All That Lurks in the Forest is Perseverance

Age : 32 Posts : 35

The sun was just rising over the hills as the young crimson-haired genin raced down the mountain side. His hair waved haphazardly as the rushing wind flung it all about. He made a brief mental note to get his hair cut soon since it had been nearly two weeks since his last trim. If he waited much longer he wouldn't be able to see. His clothes whipped in the wind created from his descending run down the mountain. Though his usual mining outfit had been revamped for the upcoming summer months. His jacket had been swapped out for a short sleeve button-up of similar colors. The usual cargo pants he wore were also changed out for similar pants that had zippers around the knees so that he could remove half of the legs to turn his pants into shorts. Tenma enjoyed having options to choose from while wearing the same clothes.

He sunk low as he fell much further than he had expected onto on of the many ledges that went down the steep decline on the southern face of the mountains the Kumogakure was nestled in. The young man grunted as he continued leaping from ledge to ledge on his way down. Just below the tree line was a forest with many bamboo groves that the genin had made his training environment a few times. It was a quiet calm place where only a few animals even came through let alone any people.

Tenma reflected on the previous night. He had gotten done with serving coffee to the guards along with his team leader Etorufuu-sensei and his teammates Kanji Senju and Satoshi Hyuuga. At the end of the night his sensei told them that he planned to have an exhibition where he pitted his team against another genin team. There would be consequences good and bad. Tenma knew that Kanji and Satoshi wouldn't have any trouble holding their own weight, but he feared that he would hold his team back by forcing them to cover him. He wasn't much for offense. That's why the young man only got four hours of sleep before setting out this fine morning. He wanted to get up at dawn, but he missed that chance. He regretted the time he wasted on sleeping, however there was no use getting caught up in missed opportunities.

The genin finally reached the bottom of the rock face and sprinting into the trees. He guided himself effortlessly through the labyrinth of wood as if he knew exactly where he wanted to go. His eyes caught every obstacle in his way and his body moved just enough to avoid every one of them. What might have taken others several minutes to get through the branches and bushes took Tenma only a minute or so. He had arrived to a well known clearing in the trees where he would plenty of room to work. Though the first part of his training wouldn't require too much room.

Tenma pulled a small scroll from his pocket and unrolled it upon the ground. He relinquished a quill and ink well as well. Sitting on the ground legs crossed with the scroll and ink before him he started on the tedious work. He had to prepare the design of the seals before he could even begin on working on the jutsu. The scroll revealed five seals that were still incomplete with various notes and symbols. He had been bouncing these ideas around for a while, but hadn't made enough headway on it to even consider them ready for testing.

The scarlet-haired boy pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose before setting to work. He scribbled madly across the scroll preparing dozens of practice seals that might give him some ideas on how to prepare the seals. One of the seals he planned to make was an idea given to him by Etorufuu-sensei. He pondered how to implement a seal that would greatly increase something's weight. His sensei told him were that words alone had great power themselves. He tried various phrases to allow the seal to become solid, but they never worked. He had tried 'Iron,' 'Steel,' 'Lead,' 'Weight,' and several others. None had worked quite as well as he wanted it to. After trying to come up with more synonyms an idea hit him. He scribbled the kanji for 'Burden' in the center of the seal. This could be the word he was looking for that would give his seal form.

When he became pleased with the results he sought to test out the seal. He created a chakra chain to place the seals so he had no fear of getting too close to the seal and hurting himself. The chain rose through the air and touched the branch of a tree. Stretching from the point the spike touched the tree was a black seal roughly the size of a dinner plate with the kanji for 'Burden' in the center. The branch almost immediately sunk down as if a weight were placed on it. The extra weight threatened to break the branch. Tenma canceled the effects of the seal obviously satisfied with the result. His sensei was correct words did have powerful effects.

He worked on the other seals as well that were his own personal creations. He had no talent for ninjutsu. Go figure he would be great at two forms of ninjutsu that required great form and concentration, but when it came to basic elemental ninjutsu he did awful. That's why he used seals to make up for what he lacked in using ninjutsu. The seals did the molding and forming for him while he supplied chakra to them. He had been working on two Suiton and two Fuuton seals. The water seals were meant for trapping and hindering the opponent while the wind seals were meant for more combat based assault.

He had watched some other shinobi use various water and wind element ninjutsu. The jutsu they used were inspiration for what he should create for his seals. Some of the shinobi made some chemical changes to the water to have drastically different results. They would turn the water into a stick syrup or a slick foam. Tenma knew that these would make great trapping seals.

