[Tateyama Yakitsukeru]

Yakitsukeru would walk with a grin hidden under the hands that were holding two of her snake companions up to her face. Tomomi was giving her a proper practical education lesson! This time to try and help her learn how to harness her nature of fire. It was somethinmg that she had looked forward to since she had begun her attempts to find the trick to unlocking her chakra's potential. The deep stores within the girl needed an elemental starting point anyways. Having been told to head to one of the more secluded training grounds in the woodlands near the village proper, Yakitsukeru had been tasked with a fairly simple mission of sorts; making a burn pit. Setting up a campfire of sorts was simple enough but she had been t old she needed to be able to more or less lay down in it... and that struck her as odd on a cursery glance. But, it was still a lesson to be taught! She would follow the instructions laid out before her and before long a large bonefire area was set, the trees far enough that no immediate danger was in sight from the fire that was surely going to be lit here. Sitting near an entire pile of branches, the pit filled to the brim with leaves and other dead vegetation that had been around the area she had carved into only ever so slightly. TAGGED | Yamanaka Tomomi NOTES | Here MUSE | Sealing You In Sound

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[Yamanaka Tomomi]

YAMANAKA TOMOMI

NINGYO/HIDARI

This village was the most important thing to Tomomi. Maybe that was the reason she found herself drawn, again and again, to the task of teaching. Even though it wasn't her primary skillset, or her primary career, it was still relevant to her goals. Strengthening Konoha, making it a greater place than it was before, keeping it safe. Having new, up-and-coming soldiers who were invested, strong, and decently loyal was important to that. The decision had burned her before. Students who may not have been the greatest choices. But still, she had always been fiercely stubborn in the belief that she could do something.

Working with Yakitsukeru's instructor, Tomomi arranged an idea to help with the young girl's training. She clearly needed more active time out of class working with her chakra nature, so Tomomi agreed to do it. Sending notice, to Yakitsukeru, he asked her to set up a bonfire.

When he was done with his work, he moved to meet with her, feeling that the bonfire was set and ready to be lit for meditation. That was good, they'd be able to get started right away.

"I am glad to see you know how to build a firepit," Tomomi introduced. "Now, I have a small task. Do you think you could hold out your hand and slowly channel your chakra there? Imagine the warmth of a fire." They wanted to see if she would be able to catch the bonfire with a chakra flame.

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Tateyama Yakitsukeru

[Tateyama Yakitsukeru]

Yakitsukeru would turn as her mentor for the time being would appear, and bow politely in the presence of the jounin yamanaka. It was far better already than staying in her classroom... she had to understand that strings were pulled for this, but much like the private lesson with the Kage himself Yaki was getting the treatment she felt she deserved, "Tomomi! Itsss good to sssee you today," it was a simple greeting. Cutting past the formalities on their end she would be ordered by the older shinobi to try and light the bonefire. Nodding she would turn and place her hand out and begin to push out the force of nature that she had in her body. Closing her eyes Yakitsu would listen to the task being presented to her with a smile on her face. Not from a lack of concentration, but confidence. She was more than prepared for this much, or so her mind would tell her. She would think of the warmth of her old home. It had been a cottage in the country side that she had lived in happily with her mother and father, but it always seemed her parents were upset with someth ing to do with her.... it was because she was a freak of course... she knew that, but she couldn't help the way she was born... she would simply need to learn to adapt to it. Blazing hot emotions, like the warmth of her old home would rage forth in her body, surging like a brackish wave of serpent green flame. For, but the briefest moment, the young farmer's daughter had managed to call forth the flames that dwelled within. If one had blinked they would have easily missed it. The fire would not catch at first, then a small crackle... then nothing. A complete failure from Yakitsukeru's standpoint, but she couldn't help but ponder why. TAGGED | Here NOTES | Here MUSE | Sealing You In Sound

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[Yamanaka Tomomi]

YAMANAKA TOMOMI

NINGYO/HIDARI

Watching with a careful eye, Tomomi concentrated on Yakitsukeru's hand, saw the chakra beginning to pool there. She had managed to manipulate it to her hand readily, which was at least a good demonstration that her classes had been teaching her appropriate chakra manipulation. She could see the buildup, the concentration, the subtle way the chakra changed to adapt to the natural element as she began to focus.

Then there was a flare. Too much chakra, in a heated burst. Maybe it had been an absence of control or maybe it was something else. Tomomi was very good at reading emotions and when looking at her expression, he could tell that she had been gripped by some intense emotion by the slight furrow of a brow, the stiffness in her posture. The chakra flame sparked for a second and then went out, failing to catch.

"You managed to harness your element there for a brief moment," Tomomi praised. It was their opinion that beginning with praise was always better before moving on to the critical elements. It instilled confidence.

