[Nakajima Daigo]

    The ash hits the snow and burns it, or more accurately immediately melts it, but it doesn't seem to even hang around visibly afterwards, not even burning the grass and ground under it. In truth, had the jutsu hit her, at most it might have hurt from the impact like a light punch, maybe caused mild burns to her clothes, but not enough to even reach her skin. He wanted nothing more than to force her to further expend her chakra, or at least test how much she had left. Her reaction was enough, for now, as he waved his other hand to drop the ash from it and dust his hands together.

"True, but had I thrown that at even half speed, you would almost certainly not have had time to do so with that reaction time."

    His words were certainly blunted and cold, but nothing more than facts as he saw them. He was deep down a fairly cold person, especially in moments such as these, but not apathetic. He had no intentions of trying to harm her however, quite the opposite, but there was no reason he needed her to know that at the moment. If this had been a different type of training, likely he would be trying to keep her on edge, on her toes, a bit worried even, but for now it was just about tiring her out.

"Take a moment and catch your breath. Don't need you throwing up or passing out yet. When you're ready, we'll start again."

[nashida]

Nashida frowns again when Daigo states that if he'd thrown the ash at half speed, she wouldn't have had enough reaction time to be able to avoid taking a direct hit. The frown isn't one of anger or disappointment, only of focus as she realizes that Daigo is absolutely right. She'd have never been able to dodge it if he'd been going full sleep. Initially, she considers telling Daigo that she doesn't need a moment to catch her breath, but instead, she closes her eyes to focus on calming herself. The blonde rarely ever got to such a low level of chakra reserves, but now that she'd expended so much of it, she could feel that her already large and heavy body felt even heavier for her. She forces herself to slow her breathing, taking in a deep breath, and then letting it out slowly in an expulsion of water vapor from her mouth in a column like steam escaping a steam pipe before she opens her eyes again and staring directly at the Green Flame once more.

"I'm ready for more."

She remembers how she'd trained to better use her handseals at an increased rate, and she prepares herself for the use of what few reserves she still had. She hoped she'd be capable of pulling her lowered reserves quickly enough to make use of the Shunshin technique again, and she already starts focusing on moving the chakra throughout her body, having to dig deep to find what little remains.

[Nakajima Daigo]

    She wasn't quite at his level of control over her emotions, but even if unintentionally it looked as if there was an attempt with the way she carried herself. The slips now and then were more unique, more obvious because of it, and far more interesting. That moment of effort to calm herself was perhaps the first time he was impressed with her actions so far, giving her a wordless nod as he lifted his head.

"Good."

    There were multiple scenarios going through his head, few were likely to be any that Nashida would likely appreciate. Being a Genin meant she had already gone through the process of dealing with Academy Instructors, and now she almost certainly had a team leader, maybe even a teacher otherwise. He knew well enough how those instructors taught, and quite frankly he found few if any of them up to his personal level of expectation. He knew better than most in the village the dangers these young Shinobi would face, and in truth he might very well be one of them, so why not properly prepare them? Who better to teach them to face them than the danger itself.

"Nashida, how far are you willing to go to become strong; Not just stronger, but truly strong. Be honest. Are you satisfied with standing in the snow attacking dummies? Are you satisfied with waiting for that crotchety old man to give you the time of day? Tell me the truth."

[nashida]

The blonde genin pauses in her preparedness when nothing happens at first, and she looks at Daigo with her blue eyes blinking, but this was the only sign of her confusion in the pause of training for simply talking. That said, she's still tired enough to accept the respite, no matter how momentary, to answer his questions. It becomes quite clear that Nashida is one for speaking truthfully and from the core of her being, as evidenced by how hard her eyes seem to get while she's answering.

"I will do what is necessary and right to be strong. The only reason I tolerate the old man who teaches me to forge is so that I can learn more of the Tantetsu clan's techniques and become seen as an adult in my clan. The respect I gain from listening to him is more than enough to justify allowing him to teach me how to use the Tantetsu clan's techniques."

Her eyes soften a little from the harsh glare, realizing she might have come across as aggressive in her statement, but she does feel an internal duty to do right by both the village that has taken her in and taught her the helpful ice centipede summon, not to mention allowed her to learn her clan's kekkei tota without an expectation for any significant reward for doing so. Granted, she did provide them with her own services without the expectation of payment, but she became a ninja partially for her parents and partially for herself. She wanted to be able to protect her parents, with her mother having no home in Iwagakure to return to.

