Special Jounin. Kurai refused to wear the jacket that came along with it. Because of a special mission to root out a traitor, Kurai was awarded another promotion. It had to be because of the fight in the garden, but when Kurai woke up this morning he felt a lot stronger. His chakra reserves had increased dramatically from all of the Doton techniques he'd pulled off the day before. Now he figured he was ready to learn the Jutsu within the scroll that the garden caretaker had given him, but before that he needed to practice and get more of a feel for Ninjutsu.

Kurai stepped outside after a hot shower and changing into his body suit, smelling like it was fresh out of the dryer after his mother had washed it. He did several stretches, his arms, his legs and his back, before beginning a jog around the village. It was after 5 laps around that he would retreat to the gardens, to sit in the peace and quiet, to listen and feel the world around him with his inner Shinsai eye. Kurai know found that he could see roughly half of Hinowa now, and was able to gauge a person sex, height and weight. Seeing how the body moved and behaved was much easier now, and would enable him to see attacks coming to either dodge, counter or intercept.

The time in the gardens also gave him time to reflect on what his parents taught him about the art of Ninjutsu. Literally meaning "Ninja Techniques, it is a term referring to almost any technique which allows the user to do something that they otherwise would be incapable of doing, including the usage of weapons. Unlike genjutsu, which makes the opponent see illusions, the effects of ninjutsu are real. They vary greatly in purpose, with the simpler ninjutsu serving such tasks as transforming the user or allowing them to evade attacks. These techniques are often second-nature for experienced shinobi, who can use them at will. More complex ninjutsu manipulate one's surroundings or utilise the elements, respectively serving such tasks as healing others or manipulating nature transformations.
Ninjutsu, most of the time, relies on chakra and hand seals to be effective. The hands are put in sequential positions that moulds and manipulates chakra in the necessary manner to perform a technique. This is not always needed, however, and some techniques become second nature to experienced ninja, after which they can perform them at will.

Additionally, there is the kind of technique that can be classified as a basic or advanced elemental technique, the basic type are techniques with specific elements (wind, water, fire, earth, or lightning), the advanced type combine two or three of the basics elements and creates a new one. When creating a ninjutsu, the two methods of manipulating chakra are referred to as shape transformation and nature transformation. Shape transformation deals with controlling the form, movement, and potency of chakra. Nature transformation usually deals with changing the physical properties of chakra into an element. These two methods can be implemented separately or together in order to create a ninjutsu.

It is said that the Sage of the Six Paths was the first to explain the mysteries of chakra, travelling throughout the world to spread his ideas and religion, the Ninshū Literally meaning "Shinobi Sect.” The teachings were meant to give people a better understanding of themselves, as well as others, and lead the world into an era of peace. However, as time wore on, ninshū would eventually come to be known as ninjutsu, a more weaponised version of the Sage's teachings. It can be used in collaboration with taijutsu to create nintaijutsu techniques.

Kurai made sure to memorize each and every word. He replayed it over and over in his head, occasionally cupping his hands above him to unleash “Devastation,” a wind attack he learned from Spook's bag. Soon Kurai was back upon his feet and jogging again. The third time he reached the front gates to the village is when he noticed something strange going on out in the wilderness. Kurai didn't know if any of the individuals he saw had any sensory techniques, but he was left to assume that they didn't, since none of them seem to notice him yet. They were quite a distance away from the front gates though, so Kurai took the opportunity to stop jogging and sink below the surface of the Earth, swimming through the dirt in a fashion that made him resemble some sort of strange subterranean shark.

Kurai came upon the scene out on the road to Hinowa to find that one of the merchant caravans was in the process of being ransacked and robbed. The 4 guards hired to protect the caravan were dead. One of them had been decapitated. Another's throat was slit, causing him to bleed out. Another was stabbed several times in the mid-section with kunai, leading to a slow and painful death. The last one had both of his legs blown off with explosive tags. He died shortly thereafter due to shock and blood loss. The men who weren't trained in combat and ninja techniques were currently in the processes of being beat up, tortured and eventually killed. There were women in this caravan as well, and from what Kurai gathered, others had take them back to a camp somewhere out in the wilds near the edge of the great lake.

