Strange Aeons

[TyDie]

The time had finally come for Kenji Hiraku to stop working so feverishly on his ninjutsu capabilities for the first time since he left Iwagakure three years ago. He had done nothing but work on his ninjutsu day in and day out, but now he had acquired his goals and become immortal... mostly. While his ninjutsu was incredulous and few could match him in that area, his taijutsu was sub par at best. If Kenji wanted to protect his heart from close quarters attacks, ninjutsu was not the way to do it; Taijutsu was. So, in the middle of an open field about 50 meters in diameter, the notorious missing ninja performed a string of hand seals.

A few moments later, an exact copy of him emerged from a poof of white smoke; the Shadow clone technique in action. The idea was that he wanted to see what a normal, everyday ninja could do to get through to him with his new Earth Grudge Fear body. "Do not use your tendrils, or ninjutsu of any kind; you are limited to only close quarters combat and ninja tools. Your goal is to best me." The clone nodded once in acknowledgement before taking a few steps back, putting a total of about six meters between Kenji and his shadow clone.

Then, with a nod of affirmation from Kenji himself, the bout began. Immediately both Kenji's reached into their ninja pouches, the clone retrieving a total of four kunai and tossing them at the real Kenji, while the real Kenji removed only a single, fourteen inch long kunai. His eyes locked to the paths of movement each kunai followed, and in a few moments the sound of metal on metal sang through the air as he parried each one of them, sending them spiraling away a few feet. The clone wasted no time and dashed towards him, pulling out a kunai of similar length to his own and aiming a slash at the real Kenji's jugular. Rather than a parry however, Kenji allowed the blow to connect, his neck being sliced open about an inch or so deep, but he used the brief moment to aim a kick at his clone's stomach. This kick was enough to push the clone back, giving Kenji a bit of breathing room to work with.

The clone reeled for a moment before catching itself, then it was once more on the offensive, lunging at Kenji with it's Kunai pointed at his stomach. A swift dodge to the right combined with a parry to redirect the force of the stab however proved more than enough to save him from a gut impalement. The real Kenji followed up with a few slashes of his own, and before long the sounds of steel clashing once more resounded through the air around them. Considering their equal skill in close quarters combat, each was able to effectively deal with the other's attacks, and they were both adept strategists so the fight quickly devolved into 'who could get the upper hand'.

It seemed the clone got the first advantage, as Kenji's forearm got stabbed through before the clone wrenched the blade a bit, loosening Kenji's grip enough that he dropped his own kunai. However, in response, Kenji proceeded to reach his hand out towards the clone's throat, gripping tightly for a moment and lifting it into the air. Before the clone had a chance to kick at him or retract the blade from Kenji's arm, Kenji decided now was the time to use his Earth Grudge Fear abilities... With a bit of chakra, his right forearm disconnected itself from his body, launching outwards at an alarming rate until it pinned the clone to a tree about 10 meters away.

The clone's back impacted with a solid 'THUD', but with a bit of quick thinking it reached for the kunai still embedded in the Real Kenji's forearm. With a couple of quick hacks at the tendrils connecting Kenji's arm to his body, it managed to not only free itself from his grasp, but disconnect his arm entirely from his tendrils, rendering it temporarily useless. Seeing that he had no time to lose, the real Kenji let his other forearm slither away from him, reaching for one of the very same kunai the clone had thrown at him. Before the clone could begin to get in close quarters again, the disconnected arm began flicking kunai at the clone, prompting it to take a defense as the kunai came whistling towards it. However, blocking those kunai proved to finally be it's downfall; since Kenji's arm was focused on flicking the four kunai and his clone was focused on blocking them, he didn't notice the real Kenji making his approach from the left.

With a swift kick to the stomach to stun him long enough for his left arm to retract back to him and an elbow slam to the back of the skull, the clone fell to the ground. Before it had a chance to get back up, Kenji's left arm was already reaching for the Kunai in it's hands, ripping it from it's grasp before driving it through it's forehead. It laid there lifeless for a few moments before poofing away in the same smoke as before, leaving Kenji alone to revel in this newly found tactical advantage... His new body had quite a few nifty perks.

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902/800 for Tai training - Stat Training #1

[TyDie]

Shortly after his little exercise with his own clone to practice his ability to utilize his new body in a close quarters engagement, Kenji found himself walking back towards the town he was staying in for the time being. As he was making his way back however, he began to see smoke rising in the distance. He wasn't sure what possessed him to care... maybe his boredom got the better of him. Regardless, he stepped off the beaten path towards town and headed in the direction of the smoke, curious to see who, or what, it belonged to.

After a good fifteen minutes of walking he stood upon a hill, looking down at the source of the smoke clouds; a camp fire. And surrounding said campfire, a group of at least eight bandits were visible... Perfect. What better way to practice one's close quarter abilities than by fighting a group of barbaric fools who know nothing other than how to swing their weapons? He could see from here that a few of them carried bows, but that would be fine; he needed practice deflecting long range attacks too. All were welcome to die at his hand today.

He wasted no time, walking casually towards the camp. It wasn't long before he was noticed. "Ay shit for brains! You picked the wrong group to walk up on! Git em boys!" For a group of bandits they were quite swift, the archers were already aiming at him, and before long a total of three arrows soared through the air towards him. With a quick flick of his wrist a kunai slid into the palm of his hand from his sleeve, and a quick slash here and there would allow him to destroy and deflect the arrows with little consequence. The rest of the group approached him now, axes and swords in hand, ready to dismember Kenji for his intrusion...

"Just the practice I was looking for boys... thanks for your willingness to participate!" Kenji laughed a bit as the first couple of men approached him, one swinging his sword vertically while the other brought a great axe down vertically. With a quick step towards the sword wielder, the axe embedded itself in the earth, rendering that weapon all but useless. And using his kunai during the step, he deflected the sword swing, opening the man's guard up for a well aimed slash at the jugular. Kenji followed through with the direction of the slash, which brought him to face the large man who was still attempting to remove his axe from the ground. A quick couple of stabs between the ribs was all it took to finish him, and between the blood spilling from the sword user's neck and the blood from the axe wielder's ribs, Kenji was beginning to appear more and more demonic as the blood began to cover his visage.

Another vollew of arrows were launched at him, and with a quick yank of one of the bodies Kenji moved the larger man's corpse in the line of fire. He felt the arrows impact the dead man's back, a few of them poking through his rib cage, and with it's usefulness complete he tossed the body to the side before lunging towards the next group of men. One seemed to use two knives, while the other two used standard katana. With a quick movement Kenji retrieved a second kunai from his pouch... if the man wanted to use two knives, Kenji would gladly oblige. The two sword wielders came at him first though, one aiming to slash at his knees while the other aimed for his throat. Another laughably easy ploy... Kenji simply jumped back a bit, allowing both slashes to miss him completely, before flicking his wrists and tossing both of his kunai into the skulls of the men, dropping them to the floor like ragdolls.

Then the knife wielder was upon him, and without his weapons it was notably harder to deal with his constant slashes. However, with a bit of acrobatic footwork Kenji found an opening and jumped over the man's head, using only a single hand to balance on the knife wielder's skull as he flipped over him. In the process of doing so, he also decided to leave the hand with him, letting his forearm detach and gripping the man's head firmly as he ran for his kunai. Not knowing how to react, the knife wielder freaked out as the archers began to loose another volley of arrows just as Kenji reached his kunai. Yanking one from the corpse, he quickly parried all but one of the arrows, which with a quick crane of his neck he managed to avoid it narrowly digging into his throat. Coincidentally, this arrow found it's way into the heart of the man Kenji left his hand on.

A smile spread across Kenji's face as the remaining few, the archers, realized they had no one else to protect them. With a quick whip of his arm, Kenji's tendril connected arm circled around at high speeds, still carrying the body of the deceased knife wielder. It came whipping around until it eventually crashed into the three archers, sending them to the ground dazed and stunned. Kenji then let go of the body and retracted his arm, reaching for the other kunai he left in the body before closing the gap between him and the archers. From there... it was simply a matter of finishing the job and slashing a few throats. Armed with nothing but two Kunai, Kenji had decimated a small group of bandits... It would seem his close quarters abilities had improved drastically.

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945/800 words for Taijutsu training - Training #2

[TyDie]

At the bottom of an isolated lake in the middle of waterfall country, the notorious missing ninja Kenji Hiraku sat, unmoving and unbreathing. The currents that trickled beneath the waves gently caressed his body, washing over and around his body as he receded inward into his thoughts. The surface of the lake had long since calmed from his entrance a few hours ago, and after swimming to the bottom and anchoring himself underneath a rock, he sat completely still and just... thought. He meditated on the various mysteries of chakra, ones he had seen recently and ones he had only thought of in brief momentary states of clarity and inspiration.

Yaksha... how did you manage to do it? How did you figure out a way to plant a part of your being, of your very existence, into another living being? These seals... Cursed Seals I believe is what he referred to them as... How in the world do they work? I can only make guesses and assumptions, and a life time of ninjutsu study has done little but cloud my vision to the truth. If I want to figure out how this works, I need to cease being Kenji... I need to think as Yaksha would. The revelation almost sickened him, but if he ever wanted to advance past his current level of understanding not just chakra and ninjutsu, but his ally, he had to be able to get inside of Yaksha's head. A daunting task to say the least, given his level of psychosis and chaotic nature... but even chaos has a pattern if one looks hard enough

Dokuja, Yaksha; the snake shinobi that towers over many in height, but deep down there's so much more to him. He's tiny, insignificant in the grand scheme of things, and he knows it. Far better than anyone else I think. Perhaps it has something to do with his inability to handle the idea of abandonment... no, that's only one small cog in the complex inner machinations of his mind. His is one that cannot be truly deciphered... much like myself, if one tried for too long they would go irreparably insane. But what I can grasp at is that he feels some desire to leave a legacy; to 'spread his seed' as it were, yet not in the traditional sense of the phrase. Perhaps that is why he developed these seals, but as to how he makes them function... they must be literally connected to his being. Not his chakra, not even his Tenketsu; his actual existence and soul... Something to ponder in the future.

As if from nowhere, like a left hook from right field, Kenji's mind jumped to a new topic all on it's own; Spirits. More importantly, how one could restrain, capture and control them. Spirits... summons... many refer to them as all powerful beings, gods and demigods alike. Even more believe that they cannot be controlled or tamed, and only work with shinobi through contracts that later take the shinobi's life or soul as payment... I am inclined to disagree. Summons and spirits, even the genma, are every bit as weak and feeble as any other mortal creature that walks this plane. Whether they are mortal or immortal matters little; they can be controlled if one's will is more powerful than their's and if one's mastery over the powers of ninjutsu are great enough, any deed can be completed... even the control and sealing of a genma can be attained through the use of Shizumeru. This is definitely a path I will have to tread in the near future if I am to accomplish my goals... If I am to control and utilize the power of the wellspring, I will need the Genma."

The wellspring... an infinite source of untainted, raw chakra. The birthplace of the great spirits, and incidentally the birthplace of Shinobi. In the end, all chakra comes back to that place. But how did the chakra manage to spread so far so quickly? According to the texts and legends that I remember from Iwagakure, the chakra from the wellspring traveled across the land near instantaneously, engulfing it and filling all life with the inherent power of chakra... but how? If the legend is true, how did raw, unaltered chakra fill the earth at such an alarming rate? Perhaps... Perhaps it wasn't entirely raw. Perhaps it was molded by the initial entrance of the genma into our world. It would make sense considering the basic ability of shinobi to swap places with an object via the Substitution technique. But no, this is much different... Is chakra capable of bending the rules of space and time to larger degrees than simply replacing one's self with an object? Teleportation, warp holes, even creating one's very own alternate dimension... are all of these things possible through the use of ninjutsu? This is something I will have to put to the test... preferably sooner, rather than later.

By the time he had realized how long it had been, the sun had set long ago, and the moon hung high above the calm surface of the lake. With a quick push off of the ground of the lake Kenji swam to the surface, dried off with a towel, reclothed and armed himself, and made his way back towards a nearby town.

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891/800 words for Wit Training - Stat training #3

[TyDie]

Kenji had spent a long time learning to manipulate his new body in a lot of the ways normal humans could manipulate their bodies, essentially having to learn how to do everything all over again, from walking up to intricate techniques and movements of the body. But today would be different... his body was far more than average or normal, and it was high time he learned how to more finely control it. He stood alone, in the middle of an open field about thirty meters in diameter, and started by emptying out his ninja pouch of all of it's weapons. Kunai and shuriken spilled onto the ground below him, a total of thirty five weapons now sat on the ground at his feet. One by one he detached the explosive tags from his kunai, deciding it would be best not to have them attached to the things he would be using to train.

And then, letting his chakra flow like a water faucet, he allowed a plethora of thin, black tendrils to squirm from out of his body. One by one, a tendril made it's way to the ground and threaded itself through the hooped pommel of a kunai, lifting it into the air until eventually all fifteen of his kunai were dangling off of tendrils a few feet in front of him. some were connected to his left arm, and some to the right, and with a quick spread of his arms he separated the tendrils into two groups. Though there were only fifteen weapons, there were quite a few more tendrils, all ready to perform the exercise in question. And without further ado, all of the tendrils began to flex in a very specific way, the chakra flowing through them causing them to twirl in a similar fashion to someone twirling their finger.

Slowly but surely, each of the Kunai began to spin and twirl, like a bunch of pinwheels spinning in the winds. It was quite a spectacular sight to see, but the intense amount of control that was required to perform it was staggering. Kenji had to focus on each of the tendrils individually, not as a group, as some of the kunai were spinning at different speeds and rhythms than others. If he were to focus on them all as a group, he would likely drop or lose the momentum of a few of the kunai, making the exercise useless. No, this was about maintaining a fine amount of control over each and every aspect of his new body, making sure he could utilize every nuance of his ability to the best of his capabilities.

Eventually though, the motions got repetitive and boring, he needed a way to spice it up a bit, to make it more difficult for him to maintain so that he would end up with more of a challenge. Just then, it hit him... with a flick of one of the tendrils, he flung a single kunai from his left to his right, and with one of the tendrils on his right side, he caught the kunai by looping it through the pommel hoop of the kunai. He repeated this motion again, from right to left, but this time he did it with two kunai, catching the kunai on the left side with two tendrils. He continued to increase the numbers with each toss until in the end, he was whipping all fifteen kunai back and forth, catching and flicking and keeping a rhythm going as he whipped them around, essentially playing catch with himself. The strain on his chakra and focus was growing, but the man was a master of ninjutsu, and still easily capable of maintaining the rhythm. Eventually even that was too boring for him, and there were still quite a few tendrils on both arms that weren't being used.

As he continued to whip the kunai knives around, the other, idle tendrils made their way to the ground, scooping up the shuriken one by one until all twenty shuriken were gripped by his tendrils. With a bit of chakra the tendrils began to twirl and get the shuriken spinning, all the while the kunai were still being tossed about the area. Finally, when the shuriken were spinning fast enough, the tendrils would flick them around too, throwing them back and forth between left and right tendrils, carefully looping between the holes of the shuriken and twirling to keep up their spinning before flicking them back to the other side. To make matters even more difficult, he had to manage the air space evenly, otherwise the metal throwing weapons would crash into each other mid flight and fall to the ground. Eventually, he simply couldn't keep his focus and control over the situation, and had to stop. As if time had simply halted in it's path, the tendrils each caught a single weapon and fell still. Then each tendril tossed a weapon into the air one at a time, allowing one single tendril to make it's way through the hoops and holes of each weapon until all thirty five sat on one single tendril. With a bit of chakra flexing the tendril made it's way back to Kenji's real hand, which proceeded to place them into their proper places within his ninja pouch and make his way towards a tree to lay back and rest a moment, allowing his tenketsu especially to relax.

