Better than I was Yesterday [Yaju, Team 4]

The horizons over Kumogakure village had yet to have been touched by the warming presence of the sun. She sat, silently, on her bedside. The flickering light of the candle lit up the pages of her book,which her dark eyes were cast so intently upon. Her empty, distant coals roamed backward and forward over the singular book page again and again. The page still had yet to turn even as the young sun rose over the distant buildings and lit that same page in its own light. A morning breeze came to relieve her candle and brush against the book, the page fluttering; page 51. Finally, with a sense of finality and exhaustion, she sighed and returned her  book to her nightstand. Glancing at the sun with a sort of hatred, she systematically stood and stretched her arms and torso, along with all the other joints in her body. Satisfied that the morning's tiredness had been flushed from her body, she  walked to her closet and removed her ninja tools.

Today was the day she started training with her new sensei. She was marginally excited, only because there remained the option that this new sensei was some sort of drill sergeant that wouldn't give her rest. She hated those kinds of people. Not only could she not stand them, she could never train around them. There was something about their state of thinking, that the pressure of them and their expectations could make you stronger, that she could never seem to condone. Granted, it's not like she ever tried very hard to condone something she disagreed with. She knew that was wrong and intolerant of her; she prided herself on being a intellectual, but an intolerant intellectual was not a brand she wished on herself. So, she strove in many directions to be that intellectual she could be proud of. But she was young. There was still much time left to be perfecting herself. Until that time, training was to take up her days.

All of this occurred to her as she strapped the ninja tools to her leg and placed them all in her bag. Still contemplating, she walked to her window and flung herself out into the city. She hated using the door. Her neighbors were never kind to her. She arrived at the training grounds, still distracted, as she placed her bag on the ground and sat next to it. Her mind still wandered as she stared at the ground, thinking blankly that she should have brought her book. She had no idea how long she would be waiting, and she wanted to use the time productively.

Yaju had woke up in his now fully finished house in a cave, a place that looked liked a homely mansion in a cave.. Yaju had sat in the living room reading a book, his crimson hair sitting in front of his eyes, the book was on how to take care of a child. Now many people knew that he had no children so why was he reading this book? The fast pitter of small feet that sounded like a large summon came into view until a small figure tackled Yaju and almost pinned him onto the couch," Father!!! Someone was at the door, they told me to give this to you," Kodomorashi or Kodo for short, was now chuckling lightly as he handed Yaju the note. Yeah this was what Yaju had spent so long on in the lab to create, but what was this mysterious child? No one knew except for him, but anyways Yaju would pat the young boys head and smile," good job little one, lets see who it is from eh?," opening the letter, he would shake the hair from his face and stand up after sitting the letter on the couch.

15 minutes later....

Yaju had came out of the house wearing his red and black sleeveless jacket, moving its elongated color over his mouth. His black pants were already on so he did not have to worry about that and finally his black bandages were wrapped around his arms and legs. The only weapons he had on him were his Geas blades and his Wolf Fangs...and a secret item he kept somewhere sacred. To the left of him however was the little one Kodo wearing what seemed to be a kendo like attire, composing of a black gi and onamori...and over the gi was a red jacket. The little boys red eyes had looked up to Yaju and smiled as he jumped up and landed onto his right shoulder...man this boy was a little heavy. Having the body of a woman for the time being proved to be a bit tedious at best, the breasts were a little heavy, but now he knew that it was due to them being big. He fixed that issue somewhat by bandaging them as best as he could...it worked for the time being so he could probably keep people from knowing for a bit longer.

30 minutes later...

Yaju had arrived at the training grounds a bit later, still thinking about the letter that was sent to him but even more so about what he was going to do to get changed back to a male..eventually he would miss having his thing between his legs so he would need it. All thoughts aside he would come to see a girl sitting down, his thoughts wandered to if this indeed the person he was supposed to meet. Walking over to her he would smile...or she in this instance as he nodded," Are you...Reika? I am your new sensei, Yaju, it is a pleasure to meet you finally. Please disregard my voice, it may come as a surprise to you, but i am actually a man...due to a pill given to me by one crazy bastard i am kind of stuck like this for a while so bare with me please," he said although in a feminine voice.

