[Hatake Shinde]

After about a day after their training, as Ataru heads back home to rest, Shinde had found herself reflecting and growing personally in her own ventures. Garnering further experience as she began looking to expand her technique repertoire. Today, she decided to add a bit more "stakes” to Ataru’s training. For she’d be using a new technique on him today. The Hai Senbon no Jutsu.

She spent her time practicing it a bit on her own and especially loved the technique as it really fit in with her "ash" aesthetic. Channeling her chakra, and performing a few swift seals, she gathers fire chakra and expels from her mouth a few ash particles. Condensing them as she fires outwards. It was overall a pretty good technique. Simple to use and effectively dangerous under certain circumstances. Weaving the seals, she had been reviewing and practicing the Jutsu theory. At least, getting it down enough so that she could begin practicing it on her favorite redhead disciple today.

Waiting for him at their familiar training ground, she figured he needed some new excitement to make his training a bit more difficult anyways. "Good morning Ataru. You're here early." Without much of a stop regarding the training train, she proceeds to remind him of something. "If you remember. I said your training starting today was going to be a bit more intense and difficult. I meant what I said. So you let me know when you're ready. It'll be more than Shuriken today. Hopefully she had his consent here. Because it was going to be a fairly shitty day for him.

[Uzumaki Ataru]

It had only been a day and yet Ataru had still gotten up bright and early, excitement ran deep as did reflection pondering on how much things seemed to be changing even as he sat at the breakfast table. Given how much he was steadily progressing and growing into a better Shinobi made the boy was glad and he looked forward to a renewed phase of training with his newfound master. Stretching outside in the yard, he performed a bit of strength training to start the day before venturing toward the familiar training grounds. Clad in a navy blue outfit with a white belt and crimson accents lining its edges, a whirlpool symbol adorned their back as they set off.

Arriving within the field, whilst on the way he had kept busy and stayed practicing hand seals. Multitasking while keeping to a steady pace he finally stops upon realizing they were within the bounds of the training area. Gazing upward he locks eyes with Shinde and gives a curt wave and bright smile, not much had served to change his positive attitude these past few weeks. "Good morning, Shinde Sensei." his voice radiates a chipper sun song tenor tempered by a calm evenness. Listening as she continues on, his smile turns more stoic as he keys into the serious nature of her words and the subsequent interaction to come, sliding his feet along the ground. Etching along its dirt surface in preparation, he proceeds to pipe up after a handful of moments.

"I remember; I'm ready! he speaks with conviction but it doesn't mean he underestimates her. Remaining vigilant and wary he would begin to weave hand seals in preparation at the point she starts moving or shows any sign of acting. It was time to put what he learned into use and discover what she had up her sleeve for today.

[Hatake Shinde]

Ataru has always declared his readiness. Though he might find that today? There was no Shuriken with which she prepared to assault him. No. There was none of that. Instead, she proceeded to weave a few short seals. Before she took a deep breath and her chest puffed up. Before she exhales outwards toward him. A small spark of flame before gray projectiles are sent flying towards him. However, there wasn’t any spinning arc. There was no obvious sound as they soared towards him, and they were far smaller. Though. Shinde hadn’t fully mastered the technique yet. As a few spillages of ash came towards the floor.

They were needles. Not only that but they were darkly colored. If launched at night time or in a dark environment, anyone would struggle to see them. Assuming Ataru was hit by any of these needles? He’d find that luckily the power behind them was a bit weaker due to not having mastered the jutsu. They thud against the body and might lightly prick him, but as they dispersed, he’d realize he was covered in hot smoldering ashes. Like cinders after cooking on a wood fire. The remnants of charcoal. Shinde didn’t say anything. Nor did she let him have any time to think or recover. Instead? She immediately acts again.

Weaving the same seals, she rears her head and begins to exhale more ash-like needles toward him. This time another eight. Shooting towards him as she begins to make her advance. Coming after him as she seems focused and serious about littering him with these very painful lessons. There was an old saying. Pain was the best teacher and every hurt was a lesson. Ataru was about to get a lot of hurt unless he not only got his ass fucking moving, but he started weaving seals and using his jutsu creatively. As well as his cover. Because Shinde was bound to make this lesson very difficult.

[Uzumaki Ataru]

As he forms his fingers together and runs through the five seals at a rapid rate, Ataru watches in turn as she weaves her own, and their chest puffs up with an accompanying gout of flame emerging from her mouth before launching not Shuriken but instead grey needle-like projectiles born from her mouth with a trail of ash preceding after it. As they barrel towards him his profile dissipates just as a roaring storm soars towards his previous position only to be replaced by a student-sized log, materializing elsewhere the Uzumaki witnesses the streaming torrent of projectiles impact along the rough wooden surface hearing it sizzle and sink in before making a slow-burning sound from within.

