[Mayonaka Homare]

Homare often got odd looks, even in Kirigakure, where she was at least recognized from time to time, but here in Kumogakure, she seemed to get a few more stares than normal, likely because she was already starting to bundle up in layers of clothing. The general climate was already beginning to turn autumnal, and the six-armed woman already felt a chill to her bones, one that she didn't appreciate much in Kirigakure, much less so in the mountains of Kumogakure. She also felt as though she wasn't really getting enough oxygen, a sensation she was unaccustomed to while she'd been living in the lowlands of Kirigakure. The Genin felt sure that if the elevation were higher than what it was, she'd be struggling more, but this was actually perfect for the training she'd had in mind: Homare wanted to improve on her stamina, in order to be able to perform more Ninjutsu, and so the somewhat greater elevation would surely help to improve the workout.

This type of training was somewhat less common for Homare, whose kit mostly included Bukijutsu techniques over Ninjutsu, but she desperately felt a need to train in order to make better use of her skills in that field as well. The sight of that tiger coming for her from out of the forest was still haunting for her as she travels through the comparatively small merchant village of Akazaya towards the outer fields, where most of the training fields were restricted to in preparation for the Chuunin Exams. She'd been interested when she'd first heard of these exams, but after meeting a tiger face-to-face, she was having some serious second thoughts. But she's thought enough about orange-and-black giant cats for now - she's reached the training field and is already feeling through the ground with her chakra until she can find the water table, deep underground. Far deeper than she'd expected really, but this was even better. She'd need more chakra to be able to pull it out from the ground into the blade that the technique would normally create from under the earth, so Homare would have to learn to really push her chakra to use the technique.

With her mind so intently focused, she doesn't realize that there's anyone else nearby as she stares directly ahead. The usefulness of this Ninjutsu technique is even greater because it requires no handseals, only intent focus before a small pillar of water erupts from the ground in front of her, rising high as it slices into the earth, then slips back down through the small hole it had just pushed out. Homare can feel sweat already starting to build under her big, brown coat, purchased inexpensively, but the fur lining was at least warm enough. She yanks off the coat so she's only wearing the kimono she normally wore out and about, with the dark blue sleeves and matching tight sleeveless shirt underneath, with all six arms managing to fit through the opening of her kimono. At the moment, her other weapons were left behind; she didn't need the extra weight when she was intently focused on improving her Ninjutsu and the use of chakra. Her long blue hair hangs down over her back, with her eyes once again staring intently forwards as she prepares another use of the Suiton jutsu.

[Yamamoto Shosuke]

This year's exams felt so much different than just the ones before... 

Of course, there were simple reasons for that. For the first part, there was the fact that he wasn't participating in them directly but was instead here as a guest and as a volunteer coach for some of the genin. There was far less pressure, far less concern about standing out or succeeding. The pit of fear and concern in his stomach that had been so omnipresent last year simply wasn't there this year, although whether that was a matter of personal growth or just the fact that the spotlight wasn't on him was unclear.

But even beyond that, there was a different atmosphere to these exams. Perhaps it was because he knew Kizumi on a more personal level. From what little time they had spent together, she was more like a distant aunt than a scary boss. The kinda aunt who turned up drunk at family gatherings with a new woman wrapped around her arm, dropped some ludicrously over-expensive gift on your doorstep then disappeared into the distance, cackling to themselves about a joke they hadn't deigned to explain. He was genuinely fascinated to see what an exams put together by such a person could possibly look like. 

All that said, just because he knew better didn't mean that everyone else did. They hadn't had the liberties that he'd had, they didn't know Kizumi, and more importantly the spotlight was very much on them. That was why he had offered the same services he had the year before, only this time on a more legitimate position. 

Or, at least, that had been the intention when he had come to the training grounds that morning. There was almost always someone he could drop a little grain of knowledge on, or to give tips on how to defend themselves. The irony had of course occurred to him that some of the people he trained might one day come back to bite him, since most of the people he was training were from other villages, but that wasn't what mattered at the moment. What mattered was the enormous spike of suiton chakra that tore up into the sky like a small tower, causing the water to fall back down almost immediately and drench the training ground in an artificial rain. 