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906/800 words for Control Training - Stat training #4

[TyDie]

It had taken him quite a while to find the bastard that had sent him on that initial mission in Waterfall country... the mission that had almost lead him to his death at the hands of a colony of yoshin samurai that his employer had failed to mention previously. He had hid quite well, an admirable effort on his part to stay alive, as he likely knew that Kenji's ire would be great. Kenji had almost completely forgotten in the midst of attaining his newfound power, but one day, a truly faithful informant of his seemed to recognize the man as Kenji's old employer and sent word to him. After a bit of a scuffle and a few dead bodyguards, Kenji had captured the man and brought him back for... 'questioning'

Which was basically a fancy way of saying 'a torturous and slow death'

"You gave me quite the run around Kazubi. I had thought you'd be selling yourself to a ninja village for protection, but it seems you were just cocky enough to try and remain free." "Please Kenji, don't do this! I swear I didn't-" The man that was strapped to a medical table was quickly silenced by a few threads from Kenji's arm, stitching the man's mouth together to prevent him from speaking. "Please... I don't want excuses. I want practice. Now shut up and enjoy." A sadistic smile crossed Kenji's unmasked face as he began to allow more tendrils to crawl out from his right hand, creeping slowly closer to the man's stomach as he whimpered and cried in anticipation of the pain he was about to experience.

Then, as the thread pierced through the skin of his stomach and began to run around the organs, tearing and forcing their way through without causing any truly deadly wounds, Kenji lopped off the Tendril with a nearby kunai and let it worm it's way entirely into Kazubi's body. With it now deep inside of him, Kenji began focusing iijutsu chakra into his hands, and before long both of his hands were engulfed in the powerful light green chakra that signified the use of the infamous Mystical palm technique. "We're going to see how long you can withstand my 'special' brand of pain Kazubi." He was already writhing in agony, and they had only just barely gotten started. Kenji ran his hands over the entry wound on his stomach, quickly closing it and the wounds created along the path of destruction created by the tendril.

Then came the truly fun part; While still maintaining his control over the Mystical palm technique, Kenji began to channel chakra into the tendril once more, causing it to grow out in every direction, making sure not to spare Kazubi even a tiny bit of misery as it grew. It tore through his musculature and veins, pierced through nerve clusters and organs, and wrapped around the bones in his ribs and spine, causing a large amount of internal bleeding and intense, crippling pain as they made their way towards each of his limbs. Meanwhile, Kenji was running both of his hands along the chest and lower abdomen of the man, using the Mystical palm technique to repair the muscles, nerve, organs and veins just as quickly as they were being wounded. Essentially, he was allowing the tendrils to grow within him while making sure he stayed alive long enough to feel them overtake his body. To feel them extend throughout every fiber of his being, wrapping around his skeletal structure, his muscles, his vascular system, and anything else that one could imagine. Truly, a fate worse than death.

Kazubi's cries of agony quickly faded into the back of Kenji's mind, this had become less of a torture and more of a sort of practice; see how long he could maintain the healing of the mystical palm while simultaneously ravaging this bastard's body from the inside using the Earth Grudge Fear tendrils. The tendrils made their way through the man's shoulders and hips, slowly growing around the skeletal structure of his body and digging deep into the nerves, specifically targeting the largest clusters he could find to cause as much pain and agony as he could. Tears were pooling on the medical table by his face as he struggled in vain to get free from his restraints, and at this point Kenji had to divert his hands to specific limbs; the right hand began waving over top and bottom of the hips and his left hand waving over the shoulders and clavicle bones. His chakra was beginning to waver and wane, he had kept up the mystical palm jutsu for easily over a minute by now, beads of sweat were dripping from his forehead and landing on the man's exposed skin as he squirmed and recoiled underneath Kenji.

Finally his tendrils began making their way down into his extremities, wrapping tightly around his thigh and shin bones in his legs and Humerus, radius and Ulna bones in the arms, all the while shredding the muscles, tendons, nerves and ligiments that got in their way like a wildfire tearing through a forest. Just as quickly as they tore him apart, Kenji's hands and the mystical palm technique followed suit, repairing one leg and arm at a time of it's wounds before moving to the other limb to do the same. They then proceeded to move down into the bastard's hands and feet, looping between the many tiny bones and forcing their way into his fingers and toes, effectively replacing his ligiments and tendons while destroying anything else before being followed by Kenji's mystical palm, mending and fixing the damaged areas.

Finally, after an incredibly grueling and strenuous effort on his part and no small amount of pain and suffering on Kazubi's, all that was left was his skull. both of his hands came up to the man's head as the tendrils forced their way into his throat, and as they approached his mouth he could hear the man gagging on his own blood and the tendrils themselves. A few ended up poking through his nose and underneath his eyes, as if greeting Kenji on the outside, before finally making their way up and around the skull, wriggling underneath the skin of his scalp but never digging into the brain. As all of this was happening, Kenji's hands channeled what last bit of chakra he could into keeping him alive through the final process, the mystical palm slowly but surely healing every single injury in the man's body. Over the course of a couple of minutes, through chakra alone, Kenji had forced this man to endure the process of his tendrils filling every part of his being.

Through slight gasps of air, Kenji looked down at the man, obviously terrified and awaiting a merciful end, and smiled a big, evil smile. "How's it feel Kazubi? To know that i'm writhing inside of you, that my tendrils could tear you apart from inside in an instant? I could kill you quickly, end your misery right now... but i've gone through all this effort to save you and torment you... No. I think i'll leave you alive for a bit longer. I think i'll put you in a cell by yourself with no conceivable means of killing yourself or ending your torment. And every time you get close to any sort of comfort, such as sleep or relaxation, I'll be right there to make sure the tendrils within you don't allow it. I'm going to watch you die nice and slow, and when I get bored I think i'll use the tendrils within you to control you, like a true puppet on strings... How's that sound?" Kenji took out a kunai and slashed the stitches off of his mouth, but when Kazubi went to scream, all that came out were tendrils and more tears from his eyes.

"Ha... That's what I thought. Enjoy your living hell, Kazubi."

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1329/1300 words for control training - Stat training #6

[TyDie]

With a small groan Kenji took a close look at the strenuous task he had laid before himself, caught between a mix of annoyance and a drive to advance himself to the pinnacle of his physical capabilities. In terms of chakra he was second to none, but his physical prowess was always a bit lacking. However, the Earth Grudge Fear ascendance helped to merge the two in some ways, as his newfound form derived much of it's physical capability from his chakra. It was as though his muscles were replaced with chakra itself, every flex was put forth by his spiritual energy, not physical stamina.

And today, he would learn to push the limitations of his physical form to their absolute limit. Today would be an exercise in bodily manipulation with as little chakra as possible, a test of hs full capabilities without the use of ninjutsu techniques of any kind. Kenji found himself at the edge of a ravine, a good 100 meter drop down with about 10 meters of space between him and the other side. On one end of the ravine sat three boulders, each bigger and heavier than the last. The task seemed simple enough; using nothing but the tendrils that made up his body, Kenji would attempt to move one boulder at a time across the ravine to his side. He would attempt to do so with as little chakra as possible, as few tendrils as possible, in an attempt to increase the overall tensile strength of his tendrils. This, theoretically, would improve his overall physical strength to newfound heights.

Still, physical exertion was a task that Kenji left to underlings and slaves. It was a rare sight that he would willingly take on such a task.

With nothing more to think on, Kenji would begin his training. A small sigh preluded the removal of his hands, the two fleshy lumps falling to the earth with a soft 'plop'. A moment or two later, the pitch black tendrils that made up Kenji's form would slither out from his wrists, like snakes exiting their den in search of their next meal. These tendrils functioned almost exactly like snakes in their method of movement, essentially moving as if they were a singular muscle, slowly floating over the chasm beneath them towards the first of the three boulders. This boulder, if Kenji had to guess, was somewhere between eighteen hundred and two thousand pounds. To the average human, it would be insurmountable, far beyond even the most powerful and strong human beings out there.

Of course, Kenji was far from human. His strength far exceeded many, even most of the shinobi world paled in comparison to him. But even for him, this was a stretch. It would likely be the heaviest thing he had ever lifted without the aid of a technique. The method of moving them would prove to be even more difficult; The smart way would be to simply wrap the tendrils around the boulder and whip them to his side. Of course, to get the most out of training, one would have to limit themselves as much as possible. It was common practice to only utilize certain muscles, or only use them in certain ways. So to would he limit himself by gripping only the underside of the boulder, then by flexing the tendrils in a very specific way, he would slowly cause the boulder to roll back towards him. It was almost like putting the boulder on a wave and watching the boulder ride the wave, the tendrils wriggling and waggling as they pushed the boulder back towards Kenji.

This caused the effort to be two fold; Not only did he have to exert force to push the boulder, but he also had to keep the boulder suspended above the ravine for a longer period of time. To make matters worse, the boulder wasn't actually rolling towards him so much as it was being maneuvered towards him while remaining in a resting position. If it were to roll, it would either make things too easy, or it would make them too hard. The rolling might prove to strain him too much too quickly, he could drop it and the training would be all for naught.

Once the tendrils were firmly underneath the boulder, he would begin the task of creating the wave-like motion that would cause the boulder to come back towards him. He would have to keep the Tendrils in front of the boulder rigid to provide a proper path. If they went slack, the boulder would no doubt fall out from his grasp. 10 meters might not seem like much distance in most cases, but it seemed like a mile when you were purposely putting all these different limitations and tasks before you. And this was only the first of the damnable rocks that lay before him... If he could sweat, there would no doubt be beads forming on his forehead already, and the boulder had only just reached the 5 meter point.

This was a challenge for sure, but it was a task he was capable of at least. The boulder, after much toil, finally slid across the last bit of space between him and the ravine. Once it reached the end of the path set before it, Kenji would give one last heave with his tendrils to hoist the giant rock over his head, landing behind him with a thundrous "THUD". There was no time for a break of course, as the two long groups of tendrils would slither across to the next boulder and dig their way underneath it. This one was noticeably bigger than the last, and therefore heavier; about 300 pounds heavier if he had to guess. And to make matters even worse, some of the tendrils that made up the two thick groupings would recede back towards his body. Less tendrils meant more effort, which would ultimately lead to stronger tendrils overall.

Once in position, just like before, the tendrils would slither towards him, creating a wave style motion that would move the boulder out of it's nook in the earth and on it's path towards him. This of course was much more strain than the last, being a heavier load to bear on top of having less mass to bear it. His teeth were gritting and his feet were digging in to the earth to get as much grip as he could, and by the time the boulder reached the half way point he found himself wanting desperately to drop it into the ravine. He had achieved his goals hadn't he? He was no doubt at least somewhat stronger for doing this right?

No, he couldn't quit so easily. This was by no means the peak of his abilities, and he owed it to himself to reach his final plateau. The tendrils seemed to move on their own at this point, rippling towards him more and more as the boulder hefted closer and closer to the other edge of the ravine. This one was far too heavy and he was far too exhausted to hoist this one as he had the other. Instead, this one would be shifted to the side at the last moment, set to land on his right with an even louder 'THUD' than before. All that was left was the last boulder... one that easily weighed twenty five hundred pounds. It's size at least twice Kenji's own, and wasn't nearly as rounded as the other two. Rolling wouldn't be an option, even if he wanted it to be.

But he set out to start this task, and he would not stop until it was finished. As much as it made up his very being, he couldnt always rely on chakra. He had to prove to himself that he was still just as powerful, just as terrifying as ever, with or without chakra. The tendrils did their work just as before, slithering underneath the gargantuan chunk of earth to get themselves ready for the final push. However, even he couldn't do this last rock the same way he had the previous two, slowly and steadily. No, this would be the equivalent of a sprint, moving the rock from one end to the other as quickly as he could. With what one could assume was a deep breath coming from a creature with no lungs, Kenji's tendrils whipped up as quickly and powerfully as they could, creating a much larger, much more powerful wave of force. The boulder budged along the path of tendrils back to Kenji, moving with haste to the half way point as Kenji's feet dug so deeply into the earth that the earth began to form craters underneath him.

It was only as it reached the edge of his side of the ravine that he realized he would be unable to simply hoist this one up to the earthen cliff next to him. And so, with a breath of relief, Kenji would let his tendrils fall slack, and the giant boulder would fall down the chasm, hitting the bottom with what can only be described as the sound of an explosive. Sighing, the exhausted Kenji had never been more happy to channel chakra in his life, and a moment later the Immortal left the terrestrial plane to return to his home dimension.

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1552/1400 for strength training

[TyDie]

In a dark, secluded forest deep within the bowels of Waterfall Country, the god of chakra Kenji Hiraku prepared to further his understanding of the Ether Arts, also known as Tenkujutsu. A manner of chakra manipulation meant specifically for dealing with chakra spirits, it's uses are most well known for the ability to contain and inhibit the powers of spirits. However, the uses of Tenkujutsu are far more numerous then that, and Kenji intended to increase his abilities in the art by branching out to these other methods of Tenkujutsu use.

As he stood in the silent forest clearing, a section of forest about 40 meters in diameter, he walked around the area in a large circle that took up about half of the area of the clearing. And every so often, he would bend down and clear away the brush and grass to expose the earth before channeling a bit of chakra into one of his tendrils, causing it's tip to glow. This tendril would then dig into the earth to inscribe a rather small fuuinjutsu seal, no more than 3 inches in diameter. He would then move along to the next area, a good 15 meters or so away from the last seal, and inscribe another of the exact same design, repeating this process a total of four times. This would act as the 'edge' of his technique, so to speak, a soft barrier that would prevent the jutsu from spilling out of it's intended range.

The manner of technique he was investigating was known as Kuchiyose, and was most well known for the popular Spiritualism Technique. This jutsu was used by shinobi far and wide to summon spirits with whom they had signed contracts, enabling the spirit to assist the shinobi in times of need. However, this particular branch of Kuchiyose known as Realm Summoning was much rarer, and involved calling forth a small portion of a spiritual realm to fill in the borders of a fuuinjutsu array. If his seals were correctly placed, this would prove quite useful... With a small bit of chakra channeled out into the four seals, Kenji activated the fuuinjutsu and filled the area between them with chakra. A moment later, the whole area seemed to erupt with an all new environment; a thick, muddy swamp. All inside this area now rested thick muck and a deep fog that limited visibility to within only a few meters. Interestingly though, the water that was part of the swamp refused to flow out of the fuuinjutsu array's area, defying the very laws of physics themselves to sit within the area of this array.

It was weak in comparison to Kenji's vast expanse of techniques, but it was a stepping stone... One that would launch him towards much more useful techniques within the Ether Arts.

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467/400 for B rank Numa Setei Tenku Tech

[TyDie]

Moments after learning how to summon forth a small fragment of the spirit realm to overlay with reality, Kenji decided that he had better learn how to dominate and control these spirits before delving much farther, lest they prove to be an annoyance in the future. After all, meddling in any sort of field without the knowledge to properly neutralize a threat would foolhardy, and had been the demise of many scholars in the past. Kenji was far too powerful and far too intelligent to let such a thing become a problem for him, but in order to truly learn to shackle and weaken a spirit, he would need a guinea pig.

Once more he would inscribe the four fuuinjutsu seals into the ground to create a large array of seals spanning 20 meters in diameter. Then with a bit of chakra funneled from his body into the seals, the dank, muddy swamp appeared as if from nothing, slowly emerging from the earth yet not disturbing even a single blade of grass. With this land created, Kenji could call forth a random spirit from this realm, a process he referred to as 'Population'. It took very little chakra to call forth a guinea pig; a single use of the Spiritualism technique would allow him to bring forth what appeared to be an anthromorphic alligator.

The creature opened it's mouth to speak, but it was summoned here by Kenji's power, and thus it was subject to Kenji's will. With a glance the spirit's mouth closed before a word was uttered. "You were called here for a simple purpose, I don't require you to speak. Stand still and brace for this technique, and after it's connected attempt to free yourself." The Alligator spirit nodded in understanding, though it was clear that it wasn't thrilled with being a training dummy for Kenji's Tenkujutsu practice... Not that Kenji cared in the slightest.