Reika's thoughts wandered as the clouds passed with the time; an endless sea of condensed moisture and a unceasing stream of thoughts. She continued musing on the character and whereabouts of her new instructor. She entertained the idea, briefly, that her sensei would be the sort of person she didn't like; someone who valued power over all else; someone who was too eager so as to overlook the details. The thought was near immediately dashed from her considerations seeing as nobody of such ignorance or negligence could achieve the higher rank required and be entrusted with training the next generation of shinobi. Alternatively, she thought (not dare hoping) that her sensei would be a man of great respect in the village and that he would be a close resident to the Raikage. At this her prospects brightened and she smiled up at clouds, lost in thought yet again. Soon, she heard the approach of footsteps and stood from her station on the ground.

A fiery mane of hair was the first thing she saw. But soon, she noticed the very feminine body shape. The way that the stranger walked was different though, as though hardened by years of hardened battle. It was very unbefitting of a proper lady. Therefore, she concluded that this was no 'proper' lady at all, and was in fact a shinobi. One could assume from that point that this shinobi was her new sensei. Of this she was surprised, to say the least. A woman sensei was the one thing she did not expect. Smirking as the woman approached, she murmured just before she introduced herself, "That's what I get for trying to make predictions out of air." While she still held a sort of humorous smirk firm on her face, her sensei introduced herself.


"Are you... Reika? I am your new sensei, Yaju, it is a pleasure to meet you finally." Yaju, she thought, not a very feminine name either. But I suppose if she was always on the path of a shinobi there was never really any need for feminism, she entertained, still smiling as Yaju continued. "Please disregard my voice. It may come as a surprise to you, but I am actually a man..." This did indeed come as quite a shock. Actually, it was a bit too much of a shock for her to form coherent thoughts. She could only really continue to listen. "Due to a pill given to me by one crazy bastard I am kind of stuck like this for a while. So bare with me please."

She left the statement untouched for a moment of silence, her thoughts still trying to grab hold of anything in order to keep from showing how intensely frightened she was by the whole situation. Turning to laughter, she replied, "Well. I'm not gunna lie to you, Yaju-Sensei. You've surprised me twice in a matter of a few minutes. That is no easy feat." Her smirk had returned. "Yes, I am Reika. I was never one for pleasantries, but I can assure you that the pleasure is quite mutual." Her smile was almost devilish, the gleam of the early morning sun already highlighting the flash of lightning she hid in the dark coals of her eyes. She looked at her new sensei, who had already impressed her, and knew that this man could truely make her stronger; make her the shinobi she wanted to be.

"The introductions went quite well, I believe. Now is the part where you train me to my full potential, yes?"

This one was on the ball and got right to the point something he actually liked, she was an impressive one and they had not even begun to train yet. Yaju had nodded for a moment before setting the little boy that was on his shoulders down and pushing him to go play for a moment while he begun to get their training started," You are a very perceptive one Reika, and you would already like the training which is something i already like about you. So before we get started there was something i wanted to know. What is your specialty or more specifically what are you good at? This is so i know what to train you in and i would also be able to help you in a sense, by the way how comfortable are you with people placing seals on you?," the question was indeed awkward, but he wanted to know if she would be okay with him giving her a small gift, like all his students he gave them this seal to help their performance.

If she had not mind seals then he would nod and smile," Well then after our training i would be more than happy to give you a small gift as your sensei, its a seal that helps you out in combat and if you ever would like one to fit your specific tastes then i can alter the one i am about to give you later on to fit your specific needs," after getting all of the formalities out of the way, Yaju moved to move some of the hair out of his face...well her face and wait for the responses of Reika before starting the training.

