Saya Jikodo - Training Journal

Saya yawned. She still hadn't caught up on sleep after the last mission. A long trek, followed shortly after by an longer battle.

"What a pain..." She found herself murmuring as she staggered out of the main village gates into the nearby oasis. The upcoming mission was a C-rank, as well. The description of it was vague, but if it was anything like the last, it would be both exhausting and an experience she'd scarcely be ready for.

On the plus side, it sounded as if this mission didn't require a disguise. Saya disliked it. The notion of having to hide the clan she was part of, and even worse, associating her clan with some boorish ruffains as that bandit clan they were wearing the guise of. For this mission, she was going to show her clan off proudly. Perhaps she'd even take that gourd with her. She hated the idea of it being damaged so much, but if it stayed in her room all day, nobody else could appreciate the fine craft.

The oasis was conveniently quiet for her practicing. The only Doton jutsu she had managed to learn so far was a weak little tremor from a scroll she had borrowed from the Jikodo Compound, and it became clear that in a proper life-or-death battle, something as feeble as that wasn't going to do. She'd have to reach a bit higher, this time. It was fine to try a bit more, she'd just have to adjust her sleeping schedule for the extra work accordingly.

Unrolling the scroll upon the sand in front of her, she squatted down, giving it a read over. Its source came from the last place too, so it wasn't surprising that it'd be similar. The teenager practiced the seals once, twice and several more times following until the sequence was burned into her mind. While her Taijutsu and Genjutsu skills were always pathetic, she found she had a decent memory for seals. It only took repetition. Repetition repetition repetition.

Feeling herself ready for the actual tiring part, she repeated those seals once more, this time bringing in the chakra to play too, molding it like clay. Appropriate enough, considering her choice of Jutsu. With the final seal formed, she transferred the chakra she had molded straight down to her left foot. To deliver it to its intended target was a simple affair. All it took was a stomp of that foot to the ground, sending the energy downward. A kinetic transfer.

The chakra was pushed downward violently as she stomped, leaving a heavy footprint in the sand. For a moment, it was quiet, and she found herself wondering if she was going to have to spend even more tiring moments looking into where she had gone wrong.

A distant rumbling cleared up those doubts swiftly, however. The sand parted in twain and the nearby trees shook, the arid landscape disturbed in a loud way. One more shake and the earthquake had reached a crescendo, the ground quivering as earthen energy burst forth like a geyser, the Doton causing enough of an earthquake that whoever would have been standing there would have had an unfortunate surprise. They'd also likely be missing a toe or two, as well.

Saya smiled, relief washing over her, her gaze drifting upward to the bright, blue sky. The oasis looked so comfortable, so welcoming. "I'll close my eyes, just for a moment or two... The Jikodo sat down upon a sand dune, watching the water ripple in the nearby oasis. And then her vision went dark.

"Nnnh... how long was I out for..?" Saya's eyes opened, finding herself still in the oasis. The sun was still shining as brightly as ever, too. It was just as well the Jikodo always had her own form of sun screen in the layer of sand she wore, or she'd have been a permanent victim of sunburn with her sleeping tendencies.

"That last Jutsu must have taken more out of me than I thought..." Saya knew she couldn't relax yet, however. Tomorrow was her first mission in an official three-man cell. While it wasn't her own official squad, with the company she was beginning to keep now, it began to feel like it either way.

The blonde-haired woman pulled herself up to stand, shaking the sand from her hair. Lifting both hands, she concentrated upon that sand which surrounded her, beckoning it upward. While she hadn't invested into manipulating it until a later age (or really even invested into doing anything until then), she found it came naturally to her. Sand was malleable, easy to control, to shape, to manipulate. In a sense, it was like an extension of her body; thousands of grains at her every beck and call.

This was one such instance where she had cause to call upon it. While she had no instructions to follow, the steps came to the forefront of her mind naturally, almost as if by instinct. The sand followed her command, beginning to lift upward. This time, however, it wasn't around her - it was below her. Below her feet. It lifted up, forming a small platform and carrying Saya with it, causing her to levitate from the ground, using the sand as her own personal stepping stone.

Saya simply hadn't the kind of lifestyle to keep up with her more stronger or quicker peers. Some might have described her as spoiled, but in a sense, she was more ignored. She could barely aim straight with a kunai and the less said about her martial arts, the better. Still, at the end of the day, it didn't really matter to her. The young Jikodo already had everything she needed.

She floated away from the oasis, hands wandering down to slip into her pockets as she yawned widely, watching the yellow sand become more and more distant. Saya found herself grinning, recalling some recent words.

"Heheh. Noodle-arms."

The Jikodo found herself with an unusual sense of clarity today. Perhaps it was just the fact she slept both longer and deeper than usual the night before, but Saya wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. She hadn't ever known where exactly she would fit in as a kunoichi, but given the only discipline where she excelled a minute amount was Ninjutsu, that's simply where she ended up drifting.

It felt natural, though. The very first time she sparred with what had eventually become her squad, even if not officially, she had fit neatly into the role of a wall. A guardian. Just as Sunagakure's own walls protected those inside from the dangers of the desert reaching out beyond, so did her sand form the bulwark of her team, ensuring her less defensively-minded companions would come to no harm. She hadn't the precision or outright deadliness as the Kenjutsu user, nor the destructive, cleansing powers of the fire-user, but she was content to be on the backlines while her sand danced upon the front, turning aside blade and chakra alike.

Once the young woman realised where her role fit best in a team, the path laying ahead became much clearer in kind... As did the kind of scroll she should 'borrow' from the Jikodo compound that day.

Moving out to her typical haunt of the oasis, she found it tranquil as ever. The sun had long set, bright twinkles of stars shining above in the black sky. It was a bitterly cold desert night, but her sand-clad form was useful for keeping herself warm or cool whenever the situation demanded. It gave her wardrobe a great diversity without having to consider the day's weather, too.

With a dull thud, she tossed the opened scroll onto the dusty ground below, squatting down to read over its contents. Saya wanted to try something more complex, this time. While she managed to educate herself on a formidable amount of choices since achieving the rank of Genin, none of it was especially complicated. The notion of the extra effort a C rank would require didn't exactly thrill her, but she figured she would take advantage of her lucidity while it lasted.

Straightening herself back up to stand, Saya looked upon the sandy dunes around her, the dim light casting them in hue of blue. She could appreciate the duller hues as well as the vibrant, at least when it came to fine art. At this moment, this would be her art. The sand her paint, desert her canvas.

A raising of both hands caused the ground around her to stir. Awakening the sand from its dormancy with a beckoning of her fingers, it rose to her command, hundreds of grains swirling around her like her own personal fog. With a sudden focusing of her mind and a more forceful gesturing of a hand, the sand rushed in toward her, engulfing her form until where she stood was the peculiar sight of a perfect sphere, as large as a man, consisting entirely of the arid dust which covered the Wind Country. To some, the idea of being overwhelmed might seem distressing, like being suffocated by quicksand. But to Saya, it was comforting. She sat down in her protective shield, her eyes staring upward, pupils straining to adjust to the lack of light.

Another protective Jutsu for her to master... Until none could threaten her village, or her companions.

"Never again..."