Kenji prepared to shackle the beast with a well known restraining Tenkujutsu technique, albeit a rather weak one; The Chains of Authority. Channeling chakra throughout his form, Kenji funneled chakra down through his right arm and into his hand before directing the palm of his hand towards the alligator beast. A moment later, maroon colored chains shot forth from his palm and slithered through the air like a serpent, aiming directly for the alligator. As he was commanded not to move, the chains wrapped around it with little effort, binding the spirit's arms to it's sides and tightening around it. However, while the jutsu was performed properly, the technique was too weak to bind the spirit it seemed; a quick flex from the alligator shattered the chains, ending the jutsu in an instant. "Hm... Stronger then I thought. No matter, that was adequate usage of the chains, despite your ability to break them. But we're not done yet..."

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473/400 for B rank Chains of Authority Tenku Tech

[TyDie]

Kenji's previous use of the Chains of Authority proved to be too weak to bind the alligator spirit that he summoned as a practice dummy, but he wasn't truly all that surprised. The creature was summoned forth with a decent expenditure of Kenji's chakra, and it was clearly all bulk and nothing else. Not only that, Kenji had focused equally on the speed and strength of the chains, creating an overall balanced technique that nonetheless offered little against targets like this alligator; slow but strong. This just meant he'd have to put more focus on their strength by sacrificing their speed... and he'd also up the power of the technique overall by using far more chakra this time.

The alligator spirit stood in the center of the marsh as before, not moving a muscle except for to breath. It made a good target, Kenji gave it that. But he didn't expect it to be able to break these chains... Once more he gathered chakra within himself, a black aura of power gathering around him as he focused on the chains of authority. In his mind, he envisioned the chains themselves... Before they were thin and frail, but this time he aimed to improve their girth and strengthen the links of the chains. He wanted these chains to be capable of restraining anything, even a genma in the right circumstances... They would need to be thicker than his arm to achieve that kind of power.

The power surging through his body was great, greater than most shinobi could ever achieve. In terms of the letter rankings that many villages liked to use, this technique just scratched the surface of "A Rank". But would it be strong enough with just this bare minimum of power? There was only one way to find out. He allowed the chakra gathered within his body to flow down through his right arm towards his palm, just as before. The power coalesced in his palm and a moment later, he directed the palm of his hand towards the alligator and let loose the chains of authority. They whipped and weaved through the air as before, moving at about the same speed as they had before but they were noticeably thicker than their predecessor technique.

The chains swiftly engulfed the alligator, encasing his body and binding his arms to his sides just as before. A grunt of discomfort escaped the spirit's mouth, and he grimaced in annoyance at the games Kenji was forcing it to play. "You know what to do now. Attempt to break the chains, and tell me if you cannot." A slow, steady nod was Kenji's response, and the spirit went to work, struggling and grunting with effort as he flexed against the chains. It took a great deal of effort, but eventually with a mighty roar the spirit shattered the chains, huffing and puffing as he was freed from their grasp.

A small frown crossed Kenji's unmasked face and he rolled his eyes in annoyance. If the chains couldn't restrain a simple creature such as this, there was no way of containing a worthwhile spirit with them. This would not stand... Once again he channeled chakra throughout his body, but this time the chakra he gathered was even greater then what would be deemed an "A rank" technique. It was somewhere between the A and S rank levels, his chakra just barely beginning to crackle with power. Once more he directed this chakra towards his palm, condensing it into a point before releasing it in chains much thicker than before. As these chains wrapped around the spirit, Kenji smirked with confidence... there was no way he would escape these chains.

Sure enough, though the beast struggled and growled with effort, his bulging muscles straining against the chains, he eventually let out a defeated sigh. "They are too strong... I cannot break them." A breath of success left Kenji's nose, and by closing his hand the chains dissipated, and the spirit was freed. "Your service is complete spirit, return to your realm." The spirit wasted no time in poofing out of existence, and not much longer the realm ceased to exist as well. Good... He was making progress. Soon, no spirit would be able to resist his command.

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708/560 words for A rank Custom Tenkujutsu technique

[TyDie]

Kenji was slowly but surely furthering his understanding of the Ether Arts, but now he needed to take a step in a much different direction. This realm he had been summoning, a standard swamp realm populated with all manner of swamp dwelling spirits, was great for practice. However, Kenji had much greater ideas in mind... He had read about creatures that were considered alien among even the shinobi population. Large, grotesque beings composed of sickly, leathery flesh, gratuitous amounts of eyes and limbs, and appearances that shook even seasoned combatants. There were even accounts of lesser, uncivilized folks losing their very minds upon glancing at some of the more powerful of these beings...

They were alien, horrid monstrosities... Just like him.

Thus it was only natural that he bend their will to his own, and the first step in doing so was to call forth a portion of their realm, just as he had the spiritual swamp. From what he had gathered in his musings, he had some vague understanding of the home realm of these aberrant beings, and by creating a fuuinjutsu formula he believed he would be able to open the gate between realms and pull a fragment of their homeland to the physical realm. He had prepared the formula already, he just needed to lay it out and activate it, then call forth a being from this plane and subject it to his will. A daunting task for many... just another day for the god of chakra.

The seal in question was unlike any other he had created; it was about 6 inches in diameter, and it appeared to be a sort of star shape. However, this shape also consisted of various other odd lines, such as a sort of triangular design spanning from the same point as the top of the star, and another sort of weird triangle with two extra long lines extending from one of the points, all of which shared the same space as the initial star design. Encompassing this odd symbol was a simple circle, making it easy to 'draw within the lines' of the circle to create the actual symbol itself. Once the first of these Fuuinjutsu seal was created, Kenji moved out from the staring position to place another three seals in opposing points. in the end, he had boxed in a 30 meter diameter circle with this array, and finally he was ready to test it.

Channeling a large amount of chakra through his body, he sent out waves of chakra into all four of the seals, activating the array. As the seals began to glow, they formed a sort of circular 'barrier' to keep the contents of the realm fragment within them, as was the case with Realm Summoning. Within this area, huge mountains began to rise all around the borders of the array. From the outside they appeared completely and totally flat, with not a single hand hold in sight to climb them. But on the inside, their true nature was revealed... the rock face appeared to be horrible, disfigured faces, screaming in agony and pain. Of course, they were just rock, but the imagery alone would send chills down the spine. The center of this nightmarish landscape was enshrouded in a thick, sickly blanket of yellow mist that reeked of the stench of death and limited visibility to within only a few meters. To make matters worse, the ground itself was incredibly uneven, with potholes and rocks of various size dotting the landscape in seemingly random areas. As if the imagery and the pungent odor weren't bad enough, there was also the odd sound of what could only be described as dozens of voices speaking nonsensical gibberish all at once. The hushed tones of this gibbering created what sounded like an alien cacophony, sounds overlapping with each other in some indiscernible language that no human should ever have to hear.

Kenji, of course, used his wings to fly up and over the mountains so that he could inspect the inside of the realm... It reminded him almost of his own realm. The landscape was unlike anything in this world, and he smirked with pride as he realized he had succeded in breaching the barrier between the physical realm... and the realm of these aberrant nightmares.

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714/560 for A rank Realm Summoning Tenkujutsu technique

[TyDie]

As he stood within the confines of the nightmarish realm he had created, the putrid odor doing little to distract the man who had seen and smelled death almost too often, he mused on the wonderfully arcane creatures that he might be able to call forth within the confines of this realm. Some of the creatures he had learned of ranged in size from human-ish sizes around 5-10 feet tall to monstrous sizes ranging up to 25 meters tall. The excitement was incredible, so many unknown creatures... But he suddenly realized what could prove to be a flaw in his attempts at controlling and combating spirits.

That alligator had broken those chains twice, and it was only with an almost S rank amount of chakra that he succeeded in barely restraining it. In instances like that, perhaps a different approach was needed... perhaps he could interfere with the chakra tethering it to the world, effectively banishing it to wherever it came from? It was worth a shot, but first he would have to pull a creature from the aether to test his theory on. And so, with no hesitation, Kenji poured a large amount of chakra from his being using the Spiritualism technique, and a moment later some... thing was called forth from it's nightmarish home.

The beast stood on eight limbs, each ending in a 6 fingered hand complete with horrendous claws measuring a meter long each. The legs themselves were 7 meters long, and the body was another 10 meters long, shaped sort of like a spider but with no thorax to speak of. It's head, if one could even call it that, was more like a bulbous orb with hundreds of small holes in it. These holes, upon closer inspection, were eyes... No doubt the creature could see all around itself. It had no mouth to speak of, but that didn't prevent it from letting loose an ear shattering roar. Kenji wasted no time in putting his theory to the test, channeling a large amount of chakra through his body before funneling it towards his right hand, allowing it to glow with the maroon chakra Tenkujutsu was known for. The hideous monstrosity was under Kenji's control, and so it posed no threat, but as Kenji neared the beast it's grumbling growls grew more and more prominent. Even under his control, the creature had no problem exhibiting it's disdain for the man...

It mattered not however; with a single touch, Kenji's chakra entered the body of the beast. His chakra flowed through it and melded with it's own chakra, and a moment later it was gone just as quickly as it had come. That beast was easily stronger than the Alligator he had summoned earlier, the one who had broken those chains. Yet in this case, with this form of attack, the beast had no hope of resisting. A useful technique for sure, and one he would remember if ever he was faced with a spirit under the control of an opponent.

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501/400 words for B rank Spirit Banishment technique

[TyDie]

In just the past half hour, Kenji had taught himself so many new and incredible ways to use the ether arts. He had learned how to call forth fragments of alternate planes, how to bind and restrain spirits, and how to simply banish them entirely. But now it was time to move on to the next big step; Capture. How to completely and totally immobilize a spirit so that he could use it for other purposes, such as to create a jinchuuriki or Tsukimogami. The chains might work for this purpose, but they wouldn't last forever, and a strong enough spirit could break them. Banishing was counterproductive, as it would make capture impossible.

However, Kenji had thought already come up with a solution to this problem... Fuuinjutsu. The Five Element Seal, a well known technique used to render a shinobi essentially useless, could perhaps be used as a starting point for this manner of technique. After all, spirits were being of chakra; if he were to rework the formula to instead target the chakra that enabled a spirit to move, he could essentially paralyze it indefinitely. Or at least, in theory this would work. There was no telling how it would work in practice without a test dummy. Luckily, the nightmarish landscape he had summoned forth still surrounded him, and thus he could call forth another creature to serve as the needed guinea pig.

After a small bit of channeling, Kenji's chakra called out to the aether and pulled forth a grotesque looking humanoid being with large, bat like wings and an octopoidal head, complete with tentacles. It had green, scaly skin and bore clawed digits on his feet and hands. It actually reminded him greatly of one of the forms he most commonly took, a form he aptly titled "The Thing that Should Not Be". Surely this wasnt' a coincidence... but it wasn't at the forefront of his mind either. The creature attempted speech, or what passed for speech in it's native tongue, but all he heard was a cacophony of muttering not unlike the same gibbering that surrounded him in this mist. Clearly this was one of the more common creatures of this alternate plane, but it would serve his purposes just fine.

As he approached the bulbous headed humanoid creature, it did not move away from him, but it's tentacled face twitched every so often as it attempted more speech. With a hand raised to it, the creature silenced itself and simply stood in wait as Kenji moved within arm's reach of it. A moment later, a single tendrils slithered forth from Kenji's palm and moved towards the creature, it's tip glowing with chakra. It found it's way to the beast's chest, where it began swishing back and forth to create a fuuinjutsu formula similar to that of the Five Element Seal, yet with it's own unique changes as theorized by Kenji and charged with Tenkujutsu based chakra. Once the seal was finished, Kenji smirked as his tendril came back to him and placed his hands together to form the 'Kai' technique.

The creature instantly froze in place. Not a single muscle moved, it appeared to be completely petrified as the seal glowed on it's chest. Kenji approached closer and prodded the beast a few times until it ended up falling over, it's form still rigid as if it were still standing straight. An amused chuckle escaped the thing's throat, and with another 'Kai' the beast was freed from it's prison and it's body fell limp. Kenji waived his hand, dismissing the creature back to it's home realm, as it had served it's purpose... and Kenji was one step closer to capturing a Genma.

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613/540 for A rank Tenku Spirit Paralysis Seal

[TyDie]

Kenji was now capable of rendering a spirit completely and entirely immobile, but that was merely the first step in capturing a genma. A well known fact among the Genma sealers of Iwa and one that he had learned from his former master Ichirou, spirits weren't able to be simply contained by such mundane methods as a fuuinjutsu here or there. In order to truly and completely capture a spirit, one needed to create a storage container for said spirit and inscribe a particularly complex fuuinjutsu design along the entirety of the container. Then, by activating this fuuinjutsu seal, a spirit weakened to the point of exhaustion could be drawn in to the container and held for a nearly limitless period of time.

This was one of the many things that Kenji scrawled into his notebook before his sudden departure from the Hidden Rock Village; a crude but accurate drawing of the seals used to create this spirit container. The very same methods used by his master to hold the genma in place when they weren't sealed within child hosts. If it could hold the power of a genma at bay, there was no limit to it's power to contain a spirit, and Kenji was not one to settle for less than the best. "Even so long after your death Ichirou, you still have so much to offer your student... I hope my gratitude reaches you from beyond the grave." He spoke with a sarcastic smirk, he didn't believe in an afterlife and held no love for his former master.

To get things started, Kenji would need a container of ample size to properly inscribe this massive fuuinjutsu seal on to. Luckily, he had picked one up in a trade market from a village not too long ago and stored it within his realm, as he had planned on using it for exactly this purpose. After sticking his Kunai anchor into the ground at his feet and activating it, Kenji would transport himself quickly to his realm to get the container, and after rummaging through some clutter in the Black Tower of his realm he swiftly returned to the material plane with the large pot. It was easily 4 feet tall and 4 feet wide, more of a barrel than a pot as described by the merchant he bought it from. The top was stuffed with a giant cork to keep the inner contents fresh... clearly this was meant for the transport of alcohol, judging by the design. Still, it would serve Kenji's purpose much better.

With his retrieval of the pot complete, Kenji touched the kunai anchor he kept within his realm and once more found himself in the material plane, retrieving his kunai from the ground and putting it back where it belonged. With a soft 'thud' he placed the pot on the ground and quickly got to work, channeling chakra through his hand to extend a tendril out towards the large pot. The tendril's tip began to glow with black chakra, allowing it to inscribe the necessary fuuinjutsu formula seals on to the pot's surface. This would need to be flawless however, and thus he took his time with each and every stroke. In his left hand he held his notebook open, the page containing all the information he had stolen in reference to this complex array of seals. And every so often he would turn his head back to the page in question, making sure that he was following the formula to the letter, without a single deviation. After all, while his master was a fool in many ways, he was in fact a master of dealing with Iwagakure's genma. On this particular subject, Kenji would follow his master's example... There was no sense trying to improve upon what was already perfect.

Once the pot was lined in it's entirety with these complex seals, the tendril would move to the cork itself, inscribing a separate seal meant to hold the cork in place and contain the spirit itself. This one was even more complex than the seal formula spanning the surface of the pot itself, and was also much more important to perfect. If this one failed, the spirit could simply push it's way out of the container without much effort at all. It worked essentially as a lock, preventing the spirit from opening the door from the other side. Slowly, meticulously Kenji's tendrils slithered and swirled, scrawling the formula bit by bit until the entire pot, cork and all, were lined in this incredibly complex array of fuuinjutsu. He breathed a small sigh of pride, the pot looked exactly like the ones depicted in Ichirou's library. He had mimicked his master's handiwork flawlessly.

