Warming up [open,NK]

Kuro felt better this morning than he'd felt in weeks. Getting some sleep in a real bed had let him get much better rest than he'd been getting. The bed was so nice that Vixie was even refusing to leave it, so he let her stay behind for now. Hopefully she'd behave herself. As he walked to the training grounds and began doing some stretches to help himself wake up from the wonderful sleep. He'd enjoy his new living space another day or two before he started getting active with missions and such... now that he thought about it, he hadn't really gotten to do many missions for Yuki... He fought off some bandits once but that was it. What kind of missions would this village have for him?  No idea, but for now he needed to make sure he wasn't too lazy to handle whatever the missions were. 

So what should he practice today? Finishing his stretches, Kuro put his hand on his chin to think for a few moments. Thinking back on some of his previous fights, he recalled that he used his shield fairly often for both offense and defense. Perhaps he could focus on that? He didn't think he could really use anything on his shield... well maybe he could, but it might work better if he just amplified his body. Specifically, his throwing arm. If he could put some more power behind his throw, he should be able to make it more effective as a weapon. And he was capable of controlling his body pretty well, what if he tried focusing his moisture into one part of his body? Taking his hand away from his chin, looking into his palm and beginning to focus the liquid in his body. His veins slowly began to swell up and bulge slightly, though with his focus on his hand, it'd be fairly easy for someone to sneak up on him.

What was there to do today? The Hiyu found himself at a loss of what to do with himself on this beautiful morning. Nobunaga was at a ramen stand, sitting on a stool over his large bowl of finished noodle. Sipping on a bottle of ice cold water, the brute of a man silently sat alone. No missions were assigned to him, no guard duty postings assigned to him, the Kazekage had nothing for him to do, preperations for the upcoming Jounin exam were pretty much complete and Nobunaga was not in the mood to train alone. Therefore he sat there wondering what he could do today. Reaching down into his pant pocket, Nobunaga would drop off a few pieces of yen and push off the seat, now aimlessly wondering through the city. 

Adorned on his torso was a sleeveless vest completely unzipped revealing his toned bare chest and cut arms for he wore nothing underneath. He wore simple black sweatpants with shinobi sandals, an item pouch on the back of his waist and the Sunagakure headguard tightly tied around his massive left bicep. Bending his head back and pouring the remaining contents of the water bottle across his jet back hair to cool himself down on this scorcher of a day, Nobunaga's aimless walking took him strait to the Suna ninja academy. Halting by the yard fence, he watched the young ones training in the yard and then it donned on him. He could gather a team together and train them, a team of Genin and be their sensei. But he would find no Genin here, therefore the Jounin made his way over to the training ground. 

Once there, Nobunaga walked on a young boy who seemed to be focusing on his hand, on aware of the arrival of the towering Jounin. "His chakra is extremely potent. Too strong for a Genin." Observed the Hiyu as he confirmed that he had never seen this kid before. Could he really be a Genin with chakra like that? Nobunaga was intrigued now, he had already met a Genin who matched him in strength, maybe this kid who surpassed him chakra potency could also be a Genin. Standing about 30 meters away, Nobunaga would silently watch the stranger to see what he was training.

382/382

Kuro takes a deep breath and closes his eyes as he continues pouring more chakra filled moisture into his arm, using it to form more muscle which causes his arm to slowly begin swelling up. Anyone watching his arm would be able to see his arm begin growing from it's normal lean build into a visibly muscular form. Kuro would gulp as he keeps pushing himself, gritting his teeth and clenching his fist, his arm suddenly swelling up another inch in diameter within a second as if it were a balloon being filled by a bike pump.

Opening one of his eyes a bit, Kuro would give a strained grin at his progress. He now looked like he often went to the gym on a regular basis... But he could do better. Taking another deep breath, Kuro would force another wave of chakra and water into his arm. However, Kuro had neglected to consider how much he would need to increase the thickness of his skin along with his muscle mass. And so, like an overfilled balloon, Kuro's arm exploded, instinctively reverting into water as it did. Kuro stumbles back as the force knocks him onto his rear, water going flying everywhere and a sharp pain rushing through his shoulder. "Augh! Dammit! That... That really hurt."

