Of Bugs and Puppets

Kiyoshi would awaken in the early morning, taking his time getting ready to start the day. It was only five in the morning, which was the usual time he woke up, but today he was not in a rush like he would normally have been. It was normally a rush for him to go craft or work on his puppets, but today he was taking the day off. A day of relaxing was just what he needed, once he was done getting ready, he would step into his Mobility Suit and head out the door. He spent most days inside working in his workshop, and with the exception of going to the market or the missions with his team he did not get out of that workshop very often. He was told he should try to get out more, and so he decided to take this opportunity to make the time as such. Kiyoshi's mind would wander to thoughts about the puppet he was still working on, Goliath. It was turning out more complicated than he originally thought, and its creation has been dragged out. It was one of the reasons he thought taking a break from his craft might be for the benefit of his creations, the fresh air doing him good both metaphorically and literally.

Kiyoshi would arrive at the Grand Konoha Training Facility around noon, having taken a long stroll along the way not even bothering to unseal his Zip-Board from his ring as he wanted to enjoy the walk. While the outdoors was relaxing, there was nothing more relaxing to Kiyoshi than a puppet show, even if it was a private show without an actual audience. It was good practice for him and while Goliath was still a work in progress, his other five puppets were more than capable of putting on a show. Moving into the facility and getting a room near the top of the building, he didn't request it as a private room as he didn't really expect anyone else to choose the same room. Once there he would unseal his twin wolf puppets as well as Bumi, Knives, and Mini-Mi, his troublesome trio. With his five puppets unsealed he would connect his chakra strings to them as well, with all five of them and his puppet armor the puppets would move slower than his normal with just three and his puppet armor, but a hundred and seventy-five meters per second was still faster than he could ever hope to move. He would begin moving his puppets around in a sort of mixture of a play and dance with his puppets, not really doing anything specific, more just having fun with them as he did before he had set his goal to becoming the best puppeteer in the world. When it was less about fighting to prove how good the puppets were and more about just making them move and dance, of course back then he did not have the same puppets. They were more like mannequins with no real function beyond the teaching of movements to a puppeteer, now his puppets were much more sophisticated and complicated in their design.

---

185 Chakra
-5 Unsealing Technique (1x5)
-3 Chakra Strings Technique
177 Chakra

Puppets Speed/Coordination = S

Anzo waves his way past the receptionist for the facility, who tries to warn him that somebody else is actually using his typical training floor that day; the Aburame essentially tunes her out, as he's used to the receptionist saying hello or how are you or any of the usual greetings one can expect from such a person. Instead, he moves on up to his usual floor in the Grand Konoha Training Facility, only to find someone else already there. With his arms full of various scrolls for training jutsu, he stops where he is and realizes there are at least six silhouettes there in the training floor, three very small ones, one man-sized silhouette, and two four-legged silhouettes. Anzo puts down the scrolls he was carrying and calls out to the strangers, not sure of what to make of this odd menagerie of beings and creatures utilizing his usual training floor, although he'd never thought of taking one that was private before. He then reaches over to the wall nearby and slowly turns up the brightness of the overhead lights to actually see the ninja surrounded by what he can now clearly see are puppets.

Anzo had heard of the puppetry techniques before, and although it had intrigued him, the genin had ultimately decided that it wasn't entirely worth learning to use those specific fighting styles, especially with all the technical knowledge required to build such strange things. Now that he saw that a puppeteer could practically overwhelm an opponent with the sheer number of puppets, Anzo begins to see the value in puppetry's method of combat. But he has a new idea that he's just come up with; the problem will be in suggesting this new idea to this stranger. He thinks back to when he'd seen Nikola's own terrarium that held more insects for him, and he wonders if perhaps this ninja with such technical knowledge might be able to help him figure out how to do so. Or even construct one for him. After all, Anzo had little use for the money he had been earning over the course of the missions he'd been on and his salary as a Konoha genin, and a terrarium to increase how many insects he can travel with would certainly be useful. In any case, he's been standing and staring for what is probably a socially inappropriate amount of time without actually introducing himself.

"Ahem. Sorry! You caught me off guard there. I'm Anzo Aburame. Who might you be?"

As Anzo speaks, he pushes his gold-lensed glasses back up onto the bridge of his nose, his similarly yellow spiky hair standing tall when he's already at a height of 6'5". Almost the entirety of his body is hidden in the long red coat that covers from his ankles all the way up to the tip of his nose, in the typical Aburame style. His black leather boots are somewhat muted in color, maybe even matted for that purpose. Though his height is intimidating, his words and his tone are much more genial, a rare thing for the normally very cold Aburame clan.