Now came the true test however; he would need to prove that the seal functioned. And to do that, he would need to call forth a spirit. He had already set up the realm summoning array to prepare for this step, the seals for his nightmarescape technique scattered out at their proper distances. And so, with a small funnel of chakra, the seals lit up with power and suddenly Kenji was surrounded by that putrid odor of rotten death. The sickly yellow fog rose from the earth and the hushed gibbering assailed his ears. Before long, the mountainous outskirts rose up to encompass the horrid landscape, and the realm summoning was complete. Then, with a large channel of chakra and a use of the spiritualism technique, Kenji called for that grotesque spider-like abomination from before, with it's bulbous head covered in a hundred eyes and it's eight legs ending in six fingered hands, complete with meter long claws that would rip flesh from bone.

Once more it let out a horrifying wail to the skies before turning its attention to Kenji, standing utterly still as it awaited a command. Kenji would merely hold up a hand to motion it to stay still, which it followed without fail. Kenji then leapt up on to the creature's back and began scribing the Inhibition of Motion seal on it... after all, the spirit storage technique stated that a spirit had to be 'defeated' to function properly. In his mind, immobilized meant the same thing. So with a single 'kai' the large aberrant spider was rendered completely motionless, as if it were suspended in time. Good... now came the final step. Kenji hopped off the beast's back and moved towards the pot, placing a single hand on the pot and channeling a gargantuan amount of chakra through his body, to the point that he was crackling with the raw power coursing through his body.

Then, he would Kai the large fuuinjutsu array on the pot, and as if on it's own accord the cork on top of the pot popped off. What followed was a vortex of chakra that darted straight for the spider abomination, swirling around it and shrinking it down as it sucked the beast towards the opening of the pot. In a few moments, the spirit was entirely contained within the pot, and the cork placed itself back in position to hold the beast inside. It had been successful... Kenji could now store a spirit within a container indefinitely. He could now steal an unsealed genma.

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1207/1040 words for S rank Temporary Housing Jutsu.

[TyDie]

Kenji had only just succeeded in completely and totally capturing a spirit by using the Temporary Housing technique, a well known art amongst Genma sealers capable of containing a spirit within a jar or pot using an intricate fuuinjutsu formula. But that wasn't the final step in his grand schemes involving spirits, oh no... That was merely the start. After capturing a spirit, it would be a shame to simply let that power go to waste, so Kenji wanted to repurpose their power to worh for his own benefit. There were a number of ways to go about this...

He could make a jinchuuriki to serve him, but that could have messy consequences, especially if the host died. He didn't relish the idea of having to recapture an angry genma... There was also the possibility of simply binding it to his will with chakra and forcing it to be his summon, but that bore the potential for desertion by means of the spirit seeking out a contract with another shinobi. Genma were spiteful, prideful beasts, and their longevity ensured that they would deal with being at the beck and call of another shinobi just to get payback against one that enslaved them against their will. So that only left one real option... Tsukimogami.

One of the things his master mentioned when talking in passing about the concept of Tsukimogami, or 'tools of god', was that beings such as the genma were simply too powerful to be manipulated and controlled in such a way. They had only ever been stored within people, because people were the only ones capable of handling the immense power of their spirits. Even back then, Kenji scoffed at such a notion... No, all beings bowed to the power of chakra sooner or later. Humans, Spirits, even a god such as himself would eventually succumb to the ultimate, infinite potential of chakra. It was just a matter of quantity and quality. One would not only need a colossal amount of chakra to create a Tsukimogami out of a genmak, but they would also needed to refine it with a master's touch. Kenji, of course, had both the insane quantity necessary, and the uncanny expertise to mold it. If anyone was capable of such a feat, it was him.

The spirit he had sealed in the pot a few days ago was by no means a Grand Spirit, he was considered a Greater spirit in terms of the spiritual strength chart. However, he would still serve as a means of testing this technique; If it was successful in sealing away this kind of spirit, it would no doubt be successful in sealing away a grand spirit such as a genma. Either that, or his deviation would simply cause the technique to fail, and he'd be back to the drawing board. First, he would need to retrieve the spirit container from his realm, and so he would plant his Kunai Anchor in to the earth and activate it to enter the Personal Realm. Once more, just as when he had first sealed the beast away, he retrieved the large pot from the Black Tower and returned to the material plane by activating the Kunai he stored in his realm.

He carefully placed the pot on the earth next to him, and for a single moment he swore it shifted ever so slightly on it's own. Clearly the inhabitant of the pot was not pleased with it's imprisonment... and it would no doubt be even less happy about the new prison Kenji was designing for it. And speaking of it's new prison, Kenji would need to find an object to store the spirit within, something that he could transfer it into from the pot it now called it's home. For this particular purpose, Kenji had acquired a large wooden Kanabo with metal spikes, something he thought would have enough surface area to comfortably write the intricate fuuinjutsu pattern he would need to scribe. With both the pot holding the spirit and the object all in place, all that remained was the act of creating the seal itself, and activating it.

Kenji wasted no time in working on the seal, his chakra funneling into his hand to let loose a single tendril and charging that tendril with chakra so that it could scribe the fuuinjutsu formula into the weapon. It worked tirelessly as it did so, slithering around the weapon, scribing the fuuinjutsu formula into the wood between the metal spikes as well as going all the way down to the handle. The truly difficult part was designing the fuuinjutsu in such a way that it wouldn't be too easily damaged, as too much damage to the fuuinjutsu could result in the beast being freed from the Tsukimogami. That would prove to be catastrophic in even good circumstances, as the wielder could find themselves facing a whole new opponent in the form of the previously imprisoned spirit.

Still, with a bit more effort, the fuuinjutsu was fully inscribed into the wood of the Kanabo... It was ready to be tested. And so, Kenji would place one hand on the pot containing the spirit and the other on the handle of the Kanabo, sitting between the two with his legs crossed and closing his eyes as he focused on the power within him. This would take an amount of chakra so large that even he would be left drained and exhausted, likely unable to anything else for the remainder of the day. He took in a deep breath as his body began to glow with chakra, the vignette around him glowing darker and darker, becoming more and more opaque as the amount of chakra grew to incredible levels. Soon it began to crackle with energy, and debris was pushed away from his position at an alarming rate, creating small plumes of dust in the surrounding area.

The sky above darkened as his power grew even greater, and winds began to swirl around him, creating what would appear to be a sudden storm if viewed from far away. The trees rustled, the grass fluttered, and the chakra gathering around him was unlike anything before by this primitive land. Indeed, the land would no doubt be permanently scarred by Kenji's corrupted power... Still it was not enough. More... I need more. MORE. MORE!! Kenji's thoughts echoed through his mind, and his power grew to an all time high, the chakra emanating from his form sending out pulses that threatened to push over trees... and he hadn't even utilized it yet. But now he would.

Finally he hit the level he was looking for, and with a howl of power Kenji let loose this colossal build up into the pot and the Kanabo at the same time. Instantly the pot lid opened and the spider-like spirit burst forth from the pot, only to be immediately sucked back in to it and funneled through the fuuinjutsu lining the pot into Kenji himself. It was broken down into pure chakra and sent through Kenji's body as if he were a conduit connecting the Kanabo and the pot together. He felt it's power shift and wriggle in defiance as it passed through him, but inevitably the power Kenji had mustered was far, far greater than anything it could fight back against. Finally, it passed through him into the seal on the Kanabo, and just like that the winds ceased and the sky lit up once more. Kenji's breath was labored, and his limbs felt weak... but the deed was done. A moment later, the Kanabo rose into the air all on it's own, powered by the spirit within it... Kenji would grab the handle of the Kanabo, and almost instantly he heard the cry of rage within his mind... That spirit was furious

All Kenji could do was smile and laugh... Spirits were now nothing more than a new form of power to harvest. Like all things, they would serve his will.

-----------------------------------

1326/1040 words for S rank Perfect Tsukimogami Creation

[TyDie]

It was the dawn of a new day, and Kenji was mostly back to normal after that monumental jutsu he had used to create his first Tsukimogami by sealing the aberrant spider spirit into a Kanabo. But now that he had created it, he needed to learn how to suppress it. After all, this spirit was a powerful creature in terms of shear strength, but Kenji had no use for a levitating, sentient Kanabo. This entire exercise was merely practice for later endeavors, and one of the biggest questions at the forefront of Kenji's mind was 'what do I do if I fight a jinchuuriki who actually knows how to fight?'

It was a fair question; Jinches were widely renowned for their potential power levels, and some of the greatest shinobi in all history were jinches. If anyone was capable of giving Kenji a hard time in a fight, it was likely a jinchuuriki. But his master also held information on another seal unrelated to the techniques used to capture and seal spirits. This seal was much more direct in it's uses. It was a seal meant to cut off a spirit's ability to influence anything, be it human or object. It always astounded Kenji how something so simple as a bit of ink and chakra could create such incredible effects.

Much like before, Kenji had the design of this fuuinjutsu seal written out already in his notebook, as it was among the various things he found in his master Ichirou's library before his departure from the Hidden Rock village. It was tiny in comparison to the various fuuinjutsu he had been messing with as of late, but it's uses were vast. The ability to completely cut off a Jinch from their spirit... that would cripple most jinchuuriki beyond measure, rendering them useless and making them simple to capture. And so Kenji would begin the preparations first by going to retrieve the Kanabo, which he had had to bind in place with chains, as the spider abomination was still very clearly upset about it's current situation. In this particular instance, he would have to leave it chained to do his work; it simply wouldn't sit still otherwise.

As it wriggled on the floor, the chains rattling with it's each movement, Kenji smirked and channeled chakra throughout his form. A moment later, a tendril would emerge from his palm and it's tip would glow with chakra, the sign that he was preparing to inscribe a fuuinjutsu seal on to the Kanabo. Finding an undisturbed surface was difficult, as he had used up most of the space for the Tsukimogami seal he had done just yesterday. However there was a single bare spot near the handle of the Kanabo that would prove to be just big enough for this fuuinjutsu seal. This fuuinjutsu was incredibly small, barely two inches tall and hardly an inch wide... Would this really be enough to restrain this aberrant spirit and prevent it from influencing the Kanabo it resided within? There was only one way to find out...

The tendril began swiftly creating the tiny but complex fuuinjutsu seal, scribing line after line with a marksman's accuracy. Each stroke was incredibly careful, as a single mishap would require him to start all over, or worse... he might release the spirit within by accidentally damaging the Tsukimogami seal. He would have to improve upon the sealing formula he used for his Tsukimogami seal later, it was far too big to properly use for such creation techniques... Nonetheless, Kenji's tendril continued it's meticulous work. Each and every movement was calculated, it didn't move a millimeter farther than it needed to and made sure that each movement was well made. However, either by shear luck or by having some understanding of what was going on, the spirit within the Kanabo suddenly freaked out and the jiggling of the Kanabo caused Kenji's tendril to move just a touch too far on a particular line. That one little mistake was all it took for the entire seal to be ruined...

An annoyed sigh escaped Kenji's mouth, his hand resting on his face and slowly drifting down to his chin as his eyes rolled. He would have to start over... But this time he would hold the Kanabo down with his foot, essentially stomping it into the ground beneath it and holding it in place with his strength. The tendril would quickly wipe away the scrawling from before, clearing off the spot where the Fuuinjutsu seal had been to make room for the second attempt. And though the Kanabo struggled for a few moments, it did not budge an inch under Kenji's heel; This time, the seal would work.

His tendril once more slithered around the wood, inscribing the neat fuuinjutsu formula in place one deliberates stroke at a time. With every motion, another line was made, and Kenji would swear that by the end of it it almost looked like a solid black block of ink. However, closer inspection would reveal that the pattern was simply so small that it looked like one big block from afar. Finally, the seal was completed... Now came the fun part. Kenji would reach down to pick up the Kanabo, hearing the cries of fury from the spider spirit within the Kanabo in his mind as he had before. A small shake of his head would dismiss these cries, and with his hand pressed against the fuuinjutsu seal, he would begin to gather chakra within his form. More and more chakra swirled around him, until he was brimming with power and crackling energy surrounded him. As before, small dust clouds were formed as debris was pushed away from his position, and the almost palpable aura of unbridled power was reaching the required level to activate this Fuuinjutsu seal. This was was less about the actual amount of chakra needed and more about the molding itself, the amount of control required to properly utilize this seal went far beyond what even the most skilled shinobi were capable of.

Eventually, Kenji molded this chakra masterfully into the seal in question, and the moment it lit up the cries fell silent. Kenji dropped the Kanabo to the floor and there it sat, not budging even an inch. The spirit was simply unable to influence it's prison, it was completely and truly stuck within this weapon without a prayer of escape. The thought brought a wicked grin to Kenji's face...

-----------------------------------------

1073/1040 for S rank Complete Dominion Fuuinjutsu

[TyDie]

The past twenty four hours had born much fruit from Kenji's labors. He had learned how to summon a realm, learned how to bind a spirit with chains, how to banish a spirit from the material plane, how to paralyze them, how to seal them within a container, and how to create Tsukimogami. He had grown much in such a short time, as was to be expected from the God of Chakra. But there was still one more jutsu he had in mind that he wanted to put into practice, one more technique that he wanted to test. He had a stronger version of the chains in mind, one that would be so powerful they could bind even the strongest of the genma to his will.

In theory, it would be no different then any of the other shizumeru chain techniques he had learned. However, in practice, this was a much different beast, mostly due to the shear amount of chakra that would be required to get the desired effect. These chains would not only be ten times stronger, they would also move faster too, to ensure they would be capable of capturing and detaining a spirit of genma level strength. The infamous Phantom beasts were known as the first gods of humanity, they had ruled over early man with an iron fist and their powers were second to none when put up against other spirits... Kenji would not take them lightly, and he would not risk defeat at their hands.

But once more, he would need a decent test dummy to ensure that the chains worked as he intended. And while these chain techniques would work just fine against a Tsukimogami, such as the one that the aberrant spider spirit inhabited in the Kanabo, he wanted to test this against a real spirit. Of course, that meant intentionally freeing the beast from it's prison... Which he would do later. For now, he wanted to get the general idea down so that he could execute it properly against the spirit when the time came.

Just as before, Kenji would begin by gathering chakra throughout his body, feeling the corrupt energy ripple through him like most people would feel blood rushing through their body. Being a master of chakra control as he was, this amount of energy felt like hardly anything, but to many shinobi this was the most chakra they would ever feel in their entire lives. And he had only hit what shinobi referred to as the "B rank" level of chakra. He would then allow this chakra to flow down into his palm before letting it fire off in the form of the Chains of Tyranny, watching as the chains swiftly darted through the air until they reached their maximum range. They seemed so thin, so brittle... Kenji was convinced that he would have no trouble at all breaking these himself, if they could effect him in the first place that is.

With a wave of his hand the chains dissipated into nothingness, and Kenji placed a hand on his chin in thought. He would have to increase the amount of chakra exponentially to achieve the level of power he desired. To bind a spirit as powerful as a genma, it would take everything he had. Once more he would gather chakra within himself, focusing on the inner power and building it up more and more with each breath he took. It was an oddity for him to be sure, despite his lack of lungs he still used breathing as a medium for focus... A habit he would likely never be rid of. The power continued to grow far past where he had been previously, until it was between the "A rank" and "S rank" range of power. He would again point his hands towards the air and funnel the chakra down through his body and into his palm, allowing the maroon chains to once more fly out from his person. They were much thicker this time, the same chains that the Alligator spirit from before had been unable to break. They were a few inches thicker than his arm, clearly powerful... but still not nearly enough.

He would have to go far, far beyond these levels to achieve what he desired. This would be closer to the same level as some of this other momentous techniques, ninjutsu techniques that very, very few others would ever be able to equal. One last time, he gathered chakra throughout his form, holding his hands out in front of him as the chakra filled his being. The amount of power grew with each passing second until it began to crackle and jolt, until dust and grass was thrown away from him and the trees began to flutter as his power flowed out into the air itself. He began to let out small, labored sighs as the black aura of chakra surrounding him became almost palpable, so dense that even civilians unattuned to the feeling of chakra would be able to feel it if they were close enough.

