[nashida]

Nashida sighs as she finally reaches the training grounds, swathed in her blue military-styled uniform with the bear pelt draped over her shoulders and wrapped around the front of her body. The pelt acted as a very helpful cloak, ensuring that not too much of her body temperature escaped through her typical clothing. Now, though, she parts the cloak in the front, allowing her hands, clad in white gloves, to move freely. She needed to learn to better use Koton techniques, and what better way than to use the jutsu that her clan was known for in rapid succession. She knows that she needs greater stores of chakra, as her mentor told her that those in the Tantetsu clan with more chakra tended to produce far more effective armor and weapons, and so she wanted to train up her use of ninjutsu until she was more than capable of keeping up with some of the other ninja she'd met before.

She starts with one of her favorite techniques, one of only a few offensive Koton techniques. She forms five handseals, rapidly but with a sureness that comes from lots of practice, before pointing her index fingers directly at the metallic training dummy ten meters away from her. Nashida fires projectile after projectile of steel from her fingertips, each one ringing out a loud "ping" noise to show that she's accurate, at least. After six pings, the jutsu is done, but she performs five more handseals again, just as fast as before. More than likely, the six pinging noises that erupt from the dummy were sure to draw more attention, although the blonde giant of a woman was sure that she was alone out in the wintry wasteland. This was often the case, since it was winter and Yukigakure rarely had much activity in the winter, as most people would hunker down and wait for the sun to return. At least it wasn't windy today, as evidenced by Nashida's precision with the steel bullets technique.

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Kōtetsu no dangan [Steel bullets]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Medium
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: Kōton
HANDSEALS: 5 ending in finger pistols
DESCRIPTION:

Fire bullets from his finger tips with great speed faster than an actual bullet. Can fire 3 shots per hand. But an adept shinobi can see and predict and is not that hard to dodge as long as the fingers are visible.

[Nakajima Daigo]

"Not hard to spot the Tantetsu."

    He was lost in his own thoughts as he walked past the training grounds, catching the tall, blonde Genin, dressed as if she was ready for war in the midst of just another day. They both certainly dressed to fit their own style that made them stick out, though they both stuck out in their own ways outside of the way they dressed. He had traveled to Iwa just enough to have met many Tantetsu over the years, and rarely were they ones to blend in without good reason, standing tall, built like the mountains that surrounded their village, and certainly Nashida was no exception given her height. Daigo tended to stand out given the way he looked, often called a pretty boy, not always as a compliment, taking after the good lucks of his mother and thankfully not so much that of his father.

    It was hard to know for certain how long he had been standing there, and Nashida's attention and peripheral vision would have been the only indicator for how quick she would have noticed him watching. What it was that made him stop for so long was hard to know; perhaps it was simply a curiosity with someone standing out and caring so little for doing so that appealed to him, or maybe it was just some part of his brain that was attracted to the shiny metal like a house cat. His attention was on her all the same, and the longer he stood there the more he tried mentally pulling up what info he knew about her, which was surprisingly very little aside from knowing her rank and the surprise of someone her age still being only a Genin.

    Slowly he began walking closer, making sure he wasn't going to catch a ricochet of any metal before doing so, both hands placed almost lazily into his pockets. For all that she looked ready to trudge through the snow, he looked like he belonged in a catalog for an expensive trip abroad. His thin-fabric top shaped into a deep v-neck, long sleeves but thin and almost see through covered with a vest, top and pants loose fitting. For as silent as he had been up to this point, it might have seemed strange how he was suddenly audible as he walked closer, the jewelry hanging from his neck and around his wrists and arms clanging in an almost pleasant sound.

"You must be Nashida."

    It was hard to tell if he had been wearing that facial expression as he walked up, but now it was bright, nearly as warm as the heat coming off of his body even from this distance, eyes closed from the size of his smile.

[nashida]

Nashida didn't seem to immediately notice the stranger, though he wasn't all that strange, until he began walking directly towards her. The crunching of the snow is what tips her off, and the blonde stops her shooting for the moment as the sound of jewelry twinkling as it bounces against each other reaches her ears. She'd been making jewelry for a very long time, so she knew the sound of it from almost anywhere, and she turns her head to see who was about to address her. Although she has to tilt her head pretty far downwards, there's no disrespect in her gaze. While he's still a stranger to her, she knows exactly who he is, being the bodyguard of the Yukigakure Lady as well as an esteemed ninja in his own right. In fact, despite the differences in their height, Nashida had a great deal of respect for him, enough that even her stony and stoic face returns his smile, albeit not nearly as wide or as bright. As pretty as Nashida was, she apparently wasn't much for shows of delight.