Kiyoshi would realize that he wasn't alone as the lights in the room brightened, his five puppets falling limp, still connected with his chakra strings but now idle as if they were disconnected. His eye's travelling to the doorway to see who it was that had joined him, met with the sight of a man he had not seen before. The man nearly a foot taller than Kiyoshi with a large red trench coat on him, a look that reminded him of Nikola with how it covered most of the man's entire body. Had it not been for the man's blonde hair, Kiyoshi might have assumed the two were related, considering their similar height and choice of clothing. Kiyoshi would study the man as the man seemed to stand there staring before finally speaking, it seemed that he was somehow related to Nikola. Whether they were cousins or what did not really matter, but Kiyoshi would nearly kick himself for doubting his original thought of them being related. The fact that the man said that he caught him off guard was rather amusing to Kiyoshi considering he was the one that was there, and the man walked in on him and not the other way around.

"The name's Kiyoshi, sorry for catching you off guard. I was just getting some practice in," he would reply his voice unchanged from his typical friendly tone. He wondered if this Anzo was anything like his teammate Nikola, or if they knew each other. He considered asking the man if he knew him, but decided that it might come off rude. Just because they were from the same clan did not mean that they knew each other or that they were the same or anything like that. Still, the thought would run through his mind, instead though Kiyoshi would choose instead to ask a question that would be far less rude then the one he had been thinking about. "What brings you here?" Of course it was only after he asked the question that his brain shifted from the thought of if the man knew Nikola, to the fact that he himself was an idiot. It was obvious that the other man had come to the training facility to train just as he had, but the question was out there and there was no taking it back so he would just wait for a reply from the other man.

---

Analyzing Anzo (1/5)

Chakra: 177
-0.5 chakra strings
176.5

Anzo's sunglasses flash as Kiyoshi introduces himself, and without a clan name. That possibly meant that he was either from some very low level clan, or simply not from any clan at all. The only reason Anzo comes to this conclusion is the fact that he introduced himself using his clan name as well, while Kiyoshi did not; the seeming difference in information transfer was, in fact, not a difference at all, but an even trade. He'd told Kiyoshi that he was part of a clan, Kiyoshi had confided that he was not. Thankfully, Anzo was the type to not hold one's lack of a clan against them, and in fact, he might have felt at least a little happy. At least Kiyoshi wasn't one of the Hyuuga or Uchiha, who put so much stock in their clan, even above everyone else's.

"Ah, I'm here to do some training myself."

Here he gestures to the scrolls he'd left on the ground of the training floor, apparently not even thinking any less of Kiyoshi for the obvious question, but simply answering it as though the question were completely normal. The response that he was getting some practice in had also piqued Anzo's interest, as he'd rarely been able to do much training with others since the last time he'd seen Nikola. He might as well do some training with someone else for once, although he figured he should probably go a little easier than he had in his training with Nikola.

"We could easily practice together. I haven't had any training partners since the last time I trained with Nikola Aburame..."

The thought of Nikola also brought up another thought, and he figured he might as well express such an idea now...

"Actually, speaking of Nikola, he had this object on his back he called a terrarium, and he used it to hold even more Kikaichu... I know you make puppets, but do you think you'd be able to build something similar to that? After we've done some practice with one another, I mean."

Though his face was hidden, the excitement in Anzo's voice was definitely perceptible, even if it was a fairly minor change in the speed of his words falling from his mouth.