This would be it, this was the power he was aiming for... He was ready to unleash the spirit from it's cage. Still maintaining this chakra charge, Kenji walked over to the Kanabo and picked it up from the ground... It was still under the effects of the Complete Dominion seal, and thus the spirit could do nothing but watch from the inside. However, a quick toss with all of his strength towards a nearby rock would cause both the rock and the Kanabo to shatter, and in an instant the beast within the weapon was free to walk the realm of man again. A loud screech to the skies preluded it's charge, as it was no longer bound by the limitations set forth by the realm summoning Kenji had initially used to call it out yesterday. The beast, however, would find it's charge halted almost instantly...

Kenji released the jutsu, and multiple chains with links the size of trees shot out from his hands. Their strength was immeasurable, and their speed swift as lightning. The beast was held fast by their power within mere moments, and it let out another bloodcurdling shriek as it struggled in vain against their unmatched power. The chains sucked the strength from the beast little by little, until eventually they finally receded and left a weakened shell of the former creature in their wake. It lay on the ground, practically dead from loss of strength and chakra, and Kenji simply smirked before channeling chakra throughout his body and touching the beast's head. An instant later, the creature returned from whence it came... no doubt to be preyed upon in it's weakened state by others of it's kind.

He had gone from knowing little of the ways of Tenkujutsu to being a full fledged master of the Ether arts in just twenty four hours... Such was the way of the God of Chakra.

----------------------------------------

1157/1040 for S rank Prison of Tyranny Jutsu

[TyDie]

One of the greatest realizations that Kenji had come to in his incredible revelations within that damnable realm belonging to Ouji, Sanjuku was the concept of time. To most of humanity it was constant, always flowing in a single direction at an unchanging pace towards the inevitable end of all things. There were many statements thrown about regarding this fact; "Time waits for no man" and "You can't change the past". But as Kenji had learned in that vast expanse, as the passage of time flowed forward at an incredibly accelerated rate, Time was not so linear. Time was fickle.

It could be changed, it could be forced to wait... It was just another facet of Kenji's nigh infinite power. Just as many shinobi looked at the elements as extensions of themselves, Kenji viewed time as nothing more then another force to be harnessed and used for his own purposes. He had developed techniques centered around the concept of time; erasing certain events, or going back in time to alter said events. Stopping time all together, or accelerating his own time to shrug off unwanted debilitations. Yes, Time was Kenji's plaything, and he it's master... But as with all things, it could be expanded upon. He could always improve.

And so that was today's venture; taking a technique he had already mastered and improving upon it to better suit his needs. His most powerful time stopping technique, nicknamed 'Mist', was capable of halting the passage of time in a small area around him for all things airborne. This included everything from ninjutsu attacks to kunai, to the very air itself. But there were a few things that could use improvement, and all it would take was a bit more chakra and a lot more control... Both of which were things Kenji had in abundance. First he would aim to simply increase the diameter of the affected area, and so without pause Kenji would stand in the middle of the large woodland clearing and begin gathering chakra within himself.

This vignette of chakra grew and grew around him, like an aura of black malevolence enshrouding his form. All nearby wildlife scattered, a few bunnies hopping away and a deer on the outskirts of the wooded area prancing off into the woods to get away from the perverse power. His chakra surpassed that of a normal 'S Rank' Technique, which is what the original time stopping technique was classified as. Of course, Kenji could just throw more and more chakra into this technique until he achieved the desired effect, but that would just be a waste. No, his ability to mold and control chakra was so great, he couldn't let himself waste a single bit of this power.

And so it was that he halted after gathering a little more than the average "S rank" technique, molding that power around and spreading it thinly across the vast area surrounding him until it was stretched to the furthest point he could manage; a distance of about fifty meters. That was almost double the range of the original technique... good, it was a good start at least. But he wanted more from this... His original technique was capable of stopping anything and everything within it's range, but that was also a limitation against Kenji. So what if it wasn't anymore? What if Kenji could selectively decided what to stop and what to let go? The uses were immeasurable, and the advantages were grand. But could such a thing be achieved?

Ha... Of course it could. All could be achieved through the power of chakra.

Kenji would start by first allowing time to resume in the area he had stopped, watching as leaves that were caught mid flight drifted down to the forest floor. Then, once time had fully resumed, Kenji once more gathered his corrupted, black chakra, focusing the power through his body with deep, measured breaths. It always surprised him that such human rituals such as meditative breathing were still a factor for him. Despite no longer having lungs to breath with, the act of mimicking the feeling of breathing helped to calm him and focus his energy towards the task at hand. Once his chakra had built to the same level as before, Kenji let out a long, deep breath. As he did so, the power that he had gathered within him slowly spread out through the same area as before, extending out to a distance of fifty meters as it had before. All throughout this area, the air appeared shimmery and wavy, as if one was looking through a thin veil of water.

Yet nothing in the area was frozen. Wind flowed as normal, the grass and leaves rustled as proof of that. And yet the chakra filled the air, he could practically taste it... So had it worked? The concept was simple enough, and if it worked he would be able to prove it with ease. In theory, the timeline of everything within this shimmery, distorted area was subject to his will. And so, if he merely focused his attention on something for a brief instant, it would be suspended in time... at least, in theory. However, as he focused his attention on the waving grass, he couldn't help but grin as the grass seemingly froze in place. He focused his attention to the leaves of the trees, and they were silenced. The wind itself seemed to freeze at his beck and call.

Good, it was working... But the question was, to what extent was the power that he could stop? To properly test it, he would have to use one of his own techniques... Kenji's body swiftly bulged with power as chakra flowed through him, his tendrils expanding within him, granting him strength equal to that of his partner Nehan. Then, he reached into his ninja pouch and produced a Kunai, something small that he could toss at blinding speeds. He picked a point on a nearby tree and reeled back before heaving it forward, the weapon causing a sonic boom as it passed through the air. But the moment it left his hand, he focused on it, and just before it hit the tree... it stopped. Upon closer inspection, it sat suspended in mid air mere inches away from the tree it was set to hit. He tugged on it a moment to test the strength of the weapon and found it immovable...

With a smile, he released a small bit of chakra to reopen time around the kunai, which swiftly tore through a half dozen trees before finally stopping. He was successful... Within a rather large area, Kenji was truly the master of time.

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1108/1040 for S rank "Fickle Will of Xastur" technique:

SpoilerShow

[Close Time • Fickle Will of Xastur]
S-rank Jikukan Ninjutsu
Prerequisite: 40 Ninjutsu, 50 Control, [Close Time: Mist]
An altered, more powerful version of the original technique, Kenji will channel chakra throughout his body before dispersing it throughout a static 50 meter area, centered on his person. This area will thereafter appear wavy and distorted, as if looking through a thin veil of water, though it does not obscure or hamper vision. Within this area, Kenji is master of time, and can selectively Close Time around anything within the area by simply focusing his attention on it. Everything he closes is closed by it's strength, requiring more than it's strength to move it or move through it. This area lasts for 5 posts.

[TyDie]

As Kenji's power over chakra has grown, so too has his arsenal of weaponry and objects of interest. And not long ago, he developed a fuuinjutsu that marked a specific object in space with his chakra. However, having that seal was meaningless as of right now, as he had no jutsu meant to make use of the seal. Given his newfound ability to create weapons sealed with the power of spirits, he figured having the ability to call those sorts of items to his hand on a whim would prove quite useful. And so, he decided now was the time to learn how to call that seal of his into his grasp, defying the laws of space with his power.

First, he would have to place the Space Marker seal on an object, so that he could call it to him. After all, the fuuinjutsu seal marked it within space and would allow him to pull the object in question to his hand from anywhere. Everything from the other side of the world to another dimension, nothing was beyond his grasp so long as it bore that seal. But for this specific test, he would place the seal on a simple rock that was lying on the ground. He picked up the rock and swiftly dragged his finger across the rock in small movements, scribing the tiny seal on the rock with ease.

He then let the rock fall from his hand with a soft 'plop' back to the dirt before reaching in to his robe and retrieving his Kunai anchor. Using it, he was quickly transported from the material plane to his personal realm... he would attempt to pull the rock through the boundaries of space to his hand. He began by channeling a small amount of chakra through his body, gathering this power in to his form before flowing it down into his hand. Once he had a sufficient amount of power gathered there, he closed his eyes and thought of the rock. It's shape, it's size, it's weight... but most importantly, that seal he had placed on it. He focused on that seal and let the chakra he gathered flow out of his hand and beyond the barrier of space separating his world from the real world, where it enveloped the rock he had left on the ground. A short moment later, that very same rock was now resting comfortable in his hand... and with a small grin, Kenji crushed the rock with his hand. The technique was complete, he could now pull objects through the aether at his command.

----------------------------

431/400 for B rank "Object recall" technique

[TyDie]

Clash of the Gods: The Subjugation of the Great Crystal Beast

There were many things that Kenji detested when it came to humankind; The weak claiming they were strong, people with undeserved feelings of pride or success, and of course those who lived their lives by codes of honor or morality, as if it put them on a higher pedestal then others. But nothing, not one single thing tore into his soul and boiled his nonexistent blood like the ignorant did, especially the willfully ignorant. Those who would never amount to anything, who were content to live out their meager lives in a monotonous cycle of daily life. Wake up, tend to the crops, tend to the livestock, go to the town square to trade goods, come home to an equally boring wife and have unfulfilling intercourse to produce more cursed offspring and continue the tained line of failure and stupidity. If he had a stomach, the very thought would make him want to vomit.

He considered it a cruel irony, then, that these sorts of places were the most potent breeding grounds of myths and legends. People too stupid to understand what was really happening around them, and thus they came up with whimsical stories and fancy tales in some sort of effort to bring light to their ignorance, which in reality only dragged humanity further down into the cesspool of idiocy. The only saving grace to these fairy tales was the impressive speed at which they traveled through the grape vine. A travelling merchant hears the tales, passes it on to an innkeeper in a drunken stupor, the innkeeper passes it along to some drunk to 'wow' him and coerce him into buying more sake and killing more of his brain cells... the chain would continue on and on until they eventually made their way to him and his network of information.

And on that day, Kenji would go and debunk these myths and legends... Just to prove how vacuous the people really were. Just to rub it in their faces that they were vapid, imbecilic fools who would never be remembered by the annals of history. But this story is one of the few times where these myths and legends had some truth to them, albeit a mere grain. This was the day that Kenji learned of the great god of the mines, who provided his people with riches beyond their wildest dreams and allowed their society to thrive and bustle... The story of Kessho-Kami.

The myth came to him through his web and at first it sounded like any other, though with some obvious changes to the formula. A group of people who were settling unclaimed land found a cavern that bore various precious and semi precious gemstones, which lead them to beginning a mining operation there. But as they dug deeper into the mine, they found less and less crystal... and began to hear eerie sounds from within the mines. Naturally, the fear of this unknown thing scared them off at first, but as time grew they began to view the source of these odd sounds as some sort of god. Being logical people of sound mind, obviously the next step was to sacrifice the blood of animals to this 'god' by sending them down into the mines to be devoured by their gods. Sometimes, when the blood of animals was not enough, they would even drive one of their own into the mines as a sacrifice.

Accounts of anything after this point are to be taken with a grain of salt, but supposedly these miners eventually began discovering fully formed gems where once there were none, and began founding barren skeletons, picked clean of all meat and left as nothing but skeletons impaled on giant quarts crystals. And thus the Great Crystal God was born: Kessho-Kami, lord of the mines and provider of wealth and riches. The skeptic in Kenji had to prove their ignorance, but there was some part of him that wanted it to be true. If his theories were correct, this 'god' was no god at all, but a chakra spirit of great power, perhaps even comparable to that of the Genma. And such a power, if put under Kenji's command, would grant immense benefit to him and his ambitions. So whether the myths were true or false, Kenji would come out of this with a victory... either against ignorance, or for his own power.

---

When he arrived in the small mining town of Shoumusa, it seemed the people hardly even paid attention to him as he entered. They seemed far too interested in something else, perhaps some sort of ritual going on about the town. His observations were proven correct, as he found his way to the square where a woman no older than 17 was standing atop a pedestal made from quartz. Surrounding her was a small fire, a bowl of water, a plot of freshly dug earth and a windchime. After a few moments of chanting around the woman, the man performing this ritual went to each of these elemental symbols and retrieved a small necklace, with pendants made from different semiprecious stones. From the bowl of water he retrieved a necklace with an Aquamarine pendant, From the windchime he took a necklace with a Topaz pendant, From the plot of earth he produced a necklace with a Jade pendant, and from the fire he carefully pulled out a necklace with an Amber pendant.

Each of these necklaces were placed around the neck of the woman, who seemed sad and fearful. It quickly became apparent to Kenji that this was one of their various sacrificial rituals... one consisting of a Human sacrifice. How intriguing... each necklace also contained the Kanji for their respective elements; Fuu, Ka, Sui and Do. Finally after some more chanting and a small chant from the people gathered, a path was cleared in the crowd. A path leading to a large cave mouth. There... that was where this supposed "God of crystals" resided. Good, he could drop the act and go about his business. The woman was practically being pushed towards the cavern's mouth, but a moment later Kenji was walking past her as if nothing was amiss. As if he hadn't just disturbed what they considered to be a sacred ritual.

"Wait, what are you doing you fool! You'll anger Kessho-Kami, you'll be the death of-" The man who was performing the ritual was swiftly silenced as a long, black tendril shot out from Kenji's back, flowing out from underneath his robe and wrapping around the man's neck swiftly. Kenji's face, as he turned to look at the man, was covered in a single emotion; Rage. Pure, unbridled rage. The entire crowd froze, stunned and shocked. Even the sacrifice froze in place, a look of fear now plastered on her face as she was merely a couple meters away. "How dare you issue a command to me, you mundane simpleton. You believe a god resides down in that cave? No... I am a god. And you have angered me." A swift "POP" sounded out through the crowd as his neck was snapped like a twig, and the people gasped and cried with terror.

The sacrificial lamb tried to turn and run, but Kenji's tendril grasped her by the ankle and dragged her back kicking and screaming until she hung upside down in front of him. "If you have any concept of self preservation, you will lead me through this cave towards the 'god' taking residence here. And maybe, if you are a good girl, i'll let you keep your insignificant life. Understand?" The girl, tears streaming down her face, let out a few sobs before finally choking out a word. "O...Okay..." A sly grin crossed his masked face as he released her from his grasp, letting her fall onto her stomach with a soft 'plop' "Go. Follow whatever path you were supposed to follow for this ritual."

Clearly the woman was still afraid, and the people behind Kenji were just as afraid as she was. But still, reluctantly she moved into the mouth of the cave, and as Kenji entered the cave he turned back to the people gathered around. "If you value your lives, you will stay away from this cave. Only one will exit this cavern." Kenji's malevolent chuckle as he entered the depths of the cavern echoed out into the crowd, shaking the people to their cores... they weren't sure what to do, but one thing was certain; no one was going near that cave any time soon.

---

Once within, Kenji would prod the woman in the back here and there, keeping her moving despite her fears and desire to go back to her people. "No, please... I have family..." "Do you think that matters to me? Your life means less to me than the dirt underneath your feet. And clearly that's the same for your people, considering they were willing to sacrifice you to this so called 'god'. Do you know how I know this isn't a true god woman?" She shakily nodded her head, not knowing what he meant. "A real god wouldn't need your pitiful sacrifices, like a dog eating the scraps his master handed it.. If he wanted your lives, he would take them. After all, I did." He smirked as the girl kept moving, winding down this path, taking a left here and a right there.

