Become stronger than you were yesterday.

Zao · Post by **Zao** » Sun Dec 07, 2014 6:18 am

Ninjutsu + 1 Training

It was dark and damp out during these early morning hours, but the older man was already up with his morning cup of sake in hand as Kasai began to prepare for the day ahead. He was off from his normal village duties and had planned to push himself once again on this day and truly test himself to see just how far his ninjutsu skills had come up to this point. The man normally sipped upon the warm sake to help himself wake up but this morning the man downed it like a shot glass full of liquor at a bar, causing him to close his eyes a bit an shake his young looking face side to side for a moment. After a few moments the man’s golden eyes opened and he exhaled slowly before the index and middle fingers of the left hand pulled up the cloth half face mask into place now as the other hand set the cup gentle down on the corner of the large table. Quietly the man moved through the dimly lit confines of his mountain side home gathering up his things before finally slipping on his coat and gloves before making his way over to the door. There the Reaper acquired his bow and quiver strapping them securely into place before sliding upon the wooden door stepping outside into the cool morning air, it was still dark out but the morning twilight was becoming visible off to the east over the tall peaks that sheltered the interior of Water country and the village within.

’Time to head out…’

The dark cloaked figure moved in the first glimpses of morning sunlight as they began to break the eastern mountain peaks, his speed was fast as the blur of dark clothing leaped from tree to tree now in these early morning hours finally coming to a stop upon the large branch of the last tree before the base of a series of cliff and mountains. There was little hesitation in the man’s moments as with a single hand forming a hand seal the man concentrated chakra into his feet as it invisibly enveloped the black shinobi style sandals that the man wore. Within a moment the chakra enhanced grip of the ninja’s feet were clinging onto the rocky cliff as with the aid of both hands the man began to rapidly scale the tall cliff that was over forty meters in height. With the chakra enhancing his movement up the rock face it only took a minute to reach the top were it opened up into a large rocky area that had surprisingly level terrain with the exception of a handful of massive boulder that were scattered out in the fifty by fifty meter area. It was here that the older man had chosen to come to complete the next step in his katon training and a technique that was so powerful that being hit with it head on would most certainly mean death for the one foolish enough to attempt it.

‘Here I am again at this place…’

Standing on the edge of a cliff face, the dark figure slowly removed his large assortment of weaponry, letting his pouches and thigh holsters drop onto the hard rocky ground below. Small dust clouds were created as they impacted the dirt but quickly were slowly swept away by the hot summer breeze that was just barely blowing in from the west. The wind was barely able to cause the loose articles of his clothing to move. It was probably one of the hottest day yet this summer but that didn’t seem to matter to the man as he now unclipped his dual quivers and let them fall to the ground behind him now leaving only his trademark bow gripped tightly in the left hand. Then the man seemed to toss the bow into the air a few meters and with as the right hand gripped the collar of the hooded jacket and with one pull it was removed as well before the left hand snatched the falling bow from the air now. Tossing the jacket aside now the man turned to look out behind him now being able to see above the canopy of tree tops as the taller buildings of the Hidden Mist village glimmered in the distance as the rays of morning sunlight hit the glass windows of each. Everything that he had ever done up to this point was to ensure that he would always be strong enough to defend and kill those who threatened the village, today was no different as he planned to see just how far he could push his ninjutsu skills now.

“Time to begin.”

’Raiton…’

The older spoke aloud with his real voice as he built up and pushed chakra into the right arm where he activated his mutation ability to create three of his special arrows of cartilage that were very sensitive to elemental chakra. Two arrows slide out from beneath the almost skin tight sleeve of the man’s grey undershirt, their pointed tips digging a bit into the mix of dirt and rock beneath the man’s feet as a third pushed out only to be snatched up by his gloved right hand now. Stringing the arrow and starting to draw back the long, slightly thicker than normal arrow the man built up and imbued the arrow with raiton chakra as the crackle of electricity could now be hear as it over took the arrow. Without a second long wait the arrow was released as it cut through the air at impressive speeds before plowing through three small boulders that were lined up one behind the other before being stopped by a large cliff face behind them as the raiton chakra had faded from it.

’Fuuton…’

A simple nod to himself was all the Reaper did before bending over slightly to take a second arrow as just like before the man knocked the arrow on the bow string and began to pull it back slowly to full draw. During this time the man created and imbued this arrow with fuuton chakra now as the tip of the arrow seemed to be surrounded with the invisible wind chakra that enlarged the striking area of the arrow head greatly now before it was released like the previous arrow. The arrow was aimed at the top portion of the small series of boulders as the sharp wind chakra and the nearly two foot wide arrow head of wind sliced cleanly through two of the boulder tops before digging into the cliff face just like the last as it wind chakra that was once within the arrow had dissipated now. Fuuton was the element that the older man believed was his strongest, especially when combined with his enhanced cartilage weapons. But there was still more to come now as he bend over slightly once more to allow the almost lanky right arm to reach down and take hold of the last arrow now.

’Katon…’
This one was a little more energetic and showy that his fuuton arrow was but this time as the arrow was notched and drawn back the Reaper created and imbued the arrow with katon chakra that caused for a swirl of flames to overtake the arrow completely similar to how the raiton chakra had done before. It swirled around and intensified on the tip of the arrow more than the shaft before Kasai let the arrow fly. The loosed arrow flew across the barren and rocky training area now leaving a streak of flames in its trail as it slammed into the cliff face just above the previous two arrows. While the arrow didn’t have the cutting potential of fuuton or the piercing ability of raiton it didn’t mean the arrow was worthless and had its roll just like the man’s other elemental arrows. Sadly though the man had not yet mastered his suiton ninjutsu to the point at which he could use it on the same level as the other three chakra affinities that he possessed. But soon he hoped to reach that level so that he would be able to say that he held mastery over four of the five basic elements, a feat that few could say.

“Time to stop playing around and take this to another level…”

(1395)

Zao · Post by **Zao** » Sun Dec 07, 2014 6:19 am

Ninjutsu +1

“Time to stop playing around and take this to another level…”

It was time to get serious but first he would need to transform form into his full transformed state and that would take a little time, it was not something he had done in a little while. Kasai’s right hand moved in front of his body as the gloved hand held a single concentration seal as the man began to build chakra, his new form was different then the partial and half transformations that he mainly used. The sound the faint winds was all that could be heard as it seemed almost deadly quiet today through the mountain passes as the older man’s eyes shut for the moment as he concentrated on activating his body’s mutation ability through his entire body now. Then without any prior notice his eyes snapped forward as a surge of chakra washed through the shinobi’s body, umber color masses began to overtake his body from underneath his clothing now. Hints of the clan’s red chakra could visually be seen around the man as he hunched over slightly as pain briefly riddled his body as the mutation process began to consume his upper torso first. Two extra arms burst out of his shirt from just below his real arms as the man’s chest and back bulged with muscle that began extending upward onto the man’s neck as he moved from the partial transformation toward the half transformation state. The umber color moved up his next as a new mass of skin and cartilage over took the man’s face and head causing for the crimson locks of hair to fall out as long black sinew locks sprouted in their place falling down around the man’s head new umber color face.

Directly in the center of the man’s forehead is what appeared to be what resembles a closed eyes that then slowly begins to open just over halfway as the famed Toukai’s chakra begins to leak slightly from it giving it an eerie red glow like the eye of a demon. The half transformed state would be completed as the mass had spread across his neck and head had also spread across his chest and abdomen increasing their muscle mass. This state decreased his speed but increased his strength and balance which increased his archery and taijutsu skill as this transformation was only complete as a large mass of cartilage and sinew formed on his left arm and moved down over taking the bow increasing its size as a piece of thick sinew enveloped the bow string increasing its strength and durability in the process. Half transformation state was complete, though there was still more to come.

But things were about to take a U-turn now as Kasai’s chakra began to increase, the umber color now began to overtake his entire lower body but the changes were not limited to just the lower half of the man’s torso. As all the muscle mass he had gained began to fade while the man’s limbs, torso, neck, and even head began to elongate slightly and transform into a leaner version of his previous form. More sinew and cartilage also moved to the bow as well, not only increasing its size but causing it to almost completely spilt into two bows that only remained connected at the middle as the cartilage bow and left arm now appeared to be completely fuse at this point of the transformation. Hints of red chakra began to appear randomly on the larger version of the bow as the man slowly stood up to his new full height of around eight feet. Even the people closest to the man would probably not even recognize him in this transformed state with the vast amount of changes the Reaper’s body and bow had undergone in order to obtain this level.

A form which sacrificed his well-known strength and taijutsu ability for a large increase in his chakra and ninjutsu abilities, it was this increase that Kasai needed to be able to complete some of his ultimate archery techniques. This new form sported six arms, two more than the previous form but that was not all as the palm of each hand sported a porous hole in each that allowed for the man to more easily expel his chakra and enabled the man to perform the feats that he was about to attempt. But first, a warm up of sorts…

Extending the left arm and bow out and reaching for the chakra string, his upper right hand began to spark with energy, as fire arched from the arm and from within the chakra vent as the umbercolor fingers curled around the draw string. Kasai’s lower two arms clapped together in a series of seals as he began to mold a large amount of katon chakra before pushing it directly out of his body through the hand grasping the glowing crimson bow string. Simultaneously drawing back the chakra thread as he expelled the large amount of pure katon chakra from the large porous hole in the palm of the hand. Molding it into a powerful whirling and twisting mass of fire that had been compressed into the shape of a cyclone or cylinder that faintly drew a resemblance of an arrow. Hot embers of fire fell from the arrow itself that seemed to almost melt small holds in the ground near the jounin’s feet causing small burnt spots in the hard rock as Kasai tried to control the condensed and fiery arrow.

