Melting Surface

## **Participants**

Kaiiaki Kurisutaru, Asa Uzumaki, Arata Hayashi

## **Melting Surface 3-12-17**

Kaiiaki: -The sound of a wet liquid dripping onto the ground grabbed the silence of the empty evening. Drip. Drip. Drip. The beat of a continuous rhythm echoed against the empty field. The dripping was none other than blood dripping from Kaiiaki's palms. Her black painted fingernails had dug so deeply into her flesh that blood oozed from the surface. It leaked from her palms, past her knuckles, and onto the blackened soil. "Curses..." Kaiiaki spat from between her lips. Her grey eyes pierced towards the skeleton trees off in the nearby cemetary beside of the Training Grounds. How conveniently placed. Kaiiaki's eyes gave off a far away look, as if she was no longer at the Training Grounds. It was as if she was staring into the face of Hell itself. "My God...Stop." She spoke with cringing words. The reason for her internal terror was none other than Kurama. He had been chastising her for her failure to stop and take the lives of the two enemies. Those enemies had threatened the life of her son, Yukio Namikaze. She had not taken too kindly to their threat, and had been sent on a mission to retrieve the bodies. However, she had failed. She blamed it on the Genin she had been forced to take along with her on the mission. She also blamed herself for the proper lack of skill. "I WILL go back and find them. Their blood will paint the streams of Hoshigakure." Kaiiaki yelled to the force inside of her. ~YOU WOULD HAVE DONE IT IF YOU HAD USED MY POWER~ The demon inside of her screeched. Kaiiaki took ahold of her purple pastel hair, tugging and pulling at it in response to the screaming. This was a bad habit of hers, her hairs had frayed at the end from so much pulling in the past. She guessed it would only continue until she could get in better alignment with her inner demon. The pain from pulling at her hair pulled her out of the inner recesses of her mind. She popped back into reality, suddenly realizing that blood was dripping down her palms. "What an inconvience..." She ruffled through the contents of her medical pouch attached to her backside. Within it she found some tape, gauze, and a wrap. She used the gauze to apply pressure to the wound on her left hand, forcing the bleeding to stop. Once it did, she applied the wrap with enough pressure to sustain the appropriate tightness. Finally, she taped it up to avoid the wrap from coming loose. She did the same thing to the other hand following that. When she had been bandaged up, she sighed deeply. Thankfully, no blood had gotten on her black sweater tunic. Although it would have come out in the wash easily. It wouldn't be the first time she had been splattered with blood. "Where the hell are the garbage I call students at.." Kaiiaki whispered to herself furiously. They had been summoned to meet her at the Training Grounds. Although Kaiiaki didn't like the job of babysitting the younglings, it was a trade off she had promised her older sister Dahlia of. She couldn't go back on a promise to her. Family was the only thing that mattered in the frostbitten heart of the Kurisutaru teenager. -

Arata:{AH} Since the failure of the mission, Arata had been castised a little, despite having a spaced out look on him the whole time. He had not gotten to do much against the duo that invaded them, and constantly he thought about why chunin and genin were selected. During the debriefing his tongue was tucked between his molars on the right side of his mouth, squeezing the saliva out of it likea sponge to keep himself from barking at the folly of the superiors to make that call. But that was beside the point. He just decided to be a good enough genin to make up for the lack of laziness of apparent jounins. Arata sighed, feeling as though his body were limited at the moment, no matter how much he pushed it it seemed he couldn't reach anything beyond a C-rank technique. Then C-rank techniques were what he would be practicing day in and day out, building up his arsenal until the time was ready for him to learn how to flow chakra through his weapons. He made the mental checklist and spent a good two hours writing down the internal exposition he just had with himself in his book, looking to use it for a character's development. As he finished writing, the lad decided to get dressed, pulling up his hood over his head and heading off for a training ground, the one where he was summoned to meet with his apparent sensei. The psycho-bonkers crystal chick. The one whom Arata couldn't figure out if the crystals were the homeopathic kind to relieve stress, but judging by the girl's attitude that was not likely the case. The ash-blonde haired lad carried his cane with himself, resting it over his shoulders as he walked off for the training grounds. As he finally arrived, he found his sensei down on the ground. Approaching her silently as he naturally did with many people, Arata knelt down in a similar manner to the way she was, "Is this some kind of stretching exercise?" He asked her, looking to break the ice with a little grin in his face. Though he was joshing about, he had a feeling this girl was more prone to killing her students than teaching them, so he was ready to jump away and prostrate himself for the sake of begging for his life from lady-stabs-a-lot. {AH}

