The Bear Necessities (Private)

Mission Name: I cannot bear to see this!
Mission Type: Elimination
Mission Rank: B
Mission Goal: Clear out the bear infestation at Mr.Julian's cave.
Description: Mr. Julian is a famous biologist. For some reason, his cave is now filled with twenty bears. It seems he forgot a bear couple he left there for a few years and now they've gone insane, surviving from the provisions Mr.Julian stored there just in case a war broke out. Despite being animals, these bears have a tremendous physical might. Take care not to diiiie~ Village insurance doesn't cover loss of limbs by bear bite.
Payment: 25,000 ryo
Requirements: Jounin+

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A cool wind blew across the desert sands as Kai waited at the front of the gates to the village. The wind heralded the oncoming night chill and he stood awaiting the man he was supposed to be on this mission with. Tall, broad shouldered, and muscular, Kai wore sunglasses, even in the darkness of the oncoming night to hide the colour of his eyes, a green as bright and vibrant as new grass. They always seemed to draw attention to him and he disliked that fact. So he took some measures to avoid it. Of course this didn’t work so well when you considered the fact that was was 6’3, had black hair clipped into a buzz cut, and wore black shinobi cargo pants, a green undershirt, and a green coat that went down to his knees. Black combat boots finished off the look and all of it made him stand out regardless. However it was only when people paid close attention to his eyes that he got uncomfortable.

The man he was waiting for was none other than his Sensei, Azuma Asakaze, Jounin of Sunagakure. He taught him his first lightning jutsu just a couple of days ago. Today they were to go on a mission to eliminate a den of bears in a cave out in the desert. From what Kai understood the cave was not close at all, and so they would have to be traveling for a time. Which was a perfect time for him to be practicing jutsu of different elements. All in all, he was somewhat excited to get going, or at least, about as excited as he got. He figured his sensei would be around soon and they could head out to begin the mission.

It must have been late evening, the sun was on its way to meet the horizon in the west and the cool night air was settling over the desert, relief from the heat of the day. Azuma was approaching the main gates of Sunagakure, the young Jounin appearing in a slightly different outfit then his normal attire--at least on the surface. He could be seen approaching the gates in a cloak akin to what an ANBU would wear, a deep charcoal in color. Under this cloak was his ‘normal’ outfit, the white Yukata--the black pants ending near his shins, shins wrapped in bandages down to his black shinobi boots. But seeing as this would potentially be a lengthy Mission, he wanted to be prepared for cold nights with the extra layer, as well as able to use it as a way to protect himself from the blistering sun.

The Desert Rogue approached the gates, mismatched hues falling upon Kai who appeared to have been waiting for him. The two tall men had a mission to complete, a cave had been left unattended by some biologist and the bears he had left behind had grown into fearsome beasts, in a fairly large number. Now it was up to Shinobi of Sunagakure to, by any means, evict these Bears from the cave. Azuma approached Kai and glanced over his rather imposing student. "You seem ready, hope you are. We got a fairly long walk to this cave so it’ll take some time. We should probably get going." Azuma said to Kai with a small nod, before continuing on to walk through the gates of Sunagakure, out towards the Sunrise Desert.

His sensei would arrive in short order, prompting Kai to look toward him as he approached. The man looked older than Kai, something the genin attributed to years of experience and hard time in the world of shinobi. A harrowing experience for many and something that would leave one changed, both physically and mentally. The shaded genin would nod in response to Azuma’s words, and shift his head to the side, bending his neck and causing tension cracks to sound before he spoke. “I am indeed Sensei. I hope to utilize the time we take to travel to the cave to practice jutsu of different elements. I figure the bears won’t leave in the time we take to travel, and even if they do, that just means mission accomplished regardless.” He would say, raising an inquisitive eyebrow at the man. The unspoken question was there, asking if it would be alright for him to do so. Should he object then Kai would obviously acquiesce, but he would also ask for why he couldn’t.