Sho had to admit that he was impressed - whoever this kid was, they had chakra for days. Maybe even more chakra than he did now as a Chuunin. Taking the moment to watch, Sho simply let himself be amused by the sight for a few moments before speaking up. 

"What're ya doin', kid? You're making quite the spectacle of yourself~" 

Should Homare turn around to look at the guy speaking to her, she would see a look of wry amusement upon the face of a boy about her age. He was wearing Kumo's flak jacket, revealing his rank as at least Chuunin, but beyond that and the enormous pair of dark-lensed glasses, there wasn't a lot of information to glean about the guy from his looks alone. Though, he didn't seem to be annoyed at her actions at the very least, just curious what they were supposed to achieve. 

539 words | Mayonaka Homare

SPOILER: Click to show

Chakra Ijou no Jutsu - [Chakra transfer Technique]: 1/9
Jutsus Used: None

[Mayonaka Homare]

Homare nearly jumps when she hears a voice from behind herself, and she turns rapidly to find some dark-haired man that she guessed to be about her age, although he was almost worryingly thin and he seemed to be wearing sunglasses that made her wonder if he could even see her. But considering he was speaking directly to her, it seemed he was at least aware of her presence and that she'd been performing some Ninjutsu herself. She also saw the headband wrapped around his arm marking him as a member of Kumogakure's shinobi forces, as well as wearing a flak jacket that meant he was likely at least of a higher rank than Genin, which results in her somewhat lowering her own instinctive guard slightly; if he'd been a Konoha ninja or a Sunagakure ninja, he might have just attacked her without saying anything and then claimed that it was just a sparring accident, so the Mayonaka decides that she'd better be more careful and aware of her surroundings. Of course, Kumogakure and Kirigakure still weren't exactly allies, so she's still at least a little guarded. But she's still yet to respond to the remark he'd made about her making a spectacle of herself.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to."

The response is likely less ecstatic than the stranger might have expected, but Homare was extremely reserved, despite her best efforts to make herself more personable. She realizes right away that she didn't even introduce herself to the stranger, and it might be best to do so; the Mayonaka clan tended to hide in plain sight, and although nothing the Kumo ninja had said or done made it clear that he was a member of the clan, the other members of the spider clan often seemed to take to hiding their appearance and the clan's traits in order to blend in. And she needed to be able to get to know as many people as possible in order to have the Mayonaka clan on good terms with nearly everyone.

"I am Homare of the Mayonaka clan, the first to take the name in years. I'm working on using up as much of my chakra as I can, as quickly as I can."

She honestly didn't know if it was true that she was the first to actually take the clan name, but if there was another, she'd never heard of them. With that statement made, she seems to return to focusing on using the same technique, this time sending up a blade of water up into the sky about six inches back from the first focused blade of water. The Suiton style Shadow Strike was very effective for a C-rank jutsu, particularly one that didn't require handseals, but with the water table sunken so far down, it seemed a bit more draining than normal for just a simple C-rank technique, and she was really putting a lot of chakra into the jutsu, as though she was trying to expend as much of it as she could with each usage of the technique. After this one, she stops for a moment, breathing heavily from the effort and letting her breath puff out from between her lips in little cottonball clouds.

[Yamamoto Shosuke]

If she really thought she was liable to get attacked over nothing, this girl had to be rabidly paranoid. There had been no incidents of such attacks, at least as far as Sho was aware, anywhere in the exams. But then, he supposed this girl was on the opposite side of the alliance that defined their world, so she was in the middle of "enemy" territory right now. Though, judging by how she had been received and treated, enemy seemed like it was a massive overstatement.

Everything about these exams had been designed to be welcoming and friendly, even to those that Kumo would typically be against. The simple fact of the matter was that the Raikage was a woman of peace and someone who abhorred violence even more than Sho did, so anything that she could do to reduce the chance of any hostilities spilling over had been put into place, hence why the rules about fighting in the streets had been in place when the year before Iwa hadn't even bothered trying something so basic.