The cavern got darker, but there were lamps down deeper in the cave to keep the place illuminated for the mining processes. However, as they traveled down into the depths of the cavern, the lanterns became more sparse, but there was still light in the caves... The crystals themselves were aglow with some sort of eerie light, and the farther they went down, the more plentiful the crystals were, and the bigger they got. What started off as only a few small chunks of quarts became a myriad of crystals of all shapes and sizes, all colors and lusters. Never before had he seen such a gathering of various minerals before, and it was likely there was no other place like this in the entire world. The girl was even amazed by the sights... it was likely the only ones who ever made it this far down into the caves were the ones who were sent in as sacrifices. There was no apparent mining activity down here... Kenji performed a series of hand seals and allowed his chakra to flow out into the area, only to find that every single crystal was made of it.

This entire cavern, every inch... was brimming with pure chakra.

"This is far enough... I should kill you anyway, but I'll hold true to my word. Go, before I change my mind." The woman nodded in understanding before slipping past Kenji and heading back through the cave, whimpering as she got as far away from The Thing that Should Not Be as she could. With a small chuckle and a shake of his head, Kenji continued through the cavern, maneuvering carefully around the large hunks of crystal jutting from the cavern's floor and walls. The content of chakra within each of these crystals was actually quite respectable, it was clearly not just raw chakra found in the earth. Something was, in fact, producing these crystals through the power of chakra. And they were capable of storing chakra within them it seemed... Fascinating.

The further Kenji descended, the more chakra he sensed, and somehow the farther he got from the sun the brighter the cavern became. Eventually the crystals he saw were bigger than he was, bigger than houses, bigger than towers... The sight was breathtaking, and the amount of chakra was nearly blinding at this point. He no longer tread stone, he was walking on crystals, and crystals were all his eyes could see. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, it seemed the end of his trek through this cavern was in sight... before him sat a truly awe inspiring sight, even in comparison to what he had already bore witness to.

---

He looked upon what he could only assume was the Antechamber. The walls extended into nigh infinity all around him, their maximum distance was easily a kilometer in all directions, maybe more. The ceiling of the cavern hung a good 200 meters overhead. And all around him were crystals; the walls just out in shades of various crystals ranging from amethyst and tigers eye to precious diamonds and rubies. sapphires and emeralds lined the floor and great stalactites of hematite hung from the ceiling, each one measuring anywhere from 5 to 20 meters in length. Even more interesting was the mass of bones lining the floor; animal and human alike, they were everywhere and they appeared frail, brittle. And yet judging by appearances, they seemed only somewhat old He no longer tried to sense at this point; the shear quantity of chakra contained within these crystals would overwhelm even Kenji. Whatever spawned this cavern of crystals... Perhaps it truly was deserving of it's praise. Perhaps it was worthy of it's title, the God of Crystals.

All the more reason that it's power would become his.

A sudden surge of chakra came as if from nowhere, extending towards Kenji's person with breakneck speed. Only narrowly was Kenji able to leap out of the way as a large stalagmite of pure diamond shot out from the earth where he once stood, easily 5 meters in diameter and 10 meters tall.

"You... You are not a sacrifice are you?"

The voice resounded through the cavern, as if the cavern itself were speaking to Kenji. The walls echoed it's voice, creating a sort of cacophony of sound that repeated the words over and over again. Kenji was tempted to put a hand over his ears as the sound waves assaulted his senses, but he refused. He would not show a single sign of weakness against this creature, this beast would know that Kenji was master to it, to all "Hardly. I am no lamb brought to the slaughter, nor am I a morsel to sate your appetite. I am a usurper, beast. I have come to take what is rightfully mine." If the previous question the beast asked was 'loud', then the laughter that rumbled the cavern walls could only be described as 'monstrous'.

The stalactites above Kenji's head shook to and fro, oscillating above his head and threatening to fall at any given second from the looks of things. He was already in the process of channeling chakra to protect himself from such a grisly fate. The beast within the cavern took one look at the power surrounding Kenji and spoke. "Such power... Ooh, you will feed me well 'usurper'. That strange chakra of yours will belong to ME!" The beast's voice was gruff, commanding, authoritative... eerily similar traits to Kenji. And as it spoke, chakra once more flowed through the earth towards Kenji as he continued to channel his chakra. The chakra caused space to tighten in front of Kenji, allowing him to take a single step and cross a vast distance of 50 meters, avoiding yet another stalagmite of crystal. "Ha, slippery little fuel source, aren't you?"

"Keep talking, please... I'll find you eventually spirit. Even you can't match my power, the power of the God of Chakra." For a moment after Kenji spoke, the spirit fell silent... Chakra flowed through Kenji's body quickly, directed towards his eyes and granting him the ability to see a spirit within his vicinity. This maroon chakra that flooded his eyes only caused the beast's reaction to his previous statement to be even more... volatile. "You INSOLENT Mortal! You have no claim to godliness, how dare you put yourself on the same pedestal as I! I am Kessho-Kami, and I am the true God of Chakra! I will consume your chakra and add it to my own, as I have dozens before you!" During all of this speech, the spirit was apparently not throwing attacks at Kenji, which gave him a moment to view his surroundings... and there, a few hundred meters off, was a maroon blob nestled within the ground itself.

Ha, the beast could hide within these crystals. Of course he could. That was not a problem though, with a quick reach towards his leg he retrieved a Kunai anchored to one of the kunai on his arms and heaved back, lobbing the weapon with incredible speed to get the most distance possible. In response, the beast thrust forth more chakra at Kenji, a lot more in fact. Kenji began back stepping away from the surging chakra as quickly as he could, channeling a great amount of chakra through himself as he distanced himself from the beast's attacks. One after another crystals shot up in front of and to the sides of him, trying to intercept his serpentine movements but failing each time. The beast was far away, so it was easy enough to tell where the attacks were going before they hit.

Once his chakra reached it's critical mass, Kenji smiled before leaping high into the air as more crystals shot out around him. In mid air, this chakra within him formed a gargantuan orb above his head, which he swiftly forced down into a densely packed orb that sat in the palm of his hand. Just as a crystal was shooting forth from the ground that would impale his entire body, he reached for the kunai on his arm connected to the one he had thrown. In an instant he was 80 meters in the air and still rising from the force of his initial jump. Looking down, he saw the maroon blob much better now, and it was massive With a toothy grin he hurled the pulsating orb of unbridled power at the spirit residing within the ground. The sound of it flying through the air was unlike anything heard around the world, something akin to the sound of a weapon whooshing through the air but much, much louder. The beast saw this mass of dense chakra flying towards it, and though he could not see him underneath the crystals, the beast grinned back.

Suddenly, it's head shot forth from the ground, revealing itself to be reptilian in appearance with a sort of beak, filled with a maw of jagged crystal teeth. The beast's jaws opened and like a dog catching a ball thrown by it's own, they snapped shut on the rasengan Kenji had thrown... It literally ate one of his most powerful techniques. Even Kenji could not contain his composure, his eyes going wide as he witnessed this beast consume his chakra like a small rice bun. "HA, I was right about you. That power... comparable to my own. So much chakra... so HUNGRY!!" Kessho-Kami bellowed with fury as he burst forth from the crystalline earth, showing his true form to be absolutely massive. He was easily 40 meters tall, with sleek crystalline skin and an anthropoid-esque body. Two large arms ended in long, jagged crystal claws and two gargantuan feet with what appeared to be talons. Large wings like that of an eagle just from it's back, three pairs of wings to be exact.

The most interesting part of this creature, however, was that it appeared much like it's cavern did. It was not composed of a single type of crystal, but many forms of crystal. Its arms primarily ruby, it's legs emerald, it's wings sapphires, it's torso diamonds, and it's head an amalgamation of all of the others. It shot towards Kenji at ridiculous speeds and with a swift strike from the back of it's hand, Kenji was sent flying an incredible 300 meters. His cloak absorbed much of the damage from the strike thanks to the protection fuuin he placed within it's threads, but that strike still jumbled his body and shocked the hell out of him. For once in a great long while, he wasn't truly sure how to deal with this... Never before had he fought a menace that not only nullified his ninjutsu, but literally fed off of them.

And it was in this moment, as he tumbled along the floor like a ragdoll, that Kenji experienced an emotion he had not felt in centuries. Not when he fought the Hokage and his friend, not when he fought the man he reverse engineered earth grudge fear from, and not even when he ran from the village. No, the last time he felt this feeling was that day when he underwent the ritual to become what he was. The pain, the uncertainty, the and the darkness that enveloped him as a part of the earth grudge fear ritual... All of it lead to a single emotion:

Fear. He was afraid.

Chakra was his everything. It was his strength, his defense, his mobility, his utility... his very life force. And this beast fed on it, soaked it up like a sponge. Such a power was something that even he could not deny. Such a power... was something that rivaled, and may even have truly surpassed his own. "You arrogant, prideful, poor excuse for a shinobi. Your claims to divinity are an insult! I alone am master of chakra! I ALONE am truly a god! Me, and only me! Once I am free of this insufferable prison, I will assimilate this world. All life, including those sad excuses for rulers that you humans call the Genma... All will become one within me. This world will be covered in a field of crystals, it's life force will be sucked dry. And then I, Kessho-Kami, will use the infinite power of chakra to create a whole new realm of life. Your death will be the overture to a new world... MY WORLD!!!"

The beast crossed the distance between them, 200 meter distance, in a flash of movement that even Kenji could not react to. A creature so large moving so fast shouldn't even be possible, but up until a few moments ago Kenji didn't believe the consumption of chakra to be possible either, at least not in such a literal fashion. The beast snatched him from the earth, leaving a giant claw mark in the crystals where Kenji's body lay. But as the beast picked up Kenji's body, a moment later Kenji would vanish, warped back into his realm by the Kunai strapped to his leg. A small grunt of frustration rang out through the caves as the beast looked around, wondering where he had gone... He would be back, the beast knew it. He was too arrogant to not return. And he was patient... he had waited for centuries for this moment. What was a few more minutes?

---

Face first on the ground was where Kenji sat in his realm, motionless, like a statue. The emotions rushing through his head were enough to split the mind. Anger, Frustration, Fear, Greed, Humiliation, Enthusiasm, Disbelief... the list went on. This creature is unlike any I have ever fought before. It's power is immeasurable... It truly could assimilate the world, consume all chakra, become one with the power... from there, there are no limitations. It really could do anything and everything it ever wanted. It could unmake the universe, remake another one, make multiple, make an infinite number of them, control all of time and space forever...

The thoughts ran through his head at a mile a minute, working over the facts until he was green with envy. And then, a sound began to fill his realm. A soft, quiet sound at first, but it eventually filled his realm to the brim. It was laughter; Kenji's laughter to be precise. "Hmhmhmhmhmhmhm, hahahahahahahahaha, HAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" He rose to his feet, laughing with an insane glee. He tossed the tattered remains of his cloak aside and tore off his mask, a look of pure madness mixed with delight and determination on his face. "It will be mine! It's power will be mine!!!"

---

A few moments later, Kenji reappeared within the crystal cavern with the kunai he had thrown earlier before using the Rasengan. Instantly he took in his surroundings, and the two gods noticed each other immediately. "Are you ready to fulfill your destiny worm? To become one with God?!" Kenji tilted his head, his wide eyes glinting with a similar twinkle to the cave's crystals itself. "On the contrary, Kessho-Kami... It is you that will serve my will." Uproarious laughter filled the cavern once again, the crystals above rocking back and forth... And this time, they came down like giant blades threatening to carve Kenji to pieces. With incredible speed Kenji dipped back and forth, watching as each crystal embedded itself behind him.

The beast was channeling it's chakra throughout the entire cave now, exerting it's will over the colossal crystals that made up this world beneath the crust of the planet. Kenji, too, was channeling an immense amount of chakra throughout his body, and just as before he tossed a kunai with incredible speed across the landscape towards Kessho-Kami. When they both gathered intense amounts of chakra, the world itself shook with their combined power. Both techniques were released in tandem; Kessho-Kami brought forth hundreds of crystals, all shooting from above and beyond and sideways, branching off of themselves like giant trees and branches... He was being attacked from all directions.

And they would all hit where he stood, there was no possible method of escape. The crystals all jammed themselves within Kenji's area, bombarding him with their power. The beast laughed in response, as soon Kenji's chakra would be drained into the crystals and he would have the immense power necessary to break his seal and leave this place... But wait. Something was wrong, He felt no chakra being drained, especially not the strange, corrupt chakra that Kenji had shown. "What? Impossible... You can't have escaped that." The crystals pulled apart in response to his will, clearing the area to reveal just what had happened.

And there sat Kenji, surrounded by an almost opague sphere of black chakra. With the aura around him and the chakra barrier surrounding him, he appeared as nothing more then a black silhouette with his red and blue eyes staring out at the beastly spirit. The barrier faded away after a moment, revealing Kenji's face, twisted into a wicked grin. A moment later, Kenji was 20 meters behind the beast, teleporting to the kunai he had thrown moment ago. With a cry of rage the beast once more exerted his will over the cave, causing two vertical large, flat crystals to raise Kenji up into the air and crush him between the two. Moments before impact however, the second of Kenji's large barriers spawned and protected him from their impact, holding them at bay. Kenji was already enveloped by another vignette of chakra, as he knew his moment was coming... the beast was about to slip.

"DIE!!!!" Kesshi-Kami screamed with rage and shot out a 20 meter long, 5 meter wide crystal from it's mouth... It was then that Kenji made his move. He expelled this chakra into the air between him and Kessho-Kami, and just before the spike hit him he physically grabbed hold of space itself and tore it apart, creating a portal that consumed the crystal entirely. The parent portal was created 5 meters behind Kessho Kami...

---

A howl of pain unlike any the world had ever heard rang out through that cave, so loud that the people above ground heard his screams. The force of the crystal shot him forward towards Kenji's position, and he promptly dove out of the way as the beast impacted the crystal column that he had created himself. Kenji's theory was right; he couldn't consume his own chakra... The beast had taken a debilitating hit, it was stunned and he needed to keep the pressure on. Already he was surrounded by more chakra, more and more he expended to the point that he was beginning to feel faint, but no... He couldn't fall, the tides had turned in his favor now, this was his only shot.

He gathered the chakra necessary for the Prison of Tyranny, the strongest binding jutsu he knew for dealing with spirits. Chains the size of buildings shot forth from his palm, and in an instant the spirit was encased within the maroon chains of the Shizumeru technique. A cry of fury rang forth, and the cavern shuddered at his whims while he struggled in vain against the powerful chains. There was one more technique necessary to complete Kessho-kami's capture, a fuuin he had designed especially for the complete immobilization of a spirit for transfer into their temporary container. With a bit of chakra channeled into his free hand, Kenji approached the struggling crystal spirit and jumped on to it's shoulder to inscribe the fuuin seal on it's neck.

"This isn't over you bastard! You can't stop me, This world will be mine and you will be the first to die! I will-" The beast suddenly cut off mid sentence as the fuuinjutsu took effect and the spirit was rendered completely paralyzed... the deed was done; Kessho-Kami was now his slave.

"You will do nothing spirit. You will serve me, willingly or forcefully makes no difference. As I said Kessho-Kami, I am a usurper, and I have now claimed what is rightfully mine." A moment later, Kenji utilized a fuuin attached to a large pot stored in his realm with a bit more Jikukan chakra, calling forth the pot and placing it on the ground next to the beast before taking a seat between Kessho-Kami and the pot. He placed a hand on both the spirit and the pot and began to gather chakra within himself at an alarming rate. His eyes fluttered, this was the last of what he was capable of... But it was the last step to staking his claim.

"...Name" It was miraculous that the beast could speak under the effects of that seal, but it was weak, muttered, hardly audible. "Your... Name..." It spoke again, merely a shell of it's former pride and power. All Kenji could do was grin at the beast's request, and just as the top popped off of the pot and the Temporary Housing jutsu was completed.

