[Aburame Azarea]

The Devil That You Forgot

Greetings

Azarea awaited by the gates of Kusagakure no Sato the Kumo nin slowly moving through her morning stretches the dew still wet on the grass as she awaited her mission partner for the day. With luck the second attempt to lay down the trade route would prove more successful then the first as the red haired Kunoichi squinted at the sky that began to bleed with the colors of dawn and then back towards the sleepy village. Extending her senses to pick up the familiar chakra of her friend and often times work partner. The woman lifting a hand to greet him upon his arrival.

"Hey Koji. Good to see you. How have you been faring since the exams?" She questions turning to face the younger boy. Her signature red jacket and darker jumpsuit solidly in place though she'd updated her equipment with a scroll holster and a few other bells and whistles to make long term missions far more comfortable and practical. From here on out there'd be no more slumming it for her and her partners. They'd be camping in style so help her!

"I'm glad you weren't badly hurt. That Iwa kid was pretty wickedly fast, but we were all burnt out on chakra." Azarea muses grimacing at the level of fatigued they'd all been in that fight. Having pushed themselves to the brink. Neither had been as badly off as they'd been during the disaster relief, but still it had been a brutal slog to say the least.

SA's

SPOILER: Click to show

Joō no Taikanshiki no Regaria [Queen's Coronation Regalia]
A mutated variant of the Aburame clans Yūdai no Omorejō ["Bewildering Grandeur of the Alpha"] resulting from the subsequent poisoning of Azarea's former Yūdai no Omorejō hive to prevent potential hijutsu theft. While the Joō no Taikanshiki no Regaria lacks the Yūdai no Omorejō size instead Azarea's hive has maintained the ability to produce alpha pheromones and commanding vibrations. Evolving instead to hyperspecialize in these two aspects allowing them to produce pheramones and vibrations strong enough to be detected by human hearing and sense of smell.

Reigning Chakra Control
Fine tuning her chakra control to a razor's edge Azarea is capable of performing delicate techniques with minimal to no wastage of chakra. Allowing her to conserve her reserves in prolonged combat and managed more finickity techniques and jutsu.

Kagura Mind's Eye
Born with a natural affinity towards sensing chakra like her Father before her Azarea has trained herself to become a capable sensory shinobi. Unlocking the Kagura's Mind's Eye, and with it, the ability to passively sense chakra signatures in the distance (when using the technique), thus allowing her to not only track, but also memorize a person's chakra signature, even if barely any chakra is being used. Due to her proficiency with this technique, Azarea can currently passively sense chakra up to 500 meters and actively at 2.5 kilometers.

Techniques

SPOILER: Click to show

JUTSU GOES HERE

流人

                           Made by Keen of FBNRP | Word Count: 251 | Honō Kojirou

[Honō Kojirou]

… Huh. Apparently, he took his defeat at the Exams the hardest back home. Saddened that such a thrilled journey was over, saddened because of his encounter with Ahma, saddened because of all the questions left in his head. It was so heavy, all of this…

The heaviest burden from the Exams was Atagi’s injuries. Kojirou was out cold during his friend’s preliminary battle against Hotarubi, and perhaps that was a blessing in disguise. Kojirou didn’t witness the event, only the results… it was scary, y’know?

Kojirou was no Medical Ninja, so he felt utterly helpless. He couldn’t begin to imagine how Atagi felt. Damn it, Atagi was so excited for the Exams… it was because of him that Kojirou participated too. The least he could’ve done was make him proud. Then maybe, that could’ve soothed the pain, but clearly it was too late to do such a thing now.

Kojirou returned back home with bags under his eyes. The pressure from Ahma, the the fatigue from the first round, the enmity he felt deep inside, the futility he felt deep inside… he’d made a good job locking it away until now. He wanted to return back home a Chūnin, but he returned home without an answer.

So he talked with his parents… and one would expect the battle-hungry Honō to find disdain in his failure, but far from. If anything, they were overjoyed by the fact that he returned back home – in one piece, even! His parents were there to comfort him, telling him that there was nothing shameful about losing in the Exams as long as he made sure that he did his best. His older brother even went further to rebuke him for looking like such a mess after just one loss.

"Take all that heavy shit and bench press it! And never regret having inherited our Kekkei Genkai!”