With the bow at full draw the emotionless, elongated face focused on the cliff across from him now as it would continue to be the intended target for the attacks. After a few more seconds of focusing the dense arrow of fire chakra the fingers of the right hand holding back the chakra string instantly straightened and released the attack. It looked like a five to six foot long arrow as flames began to spiral around the fiery arrow as it shot forth across the drop off at amazing speed, as it traveled the spiraling fire began to condense itself into a fireball shape that rapidly grew in size. Within moments the attack had grown to nearly fifteen meters in size just before it slammed into the hard rock face causing what appeared to be a large explosion as the intense fiery ball burnt into the cliff face appearing to sink into the rocky structure as lots of dust and debris were being thrown into the air in every direction from the impact area. Kasai let his arms slowly lower into their resting position at each side watching as the dust and rock being thrown outward from the deadly mass of the intense fiery wave that pushed outward from the original fireball that tried to melt away at the stone like it was a soft training log. The flames seemed to dissipate finally as a molten crater-like hole had been formed in the wake of the attack of slightly larger proportions than the attacks original size as the dust, smoke, and hot debris fell away now.

(1189)

Zao · Post by **Zao** » Sat Dec 27, 2014 5:13 am

Control +1

But he was just getting started now…extending the left arm back out now with the bow out before reaching for the chakra string one more, his upper right hand began to crackle with energy, as lightning arched around the arm and from within the chakra vent as the umber color fingers curled around the draw string. Kasai’s lower two arms clapped together in a series of seals as he began to mold a large amount of fuuton chakra before pushing it directly out of his body through the hand grasping the glowing crimson bow string. Simultaneously drawing back the chakra thread as he expelled the large amount of fuuton chakra molding it into a powerful whirling mass of wind that had been compressed into the faint shape of a cyclone mixed with an arrow. A few sharp blades of wind spiral off the arrow smacking the ground near the jounin’s feet causing minor explosions that left small but deep cuts in the hard rock as Kasai tried to control the condense mass of slicing winds.

With the bow at full draw once more golden eyes now focused back on the cliff face now as it would be the intended target from the attack again. After a few more seconds of focusing the wind chakra vortex the fingers of the right hand holding back the chakra string instantly straightened and released the attack. It looked like a four or five foot long horizontal tornado as it shot forth across the drop off at amazing speed, producing a howling wind as it moved across. Within moments the attack slammed into the hard rock face causing what appeared to be a large explosion to ensure with lots of dust and debris being thrown into the air as a moment later slicing winds burst outward in every direction from the impact area. From the distance it looked like the ‘Sword of Wind’ technique from the outside without the ‘eye of the storm’ effect in the middle. Kasai let his arms slowly lower into their resting position at each side watching as the dust and rock being thrown outward from the deadly mass of razor sharp winds that carved away at the hardened stone like it was a soft training log. The attack pushing outward to just over thirty feet in all directions as a crater-like hole formed in the wake of the attack of similar size as the dust and debris fell away now.

Now the man was going to attempt something that would require every ounce of the man’s control and ninjutsu…and perhaps even more than that in the end now. Two of the right hands gripped each of the crimson threads of chakra now before the bottom set of arms began to form a long series of hand seals. This would be the first time that the man had attempted to use two separate chakra affinities at once, combining his [Burning Sun] arrow with his [Decapitating Air Pressure] arrow, one katon based and the other fuuton based. As the long string of hand seals finished the top right hand which gripped the closest chakra thread with an upside down grip began to expel a large amount of pure katon chakra from the large porous hole in the palm of the hand. Molding it into a powerful whirling and twisting mass of fire that had been compressed into the shape of a cyclone or cylinder that faintly drew a resemblance of an arrow.

Hot embers of fire fell from the arrow itself that seemed to almost melt small holds in the ground near the jounin’s feet causing small burnt spots in the hard rock as Kasai tried to control the condensed and fiery arrow. But that was not all as from the second right hand a large amount of fuuton chakra simultaneously molding it into a powerful whirling mass of wind that had been compressed into the faint shape of a cyclone mixed with an arrow. Sharp blades of wind spiral off the arrow as the older man strained to control both arrows at the same time now, the small blades of wind smacking the ground near the jounin’s feet causing minor explosions that left moderate cuts in the hard rocky ground as Kasai tried to control the condense mass of slicing winds more now. With the bow at full draw the emotionless, elongated face focused on the cliff across the way from him as it would be the intended target from the attack once more now. After a few more moments of focusing bot the wind and fire chakra vortexes the fingers of each of the right hands holding back the chakra string instantly straightened and released the attack dual elemental attack now.

The two meter long horizontal fuuton tornado shot forth at amazing speed, producing a howling wind as it moved forward while to its side the swirl mass of flames was rapidly compacting into an orb of flames before beginning to rapidly expand afterwards. It was then that the two attacks would begin to combine with one another…the superheated growing ball of flames being strengthened to an entirely different level now as the fiery orb continued to expand from its normal diameter of fifteen meters to over twenty now with flames now more intense than ever before. At this point not even the Reaper was sure how powerful the attack would be as it continued to move toward the cliff face now preparing to demonstrate what true power was.

This powerful fusion style attack slammed into the cliff face now seeming to plow into the hard rock creating a larger crater now from the sheer strength of the wind enhanced fire as it pushed further into the hard rock than before. Than it expanded violently in a powerful explosion that had even Kasai instinctively shielded himself from the backlash of a powerful wave of pressure and debris that soon washed over him…he had truly reached another level of control with being able to complete this. Exhaling slowly the man lowered the demonic looking bow as the red chakra string faced now and the cartilage upon it began to crack and break off revealing the man’s true bow beneath it now as the pieces fell to the ground. The man’s body began to shift again as his transformation began to end now and the umber color of the body started to fade as Kasai shrunk back towards his normal height growing back his full head of red hair as the black sinew fell out simultaneously. Despite any level of control using techniques of this level was still exhausting as the man felt a bit weak in the knees…but he had done it and that was what mattered.

(1126)

Zao · Post by **Zao** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 6:56 am

Genjutsu Training

The tall, dark garbed Toukai slowly made his way through the somewhat crowded walkways within the Toukai district. Perhaps any were else in the village such a massive figure with the matching sized weapon wrapped in raven hue bandaging would have been completely out of place. Yet, due to the nature of the clan and their different ‘forms’ it wasn’t strange to see such men and women of this stature. The Black Reaper slowly turned down an alleyway that would lead him to the small training areas kept up by the clan where he had a meeting in a little while, the older man had come to the reality about his true weakness in the art of illusionary techniques and knew that he needed to begin correcting this weakness. From within the shadow cast over his face by the large hood of his jacket only a pair of trademark golden eyes were visible as he ducked slightly under a seven foot tall archway that lead out of the main clan area and into a small training area mixed with a long wall on the left separating it from the streets before blending into a wood line. Those same yellow irises scanned back and forth briefly before a small figure emerged from the mixture of shadows in the trees and the ever present lingering mist that wasn’t too thick over the landscape this morning.

“Good morning, Kasai-sama.”

“Indeed.”

Kasai had more so reverted back to his quiet and distant self after the death of two of the Mist Seven swordsman, Ren and Ryoga, whom he had thought would be the shinobi who would be there to take the village into the future with their strength. But sadly it was not to be and once again the man had lost another friend…but in their memory he knew he needed to better himself and would soon attempt to join the elite organization they had once been in charge of. Yet, first he would be dealing with his weakness which the fellow Toukai named Sho would be helping him with on this day. Sho understood the man better than most and wasn’t too far in age from the man who was already in his mid-forties now. The slightly younger man shook his head and smiled now before giving a nod before the smile faded from his face now and the fingerless gloved hands moved together starting to form seals. The Reaper didn’t realize it yet but he was already caught in the man’s genjutsu as at that point, several dark, oily shapes will seem to emerge from the surrounding walls, trees.

They appeared as though they could be clones to Kasai at first glance but as one leaped at him from the right the large man struck it with a horizontal chop of the right arm which cut cleanly through the oily clone as it dispursed itself now into nothing. This must be the genjutsu cast upon him, probably through the use of a sight trigger as the man then brought his hands together forming a single hand seal with the hands before using the Kai ability to dispel the low ranking genjutsu after which the other ‘clones’ of the Mist Servant technique fades away now revealing Sho still standing in the same place. But being able to dispel a simple genin level technique was not enough as his training partner starting forming seals again, that had been just the warm up after all. His younger comrade then stepped forward a bit to close the gap between the two as his next genjutsu relied on the abilities of the enemy to make eye contact with him. As he walked the man kept his head down slightly and started forming hand seals like before as he stopped he then looked up as the older man’s eyes met those that looked identical to those of his own.