KaiiakI: -Some moments had passed since Kaiiaki's initial wonderings. One of the boys should have been here by now. Silence crept across the abysmal field. Nothing could be heard except the blowing of wind, scattering the branches of the skeleton trees. A few more minutes passed by before another sound carried on the whispers of wind. Footsteps? Kaiiaki craned her ear in the direction of the sound. She spoke not a word, but continued to listen as the sound drew nearer to her. "You finally decided to show.." Kaiiaki spoke in a demeaning manor. Kaiiaki drew back her left fist, contracting the muscles up into her bicep. Without any warning as the boy drew close to her, she aimed her fist at the jaw of the young boy. Judging by the speed of it, she would connect her fist to his jaw within 2 seconds if he didn't move. And judging by his close proximity to her and him kneeling down, she expected for her punch to hit easily. -

Arata:{AH} Arata, anticipating being hit, sprung backwards, using his cane to vault up and over the fist, though it wasn't a high vault. He cleared the fist with ease and blinked at her, landing on his feet and sending up a small cloud of dust that disipated within a second. "Well that was rather rude. Was it something I said? Here let me start over-" He cleared his throat, a fist clenched in front of his mouth, eyes narrowed near shut but enough to see any indication of violent motion. "Good morrow to thee, oh sensei mine. How fare ye on this fine post-noon hour?" He swiveled his left hand about on his wrist several times, bringing his hand up high overhead and down below his stomach. His right foot moved backwards, left foot staying in place while he bowed down, right arm extended outwards in a loudly exaggerated bow to her. "Is that better? Proper respect and all? Am I gonna get hit again?" {AH}

Kaiiaki: -Kaiiaki's lips turned up in a dissatisfied sneer when she realized her punch didn't connect. She quickly stood up, brushing off her black tunic as she did so. "What the hell are you doing.." Her grey eyes narrowed at him in her response. "Get up you pathetic fool.. we have training to do." She assumed that Arata had brought a scroll of his own jutsu to work on. Or otherwise he wouldn't be here. Or perhaps he was going to make up one on the spot. Either way, they were both going to train their new jutsu on their own. She wasn't helping him unless she absolutely had to. "What the fuck are you staring at? Get to work!" She yelled out. At this point she wasn't psychotically screeching, so at least this was a good sign. Perhaps she would be able to focus her chakra enough to complete this jutsu the proper way. Kaiiaki aligned her body, straightening up her spine as much as she could. Her fingers and palms then moved to the appropriate position to make the Handsign: Ram. As she held this, she began to concentrate her chakra within her core. Slowly, she was able to move chakra onto the soles of her feet, sides of her legs, and all the way up to her knees. Kaiiaki focused the image of emerging herself into the blackened soil beneath her. Very slowly, her body began to sink into the ground. It was as if she had been trapped in quicksand. Although it was her body that was seemingly melting into the ground beneath her. Excited at the short success, Kaiiaki lost her concentration. As this happened, she stopped moving into the soil beneath her. Her body had partially moved into the ground, but she had only moved up to her ankles. ~God damn it..~ She cursed to herself internally at the inital failure of this new jutsu.-