Kiyoshi simply nodded as the man replied with the obvious answer to the question he had asked, pointing to scrolls that he had brought with him, something Kiyoshi had not noticed before because his attention had been on the other man himself. The offer to practice together did sound interesting, but the other man's mention of his last training partner was more interesting to Kiyoshi. Considering his last sparring partner was also Nikola, Kiyoshi weighed the odds of whether or not this was coincidence or not. Of course, he had been wanting a rematch considering Nikola called it short and he did not have enough time to fully analyzing the Aburame's fighting abilities. Kiyoshi considered the fact that since both men were Aburame it stood to reason that their fighting was likely similar if not the same so perhaps he could learn something from observing this man that would serve him in a fight later against other Aburame as he had attempted to learn from Nikola. There was one thing that he knew he needed that he didn't currently have and that was a puppet with a flamethrower, silently cursing himself for hauling Goliath's postponement as that puppet could serve most of his needs on his own. The other man had quickly followed up his suggestion of practicing together with a question about Kiyoshi making himself something, and while Kiyoshi had been lost in his own train of thought about the potential learning experience he could gain from their potential spar and remained silent to the man's question, it was heard. After about a full minute of what might appear to be mental contemplation of the man's question, Kiyoshi would let out a nervous chuckle and lift his right hand behind his head scratching it as he laughed. "Yes well, I know Nikola and the item you are referring too. Unfortunately, I have as of yet been able to study the device to see how it operates, though I suppose it would not be too hard to recreate such an item. I would need to understand more about these Kikaichu and how they work to be able to give a full appraisal of course, and then there is the matter of finding the proper materials to compensate in an artificial capacity that the terrarium can sustain them. It really is a fascinating concept now that I think about it, and I do wish I had an original or even some kind of blueprint to work with that could provide such, but I suppose I can do it from scratch it will just take longer. If you don't mind waiting that is." Kiyoshi's excitement of creating something such as the terrarium would be obvious in the tone of his voice, and the fact that he seemingly forgot about the mention of the spar. He did not really in fact forget about the mention of the spar, however when it comes to Kiyoshi crafting always took the spotlight and shined the brightest in his mind.

---

Analyzing Anzo (2/5)

Chakra: 176.5
-0.5 chakra strings
176

Anzo lets Kiyoshi stay seemingly lost in thought for a long moment; although the Aburame was aware that such a silence, especially as it becomes prolonged, only becomes more awkward, he also doesn't want to interrupt the other ninja's thoughts by speaking up. When Kiyoshi does actually state that he'd have to learn more about the Aburame clan and the Kikaichu in general, Anzo visibly freezes for a moment, his body tense at the thought of even the possibility of having to give up some of the Aburame clan's secrets to get a terrarium made by this ninja that was clearly an expert in craftsmanship, just judging by the puppets he already has. At this point, it sounds like they might be at an impasse, although Kiyoshi suggests that he could still make it, but that it would take a bit longer without a blueprint or some level of research to find out how the Kikaichu worked. Anzo crosses his arms in front of him, seeming a little bit apprehensive as well as impatient with the consideration of his options. Finally, he gives in; several members of the Aburame clan had terrariums of their own, true, and Nikola wasn't the first to make his own, but the knowledge was becoming something of a lost art, and as much as the Aburame clan disliked divulging information about their Kikaichu, this might not be so secret that he can't tell a member of Konoha's ninja forces.

"Very well, I actually have a blueprint on me; I'd been hoping to go down to the market with a shopping list of the materials to make one myself and likely fail at it. You probably have the skills to actually make it without wasting the material."

As he speaks, Anzo pulls one scroll out of the pile he'd left on the floor, this one made not from paper, but papyrus, like the skin of some animal dried and salted and boiled until it had become heavily resistant to any wear and tear. He walks closer to Kiyoshi, extending the scroll out towards him for the other Genin to take, while simultaneously ensuring that his right arm is free of any bugs before he offers it over; it would have been quite rude to freak out a stranger like that.

"Of course, I'm able and perfectly willing to finance the production of at least this one terrarium! With any luck, I'll be able to make use of it soon."

After handing it over, he steps back until they're about 10 meters apart from one another, a very comfortable distance as Anzo figures he's far enough away that he might not seem to threaten the other Genin, and he decides to at least practice one technique he'd been planning on training anyways by making three quick handseals and then slamming his palms on the earth to pull a trench knife from the earth in his right hand, spinning it about on one finger like a show-off.

OOC: 150/150 Doton: Rock Tool Creation Technique

Providing Kiyoshi with the blueprint for the Aburame Kikaichu Gourd for crafting.

Kiyoshi was impressed to say the least that the man just so happened to have the blueprints of the device he was wishing to commission from him, it was rather fortuitous that the man had them at the ready no less and was willing to show him them. Kiyoshi would look the blueprints over quietly studying it for a few moments, "yes, yes. This will work quite nicely." Kiyoshi would finally mutter out as Anzo created a knife out of the earth, reminding Kiyoshi about the potential spar. "I can get the materials pretty easily, and it should not take too long for me to make. The Cost would not be too high, maybe 50k" Kiyoshi would leave time for the other man to respond to the mention of the price before continuing, the price was of course negotiable but it would be a starting point at the very least. "As far as Training together, I have been known to overwhelm a single opponent. Especially with all of my puppets, but if you think you are up for it then I guess we could give it a try. It is completely up to you in that regard, if you prefer, I could just use 1 puppet against you but even then it can be rather overwhelming." Kiyoshi would reply, his strings still subtly attached to all of his puppets. Even if Anzo chose to face only one puppet, he would keep the others attached just in case as he wasn't one for taking chances. After all he had only seen a small glimpse of Nikola's abilities, but he did not see him perform any earth techniques like this man was, so there was no telling what Anzo was capable of.