Again without even realizing it the man was placed into another of the fellow jounin’s illusionary technique, though this one would require the man to focus more to be able to dispel it unlike the previous one had. It began to take effect as at first the man started to have a little trouble with his vision as seemed that he was looking off to his sides while looking at Sho. Lifting his arms up so that he could see them it appeared to Kasai that there were eyes starting to grow over his limbs and body. What a strange and disorientating illusion it was as the man took a half step back trying to steady himself as the images of sharing vision with the growing number of eyes made it hard to focus for the massive man. Slowly the man closed his eyes now and tried to focus on controlling his chakra now as he brought his hands back up into the same seal as before preparing to try and dispel the illusion. Using the Kai technique again only this time as he opened his eyes he was still trapped in the illusion, Sho spoke telling him that he needed to focus a bit more on stopping the flow of his chakra to dispel this one.

Exhaling slowly he closed those golden eyes once more still holding the hand seal from a moment earlier, this was the point that he needed to step up his game and become stronger. To lead the younger generation he needed to be someone who could shoulder the burden for them as he used the ‘Kai’ technique once more briefly stopping his chakra before starting it again and effectively dispelling the ‘Eye Scream’ technique that Sho had used on him. His shorter friend actually chuckled a little as the Reaper slowly opened his eyes once more now and breathed a sigh of relief to find that the illusion was gone and that his vision had returned to normal. Reaching up with the right hand the old man rubbed the bridge of his nose, still a bit disorientated feeling from the previous technique. But so far he felt that they were off to a good start now and that experiencing the genjutsu like this and speaking with Sho more in depth about each technique he had used against him and how he was able to initiate them on him only helped to increase his lack of knowledge of the illusionary art. But this was only the start for the day as there was more to come in the training session that his fellow Toukai had planned out to help the Reaper become more adept in the arts as well.

It would appear that the massive man wasn’t too terrible at the art of genjutsu, but that wasn’t to say that he was any good at the art either. Sadly enough at this point in his ninja career the older man had been so focused on his archery and blending that with ninjutsu during his younger years and more so recently had begun to focus a good deal of his time into actually learning a form of kenjutsu in preparations for attempting to join the Mist Seven. But the fact that he had sought out Sho, the Toukai before him now, was a sign that he realized that exposing himself to all the close and mid-range levels of combat that he once was able to almost completely avoid such things and that had allowed the man to get by so far. After all it was extremely difficult to catch someone in a genjutsu if you didn’t know where they were…but times were changing and Kasai was trying to adapt to these changes now. After taking a few minutes to recover from the first round of genjutsu training the man stood back up closing a small bottle of sake and slipping it back into the ninja pouch on his left hip. It was time to get back to training with the fellow clansman.

“Let’s start again.”

“It’s only going to get harder from here.”

“I know, I wouldn’t expect it to be any other way with you.”

“Let us begin then.”

The pair finished their brief exchange of words and the younger man knew that their short break was over as he closed his eyes for a moment thinking the best way to continue. His golden eyes snapping open as a smirk once again found its way onto the young man’s exposed lips as he started to form hand seals before then letting out a whistle. The use of sound must have meant that what ever technique his comrade was using was sound initiated, one of the types of imitators used with illusionary techniques and one of the most versatile ones in the older man’s opinion. As using sound allowed for the user to even remain hidden from view while still being able to trap an opponent in their genjutsu, how useful that could be. But the Reaper had to pull his thought back into the present as feathers began to seemingly begin to fall from nowhere in every directly the man could see as he turned looking around him now. Slowly he began to feel drowsy out as if the feathers were putting him under some type of hypnosis or something of a similar nature now as he almost stumbled. It was obvious that it was an illusion at this point but he didn’t know the level of the technique as he struggled to bring his hands together now into the seal.

‘These feathers…I need to release this illusion…’

That same sleepy feeling continued to try and over take him now as the managed the seal and used the ‘Kai’ technique in an attempt to release the technique like he had been able to do with the previous illusions cast on him by Sho. Yet, his current level of genjutsu knowledge and control of releasing and resisting such techniques would be found to be insufficient this time as the man shook his head as the feathers continued to fall. A few moments later the massive man slumped forward dropping to a knee as he tried to fight the sleep before falling to the side now completely asleep from the genjutsu. It took a bit for him to come to as he found his training partner chowing down on the last few bites of a rice ball before he glanced over to Kasai’s directing and gave a little wave. Exhaling the older man pushed himself to a knee as he removed the large zanbato from his back and placed it on the ground beside him with the right hand before gently smacking his masked face with the gloved left hand. Trying to accelerate the process of waking up and shake off the drowsy feeling that came as a side effect of being caught in the feather illusion.

As he recovered Sho began to talk to him about the technique where he would discover that it was a technique designed to place large groups of people asleep and that while it was powerful in its range it was also its weakness. But one must realize earlier that it is a genjutsu or they will rapidly become overwhelmed with the feeling of sleep before succumbing to the urge and falling fast asleep like he had done a short while before. So one not only needed to release that it was a genjutsu but needed to do so quickly and also react just as quickly to attempt and dispel the illusion before they became easy prey for the enemy to finish off after passing out. Moving his head to the right side and then the left causing it to crack the man slowly stood back up and gave a nod to Sho who did the same as before now and started into a series of hand seals that were followed once more by a sharp whistle. In truth the man had little experience in identifying illusions but the training so far had been an eye opener for him as the feathers once more began to fall around him.

Through his early identification that it was in fact an illusion the man moved his hands together and while not being hindered by the groggy and drowsy feelings yet that would be coming shortly from the feather illusion Kasai would form the single hand seal. Being able to more easily focus on his controlling his flow of chakra that had been changed by the technique being used on him currently the man utilized the ‘Kai’ technique much more effectively this time. In doing so it allowed for the Reaper to successfully dispel the feathers as they seemed to be pushed away from him now before fading into the air completely just how they had appeared to the massive man. Holding the seal for a few moment Kasai would finally allow the hands to relax before each arm lowered to the sides of the dark garbed body now before turning his attention to the younger genjutsu user before him. Sho applauded the older man’s success in dispelling the area illusion now before folding his arms upon his chest now, it would seem that the younger man was a little impressed with the devotion that the Reaper had for improving himself and his weaknesses…

"I would have never thought that I was truly this weak in the art of illusions, my young friend." Kasai's whisper like voice slowly pierced through the veil that was the dark fabric of his face mask that seemed to almost be part of his face in this day and age. The crimson haired man lifted his golden orbs away from the younger shinobi and upwards and sighing to himself at the display of his weakness. But it was precisely for this reason that he needed to continue to train his defense against illusion for it would only take a moment to be caught in one and be struck down by a single blow when one was defenseless. No matter how massively strong he was even a man like himself could easily fall prey to a powerful illusion as these illusion were truly on the weaker side of the spectrum of things. Shaking his head the man closed his eyes and lowered his head back down to its normal posture allowing for his thoughts and mind to settle once more as he needed to continue training as much as he was able today.

The two men took a short break for lunch and to allow both of themselves to rest before beginning the last part of the day’s genjutsu training as the man was going to expand the reaper’s knowledge to an even greater extent by letting the man experience more than just the typical illusion genjutsu that are more common. As the two began to prepare Sho started by discussing about status style of genjutsu that used the same initiators as normal genjutsu but. Normal illusion genjutsu are those that create illusions that trick one or more of the six senses. But status genjutsu are ones that modify the processes the brain uses to think. This is typically the creation of emotions, calling forth of memories, or simply giving them thoughts. Status genjutsu are more complex than illusion genjutsu and a sign that the user is rather experienced in the art of genjutsu. The younger of the pair of Toukai clansmen didn’t waste any more time discussing status genjutsu and instead readied himself to go ahead and demonstrate exactly what he meant to his comrade now. An almost devious smirk wandered onto the young man’s lips as he began to make some hand signs now as he was sure that the Reaper didn’t have any idea what was about to come his way now. Shortly after finishing the hand seals the man looked up in order to make eye contact with the much larger man before him.

In the first moment the well-built, mountain of a man didn’t feel or see anything like with the previous illusionary techniques that he had been exposed to thus far. Yet as his heart beat again now it hit him, the sensation that his heart has grown spikes and jabs into all of the surrounding organs. The illusion of pain was so great that the man almost screamed in agony as both hands grasped at his chest and the man collapsed onto the ground falling to a knee where the left hand pulled away from the chest and instinctively braced himself against completely falling to the ground now. It felt so real and then after a few more moments the pain was gone but he was still gasping for air, it had been so quick and unexpected like nothing else that the younger man had shown Kasai up to this point. The Reaper guessed that was what the little devious smirk had been about…so this was the type of genjutsu known as status. It took a few more moments before the dark clad man was able to rise without some trembling in his hands exhaling slowly now as his golden eyes lifted up to meet a matching set of the genjutsu specialist, Sho.