In the end, that was his card dealt – a bloodline power so rarely seen had awakened in him, so he had all the reasons to get back up and start training! And who knew – maybe next year, he could do good by Atagi and become the next Village Hero in his stead…

…

…

Kojirou’s Katana Case Holder was far heavier than before. He had been out on a shopping spree, so when he approached Azarea who was waiting for him at the gates to Kusagakure, he was effortlessly carrying that Katana Pack over his back, signaling an increase in strength since last time. "Hi, Azarea! I’ve grown stronger since last time – I’m ready to go!” he called enthusiastically, having returned to full strength as was needed of a shinobi on duty. The previous Exams were a huge motivation to train, and his parents’ suggestions about equipment was sweet as well.

"True, but he also helped me with my recovery. We’re friends now!”

Just like that, Kojirou basically smeared over the hostile relations politically between Kusa and Iwa due to certain alliances. Screw that, he made a new and awesome friend over there – the Exams still had invaluable rewards for him, in the end.

[Aburame Azarea]

The Devil That You Forgot

Laying Trail

The Kumo nin relaxes at Koji's bright smile the boy seeming to not have taken his loss too badly. At least not to the point of moping and instead seemed intent on focusing on his improvement. His gear had certainly improved and the layout like Azarea's seemed much more standard and up to snuff for the work they do in the field. "I'm glad to hear you made a friend and that things are going well for you." The older girl murmurs flashing Koji a grin.

"I'm afraid our mission today is a bit boring, but fairly vital. We'll be establishing a trade route path between here and Konoha and setting up an outpost on a nearby ridge that's invested with bandits and a few other nasties." She explains giving the boy a short summary as she pulls out the flags they need to plant to mark their path.

"It's a bit boring, but essential work though there's nothing that says we can't train as we go so long as we don't exhaust ourselves to the point we can't fight if we're jumped." Azarea explains hoping to keep Koji's interest at least with the prospect of training and working at the same time to improve. "The ridgeline is about two days travel, but if we really push hard we can probably make it to the base of it in a day and camp there before heading up the ridge." She offers gesturing to the distant horizon.

"Is there any jutsu or skills you need help with Koji?" She questions with a tilt of her head.

SA's

SPOILER: Click to show

Joō no Taikanshiki no Regaria [Queen's Coronation Regalia]
A mutated variant of the Aburame clans Yūdai no Omorejō ["Bewildering Grandeur of the Alpha"] resulting from the subsequent poisoning of Azarea's former Yūdai no Omorejō hive to prevent potential hijutsu theft. While the Joō no Taikanshiki no Regaria lacks the Yūdai no Omorejō size instead Azarea's hive has maintained the ability to produce alpha pheromones and commanding vibrations. Evolving instead to hyperspecialize in these two aspects allowing them to produce pheramones and vibrations strong enough to be detected by human hearing and sense of smell.

Reigning Chakra Control
Fine tuning her chakra control to a razor's edge Azarea is capable of performing delicate techniques with minimal to no wastage of chakra. Allowing her to conserve her reserves in prolonged combat and managed more finickity techniques and jutsu.

Kagura Mind's Eye
Born with a natural affinity towards sensing chakra like her Father before her Azarea has trained herself to become a capable sensory shinobi. Unlocking the Kagura's Mind's Eye, and with it, the ability to passively sense chakra signatures in the distance (when using the technique), thus allowing her to not only track, but also memorize a person's chakra signature, even if barely any chakra is being used. Due to her proficiency with this technique, Azarea can currently passively sense chakra up to 500 meters and actively at 2.5 kilometers.

Techniques

SPOILER: Click to show

JUTSU GOES HERE

流人

                           Made by Keen of FBNRP | Word Count: 265 | Honō Kojirou

[Honō Kojirou]

Ohhh… wait, they also did something similar back in the Land of Lightning. And to think that she called it boring – noooooo way. It just- the entire situation begged for bandits to throw hands with them, and Kojirou was ready to answer that call… but he’d keep his thoughts to himself and nod in agreement. Outposts were pretty rad, in the end – who knew, maybe Kojirou would get the opportunity to add his very own landmark at one point. Like a plot of land to build a cottage on, or something.

"The shish kebab is already spreading…” he mumbled joyously to himself, fantasizing of the growing fame of that spicy dish. Y’know, technically, shish kebab could be used as weapons too, since they were skewered on senbon-like spikes- no, that was dumb.

The prospect of getting some training done in the midst of their mission, however- that piqued his interest! Exactly what he needed in these times of reflection – post the Exams, Kojirou really needed to kick himself up a gear higher, or he’d end up falling behind everyone! Then he wouldn’t be able to grow stronger, and then he wouldn’t be able to do well in the next Exams, and… then he wouldn’t be able to keep his promise to Atagi. Again. He wanted to avenge his friend!

