"That must've been a high-ranked jutsu, huh?" Anko would say in response to Kiku's performance, "Assuming by how easily it nullified my techniques, I suppose it's an A-Ranked jutsu. You see, even B-Ranked jutsu are damaged from such techniques as I use. Albeit, it was a greatly unexpected performance, and I'm impressed." Saio smiled at the boy, wondering if this boy could be his rival. However, the boy seemed fragile. Using such a technique seemed to take a great toll on him. In fact, judging by his actions, it was almost as if that giant had taken away most of his chakra. "One hundred out of one thousand hands...that's what it does to him." Saio thought, "He sure needs some practice."

Sudden stories would appear in the Uchiha's head as the wind blew. The wind began to soar a quite faster rate, rushing through Saio's hair as he thought about his clan-related techniques. "Will I really go that far?" Saio asked himself, referring to the Uchiha bloodline. He would be greatly sidetracked as the boy would ask him what he'd wanna talk about. "How about that book you were reading about?" Saio would ask, "You seemed very interested in it when I arrived." To be honest, Saio didn't really know what to say at the moment, whether it'd be basic talk or simply referring to what Kiku was saying. Even so, Saio would await a response.

He nodded. "A-rank, yeah. I'm still working on maintaining it. I usually go for longer, but I sparred with Miroku-sensei this morning so I was kind of using it a lot. Didn't expect it would take that much out of me." He started to do some stretches, regaining his strength. He had pretty much used up his Hermit Chakra, Kiku guessed he would need to meditate before he could use it again. Maybe he would take some time for it after going home.

"Oh, the book?" Kiku pulled it out of his pocket. "It's part of a series on the Time of Legends. This one is about the Fourth Great Ninja War. You ever read these?" He was excited. Not a lot of people asked him about his reading material. It would be nice to meet a fellow bibliophile in Soragakure. Maybe they could exchange books sometime, that would be cool. "They're really good, I got the whole series back home."

"So you can maintain that giant longer, huh?" Saio would repeat, grinning as he still thought about how he would've surpassed the thing. "Also, who is Miroku? Pardon me if he is major around here. I hardly remember anyone I've met other than a fellow Uchiha...an Uchiha named Mavis." Saio sighed, now wondering where his place must be in society. Of course, he was thinking figuratively. It's not like he doesn't know where-is-where around this village. Saio would be surprised to here of such a book as the one Kiku addressed. He continued to think about what to say until a thought came up.

"The Fourth Great Ninja War?" Saio thought, "HUH?! The...Fourth...Great Ninja War?!" Saio would, if allowed, sit beside Kiku, ready to ask him a few questions. "The Fourth Great Ninja War?" Saio would begin asking, "As in...the one with the legendary Uchiha...and...Uzumaki? I've heard of that one!" Thinking more about this, however, Saio frowned. He wondered how exactly the Uchiha enrolled in this war. "Weren't the Uchiha on the bad side?" Saio would ask in a soft tone, "Didn't they have unique eyes, as well?" Saio would just stop here, wondering if the boy knew anything about this. Who knows? Maybe Kiku was just starting the book, and Saio was potentially giving him spoilers. "I hope a day will come when I can master my clan's abilities..." Saio sighed, "Although...things don't seem to go well when achieving power in my clan."

"Yeah, I can keep it up a while sometimes. Miroku's a monk, he taught that technique to me. I went to his shrine for a while to study meditation, and I guess I just had the knack, heh." Kiku laughed nervously. He didn't like to brag, and that seemed like it could be too close to bragging. "He's pretty nice, not too well-known though. Keeps to himself a lot." He wondered if Saio would try seeking him out. It could be cool, having another genin to practice that technique with, but he didn't want to send too many people Miroku's way. The old monk liked his peace and quiet, he didn't want too many students to be a burden on him.

"That's the one, yeah." It was sort of funny if he thought about it, two descendants of the major players in that war sitting here and fanboying over it. Kiku wondered if he would ever come close to equaling his famous ancestor. It seemed impossible, but with the comrades he had now he was starting to think maybe he could get a fraction of that power. "The Uchiha... Well it's sorta complicated. Some of them are bad, and some of them switch sides a lot, and one seems like he's bad but is really good but is turned bad and then becomes good again, so it gets hard to keep track of sometimes." He knew that the Uchiha were responsible for some serious badness, but he didn't want to remind Saio of that. Saio seemed nice enough, it would be rude to bring up old stuff like that. "Maybe there's some other way to do it. I mean Kakashi unlocked a lot of power with the Sharingan, and he was a pretty solid good guy. Kind of a perv, but a good guy. Maybe you can do it too!"