After a quick breather the old man was ready for another round with his younger companion and his illusionary techniques as the Reaper wished to continue to immerse himself in the art as the target dummy for the fellow Toukai to use. Perhaps after this the man would need to do a bit more training in the arts as well in order to learn some genjutsu for himself. But for the moment the older, crimson haired shinobi was more interested on developing his skills to defeat genjutsu in order to keep himself from becoming such an easy target with the close range approach that he was taking in the efforts to become one of the prestigious ‘Seven’ of Kiri. Now as the pair readied themselves to begin again now the smaller Toukai began to speak about another type of genjutsu known as overlay. Overlay Genjutsu are essentially teleporting the minds of the user and the one target into a new world, or an all new reality. This reality is an all encompassing, but limited, illusion technique, with just a dash of status slipped in. Overlay genjutsu create entire scenes, worlds, for the mind to experience. Now, the interesting thing about overlay genjutsu is that it gives you a "fake" body.

Though one must keep in mind that in an overlay genjutsu nothing is truly real no matter how real it may feel within the technique. It's all in the target’s head, so if one was to throw a kunai, sending it flying at your face it would not actually stab you, while in an illusion genjutsu, the kunai might divide into more kunai, and only one of them will actually stab you. Yet, this does not mean that one can walk off an overlay, due to the mental stress that they are capable of causing, they are able to debilitate those that are weak in genjutsu, like the Toukai is currently. The other interesting fact about overlay techniques is that they only take a few seconds normally to pass in the 'real world' but can take a long time to pass in the actual genjutsu world created by the user. But because of this, they are only able to affect one target at a time where a normal illusion can affect as many people that are affected by its specific initiator. This type of illusion truly interested the man and perhaps in the future if his skill ever increased to the level of his fellow Toukai then he wished to see about learning some of these…

Now the younger man began to slowly form hand seals as he seemed to be completely close the short gap that had been between the two Toukai before reaching up to place his palm against the man’s chest, which the older man allowed as he did trust the fellow clansman or he would have not of asked him for help. At first nothing appeared to happen as with the other genjutsu but for some reason he felt the need to blink and as he did and reopened them the world seemed as though it had changed completely. The sky was dark, the landscape which use to be the edge of the Toukai district turned into a burnt and battle worn dirt before from the sky several large iron spikes began to fall as he managed to dodge the first couple. Though he would not prove fast enough to dodge any more as one slammed through his chest from the front as another did the same except through his back pinning him to the ground. Pain radiated through the massive man’s body as he lifted his eyes to see the genjutsu’s caster walking toward him slowly with a kunai in hand…Kasai’s hands trembled a bit as he moved them up to form the hand seal to use the ‘release’ technique. Though he was not able to release the technique with his current level of genjutsu leaving him at the whim of the cast, Sho, now as he approached twirling the kunai around his index finger before grasping it in a reverse grip.

Slowly he raised the weapon up to the immobilized Kasai’s neck before stopping, removing the blade the pair seemed to talk back and forth for a few moments before he would end the technique as the older man once more found himself falling to a knee from the mental trauma caused by the technique. In an overlay the damage is normally disconcerted through the difference in genjutsu skill, which in this case was still quite a bit as Sho took a seat motioning for the larger man to do the same. Exhaling slowly the Reaper set back and using his left hand he dug through the hip pouch taking out the small sake bottle…after this shit he felt like a drink was in order now. Removing the cap he took a drink and decided to lay the rest of the way back now into a laying position upon his back…golden eyes disappear for a moment as the hood fell off to reveal his masked face and long locks of crimson hair this mist filled afternoon. The sun barely breaking through the thick mist of Kirigakure as the man offered his comrade a drink of sake which Sho gladly accepted, after all the pair had first met over some sake at one of the village bars. Several minutes passed before the older man set up now and Sho began to talk about the fourth and last type of genjutsu that was known as warp. Warp is the fourth type of genjutsu, and arguably the hardest type to use. Warp genjutsu combine the basics of both illusion and status genjutsu to create sensory illusions, while also evoking mind sets or ideas alongside the illusion

Though Kasai was a bit thankful that this man didn’t know any ‘warp’ style of genjutsu, really needing a break from being the test dummy of this training session and felt like it was time to call it a day so that he could think on all that he had managed to learn on this day. Remembering about the ways to release a genjutsu, there being only three ways to break out of genjutsu: physical pain, loss of consciousness, and the use of the kai technique. Loss of consciousness was never truly an option though for a shinobi as the man needed to focus on improving his genjutsu skill so that his use of the ‘kai’ technique would be more effective as he had discussed about the use of pain to release genjutsu. Pain could be extremely dangerous to use, as the cost wasn’t necessarily equal to the power of the genjutsu and the ninja could end up doing more damage to themselves…he had to continue becoming stronger if he wished to make up for the loss in strength of the Hidden Mist…he would become stronger….

(4014/4000) +4 Genjutsu

Zao · Post by **Zao** » Mon Jan 12, 2015 8:02 am

Through the thick morning mist that surrounded the countryside, the soft sound of shinobi sandals of a large man could be heard as the muscular figure slowly appeared as his wide frame seemed to push aside the mist. This first thing one would notice would be the trademark Toukai red hair that could be found atop the man's head and the set of budging arms that grew from the very worn looking grey jounin vest . A set of almost glowing yellow eyes that held a deep firmness to them now gazed out through the thin mist, the mist here in the mountains that surrounded the lake in which the actual village sat secluded in was created through natural means and wasn't nearly as thick as the man made mist that constantly covered the village as a defensive mechanism. Despite his love for the village he preferred to train far away from it as his body was slowly reaching an apex and the monstrous strength contained within it was capable of damaging much more than simple whatever the target might be if he wasn’t careful. Though there was also another reason which was the Jounin preferred to keep his true strength a secret from others, this was something that was not unique to Kasai as many people thought this way, the surprise when one experienced it first-hand. "This place never changes..." The words rolled off the man's hidden tongue and into the crisp morning air now as he arrived at a small clearing that appeared to have been man made and had only two things within it.

"I will surpass them all. One day I will need to demonstrate to them what true strength is...the strength of true swordsman and my World Breaker will be the instrument of death." The words were spoken aloud but in a soft voice to himself as a few casual steps carried him the last couple of meters to stand directly in the center of the cleared off area now. Arriving at the center area one could see a pair of small piles that was dark black in color and upon closer examination one could tell that pile was actually a heavy looking length of chains that the crimson haired reaper knelt down in between. Taking a few moments the man first picked up the pile of chain on the left side of him and wrapped it around the left arm before then turning to the pile on the right before doing the same to the right arm. Each length of chain was wrapped several times around either arm to the point that it covered from the first knuckle of the hand to just last the bend in the elbow for both arms. Though it was hard to tell from simply looking at what appeared to be a set of ordinary chains these were actually specially crafted on order from the Toukai himself as each weight nearly twice as much as his own body weight and by simply wearing them in this fashion it increased his weight to nearly five times normal.

"A little weight, this should help me warm up..." The middle aged man smiled behind his dark mask now, having worn these in the past as a young boy and young man to train back then even one had been hard to move quickly with but over time his muscular strength had shown explosive growth leading him to the point where he was nearly at the absolute peak possible for his body. Each arm curled upward like he was doing a bicep curl as he easily lifted the weight chains causing for his biceps to bulge slightly and for the veins to become visible in the biceps. The bandaged fingers of both hands were curled into a fist grasping the ends of each chain now as he began to increase his movements speed from a walk into a run as the slope of the mountain went from the gentle rolling aspect near the foot of the mountains where they came down to meet the lake to a slight incline. Though this was a simple warm up that the middle aged taijutsu specialist who would normally do on his training days but today would be a much more intense session as he had created a special strength centered circuit for him to complete today that would test even his amazing amount of strength through a series of challenges. It didn't take long for the man to make it almost a kilometer into the run before the additional weight was already starting to become a slight nuisance as he felt the drag in each of the muscles from the forearms all the way up to his shoulders and even into his traps as well. Though it was a dull pain this was going to be a truly long and excoriating training session so the muscular man began to prepare himself mentally for the physical strain and challenges that awaited him now as he sped up his jog slightly now as letting a determined look to appear upon the scarred face, a few droplets of sweat were already becoming visible upon his brow while others were hidden beneath the flak jacket that currently covered his bare chest underneath.

"My muscles are starting to fatigue a bit, it's going to be another painful day. Getting old truly does suck…" As he continued on the man spoke aloud to keep him motivated as the grip of his fist tightened once more and the arms were brought up slightly allowing him to swing them easier as the red haired man continued his run. About two kilometers in he came to another small clearing that held a single chain that was identical to the pair which had awaited Kasai’s arrival at the training area at the base of the mountain side. Shaking his head lightly the muscular figure bent down to retrieve this third chain now and then proceeded to securely wrap the black chain across his chest from the left shoulder to the right hip. The extra weight wasn't too bad but the addition weight was instantly felt in the man's legs as he looked forward just past the little flat area in which he stood to see the first real obstacle in today's training. Those eerie yellow irises stared out at a series of what looked like man-made pedestals or more properly named columns that had been erected by the Toukai himself that spanned a wide gorge that almost appeared to be man made through sheer brute force. There was a total of ten separate columns that one had to leap to and from in order to cross the approximately hundred meter gap between the clearing and the next clearing that was visible through the faint layer of mist that was being burnt off by the continuously rising sun at the man's back.