Amber eyes widen as he takes note that their lessons appear to be ramping up, he smiles at the challenge seeming dauntless in the face of this new jutsu and added level of difficulty. If it were dark it’d be neigh impossible to make them out, knowing he had little time after using his substitution trick he would proceed to evade as he once did like a spastic spider monkey casting the clone jutsu closely following the process, Two mirror images of the fiery-haired prospect would form in tandem, breaking out from his stride using equally death-defying acrobatics and balls to the walls evasion tactics. They would abscond through the environment seeking to avoid the coming barrage using mobility, concealment, and cover.

Performing a flipping somersault, he shrouds himself behind a line of trees and foliage ducking low beside some shrubbery before rolling past and then jumping over another grove of greenery using branches and his own momentum to continue at an irregular place whilst switching it up and making use of his surroundings.

[Hatake Shinde]

It was evidently clear that Ataru was learning. Considerably so. However, in those next moments? Shinde forms but a single hand seal as Ataru substitutes. A poof. Before the student in question turns into a log. A clunk as he vanishes from sight. Swiftly turning, adjusting to her surroundings? She finds him. How pleased he seemed. As he begins moving his acrobatic movement. Beginning to use the irregular greenery as Shinde slowly shifts and forms a few of her hand seals in swift succession. "Katon: Hainejirei no Jutsu! (Ash Contortion Technique)” She puffs up her chest, and with it, she begins to exhale a thick grey fog.

Except it wasn’t. For as it spread out, tens of meters, beginning to wash over the grass, the foliage, and the area of cover? Ataru could feel it roll. Though, unlike normal ash, it never stopped. It would begin to get hotter. Hotter, and hotter as it began to rotate. Until it would begin to singe and burn. Not just his eyes, but his skin, as he’d see the ashes would begin to heat and smolder. The grey cloud was turning crimson inside as the embers came to life. Assuming he didn’t act fast, he’d begin to get seriously burned. As the grass and leaves began to burn . There was no cover of which she’d allow. She’d flush him out into the open.

For if he didn’t? The trees themselves would begin to burn and catch alight. Slower fires at first, but they’d begin to glow. Assuming he came forth? She would take a deep breath as she forms three seals, and again. She begins to exhale another mouthful of burning Senbon. Hai Senbon no Jutsu. For yet another ten burning hot needles would seek to soar and litter him with her singing flame. What would Ataru do? If he stayed in the cover, he’d burn. If he came out, he’d struggle to dodge. This was a taste of what real Shinobi combat might be like.

Best he’d not burn out. Literally and metaphorically.

[Uzumaki Ataru]

He was good at thinking on his feet, but that said he didn’t have much in the way of an arsenal of tools at his disposal. Wondering what else she might pull out of her sleeve and throw his way, he wouldn’t have to wait long to see what came next. In between the foliage he watches as she forms a series of hand seals in rapid succession before proceeding to exhale out a thick grey cloud that quickly spreads outward enveloping the area in a swirl of dense fog. He could smell the taste of ash in the air and surely came to taste it as well. It was heavy in the air and stained his tongue and scoured their eyes in equal measure, acting to dull his senses in many categories.

As he makes his way unpredictably throughout the environment, Ataru notes how the temperature seems to be rising. Raising an eyebrow he ducks behind a tree and remains still, looking upward to the sky and seeing the sun shrouded being blotted out overhead not only by the smear of ash hanging over the area but a section of clouds. Before long he connects two and two together realizing that this wasn’t only smoke coverage but something that was tailored to flushing a ninja out into the open. As the heat mounts higher and higher, he notices its spinning axis of rotation which likely fans the flames of this jutsu in a way causing his body and clothes to singe and burn slightly. He shakes his arm frantically and pats along the sleeve before making their split-second decision.

It would have the desired effect of driving him out, not to mention causing his clones to dissipate, he proceeds to leap out but whilst doing so he forms a sequence of hands seals. As he did, the forestry to his back would burst into flames highlighting his silhouette right after he dived out. Choosing to take his chance dodging rather than being burnt out or up, the Uzumaki enters the scene somewhat worse for wear but still dedicated to seeing this through without faltering. Weaving through the barrage of needles, he would anticipate the coming needle storm twisting and contorting their body while remaining loose and reactive. Immersed within the action and that which needed to be done to survive or springs to mind within these next moments.