Kuro rubs his shoulder as he stands back up, the water that exploded everywhere slowly sliding back to him while the smallest drops rapidly evaporated from the heat. "That could have worked better... And hurt less... Think I'll wait a bit before I try that again."
As he moves his hand away from his shoulder as his lost water finally began reaching him and reforming his arm after a few seconds. His reformed arm a bit sore after exploding, he gave it a few gentle swings. With his focus broken, he finally notices the... very LARGE man watching him. "Oh, uh, hello there."

As the Jounin watched the kid focus on his arm he noticed that very same arm began to swell and grow in size. Silently and unmoving, Nobunaga would think to himself as he continued to watch the kid struggle "He too can change the size of his body." From this distance Nobunaga could not see how Kuro was changing the size of his arm but he could see it grow and he was not surprised by the technique for he was able to do the same thing thanks to the Hiyu blood that ran through his veins. It appeared the kid was taking his body enhancement to the next level trying to enlarge it even more. Nobunaga crossed his arms as he silently continued to watch Kuro practice whatever this technique was. 

What happened next was quite surprising and caught the Jounin off guard. The kid's are exploded into water and launched him backwards. Nobunaga remained calm and emotionless, not reacting to first see what had happened and if the kid was in any actual danger. "Was he using water chakra to increase the size of his arm? Does that mean his body can be manipulated and controlled like mine at a cellular level?" Nobunaga's question was soon answered when he saw the water slide back to Kuro and re-form his arm. Slightly raising his right eyebrow in surprise, he though to himself "He's made out of water? So thats how".

The kid finally noticed Nobunaga standing there. The silent giant started moving forward and would abruptly ask with his hoarse voice "You made of water kid?" Nobunaga wasnt one to talk much therefore his sentences were short, broken and usually had no fluidity. He rarely started off with formalities. Once within a few feet, still expressionless Nobunaga would stretch out his right arm to his side, parallel to the ground. "When changing the size of your arm, dont think about just muscle mass." As Nobunaga spoke his already ripped arm started to grow even larger in size. His bicep, shoulder, forearm and fist growing to almost twice their original size. His right arm now looked like that of someone jacked up on steroids. "Think of your skin, blood vessels, tendons as well." As Nobunaga spoke he then wondered if this kid even had any of those things, seeing as he was made out of water. His arm shrinking back to its normal size, the Hiyu would cross his arms back together and said "Try again. Slowly this time."

419/801

Kuro smiles and nods in response to the man's question about his water makeup. "Yeah, that's me all right. Kuro Hozuki, water shinobi at your service."
He gives the man a quick two finger salute, feeling slightly less playful with such an intimidating person walking towards him... though he did keep smiling. Once the man had gotten close, Kuro was surprised at what he said. Not just because he was suddenly giving him tips about how to accomplish what he'd been trying, but he actually began demonstrating it with his own arm! Kuro's smile widens as he watches the man's arm swell up to practically monstrous levels of muscle. As the man returns his arm to normal and crosses his arms and tells him to try it again, Kuro nods and extends his arm again.

Taking another deep breath, he began repeating the starting steps from before. Having someone nearby to encourage him helped Kuro keep up his motivation to push on through his training. Redirecting his chakra again into his arm, followed by a large amount of moisture. Water begins building up in his arm before changing and being manipulated into different cells in his arm. His veins began to bulge first as the extra liquid flowed through them first to reach everywhere else as easily as possible. Once he'd accomplished that, he focused a bit more on the inner workings of his arm. Building up muscle and tendons again, but doing it much slower as he began diverting some of his extra water towards his skin, the water rapidly converting into extra skin cells to help contain the new muscles within.

He continued to process slowly and carefully until he managed to get the arm about three quarters the size of Nobunaga's normal arm size. Once there, he releases his focus and lowers his arm a bit, putting his other hand on his shoulder so he doesn't completely let go and lose the created muscle mass. Looking the arm over he hums a bit. "Well... This looks about right. Feels... stronger. A little annoying to hold but it's definitely gonna be useful. Thanks for the tip! Um, who are you by the way?"