Taking a bit of a running shot at the first one that was only about twelve meters away, an ease jump for most shinobi, the man pushed off at the last step about two feet from the sheer drop of about fifty meters into the air. Each of the man’s arms spread out as if to help him maintain the proper amount of balance as he landed right foot first upon the tall column which rocked slightly under his increased weight. This was one of the longer jumps but the maroon haired man had the advantage of being able to take a running start to increase the leaping distance. Exhaling slowly the man stood up and took in the distance to the next column and made mental calculations of how much strength he would need to use in order to land on the only two meter wide platform top. Hesitating for only a couple seconds the man bent down allowing his finger tips to touch the shifting rocks surface as the chains slide down the forearms slightly with a gentle rattle of metal before he pushed off with close to his maximum strength causing the column that he had been standing on to be literally crushed under the sheer force of the man’s strength and be sent toppling over as he floated through the air again. The calculations had been almost spot on as he landed just a hair shy of the center mark of this rock landing pad sliding a few feet past center line which made the rock column shift slightly to one side before Kasai quickly stepped back in order to be perfectly centered on the rock allowing for it to return to being straight up and down. The next pad was just a little bit further away and he knew that it would take almost his full strength, due to the drastic increase in weight from the three chains, to be able to make it all the way to the landing point now. This time the man took nearly ten seconds to prepare himself as the first two jumps had forced him to use up a bit of strength in his legs as the muscles in the upper legs, mainly the quads were staring to build up a little lactic acid within them.

Slowing his slightly elevated heart rate now, the Jounin made the next leap once more with the same result for the pillar he had been previously standing upon now as it was reduced to a pile of broken rubble and debris that plummeted down fifty meters below as he stretched out his chained arms again. His strange yellow eyes widened now as he realized that he had overestimated the strength need for the jump which had been just a meter or so shorter than the previous one he twisted his body in midair despite the resistance put on the body from the three weighted chains. Then each of the arms passed by each thigh and removed a kunai before driving each down tip first as if they were climbing spikes into the hard stone grasping for anything they could reach allowing them to sprawl out and grab each side of the platforms edges stopping him from sliding clear off the edge and into what would have been a critical fall. Though this time he wouldn't be able to take any time in preparing for the next jump as the column of rocks upon which the top stone was resting had already began to tilt past the point of no return and judgement had to be made on the fly this time as it started to fall in the general direction of the next target stone. Flexing not only his tiring legs but also the two arms he waited for only a few seconds as the column began to finally fall before then leaping more upwards than outwards as he managed to leap just high enough to find himself atop the next stone column. With a relieved look upon his normally over confident face he dropped down into a seated position and allowed for the arms to relax completely for a close to a minute as he gathered himself physically and mentally to continue now.

After about two minutes worth of time had slowly passed the still slightly panting man exhaled slowly closing his golden eyes, a stern look now over taking his face as the man pushed up from the ground using both arms and both legs in what looked like a well-practiced movement now before each eye lid fluttered open revealing an almost piercing gaze. An unrivaled look of determination soon found its way onto the man's face as he crouched lower before leaping forward now, each stone on this side of the gorge was closer allowing for the tiring man to reserve some much needed strength as he made it to the last stone in only a couple of minutes before he came to a stop from consecutive leaps. Now the muscular man lifted his gaze to the rock face ahead of him with the small ledge that was only four or five meters in width and on this resting ledge was a single blade chain coiled up in a pile upon the rocky ground waiting for the man to retrieve it. Shaking his head lightly the man made the five meter last jump with ease landing as easily as he could give the amount of weight that was currently added on to his body and even with the soft landing a meter's worth of the ledge broke of and fell into the gorge behind him now as the jounin stepped forward as if not even seeming to notice the small rock slide the landing had caused. Walking over to the chain the man once against knelt down on his left knee to retrieve the coil of chain before slinging this chain in the opposite direction cross body to the last chain before the man bound it securely immediately feeling the weight on his body increase before he stood up with each leg shaking slightly now..

Kiri's black reaper forcibly lifted his head now to begin the ascent up at the sheer cliff face that was the second obstacle on this course with his body now weighted down with a fourth heavy black chain, the rules for this part of the course was simple in that he had to just climb up without using chakra. Without any hesitation in the giant of a man made movement now to the face as he only had to make three steps forward before his long stride allowed him to within reach of the rock face before each weighted arm reached up to grab a hand hold on their appropriate side now and aided the tiring legs in beginning the ascent upwards the appeared to be a few hundred meters up to the next resting stop and what looked to be the top of the cliff face itself. From the back side of the man one would be able to see the small streams of sweat that began in the muscular upper back and shoulder before descending down the into the grey flak jacket on the man’s back as they continuously relaxed and contracted in order to allow the man to steadily pull himself upwards with his arms and legs. About halfway up he could feel his hand strength starting to fade already which caused the man to begin to focus on secure hand and foot holds knowing that a fall from the nearly hundred and fifty meters that he was would probably kill even him if he wasn't able to stop or slow his descent in some manner. Slightly frustrated the man's left hand clinched slightly in anger as the man's enormous level of strength came back to bit him in the ass as the hand hold was instantly shattered into dust and small rocks because of it. With such a level of strength the man had to learn early on in life how to regulate it for the situation but sometime when he got angry or simply wasn’t thinking about it he was just like any other person and needed to let off a bit of steam...sadly now wasn't the place or time to do such a thing.

"God dammit!" The sudden explosion of rock caused his left foot to slip which in turn caused the other to slip but the right arm was luckily already in a finger hold that was a crack running diagonally in the rock face and the man's body hung from just those four fingers. His fingers rapidly began to weaken and even started to slip as he scrambled to adjust his body and regain control before after a few tense seconds the hand and foot managed to find their way into finger and toe holds surrounding the man and stabilize the shinobi allowing for him to regain composure with the proper foot and hand placement. ‘Fall from here and it’s over...perhaps another day.' Laughing quietly in his head as the almost deadly fall had filled his body with a much needed shot of adrenalin that came with a moment of renewed strength and vigor that he didn't waste a single moment of. Using the surge of stamina and strength the sweat drenched man started to climb once more as the last fifty meters of cliff face seemed to almost fly by him before he used both chain wrapped hands to grasp the ledge above him and pull himself up and over the ledge rolling on his side before ending up on his back. The short locks of crimson hair was messily scattered upon his had covered with dirt and small rocks as he stared up at the bright blue sky which only held a few white clouds this morning. A breeze that would have normally been almost warm struck the man's damp body sending a slight chill across the man's hot skin as he forced himself to set up now through the use of his chained arms despite wishing to simply lay there in order to save and rebuild some of his arm strength. As he did so the middle aged man saw that the trail he had ended up on wound itself up into the wood line of the forest and setting right at the edge of the wood line was a small black pile. Shaking his head he even cursed lightly, "I must have been fucking drunk when I set this shit up..." before forcing himself back into a standing position before slowly advancing over to the pile that lay waiting for its owner as once more he knelt finding a black set of leg weights which he attached one at a time to each of the legs before standing up very slowly.

Now all the man’s limbed had some form of weight wrapped securely around each of them along with the two that he had spilt between his muscular arms coming in to a total of four chains and two leg weights. Both the arms and the legs were already fatigued and seemed to be pulled a bit towards the ground by gravity pulling upon the weights themselves as the man had to actively fight back in order to keep them each from dropping straight down now. Mustering his strength the man cleared the burning pain of the tired muscles across nearly the entirety of his body now and began to move placing one foot in front of the other in a slow walk that soon sped up to a slow jog but was nowhere close to the original pace Kasai had been moving after picking up the first two initial chains at the beginning. The next leg of the course wound around the hill side in a back and forth pattern that if ran in a straight line would have probably only of been around five to six hundred meters in length but with all the twist and turns and up and down hill along the way it stretched the run itself out to nearly three kilometers now. On the last steep straight away of the run the man finally had to break down into a fast walking pace pumping each arm with every step as his breathing was labored and barely able to maintain the arms at waist level now due to muscle fatigue as the arms truly were beginning to grow closer and closer to their absolute limit. Despite his current state the man never had the thought of quitting or dropping any of the weight, to grow stronger one had to face a certain amount of adversity and then surpass it or they would fail and begin to take steps backwards...this was something that the swordsman would never allow for himself to do even it if killed him right here and now.

This was the type of determination and resolve that was need to truly push past one's limits in order to establish new ones, until one was finally able to stand at the apex. Finally the man would take the last step placing him over the incline and once more he found himself in a small clearing that led into a narrow ravine but in front of the entrance to the ravine was a series of three stones that formed a line blocking the pathway. Each stone grew larger as it got closer to the entrance and had been placed there specifically to serve as an additional obstacle, resting for a few minutes to stead his breathing and allow some muscle recovery the man then walked forward toward the first boulder like stone which was about two meters in height as he reached outward with each hand grasping onto the rock. Using only the muscles within his upper body the man twisted the stone to the right side with a powerful maneuver that caused for the stone to roll a few meters off to the side now and reveal the next stone that was closer to three meters in diameter. For this stone the man stepped off to the left side of the stone and bent down as he searched for a place to grip the stone close to the ground now as each tail pushed into the direct in an arch style pattern with the bent legs. Then in complete unison the man pushed upward with the legs and tails while pulling upwards with both bulging arms now as the stone started to move very slowly forcing the man to continue constantly straining for several seconds before the large rock finally broke loose and rolled out of the way. Now came a rock that was nearly five meters in diameter and one that had been hard for even the man at peak strength to move into this position and now he was currently far from that as he could already feel small micro tears forming in the muscles across his entire body and even in the muscles of his five tails too.