"Y-Yeah..." Saio would reply softly to all the history Kiku just spilled. It sounded quite rude, yet Saio still didn't know what to say. "To be honest with you, there's a series of stages with the Sharingan. The first three are easy, although they all involve emotional and physical pain. However, the fourth stage, the Mangekyo Sharingan is tough. Maybe Kakashi was one of the fortunate ones to have this. To obtain the Mangekyo Sharingan, one must witness the death of a close friend or relative, or be responsible for doing so. Even then, it gets worse as you switch eyes with someone who's endured the same thing to obtain the final state: The Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. Kakashi might have been the fortunate one to get an implant when someone was about to die, and so he got the Mangekyo Sharingan." Saio started feeling sorrowful, and his guilt bruised him inside as he was making nothing bright for his friend Kiku.

Trying to smile, avoiding the pain. "Kiku, I promise I'll be one of the good Uchiha to live around here." Saio would say, smiling brightly now. The Uchiha knew he would have to go through some intense adventures, and endure things no normal human being would want to endure. However, as long as he knew there was somebody by his side, he would always feel satisfied. "Say Kiku..." Saio added, "Don't the Uzumaki have something special?"

"...Wow." Kiku didn't know how to respond to that. He'd heard about the different stages of the Sharingan, but hearing it from someone who had to live with that hanging over his head was different. It sounded pretty grim. "Yeah, that's gotta be a tough clan to be born into." Offering sympathy was never Kiku's strongest point, nor was any sort of personal interaction, but he felt he had to try. Saio seemed like he needed some support right now.

"Course you will, you seem like a good guy." Kiku smiled back, glad that he seemed to be cheering up. He wasn't sure how to handle a personal crisis of his own, let alone anyone else's. "Something special?" He thought for a moment. "Well we're supposed to have a lot of chakra, but that one might have skipped me. And we're supposed to have long lifespans, too. Maybe that's why I look like a kid." Kiku was starting to suspect he had gotten the short end of the stick as powers went.

"Lots of chakra, you say? Wow, that's a huge benefit now-a-days." Saio would reply to Kiku's info on his clan, smiling. He would laugh as the boy told him about long lifespans, assuming that's why he looks like a child (or so he thought(apparently)). "Well..." Saio began, "Uchiha are known well for their speed and agility, seeing as the Sharingan provides easy-tracking for them anyway. Also, after all stages are resolved, rumors say these Uchiha become godlike, although I don't believe that's entirely true. I wonder if the Uchiha played the bigger roles in that book of yours." As of now, the Uchiha didn't feel any pain, but was rather curious of what there is to come for him, when he finally commits to his clan abilities by paying the consequences? Will he really end up experiencing a death to gain power? If so, hopefully he witnesses it instead of being held responsible.

"I have a great idea!" Saio thought, "Why don't we allow these things to be our life objectives: You create yourself a high chakra reserve, while I build up on speed and agility. Then, maybe we can even commit to what our clans have to offer." Saio still felt himself limited on what to say, and so he would pretend as though he was still exhausted from the spar, awaiting a response from Kiku.

"Yeah, a lot of the most major players were Uchiha. And with my ancestor it wasn't really a clan thing that he was so powerful, not mostly at least. It was mostly the jinchuuriki stuff, and the sage stuff. He kinda collected super modes like some people collect stamps." Kiku laughed a little at the idea. He wasn't like that. For starters, he wasn't a jinchuuriki. He was sure of this, he had started regularly checking himself for seals when he had heard the story of his most famous ancestor. There wasn't a single one to be found.

Kiku smiled broadly at Saio's idea. "That's great!" Kiku stood, stretching out. "I could be up for some more training now, what kind you wanna do?" He looked Saio over. The Uchiha was hard to read, he had been bouncing around between exhausted and energetic before. Kiku wasn't sure if he was ready for more yet. If he was, that would be pretty much perfect for Kiku. He needed to push his endurance if he was going to tap into his clan's massive chakra reserves.