"...Call me God." A moment later, the power channeled into the pot began to consume the consumer, sucking Kessho-kami within the pot in only a couple of seconds before the top replaced itself. Kenji, finally spent, fell backwards on to his back in exhaustion. He hardly had the energy to move, let alone cast another technique... But after finally working up the energy to stand, he took a look around his surroundings and find an interesting stone, separated from the rest of the carnage that lay about this once beautiful cave. Nestled between a few chunks of quartz sat a large wand of pure jade, about 6 inches in diameter and about 1 foot long from tip to tip. It was as if it was calling to Kenji, as if it knew it's purpose... To serve as the permanent container for the being that created it.

To become the Tsukimogami for the Great Crystal God, Kessho-Kami.

[TyDie]

One of Kenji's most neglected fields of study was Mind's Eye Sensory; the ability to project one's chakra out as a sort of sixth sense, allowing them to sense other chakra signatures with theirs. This was not to say that he was a novice in the art; on the contrary his skills were slightly above the average when compared to other shinobi. But that was the problem... Kenji was not slightly above average. He was the best, no one was his equal. And today, he would work on proving that and furthering his skills with the art of Mind's Eye Sensory Ninjutsu.

The first technique that Kenji had in mind was simple enough. It was a well known fact that when a technique was used, a very minuscule amount of it's chakra remained in the area for a very long time. For much stronger, bombastic techniques like Kenji's own jutsu, this chakra was practically tangible, and many of the 'cursed lands' of the world were in fact the site of incredibly powerful techniques that scarred the lands. But for the weaker, more simple jutsu, the trace amount of chakra were insignificant, and would hardly be noticed unless a sensor was looking for them specifically...

That was exactly what Kenji intended to do.

He now stood at the location of a desolate samurai compound that stood as a haven for the people of waterfall country once upon a time... before he and Nehan were paid to obliterate it. Now little remained but rubble, and there was no life anywhere around the area. But that he expected to find was the remains of the chakra he and Nehan had expended to bring about it's destruction. And so, with a few hand seals, Kenji's chakra flowed out into the area around him. The sphere of chakra expanded out from his position at a rapid pace, eventually encompassing the entirety of the compound's ruins.

Then, Kenji would flare his chakra with a small channel, and this extra bit of chakra would flow out into the chakra he had already released for the purposes of sensory. It mingled with his chakra and altered it's effects, and a moment later Kenji's eyes could see the remnants of the chakra that still flowed throughout this land. The tower over in the corner was still full of Nehan's chakra, which she had used to cut the building down with Fuuton. And the haven building that Kenji had blown to pieces with fuuin was still present in the land. With his own chakra, he could even tell how strong those fuuin were, despite them being used years and years ago. Good... He was capable of reading chakra, and could make inferences of the chakra's strength. To many this information was inconsequential...

To Kenji, it was just another way of exploring the mysteries of chakra.

-----------------------------------------

470/400 for Chakra Trace B rank Sensory

[TyDie]

He had begun his dive into the wonders of Mind's Eye Sensory ninjutsu by learning how to detect the trace amounts of chakra left behind by other techniques. But for this next concept to be expanded upon, Kenji would need to first locate a chakra signature. Being out in the wilderness, there weren't any people around to observe, but he could only assume there'd be some kind of wild animal nearby. While their chakra was insignificant, it was enough to be sensed, and therefore enough to serve as the catalyst for his newest technique.

Every chakra signature was unique. While many people had the typical light blue hue with their chakra, each and every one had very minute differences that were usually unnoticeable. However, with a bit of chakra and a lot of mind power, Kenji intended to imprint their chakra within his Mind's Eye, so that he would be able to tell that signature apart in a crowd. The benefits of such a thing were obvious; It would allow him to basically create a personal file on the target, using jutsu to understand their strengths, weaknesses, affinities and so on. A file that he could access later and use to his advantage, one that he could study and internalize.

First, as was the case with almost all sensory techniques, he would need to first use a technique to extend his senses out into the world around him. And so, with a few hand seals, Kenji's chakra would extend out from his body in all directions. It filled the air, rushed across the ground, and a moment later Kenji was able to see the chakra signature of what he could only guess was a deer. The signature was weak, infinitesimal in comparison to his own, but it was enough to get a lock.

Which is precisely what he intended to do next. He channeled more chakra throughout his body and extended this chakra out through the sphere of his Mind's Eye sensory. It flowed towards the deer and surrounded it's chakra, practically taking it's form as it's own. Then that same chakra returned to Kenji, entering his mind and imprinting it's shape within him. As he sensed the deer now, he could see what appeared as a black outline of his own chakra around the deer, denoting that he had archived the deer's chakra with his own.

He then swiftly tossed a Kunai through the trees, impacting the deer's skull and piercing it's brain. In an instant it's chakra was gone, and he then purged it's chakra from his mind. He had no need of the knowledge of a deer... but he would be sure to create an archive of his allies and enemies.

----------------------------------------

450/400 for B rank Signature Archival Technique

[TyDie]

Just a few moments ago, Kenji had perfected the ability to use Mind's Eye ninjutsu tosense and discern the traces of chakra left behind after a technique had been used. But he had noticed the more he experimented with the concept that the more recent the technique, the more prevalent the traces. It would stand to reason then, at least in theory, that perhaps these leftover traces could actually be utilized for something, if they were interacted with in the right way. And he knew just the experiment he wished to conduct to prove or disprove this theory.

Hideki, the Kirigakure scientist whom he had first witnessed perform Jikukan ninjutsu, was a man of great power. After all, as far as Kenji knew, the man had pioneered Jikukan, and was able to tear holes in reality when they first met. That power, the ability to tear holes in space to create pathways to distant lands or perhaps even alternate realms, was what he wished to mess around with. After all, Jikukan was one of the greatest means of crossing vast distances; no matter how fast you were, you couldn't cross a distance faster than Jikukan could because Jikukan was instantaneous travel. And not only was it faster, but the distance it could cover was potentially limitless. Such a tool made for an incredible escape tool if the situation was disadvantageous, and in the hands of an enemy it could prove to be the undoing of Kenji's plans...

Unless he could follow them.

It was his theory that a Jikukan technique that tore open space between two lands created a pathway of chakra between those lands. And with the right manner of technique, one could follow along that path, as long as the residual chakra was potent enough. To test this theory, Kenji would first need to make a path. And so, he would channel Jikukan chakra throughout his body before reaching forward and tearing open a hole in the fabric of space itself. This portal lead the way to a parent portal about 30 meters away from him, and with a single step he crossed that vast distance to appear on the other side. The portals then quickly disappeared, leaving no visible trace that they were ever there to begin with... at least no trace that was visible to the naked eye.

Next, he would perform a few hand seals and extend his chakra out through the lands around him using Mind's Eye sensory. As this chakra passed over the area where those two portals were made, Kenji would perform another technique to hone in on the traces of chakra left behind by the Jikukan technique. As his vision adjusted, he saw that his theory was correct; the trace of chakra created a sort of trail from one end of the portal to the other, one that was clearly visible and quite potent. Next came the final step...

He would gather chakra within himself, molding this chakra to bend the fabric of reality to his whims. and as he walked over to where one of the portals had existed, he swiped his hand in front of him and tore open a new hole in space time. One that, once he crossed through it, proved to follow the same path as the previous technique. So his theories were all correct; A recently used technique left traces of chakra behind that could be interacted with using the same manner of chakra, and when this principle was applied to Jikukan, it enabled one to follow the same path through space that another had created.

Now his pursuit capabilities were unmatched, not even the tearing of reality would allow one to escape his grasps...

---------------------------------

614/540 for Pursuit of Ghatanothua, A ranked Jikukan technique

[TyDie]

Kenji's mind's eye sensory capabilities were improving day by day, and one day this power would enable him to properly plan for almost any situation imaginable. After all, if you could make an elaborate plan that accounted for a reasonable amount of variables, nothing could stand in your way. This was the very principle of strategy, and sensory was one of the most strategic ninjutsu styles available. So today he would work on a concept that he had conceptualized around the same time he learned about Signature Archival from Hirohito, Hideki.

Every chakra signature was different, of that there was no question, but it was also a well known fact that the very world itself contained natural chakra. After all, chakra was life itself, and life existed everywhere. It was in the deer that walked by, the roots of the trees, the grass lining the earth... everything. If one could make a grand scale archival of all that natural chakra, then one could potentially map out the landscape itself. And not only that, one could discern natural chakra from molded chakra... One could locate ninjutsu effects within the area, and their origin points. Kenji could point out, from miles away, the exact location of a fuuinjutsu seal, among other things. In truth, the uses for this kind of technique were incredibly great in quantity, and Kenji had no doubt that it was possible. After all, it was one of his mantras; all things are possible with chakra.

And so first he would sit down in a large meadow, the grass around him flattened so that he wasn't dealing with the itchy grass rubbing against him. He sat with his legs crossed, hands resting at his side for a moment before he performed a series of hand seals, ending on the tiger seal and holding it. His chakra would flow out of him as he held the seal, expanding out from his position farther and farther until it encompassed a full mile out from his position. He could sense all of the wildlife that surrounded him, although it wasn't accurate by any means due to the shear range of his sensory technique. Luckily, that wasn't at all what he was looking to sense, and now that he was focusing on it he could sense perfectly what he was after. The very landscape was one giant blue hue, the latent chakra within the earth becoming known to him.

Now he would have to commit it to his memory... He was enveloped suddenly by a black aura of chakra, a supplementary technique to add to his current sensory jutsu. The chakra extended forth from his position until it encompassed the same range as his sensory jutsu, and then slowly began to recede as it returned to him. As it did so, it scanned the landscape, imprinting each and every detail of the land in his mind. By the time it fully returned to him, Kenji didn't even have to open his eyes to walk from his position. Eyes closed, he would stand and take thirty six steps forward, stopping inches from a tree in front of him. He knew the tree was there, without even opening his eyes.... Oh yes, the technique had done exactly what he had hoped it would do.

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547/540 for A rank Area Archival Sensory jutsu

[TyDie]

Following the line of techniques Kenji had been developing as of late with his Mind's Eye Sensory, Kenji had one more in mind to complete the trinity of archiving. He was already capable of archiving the signatures of specific people for future reference, and he was capable of commiting the landscape itself to memory via the latent chakra present in the land itself. Now, to complete the set, he wanted to be capable of imprinting the information of a particular technique to his memory. Each time a shinobi formed a particular technique, they molded their chakra the exact same way every time. Kenji was quite familiar with this himself, he was a master of such tasks to the point that they were practically second nature. Knowing this, it should then be possible to use sensory, file away the specific flare, and thereafter recognize that very same flare at a glance. Everything from the amount of chakra used to the way it was molded and even the affinity added to it should, theoretically, be stowed away within his mind and recognized the instant it was performed a second time.

The value of such a technique was extraordinary... being able to tell, at a mere glance, what technique their opponent was preparing before they had even released it would grant Kenji such a window of opportunity to prepare any one of a hundred counter maneuvers against their technique. If it was a Genjutsu, he could recognize it and prepare for the trigger. If it was Ninjutsu, he could prepare an adequate defense without wasting too much chakra on a needlessly powerful technique, thus conserving his chakra. There were of course numerous other values... But now he would have to test his theory.

First, he would need a guinea pig. Unfortunately, Nehan was not present, and Suzume was incapable of anything more than basic ninjutsu. So he would have to call forth one from the aether, a spirit to perform a jutsu for him to read. The seals were already set for the for the Numa Seitei Realm summoning technique, and it only took a small channel of chakra from him to activate the seals and call forth the bubbling swamp from across the dimensions. Then, with a single use of the Summoning technique, Kenji would call forth a bipedal alligator summon just as he had when he first learned how to summon forth random spirits. The beast was subject to his will, just as before...

"You will perform a ninjutsu technique of some kind. Any kind will do, just ensure that I am not in the path of it. I simply need to read your chakra as you mold it. Now, begin." As he spoke, chakra welled within him, molded by a small series of seals so that he could sense the chakra within the spirit. As he commanded it to mold chakra, he gathered even more within himself and focused his attention on the spirit's tenketsu. He watched it mold, felt the chakra churn within the beast as it formed hand seals for some technique. A moment later, the chakra turned a light shade of orange; trademark use of the Katon element. The power gathered within the spirit's lungs, indicating some sort of breath style technique, perhaps a fireball. The amount of chakra gathered could be comparable to one of Kenji's "B rank" Techniques, and based on exactly how it was being molded, it seemed to favor speed over strength.

Sure enough, by the time the spirit released the technique, everything Kenji had said was proven true. It spewed forth a large fireball from it's mouth, one that moved faster than most techniques of it's rank, but hit a nearby rock with hardly any impact. A smirk crossed Kenji's face as he simply willed the spirit away, it's task completed... He'd file away that particular technique for later. After all, why not?

------------------------------------------------------------------

647/540 for A rank "Jutsu Archival" sensory technique

[TyDie]

After learning his archival series of mind's eye sensory techniques, Kenji was finally ready to tackle the pinnacle of sensory ninjutsu. And he already had quite a few ideas in mind, it was just a matter of taking all of his theories and putting them into practice. Starting with the concept of passive sensory, something that could be done on a small scale, but to the best of his knowledge could not be done on a grand scale. Or at least, it had never been done to his knowledge. Kenji wanted to prove that such a thing was possible, that long range sensory was possible with little to no concentration needed to maintain it.

The jutsu concept in his mind was quite simple really, at least in theory it was. The idea was to overlay his natural sight with Mind's Eye Sensory, enabling him to see chakra with just his eyes. But the trick was to put so much chakra into his eyes that instead of maintaining the sensory every moment it was active, it would stay active for a set amount of time before ending all on it's own. It would have a set duration as opposed to requiring more and more chakra to keep going.

Successfully creating this new jutsu would grant Kenji a level of sensory capabilities unlike any other... The ability to simply see, at a glance, someone's chakra. He could then archive it, sense their flares, archive their jutsu... all while maintaining combat. Such capability was incredible, and it would be his...

Kenji stood in the same field he had stood in before when he was practicing his sensory, the landscape that he had archived before was committed to his memory flawlessly. He sat in the middle of the meadow as he had before, and his body was suddenly engulfed by an aura of black chakra. This perverse, corrupted chakra welled up within him, he gathered more and more of his reserves and molded them with the proficiency of a master. All around him, the grass began to wave and sway, being blown about by the shear power now gathering within Kenji's body. Dust and debris was thrown away from him, small plumes of it rolling along and through the air.

Finally, once he was convinced he had enough chakra gathered, he would begin the process of directing it. This chakra, which had gathered within his solar plexus as he usually did, would begin to flow up through his chakra network. To him of course, it was as natural as blood flowing through the veins. In fact it was a very accurate comparison, given that his heart was altered and modified by the Earth Grudge Fear technique to pump chakra through his alien form instead of blood. As it was directed through his body, it flowed up through his neck and into his head, then it was condensed into his eyeballs. He could feel the power permeate the sensory organs in his skull, and from the outside an observer would watch as his eyes turned pitch black with the concentrated chakra he had moved and molded.

However, despite the terrifying appearance those pitch black eyes gave him, he was unable to see chakra. He should have been able to see the chakra of the wildlife in the area, or even the latent chakra present within the landscape, and yet he couldn't. A small grumble escaped him, he shook his head in frustration before allowing the failed jutsu to end prematurely. Where had he gone wrong... He was sure that this technique was possible, and yet somewhere he had made a misstep. Unfortunately, when it came to such powerful jutsu, a single misstep almost always resulted in failure. So wherever he had failed, he would have to patch up that hole, else the jutsu would never come to fruition.

