninja and wasn't playing pretend. She wasn't ashamed of what she said before or eat her words, why would she? After the excitement from the boy calmed down, she rose her hands in front of her and gave him a cordial applause. "Bravo, bravo! I guess you don't need any babysitting after all! Well, maybe here and there, but for the most part you don't!" She cheered.

The Genin shrugged at the question and and crossed her arms once again. "You can say I'm still new. I haven't really been getting to training or all of that as of late." Etsuko had no shame in admitting she was slacking off. These days, her mind has wandered off into other things, but that didn't mean she was determined. With all of the unknown hostility sent her way, she didn't have anyone to help properly train her; even with her teacher it's as if she were the plague. It looked like it was a good thing she had someone to teach her, even if they were a lot younger than she'd expect.

"Honestly, I think it's a good thing I ran into you." Etsuko chuckled and slid a strand of hair out of her vision. "Think you can walk me through each jutsu? And be slow, I'm not much of a quick learner."

---

WC: 272
TWC: 817

Rizan would nod happily to the girl, realizing that she didn’t hate him like the others, nor was she quite as indifferent as other ninja seemed to be. No, she seemed truly right down the middle, which meant he had room to foster a friendship! Nodding to the girl, he would work through the techniques once more, a bit slower as he explained each one as he performed it, starting with the clone technique. “For the clone technique, I try to imagine my chakra forming into a shape of my body before condensing it using the help of the hand signs. It requires a very exact chakra input, so it can be difficult to master until you find the sweet spot.” He would perform and then release it a few times before giving her some time to work it out and then moving on to the next one. “The next one is the body replacement technique, sometimes called the substitution jutsu. Really, the biggest thing for this is finding something nearby and swapping with it really quick. I try to notice things beforehand to keep track of should I need to use it! For instance, that rock over there!” He finished by swapping with a nearby rock, back and forth. Appearing back in front of her, he would give her time to do her own thing before moving to the final technique. “The transformation technique can be either the easiest or the hardest depending on your imagination. I try to imagine my body is coated in clay and I'm molding it to look like whatever appearance I am trying to copy.“ He would do so as they spoke so he could give her something of a visual to work with. “Was that helpful at all?”

TWC: 1,282