During her answer, she watches closely to see if Daigo is preparing to use any other jutsu, her hands and fingers ready to perform the Shunshin technique's handseal at a moment's notice. With how much she'd trained to use handseals, she should at least be fast enough to react to any combative motion that Daigo takes.

[Nakajima Daigo]

    It wasn't an unexpected answer, but there were many layers to pull away there. What exactly was considered right was far from that of another, and what was right for a situation rarely matched with another. For now he let that hang where it was and not address it further.

"Respectable. I'll keep all of that in mind."

    If he was going to get to the core of what made her act and react, he had to do so one piece at a time. If he walked up and tore away the outside to try and get to anything below the surface, he was no doubt going to immediately alienate her, as much as he hated having to dance around social situations. Unfortunately much like combat, things had to be prepared and taken step by step.

    Reaching into a back pouch, he pulled out some sort of stick that looked like wax, rubbing it on his lips as he felt them drying out, and carefully putting it away. Interlacing his fingers together, he stretched them up above his head and took a deep breath.

"Use your jutsu against me."

    Casually walking away, he stood half way between her and the still burning tree and turned, giving her a nod. He was purposefully changing things up slowly, between having her expend chakra, stopping altogether to let her rest, distracting her mind, then switching things up again. Subtle, perhaps confusing even, but he wanted to test the little things before exhausting her once more.

"Pick your strongest attack and aim as if you plan to take me out."

    

[nashida]

Nashida feels as though she's mostly out of chakra, so she's a bit surprised when he states that he wants her to use her jutsu against him, specifically her strongest attack, and to use it as though she's planning on taking him out. While she knows he's more than capable of not just dodging the attack, but that he could almost assuredly turn his body to flame if he decided he didn't need to dodge it at all. She's also not entirely sure she has enough chakra now to use her strongest technique. Oddly enough, while one might assume it's her Sawmill technique, her actual strongest technique is to use the Shadow Clone to make a clone of herself, in order to use her Steel Release techniques in a maximal offensive, a barrage of attacks that should overwhelm most people. There was no way she had enough chakra for that. She would have to use the strongest attack that was available to her right now...

She forms the five handseals at a rapid speed; so fast that if Daigo had been another Genin, he might have had trouble keeping track of her finger movements. She ends the five handseals with two finger guns pointed at him, releasing the Koton chakra that was now coating her index fingers and launching them as multiple small projectiles, aiming at his eyes, his neck, and his chest with each bullet launching at intense speeds, breaking the sound barrier with their speed in loud cracks. After six shots, she feels a bit dizzy, growing too depleted to feel like she can keep going now, though she stands firmly and ramrod straight. The blonde kunoichi assumes that Daigo will be able to avoid taking any damage from the attack, but he had ordered her to attack as she had. Now, though, she was too winded for any snarky one-liners.

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]

    In her eyes he could see how tired she was, not to mention the heavier breathing and her stance hanging heavy compared to even a few minutes earlier. Her state wasn't lost on him by any means, but it was at this point that you tended to need to not just dig deep, but to find a new bottom to reach for to pull out whatever you needed. In the midst of a fight you couldn't simply ask to take a break and catch your breath, and though he didn't lecture the point, he wanted to try and push it all the same. He could see her physical state, but he was far from a mind reader, even if he liked to think he could read people, so all he could do was wait and watch. He knew there was no danger, and at the very least he knew that she knew that as well, but this was about pushing her to her limits, and forcing her to keep pushing. No one ever got stronger but lifting a few light weights and then going to lunch, you had to break down muscles to build them stronger.

    There was movement finally as she clearly made up her mind what she thought she could do, taking close note of each handseal, sliding one foot back to brace himself. By the time she was on her third handseal, he lifted his hands and began casting his own jutsu, his hands a blur of speed, though far from as fast as other Jounin, but more than fast enough to create his own five ending just as she did. His chest began to puff out, but not anymore than someone taking a deep breath, as he jumped straight up into the air. Assuming Nashida would have taken the immediate jump into consideration and aiming accordingly, he would find the metal projectiles flying upward. Not even a full foot away from striking every aimed point, a rush of incredibly high-temperature fire burst from his mouth, green, but so bright it was almost white, aimed right at the ground. The force of the jutsu alone would have likely blown the metal away but the heat stopped the momentum of the attack and began to partially melt the bullets.

    The jump was far from impressive to begin with, so in only a second or two his feet touched the ground, as the fire dissipated, leaving burning flames right at his feet and stopping just short of Nashida as well. As the fire began to go out, the pieces of metal weren't completely melted as they weren't burning quite long enough to, but had all buried into the ground, as Daigo gave an impressed look towards the Genin as he simply walked across the melted ground, leaving footprints as he stopped right in front of Nashida once more.