Arata:{AH} "Well training is what I came here for. But with a proper teacher." He smiled as he said it, trying to poke at her and keep her attention as he threw together the handseals for his jutsu: a quick dragon and bird, and then one where the heels of his palms connected, the right up higher on the left one. His thumbs interlocked and his pinkies were extended as far as can be. His middle fingers curled back into his palms on themselves, with his ring and index fingers pointing out and nearly interlocking. Looking like a large stag's antler, Arata brought it up overhead before swinging downards as if he were reaching for a double handed sword. Instead his hands separated and he leapt off for a tree, doing a barrel roll and flinging his right foot downwards for a tree, his intention to send out a forceful jet of water to pierce through the trunk, "Stag Assault!" What came out instead was a harmless splash of water and the hopeful writer leapt backwards, nervously scratching his head through his hood. "I swear this never happens to me before?" He looked over at his teacher who rooted herself in the ground like a tree. "That's uh--that's some dedication to the tree pose sensei." He referred to the yoga position. {AH}

Kaiiaki: -Kaiiaki couldn't help but watch Arata's display on a nearby tree. She wasn't sure what he was trying to do. It looked like he was trying to do some sort of water dance. She couldn't help but stifle a laugh at watching him make an absolute fool of himself. However when he mentioned her prediciment, she wasn't as cocky. Her head turned to the side, as well as her turning her nose upwards to the sky. "At least I did not make it look like I pissed in front of a tree." She smiled smugly, trying to get under his skin. Without another word, she forced the sign of the Ram again. She then focused her chakra once again in the core of her body. Once focused, she moved chakra out from the core to all parts of her body. She coated her entire body in a thin layer of chakra, as if it was a thin string around her body. "Hiding in a Surface Technique." She whispered softly in an eerie whisper, as if she needed to speak the name of the jutsu to release the chakra for the technique. She focused on the image of her entire body sinking into the ground with ease, visualizing it happening. As if on command, her body once more sank into the ground. It sunk at a slow place, as she was just now learning the technique. It was best to take it slow until she was more adept at using it. Kaiiaki's knees slid into the ground, disappearing to the world above. Following suit, the rest of her body disappeared, sinking into the black soil below.-

Arata: {AH} Arata continued to rub the back of his head as she commented on him pissing on the tree. Though it wasn't what he did he just smiled through it. Getting under the skin of Arata was a feat in and of itself. "Yes well--this tree is now mine then by property of scents. Mine you hear?" He said to her as she sunk into the ground, using the hiding in a surface techniuqe, Arata had no clue on where his sensei went. But he returned to the tree, looking at it as he pondered what went wrong with his jutsu. Normally when he did something like this it was with an entire animal shape accidentally, paired up with basing it off of an already established jutsu. He clutched his chin, left handedly with the elbow resting in his right palm. His left palm was against his cheek, his index finger extended up to the side of his eye and his middle finger curled over his upper lip, his thumb was cruxed up underneath his chin as he went into a thoughtful pose that he struck up when looking for the right thing to write. "Let's see, I want stag antlers, but this is something I haven't forced before. Perhaps if I picture something else it will come to me. Jets of water jets of water jets of water. What jutsu uses just a jet of water from the hands though?" He mumbled aloud to himself. {AH}

Kaiiaki: - ~Oh Arata...I am coming for you...~ Kaiiaki grinned below the black soil. The cold words crept through her mind, leaving a frosty chill. Perhaps she would come for him, scare him a little. Teach him just like she taught Kenzo and Asa before. He didn't know her. The boy had no idea what she was capable of. Unless he saw the little display of capturing the army of undead with her unprecedented Crystal Release. Buf for now she was just learning how to maneuver between the loose soil beneath. This was the first time she had ever attempted this jutsu. And so far, it was going well. Her chakra penetrated the earth just enough for her to feel as if she was slipping through the layers of earth. She felt invincible, like she could travel through any surface at any time. She wondered why she hadn't discovered the technique beforehand. It would have been useful. Kaiiaki continued to phase through the layers of soil, moving her way towards Arata like a shadow in the night. Slowly, she made her way upwards, moving up until she had traveled about 4 feet. Like a leap of faith, she thrust her arm out of the ground and into the air. A blast of wind met her sparkling grey skin. Her palm reached out towards the soil, pushing onto it as solid matter. Her body pulled itsefl up, only until she was up to where her purple lips were above the soil. "Oh Arata..." She called out in a haunting impish voice before she laughed in a cruel tone. Quickly, she slipped back unto the soil, using the technique to hide herself underground once again.-