"Yes, that's me. You need little introduction, Green Flame Daigo."

She gestures towards the steel training dummy, with its body now riddled with pock-marks where the body had been dented from the force of those previous steel shots. There were even some small holes in the snow surrounding the dummy, showing where some of the shrapnel of the bullets had chipped off, burning through the frozen layer thanks to the heat of metal striking directly against metal.

"Are you here for training as well? I'm sure you don't have much to learn, but metal of any age can be reforged."

The blonde Genin pauses and hopes for a moment that she isn't calling him old, and she considers taking back the statement. But that would only make the pause even more awkward, and so decides not to do so and merely hope that Daigo takes it as a compliment to his experience. It might be best to switch the conversation up before he can take offense to it.

"It's not often that many people come out in the winter to train. I guess it's just that the Nakajima have no need to fear frostbite; since when does fire freeze?"

[Nakajima Daigo]

    It would have been a lie to say he didn't have a certain affinity to tall woman, as one of the few woman he had an affinity for in the village was near his same height. Having to look up at an angle to address one was certainly a new experience however. Opening his eyes fully as he had stopped made him realize just how much he had to look up, giving a few blinks in surprise, really gaining perspective on her size as he had nearly closed the distance between them. This was something he did often just as a means to make someone else uncomfortable and put him on the front foot in any conversation, at least momentarily, before taking a step back. Pulling one of his arms from it's pocket, he ran his right hand through his hair slowly, making and keep eye contact with Nashida, even as he gave an attempt at a minimal bow as she responded with his name.

"I didn't plan to be here at all, in truth."

    His voice had dropped immediately to a more smooth tone than that of his initial call out towards her, more quiet, a lower tone, and perhaps only more calm if he had been talking in his sleep. Raising a brow at her comment, he wasn't sure if she was insinuating he was old or not, something he was certainly not accustomed to given how young and youthful he was usually seen as standing next to their Lady Shuka. His brow dropped and he looked over towards the dummy, then back to her, giving a slight dismissive wave before slipping his hand back into his pocket.

"No training today. I have a rare day off, and was simply going for a walk. Though now I'm bored and tired of walking, so here we are."

    Once more he was staring into her eyes, more so out of habit then any actual reason.

"There was a Nakajima that found themselves frozen not long ago, momentarily at least. Embarrassing."

    Holding out his right arm, the entirety of it caught flame with a bright green shade, and just as quickly went out, not leaving a trace of its existence.

"Not all of us are able to regulate our body temperatures to this degree. I'd go as far as to say very few."

    He was exaggerating of course, simply for the sake of doing so, making himself seem more special perhaps, but exaggerating all the same. Glancing again at the training dummy, he looked back towards her, making a motion with his head towards it.

"Just here for target practice?"

[nashida]

Nashida worries even more as Daigo raises his brow, as he'd likely taken it as a potential insult, and she decides that she should be far more careful in deciding how to phrase her compliments. It would be the worst if she made such a horrible impression on the man, especially as he's such an esteemed ninja within Yukigakure. The parable of a Nakajima that had found themselves frozen was an interesting one, an idea she files away to herself to examine later, after their conversation. She wonders how true it really is that so few Nakajima would be able to control their own body temperatures, but knows her place as a Genin, even if she's a very tall Genin; it would not be proper for a Genin to dismiss the words of a Jounin, unless the falsehood were blatant.

Instead, she responds to his final statement. It wasn't entirely a question, and she wouldn't insult him by treating it as if it were only a question, though she would definitely answer it.

"Target practice and trying to test the limits of my chakra pool... It's rare that I run out of chakra, but I must see how much of my clan's kekkei tota I can use before I'm too spent to continue. And I heard that it is possible to improve how much chakra you have through training; perhaps if I use enough Ninjutsu, I'll learn if it's true, yes?"

She hoped that what she was saying would make sense to the more experienced ninja - if he gave some suggestion that what she was saying was possible, then that would certainly give her a lot more hope in this method of training. Nashida nods once at Daigo, as though confirming it to herself, then turns back towards the training dummy - this next technique requires no handseals, only focus and concentration, and with a steel will, she draws out three massive saw blades of steel, drawn out from the earth itself, which then spin as they propel themselves towards the metal dummy, sheering several inches into its metal covering before they're stopped by the friction of steel against steel. In a shower of sparks, the training dummy is cut most of the way through, and Nashida is panting a little. With the previous steel bullet techniques having been used, she was starting to get at least a bit winded from the effort.

