Improving Talent

Fri Jun 11, 2021 3:54 pm

Yomiko stared out at the water, watching as it rippled along undisturbed. It was so peaceful, calming, and serene. But with just a few hand signs she knew she could create a deadly whip, tiny water needles, or replace herself along the river to avoid being hit. There were so many ways to turn the water into something deadly that she knew that if she kept up with it, she could maybe even work her newfound skills in water in with her sealing. That was for a future endeavor however. For now, she just pondered to herself on how her life was playing out. She knew that there were a good chunk of her fellow Konoha shinobi in Sunagakure no Sato. Yomiko was left behind however.

She wasn’t mad about it though. While she wasn’t fresh out of the academy, she was still pretty green when it came to traveling between countries, fighting in a war, or even dealing with the intricacies of what being around the Sunagakure no Sato shinobi would be like. In fact, she was glad she didn’t have to really deal with it right now. All she could do was look ahead and better herself so that she could either go and join her peers, or, when they came back they would find a strong, or at least reliable, ally in her. All she wanted was to be needed and to make a difference after all.

I know there are some who went who aren’t much ahead of me. I wonder how they feel, how they’re dealing with being thrust into that sort of situation. I’d like to think that I would be ready, that I wouldn’t falter under the pressure, but I’m not even sure.

All she had known her whole life was the history she learned in her history books, the fantastical tales of shinobi long since passed, and everything that her mother always told her of what it was like and what it meant to be a shinobi. Coupled with the state of Konohagakure no Sato, Yomiko couldn’t claim to be very experienced. Everyone started out that way of course, but she couldn’t help but feel under prepared or not trained for what was to come. The academy, while stressful and did teach the fundamentals and basics, didn’t really train their students to expect and handle war. Did they ever even talk about psychology and mental health? Not that she could remember.

All that I need to be doing now is making sure to better myself.

Pushing herself up from the top of the same boulder she was on the last time she came to train, Yomiko jumped down from her perch with a specific kind of training in mind. She remembered her mother mentioning a kind of technique that she would use to help train herself. Clones. In the academy, they taught each and every hopeful Genin how to produce a clone though the clone itself was illusory and couldn’t do anything other than fool someone else into thinking that there was one or more enemies. There were other variations, as her mother explained, that could do so much more.

Her mother, for example, was able to make Lightning clones and spar with them. While she wouldn’t attack the clones herself, as one hit would then dispel the clones, they were physical enough to where she could indeed dodge, block, and better her hand eye or hand foot coordination because of it. She heard stories all of the time of her mother using this technique to better herself and while Yomiko didn’t have the Raiton element, or at least, hadn’t been trained in it, she was able to mold and form creations out of water. What was stopping her from doing the same as her mother only making water variants over lightning ones? With a smile, Yomiko walked over to the edge of the water, closing her eyes briefly to inhale through her nose and then exhale through her mouth.

Okay, time to go ahead and show myself just how good I can be.

After weaving some hand signs, Yomiko clapped her hands together and from the water in the lake, two forms began to form side by side. They were just shapes and oddly formed people for a moment but rather quickly they took the shapes of teenage girls and then furthermore into complete replicas of Yomiko herself. It was weird, staring at two perfect looking replicas of yourself without a mirror present. Not even one, but two. These reflections stared back at her, waiting for the mental commands that she was going to give. Nodding, Yomiko walked out onto the water to meet them. She didn’t go too far out, but far enough where it wouldn’t be an issue for the clones to move too far away from her or the source of their creation.

Taking a defensive stance, hey eyes moved from the first clone over to the second clone and then back to the first one again, “Alright, time to show myself what I got. Attack me.”

-WC 855-

Mon Jun 14, 2021 3:42 pm

Both clones didn’t need any more prompting. Not a moment after Yomiko gave them her instructions, they leapt forward with a dual attack, coming from the left and right to pincer her. Inhaling sharply, Yomiko ducked below one of the attacks and pivoted to the side of the next one. But the onslaught didn’t end there. Both clones continued to come at her, throwing punches and kicks as quickly as she could if it had been her against another opponent. All Yomiko continued to do was dodge and pivot around the techniques but eventually that in itself started to become tiring while the clones, of course, showed no signs of getting tired.

Yomiko knew once she got too exhausted, the clones would lose the chakra keeping them together and they would fall apart back into the water below, so she wanted to make the best use of them as she could. One mental note was all that they needed to take a different approach to their strategy. One clone stayed back, retreating to add some distance between itself, it’s partner, and Yomiko. The other, however, continued to flurry of strikes aimed at the young shinobi. While Yomiko knew what the tactic was, as she instructed it to happen, she didn’t know how the clones would have it play out.

Seeing passed the clone that was attacking her, Yomiko could see the other water clone extending its arm out and flicking it down. Because its body was made of water, the whip easily materialized out of the clone itself. At that point, due to being distracted by the water whip clone, pain shot up through her rib cage and into her chest as the clone that had remained in close quarters finally landed a jab right between her ribs. Wincing and leaping away from the clone, Yomiko straightened herself back up in just enough time to frantically jump out of the way of a water whip strike.