As the little boy from Yaju's shoulders toddled off, she wondered offhandedly what the youngling was doing the Yaju. Were they related? Did Yaju have a son? After a close once-over of Yaju, he looked plenty friendly, so he could easily have been the nurturing type. But, she let the thought trail off unanswered. It really wasn't her business at the moment. Maybe she would bring up it up later, but there were other things to be dealt with at the moment.

She smiled, pleased at her sensei's compliments, shifting her weight on her feet in the semblance of embarrassment. Yaju's question came as a small surprise, again putting her off while simultaneously promising a fruitful training. There seemed to be no end to her new sensei's surprises. She answered, "I've been trained in Medical Ninjutsu all my life. But, my chakra nature is Lightning." Yaju's questions continued, intriguingly, onto seals, at which she smiled knowingly and nodded her approval. "It sounds intriguing. I'm up for it."

He explained the more intricate parts of the seal, of which she continued to pleased and grow more excited with every word. This man could help her become powerful indeed. Clapping her fist against her hand, making a sharp slap, she grinned at him and said, "I'm ready whenever you are, Yaju-Sensei!"

A combat medical ninja? This was proving to be quite an interesting meeting, simply because the last Medic he fought absolutely kicked his ass back when he was a Genin. Due to that meeting he had became stronger and went on to become one of Kumo's strongest ninja. Also hearing that her elemental nature was lightning made him smile especially, feeling as if he could teach her even more due to their similar elemental affinities. When she agreed to accept the seal, he would nod and smile," After our training i will apply it to you, but i will warn you it will hurt a little bit...but not much," his smile was apparent that he wasn't kidding, but he wouldn't hurt his students too much.

Seeing as she was ready for the training, Yaju would jump back ten meters and toss a sword towards the right side of her," if you would like to you could use that in this spar or anything that you feel would be necessary...after all since your a medic i will be coming to you for treatments after this so go wild okay," his smile soon turned into a grin as he tightened the gloves on his hands, the same hands soon glowing with a thin aura of lightning. The young lightning master was about to train this student to see what she could do and how much she could do it. His first move would be simple and easy to see, but the ability to dodge would be what he was looking for.

From his hands the once thin aura of lightning would surge into a chaotic yet subtle surge of energy as he pointed his index and middle finger outward, shooting a five meter bolt of lightning at Reika, this bolt had moved at 20 speed, but although it had moved slowly he could control its trajectory to meet his commands. Simply put his first attack would merely test Reika's quick moments to see how she reacted. If she had dodge he would launch yet another before moving backwards an additional five meters from his previous position. Waving his right hand towards Reika he would motion her to bring it, his smile showing he was eager to see how this was going to go.

His smile after mentioning her lightning affinity was duly noted. It either meant that Yaju was also a Lightning chakra holder or that he found lightning and enjoyable element to train. She couldn't be sure, but she made special attentions as to if he was a Lightning wielder as she was. Quickly, she ran through her knowledge of Lightning; it's strengths, weaknesses, how it worked, and its relationships to the other chakra natures.

The moment Yaju flung himself 10 meters from Reika, she stood at the ready, beginning to focus on gathering her chakra if she needed to form a block or counterattack. The sword hurtled by her right side, which she caught and studied as Yaju instructed her that she could use it if she saw fit. An idea rang through her head and she smiled mischievously before focusing herself again on Yaju's movements. She saw the aura of chakra forming around Yaju's hand. Victoriously, lines of lightning grew out from his hand and created a halo around Yaju. She smiled; a lightning master and his student. Her excitement was near-bursting. She looked more carefully now at Yaju, knowing that if he chose a longer ranged attack, Lightning attacks were often very quick. Although, additionally, a Lightning user could also channel the chakra's energy to increase their speed exponentially to help them get past an enemy's guard. Both of these options occurred to her even as Yaju sent a bolt of the lightning springing from his hand at her. She cursed having to use her idea so quickly, but took the sword and conducted Yaju's lightning from the metal blade up into the open air where it could dissapate without harming anyone if Yaju allowed it. But, while blocking the attack, she paid special attention not to take her eyes off of Yaju. A slower attack like that could easily turn into a diversion for something more dangerous. But he didn't launch another, more powerful, bolt of lightning. Instead, he retreated about five meters and motioned for her to attack him.