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Kōton: Seizaisho [Steel Release: Sawmill]
RANK: B
CHAKRA USAGE: Medium
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu, Kekkei Tōta
ELEMENT: Kōton
HANDSEALS: 0
DESCRIPTION:

The user creates three rapidly spinning saw blades the size of an average human male from steel in the earth, sending them in a straight line towards a target. Each sawblade has the cutting capacity to sheer straight through solid stone.

[Nakajima Daigo]

    The days of him doing his own testing those same limits of his chakra pool felt like much longer ago than they in fact were, but a lot had happened since he was a Genin. The time spent in snow fields that were left as scorched patches of dry grass afterwards, and him laying exhausted in the middle having pushed his body and his chakra to the limits of safe. Having to try and keep up with Seika and Emiri was certainly a motivation, and one he hated at the time, even if he appreciated in hindsight the push it gave him.

"It's quite easy to do, in fact. Well, easy in application, but it can be exhausting."

    Stepping back some, he looked between their feet, then took a few larger steps back, before his entire body went up in green flame, slowly removing his hands from his pockets as it happened. The flame was bright, warm, but not overly hot, and perfectly controlled.

"I would spend days at a time in this form, pushing my chakra pools to empty, then do it all over again. It took time, but it was no different than picking up weights and pushing muscles to the brink of injury."

    As quickly as the fire appeared, it disappeared once more, and once more he moved closer. He kept silent as he watched her going over whatever thoughts she had swirling in her head, until she raised her hands and started to create handseals, turning and following the metal blades that cut into the dummy. He wasn't at all familiar with Tantetsu techniques, their rankings, or their chakra expenditures, but given her reaction he had to assume the two she had used were significant for someone of her level.

"I was fairly reckless in my own training when I was a bit younger, as I was highly motivated. It's embarrassing in hindsight to think how many times I was found unconscious as I was pushed myself too hard. Can't say it didn't pay off in the end."

    His eyes narrowed as he thought about helping her, but it was becoming an unfortunate rarity that he was able to convince anyone to truly train with or more so let him train them. For all of his assumed charisma, his respected position, even how easy he was to approach and talk to, what he wasn't known for was his empathetic training approaches. When he trained alone he pushed himself to the brink of danger even for the most simply things, and when training others he expected the same. It was certainly effective in the end no doubt, but few wanted to volunteer to go through it.

"It's not often I offer, but I'm certain I could help you."

SPOILER: Click to show

Haini no Jutsu | Cremation Technique (Embodiment)

[nashida]

Nashida pauses in her training once more, taking in a deep breath through her nose, which of course tickles her sinuses with the freezing cold, before she lets her breath out in a puff of condensing vapor that gradually crystallizes. The Tantetsu woman was apparently not particularly affected by the chilling cold; like the rest of her clan, heat and cold don't have such an intense effect on her as it does for others, although she was certain if she stayed out all day long, she might end up with frostbite. And since the last thing she wanted to do was stay out all day long, the offer from the flame-licked man was definitely a kind of offer she couldn't easily refuse. Considering their difference in rank and experience, and the flash of chakra even she could feel from his body when he coated himself with flames was enough for her to agree.

"I'll gladly take you up on that offer!"

She stops her focusing on pulling steel from the earth, as she'd been planning on doing so for the next use of the Sawmill Technique, one of only a few jutsu she'd actually been allowed to learn by the tutor that the Tantetsu had sent to help her learn the smith and the forge, as well as the clan's kekkei tota. Though she had to wonder what exactly Daigo would be teaching her, as their clans were completely different, and she didn't know the first thing about using the Katon element just yet. It was simply outside of her knowledge of elemental releases, though she was capable of using it a little in order to form the Steel Release kekkei tota.

[Nakajima Daigo]

    How often he had heard that tone when someone either asked or accepted training with him, but he wondered how long before that equally familiar tone that happened eventually mid-training. Perhaps it hadn't quite gotten down to her as he hadn't truly training anyone in quite a few years, and had all but given up on doing so on an extended basis. The Tantetsu he knew of were tough, and there was no reason to believe she would be different, but physically tough and mentally tough were rarely one in the same.