---

Analyzing Anzo (3/5)

Chakra: 176
-0.5 chakra strings
175.5

Anzo is a bit surprised at the naming of just 50K ryo for the price, but he's careful not to show such emotion on his face. He supposed it would be normal to haggle on the price, but he knew that Senju wood was expensive and also likely necessary, since the Kikaichu required feeding on chakra in order to live and reproduce. So Anzo decides that haggling over the price would only make it take longer to get the terrarium he'd like, and that it's better to simply accept the price quoted to him by Kiyoshi.

"Very well. 50k is a reasonable price for something made with such materials and for such a purpose."

Kiyoshi also seems to recognize that sparring with an opponent with 5 puppets might be too easy for him to do and Anzo might not get enough training in from the spar to do much if that was the case. It feels a bit bad to have that suggestion be made, and Anzo makes a mental note for himself to get stronger soon and then challenge the other man again when he's had a lot more training. For now, he does think going one-on-one, or rather one-on-two with a puppeteer might be challenging enough for himself.

"Sure, I'd probably be a lot more closely matched with a single puppet rather than an entire gang. Let's begin!"

While speaking with Kiyoshi, Anzo had been continuing to twirl the trench knife made of stone, all while having his Kikaichu travel along his sleeves to completely cover his arms before suddenly gripping the trench knife so that the back of its short blade could be braced by his thumb like he'd seen in the movies; granted, Anzo didn't have much skill with such a weapon, but it was mostly meant to be a distraction anyways, and so when Anzo throws the trench knife in Kiyoshi's direction, the blade's trajectory is a bit weak, but the much faster flying Kikaichu can use the speed of his arm swing to launch themselves directly at Kiyoshi's face, aiming to get in his way and make it harder for him to react before Anzo begins making handseals instead, preparing for his next technique.

OOC: 250/250 Secret Technique: Bug Blinding

Insects used: 900 - 100 (Bug Blinding) = 800 + 50 passive Regen = 850

Jutsu used:

Kiyoshi was mildly surprised at the fact that the other man did not even attempt to barter the price, accepting the initial offer of fifty thousand ryo for the work. This would temporarily make Kiyoshi wonder if he had been too generous with the price, perhaps he should have made the price higher. It was still a new experience for him, exchanging money for his services, he was so use to simply making things for himself or giving things away that he did not consider the thought of payment. Still, this would be a lesson learned on his part, and he would make sure not to offer such a low price in the future.

From the moment Kiyoshi witness Anzo make the blade out of earth, he ensured that he was watching it. Kiyoshi would react fast as he saw the man's arm move to throw the trench knife and bugs at him, the blueprint of the groud would fall from his hands as his current free hand that wasn't attached to a puppet would reach out towards a tree that was just under thirty meters away from him. His chakra reaching out to the tree as he used it to pull himself out of the way for both the bugs and the knife before they could reach him. This would happen in a fraction of a second thanks to his coordination, moving from where he was, to next to the tree at 100 meters per second. In the same instants with his hand that was attached to his puppets, he would twitch a single finger one of his wolf puppets would turn into a metal sphere before spinning out from where it was towards the man at S-Rank speed, a much faster rate than what Kiyoshi had moved towards the tree. The Puppet moving at 175 meters per second would close the distance between where it was and Anzo before the other man would know what hit him. Even to Kiyoshi the puppet's movements was little more than a flash or a blur, as the puppet would reach Anzo before Kiyoshi would reach the tree hitting him with B++ Strength at S Speed, it was sure to leave a mark if not knock the man unconscious if it were to hit. Kiyoshi looking back towards the other man as his finger would twitch once more, "well that wasn't very nice." Kiyoshi would state as the spinning ball that was his wolf puppet would move beside him, "no one even said start. You can't start a fight without saying start, geez what do they teach you in those clans of yours."