There were 5 bandits, male. All smelled of funk and under arm. 4 of them looked to be what Kurai thought to be scrubs; they each weighed about 110 pounds, meaning they were pretty young. They had mediocre Taijutsu skills, no Ninjutsu abilities, all armed with Kunai and Shuriken. Their leader was an individual dressed in a set of mismatched armor; possibly stolen from various caravans out in the wilds. He was taller than the other 4 and weighed about 200 pounds, meaning he was older. He possibly had Taijutsu skills, the smell of him told Kurai he knew Ninjutsu, and he possibly had other surprises beneath that armor. Kurai wanted to make this quick so that none of the other men who couldn't defend themselves got killed, and also so he could go and free the women from the clutches of these foul smelling bandits.

2 of the bandit's ankles were grabbed, and they were pulled underground up to their necks, rendering them unable to move or escape. Kurai popped up out of the ground as the 2 bandits began to scream like women. After a quick succession of hand signs, a clone of Kurai appeared, and both began to make quick work of the remaining 2 scrubs. They managed to fight back and land hits on Kurai, mostly because he'd let them, and like many before them, they had the very same reaction they did: flailing their legs and arms in pain. One of the bandits was sent flying up into a tree after a “You're Too Close” punch combination. The other was the sudden victim to the “Mossberg 500 Kick;” an attack in which the user basically throws themselves at an opponent at a rapid speed with their foot out. Connecting the attack created devastating results, and always threw the opponent off of their feet and backwards quite a distance.

The actual Kurai sent the clone out into the wilds, to go and find the bandit camp, before turning to face their armored leader, who inhaled and spit a large jet of water in Kurai's direction. Kurai managed to avoid the jet, seeing that it easily tore a large groove in the ground. Should something that have hit another person, Kurai was sure that they wouldn't be standing, or even still in one piece. Other attacks came, punches and kicks. The man was fast, but all of that armor slowed him down. Kurai began to strike back everytime he missed an attack. A kick to the back of his legs for every missed kick. A punch with rock coated hands to the chest and head. The armor began to dent and bend behind the impact of Kurai's blows. When it was obvious the head bandit could no longer fight back, Kurai raised up a big thick wall of dirt from below and kicked it, causing it to tip over and fall on top of the man. The wall landed on him with a great tremble of the ground. Kurai didn't know if the man was still alive underneath, nor did he care. The captives thanked Kurai for freeing them and begged him to save their women. Kurai nodded and began to usher them down the road toward Hinowa.

The clone out in the wild located the lair of the bandits, then dispersed. This information was instantly transmitted back to Kurai, who began heading in that direction. The bandit lair was located inside of a cleverly concealed cave. It would be the perfect death trap to seal them inside and finish them off, but first he had to get the women out. Infiltrating the cave underground was a very easy task. The bandits had the women, 8 of them, locked up in the very back of the caves, which looked to be a long lost fort sunken underground, possibly belonging to Korigakure before it's destruction. The women began to yelp when Kurai poked his head out of the dirt, but Kurai quickly raised a finger to his lips. One of the bandits yelled “SHADDAP IN THEA” before continuing on with whatever it was he was doing. From what Kurai was able to gather, the remaining bandits were waiting on the return of their leader before the real fun started. Kurai pulled himself the rest of the way from the hole in the ground and quietly bent open the bars to the cage, seeing as they were rusty and ancient. One by one, Kurai took the women with him up through the earth and to the surface, where they'd begin running toward Hinowa.

When the 8th woman was safely away, Kurai was free to deal with the bandits however he saw fit. The first thing he did was seal up all of the exits, trapping them inside. The second thing he did was extinguish all torches, drowning the cavern complex in complete darkness. Some of the men began to scream. There were sounds of flesh and bone being crushed in the darkness. There were the sounds of someone having the life beat out of them. When it was over, no one was screaming; all was silent. Kurai collapsed the cave upon itself before leaving. He was sure no one else would ever come across this place, and the individuals inside would be forever forgotten.

Ninjutsu Training Word Count (B-A): 1,794/1,500