The clone didn’t stop there. Repeatedly it threw its arm forward and strike after strike from the whip cracked into the water below as Yomiko continued to dodge, roll, and jump out of the way of each strike. That’s when it dawned on her. Where was the other clone? It was so adamant about being up close and personal for close quarter combat until the water whip started striking. Still dodging the water whip, her eyes frantically darted around to find the other clone. Once she laid eyes on her, seeing the hand signs she was weaving, her heart sank and she realized what her clones were planning.

The water whip strikes were leading her to dodge right into the other one’s range, and no more than she had, Yomiko could see all of the tiny water needles erupting from the lake’s smooth surface and shooting towards her. Weaving two quick signs of her own, Yomiko dodged the next water whip strike into the oncoming barrage of needles. However, her now riddled body hit the water and displaced itself into water itself. A replacement. The clone that had created the needles looked surprised but was soon knocked off of its feet and sent stumbling forward to fall flat on its face into the water; dissipating back into its source.

Now that it was just the two of them, or rather just herself and one clone, Yomiko felt a bit at ease. Though she was fighting herself, essentially, she couldn’t help but be a little proud of her handling of that situation. Of course, she couldn’t let her guard down since the other clone who had been using the water whip went back onto the offensive and rushed forward to continue the hand to hand barrage the other clone had started before. Yomiko continued to dodge these attacks before deciding to switch it up a little bit and attempt to block the attacks instead. There would be times where she wouldn’t be able to dodge or jump or pivot around attacks and being able to effectively block them would be the only factor of life and death.

As if on queue, the water clone began to unleash a quicker flurry of blows at its creator. Yomiko still ducked and dodged some but began to raise her arms and block blows that had been aimed for her rib cage again or any vital organs. Of course it hurt. The punches, while not strong inherently, were still painful after repeated strikes to the same areas. Ever so often, her clone would throw some kicks in as well that Yomiko primarily dodged. However, ever so often, she would raise her leg up to block the kick with her outer thigh. That in particular started to hurt after a while to the point that she began to try and run away from her clone to catch her breath.

I should call it off, but...a real opponent wouldn’t just wait for me to catch my breath. But, if I don’t I could very well hurt myself.

Then the cracking of a whip behind her brought her back and she looked back in time to dive out of the way of another whip crack. Grunting a bit, Yomiko rolled across the water, barely keeping herself up via chakra before scrambling back onto her feet. Watching her clone briefly, she took off the moment her clone started to sling the whip. Once more they were caught in this dance where the whip cracks were leading Yomiko around but without the other clone lying in wait, Yomiko wasn’t too worried. Skidding a little to avoid a boulder jutting out from the lake, the whip struck the boulder and let a spray of water jetty out into the air. Wincing as it blinded her for the briefest of moments it allowed just enough moments to pass for the clone to crack the whip once more.

The searing pain of the whip cracking across her back caused Yomiko to shriek. She lost control of her chakra for the briefest of moments and into the water she went. Resurfacing and inhaling sharply, she pulled herself back out and up to stand once more. Wobbling a bit, she eyed the clone as it began to draw its arm back and sling the whip once more. Yomiko was prepared to dodge it once more but instead, the whip fell apart and the clone itself melted back into the water. Yomiko straightened herself up, confused. She was tired. She was hurting. She wanted it to be over. However, she hadn’t willed that and she still had enough chakra to keep going. That’s when she smelled it though. The faintest smell of a storm and then the faintest sound of a crackle.

“Really Yomiko, I know you want to prepare yourself for when the rest of your peers get back from Sunagakure no Sato, but you won’t be ready if you work yourself into exhaustion.” It was the voice of her mother. She was standing on the shoreline of the lake with the crackle of lightning fading from her fingertips. While she did have a faint smile on her face there was still a look of concern made evident by the way her eyes looked her daughter up and down. “I see you took a page from my book, but remember. I was also much further along in my career before I started sparring with my own clones. They may be a form of you, but that doesn’t mean they won’t severely hurt you.”

Yomiko trudged back to the shoreline, confused, a bit annoyed, and just curious as to why her mother was even there to begin with. Seeing this, her mother simply wrapped an arm around her daughter’s shoulders and started to usher her back towards the path that led back to the village. “Come, come. I have dinner ready and waiting. Your father should be having the table all set at this point. No arguments either! If you want to come back out here in another day or so, you will need your rest and your nourishment.”

“M-mom, fine, okay, but why did you come to check on me? Was it really because of dinner? Normally you would have just wrapped the plate to keep it warm for me. Were you worried?” Her mother gave a telling look that yes, she was indeed worried but wouldn’t admit to it. Yomiko had, after all, been out here for most of the day; much longer than what she had been any time before. “Alright Mom, fine. Let’s go have dinner.”

Look out tomorrow. I’m going to keep going until they’re begging me to be Chuunin.

--WC 1450; TWC 2305--
Learned: Block (C), Water Clone (C), & Fish Spit (E) using 2250 WC
Stats: +23 stats; +6 Speed and +17 Chakra

Mon Jun 14, 2021 3:45 pm

Improving Talent

Improving Talent

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Re: Improving Talent