Not as a sign of disrespect or hard headedness, but simply a desire to understand. The sun was swiftly traveling toward the horizon, meaning it would get significantly colder soon, but he would be fine in his coat. His sensei was wearing a white yukata, of the same style he’d first met the man in, under a charcoal grey ANBU cloak. ‘Will he freeze before we finish the mission?’ He’d wonder to himself in speculation.

he Desert Rogue’s ears burned with the sound of Kai cracking his neck before he would respond to Azuma, expressing the desire to practice jutsu of numerous elements during their travel time. This honestly sounded like an amazing plan to Azuma, the young man nodding in response to it as Kai went on about the bears. The bears had been in the cave for some time, would be weird if they left right before Shinobi arrived to force their exit.

"Sounds like a good idea to me, I can obviously help you with Raiton jutsu--but the other elements I can only explain as I have been told about them. Feel free to ask me anything, but I apologize if I don’t have all the answers." Azuma said in response to Kai practicing more jutsu on the way to the location. Azuma would move to lead the two of them out of the Village, passing through a deep pass between the towering walls that surrounded the village on all sides. Azuma would nod to about the only guard he respected for doing their job right--the others lazily letting about anyone pass through the gates--as they walked by them, earning a short wave from the random gate guard towards the two, as the desert itself awaited them.

Kai would nod in response to Azuma’s approval, his mind already starting to go toward the first jutsu he’d try to learn. A fire style technique that he would hopefully find useful. ‘Exploding Flame Shot’. It was a technique that would allow him to throw a couple of balls of fire from his hands that would explode in a five meter diameter around their impact point. The technique was versatile in how far he could throw them, for the range of the jutsu was however far he could toss them from his person. This would allow him to firebomb targets from a fairly large distance away. Coming back to his reality as he moved on autopilot to follow Azuma, he’d see the guard wave at them and give a polite nod in acknowledgement before responding to Azuma’s words. “I’ve spent the last couple of days researching techniques from various elements in the library. I just hadn’t gotten around to training them yet. I shouldn’t need much advice but it’s good to know it’s there if I’m incorrect in my assumptions.” He would say, already planning on starting to learn the jutsu as soon as they got far enough away from the village to allow it.

He couldn’t just start firing off fire jutsu so close to the village, visiting civilians, or even those who lived here, might get the wrong idea and worry, or even panic. He’d need to wait a bit before practicing something so flashy, which he was fine with. It would only take a few moments to crest over the nearest sand dune and be out of sight. This would allow him to practice freely. “I think I’ll start with fire jutsu.” He would say, already itching to start.

Azuma heard Kai mention him having taken the time to research new jutsu of differing elements, a glance over to the slightly taller man and subtle nod given in response. This may had been why Azuma never seen himself as much of the teacher type, he was a well of battle tactics and wisdom brought to him from years out in the field, he knew a vast number of Jutsu compared to some, but still, he lacked the elements to help others learn by example--which may be his best way to teach, by example. Still, he had the basics behind each of the 5 basic elements in his mind, and could at least offer the younger man help where he could.

It really wouldn’t be that long before they would crest over a dune and the village itself was becoming a sight in their metaphorical rear view mirrors. The man’s ears burned once more with the deep tone from the imposing young man he’d taken on as his student, nodding once more at the idea. "Great place to start...lot of useful fire jutsu out there in the world, plus...well the idea of spitting out massive fire balls just sounds sort of fun." he said with a light chuckle following the idea of using such techniques as being ‘fun’. "Feel free, I shall hang back a little--as long as we keep going South East we should be heading in the correct direction..." he would say, with a shove from his foot launching himself a number of meters back, landing softly in the sand and giving Kai space to practice jutsu. Who knew what would happen if Azuma stuck too close to the Genin using new jutsu for the first time.