[Hatake Shinde]

Ashes were a wonderful thing. Because while some might see them as the smoldering remains of something that had already burnt out. There was potential for a new fire within them. That was why she styled herself as the Ashen Kunoichi. Taking the liberty to wait as the cloud continued to burn and contort in place as opposed to settling. She had waited for some time. Her eyes were keen and sharp as she held her handseal. He began to realize it then. He was burning. Patting at the ashes might have helped him for a second. Until he might have realized that the grey cloud was in fact the source of the fire.

Inhalation was not well advised. His eyes would burn if he stayed in and kept his eyes open. It was a perfect jutsu for flushing an opponent out of a metaphorical hole. It was when Ataru revealed himself that she hurled forth a new line of burning hot Senbon. They shot forward, and as he threw himself, twisting his body, they soared past as her attack sinks into the earth or the grass. Shinde found herself watching Ataru seemingly run about more frantic and panicked than before. The grey-haired educator found herself standing in place like a sentry. Firing line after line of ashen senbon at him. Sending him running like a dog as she exhales.

Every bob of her head sent more grey needles of burning upon him.

Maybe her precision was a bit off. So. Instead of molesting him with further attacks? She forms a new handseal instead. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.” Twin poofs form on either side of her person. As Shinde takes a deep breath. Getting her breath in order as she takes a few steps back. Towards the now semi-burned-down pile of wood, grass, and now slightly crimson ashes. She was planning something. "Prepare yourself.”

[Uzumaki Ataru]

Ashes were terrible. Feeling as they stung at his throat, filled his nose, and clouded his eyes causing them to water, he blinked the tears away, snorted his nasal passage clear, and coughed hoarsely as he stepped back into fresh air. Sucking in a deep breath and returning onto the stage he views wisps of smoke curling from smoldering remains, eyes darting bright and wild he decides to take a step back within his mind. To process things and react accordingly but most of all to remain calm and composed rather than give into the sense of panicked franticness that hung within the air similar to the very cloud that afflicted him. Sporting fresh burns as she hurls a renewed assault of condensed ashen needles, he slides into a backward duck raking across the ground avoiding the blanket of senbon projectiles hurled at him.

Line after line of fiery smoldering projectiles came hurtling his way, the boy pulls a mad dash of various moves that allowed him to elude her attacks. As she bobs her head downward, he watches as she wretches and breathes out further darts. But as she calls out a new jutsu, he narrows his eyes and responds succinctly "Bring it on!” Proceeding to use his held jutsu he makes use of his preparation from beforehand exchanging places using substitution maneuvering into a place of decent height. Suspecting what is coming next, he traverses to a raised position, and sporting in either hand are three practice Kunai and Shuriken tossing each handful at a freshly summoned target his thrown tools meant to impact and take them out as soon as they are wrought.

She had used clones to harass and increase the tempo of their training in the past, it was the next logical leap that her plan for today would be to include them again. Hoping to cut the technique short he aims where he assesses they will rise up into from like a reborn phoenix, letting loose his own attack right at ash piles Shinde seeks to manipulate. So, this is why they called her the Ashen Kunoichi…

[Hatake Shinde]

As he coughed and sputtered, struggling to see and breathe, Shinde knew that there was much difficulty she was pressing on him. However, she knew one thing. He couldn’t dodge forever. Every passing moment was filled with him lashing out and thrusting his body forward in his attempts at avoiding every strike. Shinde would confess. For his current skill level, she was not at all hampered by his efforts. She was using more than a fair bit of chakra to press him. However, it became clear that he was beginning to learn from his venture. Perhaps he was just more keen on not getting hit and was tired of this game of cat and mouse.

Perhaps not. As he substitutes and raises himself high into the air, she could hear the sound of the hurled knives headed her way. Most intriguing. However, that wasn’t going to be good enough. For as her clones popped into existence, she’d lash outwards with a handful of her own throwing weapons. A flicker of metal as they hit against the training tools, the clones swerving and dodging the few that might threaten to harm them. As she stood there firmly. Her doppelgangers gazed upon Ataru with a vengeance as she had already set up her field. Two of the clones form the familiar seals for the Ash Senbon jutsu. However…

For Shinde herself? She began to weave a new set of seals entirely. Giving her pupil some time to consider his next course of action. Perhaps prepare himself another substitution. It was clear though she was seemingly in no rush to assault him faster. However…Why? Perhaps it was the notion that this form of attack was going to be unavoidable. Something he wouldn’t be able to free himself from. As he stood now in a semi-scorched and dangerous field. "You seem to be enjoying yourself. I’m glad you’re so enthusiastic. It only gets more perilous from here. Ataru-Kun.”