"I couldn't help but notice, though... Did your mind become weighed down while you were trying to focus on your natural element? It seemed like the flame was fueled by an emotional intensity. You might be interested to know that a fire that burns too hotly will put itself out. If you make the flame too strong with a flare of emotion, it will burn through the chakra faster, the way a flame will burn out of oxygen and snuff itself."

---

Tateyama Yakitsukeru

[Tateyama Yakitsukeru]

Tomomi seemed to be getting into her head without her having been trying to give her an idea of what was going on. That wasn't a relevant part, she just had to learn to use whatever she had to move forward. The past would not return just because she wanted it to. She would face her head away from Tomomi trying to keep her emotions from surfacing, "Thank you for your praissse, but it wasss only a brief moment, I can not truly call that harnesssing. It wasss sssimply frussstration with my attempt please do pay it much mind." A quiet sigh and an exhale and she would move to sit and meditate on flames. The idea, hearth, warmth, destruction, Kazui, pain, life, death, hatred, rage, anger, so much anger; energy. So many things would rush the girl's mind, but she would push past it to try and make the most of it all. If she could not concentrate it on a direction, channel it as she wished to, then she would discard it, she needed nothing unnecessary. She needed nothing unessecary. A warm home was unnecessary. The sadness was a limiter, she would break it. She would sit with an unmoving calm on her face as she formed the sign of the snake with her hands. The burning swelling in her chest and outwards, building, consuming, burning, and then release. A creation of large green flames spilling from her body like it was natural, slithering out and coiling the bonefire like a snake the head of the flame seeming to bear its fangs as yellow flickers like eyes would glare at tomomi before it would devour itself and crackle along the wood. The shade staying a sickly jade, Yakitsu would sweat as she would let out a deeper breath... she could do this. She just had to let go of what she didn't need. A flame of desires unchained by anything but her own wants. Except she really did want a warm home. TAGGED | Yamanaka Tomomi NOTES | Here MUSE | Sealing You In Sound

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[Yamanaka Tomomi]

YAMANAKA TOMOMI

NINGYO/HIDARI

Deflection. This young girl was an expert in the art of it, though she would likely be surprised to learn Tomomi had once been an interrogator and was not so easily swayed away by such excuses. Still, there wasn't much point prying at the moment without use. Yakitsukeru had proven to be defensive and if Tomomi tried to chip at her walls, she would likely coil tighter into that protective burrow. The way to get to know a person was slowly. If you wanted to do it in the ethical way, at least. Tomomi could easily know anything he wanted about anyone if he chose. That was just not productive.

So he would let it go and just nod as she began her meditation anew, watching again.

There was a build. A pressure starting in her chest as the chakra grew and then bloomed outwards in a release of flame from her hands. It was a wicked color and formation, rough and still unrefined but there and real. It caught the wood and set it alight. What a strange fire. It did sometimes manifest differently depending on the origin of the chakra and the degree of heat.

"That was an impressive showing," Tomomi said, pleased with the quick progress. "Your concentration was much better that time. It was still a little much, but refining your chakra use comes with practice."

Now that the flame was lit, she could begin other practices.

"Put your hand near it and see if you can bend the flame towards you."

---

Tateyama Yakitsukeru

[Tateyama Yakitsukeru]

Yakitsukeru would react positively to the sudden praise from managing to light the flames. Though she had been helping for a more fulfilled breakdown of how she may have managed it, or possibly an idea to how she had done what she had done. Instead though she was given another task to continue what they had already been attempting to teach her to do. Thinking it to be a fair bit advanced she would turn and raise a brow with a bewildered expression, "Eh? You want me to try to bend flamesss when I barely managed to make them... well... maybe." Rather than further complaining the young girl would look forward and stare to the fire before her. The glowing green coils of fire being almost violent in how they crackled over the bonefire. Stilling herself Yaki would focus her hands into the seal for snake and concentrate. Chakra warm, free, all-consuming. She would learn to domineer it, to control it, like a tyrant it would bend if she told it to. Full concentration would be given as she stilled, even her breathing would become in-tune and rhythmically slow. The mark of a sage and their apprentice was the practice of one's stillness, Yakitsu demonstrated such stillness despite her still unaware nature when it came to the collection and use with natural energy. Now her focus was internal, not external. She could figure this out if she just figured out how to create a natural boil and blaze with chakra. What was the key? Emotion? That seemed plausible... she would once again slowly contort to anger as rage would overtake her emotions. TAGGED | Yamanaka Tomomi NOTES | Here MUSE | Sealing You In Sound

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[Yamanaka Tomomi]

YAMANAKA TOMOMI

NINGYO/HIDARI

Perhaps it was a fair bit advanced, but people learned and developed their skills by beginning to exercise outside their comfort zones. Would could develop muscle from repeating the same weight again and again, sure, but if they wanted to bulk more they had to go up in weight. That kind of thing. Pushing oneself too far was not optimal, but small steps outside the comfort zone, gradually developing skill? That was where growth lied, in those margins of practice.