---

Analyzing Anzo (4/5)

Chakra: 175.5
Chakra strings -0.5
Swinging Thread: -3
Remaining: 172

Tech:

Puppet:

Anzo seems to just completely lose track of where Kiyoshi actually is after he reaches out with one hand in some random directly, and he instinctively commands most of his remaining bugs to cover his body; luckily, with them already coating his arms, it's a quick thing for them to cover the rest of his torso as well. This is why, even though he can't even see the wolf after it changes itself into some kind of reflective sphere and seems to teleport from view, Anzo feels at least a little safe, right up until he's blindsided fast enough to knock those yellow-lensed glasses off of his own face, launching him away to the side and crushing a few of his Kikaichu from the strike in the process, with their bodies absorbing at least some of the force of that strike. Still, it leaves Anzo with the breath knocked out of him and his body completely horizontal on the earthen floor of the training ground, and he struggles to just sit up as the pain of such a harsh, quick strike leaves him somewhat dizzy.

"Goodness... gracious! You... urp... you really don't... oh god, pull any punches... huh?"

After taking several moments to get his breath back before slowly getting back up, still coughing a bit from the force of the strike, though he could feel himself recovering slightly already, and he dusts off his jacket in a somewhat delicate manner, as though making sure he hasn't broken any bones before he looks at the strange wolf-or-sphere puppet that had just crashed into his body, which had been covered in insects just quickly enough for the strike on his arm to not completely break the bones in his limb. He even takes a moment to pick up his sunglasses, though one of the lenses is out now, and he pushes them up on his face once more before clearing his throat, then lifting his other arm up to rub the back of his head.

"And anyways, I said 'let's begin', didn't I? That's the same as saying 'start'... You also blind-sided me out of nowhere, so that was rude, too."

Anzo slowly pulls his sunglasses off of his face again, frowning as he sees that one of the lenses has been popped out, but he still wipes the other remaining lens on his red jacket, cleaning it carefully before finding the other yellow lens and popping it back into place. He'd ended up not being able to make use of his handseals, but he figured he might as well give up on doing any further training. He limps over to the scrolls he'd left near the entrance, picking them up into his arms one by one before slipping back out of the training facility.

OOC: No jutsu trained

Jutsu used:

CP: 110 -3 (rock tool creation technique) -10 (Bug Blinding) -10 (Insect Armor Technique) = 87 CP Remaining

Bug Totals: 850 -600 (Insect Armor Technique) -50 (took a strike) +50 (Passive Kikaichu Regen) = 250 Remaining Kikaichu

Stats:
Strength: E
Constitution: D (C from Insect Armor Technique)
Stamina: C
Speed: D
Coordination: C
Intelligence: B
Perception: D

ATTEMPTED THREAD EXIT

Kiyoshi would lightly chuckle to himself at the man's remark to his reaction of the man attempting to attack him, he had no way of knowing the man's abilities nor that he needed to pull his punches as the man called it. Kiyoshi would wait for the man to pick himself up, interested to see what the man could do even if he seemed to be taking his time about it. The other man would finally speak again, saying that him saying let's begin was the same as start, before saying Kiyoshi blindsiding him was rude. This of course made no sense to him, as it wasn't his fault that the man couldn't keep up with his puppet, and it wouldn't have happened at all if the man had not attempted to attack him first. Kiyoshi just couldn't understand how his reaction to defend himself was rude, leaving him in dumbstruck silence as the man limp to collect his things. As Kiyoshi saw the other man bend down to collect his scrolls, his mind would flash back to when he had dodged the man's attack and the fact that he had let go of the blueprint. Kiyoshi would move over to where he had been before, scooping the blueprint up turning to Anzo as the other man moved to leave the training facility.

"So I guess that's it for training?" Kiyoshi would ask puzzled with the fact that it was over before it even started, "well, see you later. I should be able to have this ready in a day or two if you still want me to make it that is." Kiyoshi would add as he waved the blueprint over his head. He was unsure why his fights always seemed to end so quickly, as this wasn't the first time that him training with someone ended so abruptly. Maybe it was him, maybe he was not meant to train with others, and it was better for him to train on his own instead. At least if he trained on his own, he would not have to worry about someone getting hurt in the process or anything else. It would just be him and his puppets, the way it was meant to be. After Anzo left, Kiyoshi would continue his own training with his puppets for several more hours before finally calling it a day. To say his training was a disappointment would be an understatement, but at least he had a new project to work on at the very least.

{Exit Thread}