Nonetheless, Sho could feel the girl's defensiveness that echoed throughout her entire frame, her entire being. She was clearly concerned, on guard, scared of something that could happen. Sho supposed he couldn't blame her, she was alone in a foreign land, and even if it was one of the friendlier ones there was no guarantee that nothing would happen. At least, nothing that she was aware of.

Sho, for his part, attempted to respond to this with an air of casualness and friendliness that admittedly didn't come naturally to him. Still, probably better to try and avoid this girl escalating things so giving her nothing to work with was the best option.

"Take it down a notch, mate. I don't think anyone was about to accuse you of doing it on purpose, mistakes happen when people are training - Especially when they're doing so alone. Got none of your fellow villagers to train with?"

It wasn't like she was the only one who had chosen to train alone - Sho had spent a lot of time in the last few days training and tutoring people, or even medically treating those that got themselves injured doing solo training like that Ishikawa guy. Still, if she was this concerned about something happening or going wrong, one might have figured that she would have made up for that weakness by sticking around with others from her village. Safety in numbers and all that, right?

"Mayonaka Homare..." Sho mulled the name over for a second, as if turning it over on his tongue to try and work something out about the way that it sat. "... No, I don't think I've heard of your family before, sorry. Should I have?" he asked, an air of genuine curiosity in his voice.

"Either way - I'm Shosuke. Yamamoto Shosuke, I'm one of the idiots they've got helping you genin out. Speaking of, isn't running through that much chakra dangerous? What would happen if you were out by the time of the exams? Not worried it'll hurt your chances?"

515 words | Mayonaka Homare

SPOILER: Click to show

Chakra Ijou no Jutsu - [Chakra Transfer Technique]: 2/9
Jutsus Used: None

[Mayonaka Homare]

Homare continues to prepare for more uses of the Ninjutsu technique she's been using quite often, having already found it quite useful for other scenarios, and certainly one of the better surprise attacks that she could use in combat, despite the fact that for a Ninjutsu, it wasn't nearly so flashy or even all that difficult to make use of. Even in this situation, which was rather unfavorable for such a jutsu, she was actually using only a little of her chakra for each use, and she wonders to herself how quickly she could make use of the jutsu each time. It was certainly an interesting proposition she's given herself, and one she might have to experiment with, although her thoughts are once again interrupted by the stranger asking some fairly difficult questions that she didn't know the answer to right away. Distracted now from doing much training afterwards, she stops for a moment so she can remember the other people who had signed up for the Chuunin Exams as declared so far: Kuronmeru Enyo and Gure An. She knew absolutely nothing about either person.

"No, not really."

While one might have thought that other people from Kirigakure were better to train with, Homare had been brought up in a home ruled by fear and paranoia, but that fear and paranoia had kept them safe before they had come to Kirigakure. She was actually rather particular with her fears, but the paranoia of others stayed with her, and was much harder to remove than the fear was. Homare didn't trust the other members of Kirigakure any more than she trusted members of any other village, especially since she openly left her four additional arms visible at all times. For a moment, she wonders if this Shosuke person might have poor eyesight, because he seems to be unaware that looking at her would have instantly told him whether or not he's known someone from her family. Or perhaps he just thinks the arms are some kind of battle puppet, she could have sworn she'd seen something similar to that somewhere before.

"More than likely, you've never heard of anyone with this name, no. Mayonaka is not commonly used within the clan itself."

Homare now realizes for the first time that the person she's speaking to might not be aware that she's not actually one of the participants in the Chuunin Exams, and so she turns back towards Shosuke, no longer preparing to make use of another Ninjutsu technique with her chakra. She wonders if she should be honest or not, and decides that honesty is rather overrated for now; she can assuage him of this misunderstanding later, if need be.

"Perhaps it's dangerous. That's what hospitals are for. Besides, I'm using up enough chakra that I'll be out before the end of the night, so I'm probably going to be able to go back home and rest my chakra back up to optimal levels before the exams actually start..."