Kai would nod in understanding of his teachers caution, after all, who would want to stand next to a potential blast zone when someone messed up a jutsu? A small smirk at the thought would grace his features, although it would be after Azuma had already backed off a bit, so the man would miss it, such a shame. Now however it was time to begin, bringing his hands together, he flipped through three hand signs, Rabbit, Dog, and finally, Ox. While channeling chakra into his hands. This technique was supposed to be rather simple in design and usage although it might take him a try or two to get the right amount of chakra for a jutsu of it’s rank down correctly.

Sure enough, when he channeled chakra into his hands, small billows of smoke would follow, and perhaps a spark or two. However it obviously wouldn’t be a completed jutsu. Nodding his head in understanding, he’d flip through the seals once more, channeling more chakra into his hands and this time twin orbs of fire would erupt, one in each of his hands. “Exploding Flame Shot.” He’d say, stating the name for his Sensei’s benefit in case the man was curious. He’d said so himself the last time they’d spoken, and even just a few moments ago. That he was only really good with Raiton based ninjutsu. So he figured perhaps the man would be curious as to which jutsu was which. Recognizing such potential threats in the future was always useful knowledge after all.

With that done though, he’d launch the jutsu, throwing it off to the side of their projected travel path. The orbs would sail fifteen meters away before erupting into five meter diameter explosions, scattering sand everywhere and causing small craters in the desert that was quickly being filled in by...more sand. “Simple enough.” He would say, nodding at technique and knowing that as he increased his own physical capabilities, that he’d be able to through the orbs farther and farther away.

Azuma would watch on from his position walking some distance behind, roughly 10 or so meters, keeping an amber and white hue focused on Kai for the time being, while keeping mental track of where they was heading...The Desert was very easy to get lost in, after all. He shifted over to the side some, so he could see more of what Kai was doing, just in time to see him perform a series of three hand seals. Azuma’s eyes narrowed in a hint of focus when the first attemt failed. ’Close, seemed like he almost had it...considering some take tons of tries to learn a single jutsu, that wasn’t a bad start’ crossed Azuma’s mind as he continued to watch.

The next attempt from his large student would see more success, Azuma smirking if only a hint as he seen the young man spark to life two orbs of flame, one for each hand. He’d simply nod at hearing the jutsu’s name, Azuma has spent a lot of time researching many jutsu, he knew most the common ones, and even some less common but more famed techniques. But no need to tell Kai that for now. "Two tries, not bad at all." Azuma said in some encouragement. Why did this Genin need a Sensei again?

Somewhere in his subconscious, he heard his Sensei’s words, however outwardly he was focused on his task. He continued moving toward the south east, letting his body move him on autopilot. The next jutsu was the Great Fireball jutsu, and it had two forms to utilize it’s potential capabilities. Taking a deep breath, he’d slowly fill his lungs with air and chakra, kneading the air with fire chakra as he flipped through the hand seals necessary. ‘Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger.’ He’d think to himself as he did each seal before releasing the breath and chakra as a continuous stream of fire from his lips. The fire would travel twenty five meters in a widespread stream of flames that would move with Kai as he continued stepping through the desert. The stream variant was able to be maintained so long as he held chakra to it and it kept up the deadly assault for a minute before letting the fire stream dissipate.

“That version’s down..” He would say before forming a single Tiger seal as he explosively inhaled a sharp breath and released it all at once, releasing a massive orb of fire that travelled forward one hundred meters before suddenly expanding into a ten meter fireball and causing a large crater in the sandy terrain before fizzling out. Kai would nod his head in acceptance of the jutsu’s addition to his now growing arsenal. “Great Fireball Jutsu, both variants, learned.” He would say before turning his mind toward the next jutsu.

The Sensei, relegated to a spectator for now, watched on as Kai would form a series of hand seals. Azuma could recognize by the actions and hand seals what was coming next, a jutsu he’d seen a number of times. Particularly during his travels through the Land of Fire. The man witnessed Kai release his breath in a sharp and fiery blow, billowing out a stream of fire at first, before shifting to form another Tiger Seal, and releasing the same jutsu all at once--the Genin sending a large fireball soaring across the desert. Azuma blinked, smirking after. "Making me wanna learn something new out here." he mentioned, more or less to himself, Kai unlikely to even hear him. The fireball launched lit up the sands as it sped across the dunes, the sun by now having just fallen below the horizon, letting the brightness of Kai’s jutsu shine--literally.