She cracked another smile, this one more devilish in the thirst for power and strength, and launched herself at Yaju. Sword in hand, she advanced to about 5 meters in front of him. There she threw the sword toward his top right shoulder and began gathering chakra in her hands in preparation to use her Chakra Scalpel. She knew the sword wouldn't hit Yaju, but the only way she could ever get around his guard is by making moves that would have killed or threatened anyone of a lesser rank. With luck, if Yaju blocked the sword with lightning, thereby focusing his chakra on the sword instead of guarding himself, she could slip behind him and put her hand to his throat. But, she guessed it wouldn't be that easy. If Yaju blocked the blade with his hand, he would use whichever side of his body his blocking hand was on to launch the same Chakra Scalpel attack on his neck or the base of his head. If he dodged, as she guessed he would, she would retrieve the sword and reevaluate. It seemed likely that she would need to find a new strategy.

[WC: 536]

" Brilliantly done Reika.... Her movements are so fluid and she even read the attack and dodged accordingly. I might...no i have another good student on my hands and no doubt she will get far," Yaju thought this to himself as he continued to retreat to his safe distance of five meters. Reika was good, how she dodged the attack was well executed and even more so it was like her movements were natural. As the sword came towards him, he would move slightly to the left and grab the blade itself while it was still flying at him. The blade itself would slide and collide with the metal on the gloves as he gripped it and threw it back at her, although as the sword was rethrown he was unaware for the moment that Reika had moved from that position. 


Her plan had went through rather well and she had even gotten behind him, but as her hand went towards his throat, his left hand moved backwards at a pace in which she would not have felt until her hand had met his throat. His right hand had been hovering over her breast but that was not just the beginning of it, the blades that had sat on his back had activated and positioned themselves along the edges of Reika's side," I have to admit you move quite fast...agile even, and your plan with the sword to distract me was flawless in every movement to force me into submission. But the one thing that i should have mentioned was...back blades and quick hands," his hand would poke her chest but not in a perverted manor, only as a way of proving his point.

Seeing as the two were in a small stalemate, Yaju would use his free hand to use the Transformation technique to change his body into what he originally looked like. His voice and looked would now be normal as his teenage voice spoke," Alright, so your movements are nice, and your tactics are just what i like Reika, shall we continue," his smile was genuine as he slowly removed her hand and moved away from her, retaking his fighting stance he would wait until she was ready. Once she was he would rush at her quickly, making a jab at her right side but his hands were covered in lightning so the punch would have that shock feeling to it. If she had blocked he would throw a left punch followed by a low kick to her left leg.

[His actual looks are the guy in the gif at the bottom]

Surprisingly, her distraction seemed to work. She wove her way, as planned, around Yaju's distracted form and struck her hand up behind his neck with her Chakra Scalpel burning in a turquoise aura around her hand. But alas, her victory was short lived as she noticed the swords that Yaju had placed at her own back when she had been solely focused on putting her hand to his neck. She sighed and cut the surge of chakra to her hand to release the Scalpel. She still had much to learn.

But Yaju's praise came even at her defeat: "I have to admit you move quite fast; agile even, and your plan with the sword to distract me was flawless in every movement to force me into submission. But the one thing that I should have mentioned was..." And she wondered, wanly, what he could have warned her about that she couldn't predict about him. But his statement was simple: "Back blades and quick hands." Although her sensei couldn't see, she was smiling behind him. It was a simple thing, but something about the playful and knowledgeable way he put it made her smile and think of her elder brother. But all of the memories were an unhealthy distraction, so she threw them aside. 


