Nagakoto’s grandfather had returned from his mission. For a week he had allowed Nagakoto to do some training on his own, but now he was eager to train him some more. By the time he reached the Jiin Compound the sun was beginning to raise, Nagakoto’s grandfather began to smile at the sight of the sun raising. “I really should try to get some sleep, but I can not waste a ideal training moment such as this. It is a perfect time to get some training done.” He mentioned to himself. He headed towards the housing section of the compound towards Nagakoto’s room. Nagakoto’s grandfather saw him, wrapped up in his blanket, sleeping peacefully. Nagakoto began to stretch, feeling that someone was watching over him. Although he wasn’t fully awake he could still make out the image of his grandfather. “Grandpa? When did you get back?” he said in a groggy, morning voice. “I returned to the village just a few minutes ago.” He responded. Nagakoto began to stretch once again before getting out of bet. “Shouldn’t you be sleep or something? I mean you just got back and you are wide awake.” Nagakoto stretched for the third and final time after he spoke. “Yes, I should be sleep. However I’ve decided that we will train instead.” Nagakoto, now fully awake, had a confused look on his face. “Training? But… but… I’ve hardly gotten out of bed. Besides I am able to do enough training on my own.” He responded back. His grandfather shook his head. “If I, an old man, have more energy than my 12 year old grandson then you should stop trying to become a shinobi now. If you are as strong as you claim why haven’t you unlocked your Tengan? In my youth activated a Tengan was the initiation to becoming an adult.” His grandfather snapped back. Nagakoto looked down in shame. He wanted to prove his grandfather wrong, but he knew he was telling the truth. “I may not be able to active the Tengan, but I have strong in other areas.” Nagakoto mentioned, fighting back the tears of shame.
“In what areas are you excelling, Nagakoto?” His grandfather asked. Nagakoto tried to thing of something, anything that he trained exclusively so that he could say that he was able to effectively train on his own. However, he could not come up with anything specific that he had done. “Fine, you are right grandfather. I have not been training as I should, but I feel that is because I’m not meant to be a shinobi such as you.” Nagakoto began to think about his words carefully. Although he had already started his training Nagakoto was started to believe that being a shinobi just wasn’t for him. “I think I’ll stick with being a monk. That is something that I can do.” Nagakoto admitted with a smile on his face. “Although this was something that his grandfather didn’t want to hear he was happy at the fact that Nagakoto was trying to become something other than someone who sits and reads books all day. “Are you sure that is what you want, Nagakoto? You know you have great genes, genes that many in the ninja word would love to have.” His grandfather said trying to convince him one last time.
Nagakoto nodded, “Yes grandfather. This is what I want. I’ll admit that I was unsure of what I wanted to become until the events of yesterday.” As his grandfather was listening to his words he became curious as to what actually happened to Nagakoto yesterday “What event are you talking about, Nagakoto? What happened yesterday?” Nagakoto began to explain who he destroyed a demon and sent two young spirits to the afterlife. As Nagakoto explained this event his grandfather began to see the reasoning behind his decision. “And that I why I am choosing to become a Monk instead of a Shinobi. These little girls that I sent were probably dead because of shinobi. I couldn’t live with myself if I had something to do with their deaths, whether directly or indirectly. They mentioned that it was a giant, pretty bird that burned their village and killed them. Things like that are only summons of Shinobi.” Hearing all that he had to say his grandfather couldn’t even began to argue with him. To an extent he was right. “Okay Nagakoto, I understand.” His grandfather finally accepted that this was Nagakoto’s goal and decided that he was going to support him anyway he could. “So what do you plan on doing now? I’m not much of a monk, but sure my skill in being a shinobi can help you in some way?” Nagakoto felt relieved by his grandfather’s acceptance. “I plan on doing some fire manipulation training. I want to be able to increase my mastery over the fire to were I am able to become a fire dancer among the clan.” His grandfather smiled. “Well, that is a admirable goal. I won’t train you, but I can give you a couple of tips. First I should tell you that since you are Jiin, you can manipulate flames easier than someone who is not apart of our clan. Simply sit around lit candles and focus on the fire around you.” With that his grandfather left to his room. Nagakoto did what his grandfather suggested. Back down to the dojo Nagakoto lit up over a hundred candles. Once they were all lit he sat down in front of them. “Now it is just as grandpa said. I have to concentrate on the fire around me…” Nagakoto closed his eyes as if he were meditating and began to concentrate on the flames in front of him. Manipulating flames was something that was easier said than done. Despite it all however the flames that were in front of him began to sway back and forth, showing that this was something that he had an affinity for. Nagakoto would continue this meditation/fire manipulation for a couple more hours before he finished. Upon opening his eyes Nagakoto could see that the flames remained still, but he wasn’t discouraged. He knew that elemental manipulation was not something that you could just get right the first time. He understood that there were adults out there that struggled with this type of training so he wasn’t feeling bad at all. “I suppose I should find grandpa and see if he has any other types of training ideas for me.” Nagakoto began to blow out the hundred candles that he lit up. Once they were all put out he went to go find his grandfather.
When Nagakoto found his grandfather he was meditating in his room just as Nagakoto was doing in the dojo. In front of him there were ten lit candles, significantly lower than Nagakoto’s one hundred. Nagakoto watched from the side as his grandfather raised one hand towards the flames. In with absolutely no effort the flames from the candles jumped into the palms of his hand. “Is this what it looks like when you completely master fire manipulation?” he asked himself quietly, making sure he didn’t break his grandfather’s concentration. The fires collected into a concentrated ball of fire before breaking up again and heading back on to the candles. “So how did your manipulation training go, Nagakoto?” he asked his grandson without opening his eyes. “So you knew I was here the entire time, grandpa?” His grandfather nodded. He then activated his Tengan and proceeded to extinguish all of the fires simply by looking at them. “You don’t get to my position without being a little Omnicompetent. Remember that, Nagakoto.”
Results*
HP Marker: +1
Training Cost: -3
Words: 1279
Katon Mastery: +10%
EXP: +639
Bonus EXP: +63