This was, of course, leaving out that there were no "chances" for her during these particular exams, as she's not one of the participating Genin. She then refocuses on building up her chakra underneath her feet, finding the water table once again, and then forcing her chakra to push water straight up, one after another in quick succession at three points around herself. This takes considerably more chakra than just one at a time, and she's huffing a bit again by the time she's done this.

[Yamamoto Shosuke]

To be entirely fair to the girl, Shosuke had known maybe three people in the exams before he had gone into them. Two if you didn't count Azarea... But either way, there was no way to deny that knowing what you were up against would aid your odds but it wouldn't win the day. Just because you could come up with a counterstrategy didn't stop things from sometimes just being against you.

A perfect example of that was the fight between Hotarubi and Atagi - Even if Atagi had somehow known that he would be fighting Hotarubi first, what could he have possibly done about it? The man was all but immune to taijutsu and that was all that Atagi had to offer. Sometimes these things just came down to luck and compatibility with your opponent, strategy and forethought be damned.

But returning to the moment, it appeared that he only just now noticed something that should really have been staring him directly in the face this entire time - The extra pair of arms. He wasn't entirely sure how he hadn't seen it, his sensor ability allowed him to get any and all details about everything within about 200m from him, but somehow he had missed something this flagrantly obvious...

Honestly, that might have been the issue. He got so much information at any one time that sometimes it was hard to pay attention to everything at once. He had focused so much on the chakra displacement that he hadn't stopped to pay attention to the fact that he was speaking to some sort of humanoid spider.

Well, that was a consideration for later. For now, all that mattered was that he could see that now, he could work out someway to overcome overstimulation bias at another time.

"I don't know if that's the way you wanna handle things - Azakaya is a pretty fair distance from Kumogakure, the best you'd get at this place is basic, chakra-free treatment. Unless, say, you were lucky to stumble upon a field medic like yours truly."

Sho decided, for the moment, to not bring up the fact that no Doctor ever wanted to be told 'that's what hospitals are for'. Considering their almost constantly full schedules as it was, having people put themselves in unnecessary risk just because they felt confident about having a safety net? Well, it was infuriating in the extreme, though he wouldn't bother saying that part out loud.

"Look - I don't wanna disrupt you from," he gestured towards the plumes of water surrounding the girl ", your exercise? But if you're going to be chugging through chakra at this point, you're going to be out within an hour, let alone "by the end of the day". Not to mention the fact that chakra is relative - The more you have, the faster it regenerates and vice versa. You go so far as to empty your tanks, it'll be far more than a day for you to be back to normal.

But if you're really fixated on this method for whatever reason? I'm sure having a medinin on hand isn't going to hurt, is it?"

521 words | Mayonaka Homare

SPOILER: Click to show

Chakra Ijou no Jutsu - [Chakra Transfer Technique]: 3/9
Jutsus Used: None

[Mayonaka Homare]

Homare considers her options, or rather, lack of options. To her knowledge, one of only a few ways to focus on improving her chakra reserves was to exercise her chakra like a muscle. If she wanted to improve it, she had to use it, and use it a lot. The sound that she'll be drained within an hour makes her somewhat hopeful and even more exhausted at the same time, especially when Shosuke states that the chakra restoration is relative based on chakra reserves one already has, so it might take her a while before her chakra pool fully regenerates. That and she's already getting a headache from utilizing chakra so recklessly and having to push so hard to make the jutsu work when the water table is so far below the surface. She considers changing which jutsu she's using simply to have a little bit less of a headache, but the Water Shuriken technique she's already learned to use from the Chuunin didn't require much chakra to be able to use, and neither did the majority of her other Ninjutsu techniques. She decides that she's going to need to increase her repertoire quite a lot if she's going to become the face of the Mayonaka clan.

That said, the mednin makes a good point that having him around to make sure she's not going to end up hurt, not that she was really interested in trying to shoo him away, despite her mostly short sentences. In reality, it was partially due to her rather more withdrawn nature and her intense focus on using this Ninjutsu that was causing her apparently terse responses. She drops her concentration for the technique now so she can speak a little bit more, though she's already feeling a bit drained from using so much chakra in such a short amount of time.

"A medinin you say? I've heard that some medical ninja tend to be very good at regular Ninjutsu as well, Mister Yamamoto."