Tomomi observed, watching as she began to try to process this practice. He could see as her emotion began to flair again, her chakra reflecting that state and making it apparent to him.

"You should be careful allowing your emotions to influence your chakra control," he told her. "If you fuel your chakra, your fire, with emotional intensity, it sets a bad precedent. You cannot always harness that emotion on the battlefield. Allowing yourself to become angry can cause you to think or behave irrationally. You never want to tie your jutsu or your strength to your emotion. It can be something that can help you on occasion, but don't use it as your source."

Tomomi held up his palm over the earth and drew rock up beneath it, folding the ground to his whim easily.

"You want it to be something you can do neutrally, on instinct. Flame fueled by emotion can burn out of control. You want to be its master, not to allow the flame to be yours."

---

Tateyama Yakitsukeru

[Tateyama Yakitsukeru]

Yakitsukeru found that she generally didn't disagree with the teachings that were being brought to her by Tomomi, but that didn't mean she had to like it! Rage was part of what etched the pain from her soul and let her release it, what allowed her to vent the unfair sadness she felt about her loneliness and, further more, her abandonment. It wasn't like the older shinobi's words were lost on her though, facts did not care for her feelings. Cruelty was reality in that sense as she found that past just controlling her chakra she needed to also control her emotions. That was in and of itself an upsetting factor, but like the stoic sennin, she had to be poised... right? "I don't quite sssee the emotion your ssstating that I am expelling in my jutsu, but I sssuppossse your advice isssn't entirely unwarranted. Sssage training requires clarity asss well," Yakitsu would state deflecting the entirety of Tomomi's words as to not verbally expose herself even if she was being read like an open book by her teacher. Adding the last bit only to stop any incoming nagging that she felt may bother her from such words. Reaching her hands out once more she would push chakra out into the air towards the fire, trying to bend it as she willed, to pull the fire she had made almost by pure luck back to her grasp. Two of her companion snakes sticking their heads out from her collar and staring curiously up at Tomomi, one cocking its head as if it was trying to figure out anything it could about their friend's elder who seemed to be moving earth as if it was so simple. TAGGED | Here NOTES | Here MUSE | Sealing You In Sound

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[Yamanaka Tomomi]

YAMANAKA TOMOMI

NINGYO/HIDARI

Teenagers. He could hardly blame her for not wanting to address the matter of emotion - Tomomi had been a very avoidant teenager with regard to emotion as well. Even now it was true. Tomomi had always struggled to display any genuine emotion at all, however, which was the opposite of Yakitsukeru's current problem. There was a well of emotion inside of her that she struggled not to release despite refusing to acknowledge it. Part of that would pass with age, but part of it also needed to be learned.

Tomomi spied the snakes peeking out and smiled softly at them. He was quite fond of the little creatures. In fact, he had a few snake puppets back home. Nothing combat-ready, just something he made for fun. It was a shame he didn't bring any with.

Slowly molding the earth under his fingers, Tomomi shaped the earth into the figure of a snake. Lucky that he was experienced with sculpture from both his doton practice and his puppet-making.

"Spread your chakra into the fire in front of you," he explained. Allow it to flow throughout the flame. "Take a moment to just appreciated the sensation of the element. How it moves naturally without your influence. Understanding how an element behaves is pivotal to understanding how to actually control it effectively."

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Tateyama Yakitsukeru

[Tateyama Yakitsukeru]

Swallowing the turmoil of mind and heart for the time, the young viper would focus her entire being to the fire that laid out in front of her in a restless flickering. Doing as she was instructed she would try to feel out through the chakra that she was exhausting from her body. The heat was something that she was almost trying to consume from the odd fire before her. It was not a natural form of learning to try and just force something to be a learned trait that she could handle, but that changed nothing for the girl. An inkling of the feeling could be had from such training, but it was nothing on the training that she sought after. Sage Training. A thought crossing her mind. If she couldn't even feel the heat of fire that stood in front of her and will the heat into her chakra, how was she supposed to be able to tell the way to pull in natural energy if she didn't first learn to mold her innate chakra nature. It was foolish for her to believe that she could do what others failed to do, just by giving up a deeper understanding and knowledge of the mystic nature of jutsu. "What am I even sssupposssed to feel here?" The girl would ask suddenly unsure of what the fire should feel like on her chakra. TAGGED | Yamanaka Tomomi NOTES | Here MUSE | Sealing You In Sound

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[Yamanaka Tomomi]

YAMANAKA TOMOMI

NINGYO/HIDARI

Chakra, being that it was a spiritual thing, sometimes felt slightly different between shinobi. That was one of the things that made it so difficult to teach, why there had to be specialized schools for it rather than it being something that everyone learned independently in their own homes. A chakra was a person's essence and would be almost totally unique to them.