Now Azuma was a bit inspired. He wanted to learn something new...and he knew just what to go for, at least for now. When given access to stolen materials from Konoha, he learned many of the Lightning Techniques the scrolls held. But one he had yet to learn. Azuma lifted up a single arm, and focused his Raiton chakra within it--molding and shaping the chakra within the arm into what was best called Senbon--many tiny needles of Lightning itself. Azuma gave a small leap into the air, while turning around to fire off the jutsu behind him as to not endanger or spook Kai while he focused on his own jutsu. With a wide flick of his elbow and swing with his arm, he’d release a large number of Chidori Senbon in a speedy burst, matching that of his own inhuman natural speed. These needles hit the sand and would cause a burst of dust to erupt behind them--Azuma landing softly from his leap and smiling. Last one down...with that he turned around and went to see what Kai was cooking up next.

((330 words out of 175 WC required via training reductions; learned Chidori Senbon.))

Blinking back to himself as his rational mind finally picked up that something was being said, and had been previously, Kai would smirk at Azuma’s words. Was he starting to feel insecure about what his genin was capable of learning so quickly? Perhaps, but maybe it was simply the explosions and light show that made the man wanting to make some of his own. Either way, it caused him to want to practice some jutsu of his own. Something that Kai was certainly approving of. Teachers should also progress as well, otherwise students surpass them, and overshadow them. Kai would turn to watch the man as he leapt and turned and watched as something...a whole lot of something, bright and tiny, fired from his swung arm. Kai watched out of curiosity, for he couldn’t keep track of the projectiles themselves.

“Is that something you’ll teach me as well?” He’d ask out of curiosity before tilting his head to the side “What was it anyway? The projectiles were too fast for me to see clearly before they impacted the sand.” He’d follow with, wondering what that jutsu had been.

He’d more or less be walking smoothly backwards, still toward the south east, and he’d be considering what jutsu to learn next that he had researched. Probably, Phoenix Sage Fire, but for now he was curious as to what Azuma had just done.

As The Desert Rogue turned around, he’d be surprised to see Kai had turned around and watched what he was up to, and now was quick to question the jutsu Azuma had performed. The question about if it was something he was going to teach him made Azuma blink a few times in awkward silence, giving enough time for the ‘what was it anyway’ follow up. The young Jounin reached up with his hand to rub the back of his head. "Well ahh..." he said while rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "....Maaaaybe one day. Its a bit advanced for a Genin" Azuma responded finally after a moment of stalling, dropping his hand back to his side as he continued to walk.

"Its a variant on a Raiton jutsu developed in Konohagkure no Sato...I have no idea where they got ahold of the secrets behind the technique but it was made available to me...pretty sure I’m the only one in Sunagakure that was given access to these research materials." he’d go on to explain, being fully transparent about what he knew regarding the jutsu he had used. "The main jutsu itself is Chidori...maybe you’ve heard of it?" he’d say with an eyebrow hiking up.

Kai would listen intently before shaking his head in the negative. “I can’t say I have, it might very well be too complex for me at the moment. Although it won’t be for long if I can help it.” He would say before turning back to his own jutsu training. He was fired up now, his blood boiling at the idea of finding jutsu more and more complex. Techniques that he couldn’t learn yet, it was like one giant tease. Had his sensei done this on purpose? Had he shown him a jutsu that he couldn’t, wouldn’t, be able to learn yet? Something he wouldn’t have permission to learn, much less the capability? If so it was effective in making him want to learn more.