Homare doesn't fully ask the question, something that most people might find aggravating considering her other personality "quirks". She instead lets the unspoken question hang in the air for Sho to have to grab it and answer on his own. At least he might be able to see that she's now giving him her full attention instead of simply responding to him as though she were on autopilot, what with most of her attention on the use of her Ninjutsu.

[Yamamoto Shosuke]

Homare was, of course, right - albeit only to a limited degree. Much like with forming muscles, you had to fully exercise your chakra to be able to develop it. However, what she was missing was just how accurate to forming muscle it actually was. ~

The way that muscles formed in the body was through the old muscles tearing and breaking and then reforming all the stronger. That was why, at least partially, exercising could end up hurting the body a lot when one wasn't used t it, their muscles ripped and tore all the easier. Chakra expenditure too would damage the body if one overworked it, and much like muscle development, one could only do so efficiently if one took a few days to recover between periods of "development".

Any physical fitness coach would tell you you need time to rest, to let your muscles build and reform, between bouts of strenuous exercise. But the amount of people who ignored that advice and made things far harder for themselves unnecessarily couldn't fit a thousand page tome.

Of course, if Sho had understood the girl's feelings fully, he might have been able to see just how alike they actually were. Both wanted to assume the mantle of their respective clan's leadership, albeit for different reasons. Sho would have empathized with just how difficult it was being able to make yourself stand out enough to earn that position, to prove you were worth your family's trust in you. But without knowing that, he simply had to go off of the information readily available to him.

Responding to her question, he paused for a moment, not entirely sure of what she was asking him. "Thanks for the politeness, but you really don't have to stand on ceremony. You can call me Sho." Though, if she did insist on using titles, he would have to point out that he was not a mister but a doctor. He hadn't earned his medical license for nothing, thank you very much.

"Anyway - Forgive me but I've never been the best at reading between the lines. I can tell there's something you want, but if you're going to ask it of me you're going to have to spell it out. Yes, I can confirm that indeed I am good at ninjutsu, or at least middling to fair? Certainly I'm better than a lot of others. Why do you ask?"

He really wasn't trying to be rude but having spent so much time as a youth in the hospital wing, there really wasn't a lot of opportunities to develop social graces.

432 words | Mayonaka Homare

SPOILER: Click to show

Chakra Ijou no Jutsu - [Chakra Transfer Technique]: 4/9
Jutsus Used: None

[Mayonaka Homare]

It seems the two of them have more in common than one might think, as this Sho person also seems to prefer getting straight to the point instead of dancing around the question and prolonging interaction for too long. Although one way in which they differed was that Homare tended towards politeness when entering a discussion with someone she didn't know well, while Sho seems to have even less desire for the use of titles. At least he confirms that he's somewhat skillful in the use of ninjutsu, so perhaps she can get a little bit more out of him.

"Sho, then. Do you know any good Ninjutsu, then? Perhaps a more taxing Ninjutsu that doesn't rely on any particular elemental nature?"

She eyes him a little bit more closely before she returns to a firm focus on the water puddles that were left behind from her use of the Water Release: Shadow Strike techniques, utilizing a simple but effective technique for forming shuriken from the water puddles around her before launching them harmless at a tree nearby, leaving behind thudding noises and little else, as after the shuriken pierce into the wood, they seem to dissolve back into water, the chakra spent after the metal-hard surface breaks through the fibrous "meat" of the wood. It didn't help that the wood was mostly dead, what with the somewhat lower oxygen content of the atmosphere and the approaching winter.

"As it is, I'm only able to use the Suiton elemental release, so it's more likely for there to be some potential overlap if you know of any non-elemental techniques instead..."

Her explanation makes some sense at least, although perhaps it was a bit dangerous to give strangers some knowledge about her elemental release. Still, it wasn't much information, and this person had actually offered her some help, so she felt a little trust might go a long way.

[Yamamoto Shosuke]

Well, considering Sho's background, it was somewhat inevitable that he would prefer to keep things informal whenever it was appropriate. Sure, he was one of the select few potential heirs to the Yamamoto clan, and yes he was working somewhat under the vague supervision of the Raikage, but at the end of the day the thing that he had dedicated most of his career to was working as a doctor.