That was why, after a moment of consideration, he answered,

"It should feel... familiar. Natural. The energy should be radiating outwards, but you'll know you've made the connection properly when it hardly feels like anything at all," Tomomi described. "Especially with your inherent nature and not the ones you later trained, you should feel very at home within the element. Like you've just put on a glove that fits perfectly."

He continued to move the earth under his fingers as he spoke, just carefully adjusting the shape with a sort of natural orchestration, trying to demonstrate it.

"Overthinking it may even hinder you. Your body, your chakra, should catch the flame naturally. Extend it and then begin to move it. It should all follow." At least if all goes well. Her chakra might run low rather quickly, as an academy student, so her ability to practice here will be somewhat limited. Still, as with many things, learning to do it once opens the mind quite easily to the possibility to do it again.

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Tateyama Yakitsukeru

[Tateyama Yakitsukeru]

Yakitsukeru would make sure her eyes were closed before she rolled her eyes at her teacher. Agitated by the seemingly unobvious answer that she was given to the problem she was feeling like she was having. As she sat there she somewhat mockingly mouthed Tomomi's words like he wasn't just standing there watching, a sign she didn't much care if it agitated him. Then again, that was more normal for the girl more so then anything else. 'feel familiar' he said. Nothing about fire was natural to the girl, it was hot and burned even its maker if they did not domineer or control it. Yakitsukeru was one who wanted more to fall into the later of the groupings. Yaki could feel herself emptying out from there at an exponential rate as the flames seemed to coil around her arms as she got agitated again with it, as if the flames responded to her emotions a bit, something had clicked. But in the same fashion that she had created the initial spark, the feeling of fire that slowly flickered to understanding would flicker back out of existance. The girl falling backwards a bit as her reserves depleted completely for the moment. The fire seeming to have drained out a large surge from her at that one time. "Thisss isss absssurd. Your training is absssurd Tomomi," Yakitsukeru would hiss out as she laid there exhausted by the strain of chakra consumption. A sly smile would grow over her face as she heaved a breath, now realizing that she was perspirating from the exhaustion of the matter, "It worked better than I thought, although I wish your advice was clearer that 'Oh feel it out Yaki', itsss not that sssimple. Lesss ssso for sssomething like Katon I feel. At leassst try and learn it yourssself if your going to try and help me learn it firssst." TAGGED | Yamanaka Tomomi NOTES | Here MUSE | Sealing You In Sound

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[Yamanaka Tomomi]

YAMANAKA TOMOMI

NINGYO/HIDARI

She was quite the bold young one. Teenagers did tend to have their attitude problems. Tomomi had never gone through that phase himself, so he couldn't say he understood it, but he did know well enough that she'd probably grow of it is as she got older, as she'd start running into situations where it hindered her. He chuckled softly at Yakitsukeru's criticism.

"I suppose there's a reason I became an assistant and interrogator instead of an academy instructor," he joked. "I can start looking into learning katon. I've just never had cause to before." She was really quite satisfied with just the three she knew - but, hey. Maybe it would be useful in her own technique exploration.

"Chakra is a physical thing, but it is to some degree also a spiritual thing. I won't experience everything the exact way you will. I can provide guidance, but I can't tell you precisely how to handle it like I could with teaching you how to answer a test."

It seemed like the poor student was already terribly exhausted here. How else could they seek to help her?

"I have a technique where I can temporarily share my abilities with you," Tomomi offered, snaking some chakra strings out from his fingers. "I can let you see what it feels like to utilize my natural element. It might give you some better context to understand what I mean."

---

Tateyama Yakitsukeru

[Tateyama Yakitsukeru]

Yaki would blankly stare at Tomomi for a good moment as she looked over at the individual with a look between quickly ignited anger and deep curiosity. How could the young snake not? She was just offered insight into a realm of knowledge, a plethoral land where everything was far more understood, or if she understood it so then that was true. What did such a thing entail though? How could one transfer such a precious resource as knowledge so freely. Temptation bred curiosity insideously for the girl and she reached out a hand, "I want it, show it to me." There was a childish seflishness in the way she said it. Rude though it may have been, she was still panting as she forced herself to sit up and look to the instructor in charge of her progression at this juxtaposition. Greed and curiosity filled her eyes in earnest, and her face held otherwise docile to Tomomi's gesture. Taking a deeper exhale she would speak again, "If it isss more practical for me to experience the technique then I believe that it isss more than worthwhile to venture into that territory... not that your being very clear asss to what it isss that you plan to do to help me." The suspicion was light, but Yaki would stand and reach out her hands, tentative yet unhesitatingly bold. It was... a very small fork towards trust. TAGGED | Yamanaka Tomomi NOTES | Here MUSE | Sealing You In Sound

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