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It was exactly as it sounded--if Jiro was unable to make the next snow storm swallow explode properly just as it should, then Axcel would have dismissed him as someone who was incapable to make use of his kekkei genkai. Fortunately, such was not the case. When Jiro had one of the birds break away from it’s ‘pact’, Axcel’s eyes followed it’s every movement, awaiting the inevitable explosion. With but a simple pulse of the boy’s chakra, it exploded. It was still lacking a bit, but it was more than enough to move onto the next step--creating the shards of ice.

Now, Axcel had just mentioned he expected the kid’s ice to explode into shards capable of skewering a target but he hardly expected him to perform the jutsu to that extent. Even if Axcel were to the use the explosive ice barrage, it was unlikely that a single shard would be capable of doing enough damage that it could actually skewer an opponent. The damage was definitely devastating given that the ice creation being detonated was large enough, but it was because of the amount of shards formed. However, Axcel would just have to wait and see what Jiro was capable of when he tried to execute the full technique.

Another bird broke out of the circle that flew together in high arcs. This time Axcel was expecting the jutsu to be done flawlessly. He had already seen an explosion earlier that was more than capable of being the catalyst that sends ice shards out--now it was time to see how Jiro would make use of shape manipulation in order to have the bird explode into the shards required for the explosive ice barrage technique. A few moments would pass before the boy exerted his hyouton chakra, causing the bird to explode. Much to Axcel’s surprise, a flurry of ice shards would spew outwards in every direction in the explosion’s wake. The jutsu was complete.

“Well done!” Axcel clapped slowly and softly as his thoughts began to drift. Now all he needed to figure out was what to do next. He had a bit of an offensive arsenal, and he should not have to worry about incoming attacks too much, so all that was left was some sort of utility based technique. Axcel immediately thought of the water prison technique. It was a great technique, given that someone was able to even pull it off. It encases a person, effectively trapping them until the user decided they could go free--or the user could keep them there until they drowned. Jiro should have potential to wield Suiton, but was he aware of that? Axcel would need to figure that much out first.

“Try to create an orb of water roughly the size of a person.” Axcel’s words lacked a clear direction. He didn’t explain the purpose, the use, or even if what Jiro was to be doing was a technique at all. That would all come later.

Yep, Axcel didn’t waste any time and was straight to the point--though he wasn’t sure if Jiro quite understood his methods. The kid was having problems with making the ice explode--which was essentially him being unable to find success at nature manipulation. The pulse of chakra that would force the creation to explode was merely nature manipulation--nothing more and nothing less. It was that and that alone. If the kid couldn’t make it explode then Axcel already knew where he was at fault. So, he asked Jiro to just focus on the explosion and when he nailed that he would be able to tackle the next hurdle.

As Jiro formed seals Axcel leaned back, placing his hands against the snow but behind him in order to hold himself up as he watched the lad cycle through a number of the twelve zodiac signs with but a single hand. It was good to see he was improving at casting the snow storm swallows technique--even his hand seal speed was beginning to increase! He was improving at fairly impressive speeds. If he were to keep up with this training at the pace he’s going at now, he could walk out of this little session with more than enough skills. He would be able to not only survive, but fight for whatever it was that Jiro believed in. From a helpless civilian to someone with the power to take his life into his own hands.

When the swallows began to circle Axcel, the shinobi paid them no attention until one of them broke from their circle and zoomed past Axcel and into his line of sight. When it did that, the lad’s amber eyes followed the projectile carefully. It was not but a few moments before Jiro’s chakra pulsed once more and forced the swallow to explode. This time the explosion was much better than before, but still lacking. He did improve, so whatever he tried now that was different from before was appearing to work. He just needed a few more attempts and it looked like he would nail it.

“The next swallow will have a proper explosion,” Axcel said with a distinct tone. The way he had said it wasn’t as if he was making a prediction of some sort--no, what he meant was that Jiro had better make one of those birds explode perfectly if he wanted to move on. “After that, focus on shape manipulation--they should explode into shards of ice capable skewering your targets” Maybe the word ‘skewer’ was a bit of an exaggeration, as the needles were too tiny to perform such a feat at Jiro’s level.

Still, maybe if the kid aimed higher he would land right where he’s supposed to.