He had spent years in Kumogakure's hospital wing, treating patients and serving as both the nursing assistant and the doctor in various surgeries. In those situations, formality added needless seconds to response times, seconds that one simply didn't have very often. That was why, when it was appropriate, he would be as formal as he could be, even if it made him come off as rude or a little careless at times. But, fortunately it seemed she was receptive to his mannerisms as she had yet to call him out for them.

"High-ranked ninjutsu, huh?" he asked, mulling it over for a moment like a sweet resting on his tongue, savouring the taste as he considered his options.

The truth was that... well, he didn't. Sure, he had a lot of high-ranking ninjutsu that he had learned over his time in the field, but that was almost all elemental. Whether it was suiton or mokuton, it was all directed towards his natural talents. Other than those, his specialty was in medical ninjutsu and in treatment of the infirm, and he doubted she had the talents needed to pursue that. As such, he wasn't sure how much help he could be for this whim of hers.

"Well, if your element is Suiton, I've got a couple for you there. Though, those would take time for you to learn and you probably wouldn't find them all that interesting. They're designed for precise, deliberate executions and for setting up traps and restraints, not for blasting all of my chakra at once. I'm more of a precision kinda guy overall so when it comes to high-level expenditure, there's not a lot that I can give you."

The way he spoke, it wasn't like he was refusing the idea or pushing her away, more so he simply did not have the equipment or abilities needed to fulfil her request. However, as he continued, there was something else there.

"However, I think I have something you MIGHT be interested in. See, as part of medical treatments, sometimes doctors have to restore a base-level of chakra to patients to kickstart their natural regenerative state. You know, rebuilding skin cells and making blood cells and platelets and that kinda thing. So, there's a technique wherein I might be able to transfer some of my chakra to you.

I don't know how big are pools are respectively and really it would just stop you from being in a near-vegetative state for the next week, but it should allow you to get what you want out of this without hurting yourself.

So, up for it?"

505 words | Mayonaka Homare

SPOILER: Click to show

Chakra Ijou no Jutsu - [Chakra Transfer Technique]: 5/9
Jutsus Used: None

[Mayonaka Homare]

Sho's response, while somewhat interesting, made it clear that this other ninja was focused on the opposite end of chakra training, specifically that of improved chakra control rather than simply high expenditure, and while higher ranked Ninjutsu of the Suiton element might have been helpful in helping her improvement as a ninja, the med-nin had a good point that her goals and his goals did not entirely line up in this manner. Now that she was thinking about it, they probably didn't have all that much time that would need to be invested if she wanted to learn a more high-ranking technique, especially since being a shinobi for another village might, at some point, put them at odds with one another. Homare also doesn't really plan to stay for the entirety of the Chuunin Exams, or at least she wants to watch the exams as they happen, not train during it, and definitely not stuck in a more vegetative state. That wouldn't help her at all in terms of learning what she can about the Exams for her own try.

"Ah, yes, I see."

However, she is offered a second option, one for him to train his own medical technique that will ensure that she won't be incapacitated and they'll both be able to train in some capacity. In this way, their goals are aligned, and nothing is forfeited by their training with one another. Her eyes light up with excitement, though her facial expression is still rather stony when one might have expected a more clear expression of joy.

"That's a good idea. Very well then, I'd greatly appreciate your assistance in this way, although I still think you're getting a little less out of this deal than I am, so I am doubly grateful, Mist- excuse me, I mean Sho."

Homare had nearly gone back to a more formal expression on reflex, but had caught herself in time. She finally expels the chakra upwards, blasting a single hard pillar of water from the water table underneath the hill they were standing on, two meters to her left, then once more on her right, and that push had left her breathing heavily once more.

[Yamamoto Shosuke]

In the end, the entire ninja world was basically divided into those two camps - Those who specialized in precision and accuracy, and those who specialized in overkill and going overboard with everything they did. It was like introversion versus extroversion, inwards versus outwards. It was always going to be equal-odds about whether or not you would be able to mesh with someone like that.