[Uzumaki Ataru]

He was being pushed fairly hard, approaching the edge of his capabilities and skirting along its border. The Uzumaki’s fight or flight response roared its scream in his ears as adrenaline pumped through his veins beating into his heart before rushing throughout his body like a pulsating furnace, carrying both heat and cold it was here that he felt he would either adapt or die to his newfound circumstances. A grimace came held across his face as he saw that his ploy didn’t work, his tools were either deflected or dodged by the summoned clones. Though he always sought to test the bounds of his talent and push past his limits, shattering whatever held him back in order to break out onto a new stage of hellish training.

He would confront this dilemma head-on, forming a series of hand seals as a plan would come to form together inside his head while he launches himself into the air and barrels towards the assembled group like a suicidal idiot with a poised leg ready to clobber a single one of them in the face with the built-up power of technique and gravity. The tempo of their song came to a crescendo flattening out into an empty octave as what came next turned into something heralding an air of auspicious silence. No words came from his lips nor even thought about within his frame of mind, the boy was running on pure instinct and blatantly reactionary to that which comes his way.

Shinde was striking up a new Jutsu and Ataru didn’t know what to expect but what came next would serve as a potential hindrance or outright disrupt her plans if not potentially voiding them wholly.

[Hatake Shinde]

Within the next few moments, he stood resolutely firm. Though the next moment, after he weaved his hand seals? Shinde found herself unimpressed. Surely he remembered when she told him not to leave himself in a position of vulnerability. Within the next moment, she flings a handful of Shuriken outwards from her pouch, swerving and lashing out toward him with practiced precision. Shinde’s Shurikenjutsu amongst all of the Konoha Genin was second to none. Her aim was pinpoint accurate, and seeing she was sure of his substitution, she didn’t bother to hold back. Assuming she was successful in ridding him of his substitution?

Shinde forms her seal and calls out. "Katon: Haijngakure no Jutsu…” With a deep exhale, she releases a cloud of dark black that extends ten meters outwards. However, that wasn’t all. For the next moment would prove to be rather…perilous. For those next moments? Utilizing all of the pre-existing hot ashes that lingered in the environment? All of a sudden, the needles begin shooting out in every direction. Crimson and grey intermingled in a salvo within the cloud that was more or less undodgeable so long as one was caught inside. After all. That was the power of ashes. They were the remnants of flames, but with a burst of heated passion, they could be reignited into danger.

Thirty needles would instantaneously form and launch out in every direction. Lashing out within its expanse as it littered into the ground, tree trunks, dummies, and rubble alike. A combination technique of Shinde’s own making. A combination of creative jutsu. Now the real question was? How would Ataru take an assault such as this? Her cerulean eyes seemed cold and harsh as she looked out across the environment. "...If you’ve made it through this? We’re done for today. I’d have taught you just about all you need to know. To move fast and weave seals faster. By making you dance as if your life depended on it.”

[Uzumaki Ataru]

Situated high overhead within his place upon the stout arm of a tree, watching as his ploy turned to proverbial ashes in his mouth. There was no time to panic or wonder about the things he could’ve done differently. Tearing off a patch of his uniform the boy quickly fastened it around his mouth tying it around their head like a makeshift bandana, before leaping up within the canopy of trees. Offering both light cover and a degree of concealment, with the agility and skill of someone whose fleet footedness had been drilled into him incessantly, the Uzumaki weaves evasively through the expertly thrown Shuriken twisting like a trained contortionist through their accurate pinpoint arcs. Seeing as she had rid him of his substitution jutsu the boy had to make do with pure skill and practiced talent that had been beaten into him, weaving hand seals in preparation for another salvo and likely something much worse on the horizon. A dark flood of blackness blanketed the area and fills the air with dread, his eyes had grown used to the strain yet still watered a bit by the sudden influx born from Shinde’s mouth.

The makeshift mask helped filter his breathing somewhat and offered Ataru a bit more of a reprieve than last time. As the ashes within their environment condensed inside the concealed smokescreen and takes shape, the boy had an increasingly bad feeling take root deep inside. Flipping from tree to tree like a spastic monkey that doubled as an acrobat, his movements were impressive in both speed and dexterity. And yet through this performance all of a sudden a stinging searing pain would come burned into his body as a number of them landed upon his person. A cry of pain came bitten back upon the ash-slaked wind, for the most part, he had weathered the salvo but the seeping stain of pain still deeply resonated etching its way into his heart and filling the boy’s mind with a sense of flushing agony. Faltering somewhat in a flipping twist he falls for a moment before catching himself mid-air by taking a branch and swinging himself deftly upon another limb. Wrapping his legs around it for stability, less than a handful had struck along the length of their body, and yet it was one of the worst feelings imaginable.