"… Yes.”

His tone was way too monotone to sound like it came from the same, happy-go-lucky Kojirou. His sharp brows highlighting his cutting-edge eyes staring towards the horizon. "I don’t ever want to run out of chakra again…” Flashing images of him running against time itself in Kuwana, his efforts with the disaster relief, so many things could’ve gone lighter on his shoulders had he just… been more enduring. And that would all begin with his chakra – his sweet, orange chakra, a constant mix of Earth and Fire Release that blended into a unique chakra only a select few possessed.

He wanted to stockpile that chakra.

"… Any chakra-boosting methods you’ve heard of or seen? Do you eat some special fruits, or are there pills out there? This funny guy with spots on his face told me about-" he began blabbering off about what clearly sounded like a random dude back in the village trying to troll the naïve swordsman.

"And- and- wait, no, I don’t really see anything cool in that. Scratch it, I’ll just train my chakra… but how? Can you do push-ups with your chakra, or something?”

[Aburame Azarea]

The Devil That You Forgot

Chakra

Azarea chuckles at Koji's eagerness, but his excitement was a welcome compliment to her own calm as she listens to the swordsman ramble on. Her smile only growing at his questions in regards to how to gain more chakra. For while her own specialty was control she'd grown up with a chakra powerhouse in the form of an Inuzuka and could recall vividly how Tsuki had trained his own abilities. "I actually know a way to help you with that." The red head offers as she places down the first stake marking their starting line.

"Your chakra coils are a bit like a muscle. The more you utterly expend your reserves the larger they grow. So one of the best things you can do is perform powerful physically involved techniques that burn through a lot of chakra to force your body to generate more. Techniques that can be sustained for a long time likewise work best." She advises as the two set off threading through the tall grass towards fire country with the Kunoichi placing down markers every so often to leave a trail easy enough for the builders to follow.

"Do you have any techniques like that that could work? We can stop off for the night near the ridge to recuperate so we can be fresh to fight the bandits in the morning even if you burn through all your chakra." Azarea offers, besides even if he was exhausted she'd be there to cover him while he rested.

SA's

SPOILER: Click to show

Joō no Taikanshiki no Regaria [Queen's Coronation Regalia]
A mutated variant of the Aburame clans Yūdai no Omorejō ["Bewildering Grandeur of the Alpha"] resulting from the subsequent poisoning of Azarea's former Yūdai no Omorejō hive to prevent potential hijutsu theft. While the Joō no Taikanshiki no Regaria lacks the Yūdai no Omorejō size instead Azarea's hive has maintained the ability to produce alpha pheromones and commanding vibrations. Evolving instead to hyperspecialize in these two aspects allowing them to produce pheramones and vibrations strong enough to be detected by human hearing and sense of smell.

Reigning Chakra Control
Fine tuning her chakra control to a razor's edge Azarea is capable of performing delicate techniques with minimal to no wastage of chakra. Allowing her to conserve her reserves in prolonged combat and managed more finickity techniques and jutsu.

Kagura Mind's Eye
Born with a natural affinity towards sensing chakra like her Father before her Azarea has trained herself to become a capable sensory shinobi. Unlocking the Kagura's Mind's Eye, and with it, the ability to passively sense chakra signatures in the distance (when using the technique), thus allowing her to not only track, but also memorize a person's chakra signature, even if barely any chakra is being used. Due to her proficiency with this technique, Azarea can currently passively sense chakra up to 500 meters and actively at 2.5 kilometers.

Techniques

SPOILER: Click to show

JUTSU GOES HERE

流人

                           Made by Keen of FBNRP | Word Count: 250| Honō Kojirou

[Honō Kojirou]

Chakra muscle-

Wait, that sounded weird. Chakra coils, or chakra network, weren’t exactly muscles, were they? Or maybe they were… and he just didn’t remember it from the good-old lectures. Azarea was definitely more knowledgeable about chakra and how it worked, so Kojirou kept listening. The method of training his chakra sounded familiar to any other muscle training, so that was a huge relief – he just had to use up a lot of chakra on a regular basis, and his body would slowly be able to keep up with his reckless spending.

Once Azarea began her rapid move towards their destination – the faraway Land of Fire – Kojirou followed suit. He had a perfect Jutsu to train his body with… a Jutsu that burned through chakra, blood, sweat and tears. A full-body acceleration of some sorts, and that was bursting out of his eyes the moment Azarea asked him. "Perfect! I got just the Jutsu to train with,” Kojirou exclaimed joyously before weaving three handseals, "Nekketsukan should be just the right- J-JUTSUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!”