Rat, Tiger, Dog, Ox, Rabbit, Tiger, intake of breath and then breathe. As he let the breath out, multiple fireballs spewed from his mouth. They were smaller than they had been before, less power in each one. This time however there were simply more of them barraging an area, each one less effective individually, but working together they did similar damage to the fireball jutsu. This one was designed to make it harder to escape harm entirely, allowing some damage to be done. Shuriken could also be hidden within the fireballs to be a rude surprise for someone. “Phoenix Sage Fire, complete.” He would say as the last fireball struck the area.

Azuma heard Kai’s response, and would give a slight nod in return, seeing the younger man turn about and seemingly get back to work with learning his own jutsu. The man would watch as Kai went on to form more hand seals, taking in a deep breath. Letting loose the Genin had begun sending a number of fireballs in quick succession. Azuma smiled at Kai’s progress, the man was a jutsu learning machine it seemed. Azuma would go ahead and try something he hadn’t in awhile, ever since learning the Lightning Shadow Clone, it’d been literally years since he’d even performed a normal Shadow Clone.

Forming a single hand sign with one hand, similar to half of a Tiger seal, and appearing beside himself in a poof of smoke was a clone of Azuma. He looked over and eyes went wide, it was poor, deformed, and he quickly swatted it away hoping Kai hadn’t seen...the man could make perfect Lightning Clones all day but he hadn’t been used to not introducing Raiton into the mix in so long, it messed him up. With a grumble he tried again, focusing more this time. Again in a poof of smoke, the Shadow Clone appeared beside him, a perfect twin, that gave the real Azuma a smile for getting it right.

The real Azuma simply rolled his eyes. The clone of Azuma went ahead and rushed forward, its speed matching Azuma’s and very quickly passing Kai and stopping somewhere ahead of him. This is when the real Azuma called from behind. "Target practice...see if you can take out my clone." Azuma said, the Clone up ahead reading himself to try to evade--even activating a jutsu, Azuma’s Kaminari Hanasha, or Lightning Reflex, increasing his overall reflexes to match up with his speed, smiling in anticipation as he eye’d Kai from a distance

Watching the clone speed off into the distance Kai would listen to Azuma speak before nodding and inhaling sharply before immediately launching an entirely different attack. One with a different element entirely. This attack would be of the element of wind, and had absolutely no hand seals in order to utilize it. With the sudden exhalation of breath a great bullet of wind would launch off toward the clone, speeding off at it’s best speed. It’s force easily enough to dispel the clone should it impact. The bullet spun as it traveled, spinning round and round as it built up momentum. The bullet would be able to travel up to one hundred meters away before dissipating into harmless air.

Kai would watch intently as the bullet traveled spinning end over end. Already getting his next jutsu prepared should he need to try again with a different jutsu. He was more or less done with fire jutsu now, intent to move onto wind now and begin to work on that element. The element was supposedly incredibly useful, in that the jutsu were nearly invisible, and could cut viciously or hit with incredible force. “I think I’ll like the wind element.” He would say simply as he considered the move. “Of course, I haven’t tried the others enough to say that completely.” He would say, following up his original statement. He hadn’t even tried Earth or Water element yet. Nor had he practiced with lightning enough to give a solid opinion of it. Maybe he should simply focus on all of them and become a ‘jack of all trades’ when it comes to elements. He certainly had the capabilities for it.

The Desert Rogue’s mismatched hues gazed on with focus on his student, as the clone acted independently from himself, so he could keep his focus on his student. The real Azuma could almost hear the sharp inhale, before watching Kai unleash a blast of air with a powerful exhale, Azuma smirking even more as he seen the Wind Element...by now it was pretty clear the idea Kai had access to all five basic elements seemed to hold true. Meanwhile, the Shadow Clone of Azuma could see as this blast of air was unleashed towards him, seeing it rip at the sands below as it spun up--speeding towards him.