Tenma produced his chakra chain once more for seal placing. He sent it out about ten meters in front of him to avoid any sort of splatter upon himself. The seal spread across the ground only about six inches in diameter. The seal had no special markings on it. It was easily mistakable on the forest floor. He waited a few moments before having the chain press the surface of the seal. Almost immediately the seal began to spray syrup in all directions. Tenma was forced to leap backwards to avoid being covered in the sticky mess. It took nearly fifteen seconds for it to completely discharge its contents before ending. The area in nearly a ten meter circle was covered in spatters of the syrup.

The genin scowled at the results. He realized the mistake in his judgment of using the same release scheme as his other water seal. He brought his chain back toward him. It was covered in a caramel covered liquid that stuck to the chain coating its surface. He felt the substance that had the same consistency as maple syrup. He contemplated tasting it, but decided against it. He looked down at his sketching deciding how to change it up. It took only a few brush strokes to alter it before he was ready to give it another try.

He moved a little further away where he performed the same action. The chain touched the ground placing a seal just as it had before. He pressed the spike on the seal activating it by pressure. Instead of spraying in a chaotic fashion it bubbled up in a globe of caramel-colored liquid. The results even caused Tenma to sweat as the globe grew in size for nearly ten seconds. Just when he thought a bomb was gonna go off it opened up near the top. It globe opened like a coffee filter slapping the ground with a wet sound. The field was only about five meters, but the coating was even. He would have preferred it to be a bit larger, yet he was pleased with the results.

The young man performed similar changes to his other water seal. The soap seal would dispense a slick foamy liquid that would prevent those caught from gaining balance or traction. He anticipated similar results when using the same release mechanism. He urged his chain to place the seal in between the two puddles of syrup. After putting pressure on the seal it began to bubble up as well. The liquid that came out was a pearly white and foggy within. The bubble grew and grew until it was prime for bursting...and that's just what it did. Foam and soap flew everywhere from the globe covering an area of nearly twenty meters. Tenma found himself brushing suds from his clothes as he stood dumbfounded. He looked about the clearing finding bundles of foam and soapy water everywhere. The water even seemed to fizz a little. An interesting turn is the syrup that covered the area was being turned to regular water from the soapy water. It seemed that the soap counteracted the syrup and vice versa.

Tenma settled back down, breathing a sigh of relief that no water fell upon his note scroll, looking over his notes. He had made the mistake of assuming that the releasing the soap like the syrup would work. Given how much thicker the syrup was than the soap and water it was natural that it would explode like that. It took only a few brush strokes to tune it down some. Tenma stood up once more, this time blocking the path to the scroll, and repeated his release process. The chain created the seal and activated it. The globe of foggy water grew in size until it was prone to bursting. Tenma squinted his eyes as the orb gave way expecting to get soaked once more. However, the ground roughly about five meters was covered in the liquid. The perfect result to mirror his syrup trap.

Satisfied with the results Tenma marked his water seals and his weight seal as complete. Now he had to complete his wind seals. His wind seals were less inspired for trapping and more for common use. The first would be the opposite of his other wind seal that would expel wind and in turn suck in air. It wouldn't have many uses, but it could plant someone if they were directly upon the seal. The other seal was used as a launch platform for thrown weapons to give them an extra push.

Giving up on pre-work given its record of always being faulty Tenma went straight to field testing his capturing wind seal. The seal was meant to suck in air rather than release it creating a suction that could trap anything that would block its path. He used his chain to place the seal, and allowed it to take form. The small black seal would be hardly noticeable until it was activated where it was increase in size becoming solid black and spherical. He tapped the chain against the seal to activate it. Tenma hoped that he would have difficulty pulling the chain back, but was unpleasantly surprised that the seal had barely enough power to move the grass around it.

His scowl was evident as he worked on increasing the power of the seal. The chakra required had to at least match if not exceed what it would take to launch air out. Plus the seal needed some structural work before it would properly. Tenma decided to test his work once more. A grimace apparent on his face as he placed the seal. Perfecting seals were tedious and these weren't even high level seals. He could only imagine the work required to create and use higher level seals. He was pulled out of his delusion by the sound of small vortex. Ahead of him the seal had activated causing air to rush into it. The visual phenomenon was reminiscent of water going down a drain. He watched it, clearly fascinated, until it quietly dropped in power until it faded away. A small smile curled his lips at his success pushing all of his worries and burdens aside for the moment.