Hearing about the Uchiha once more, and how major their roles seemed to be in the Fourth Great Shinobi War, Saio grinned, despite how the Uchiha were the bad guys. "Hopefully, when I become their equivalent..." Saio began to think in his head, smiling on the outside, "I can put their powers to good use, and reverse them to work on the side of peace." Sidetracked once more, however, Saio would notice that Kiku seemed to follow with his idea, seemingly interested in his idea, as well. Saio's smile became brighter as he would hear this. "To be honest, Kiku..." Saio would confess, "I am limited on jutsu. In fact, in comparison to you as a shinobi, I cannot perform A-Ranked techniques, although I have fully mastered my current techniques. Albeit, I'm willing to help you master yours. I really appreciated that giant jutsu that you used, although you're probably still exhausted from it. Anyways, what I'm trying to get to is...maybe we should just continue on with the techniques we used last time, and see if we've improved on them?" Saio would intentionally finish his speech in a curious tone, wondering if the boy would accwpt a second time.

Meanwhile, Saio would think in a futuristic way, wondering where his powers could lead to, and if he'd actually learn the most powerful techniques the Uchiha had to offer...eventually. Albeit, he would await a response from Kiku, wondering what he thought at the moment, and wait to see what he thought about what to do next, himself.

Kiku nodded, returning his smile. The discussion of their clan's pasts seemed to have improved Saio's spirits a bit. Maybe he was hopeful, thinking of the amazing things the Uchiha could do. "Sure, we can practice that! It's not really that all my chakra's drained, it's just when I meditate I build up this hermit chakra for that jutsu, and I kinda used all of mine today. I'm good for other things." Kiku strolled out further into the field, surveying the training ground. Fresh posts had been set out for them. That was one of the advantages of living in a Senju-run village, there was always some mokuton user nearby who could help with that.

He began to focus, forming the fire chakra inside himself. He still had a bit left in him. "So, what you wanna start off with?" he asked Saio, feeling his power build. Kiku was starting to think he might be close to unlocking that family power. Maybe all he had needed was a little push.

Saio smiled as he could immediately sense Kiku focusing on what was planned, his engagement always to his liking. "It's your choice this time." Saio would state, smiling towards the boy, "I did instruct you last time, after all." Albeit, Saio would have recommendations, for he was eager to see the giant return. As the giant attacked things physically, Saio would wanna teach this boy that he could take this thing on in an even fight. "However..." Saio would continue, "If you wish to summon that giant once more, I will give you all the meditation time you need to summon it to your fullest extent. You need to get used to summoning it, after all. That is, if you want high chakra reserves, just like your clan." Saio noticed he was teasing the boy now, but giggled towards the fact anyway.

As time would pass, Saio could feel his power build as well, recuperating from all of the chakra he had used last time, ready to unleash an even greater bombardment than last time, something that would show he was way beyond that of an ordinary Genin, just like the boy before him. "Now that I think about it..." Saio thought, "That giant is an obliteration technique. It literally renders people useless, then consumes their life." Saio could definitely imagine Kiku mastering all 1000 hands this giant possessed, but not now. However, within the next rank, Chuunin, the Uchiha could definitely foresee an improvement, if not the one he thought about. "No matter what you think, I'm fully prepared." Saio would announce, showing his prideful side thoroughly.

"Fire's good. It would take at least an hour to get up the hermit chakra to do the Thousand-Hand Slaughter again." Kiku said casually, not realizing how insane that sounded when you say it out loud. A lot of jutsu had ridiculously brutal names, he didn't think about how it might sound when you told someone you had just used it on them.

"All right, I'm ready too." Kiku formed the hand signs, taking a deep breath and gathering the fire chakra in his lungs. He spat it out, scattering it between the targets. "Katon: Housenka!" A dozen basketball-sized fireballs shot out, scattered between the four posts. Three blasts slammed into each post, sending out clouds of smoke. Kiku stopped, thinking for a moment. "You know, there's a jutsu I've been studying, it could be great for a team-up with another fire type. Wanna work on it together?" He gave Saio a hopeful smile. Saio was turning out to be a good training partner, he'd been making a lot of progress since they'd started working together. Kiku had been in a slump with his training for a while, but since meeting Saio he'd started picking up the pace again. If they got this done, it would be the third jutsu he had learned with him. Not bad, if he did say so himself. “We could learn it together, it's a B rank. Can be done solo, but it works best with two shinobi working together, sort of a one-two punch thing.”

[Words: 251/800]

"Well, we'd probably not have enough time to wait a hour to do so." Saio would say in response to Kiku's requirements on his Thousand-Hand Slaughter. Although the name sounded fearsome, it was still very cool to hear. As long as it felt fearsome to the opposition, it should feel good to have as the user of the technique. Again, Saio thought to himself about the Thousand-Hand Slaughter. Having that name being said, it only made Saio want to challenge it more, no jutsu allowed.