"Hozuki?" Nobunaga though to himself "Is that a clan possessing the Kekki Genkai that makes him water or was he experimented on as a kid?" Nobunaga assumed it was the former but he had never herd of the Hozuki clan. If this kid was made out of water, living in Suna must be a nightmare. Would the extreme heat in the village evaporate his body, how much water would he have to drink? Or does the heat not affect his watered body when its in this form. These were all thoughts and questions that quickly passed his mind in silence as he kept them to himself like he usually did. 

After crossing his arms, the 6ft4 Hiyu looked down and watched Kuro take his advice and tackle his arm enlargement ability for a second time. His second attempt was a success. Slowly this time, Nobunaga watched as the kid pumped chakra into his arm, increasing the percentage of water in his right arm and thus increasing the size of his arm beyond its natural size. Nobunaga nodded a couple of times in approval as he analysed the enlarged arm. "Good." was all he said, letting Kuro know that he was impressed by the rate at which he learned. "If you intend on fighting with an arm that big you should practice this technique regularly. It will take time to get accustom to an unnaturally large limb and to learn what strengths and weaknesses it grants."

Nobunaga would response to the kids 'thank you' with a simple nod. "Hiyu Nobunaga, Jounin of Sunagakure no Sato at your service." Responded Nobunaga as he stuck out his hand to shake the enlarged hand of Kuro. "Lets see if he can control his strength for a simple handshake." Whether they shook hands or not Nobunaga would ask "You a Genin kid? Whats someone made out of water doing in Suna?." Kuro was the first Hozuki he had ever met in Suna, probably a reason for that.

332/1133

Kuro gives a warm smile to Nobunga as he starts to move to shake his hand. "Nice to meet you Hi-"
He cuts himself off as he accidentally slap the extended hand slightly as he misjudges how to properly move the enlarged arm, his bright smile becoming apologetic. "O-oh, whoops. Sorry about that. My bad."
Reassessing how to move his hand, he tries again and manages to shake Nobunaga's hand correctly, though his grip was a bit harder than he meant. Releasing from the handshake, Kuro would listen to his questions then turning to the side as he begins to answer.

"Well, those two questions are kind of related. I am a Genin, but I used to live in the tundras up in Yuki. The heat here is pretty bad, but I can use my chakra to keep my body cool and hydrated. Just uses up my stamina a tiny bit. Back in Yuki, heheh, well I had to be melted into a bucket more than once. I still liked it there but... well, it got destroyed while I was away for a big training field trip with some of my fellow Yuki shinobi. We'd had someone going around killing genin around the village so we left to try and get stronger somewhere safe and Yuki got devestated... then the village we were staying in ALSO got destroyed. My teachers trained me up some more so I could defend for myself, but then I was on my own. I finally got tired of wandering around, so I joined Suna. Not sure why I came here, something just seemed to call to me."
Kuro smiles as he speaks then holds out his non-enlarged hand, water flying from his body and forming his shield in that hand. Tossing it over to his enlarged hand, Kuro would continue speaking while giving a few practice swings. As he finishes up he winds his enlarged arm back then hurls the shield as hard and as fast as he can. He lets it fly for a short distance before having it explode into a fine mist and fly back to him, reforming the shield in his hand. He then turns back towards Nobunaga, wincing slightly as he loses control and his arm returns back to normal against his will. Rubbing his arm, now sore as if he'd been lifting weights, Kuro shrugs off the pain and smiles. "So, I'm technically still a Genin but I'm hoping to change that. Once I've ranked up, I'll be able to use all the skills my teachers passed on to me to help my new home with the more important missions. Maybe even help train some more Genin once I've been around for awhile... Plus I'd like to own my own house for once."

Nobunaga looked down at the kid without expression as his hand got slapped away. Having expected something along those lines to occur, the Hiyu simple shook his head and said "Dont worry about it kid." The Hozuki was finally able to re-calibrate the strength of his arm and managed a powerful handshake. It was a very firm shake, probably harder than the kid wanted. He would have to work on that however it was a start. 

With his arms crossed Nobunaga would listen to the kid give a short story on his past in response to the posed question. "So he is a Genin." Nobunaga thought to himself, his previous suspicion now answered. This kid's past was quite dark, living in a village where the threat of being persecuted and hunted lingered over the village, not even being able to train in peace. Then having to leave only to have his home village be destroyed. Both villages he found himself at were destroyed. Nobunaga did not believe in omens or curses however this kid had a string of bad luck that left him here in Suna. Nobunaga had a dark past of his own, one that made him into the hard, stern, gritty shinobi he was today. Yet this kid was joyful, always a smile on his face. That said something about him, being able to stay positive despite the terrible situations thrown at him.