He had only a single seal remaining, and it was the easiest one to develop. The framework was already done for the seal so he had to simply prepare it. The seal was different from his others which only needed to be placed and activated to work. This one had to be prepared and set up ahead of time for it to work. This was because ninja tools had to be sealed within for it to be of any use. The seal could be placed on any surface including his person making sneak attacks a possibility. It wasn't an overly complex design or idea, but it would be effective in the right situation.

Tenma canceled his chakra chain finding its use no longer necessary. He approached an open space of grass where he crouched on the ground. With a single finger placed upon the ground Tenma erected a black seal. It's design was fairly simple when compared to his others seals. He reached behind him fumbling with his waist pack to grab five kunai from within. The fistful of kunai fought against being released from the pack, but Tenma's grip stayed true and eventually won the conflict. He laid the weapons on top of the seal and placed his hands over the set up. It took only a small amount of chakra to cause the kunai to disappear within the seal with a puff of smoke. He arose from his position and retreated back several feet to avoid any misfires when activating his seal. He made a single seal with his right hand with two fingers erected upward and the rest curled inward. On command the seal activated with a blast of wind. Five sharp knives flew straight up faster than Tenma's eye could keep up, and disappeared into the tree canopy. He was pleased with the results at first, however the mistake in his judgment became apparent. With fearful speed Tenma ran away from the seal and hid behind a tree. There he waited for nearly fifteen seconds until five thunks were heard. Upon poking his head out he could see five kunai sticking out of the ground in various locations. Each one of those weapons could have been his death if he hadn't reacted as swiftly as he had.

Tenma took some time to catch his breath. His heart was pounding in his throat causing his breath to come out raspy. He made a dozen mental notes to never do that ever again. He walked back toward the battle zone. His eyes were squinted as he stared down the kunai that fell as if they were capable of being aware of what they had done. They failed to provide an apologetic response to suit Tenma so he collected the blades and placed them back within his pack. He sighed signaling the completion of avoiding the danger of falling blades. He looked up to the trees noticing the light between the leaves was getting rather orange. It wouldn't be too long until it was completely dark which was something Tenma wanted to avoid. He had only one more jutsu to work on. He had been working an offensive and defensive jutsu involving his chains that were pretty much done. He had an idea to capture enemies with his chains. The idea had evolved as it was nearing completion. All that it had left to do was to work it out.

Tenma focused his chakra, quickly realizing how tired he was becoming, and focused it upon his hands. The jutsu could be performed with a single chain, but the danger only increased when you added more chains. Two blue ethereal spikes sprouted from each of his palms. He picked his target. An unsuspecting tree about ten meters away made the perfect stationary target. With a smirk he threw his hands forward. The spikes launched from his hands and quickly spiraled around the tree. Tenma pulled his hands back as if he were reeling back a lasso on a farm animal. He pulled and pulled, but noticed the tree barely even noticed. He slacked his pull and watched his chains fall to the ground. He instantly realized the weakness. The power of the capture was reliant on his own strength to hold them back. He pulled the chains back. The chakra-composed restraints pulled into his hands as if there were a wench pulling it back somewhere in his arm.

When the spikes finally rested onto his palms Tenma launched his new plan into action. Instead of facing his palms toward the tree he pointed them toward the ground. The spike launched straight down into the ground burrowing deep into the forest floor. It was silent and motionless for a few seconds excluding the chains that continued to pour from his hands. In an instant the four chains broke from the ground around the tree at each corner. The chains fluidly spiraled around the target removing any opening for it to escape. Once the web of chains formed around the tree the spikes which were rising into the air turned down and shot down around the tree. In a matter of a few seconds the tree was restrained by a series of chains that had wrapped around several of its branches and its trunk. By coming from the ground it would require those that were captured to be able to rip the chains from the dirt to pull Tenma. Plus the chains would more than likely break before they were pulled from the dirt.

Tenma smiled triumphantly as sweat dripped from his brow. He sighed as if he had finished some strenuous exercise which resulted in labored breathing. The chains faded away as if the wind had blown them into particles. Tenma flopped onto his back as he caught his breath. He was nearly out of chakra and was ready to just fall asleep right here. The orange that filtered in from the leaves had turned darker and had a purple hue to it. He knew that if he fell asleep now he would wake up in the middle of the night. Finding his way home would be near impossible. Who knew what creatures lurked in this forest after dark. The exhausted boy pushed himself to his feet and began the arduous process of walking home. He suspected it would be well past dark when he got home, but he'd probably make it if he left now.

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