"Your techniques are very raw, but I appreciate the directness of them. Is that, however, your limit? I was going to act different to that attack, but I'm not sure if you're in a state to be pushed."

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Katon: Ryūjin Kokyuu [Fire Style: Dragons Breath]
RANK: A
CHAKRA USAGE: Medium (Medium Drain)
CLASSIFICATION: Ninjutsu
ELEMENT: Katon
HANDSEALS: 5
DESCRIPTION:

After five hand-seals, the user will inhale and exhale a large torrent of fire, reaching up to twenty meters in a single second, the brunt of the attack being ten meters wide. Anything caught within the flames are incinerated. This Jutsu can be kept active for a period of time, increasing it's chakra usage.

[nashida]

Nashida is still panting a little, and it's taking a lot of focus now for her to speak any words at all; she's not sure if she's got any usable chakra left, and her body feels heavy, but she looks down at him in her exhausted state while he admits that he appreciates the directness of her jutsu, though he seems a bit disappointed in how tired she already is. As much as she often likes to please those who are higher ranking than her, she knows that she's already past the limit for what most shinobi would ever consider safe. Since she can't seem to focus hard enough to form the words so easily, she nods in response to his question about if she's reached her limit. Her legs shake a bit, but she locks her knees, keeping her firmly standing despite her body's objections as she forces herself to speak.

"I... don't think I've... got any more chakra... to spend..."

It's already taking some effort to not pass out, so even speaking so few words leaves her a bit prideful. That said, the Katon technique she'd seen had been extremely impressive, especially to have enough heat and force behind it to overpower the kind of technique that utilizes the Steel Release and in such a directly confrontational manner. She also no longer had the strength of chakra to pull any more steel, so she hoped this was where the lesson ended for now. Nashida takes a few deeper breaths, focusing on slowing her breathing so as to avoid looking too exhausted, but it takes effort to do that, too. She sincerely hopes she's not going to suffer from chakra exhaustion after this, but it's certainly feeling like she'll be stuck in bed for a while anyway; she might as well get started on the hospital visit, or Kazeo is going to give her another frown.

[Nakajima Daigo]

    Placing his hands on his hips, he stares up at her and sighs, less like a disappointed teacher and more like a disappointed parent when you still haven't done the dishes. If nothing else he learned where her limit was, to an extent at least, and if she really was tired already then she certainly had a lot of room to grow; if nothing else that was a positive. It was when you got to his level of chakra reserves that things got frustrating as you had to really make an effort to deplete your reserves, and at that point you are likely near killing yourself to do so. All the same, he still wanted to poke and prod her to keep going, and a part of him was still tempted to do so.

"Do I need to carry you home?"

    He didn't need to see the way her body was acting to see the look in her eye that was obviously not one of focus, or even able to fully focus. She really would pass out if he pushed further, and that wouldn't do anyone any actual good if she was out for a days having to heal along with resting. Turning to look over his shoulder, he could follow the trail of her eyes to the half melted metal, simply nodding as if he knew what she was thinking. It wasn't the first time he had melted metal in a fight, though this was minimal at best, and the other time was the unfortunate attempt someone made to go at him with a katana.

"I'm gonna carry you home. Nod if you agree."

[nashida]

Nashida herself feels a bit irked when Daigo suggests that he needs to carry her home, and being that she's a naturally proud Tantetsu clan member, even if she's not considered an adult by the clan's standards, she shakes her head firmly when he starts to insist on carrying her home, with her only needing to nod if she agrees to the offer. Instead, she takes one shaky step forwards, nearly falls over, but then quickly steadies herself as she walks around Daigo. Although she was exhausted, she was able to push herself forwards, even through the snow, lifting one foot high and then letting the weight of her limb drop her foot to the ground, and using that momentum to keep her moving.

While it might have looked a bit awkward with almost all of the snow around them having been melted by the fire techniques employed by the Green Flame, it paid to get used to the movement, as her home was a bit of a walk to reach, and the snow was taller as one went further through Yukigakure. She would need to step somewhat high to get past that snow as well. Her body and mind might have been tired out from the usage of so much chakra, but she was too proud to even accept direct help in such a manner as being physically carried.

"Thank you... for the... offer... and for... training..."

Even in her half-focused state, she still preferred to give Daigo the gratitude for helping her as much as he had. She never would have been pushed nearly so far in her training without the assistance of this higher ranking ninja, and though she almost thought she had overdone it, it was still very useful training for her, and she knows she's going to improve thanks to his guidance.

[EXIT THREAD]