That said, had they been in the same general camp, Sho would have had absolutely no hesitation in teaching her something impressive. It was true that Kirigakure and Kumogakure had never historically been on the same side, but it had been over two decades since the last conflict had actually broken out. Maybe Sho was merely uncharacteristically optimistic but it seemed unlikely that another one would break out, and even if it did? There was no way one jutsu would make the difference should the two of them come to blows in some future hypothetical war.

Or maybe he was just overconfident in his own talents and abilities.

Either way, though he could not see the way that her eyes lit up, he was able to feel it in the way her heartbeat seemed to accelerate. She was clearly happy to hear his option, something she would go on to explain herself not a moment later.

"Getting less out of this deal?" Sho said, his tone a little curious. Was this a deal? He thought he was just pitching in to help someone who was clearly giving their all. It wasn't like he was expecting to get paid. Even so, there was something in the way that she phrased it that made him more than a little confused.

As far as Sho was concerned, this wasn't a deal at all. Someone wanted help and he had the ability to help, so he was going to help. It was literally as simple as that, regardless of clan affiliation or village loyalties. If he had wanted to, he could have gone to Azakaya's clinic and volunteered to help there, he was sure some other kid had made the foolish mistake of abusing their chakra til they were empty. He was certain they would be happy to have him step in, but she was the one that he had found who needed help, so he was going to be helping them.

A wise man had once said that one could not help everyone, and Sho was more than familiar with that. He was no optimist or idealist, at least not consciously so. But it would be the height of foolishness not to pitch in when he could.

So, even as he's once again showered in the explosive jet of water that came from her technique, Sho moved around the girl's body, pressing one hand to each of her shoulder-blades. As he did so, he could feel the flow of chakra as he altered the flow of his movement, almost like grafting a limb of one tree onto another. His chakra's release was slow, steady, deliberately managed to ensure that the girl was able to get a bit at a time without risking her ripping through his own chakra as well as her own.

Even still, he could only imagine how strange it must feel having some foreign chakra brought into her system. He'd never had such a sensation himself, so he could only wonder if it felt good or if it felt like she was having needles pushed under her skin.

582 words | Mayonaka Homare

SPOILER: Click to show

Chakra Ijou no Jutsu - [Chakra Transfer Technique]: 6/9

Jutsus Used
NAME: Chakra Ijou no Jutsu - [Chakra transfer Technique]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Low - Very High [Continuous]/ Depending on Chakra Transfered
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu [Medical]
ELEMENT: N/a
DESCRIPTION:
By touching the center of the patient's chest with both hands, the user is capable of sending chakra directly into the patient's chakra circulatory system, allowing the system to process the chakra and receive it as if the chakra were the person's own. While the user maintains their touch on the patient's body, the amount of chakra per turn varies on the user’s will.

[Mayonaka Homare]

Homare, having just recently made a similar kind of mentor back in Kirigakure, had assumed that most mentorships were of a similar transactional nature. Judging by Shosuke's querying response, it seems that Homare had misread the situation, and perhaps explaining it would be even more socially awkward than to simply drop the reference to this transactional relationship she had seemingly made in her own head. It still feels a bit odd to have a stranger walking around her while she's busy concentrating on performing this Ninjutsu technique, and she's actually a bit surprised when Shosuke puts his hands on her shoulders. Not many people likely would have, considering her "arms situation", as some of the neighborhood kids had called it when she'd started showing off all six of her arms in public. Even more strange is the feeling of this foreign chakra entering her body, like a new warmth slipping through her skin and past her muscles.

With the strangeness of her anatomy, it's likely a good thing that the effect isn't really all that painful, as the musculature of her upper body is very different from most other humans, and it could therefore be somewhat dangerous if she were to be physically injured from such a technique. She uses some of the chakra given to her, taking it into the core of her being and cycling it with the rest of her chakra in order to convert it into the Suiton element, before she pushes her concentration back down to the ground and the underground layer of water, gathering it up and then thrusting her will skywards to send another blade of chakra up through the layers of rock to burst out several meters from the two shinobi, seemingly to make sure that this time, Shosuke wouldn't end up getting soaked when the water tumbles back down after the technique is used. The chakra cost is definitely getting to her now, using so much chakra in such a short amount of time, but she's pacing herself a little bit more.