"Guess there is only one thing I can do with this stone, since moving it in my condition is straight out of the question. Oh well..." A faint glimpse of a smirk appeared on the sweaty shinobi's face now that had been revealed about halfway through the torn face mask as the right corner of Kasai’s mouth slowly lifted realizing that the only method for dealing with the obstacle was the old fashion, direct way. Drawing back the chain wrapped right hand the man rushed forward the three meters that separated the man and the giant boulder before delivering a powerful haymaker style of strike directly onto the surface of the stone. Though the rock cracked and cratered in around the place of impact the overall structure of the rock remained in-phased as the taijutsu user began a powerful assault of left and right handed punched that rained down with enough force that each had more than enough strength that if one was to take the strike directly it would most likely be able to take the life of the foe. After a series of nearly twelve consecutive punches the rock spilt into three large pieces that fell down now creating a gap to walk into the ravine through as each arm fell down to either side now. Droplets of blood dripped down from the knuckles of each hand as they slowly began for form a tiny pool under each arm as the man's chest heaved heavily up and down and his arms from the finger tips up to the shoulder ached with sharp pains now. But the man only began to shake his head lightly side to side and laugh because of what he saw just past the destroyed boulder was another pile of black chain, he had forgotten placing it there and its appearance now struck a bit of pain in the man's heart like a velvet dagger now. Yet, there was no quit to be found in the man's piercing blue eyes that retained a constant gaze upon the chain as each foot step was a forced moment as he made it over to the chain and dropped down onto both knees.

It took a few minutes for the bloody hands to fumble with the thick chain before it was finally grasped it completely and lifted it up over his head and placed the chain onto his shoulders allowing for the ends to hang down across the chains crisscrossed upon his chest now. With the chain in place he started to slowly walk forward with each step proving to more and more of challenge, not quite able to muster the strength to jog any more at this point and instead simply focused on just continuing to move forward. There was only one more obstacle to finish after this one but the question was not so much on if he could complete the obstacle as it was if he would be able to force his body to make it to the location of the obstacle seeing the condition that the jounin was currently in. There were no words of motivation or thoughts to keep the man's mentally positive about the training as this point as nearly his whole back was being wrecked with a pain that could be considered a seven to eight out of ten if one had to put the pain on a scale for a medic shinobi. Pain was simply weakness leaving the body, in Kasai’s view on life anyways, weakness that needed to be forced out from the body in order to allow the needed growth to occur now as the man trudged up and up now taking nearly half an hour before he was able to walk the five hundred meter trek up the mountain side pathway that snaked up through the ravine. The slope and terrain truly not being that difficult at all but the previous training obstacles and events stacked on top of the six heavy chains that the man had affixed to his body were what made the slow walk a grueling one without a doubt. Finally thought, Hitachi managed to reach what he thought was the top of the hill now only to find that there was a final clearing with a false peak which revealed the actually top of the small mountain that he had been working to reach the top all morning as the sun was already pushing into its mid-day position which didn't help the man's body at all now as the morning mist had been completely burned away.

"I really could use a drink right about now...dammit these is another chain" Those last two words would crush anyone's dream of finishing such a challenging training session as their directly in front of the man's black bandaged feet was a finally black chain coiled up neatly in a small pile. Unable to take a single knee the simply fell forward onto both knees The stiff fingers of the still bloody and dirty fingers slowly began to go to work around the chain until both hands had a grasp on the chain now. It took all the strength that the large, muscular Toukai could must in order to simply lift himself from the ground into a shaky standing position now before his glowing golden eyes slowly traced the ground from between his bandaged feet up to the beginning of the trail before finally landing on the summit. "Only one choice, up to the top, I left my sake up there, fuck...." At the top the man had staged some medical gear along with much needed food and water and even a small bottle of high tier sake but this was the only place along the training course that any of the aforementioned items could be located because Kasai did not believe in rewarding failure. One had to succeed in order to be reward and this even more true for himself in this moment as there was no way for him to ever push his body to the apex if he simply quit or stopped when he was tired. A long exhale filtered through the crimson haired man's nostrils now as he took his first step feeling the foot actually sink in a tiny bit into the soil that covered the rocky terrain of the mountain trail.

One slow and tiny step after another began to carry the man forward and off the short, flat clearing and onto the actual first step of uphill slope that caused the man to almost slip and fall barely able to maintain any semblance of balance at this point as the both arms hang down completely at each side were his arms hanging almost limb at each side as a length of chain they held hovered only a few inches off the deck like they could give out at any moment and drop the said chain. Twenty steps in the man was slouched over as arms and upper body had given out near completely which now caused for the chains attempting to slide off the Reaper to be dragged through the soft dirt path creating a set of drag marks that were about two inches wide and one to two inch deep and that lead from a short way up the path to where the man himself was. Each step was as struggle as both the man's legs were almost completely shot at this point as the man had to call forth every ounce of will power and strength in order to keep pushing his body past his limits now. But about halfway up the sloping path now the man collapsed onto his hands and knees causing him to pause for a moment and it was at that moment he discovered that he didn't even have the energy to stand and yet this alone would not be enough to stop the swordsman from moving forward. Even on his hands and knees the man continued the grueling and agonizing journey one small hand print at a time as each clawed finger dug into the mixture of soft soil and rocks scraping his way up the towards the summit.

Even slower than walking with the chains from each limb now actually dragging behind the man continuing to slow his progress to that which could have easily been comparable to that of a snail. Nearly thirty minutes later a single bloodied hand with a black chain wrapped around its arm could be seen as it shot up over the last portion of the hill side and touched down on the soil of the summit as the dirty fingers dug once more into the dirt as a tired looking smile could be found upon Kasa’s face that was able to lift just enough to see over the lip and onto the flattened off area of the summit itself. "Ahhhhh!" Letting out a deep roar that reverberated down the mountainside itself, originating from deep within the man's chest, it echoed down to the shoreline and was so loud that people on the banks of the island which contained the village would have been able to faintly hear it now. Summoning the last bit of strength that he had been saving for this moment the man forced himself to actually stand and take a step upon the summit before reaching upwards as if trying to grasp the clouds above him in the sky with both arms before then slamming them down against the earth. The impact actually formed a tremendous crater for each arm and within each of the meter deep craters were links of black chain as the man was free from some of the binds and able to stand, though the action itself had used up every scrap of strength as he almost passed out. Falling forward he managed to twist his body allowing for it to land upon his back now as each limb spread out on the ground around him now, completely exhausted but an accomplished smile was resting upon the man's dirty and scarred face was completely visible as the half face mask had been torn off completely somewhere along the way...though despite all this the man didn’t care about anything else but a sip of the amazing sake.

5389/5000
Strength Training +5

Zao · Post by **Zao** » Tue Jan 13, 2015 4:08 am

A dark clothed man with a grey flak upon his upper torso slowly walked through a large, open field as blood dripped from the dark bandaging that was wrapped around each hand and run up to the elbow of either arm. After a few steps the man's golden eyes swept across the field now to reveal the death and destruction that was the signs of a battle field now. Numerous bodies lay scattered about the area as the sound of arrows cutting through the air, metal clashing against metal, and even the sounds of hand to hand combat drifted into the man's ears. Far from home the man had found himself in the middle of a type of civil war in this minor country as three separate group fought for control of the country and its natural resources. In the end it simply boiled down to the money that two of the parties were after while the third party simply wanted their homeland back and how did Kasai fit into this situation. He was actually a fourth party in this current scenario as he had simply been wondering throughout the neighboring countries after a mission had forced him to travel many countries from home in the end to successfully complete the assigned task in the end. Yet, he was simply a man with a thirst for violence and battle, it was bread into the Toukai from before the time they could walk and Kasai was a perfect example of that type of mind set.

'This smell, I feel so at home here...now to continue.' In truth the man had not even drawn his weapon and instead was relying simply on his hand-to-hand skills to deal with each incoming threat no matter the style of attacker or the weapons they wielded. Treating this like a form of training for himself and even holding back on his monstrous strength in order to allow those attacking him to at least no die from a single blow. Quickly his masked face tightened as he felt the rapid approach of someone from his left side as he quickly turned his head and dodged just to the right with a simple side step as a flash of steel left a long cut in the worn grey flak upon his upper torso. It had been a tremendously fast thrust of a long but slender blade now forcing the man to actually move at his normal speed for just a moment before he lifted his left knee upwards at an angle in order to deliver a powerful knee strike to the assailant's stomach which caused for his body to actually halt mid air before being launched backwards. The man was more surprised then injured as the swordsman rolled backwards to a distance of around ten meters from the giant, red headed man now lifting his sinister gaze to take in the large man who towered over him in size. Only a twisted smile could be seen as collected himself and moved into a stance that appeared to be one used in generating power and speed through thrusting style attacks. "Just die for me ninja, I have a lot of money to collect from the heads of those beneath out feet!" This raven haired man was obviously some type of ronin or mercenary who was simply here to benefit off the internal conflict and one seasoned enough to be able to instantly identify the Toukai as a ninja from just a single exchange.

