Koriton - Advanced Ice Clone
A-Ranked Ninjutsu
Prerequisite: C Ranked Ice Clone Jutsu
This is a highly advanced version of the original ice clone jutsu. Using the Ram Handsign, the user concentrates their Chakra to mold a Clone of themself made completely of ice. Because it's made up of ice, it's much more difficult to destroy by normal means. The strength of this clone is based on the caster’s [control]. However, a Katon style ninjutsu that is cast by a ninja that has a [control] stat that is within 10 of the clone jutsu caster can melt the clone completely. When the clone is destroyed it explodes with an icy concussive blast in a 1-meter radius that is ½ the strength of the user’s [control] and showers the area with a 5 meter radius of frozen shrapnel.
0/1400
Hibana let herself fall back onto the ground, her chest rising and falling as she tried to catch her breath. She lay on her back, looking up at the stars while allowing herself to take a moment of respite. She was completely soaked from head to toe, sweat and water from the melted icy clones covering her skin and seeping out of the fabric of her clothes. A large puddle lay beneath her, spreading steadily across the rock face. It was anyone's guess as to whether it was because a clone fell there or simply because she was that wet. She hadn't realized it during the fight, but the braid in her hair she used while training had come undone as well, the wet strands of blue thrown about her shoulders and the ground behind her.
She stayed down until her panting subsided, taking a few minutes before lifting herself up into a sitting position. The cold desert wind bit at her as she rose, the chill quite a bit more noticeable now that she wasn't so focused. With no more enemies before her, the excited glint in her eyes had faded and they had returned to their normal cold and emotionless state. Her adrenaline had died down as well, the cut on her chest and the scrapes all over her arms starting to sting. She did her best to ignore them and calmly surveyed the area, the green glow from her light sources reflecting in her eyes. All around her the ground was covered in water and ice. Seven large puddles from the clones were scattered about, another four frozen where they stood. Finally, her sword lay about fifteen feet away, surrounded by three puddles and countless shards of ice.
This was why she couldn't do her training in villages as she tended to cause too much collateral damage with her techniques since a lot of the buildings weren't designed to handle large amounts of water and ice. She'd already transformed this area into an environment unknown to the desert, and she wasn't even finished yet. Sure, she'd managed to get her body and mind moving again, but she wasn't any stronger than when she started, her body had just remembered how it was supposed to move. Her eyes landed on the four masses of ice. She needed something stronger to fight against if she wanted to keep going. These clones were easy to make, but they were inherently weaker, each having about a fraction of her strength. Sure, they could pose a problem in large numbers, but they also started to get in each other's way. As long as she could take them down with a single solid hit, her training would have the same result no matter how many more she summoned. The only difference would be how long she had to hold out, and while that would help improve her endurance, it wasn't efficient.
No, she needed something sturdier, something that might be able to match her speed. Hibana gathered her hair up as she mused, tying it back so that it wouldn't get in the way. With a quick braid back in place, she got to her feet and gathered up her sword. Looking at the most intact of the clones had given her an idea. She'd tried it before, but it was back when she was still learning in the academy. Maybe she'd gotten good enough at controlling her chakra since then to make another attempt. She took a deep breath, her chakra mixing with the air as it filled her lungs. She held it in for a moment before exhaling hard, a cloud of ice pouring past her lips and spreading across the ground. She swiveled her head, trying to coat as much of the rock surface as possible, quickly turning the area around her into a sheet of ice several inches thick.
Hibana's more advanced abilities required a generous supply of ice, which meant that she had to make a few preparations before using them. She put together another string of half seals and started sending her chakra directly into the ice beneath her. She carefully guided it through the frozen water until it started to gather a few feet in front of her. Now came the difficult part; the chakra spread further into the ice, guiding it back to the central point and gathering it up. Slowly, the ice started to rise, her mind carefully sculpting its shape as it grew in mass. She had to gently force the chakra back into shape whenever it tried to take the path of least resistance instead, preventing the ice from being disfigured. The ice continued to gather, soon reaching to her waist, then her chest and shoulders. Focusing intently, Hibana formed the finer details, turning it from a giant hunk of ice into a humanoid shape. Its features came into form a few moments later, then color flooded through, leaving Hibana to once again stare at a copy of her own face. She hadn't been perfect though, the clone's body seemed to be much more rigid than her own. She'd have to work more on smoothing out the surface later, but for now it would meet her needs just fine.