[Yamamoto Shosuke]

it seemed like the two couldn't be in more opposition. Sho, who had grown up in the Yamamotos, was one to whom the idea of charity was not an option. It was an obligation - you HAD to care about other people, had to help those who needed help, had to make sure that your influence made others' lives better not worse. To do otherwise was not just a moral failing but also a disgrace to the clan.

Hell, that was the reason he was a Yamamoto at all. He certainly wasn't born into it - his "Grandpa" had adopted his mom into the clan and helped raise Sho as if he was one of their own. Meanwhile, the clan that he actually might have been born into, the Senju, didn't even have the decency to agree to a meeting or to even acknowledge which one of their number might be his father.

Whatever the case, he tried to make his presence as unobtrusive as possible - something that was made quite hard to do as he all but forced his chakra into her internal tunnels. It was a strangely warm, intimate feeling, like the sensation of being hugged. He had, of course, experienced it the other way around, but only from someone who was more familiar with his chakra signature, someone who could align theirs to his.

As it was, Homare would not only find herself being able to continue far easier than she had earlier but when she formed her tower of water this time, the effect was all the more spectacular, sending the water flying all across the training area. It made sense of course - this wasn't just her chakra but that of a third party, and a third party who was significantly stronger than her at that. The suiton ninjutsu she was working on was bolstered by his own natural elements as well, making the effect that much more spectacular.

However, it wasn't just chakra that was being used in this training. it was a strange sensation, her body would grow tired but she could still feel like she had more to give. She was being carried by the sheer amount of chakra Sho was able, and seemingly willing, to fork over to ensure that she could go as long as she needed. That said, he could tell she was beginning to succumb to fatigue.

"Let me know if you need to stop - Being able to pace yourself and know your own limits is an important part of being a Shinobi. Even with me here, I'm a crutch, I help keep you up but once I'm gone you will still need to be able to stand up. I doubt your fellow Kiri-nin would be comfortable with me taking you back, so try not to work yourself until you collapse."

470 words | Mayonaka Homare

SPOILER: Click to show

C-rank EXP: 7/9
Jutsus Used: See Previous Post

[Mayonaka Homare]

Homare is more than a little bit surprised at the effects caused by having her own chakra being supplemented by this stranger's own, and she has to wonder for a moment just how much more potent this ninja was compared to herself, although she was considered somewhat skilled in Ninjutsu when she'd been in the Academy, mostly thanks to the training she'd received from her own adoptive parents. She really shouldn't be so surprised at the kindness shown to her by this Shosuke person, considering the older couple that had adopted her had done so out of the kindness of their own hearts, but she hadn't lived with them in a long time, and she'd been re-educated somewhat by the new environment she'd found herself in. In any case, she files away this new information about what Shosuke is capable of doing for her when his chakra is helping her out, information that might help her to better understand what she needs to do to reach a similar level of effectiveness.

The words of caution about pacing herself and instruction are certainly helpful, and although she knows she's getting tired, she feels the need to let loose at least one more technique to feel that she's used up enough chakra to consider herself to have worked off enough of her own reserves to push her body into making an even greater amount to match a supposed need. She gathers her chakra into the ground again, pulling up on the water table one last time and then expelling a single blade of water up from the ground a few meters away before ending her focus. All the hard work at focusing on such a singular point had left her with a headache, and when she tries to take a step away from Shosuke, she nearly stumbles, but just barely catches herself from falling forwards.

"Mm. Very well. I think I've done enough training, so perhaps a bit of rest is in order."

Homare finally takes a seat, right there on the ground, as she seems just a bit too tired to actually walk to a more comfortable place to sit and rest. At least for now, she's done with training, and she reconsiders that she might just return to Kirigakure to finish the rest of her chakra reserves training, finding that it might be even more awkward if she has to continue to look for charity from foreign ninja.