Saio would watch as it seemed Kiku readied himself as well, unleashing a technique that seemed identical to his Phoenix Fire. A grin would cross Saio's face as he would whisper softly "I've gotten better...Kiku." With this being said, Saio would prepare his Phoenix Sage Fire technique, shooting out a dozen flames himself as they would all aim for a single post. Watching them collide with the posts, Saio would witness them unleash their great impacts, burning the posts straight to the ground. Despite this, however, he'd hear about a team technique that Kiku had brought up, and how he seemed to interest him in doing so. "Sure!" Saio would reply, hopefully making that hopeful smile of Kiku's a bright one. Kiku was a great training partner. He sure had proved to be much stronger than he looks, someone who would definitely surprise any opponent he gets, and hopefully defeat them in the process. Seeing as they would work on it together, Saio would be honored to learn this technique, knowing a great friend had showed him how to use it, and that a new jutsu would be added to his list. "A B-Ranked jutsu, huh? I'm all hears!" Saio would conclude, smiling at the boy as he'd await the training. That is, if the boy had nothing else to say.

“Great!” Kiku grinned back at Saio. He thought he had heard the other genin say something, but he wasn't sure and didn't want to bother him over nothing. They had training to do. He thought back to how the jutsu had been explained to him on the scroll he had found for it. “For this one, you need to shape the fire chakra differently. Don't have it ready to go off as it leaves your mouth. Just fill the jutsu with fire chakra that has the potential to ignite, and don't burn it yet. The hand signs are snake, rat, snake, tiger.”

Kiku took a deep breath, gathering more fire chakra. This time, he handled it differently. It wasn't going to be flashy, not yet at least. Kiku formed the hand signs, snake, rat, snake again, and tiger. Then he breathed out, spewing a cloud of black ash into an empty area of the training field. “Katon: Haisekishou!” The cloud hung in the air, retaining its shape. Kiku turned back to Saio. “Okay, hit that with a fire jutsu, then you can try it and I can follow up.” He figured if they were going to be working together it would be best if they could switch off like that. Having that sort of versatility was good for a team.

[Words this post 221, total so far 472/800]

Jutsu used:

"Roger that!" Saio began, excited to see this technique put into action. Readying himself up to expel fire from his mouth, he'd expel the Great Fireball Technique, using it as an addition to the technique Kiku used. If all went well, Saio predicted excellent results would be shown. He wondered what would happen as the Great Fireball would connect with the jutsu Kiku just used. Albeit, he'd have to wait for what his fellow Genin would have planned. Aside from all of this, he could see that his Great Fireball had really improved, almost encasing the smoke and merging with it perfectly.

He would follow up now, readying the fire chakra in his mouth. He could manipulate it in his mouth, reshaping it so it would feel different. It felt great, actually. Without burning it yet, as instructed, Saio would perform the hand signs: snake, rat, snake, tiger. He would take a deep breath now, ready to expel a replica from his mouth. He would breathe out now, spewing an identical cloud of black ash near the collaboration of the two previous jutsu. As the cloud flew, it would retain its shape, overlaying on the collaboration between the previous Great Fireball, along with Kiku's version of the technique he just performed. He could sense the outcome of this overlapping becoming a great burst of flames, and so he'd await the follow-up that Kiku would do. "Perfect!" Saio shouted as he could see a great cloud of black ash, enhanced by his previous fire jutsu. Again, however, he'd have to see what Kiku could do.


Jutsu Used

Spoiler:

The fireball hit the cloud, going up in a rather impressive explosion. Kiku shielded his face from the blast with his hands, dusting himself off after the smoke cleared. He looked over the patch of scorched ground. Everything that had been within the cloud had been incinerated. “That was awesome!” Kiku said, giving Saio a big smile. He could tell, they were going to make a great team. He stepped back, waiting for Saio to take his turn.

Kiku's jaw dropped when he saw Saio use the Burning Ash Accumulation. He had been studying for days, and Saio had gotten it down after a half assed description and a single demonstration. Kiku glanced over to see if Saio had his Sharingan active, but he didn't. Saio had just copied that jutsu perfectly without even having to use copy ninjutsu. It was an impressive feat. Kiku realized he was dealing with a prodigy here.