She had it test its range of movement, doing a few stretches until she was satisfied that it'd be able to keep up. As she reached for her sword again, she realized that she'd forgotten to form a weapon for the ice clone. With a shrug she grabbed her sword and tossed it to her copy. It tilted its head as if wondering what to do for a moment before dropping into her normal combat stance. Hibana took out a pair of kunai, preparing herself for what she hoped would be a much more interesting exercise.
Stillness hung in the air for several agonizing seconds. Hibana stood at the ready, having a staring contest with her duplicate that she knew she'd lose. It was becoming obvious that the hunk of ice wouldn't make the first move, so that left it up to her. She took a tentative step forward, but the clone made no move, simply holding its stance and staring back with empty eyes. With a mental shrug, Hibana advanced at full speed to test the waters. She threw a quick slash with her right-hand blade and the clone shifted the sword to block. Even with such a simple maneuver, the difference in ability was instantly apparent. Its moves were fast, easily matching her own, and its strength was surprising, causing Hibana to recoil as her attack bounced off. Regaining her balance with a heavy step, she pushed off the ice and went right back into range. She threw another slash to the right, this time fully prepared to meet her opponent's power. As expected, the attack was blocked again, but she held her ground this time, following it with a swipe from her left hand then another from the right before using the momentum to spin about and strike again.
The clone's movements seemed completely mechanical, moving the sword precisely where it needed to be to deflect each blow, no fluidity, no extra movements, no waver in its stance at all. Her eyes narrowing, Hibana started moving faster, throwing attack after attack at her doppelganger as she tried pushing both of their speeds to the limit. The clone was matching her step for step, blocking each strike in turn while still not making any offensive actions, the constant ringing of steel filling the air. Still, As Hibana's flurry got faster and her muscles started to protest, she noticed her copy beginning to fall behind ever so slightly. The flame behind her gaze returned, even as the ice clone stared back with an ever vacant expression.
Pushing herself to the absolute limit of her speed, she threw a strong strike from the left to keep the sword busy and give her enough time to step into the narrow gap. It worked, she was just fast enough to make it through the clone's guard, giving her a chance to make one calculated move. She slammed her left handed weapon into the swords hilt just above one of her foes hands, quickly followed by the right. The second kunai wedged itself between the metal and the clone's icy grip, giving the girl all the leverage she needed. She jumped up, planting both of her feet on the clone's chest and kicking off with all the strength her legs could muster. It held firm against her, but she could hear the ice groaning in protest after a moment, its grip on the weapon slipping. (1456/1400)
Koriton – Frost Bite
B-Ranked Ninjutsu
Sometimes you just need a bomb. The user gathers up a mass of ice and compresses it into the size of a baseball before charging it with their chakra. Once compressed the ball can be held and thrown. Once charged, the user can trigger the ball at will, detonating 1 second after activated. The ball explodes with the strength of the user’s [control] stat creating a 2 meter blast with frozen icy shrapnel being propelled in a 5 meter radius.
[0/1000]
Hibana charged her legs with chakra and gave one final push, launching herself backwards off of the ice and sending the sword whirling through the air. She swung her legs over her head and back down to earth, landing with a skid on the slippery surface below. At the same time, her sword introduced itself to the rock wall on the far end of the stone slab, bouncing off harmlessly and coming to a rest about thirty feet away from the two combatants. Hibana gave a wild grin and threw herself forward again. Her opponent's weapon was gone and was wide open. As she neared and swung her arm around, the clone stood motionless with the same icy gaze, almost as if it hadn't realized it lost its weapon yet. Hibana's blade hit hard, nailing the clone right in the neck with all of the girl's momentum backing it up. There was a loud crack, like the sound of shattering glass, and a cloud of ice shards sprayed into the air.