    Her response was met with a nod, and moment later the snow around him was melting away rapidly, as she would have felt the rise in temperature. While he had partially joked earlier about other Nakajima not being able to control their body temperature as well, some of it was absolutely true, but only in one specific direction; hot. He always ran hotter by default, partially due to the extent of his training of both his body cremation technique and his training with chakra reserves pushing against their barriers. If he were a body builder, the truth would be more obvious, as he'd have trouble lowering his arms from the excessive weight training. The less he tried holding back, the warmer he became, and the warmer the air around him became, creating a slight mirage of heated air around his fingers specifically, and for a few moments as the snow melted, causing steam to rise.

"I would suggest you not physically touch me for now, assuming the thought had crossed your mind. It might not cause serious burns, but it would certainly be unpleasant."

    The heat seemed to stabilize, but was noticeably warming the air from his direction, as he began to pace, walking all the way around her sizing her up like a hungry lion, eyes narrowed. His tone shifted a bit, somewhere between monotone and smooth, more like a military officer, clearly turning serious. It was colder, perhaps even more calm than before, deeper, bordering on unnerving the longer he spoke.

"Tell me what exactly it is you are capable of. I want to know your chakra nature and any affinities you might possess outside of Kōton, are you a ranged or melee specialist, what attempts have you made to train your chakra reserves prior to today, and if you find something else particularly unique, tell me. I will proceed from there."

    Finally standing back in front of her, his arms met behind his back, moving right in front of her, head tilted up and staring right at her. The heat far more noticeable, as if standing inside a heated room, at least from the direction he was standing.
    

[nashida]

Nashida, for all her excitement upon seeing such a show of the Nakajima's natural heat, stood stock still as he suggests to her that she not touch him for now, since he's apparently capable of creating enough heat that it would cause pain without even using any of the Nakajima clan's ninjutsu. For him to cause such heat to a Tantetsu that it would actually cause harm would require quite a massive amount of heat indeed, as further evidenced by the fact that he was able to turn the snow around them to water, then to even steam eventually. The heat reminded Nashida of her own forge back home, with the heat shimmer appearing in colorless waves off of him and the air around him, but her stance is steel-heavy and firm. She can actually feel the heat of his body as he moves around her, though she doesn't actually see him, since her eyes are focused on some point off in the horizon.

The question of what it is that she's capable of, including her affinities and her style of combat, what she's done to train her reserves prior, and anything else she might have that might be of interest. It's certainly a lot for her to tell him, but if he's going to be teaching her, then she figures he's going to want to know it; all of the information he's demanding of her is relevant.

"I'm able to use Steel Release, only, so far. It involves using Katon, Doton, and Suiton, but I'm not skilled enough in any one of those elements right now, not enough to perform techniques with them. I'm better at long-ranged fighting, with a few options for anyone that comes too close. I've done some training before, but nothing as rigorous as this. I can also summon ice centipedes; I was allowed to sign the contract in order to ensure my ties to Yukigakure."

Nashida had spent long enough inside her own forge, with the heat only being able to escape through the top smoke hole, that although the heat might have been overwhelming and oppressive to most others, it barely even made the blonde kunoichi sweat.

[Nakajima Daigo]

    The more she spoke, the more his face turned to a more serious demeanor, not necessarily unhappy, but clearly lacking the earlier brightness he was showing. As he started to get into his mindset of training, he let slip the mask he'd normally wear, but not to an extent that might have seemed out of the ordinary. This was certainly more in line with his natural self, cold, calculating, goal-driven; it just so happened the goal in this case wasn't one of his own necessarily.

"That certainly seems unique among the Tantetsu I've met, as far as not being versed in at least fire or earth. I'm not sure where you grew up, but perhaps that's simply a matter of nurture versus nature. We can work with it all the same."

    Having a single usable chakra nature was certainly not something he was unfamiliar with, given his clan and his blood, but for very different reasons. It wasn't a hindrance, and it wasn't going to change anything in their training. The rest was sheer curiosity for his own sake, but it was interesting in its own ways.

"Understood."

    For a few minutes he stood there silent, just staring up at her, eyes narrowing now and then as if he was going to speak, but the silence kept hanging in the air. Eventually he released a noise somewhere between a sigh of relief and exasperation at whatever it was he was thinking, before he finally turned away, looking towards the dummy Nashida had been attacking earlier.

"Use your strongest jutsu, whatever you know to expel the largest amount of chakra. Pick a direction as long as it's not towards me."

    Taking a single step back, he kept his arms behind his back and said nothing more than that, watching her expectantly.