Right after the last handseal, his skin began to turn dark-grey and crack in places, with red veins glowing out and sizzling. His eyes whitening, and his body accelerating, he suddenly galloped several meters ahead of Azarea until he was out of sight, with only the echoes of his voice notifying his position…

…

And then he returned back to her just as fast, with the visual appearance dampening off and revealing a sweaty Kojirou. "J-Just a little demonstration… it’s a lot like that one Jutsu Goro used against me. Too bad I wasn’t fast enough to weave handseals…”

[Aburame Azarea]

The Devil That You Forgot

Fire

"If you think that jutsu will work then use it. Just try not to get too far ahead of me I'm more known for chakra control rather than reserves," She explains with a wry chuckle that tapers off into a noise of concern as Koji's skin begins to blacken red veins appearing across it's surface as his eyes go wide and white. "Just try not to get too far ahead of~" She trails off the wind whipping by her as the boys already gone. Leaving the Kunoichi blinking as she thoughtfully places down another flag and continues running hard herself to catch up. He'd loop back around right? Right?

The seconds tick by as beads of nervous sweat form on the back of Azarea's neck as she mentally rehearses what to say to explain to the Kusa Lord that she'd lost one of their shinobi when Koji finally returns. The Red head letting out a sigh of relief at the sight of the boy as she flashes him a grin. "That was indeed an impressive jutsu. If you get too far ahead you could maybe loop the trail behind us to make sure the flags are visible enough. Do you produce heat or burn grass in that form?" She questions? A trail of searing footsteps made as good of a marker as the flags in a way of that was the case.

"From the looks of things you were burning through a good chunk of chakra so I think it'll serve our purposes. Handseals are tricky, but with time you'll be able to react fast enough. Whatever that kid did took a few moments to unlock. Now you know what to expect. Best never to stick around when someone appears to be concentrating and gathering chakra like that." Azarea suggests hoping to cheer the boy up a little as they were making good progress towards the foothills of Fire Country.

SA's

SPOILER: Click to show

Joō no Taikanshiki no Regaria [Queen's Coronation Regalia]
A mutated variant of the Aburame clans Yūdai no Omorejō ["Bewildering Grandeur of the Alpha"] resulting from the subsequent poisoning of Azarea's former Yūdai no Omorejō hive to prevent potential hijutsu theft. While the Joō no Taikanshiki no Regaria lacks the Yūdai no Omorejō size instead Azarea's hive has maintained the ability to produce alpha pheromones and commanding vibrations. Evolving instead to hyperspecialize in these two aspects allowing them to produce pheramones and vibrations strong enough to be detected by human hearing and sense of smell.

Reigning Chakra Control
Fine tuning her chakra control to a razor's edge Azarea is capable of performing delicate techniques with minimal to no wastage of chakra. Allowing her to conserve her reserves in prolonged combat and managed more finickity techniques and jutsu.

Kagura Mind's Eye
Born with a natural affinity towards sensing chakra like her Father before her Azarea has trained herself to become a capable sensory shinobi. Unlocking the Kagura's Mind's Eye, and with it, the ability to passively sense chakra signatures in the distance (when using the technique), thus allowing her to not only track, but also memorize a person's chakra signature, even if barely any chakra is being used. Due to her proficiency with this technique, Azarea can currently passively sense chakra up to 500 meters and actively at 2.5 kilometers.

Techniques

SPOILER: Click to show

JUTSU GOES HERE

流人

                           Made by Keen of FBNRP | Word Count: 321 | Honō Kojirou

[Honō Kojirou]

”I can do that!” Looping around back to the flags as a control check would be easy for him… but that wasn’t what he intended. He wanted to make things difficult! Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to call it training, right?

"I think I produce a little heat… but not much,” he’d explain to her, "Although, I do produce ash under my feet! Dunno how much that’ll help, though.” He already assumed that the flags would do their job, so the idea of using charred footsteps as markers flew over his poor head.

Then, she made a good point. Back in Kuwana, he had simply waited to counter-attack whatever Goro had up his sleeves, and that cost him the fight. "Yeah… y-y-y-YOU’RE RIGHT!” he suddenly exploded, having weaved the same handseals as before to cause his skin to crack, heat to gather up inside of him, his heart to beat faster, his blood to run faster, and his agility to rise to untouched levels. And with a dash, he was gone again…

…

Only to return to her side moments later. "P-Phfah, it’s… it’s starting to make my head dizzy…” he groaned shortly, with his skin gradually turning back to its normal hue, "B-But I’ll keep at it! Chisai-neechan’s able to use it, like, all the damn time, and so should I!”