Hibana's eyes went wide in surprise. The clone stood before her as if nothing had happened, bits of her own shattered weapon scattering. A few small pieces impaled her flesh, but she didn't notice. She clenched the broken ice in her fist, the sharp edge digging into her palm as her arm sailed past her opponent's head. She couldn't recover in time to defend herself and she knew it. "Sh-!" The counter came and cut her off mid curse, as mechanical and precise as ever. It slugged her in the right cheek, its fist as solid as rock and cold enough to send a shiver through her flesh. Her face deformed against the blow and recoiled to the side as a second punch nailed her square in the gut. The air rushed from her lungs in an icy wisp as she was sent sailing back and into a spire of rock. A surge of pain shot through her through her as she hit, the remaining kunai flying from her grip.
Hibana fell to her knees, gasping as the pain of the impact rocked her body. She could already feel her cheek starting to swell up too. She let out a broken chuckle between desperate breaths. How was she going to explain to Airon why she came back looking like hell? She hadn't been this beat up since before she'd gotten to Suna, back from a time she'd rather forget.
The sound of approaching footsteps interrupted her train of thought and she looked up to see the ice clone rushing towards her, finally taking the offensive. She mentally screamed at her body to move, scrambling to the side just in time for the clone to bury its fist into the rock that she'd landed on. A cloud of dust took to the air as the rock shuddered and creaked, toppling over a moment later as cracks shot through its structure. Hibana darted away as fast as she could force her body to move, her lungs still trying to make up for the air they'd lost. It suddenly dawned on her that she was losing. The ice clone may be slower than her, but it was physically stronger by the very nature of being made of her ice. Her physical attacks wouldn't even make a dent in it, which meant it was all up to her jutsu.
By the time the clone freed itself from the rock, Hibana had managed to get her breathing under control. Even in her battered state, her face was covered in a grin. Before her was a real challenge, and although she could simply dispel the clone at will, the crazed corner of her mind would never let her. No, she'd have to do this the hard way and adapt to the situation to the best of her abilities. The frozen mass stared at her for a moment before breaking into a sprint. Hibana spun around and ran, weaving through a few large rocks before her feet hit the ice again. She glanced over her shoulder as she ran through the frigid remains of her melted ice clones to see her pursuer rounding the corner. This was her chance. One hand reached out to the nearest chunk of ice while the other quickly threw together some handseals. The top half of the sculpture broke off as she sent her chakra through it, quickly compressing itself into a ball that fit into her palm.
Running forward just far enough to get clear of the remains, Hibana spun around and hurled the ball of ice, sending out a quick surge of chakra at the same time. It landed right in the middle of frozen forms and rolled a few feet. 3 seconds ticked by before Hibana would activate the jutsu and the ice clone had arrived in the middle of the ice field, just as the orb detonated a second later. A harsh noise cracked through the night air, like an explosion but higher pitched and mixed with the sound of glass breaking. A cloud of debris obscured Hibana's view, but she could make out little pieces of glass like shrapnel littering the ground. She stared at the thick cloud, the ringing in her ears from the blast dying down. Had that done it? The few seconds after the blast passed in slow motion, but sure enough a figure appeared at the edge of the ice cloud, striding out and quickly picking up speed again. Hibana shook her head and broke into a run again. There was barely a scratch on it, just a few impaled pieces of ice on the surface.
Hibana's mind reeled as she ran, swerving around the outcroppings that littered the stone surface in hopes of slowing her relentless pursuer. She was able to gain a bit of ground, but she never had any chance, or even the desire, of losing the clone. She just needed enough time to think. Taking her opponent head on wasn't an option, she was sure that even her sword wouldn't be able to put more than a dent in the ice, especially since the explosion had had so little effect. As the gears turned, she came up with an idea. She'd once heard about a powerful technique that someone of her bloodline developed when a traveler from Yuki was staying at the brothel. She wondered if she'd really be able to pull it off, but there was only one way to find out. [1085/1000]