The clone kneeled down, coiling up like a spring, before pushing off to the side, quickly darting to the right, while keeping focus on Kai, anticipating there may be a follow up attack as he slid just out of the path of the wind bullet, it ripping past and even making the dark locks of the Azuma clone flutter a little in the wind. Normally the clone would be returning fire at this point most likely, but his job was simply to be a target--and see if Kai could manage to hit him.

"Katon, Fuuton, Raiton...not fully confirmed by so far looking like the theory holds true." the real Azuma said as he approached Kai’s flank slowly, standing a good 10m to the side to continue giving him room, for a moment the Jounin glancing his clones way--the clone giving the real Azuma a nod in return to the glance. With that his mismatched orbs fell back onto Kai, looking for his next move.

Kai would nod in agreement at Azuma’s words. “It would seem so yes.” He would say as he began to work toward his next attempt. He would proceed to hold his hand into the Ram sign and gather chakra, before spawning four tornados of cutting wind that would move off toward the clone in oblique angels before he turned his hands into the tiger sign. Inhaling deeply, he would proceed to utilize the fireball jutsu, four times. Aimed directly at the tornado’s and ensuring they would be able to hit them without issue. This would cause the toando’s to become brutal cyclonic inferno’s of A Tier damage.

“Wind Release: Divine Wind, combined with Fireball Jutsu.” He would say, fully explaining the combination to his sensei as the flaming tornado’s came at the clone from multiple different angles. The tall genin would already be working on his next jutsu. He would need to figure out a way to hit the clone if this missed, because he would need to figure out a way trap it. ‘Perhaps Syrup Capture Field?’ He would think in curiosity as he considered how to perform the jutsu. It would be easy enough, only two seals and it could cause him to get a free shot against the doppelganger.

The clone of the Desert Rogue would keep an eye on Kai as he prepared for his next move, blinking when he seen the quad Tornados form and begin rushing towards him. This would’ve been bad enough, but no, it was about to get worse. The real Azuma smiled at seeing the younger Shinobi launch a flurry of fireballs, watching as the fire wrapped around the twisters, becoming a mixture made in hell for anyone caught up on the wrong end of it. Unluckily for Azuma’s clone...he was on the wrong end.

The Jounin didn’t even attempt to evade, the clone sighing and shutting his eyes, accepting his fate. The Clone was pulled in by the twisting winds, and torched alive by the fire...simply disappearing in a poof of smoke, barely visible among the rotating hell Kai had unleashed. Azuma was given the knowledge of how it felt, and it didn’t sit well with him, but he simply smiled on.

"Don’t even know why I asked you to be my student, looks like you barely need me for anything." Azuma said with a light chuckle. "Lets try something a little different then, eh?" he said with a bit of a smirk. Azuma once again formed the sign he had used before to bring up a Shadow Clone before. This time a few would spawn, 4 of them. Each of them knelled into neat coils in unison, using their Lightning Reflex to focus chakra into their legs, stimulating those muscles. This would allow them to travel very quickly, but with no other boost, would likely be experiencing some tunnel vision effects. This was intentional to make them hard to hit speed wise, but try to take away their ability to dodge based on predicting attack’s paths. The four clones spread out and all darted around in odd directions and angles, trying to be unpredictable, but not paying much attention to where Kai may be attacking from. Could he hit the quickly moving targets with them not attempting to dodge? With the potential he shown, nothing would surprise Azuma now.

The tall genin would watch as the tornado’s converged on the clone and eradicated it, sending out a short plume of smoke that was swiftly ravaged into obscurity by the ferocious winds. He would listen to Azuma chuckle, mention how he didn’t even know why he asked him to be his student. Then he’d form four more clones, these ones already kneeling down and seemingly preparing for something. Kai wouldn’t hesitate in his actions, deciding that giving the clones the ability to speed off into other directions would make this game unnecessarily difficult.

‘Ram, Tiger’ He would think as his hands formed the sign while the clones were still kneeling. The sunglass clad genin would open his mouth and expel a viscous water from his mouth that would spread out toward the clones. All of them within a meter or so of each other. The water technique, ‘Starch Syrup Capturing Field.’ Would cause them to be able to speed off for a few moments before they utilized the water walking technique.