For now, his attention was put on getting more used to the Hot-Blooded Man Technique. Hopefully, he wouldn't faint before they reached a checkpoint or two.

[Aburame Azarea]

The Devil That You Forgot

Laying Trail

"You leaving ash footsteps is actually pretty helpful. It means I can mark where you've been and follow in your wake putting down any flags you miss," She suggests as she passes him a bundle of the little markers with a fanged grin and a laugh. "That's definitely a nifty jutsu and seems to be burning through your chakra handedly," Azarea adds as she reassures Koji and tries very very hard not to mention that the jutsu makes him look a bit like he'd just bitten into an incredibly hot pepper.

"By the way what's that technique called? I've never seen it before." She asks undoubtedly curious. Knowing the Hono it probably had some fancy name to do with birds or lave, or blades. They sorta seemed to have theme with that, but with little do to other then run, plant flags, and clear trail both she and Koji could use a little entertainment. That and it'd probably be rude if she just cracked open a book and read while she ran when the shinobi was working so hard to train himself.

"Have you considered what other elements you might specialize in as you continue your training?" Azarea questions curious of what Koji would specialize in the future aside for swords. Swords were all well and good, but well... what about other techniques? It couldn't just be all lava sword every day could it? Then again knowing Koji maybe that was exactly the case. The Hono had a bit of a one track mind.

SA's

SPOILER: Click to show

Joō no Taikanshiki no Regaria [Queen's Coronation Regalia]
A mutated variant of the Aburame clans Yūdai no Omorejō ["Bewildering Grandeur of the Alpha"] resulting from the subsequent poisoning of Azarea's former Yūdai no Omorejō hive to prevent potential hijutsu theft. While the Joō no Taikanshiki no Regaria lacks the Yūdai no Omorejō size instead Azarea's hive has maintained the ability to produce alpha pheromones and commanding vibrations. Evolving instead to hyperspecialize in these two aspects allowing them to produce pheramones and vibrations strong enough to be detected by human hearing and sense of smell.

Reigning Chakra Control
Fine tuning her chakra control to a razor's edge Azarea is capable of performing delicate techniques with minimal to no wastage of chakra. Allowing her to conserve her reserves in prolonged combat and managed more finickity techniques and jutsu.

Kagura Mind's Eye
Born with a natural affinity towards sensing chakra like her Father before her Azarea has trained herself to become a capable sensory shinobi. Unlocking the Kagura's Mind's Eye, and with it, the ability to passively sense chakra signatures in the distance (when using the technique), thus allowing her to not only track, but also memorize a person's chakra signature, even if barely any chakra is being used. Due to her proficiency with this technique, Azarea can currently passively sense chakra up to 500 meters and actively at 2.5 kilometers.

Techniques

SPOILER: Click to show

JUTSU GOES HERE

流人

                           Made by Keen of FBNRP | Word Count: 252| Honō Kojirou

[Honō Kojirou]

Oh… ash footprints would prove quite helpful, then! Honestly, did they even need these small markers- oh wait, didn’t ash footprints disappear overtime? Maybe it’d still be a good idea to plant a marker here and there, then…

"It issss…” he replied to her, enthusiastic of his chakra-expensive Jutsu, "It’s such a weird Jutsu, though… *huff* like, it feels like lava is running in my blood. I-I mean, technically, you could say that, b-but *huff* you know, like literally.” He wasn’t choking to death, though, so it couldn’t have been the literal case, but damn.

"It’s called Hot-Blooded Man!” he replied to her with a wide grin on his face, "It makes me a hot-blooded man… so the name fits a lot!” Now, maybe she imagined something fancier than that, but the Honō were also quite in the face about a lot of things. Still, how they even came up with this Jutsu to begin with was…

Weaving the handseals necessary for Nekketsukan once more, Kojirou’s skin began cracking once more, revealing the characteristic glows of lava veins circling over his body. "… O-Other elements?! But lava’s so good! What else do I need other than- m-maybe split it?! Lava’s made of Earth Release and Fire Release, I learned that from my elders! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

Suddenly, ending his reply, he did another lap around the track that they were moving across, leaving his smoking footprints on the branches he leapt from. Although, at certain locations, he’d remember to stick a marker… but… you see, to his ignorance, his body was made of lava. That meant that the markers got charred or were in the middle of charring off.

"W-WHEN ARE WE THERE?!!??!”