The Brewing Storm [Specialty Flashback]

Rays of sunlight peaked through the mist, barely rising over the Eastern horizon nestled between two of the three mountains that flanked Kirigakure's Training Grounds. Already, the sounds of training echoed through the valley, even through the thick mist one could make out a figure alone, their movements smooth but unpredictable, nearly a dance in the mist--but every movement could surprise anyone attempting to predict the next. Eight spikes of bone protruded from the small figures form, a defensive and offensive style, anyone versed in the various dances of the Kaguya would recognize this...Dance of the Willow. The young woman, Haruko, would practice this dance from before sun had risen, until it shined above the horizon. It took her the better part of half a year to learn, but she now seemed very confident in her technique. She'd land on one foot, just on the toes, arms stretched outward with the blades protruding from her palms extended, before rolling onto the flat of her foot and placing her other foot down. Long pure white locks fell over her face as her head hung, eyes shut...they had been most the time she practiced. She'd lean her head back and let her hair fall back over her shoulders, eyelids rising to reveal icy blue hues, the depth and distance in these oceans of ice spoke of a woman who'd seen the world's horrors first hand.

She'd take in a deep breath and absorb the constructs of bone--pierced and cracked with Yuki ice, the sound of bones creaking and grinding as they was withdrawn back into her body burning the young woman's ears...but it was a sound she'd grown very accustomed too. Her eyes fell to the ground for a moment, half lidded...she'd lost track of time during her training. She'd be going over some things on her mind for a moment before something on the ground caught her eye. "...Is that?" her voice was soft, but clear. She wasn't the timid broken arrow who'd arrived back in Kiri before. She'd knell down and reach to the ground, brushing aside some dirt to reveal a small piece of bone half wedged into the ground from being stepped on. She'd pluck it from the earth below and look at it closer...it was the failed bone bullet she'd tried to fire back when she first met her Aunt, and former Sensei, Rei. A silent sigh passed through her nose as she stood up to her full height...only 5', and stared at it a moment.

Icy hues closed and she'd toss it over her shoulder, taking in a breath before shaping her hand into what could be best described as a 'finger gun', opening her eyes and taking aim at a tree. She hesitated...voices in her mind, hers and Akeruseirei's played back. 'Are you able to show me more of the clan's abilities?' 'That depends what you don't already know'...her brow narrowed and in a moment, she'd form a bullet of bone, and it'd fire out, striking the tree with a thud. She'd let her hand fall back to her side, looking at the tree with a distant gaze.

[200/200. Learned Dance of the Willow]
[200/200. Learned Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets]

They say the morning bird catches the worm. But what about the morning fish? Do fish normally eat works, or do worms just look enough like normal pray that a fish is willing to chow down on it?

Well, those questions do not really matter. Morning makes a decent time for fishing. If you are willing to put in the effort, that is. Not great for hook and tackle or bait fishing, sure.

But for a Hozuki? Lots of fish species were still in their weird not-really-sleep state early in the morning. If you were going for large scale fishing jobs, you'd still wait.

But wanting to grab one or two? That was something you could just do more or less whenever, and lethargic fish were easier to catch.

So that is what was happening this morning. Fully liquefied, Ryosei was little more than a blob of chakra in the ocean, roaming around, looking for some tasty fish.

Upon spotting one, it was very easy to flow towards it and solidify a hand around the small form. Well. not a hand, but two. And while this was not a particularly big fish, it was certainly not a small one. Two hands were needed to get a decent grip on the thing, and Ryosei would head to the surface with it. Once above the water line, one hand would turn into a blob of water as the rest of Ryosei's body returned to normal, allowing a brisk swim back to shore.

The glorious thing about being a Hozuki was, if your clothes were soaked, you could just... liquefy a bit and then solidify back and nobody would ever know.

Walking up to land, the little fish would be swimming in its little water bubble, and a cracking sound would resonate through the morning mist. Turning to look towards the sound, Ryosei would notice someone standing there. This was the training grounds, after all. It made sense that people were around. Ryosei could not, however, make out many details about the person, except that they seemed to be facing a different direction. "Hello there!" Ryosei would call out, a hand passing through the area that use to house long hair. Instead the strands atop Ryosei's head were now closer to a long buzz cut on the top, left, and back, and barely stubbly on the right. A more war-appropriate hair style, while still offering an amount of expression that Ryosei was happy with.

[150/150] Drowning Water Blob Technique (Hozuki clan technique)

Hues of ice kept a distant gaze towards the tree she'd just 'shot' with a bullet of bone, effectively a mirror image of her aunt and former sensei when she done so. But her ears burned, Haruko's eyes quickly shifting to the side, and her looking over her shoulder towards the source of the 'hello' that'd been called out. Haruko would turn fully to face the person, through the mist details was hard to make out--but the bubble of water the figure in the distance had control over was noticable. Being rather familiar with Hozuki techniques, Haruko knew what she was looking at. Her head would raise slightly with interest, although her eyes didn't show it--half lidded, and as if looking through the figure in the distance rather than being focused on them.

The young woman took in a breath through her lips, letting it out as a quiet sigh through her nose before she'd raise up her hand, casting a simple, single swiping motion as a wave, with only her thumb--pointer finger--and index finger extended, ring and pinkie fingers half curled. Her hand dropped back to her side, Haruko taking a number of steps towards the person. Getting a bit closer let her see it was someone roughly her age, and she would be able to confirm her thoughts on if it was a Hozuki upon seeing part of their form shaped and shifted into a bubble of water. Once in reasonable speaking distance, she'd address Ryosei.

"I spent enough time around my cousin and the Hozuki district to recognize Drowning Water Blob...interesting way to keep a captured fish alive." she'd say, voice soft, but clear and confident. "Don't think I ever saw you around there before though. I'm Haruko, and you are?" she'd go on to introduce herself, while requesting a name from the....Boy? Girl? Them. She'd ask them for their name.

"You tend to pick up weird tricks when your parents preferred fish to front lines," Ryosei said to the first statement out of the mysterious woman. And to the next statement, the response would be as such: "Nice to meet you, Haruko. Name's Ryosei, though everyone's taken to calling my Ryo recently." A light chuckle escaped slightly open lips.

"I WAS going to cook up this fish, but that was before I realized the mist was this thick going inland. Now I think I'm better off just releasing it and figuring out something else for breakfast. Unless, perhaps, this is a jutsu? Doesn't seem quite thick enough, but I've not seen someone set up a mist in awhile."

Ryosei shrugged. Unless stopped by something or another, Ryosei's arm that currently held the fish will grow a significant amount, with the hand now grasping the fish rather than a bubble of water. With a quick turn, Ryosei was aimed at the water. Those watching (which was probably only one person) would see the gigantic arm bend backwards, and then quickly (but not insanely quickly, Ryosei's speed is pretty low for a ninja after all) push forwards, tossing the fish back to the water.

"Don't worry, it will be fine. Probably."

[200/200] Water Release: Great Water Arm Technique Trained