"Come little one, let us play for a bit..."A cold, whisper like voice seemed to drift out from behind the half face mask that hid the scarred face of Kasai, just the tone behind the words were enough to cause a hint of fear to rise up within the foe as he watched the shinobi carefully. In what seemed like a rather relaxed manner the man had finally opted to pull his weapon as the left hand reached up and over the shoulder to grasp hole of the World Breaker's hilt now and with what seemed like a simple, light tug the weapon was released from its sheath/holster and pulled in front of him as its true size went on display. Kasai hadn't been able to get a strong judgement of the man's true abilities from a simple assassination style attack and wished to push this other man until he crumbled while holding back his strength despite still utilizing the large zanbato. Though suddenly the slender man's figure turned into a blur as he rapidly advanced towards the Kiri-nin without regard for fighting a shinobi which told the Reaper that this man had most likely clashed against shinobi a number of times to feel comfortable doing so instead of running away. But even the veteran shinobi was amazed at the sheer acceleration the man was able to generate in such a short distance as for anyone else on the battlefield the black haired swordsman would have disappeared from their sight.

Yet, the older man was far from any simple rookie as he tracked the man's movements but it still caused for his eyes to narrow just a bit as he stepped back with the left foot and dropped the tip of the large weapon as he pushed the near impossibly fast thrust off to the right side as the two blades grinded against one another creating a series of sparks. The friction between the blades tore at the bandaging the had been concealing the zanbato style weapon Kasai wielded now as a row of curved hooks were revealed from beneath the wrapping. Parrying the impressive thrust the Toukai moved with the direction of the parry as he brought a round house kick around with his left leg that followed closely behind the swordsman aimed to strike directly against the lower spine of the unnamed mane. Yet all it hit was a few flowing locks of black hair as the man had rolled to the side before throwing a backwards stab that landed firmly against the broad side of the zanbato now pushing back again Kasai who staggered back slightly being caught on a single leg and slightly off balance. He mentally applauded the man's instincts because if he had allowed for himself to be hit or for the large man to get within reach of him this duel would have instantly been over. Even a fool could see the muscles that were chiseled into the man's arm and if that was any sign as to what the loose clothing or flak concealed then if he was able to grab you then death was the only logical expectation for that person. 'Interesting, I don't think I've ever fought someone with this type of sword style. Maybe I can learn a couple things from this merc...' With a gentle smile upon his unseen lips the man mused to himself about the strange type of swordsmanship this black haired foreigner used and hoped to be able to draw out even more of the man's techniques so that he could continue to observe his movements.

"Let's not stop now!" As Kasai spoke the excitement could not be completely concealed by the masked shinobi, it wasn't everyday one was able to meet a decent swordsman outside of his home village who was known for their famous sword users. Without a moments of hesitation he rapidly advanced but it was easy to tell that while he held the great advantage in strength this foe held the advantage in speed without a doubt, this was shaping up to be just the type of thing Kasai had been searching for. No matter how many people he had already killed while moving through the bloody battlefield that the duo were currently fighting upon, this man before him was the sole thing that mattered anymore to the giant swordsman. With a powerful over hand single of the mighty weapon the tiny foe was forced to dodge backwards allowing for the bandaged zanbato to forcefully slam into the earth with such sheer force that it caused a tremor to radiate outwards from the point of impact while the impact area was pushed downward forming a two meter wide crater. For the first time in this brief exchange the target's bright blue eyes opened wide when he was able to see a small demonstration of the level of strength of the shinobi that he had challenged now. But they quickly narrowed as the larger Kiri-nin's whisper like voice drifted through the air towards him now. "I had thought that you just possessed some speed but when I forced your movement that time I could see that more than the speed you have is that your footwork alone was near perfect, I must applaud you for that but sadly I still must kill you.."

It was like a cold bucket of water had just been dropped onto the ronin's head as the soft whisper of a voice some how managed to carry such killer intent, it felt like such a tone of voice should have belonged to a monster who had climbed over mountains of corpses before. To someone who felt nothing when taking the life of another, it was as if the lives of others could be compared to simply stepping on a random bug to the giant man. Kasai had been observing every single movement of the man's body during the last exchange and every moment was so refined that it actually was able to surprise the seasoned shinobi but what he noticed the most was the exquisite footwork that somehow allowed for the man to surpass his normal speed for a brief period of time. He had hard of such a thing when wondering, some like to call them movement techniques. Slowly the Reaper withdrew the blade of his large weapon from its earthen resting place pulling with it rocks and dirt as the last foot of the previously bandaged weapon had its bandaging torn free to reveal rows of curved hooks that lined the weapon. Any of them would shred a target as it struck and was pulled across which would create grievous wounds of mangled flesh. A single strike along might not kill someone but it would definitely limit their fighting potential and start the process of bleeding out and in some cases those that were injured but managed to survive would become crippled. It was truly a demon amongst the normal weapons out there but its design and size perfect fit Kiri's Black Reaper with his own massive size and demeanor.

The first though in the man's head was that he now knew who this strange shinobi was, the samurai had heard tales of a large swordsman from the Mist village though never in his life would he have expected to ever encounter that same myth this far from Water country. With a pale face the man instantly turned tail and began to run but he didn't plan on fleeing completely as he held the katana in his right hand the left hand lifted up to his lips and soon after a series of three long, loud whistles cut through the carnage on the battlefield that surrounded them falling upon the ears of three other men who were dressed in a similar fashion to the ronin. Each of them had come here in search of 'work' as mercenaries for hire a word had traveled to them in a neighboring country about the internal strife and conflict that was boiling up and the need of temporary soldiers. Having worked for many years with one another the trio of men who were engaged currently in minor conflicts knew that if their comrade Shino had used their signal for help then he must be in true mortal danger but all three wondered who in this backwater country could pose that much of a threat to him or any of them. It wasn't like they were in a country that had a shinobi village or even a minor village. Instantly the three rapidly worked to deal with the current targets before then breaking contact and swiftly traveling to the nearby location of the whistle signal were they found the long black haired man with fear present in his blue eyes as he could only let out a sigh of relieve when his blue gaze fell upon the three who had linked up waiting for him.

"Shino, what's the problem?" The larger of the three and the actually leader of the group spoke out first as he stepped forward towards his comrade now allowing one to see his shirtless body that was stained with blood and sweat from the previous clashes but not a speck could be found in his shoulder length blonde locks. Their comrade came to a sliding stop across the upturned earth of the battlefield now spinning around in a hundred and eight degree turn which allowed for him to face the direction from which he had been running now as his right hand fell upon the sheathed katana which had been returned to his sheath while running. His set of bright blue eyes didn't dare turn away as he spoke in a hurried manner to his comrade. "The Black Reaper is here!" Their was no hiding the hint of fear in his voice as he spouted the near mythical Mist village assassin's name to the others causing for their faces to pale slightly, but it only lasted a moment as Shino responded quickly to the others reinforcing his role as the strongest member and leader of the tiny band of ronin. "It's just one man and with the four of us even a shinobi would be at a strong disadvantage. While it's true that we might die if we face him, if we kill him the amount of money we could get for his body would allow for us to live a good life for some time." A slightly grin could be seen growing on the man's clean shaven face now as the thumb of the left hand pressed against the hand guard of the long bladed sword popping it free just slightly from the sheath that cuddled its blade tightly.

Though the sudden glimpse of strength that came from their leader's words almost instantly faded as a creeping mist slowly began to cover a portion of the battlefield that included their current position. All four men tensed up as Shino barked for them to guard one another now as they were almost back to back forming a circle for three hundred and sixty degree's of protection. This was a strong formation that allowed for the person being attacked to instantly be reinforced from either side quickly to turn a one on one encounter into a three on one encounter that was drastically in their favor. But the seconds passed and nothing came for them, only the occasional sound of battle from a distance echoed in through the thick mist that surrounded them as they were a bit unsure what to do. "How interesting..." Two simple words caused each of the four to immediately freeze...those two words where as faint as a whisper in the mist but it had not came from outside but inside of their defensive circle. A pair of words that barely were able to slip through the half face mask worn by Kasai as he stood with one hand on the hilt of his weapon that was currently diagonally placed across his back. His movements had been extra cautious and his skills in stealth were put on full display but his words had been directed at the team work these four possessed just based on their practiced formation, it was easy to tell these men had been working together for some time and had probably killed their fair share.

A powerful, black bandaged hand clenched around the back of the blonde swordsman's head with such force that his eyes bulged from his head before rolling back into the sockets, seeing this the two behind the Reaper launched arching attacks that landed solidly upon the massive zanbato which didn't move an inch from the two impacts. The remaining man on the front left of Kasai could tell that he had a opening and turned to attack with a powerful thrusting attack which the large man made an easy target for. But as the attack pieced straight into the worn looking grey flak jacket it immediately stopped as it struck a armored chest plate that had been concealed by the flak and now the man reacted by performing a powerful spin utilizing the flat side of his thick weapon to cleave a three hundred and sixty degree area around him which knocked the two men behind him flying away several meters and the other man managed to duck and roll away by the skin of his teeth. Sadly the other man still remained in the vice grip of Kiri's Black Reaper now as he gave a hard squeeze allowing for each of the other three to hear the skull being crushed in against the brain as blood flowed from every opening on the head now. The swordsman's arms went limp along with the rest of his body, just like that their leader had been killed right before their eyes. This man truly was the ruthless Reaper of legend, his body count totaling more than all theirs put together...with what appeared to be a simple flick of the wrist the body of the now deceased man was tossed aside like a sack of trash landing with a sickening thud on the ground next two some other corpses that he had personally been responsible for...perhaps it was karma for the blonde headed man.