‘Tiger, snake, dog’ He would think as he flipped through the seals to try a different jutsu, one that would combo viciously well with the water technique he had just used against the clones. The lightning release technique known as ‘Lightning Strike’ consisted of a bolt of lightning that could branch off up to six times and even avoid obstacles as well. The bolt would be aimed at the water technique however, which would increase the power of the jutsu substantially and spread it through the water as a whole, making the entire thirty meter wide water net an electrical death trap.

Should that work it should be enough to dispel the clones as one, the object to remove them before they could become more difficult to deal with. Should the assault work he’d turn toward his Sensei and quirk and inquisitive eyebrow. “I hope you don’t mind if I went ahead and acted before they ran off. The point of our profession is to attack at moments of opportunity right?” He would ask, curiosity in his tone as he awaited the answer.

Azuma and the clones would all now be targeted--seemingly Kai forgot the real Azuma was among them. He sighed deeply as he leaped off as far backwards as he could--the clones also attempting to leap, but they was caught up in the syrup launched over them by Kai, sticking all 4 clones in place. The real Azuma landed on the spreading syrup, but was smart enough to have activated his ability to walk on water, a thin layer of chakra under his feet to keep him from sticking, looking up to Kai.

This is when he seen the follow up, a rather slow bolt of lightning sent to the water-syrup mix, hitting it and spreading out among its radius. The young Jounin took a few more smaller leaps back, it didn’t take too many to get out to the edge and escape the range of the combination jutsu, watching as the lightning spread over his clones, dispelling them, and ended its trek at the edge of the syrup. The Desert Rogue shook his head. "Maybe you should take a little more caution, in trying to get them--you nearly got me. Its fine though, lets work on avoiding that in the future, you don’t want friendly fire." Azuma explained in response to Kai’s question on the plan to deal with them before they took off. "Still though, very good tactic. Was good to look for the opportunity and take it." he’d follow it up with, nodding. Azuma went ahead and walked around the pool of syrup on the desert floor, and would continue in their intended direction.

The real Azuma would leap from the area as the lightning was about to strike the sticky substance and channel it through it’s radius. Kai would nod as the man landed and the clones dispersed after being electrocuted. “Sorry, Azuma-Sensei.” He would say simply, his tone neutral. The Jounin would proceed to compliment him on the tactic and taking the opportunity when he say it. Kai would nod in acknowledgement of the words before turning his mind to his next technique. “I think I’ll go back to practicing wind for now, and work on more after I’m done there.” He would say as he began to consider the next wind technique he’d intended to learn.

He’d read about one that was versatile due to its lack of hand seals. This would allow it to be used quickly and with great flexibility in combat situations. It was referred to as ‘Wind Realse: Slash” and it consisted of waving his hand in the intended direction and forming multiple chakra chakra blades into one larger one that sped off toward his aimed target. Kai would face a direction, where Azuma was not of course, and wave his hand while channeling wind release chakra into the form of blades.

Multiple blades formed in the air and their air currents fed off one another and combined into a single large blade that sped off toward the direction he’d aimed. The blade struck a sand dune and cut through it, for a moment making it seem like there was nothing between the top of the dune and the rest of the sand in the desert. Before the top of the dune fell down into an indistinguishable mass of sand, like everything else in the desert..

The Desert Rogue simply let it go, he obviously had no issue escaping the jutsu, so he had nothing more to say about Kai’s potential friendly fire moment, hearing the neutral sounding apology from the young man as he made his way around the pool of syrup that Kai had left on the desert floor, and kept heading south-east. The two would over time travel some distance, by now the village was no longer in sight, and had it not been for the fact Azuma knew the desert basically like the back of his hand, they could’ve easily gotten lost. But they wouldn’t, and continued making their way towards the bear filled cave, still many miles out at this point.