“The great thing about this is you don't even need a big fire jutsu to go with it.” Kiku pulled a tissue out of his pocket, twisting it into a makeshift fuse. He snapped his fingers, making a small flame rise up from his thumb. Kiku lit the tip of the fuse over his Magic Lighter and blew out the thumb fire. Then he took a deep breath before tossing the fuse at the cloud and running. He didn't get far before the burning tissue hit the cloud, lighting it up. The rush of air from the blast wave made Kiku stumble a bit, barely keeping his footing as the explosion roared behind him. In the noise and confusion, a stray thought crossed his mind. Cool guys don't look at explosions. Does this mean I'm cool? He brushed the soot and dirt off of his suit, turning to see what they had done. The jutsu had created another spot of scorched earth, completely incinerating anything that had been in the cloud. Kiku smiled broadly, giving Saio a thumbs up. “I think we're gonna be a good team!”

[Words this post 341, total 813/800. Training complete]

Jutsu trained:

Jutsu used:

Saio looked over as he could see Kiku smiling at him. "What a cool guy..." Saio thought, "I'm sure glad I became friends with him, after all." Despite this, however, Saio watched as an explosion occurred, also covering himself with his arms, following what Kiku did as he would dusting himself off as well. He would examine the incineration, wondering if he had gone a bit too far. "Was that okay?" Saio would ask, still curious as to if he went out-of-hand with the jutsu.

Something else would catch his attention, however, as he could see how perfect this jutsu had been performed. "I did it!" Saio would shout, looking at Kiku again to give him a high-five, if allowed. "I don't have any big fire jutsu." Saio would comment, "The only ones I have are the only ones you've seen." He would wonder if his limited amounts of fire jutsu downgraded him under his fire rank. Should he have learned more jutsu by now, or was this all okay? Albeit, Saio didn't wanna make a big deal out of it, at least not now. He would still watch Kiku as he saw him pull a tissue out. "A cold?" Saio would ask before seeing him use it as a fuse, sending it off into the cloud. He could see the cloud lighting up. Saio would embrace the rush of air before moving aside quickly to avoid the explosion behind it. "We really do some wild stuff, huh?" Saio would ask Kiku, laughing. He was having a good time, learning this jutsu especially, along with hanging with his new friend- all of it was cool. A lot of soot and dirt had pasted on his hood through the explosion. "Damn it!" Saio would yell, "This was a good one too!" He would have to take off his hoodie for now, revealing a black T-shirt that he always wore underneath. Thankfully, the temperature was getting warm, and so Saio could remain relaxed. He hated being out of his hoodie, anyways. Saio looked as posts had been completely incinerated. He chuckled, noticing how much damage the two had done. To his attention, however, he could see a thumb appear before the corner of his eye. This thumb would belong to Kiku, a thumbs-up being what Saio would notice as he would reply with the same action. "Not good...great!" Saio would smile.

Kiku returned the smile. He had to agree, they worked together well. "Yep! We should train together more, we could get some great combos going with some practice." He was already imagining what else they could manage. Sure, fire and fire wasn't the most creative combination, but it could be damned effective. That went double if they used the ash cloud. One could cover their retreat with a smokescreen, the other could light it up and torch the everloving fuck out of anyone trying to pursue them through it.

Unfortunately, Kiku didn't have time to do much more then. It was getting on towards evening, and he was heading out of town the next day. "Sorry, I gotta go. I have a mission to another village tomorrow and I gotta pack. Meet up with you later!" Kiku waved as he left, heading for home. He was looking forward to their next collaboration, who knows what they could do together.

[Exit]

It seemed Kiku spoke the words Saio wished to say as he actually seemed eager to train with the Uchiha again. "Even after what I did?" Saio thought, looking at the incineration before him, "Well...I suppose those are worse" Albeit, Saio couldn't agree more. The two definitely could get some good progress going if they continued to work with each other, seeing as they now knew each other well. Indescribable thoughts filled Saio's head, but he felt as though this boy could possibly be his key to success. "Fire with fire, huh?" Saio would continue to think, imagining all of the achievements they could accomplish with the powers they had just used. "A Thousand-Handed of Fire." Saio would imagine. The thoughts wouldn't stop. Saio would have to get out of here before things would get out of hand. He seemed in the mood to learn more after doing what he just did, yet he wouldn't want to waste the boy's energy.

Aside from all of this madness, it seemed Kiku had to leave as Saio could only wave goodbye. "Another village, huh?" Saio thought once more. He was eager to do such a thing now-a-days, but wished to witness further development in himself first. "Should I do it myself?" Saio asked himself as he would begin walking out of the training fields. These thoughts would surely get annoying, but Saio could handle it, couldn't he?