[nashida]

Nashida isn't sure if she should be concerned when Daigo states that it is unique among the Tantetsu he's met that she's been exclusively skilled with the kekkei tota herself and that most of them are versed in fire or earth as well. She internally worries for a moment that she's not actually doing enough, and this might be why her tutor from the Tantetsu clan treats her so poorly or looks down upon her. She can worry about that later, though, for now she's focused on training anyways; if she can improve enough, she'll probably be getting her tutor's attention, and respect will come soon after. She waits to see what he's thinking, apparently unbothered by the chilling cold even as it seeps in through her clothes to chill her body. If she minds waiting for multiple minutes while Daigo simply stands there, she doesn't show it at all, her face as still as a hardened steel statue, unaffected and unconcerned with the freezing temperatures around her, but only reflecting that bitterness back upon the world. He's now looking at the dummy she'd been using for practicing her jutsu as he orders her to use her strongest jutsu. She has two that are somewhat similar in regards to their chakra expenditure, but the Sawmill technique is certainly the stronger one.

She turns to look to the right as she focuses for a moment, not even lifting her hands as she uses her intention to draw steel from the earth and form it into steel circular blades. Nashida concentrates on using as much chakra as possible in this technique without losing control of the shape of the technique, causing the blades to form even larger than before, spinning faster than earlier until the noise becomes a low whine in the air before she launches the sawmills at a tree that had dared to grow just a little further into the training area than its progenitors, sending the blades deep into its wooden flesh and burying them still deeper as they gradually cease their spinning, causing the tree to gradually topple and then fall in a crash of powder snow.

"Like that?"

[Nakajima Daigo]

"We'll discuss that look on your face later."

    There was clear worry covering her face, or clear to him anyways, and while his tone and the way he said what was said might have come off as if he was curious about what caused the look, it was the look itself that bothered him. No one at her age should be squinting and furrowing their brow to such an extent; that's how you get wrinkles. He looked at least a few years younger than he was, and not scowling was certainly a contributing factor. To most the look on her face was barely a motion, a slight flex of her facial muscles, but to one as obsessed with their appearance for various reasons, it was something he took notice of immediately. All the same, he'd have to store it and address it later, as she had other worries than a few wrinkles at the moment.

    As the blades formed, grew in size, hit the target, causing all sorts of damage, his stare never moved from Nashida for even a moment. There was no twitch to his eye, just staring intently and taking in her actions. He was less worried about what she was using or the act of using it, and more her specifically, curious of the strain on her body.

"No."

    Tilting his head as he kept that glaring stare, he cleared his throat.

"Can you create more? Are you able to use multiple instances of one jutsu? I need you to push yourself, strain yourself. I'm not interested in the end result or how strong your jutsu is."

    Waving his arm dismissively, a flame engulfed his right arm, and moments later the target she had attacked burst into flame. Shaking his arm, the flame went out, but the target still burned bright.

"Anyone can make a jutsu look simple. Don't worry about how you look or how your jutsu looks right now, expend as much chakra as you can. If you're able to stand comfortably by the time we're done here, then you've done it wrong, and we will start again."
    

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Haini: Hidama [Cremation: Falling Star]
RANK: B
CHAKRA USAGE: Medium
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: Katon
HANDSEALS: 0
REQUIREMENT: Nakajima Clan Hijutsu SA, Haini no Jutsu
DESCRIPTION:
One of the bread and butter techniques of the Nakajima Clan, Hidama utilizes the user’s Flame body to immolate an opponent at mid to long range. By transforming their hand and upper forearm into flame and flooding the resultant appendage with Chakra, the user is able to form a large orb of pure fire that they can then shoot at an enemy. The orb is roughly 3 meters in diameter, and is incredibly hot, causing second-degree burns on direct contact.

[nashida]

Nashida is a little bit surprised to hear Daigo say that he hadn't meant to simply do the technique once, even glaring at her, though she was used to that kind of look from Kazeo. He explains that she had been meant to use the jutsu often, to push herself, and that he doesn't care about the end result or how powerful her jutsu actually is. With a demonstration that causes the tree to erupt into flame and left burning, she's told to not worry about how she or her jutsu looks, and to just expend chakra as much as she can. The order to do so drives Nashida to look back at her target, taking it in before turning her attention to a new direction.