'That man dodged me again, his body control is amazing. These other two seem to be a tier below the black haired man, I should get rid of them so I can get back to studying his man's movement techniques...' Kasai truly didn't care that these men had been here killing to their hearts content for the name of money or fame. The amount of blood shed here or the number of innocent slain didn't weight on the man's mind nor his consciousness, he was a Kiri-nin and was trained to be a simple tool from birth and it just so happened that he had taken an interest in the my before him disregarding any of the other warriors within the area for the time behind. "Let us exchange some pointer, young one...." Once more his whisper like voice, the voice of death itself for those that had the terrible fate to ever be on the receiving end of the Reaper's voice, spread out from behind the dark mask into the continuously lingering mist now as he simply stepped forward toward his target appearing to completely disregard the other two as they were still trying to find their footing once more. They had been swept away with ease and had one of their comrades killed without a second thought but instead of fleeing like normal people would have done they instead had always wished to die a warrior's death upon the battle field. They didn't even cling to a hope of survival against such a opponent but instead the pair moved rapidly forwards as their movements became completely identical, it had been hard to notice before but if one looked closely they would have been able to tell that the two men were twin brothers. Both with a love of the sword from the age they were able to hold one they had always been together and as such had developed a style of swordsmanship that relied on their ability to think like one another.

'What a pleasant surprise...' Sensing their approach the man spun around with his golden eyes shifting to he left corner as he turned to the left, analyzing their movements and sword strikes as a flurry of steel was sent raining down all around him from two separate side as it actually forced the man to use his sword to defend against the sword strikes. Each strike creating a small shower of sparks as nearly the entire bandaging which had previously concealed the unique weapon had been completely torn asunder revealing the weapon and its shredding capable hook blades that had been aligned in a series of rows along the wide zanbato's blade. 'These two work in near perfect unison, their berserk style of attacking is keeping me on the defensive and if the third joins in they might even be able to suppress me if I continue to hold back...lets just see how long they can keep this frenzy pace up.' It was true that the Reaper was personally concealing a decent chunk of the true amount of strength he could wield in order to better observe each of their styles and taijutsu techniques and abilities in order to look for new insights for himself to utilize to improve his own style of fighting. Anything from the type of footwork that a person used to the way one gripped their weapon or the angle of attack, all of this and more could be used to slightly alter one's personal style of combat or even copy directly techniques from another style retrofitting them to work properly in a different style. All of these were ways to slowly improve ones own fighting ability and their personal fighting style.

One could never allow for themselves to grow stagnant as a warrior, once that trend started it was hard to reverse and slowly but surely their skills would begin to dull even without them noticing until the day that they tasted the cold steel of their opponent in an untimely death. Thus one always needed to be striving to improve their body, mind, spirit, and style in an attempt to reach utter perfection as a fighter. The dark haired fighter was truly the only one that actually brought any interest to the golden eyes of the Toukai now as he was forced to dodge back from every other attack launched by the man and his frenzied partner. While the other swordsman wasn't bad it would be easy to say that his moves were simply average at best and the Kiri-nin pondered on if he should have killed this one instead of the one who seemed to be the leader of the trio. Sighing lightly to himself it was a bit late to consider that as he stepped forward to meet the fellow swordsmen head on delivering a powerful sweeping blow force the heavy sword wielder to block out right. A terrible decision against someone as strong as Kasai who followed through with a bit more force then he had been exerting through the fight so far sending the brown headed man flying off over ten meters away before he came crashing down into the earth uncontrollably. "Don't just stand there...that's how you die, kid." Unseen smile found itself upon the massive man's mouth now, despite being unseen because of the face mask he wore, as the whisper like words slipped through the air between the remaining swordsman and himself now. The fear was now more present in the young man's eyes then ever before as he realized for the first time that despite their best attempts to suppress the 'Reaper' he had simply been biding his time and even holding back most likely. Did he simply wish to toy with them and allow for them to build up their confidence before brutally ripping it away?

It was the words from Kasai that snapped the fighter out of the blank trance he had entered seeing his comrade in arms knocked away like a tiny insect leaving on himself to face the growing monster in front of him, he had heard the 'myths' about the man from the Mist village but they had led him to believe that they were highly exaggerated but how was he to have known that they weren't able to describe the true strength of this monster. The lumbering Kiri-nin allowed for the serrated weapon to be lifted with one arm as the large weapon pointed its rounded tip towards the man now as if calling him out. "Fight to survive or die like a coward..." The words flowed from the masked shinobi's mouth towards the single remaining swordsman as it seemed to pierce straight into the man's soul as the blades within either hand had their tips fall until each just barely touched the blood soaked ground of the battlefield. Those truly were the only choices that he had right now, either he fought for even the faintest of chances to survive or laid down like some type of coward and let someone simply take his life as easy as stepping on an ant. But he was not an ant! Kasai watched on for a few moments as the man's eyes went from despair to something different as if some type of resolve had come over the man or perhaps a moment of clarity now as he suddenly launched himself against the masked Reaper now in an all out assault that was even faster and more ferocious then before some how.

While the jounin's foot work and movements were above part for even a taijutsu user this man actually was able to suppress him on his own now as a small cut appeared on his right shoulder, right bicep, and the outside of his left thigh. Despite holding back some while fighting the crazed swordsman now he felt that if they had been on the same level of speed and strength then he would definitely be in some serious trouble and would need to resort to the abilities of the virus within him to deal with that level of threat. But it was just this kind of pressure that men like the Toukai truly needed to be able to not only feel alive but to actually build up experience that would sooner or later lead to breakthroughs in either the body physically or their skill in wielding their weapon of choice. The small wounds did nothing to actually harm the man but instead they gave him the feeling of being alive for once! "Is this the best you can muster? I think its almost time to end out fight...!" The Mist shinobi spoke out loud without regard for the fact that they were intertwined in battle as the clashing of the dual swords against his own continuously shot out displays of sparks as the other man was careful with each strike to keep the swords from becoming entangled within the reverse curved blades on the World Breaker. It was in that moment that this stranger seemed to have some sort of breakthrough or epiphany with his sword style now as it became increasingly more fluid between its offensive and defensive attacks that at one point Kasai couldn't tell the different between the two as they pushed back and forth against one another at a rapid pace.

Kasai's face tightened as a series of small wounds started to appear upon his left leg, forearms, and finally on the right side of his face as the shallow cut separated the mask from his face as it fell off to one side revealing the scarred face of the swordsman. The swords moved in such a fashion that being able to reliably predict their movements was even a challenge for the experienced jounin, this was something he had seen very rarely within the clashes with other swordsmen, especially outside the village. For the first time he now reached up with his strong hand, the right hand, allowing for it to grasps the worn looking hilt of the weapon along with the left hand as he planned to finally fight with his full potential now despite still refraining from unleashing his completely strength upon the boy. Such would be complete over kill and wouldn't allow for him to continue observing the man's movements and sword style like he wished to do but he couldn't let this continue without offering a little something in return for what the man had managed to do to him. Through sheer force the man turned a slashing attack into a thrust by switching grips mid strike as the weapon drove down toward the slender fighter's right side as the man attempted to dodge. Yet, the reversed curved blades only had to barely strike their target to fillet open a the upper portion of the right arm rendering it completely unable to move let along wield a sword as the dual sword style of the young man was now forced down to a single blade. What would this man do now...would he continue fighting, attempt to flee, or simply accept his approaching death with some form of honor?

Without even missing a beat the right arm dropped the sword as the man kicked the side of the blade causing it to twirl before striking it again sending it careening tip first at Kasai as it drove itself into the left bicep of the man before coming to a stop sticking three inches out the inside of the thick bicep of the muscular man. Instead of a crying out in pain the old man simply started to laugh quietly before it grew into almost a roar of laughter as he held the massive zanbato with the left hand still and reached underneath to slowly remove the punctured swords before letting it fall to the ground afterwards. "So you still have some fight in you after all, good...good." The man was once more completely stunned by the massive 'Reaper who towered over him now lifting the large weapon high into the air as if preparing to swing down one final time to end his life. But even now he couldn't move for the first time and simply smiled awaiting his death at the hands of this monster, a death worth of a swordsman now yet it never came. Slowly he came back to reality to realize the beast of a man was now where to be seen with the only evidence that he was even there was a dark piece of cloth that had been part of the half face mask he had been wearing that now lay upon the dark red earth soaking up blood....he had been spared as a result of giving the swordsman some new insights that would help grow his own swords and fighting styles. Though who was to say if the injured dark haired man would be able to make it off the battlefield alive, that was another story.

5126/5000 (+5 taijutsu)

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