"I should have expected that there was something unexpected about you, Yaju-sensei." At that, Yaju's womanly form changed into what she suspected was his original figure. Much of him remained the same, save for his ample bosom and the cut of his hair. But it still remained a blaring red, which is something she quite liked about him. With this new appearance, he reminded her very much of something untamed and wolven. At that thought, the hanging presence of the seal he mentioned resurfaced in her memory. Her excitement peaked again as they separated and she watched him move a short distance away, saying, "Alright, so your movements are nice and your tactics are just what I like Reika. Shall we continue?" 


Her thoughtful smile returned to her face as she looked on Yaju, standing in his battle-ready stance as she resumed her own. She knew she didn't need to say anything; Yaju would know she was ready. Again, reviewing Lightning and the nature of the element, she recalled that it was overcome by Wind. Well, that didn't help her much. She didn't know any Wind-style Jutsu. Continuing, she recalled how Lightning was an element that could be either obsorbed/nullified or enhanced by other natural elements. Water, for example, conducts Lightning and oftentimes amplifying it to new heights of strength and speed. Noticing the cool breeze on her neck and remembering that she successfully had disintegrated the current of lightning Yaju had shot at her, she knew what she could do if he would use the Lightning-Style on her again.


Yaju started towards her. Reika noticed the buzzing electricity at his hands and knew he would try something close range. She scampered back, giving herself more time to think and react. Ultimately, she decided to try something risky and see if it worked out in her favor. As Yaju neared her, his right fist making a beeline for her right side, she would dodge by ducking down and around Yaju's outstretched arm and using her own opened palm to lift Yaju's into the open air where it could dissipate again if Yaju should let the jutsu go. 


[WC: 571] [OOC: Sorry I didn't know if I should include what Yaju would do when Reika did ^^ that block/duck stuff just because it wouldn't be the same set of movements allotted to punch me and kick me when I'm under your arm so I was just gunna let it be and let you reevaluate :)]

Yaju did not expect for her reaction to his first punch to be so well, the way she had crouched down and pushed his arm up was a pretty good move. Throwing him off balance a bit, he wouldn't be able to go for his next punch or kick so instead he would stumble backwards and regain his ground. Yaju had smiled for a moment as he took his stance again and went in for another offensive attack, but this time he would use something he had not done in a while. As he closed in on Reika, instead of a punch he would thrust his palm towards her chest, although if Reika were to dodge this attack he would spin or pivot to her opposite side and launch another palm thrust that would push her back a little bit. Yaju thought of what would happen when Reika became stronger, their fights could eventually go on for a while considering her skills right now were holding up well with him.

After the events of the next bout, Yaju would jump backwards and smile for a moment. He was considering stopping the spar for a moment so the two could talk for a little bit, and after much consideration he would hold his hand up and smile," Let's take a break for a moment Reika, i think you have earned it and besides i have something to give you and i also want to show you something," if she had agreed he would perform one hand seal before a cloud of smoke appeared a the various sounds of cracking could be heard. Soon the smoke would disappear as a large wolf would be exactly where Yaju was," Reika, before we continue with our future training i want to make one thing clear, the things i teach you...will change not only your power but your attitude of me in a sense. I want you to swear that no matter what happens the power that i give you, will be used for something good...or i will be having you for dinner," the beastly smile he gave her would be apparent as he walked over to her and placed his paw on to her," if you promise let me know now," his body soon turned back to normal as he looked her in the eyes with his yellow eyes.

If she agreed he would smile and rub her head gently," good, you are the first Kunoichi that i have recognized for their skills and the second that i have taken under my guidance to become the strongest. So to commemorate your new role and your first day as my student, i am going to give you that seal i promised you," although he murmured to himself for  second," i will kind of need to bite you however...if you do not mind this however," if she had agreed then he would move closer to her and bite her neck, channeling his chakra into her and forming the seal in the process. With this out of the way he would plop onto the ground and await any questions that Reika had for him.