"You came to the right place." Nobunaga said as Kuro began morphing the water of his body and testing out his new arm. "I too was once an outsider who found my way here and was accepted by the Kazekage. This village has become my new home, its people my new family. It can be the same for you." Nobunaga's head would turn as he followed the path of the thrown shield only to watch it explode and return to Kuro. Returning his gaze to the kid, Nobunaga though to himself "The possibilities of this kids power are endless. A body made entirely out of water is something special."

Kuro wanted to no longer be a Genin it seemed, perfect for Nobunaga. He was looking for a group of Genin that he could train together and help them progress on to the next stage. Slowly, Nobunaga started walking backwards, putting 20 meters between the two of them. "You think you have what it takes to be a Chuunin." He calmly said as he retreated. Nobunaga would uncross his arms and spread them out to his side as he finished off with "Show me."

428/1561

Kuro blinks in surprise as Nobunaga walks backwards, a large grin forming on his face as he's told to show Nobunga his strength. "Hope you're ready to get wet!" 
He brings his hands together and performs a tiger handseal, slightly liquefying his feet and using his chakra and moisture to create a water clone on his right and the second behind him. He then poured a large amount of chakra into each clone as he channeled a jutsu through each of them.

The clone behind Kuro would swell up slightly before opening it's mouth and releasing a Snake Mouth jutsu that launches forward, Kuro letting himself get swallowed up into it as it charges towards Nobunaga. The second clone then uses Water Needle, swinging it's arm in a horizontal line, pulling water from the side of the snake to create 5 small needles. It holds the needles in position while the snake lifts into the air slightly before slamming into the ground where Nobunaga stood, creating a pool of water with Kuro standing in the center. Kuro's water clone would release it's needles and start running towards him, followed by the second clone. Using his body to block Nobunaga's view of the needles a bit. He'd stand at the ready, but allows the needles behind him to slip through his body, turning small pockets of his body to water as the needle reached him then solidifying again as they pass through.

Nobunaga stood still and silent as he watched the Hozuki before him create water clones of himself as he initiated his attack. One thing Nobunaga knew was that he could not let any of the water that was Kuro's body to get on him. He had watched the Hozuki control and manipulate the water that formed his body when it left him which meant that if that same water got on Nobunaga he could potentially hinder or maybe even control Nobunaga's movements. Using his experienced knowledge of combat and training, Nobunaga herd the clone behind the original Kuro release a jutsu and soon saw it as his burst right through Kuro. "Interesting." Nobunaga thought as he watched the water snake simply pass through Kuro, using the water of his body and jutsu to fight in ways most people would never dream of being able to do. The snake was slow moving, giving the Hiyu enough time to avoid the crashing tide of water. As it curled in the air, Nobunaga bolted to the right, rolling on the ground, successfully avoiding the colliding water snake. 

Now on one knee, crouched low on the ground Nobunaga turned to face the continuation of Kuro's assault. Yet again Kuro used his body as a blocker, letting the water needles pass right through him. The water needles were much smaller than the water snake and therefore Nobunaga did not see them till it was too late. Remaining crouched, his would turn his body to the side and lift his left arm. Bending it and placing his forearm across the side of his head, Nobunaga would block the incoming water needles, letting them explode off the side of his body.

"You'll have to do better than that." Nobunaga said as he clapped his hands and slapped his palms onto the surface of the ground. Between the two rushing Kuro's, a 2ft thick wall of earth would raise. The Moving Earth Core would momentarily separate the two Kuro's, potentially tripping up the one in the back and creating separation. Now focusing on the sole rushing Kuro, Nobunaga would pounce forward, staying low to the ground the whole time as he spun around and in one swift motion delivered a Leaf Gale to Kuro's shins. Nobunaga could see from Kuro's initial attack that he was clearly adept in the use of suiton ninjutsu but he wanted to see his hand to hand skills as well.

407/1968