Arata: {AH} Arata was focusing more on his predicament than anything else at the moment. So much that his vision was kind of going blurry. You know that thing that happens when you stare at something long enough you lose focus on it. He was so deep in thought that Arata was not even aware of the hand that came up out of the ground at first. When something in his blurred vision moved, Arata's eyes blinkeda nd he looked at the hand that came up out of the ground. Rather than be scared, he reached to give her a low hanging high-five. Having gotten inspiration for it, Arata shouted out, "Like a geyser! Thanks!" He quickly threw together the handseals he made for this jutsu again and pictured a geyser erupting from his limbs. He leaned back and then forward, thrusting out his right arm and making a palm strike for the trunk of the tree. Water rushed around and gathered up before jetting out with extreme force, drilling through the trunk of the tree, but the geyser itself was just a clear line instead of being shaped like a stag's antler as he had intended. {AH}

Kaiiaki: -Kaiiaki cursed silently as she realized what she had done. Not only had she not scared the Genin, but she had also given him inspiration. She could hear his words of exclamation on the ground above her. "The fool..." Kaiiaki spoke to herself." She slipped and coiled around in the ground beneath, searching for a good location to surface. The ground had been easy to melt her chakra into. But what if she tried a different surface? This would prove to be a challenge, as ground was a more malleable surface other than water. Kaiiaki listened to the surface above with a keen ear. The only sound she could hear above was the soft thud of Arata's sandals upon the dirt. Otherwise, she could hear nothing but the roaring of water. ~What could he possibly be doing up there?~ Kaiiaki wondered silently. She didn't much care, but she also didn't want to be covered in underground mud. It was now or never if she didn't want to be covered. While still maintaining her halo of chakra around her body, she slipped through the ground. She continued moving off until about 5 feet behind where she heard the footsteps. The ground had been slightly lumped there, as if it was holding up something heavy. Kaiiaki increased the flow of the chakra halo around her body now. Whatever this was, it was going to be more difficult than ground to slip through. Slowly, Kaiiaki moved her body upwards, jutting up to the surface of this solid object. She got stuck only once. But after increasing the flow of chakra slightly, she was able to slip through the entire thing. With a tumble, she found she had ended up behind Arata, only 3 feet between them. She looked behind her and found that she had just traveled through solid stone. ~Impressive.. even to myself.~ Kaiiaki smirked as she realized she had made great progress in such a short amount of time.-

Arata:{AH} Arata had been trying out his jutsu more as Kaiiaki made her way around through the ground. Focusing on trying to use the jutsu without any supervision, Arata wasn't even aware of her absence. His efforts going in vein to show her what he was doing. Not that he was doing it perfectly. Water rebounded and tore through his sleeves here and there with the force of the water. His skin was reddened in splotches from the amount of sharp jets hitting himself. Chunks of bark were flayed and some clear holes were made. When histeacher finally did resurface, Arata was on the ground, huffing and puffing. Water was dripping from his hair, or was it sweat? It wasn't certain but he was just sitting there with a bit of a grin on his face. His eyes looking a bit more red in color than they were amber. "Oh man we have to do this again!" {AH}

Kaiiaki: -At the sound of Arata's voice, Kaiiaki reflexively turned herself to face him. His body had been bruised, clothing torn, it looked as if someone had beat him. "The hell did you do to yourself?" Kaiiaki groaned at the site of the state he was in. But it at least meant he wasn't just goofing off. Whatever he was practicing, he was putting his full effort into it. "I commend you at least for working hard." She spoke as if she was being forced to speak nice words. If she could use him for her benefit in the future, she at least needed to appear as if she liked him somewhat. "Yet look at me, leaving without a scratch." An evil smile grew upon her glittering grey face. It started small, and slowly crept up her face until it stretched as far as her jaws would allow. She wore this smile as if it were a mask, continuing the evil glance without flinching. After a moment, the grin disappeared, and her face showed a bored expression. "Just do not kill yourself." She spat at him before walking off towards the direction of her home.-