Azuma watched as his student would continue practicing jutsu, this time the man shifting back to Wind Jutsu as he said he would--such a useful element--watching as this next one used no hand signs, air currents shaping and morphing by the man’s chakra into sharp blades, flowing together into one more powerful cutting air current. He watched said slash of air slice through a dune off in the distance. Azuma simply let the edge of his lip curl in a small smirk, continuing on quietly as Kai trained more jutsu. The man was a jutsu learning machine it seemed.

His teacher would seem to be fine with the apology, it wasn’t that Kai was actually apologetic, he just didn’t show much emotion when on the job as a whole. Training time was ‘on the job’ for him too but especially when on a mission itself. He tried to utilize his thoughts and mind to their greatest at those times and emotions mucked around with that process. In his eyes, that would cause problems for the duties required of a shinobi. So he avoided it by walling himself behind indifference. The next jutsu took a few seals to perform but it could be useful to increase the force of his shuriken and kunai if he ever used the weapons.

Snake, Ram, Boar, Bird, and then clapped his hands together. Then, a gale force wind would launch forward for forty meters, sending sand flying in all directions except toward them. The gale would peter out along their path, giving them a conveniently flat surface to walk on for a little bit. “Gale Palm, completed.” He would say before beginning to consider the next jutsu. He’d do this in stages, he finished fire, he’d finish wind, then move to water, then lightning, and finally earth. “Bout how far would you say we’ve come Sensei?” He’d ask idly as he selected the next jutsu to learn.

Here we are, in the Sunrise Desert, observing a wild Kai in his natural habitat. Almost robotic in nature, he trains his jutsu with the accuracy of a computer. Azuma went ahead and watched on as his student would go on to perform another jutsu, the slightly older man envying the energy and eagerness to learn new techniques of his student. Azuma did at times, but in bursts of 2, 3, maybe 5 jutsu at a time. How many was Kai at by now? Well, more then Azuma would in an afternoon. But he was only starting out, where Azuma had years of training jutsu behind him...plus, element wise, Azuma was much more limited, where Kai had shown the ability to use everything sans Earth so far. Surely that would come sooner or later.

Azuma’s ears burned when Kai addressed him directly again, inquiring about how far they had gone. Azuma basically had a map of at least 70% of the desert mentally stored in his mind, and while not taking as much time to focus on jutsu, he’d been keeping track of how far they had gone. “We’re about two-tirds the way there.” he’d answer, figuring that was a better response then ‘we’ve traveled X amount of distance’, even if Azuma had a damn good guess as to what that distance would be. They had left the sight of Sunagakure almost forever ago now, and its not like the tall walls or buildings of the village was easy to miss, visible from many kilometers out if given a decent enough vantage point. Granted a good leap could probably give said vantage point if Azuma wished. But...besides the point.

Kai would nod in response to his sensei’s answer. Two thirds of the way then? That meant he had to try to pick up the pace if he could. He wanted to try to learn everything before getting there. Although he could learn some while returning he supposed. It would certainly keep the walk home interesting. The next jutsu on the list was Great Breakthrough, then he only had one more to learn. Nodding to himself, Kai would begin to flip through the necessary hand seals. Tiger, Ox, Dog, Rabbit, Snake, then released another gust of wind from his mouth. Great Breakthrough was just as fast and as powerful as Drilling Air Bullet, and had half again as much range on it too. However Drilling Air Bullet had no hand seals while Great Breakthrough did. This of course make each jutsu preferable depending on the situation at hand.

The final jutsu however he simply didn’t have the equipment for. For he had never bought any kunai or shuriken of any kind. Now that he thought about it, he probably should do something like that eventually so that he could defend himself in some way at least in close combat. Either way, he needed a shuriken to test this jutsu and so, while still striding forward, he would turn his had back toward his Sensei. “Azuma-Sensei, might I borrow a shuriken for a moment? I’ll return it, but I don’t have throwing equipment on me and I need a shuriken to test this.” He would ask, polite as usual.