This time, Nashida pulls deep, drawing up steel and pushing as much chakra as she can into the technique again, but this time, after the initial three, she's already drawing up even more steel in order to perform the technique again. She's so focused on the use of the jutsu that she's almost reflexively throwing her arms forwards with each sawmill blade that gets thrown into the forest. She's soon sweating, despite the chilling cold of the temperature around them, but the most she'll allow herself to stop is just long enough to wipe the sweat from her brow, and only then because she's still pulling steel from the earth to use in even more uses of the draining technique. It really doesn't take very long at all for Nashida to end up only being able to maintain control over a single sawblade at a time, with that particular launch barely even rolling to the forest before she drops to one knee, panting for air.

After a moment in that resting position, she regains her breath a little and stands up again, on slightly shaking legs, before turning her head to look at Daigo again, a focused frown on a sweat-covered face as she puffs out little clouds of freezing water vapor. Her eyes are asking "how about now", but her mouth is panting for air too much to vocalize it.

[Nakajima Daigo]

    She was a Genin, but she was also a bit older than the students he was used to dealing with at her rank. They would whine and complain, ask questions that with minimal thought they could answer themselves, or just try and find shortcuts over simply doing what was asked of them. There was clearly a level of maturity that came with her age as she didn't seem to do any of the above, and for her sake that was the best outcome she could have hoped for. Daigo could have no patience or infinite patience all dependent on how he felt with any given situation, but when he came to training, listening to his instructions most of all, his patience certainly ran thin.

    The somewhat charismatic demeanor he chose to exude on a normal basis was barely there when he walked up to her before, but it was all but gone now. In the place of that smile, that air of confidence, was a near militaristic glare and stance. By the the she finished her show of expended chakra, Daigo moved forward without a word and grabbed on her left arm, lifting it up perfectly parallel to the ground and gave her a wordless look that clearly said to hold it there. Stepping back he looked at her from head to toe, then moved back up and pushed her arm down giving a loud exhale.

"I would certainly have words with your teacher. They've taught you to use these metal techniques of yours, but they've clearly ignored your form."

    Standing back from her, he mimicked the exact movements she had used to use her jutsu, as close to perfectly as he physically could, before standing back up. Looking towards her to make sure she was watching, he repeated them, but with precise movement, snapping his arms up as if launching the attacks at the last moment, almost as if obfuscating his actions to a degree.

"You are far too fluid, far too telegraphed. Wasted motion can mean wasted time, wasted chakra, and a cascade of issues."

    Bringing his arms up in quick motions he gripped his fists closed then snapped them open, as a burning ash formed in his palms.

"Defend yourself."

    Instead of tossing his jutsu in such a way that would be near impossible to avoid otherwise, he made a slight throwing motion with his right hand as a ball of burning ash headed right at Nashida's midsection.

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Katon: Shikai [Fire Style: As Lifeless as Cold Ashes]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Very Low
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: Katon
HANDSEALS: 0
DESCRIPTION:

Without the use of hand-seals, the user will form a collection of burning ash in their hand and throw it at high speeds. Upon contact with a solid object, the ash will explode into a small (one meter in diameter) of burning hot ash. It can cause minor burns and cause intermediate damage to eyes and respiratory system. A clean hit blinding a person until they are able to receive medical attention. Alternatively it can be used to ignite flammable objects or set off traps. The jutsu can be used in quick succession but is not overly lethal.

[nashida]

Nashida grunts a bit as now Daigo suddenly has something to say about how she looks when she's performing the jutsu, but she only listens after her grunt. The explanation Daigo gives about how she can't have her attacks be too telegraphed or fluid, as it wastes chakra and time, and causes many issues with performing the jutsu. She merely nods once with understanding, too tired for a moment to fully form sentences before he clenches his fists closed, and then opens them to reveal the burning ash in his palms. She's not sure what he's planning on doing with it, though, and last time, he'd only used them on the training dummies and on the target she'd been hitting before. The verbal warning to defend herself hits her brain, though, and she realizes she's going to be called upon for defense.

Unfortunately for Nashida, although the Tantetsu clan's kekkei tota was most often a defensive one, she'd done almost all of the learning for the clan's Ninjutsu on their offensive techniques, and not so much on their defensive abilities. As it is, she's not sure she has enough chakra to perform any further techniques, but she pulls as much as she can to her entire body, though the amount of chakra she can use is running thin as she performs a single handseal. Just before the ball of burning ash can make contact, she's able to dash to the left. Nashida only barely avoids being hit by the burning ball of ash, but she immediately drops to one knee again in the snow, only able to hold down her previous night's dinner from the exertion of using another technique, though it was a fairly lower level jutsu. She gets back up to her feet again quickly, though, taking on a fighting stance to prepare for the next test from the more experienced ninja.

"Not being hit at all is better than any defense..."