His flesh was scoured and burned, flashing cooking his skin and the material from his ninja attire. Biting back the pain, he pulls out a canteen and douses the affected areas with water before making his way down with a jump. Landing on the ground it was clear that he somewhat favored his body from the way he situates himself afterward, leaning against the trunk of the tree he holds onto it for a few moments taking in a few gulps of air before shakily applying a bandage to the afflicted parts of himself. Steeling his heart and putting up walls in his mind to detract from the aching suffering that lashed at him, he sniffs a bit more from the ash than anything else. Having been taught a valuable lesson and gained a newfound level of ability and insight, it did little to dull the throbbing pangs for now. Despite the harshness, Ataru still looked upon the memories made here today positively and felt grateful, looking at Shinde he nods his head in an initial wordless thanks. "Thanks for everything today, Shisho… I learned a lot.” his tone speaks volumes, embattled with pain but still sincere and optimistic if a tad sapped of energy from the crucible endured and wounds sustained.

[Hatake Shinde]

The cries of his pain sounded out, and with it, she was surprised that he did not cry out in agony. At this point in time, after casting the jutsu over and over again, she was sure she’d perfected the technique. Repetition had been an excellent teacher for both him and her. For at this point in time, she was certain that there was little he couldn’t dodge. At least, he could definitely dodge better than any other academy students his age. Debatably, trial and error had made him even better than some other Genin that were fresh out from the academy. So. With that said, she found herself advancing on this further precipice of development.

"Don’t thank me Ataru-San. It only gets much more difficult from here. Instead? Thank me when you’ve become much stronger. When you’re able to crush your enemies beneath your bootheel. When you’ve advanced far in your career.” Slowly looking at him over and his semi-burned form, she did realize she was pushing him to become something greater. Perhaps one of the finest Genin that would come out of this newer generation. That was something she could hold some level of pride in. In truth. It made her swell with pride at the idea that she was helping him develop and grow into something mightier.

"Come on down…I need to get you to a hospital.”

[Uzumaki Ataru]

He cradled his arm atop the breadth of the other before allowing it to slowly fall down by his side languishing there with a freshly opened and cauterized wound highlighted by a scorch mark surrounding its periphery, nodding his head succinctly at her words he knew what she said to be true and looked forward to the prospect of growing stronger as well as the things to come she had promised. The pain served as a reminder of that which he worked and strove so hard to be, a shinobi that would make Konoha proud. Lowering the impromptu bandana from his mouth to sit nestled around his neck at least he could finally breathe in fresh air again, something the boy would not take for granted anytime soon now that he had endured the alternative.

Taking in a deep breath inwardly he coughed a couple of times before recovering a regular steady breathing, he was glad that it was over but also happy that it happened. Looking at Shinde with a smile, he felt endeared toward the girl looking up to the Ashen Kunoichi far more than he had before becoming impressed by her and especially so by their combined jutsu, not to mention the fact that she had seen potential in him and saw fit to grow it. Elated in her company he nods once more especially so for her words of going to visit the hospital. "That sounds like a good idea.” he says nonchalantly in a calm even tenor.

[Hatake Shinde]

There was a bond between the two of them. One that was growing between mentor and student. Or rather, disciple. He wanted to swear himself and learn everything she had to offer. For some reason, that felt like something she could really get behind. Her clones at her sides proceeded to poof away, one after the other as she channeled her chakra. Ataru danced with the notions of advancing himself as a person, but also his prospective career as a ninja. Shinde was glad that she held at least some part in that development, and if she was right, she would hold a larger part in that still. Especially if he continued to seek her out. The smile was something that made her grin back, though she frowned as she reflected on the harm she did him.

"I have a good salve for burns. Made from aloe and mint..." She says absentmindedly as she sought to get him off of that tree. They'd need to go to the medics soon and explain the situation. However, she couldn't say that she wasn't proud of him. Especially as she knew that he was nearing the end of his tenure as an academy student. When he got to the next level, he was going to someday bear the headband of their village. The sigil, and stand next to her, if not under her as a Genin. Which meant that she herself had much growth and development to do. That was more than fine with her. She'd grow in her own right. She knew she had a lot more to do.