"Perhaps... Instead of molding the chakra before it reaches my eyes, I should flood my eyes with raw chakra first. Then, if I mold that chakra with the technique of the Mind's Eye Style..." He trailed off from his verbal musings, feeling confident that he had put two and two together. The problem wasn't in how the chakra was molded, but when it was molded. Rather than molding it first, he would gather the chakra in his eyes, then mold it. Such a simple oversight, he chided himself mentally for missing such an obvious detail, shaking his head in embarrassment. Even the God of Chakra could make mistakes now and then it seemed.

But he was intent on success, and so without hesitation he was once more enshrouded by the black chakra he was so infamous for. The power coalesced within him, growing more and more with each passing moment. It wasn't long before the grass was once more swayed by his limitless power, the ground itself shaking ever so slightly with his intense strength of spirit. Then, he allowed this raw chakra to flow towards his eyes, filling his eyeballs with raw, unbridled power. Only after this chakra condensed within his eyes did he begin the process of molding it with his masterful chakra control, shaping it with techniques found only within the Mind's Eye Sensory Style. Shifting his power this way and that, crafting the power as an artisan smith would craft a blade.

By the time he had finished, his eyes were once more pure black, his power flowing through his eyes. If one looked especially close, every now and then they might see a crackle of power shoot from one side of his eye to the other, a testament to just how much chakra was now present within his eyes. And unlike last time, the new method of performing the jutsu proved successful; Kenji looked out into the forest and saw multiple chakra signatures. All of them were small and weak, no doubt simple deer and birds, maybe a rabbit or two. The landscape was also glowing ever so slightly with the natural chakra that existed in the planet itself.

And the range... The range exceeded all but his most long range sensory technique, the Augmented Senses jutsu. However, unlike that jutsu, this jutsu had accuracy. He saw not just blobs of chakra, but their shapes too. Most notably of course, he was doing nothing to maintain the jutsu at all. It was simply active, and would remain active for a long time before finally fading. He was capable of doing just about anything else while this technique was active... especially fight. He would jot this down as a success, one that he was proud to say was a success not attained by many in this world.

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1105/1040 for S rank "Eyes of Atlach-Nacha" Sensory jutsu.

[TyDie]

Just moments ago, Kenji had taught himself a technique that many shinobi believed to be impossible; Long range, passive mind's eye sensory ninjutsu. It was only one of the pinnacle techniques that he had planned for his Mind's Eye sensory, and the next one he intended to put into practice was expanding upon a well know, albeit difficult technique among the Mind's Eye Sensory Style. Most experts in the style were aware of the Augmented Senses technique; a ninjutsu where the user assumes a meditative pose and extends their senses outwards to incredible distances. It was well known as one of the farthest reaching techniques available to a sensor, sacrificing accuracy for shear distance. Kenji too was well versed in the jutsu and had used it on several occasions... But his future plans would require more.

He intended on taking the concept of long range sensory to a degree never before seen by any other shinobi, even the most skilled sensors that have ever existed. He intended on funneling so much chakra into this technique that he would be able to see for miles and miles and miles in all directions. So much that he could reliably read an entire shinobi village.

First, he would have to assume a meditative pose, just as a sensor would when using the aforementioned Augmented Senses jutsu. But in order to gain the shear distance he desired out of this technique, he would have to make a lot more sacrifices than just accuracy... This technique would leave him incredibly vulnerable, to the point where he was honestly not sure it would be worth it in the end. Because not only would his ability to differentiate chakra signatures be completely forfeit, his base senses would be entirely surpressed while the technique was active. Sight, Sound, Smell, Touch, Taste... He would forsake them all for the duration of the technique. Such defenselessness, such weakness... It was completely uncharacteristic for him to willingly put himself in such a dangerous, vulnerable position.

But this was for the sake of advancement, for the sake of proving that it could be done... that anything could be done with the power of chakra. For that, he would risk everything.

Without further hesitation, Kenji would take a seat in the large meadow, crossing his legs and placing his hands together in front of him as if he were praying. He closed his eyes, tok a deep breath, and began flying through a series of handseals. Tiger, Dragon, Rat, Horse, Tiger, Dog, Boar, Serpent, Ram, Monkey, Horse, Rat, Tiger, Hare, Dragon. He held the Dragon seal perfectly in front of him, gathering an immense amount of chakra within his body while he held the seal. As the chakra gathered within him, the seals he had performed molding it and shaping it as he wished, he could feel as his senses slowly fading to nothingness. Suddenly, he could no longer feel the earth beneath him, he could not feel the wind brushing against his body. Then he could no longer smell the flora surrounding him, and with that also went his ability to taste the air itself. The breeze slowly faded to silence as his hearing faded, and while his eyes were closed, eventually the slight tint of the sun against his shut eyelids faded to nothing. Each and every one of his senses, systematically cut off all at once.

To say that he was unnerved, even afraid... Those were understatements. He was downright terrified.

But then, the chakra he had gathered suddenly shot out in all directions at a speed that he had never even imagined possible. Suddenly, it was as if the world itself was visible to him, like a bird in the sky looking miles and miles in all directions. Some might consider it an out of body experience, as it almost felt like Kenji was rising up from his body as nothing but pure chakra, looking down on the chakra of the rest of the world. The chakra within the grass surrounding him, the chakra of the trees and the flowers, the chakra of the various animals that roamed the forest looking for food. Granted, he could not discern the animals from each other, he had no idea if it was a deer or a bear or a rabbit, but they were there, and he could tell that they were there.

So he wasn't totally blind. His conventional senses were gone yes, but the sensory capability of his chakra now far exceeded anything his base human senses were capable of. Or what any human was capable of for that matter. Try as they might, no matter what their skill was, no shinobi could hear that far away, or see that far away. He doubted even the infamous Byakugan could see this far out. And what was even more incredible, it was expanding more and more with each passing second. What had started as five miles soon became ten, then twenty, then thirty. Soon he was no longer sensing just the surrounding forest, he was sensing the plains on the outskirts of the forest. He could sense the beaten paths where men tread back and forth between their towns, and then... He could sense a town itself. A nearby town; well, nearby in the grand scheme of things. It was about fourty five miles away if he had to guess, a small farming village with maybe a couple hundred residents.

Again, he could not discern exactly how many people resided there, but he could tell that there were in fact people there. And he could tell all of this from a small meadow in a forest, surrounded by plains, fourty five miles away. "Positively incredible... I've truly outdone myself here, this technique's distance outdoes anything I have ever read or heard of. I may truly be the best sensor in the world now..." His hubris was getting to him, but how could it not with his power? Was it truly hubris if it was a fact? He had one more thing to put to the test... Could he possibly add such a large amount of land to his mind via the Area Archival jutsu?

One way to find out; Chakra welled within his body, spreading out through the area of influence created by his newfound sensory capabilities. Then, once it reached the furthest end of his sensory range, it began to slowly come back to him, washing over the land and committing each and every landmark to his mind, imprinting the land itself within his memories. And 'slowly' was definitely a relative term, as it was returning to him at a speed of about 5 miles every minutes. By the time it returned to him, he could feel exhaustion setting in... Suddenly, his eyes opened, and the world once more came rushing back to him. All of his senses, all at once, flared back to full strength again. It was incredibly jarring, if he had a stomach he might have vomited. But he composed himself shortly after, then fell backwards into the grass, completely drained from the technique he had just learned.

It was a hell of a risk... but the reward? Priceless.

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1192/1040 for S rank Sensory Jutsu "Prescience of Daoloth"

[TyDie]

That is Not Dead Which Can Eternal Lie
And with Strange Aeons, Even Death May Die


Fate... Destiny... Divine Will... Predestination... All lies. There is no grand plan, no sense of order or logic, nothing that can be applied to the grand cosmos of reality. These words, these concepts, are simply mankind's feeble attempts to catalog and understand that which he is simply incapable of understanding. The moment one realizes this, that our very existence is merely the result of random chance and coincidence, that our lives are nothing more than a series of dice rolls and coin flips... That is when true understanding can be attained. For in that chaotic randomness, there are unplanned patterns that link together otherwise unrelated events into what a fool might perceive as "Fate" or "Destiny". And on this day, a series of unplanned patterns has lead to the resurrection of a god.

It all started with a criminal ninja by the name of Satori. He, like many following the revelations of Jikukan chakra set forth by the likes of Hideki and Hito, had learned to manipulate space and time to his will. And in doing so, with a bit of sleuth work, he managed to locate and deactivate the traps surrounding one of many safe houses belonging to a particular man... if he could so be called a "man" anymore. Further exploration of the safe house revealed a seal, a Fuuinjutsu used for the likes of Jikukan techniques allowing quick and instantaneous travel from one point to another. With some analysis and tinkering, he managed to fool the seal into believing he was it's master, and in doing so... he opened the gates to hell.

A step within the realm beyond the portal would send a lesser man spiraling into madness. The angles, the imagery, they were not meant for sane minds. Yet he pressed on, navigating the twisting and turning stairs and corridors until at last he reached the center of the landscape... a tower. A large, obsidian tower, with nary a single opening to behold. Where at first he had used trickery and deceit, now he would have to use force: A few large scale blasting fuuin should do the trick. And with a resounding explosion that reverberated along the abyss lining this dimension of horror, the way was opened, and Satori stepped into a treasure trove of knowledge left behind. Books and scrolls, artifacts and relics, monetary value beyond what he had been expecting... and amidst all of these treasures, a pile of black threads within what appeared to be a large focusing fuuinjutsu.

A search of these threads revealed clothing, blackened robes with white designs in the shape of protection seals. Within this robe were various ninja tools and weapons, but most notably... a heart. A single, human heart, without a speck of blood to be found anywhere near it. It felt like rubber in comparison to what a typical organ should feel like; very little give to it, hardened and rigid, more like bone than muscle. This strange curio, he surmised, would be the crown jewel of this hoard of treasures. He knew of a particular merchant who dealt with the macabre, and he had little doubt the man would pay top dollar for such a find. The fool... if he only knew what he held in his hands. He was no sensor, so he had no clue the shear power contained within the heart. All he knew is who this realm belonged to, an entity who many had considered to be dead for years now. No one had heard a thing about him in ages, the villages seemed to think his threats had passed, and even his closest companions had left to pursue their own devices. Yes, it was safe to say the world believed him to be dead and gone...

And were it not for the thieving hands of Satori, that might have been true.

Days went by, and Satori met with his fence, who happily purchased all that he had found within that twisted realm. Slowly but surely, the fence sold off what he could, and the heart changed hands with another who felt oddly drawn to it. This man, a merchant by the name of Riyoku, believed himself to be the best merchant the world had ever seen. He could sell Ice to the people of Frost Country, he could sell sand to Wind Country, and there was no merchandise he couldn't find a home for. So naturally, he saw peddling this morbid curio as a challenge, and he had no other desire than to rise to the occasion. So Riyoku and his wife and child left that shifty bazaar with many oddities in hand... and the young child, a boy by the name of Satama, left with nothing... as usual. Sometimes he wondered if his parents even cared about him, he couldn't remember the last time they did something that he wanted to do, or got something just for him. With a groan and a sigh, he looked back on the bazaar, and after a few hours of travel the family decided to stay at an inn for the night.

And there, while his parents were sleeping, Satama went perusing through the day's findings. There wasn't much that interested him truth be told, but when his hands fell upon that rubbery heart, he felt mortified at first. But then... he felt oddly calm. Happy, even, for the first time in a while. The feeling passed the moment his hand left the rubbery heart, and so he chose to remove it from the bag and analyze it closer. As he did so, he noticed something that neither Satori nor Riyoku had noticed; it pulsed. It wasn't a big pulse, nor was it common, but every now and then he could feel it twitch in his hands. It was a funny feeling, so strange to imagine that this disembodied organ was still, in some strange way, alive. And of course, his imagination went wild with ideas of what it could mean. Maybe it belonged to a monster, or a demon! Maybe it could give him super powers! Maybe it could take him away from this life of constant travel, so that he could finally make some friends that he didn't have to say goodbye to in a couple of days!

And then it whispered in his mind... It could do all of those things and more.

... Had he heard that right? That wasn't his voice he had heard in his head just now... it was different. Deeper, softer, more eloquent. He mentally responded, asking if he was alone in his own head. Truly, the first sign of the end... for the voice returned again, and would continue to return so long as Satama held on to the heart in his hands. For the first couple of nights, he'd remove the heart and speak to it at night while his parents were asleep. But after a while, he stopped returning the heart to it's bag, simply keeping it hidden under his shirt as they travelled. His father didn't check the bag every night, so he knew he could hold the heart close to him. While they travelled, he would carry on conversations with the heart, occasionally giggling or laughing to himself as he made friends with the strange voice coming from the heart. His parents, confused as they might be, were still far too preoccupied with themselves to worry about their son's new imaginary friend. This continued for over a week, as the family made their way across the countries in search of sales and purchases.

And eventually, as with all purchases made by a merchant, he found a buyer for the heart he had carried with him. The time came for Satama to part with his new friend... And he couldn't bear it. With the purchase lined up for the following day, Satama was distraught, thinking desperately for how he could hold on to the heart forever... And the heart responded. Just as it's owner had slaughtered his parents, so too would Satama; that cold winter night, as mother and father slept, the boy ran a dagger across their throats and left in the dead of night, with naught but the heart in his hands. When he finally stopped running, and the realization of what he had done hit him, he began to sob and cry, but the heart consoled him. It had only one more request of the boy, after which they would be together forever. Wiping away his tears, the boy nodded as the heart spoke to his mind.

The boy pressed the heart against his bare chest, over his own heart, and focused on the feeling of it's rare pulse. But as he focused on it, the heart began to pulse more. Faster and faster, it pulsed and wriggled against his chest, turning black with power as energy ran through the heart and into the body of Satama. And then, just as the heartbeat reached it's peak, it happened; black threads, tendrils of evil power, shot out of the valves of the heart and dug deep into the boy's chest. The pain was instant, the horror took over, but it was far too late to resist. Power, raw power, blackened by an evil taint, coursed it's way through the boy's body, just as a heart might pump blood through veins. The tendrils, they ripped and teared their way through his form, tossing away all of the meat and bone; these things were vestigial. Useless. It had no need for such frail tissue.

Stomach and liver, lungs and kidneys, ropes upon ropes of intestine; the heart discarded them all in a bloody show of strength. And the boy, rest his soul, was conscious and alert for every agonizing moment, kept alive by the dark power now flowing into his form. It took only a few minutes, but to him, it felt as if a thousand years had passed before his suffering finally ended. And at last, the young boy's heart was removed and discarded... His flesh was vacant. The vessel was ready. And an instant later, the heart inserted itself into what remained of poor Satama. The tendrils bulked and grew, they multiplied again and again, filling the sack of skin left behind by the young boy. The form of Satama began to resonate with black power, his form slowly filling up until it was just the same as it was before the heart hallowed him out. And then... a gasp.

The boy coughed and gasped, though it had no need to breath; a reflex, and nothing more. It's eyes rolled forward, the sclerae blackened and the blue irides flowing into the pupil. His hands twitched and shook, then clutched at his chest fervently, as if still in pain. And then he sat up, his gasping quieted down to deep breathing, which soon calmed to normal... and then no breathing at all. He sat there, the scent of blood and viscera hanging heavy in the air, the forest as still and silent as his own chest. As if nature itself wanted no part of the hellish acts unfolding beneath the canopy of trees. As the young boy wobbled to his feet, steadying himself with a nearby tree, the clouds above parted and the moon shone brilliantly in the sky. The young child looked to the sky, and finally broke the silence with a chuckle... a chuckle that was not his own. A deeper, softer, more eloquent chuckle. A chuckle that built upon itself, working up to a laugh, before ascending to a cacophonous cackle. The very trees themselves seemed to shy from his power, the leaves above him falling to the forest floor; The Thing's presence was far colder than any winter winds.

There were no words to be spoken though. No comments, no monologue... The boy once known as Satama simply vanished into thin air, leaving behind only gore. But the world would know. In time, they would all learn that the young Satama was no more...

And the God of Chakra had returned.