[Graded][JFCMHT] On the Road Again

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Golnax
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[Graded][JFCMHT] On the Road Again

Post by Golnax » Tue Sep 18, 2018 2:48 pm

The sound of fire wood tumbling down onto the ground was a pleasant one to Aimi Yamai. It always reminded him of a cheerful sort of laughter in a way, a mirthful clatter of dry wood ready to be burned, used as fuel for a purpose greater than any one of it's individual parts. Aimi loved a good campfire as well, for that matter, for similar reasons. Campfires meant warmth, rest and comfort, a chance to kick up your feet and relax after a long day of travel more often than not, which was exactly why he'd gone and volunteered to gather fire wood quickly once the travelling trio had decided on where they would make camp for the night. They'd been travelling together for about 10 days now and were almost outside of the borders of Fire Country. They hadn't been in a town or village for 3 days, and it seemed like that pattern was going to continue. Which was why, on the second day without them encountering any other sort of person, Aimi had created a bone clone of himself in order to carry the cart in order to give all three of them a break from taking turns pulling it behind them, even if Fuhen and Aimi were the ones who mainly did it.

Had his companions been a bit freaked out by the fact that a literal skeleton was literally crawling its way from out of his skin? Yes. Of course they had been, who wouldn't be? All it had taken to settle Fuhen down was to tell him that it was ninjutsu, which had the strange effect of changing his shock and disgust to an almost immediate and palpable anger from the usually even tempered frog, followed by a period of grumpy silence which was then followed by the samurai just flat out ignoring the skeleton all together. Mo, on the other hand, didn't seem nearly as ready to get behind a visage of death pulling her dead sister around, despite the obvious irony in the situation. He'd done his best to try and affirm to her that it was really just a clone of himself that wouldn't tire so easily, but much like how he'd first interacted with her in the port town 10 days ago, she'd just given him a hard, awkward look that told him he wasn't being as convincing as he was trying to be with her.

After three days of travel with it though, the clone had almost become a part of the background and was hardly even noticed anymore by either Aimi or Mo. Thus he didn't even give it a look after setting the fire wood down, choosing instead to look between Fuhen, who seemed fine, and Mo who, as usual, was leaning up against the cart and resting. Something that the jounin had noticed during their travels was that, unlike he and the raven haired frog, Mo was... well, she lacked the sort of stamina the two of them had from being as physically fit as they were. A long day's walk was nothing to the white haired ninja, and it seemed like a similarly easy feat for Fuhen. Mo though? She seemed exhausted every day that they stopped to rest for the evening. A couple of times the samurai had nobly carried her a ways, and even Aimi had carried her at one point towards the start of their journey. All in all? The past 10 days had been more eventful than expected.

"Oi, Fuhen," Aimi said, turning to the black haired samurai. "Are you going to use rocks or whatever to get this fire going again or can I use a jutsu to get it going quick?" he asked, referring to a disagreement the two of them had had on day one that had carried over ever since, when Aimi attempted to light their first campfire with katon ninjutsu and Fuhen had insisted on using good old fashioned flint and steel. Naturally, the fire aligned ninja thought the notion was silly when fire was so readily available at his finger tips, but the Frog held fairly firm on his beliefs about 'cheeteh neenjootsoo' as he put it. It was an ongoing debate between the two as to which method was truly superior for starting a fire, somehow.

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Re: [JFCMHT] On the Road Again

Post by Nick » Tue Sep 18, 2018 2:49 pm

The Frog was very used to travelling, and the prospect of being on the road excited him to nearly no end, and despite some disagreements with his fellow travelers, he'd been taking the whole trip pretty well. The subject matter of their travel left him unable to be as excited as he wanted to be, as any time he was ready to break out in to a travel song, the rumbling of the cart behind them reminded him that they were a funeral procession.

However, just that wouldn't stop him from being a bit stubborn regarding his companions prodigious use of his fancy 'neenjootsoo', and in response to the question the Frog would pull out a set of flint and tinder from his pocket, sticking his tongue out at his kiri ninja friend. "Et's the natural way o' the world!" He complained, building up a nest of tinder using dried grass and other various pieces able to be used as tinder. "Not yer crazy magic fire, et's just unnatural, I tell ye." Ignorance in its finest form reared its head in Fuhen.

The nest was built, and the Frog began making lots of sparks right up close to the flammable material. For a minute, it would seem like it wasn't working, before he seemingly got a result he wanted, stopping striking steel to flint, and blowing down on the coals that started to form. Before long, the whole nest would be ablaze, and he would begin to pile small sticks on top of it, letting them heat up, before building a pyramid of thicker logs over top of them. It was a slow process, but no less effective than stupid neenjootsoo.

Plopping his rear down on the dirt, and leaning against a mildly comfortable log, he would lean his head back and close his eyes, speaking without looking. "Wouldn't kill ye t'learn t'do it the right way, y'ken? What if ye don't got yer magic to fall on some day, eh? I kin do that without the ol' flint and steel, but you'd be lost and cold!"
"It's so sad!" the reader said to the writer with a frown. "The character in my book just died!" The author turned to her and burst out into tears, "I know!" he said, "So did mine!"
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Re: [JFCMHT] On the Road Again

Post by Golnax » Tue Sep 18, 2018 2:49 pm

While Aimi and Fuhen discussed the merits of knowing how to start a fire with flint and steel, Mo tended to her sister as she was apt to do. The jounin had stopped her from looking inside of the coffin on more than one occasion and she'd since stopped trying to look all together. He knew, and told her as such, that looking at a decomposing corpse was not going to be good for her. So instead she busied herself making sure that the coffin was secure in the cart while her two male companions debated over fire. "I've told you before, that my 'magic' doesn't have a limit to it. As long as I'm alive, I'll always have chakra at my disposal," he said, for what must have been the hundredth time, and crossing his arms over his chest. "Chakra's as natural as air, you Landei," he said, his tone suggesting an insult despite the fact that he was simply speaking his gibberish again. He felt it was fair since the raven haired samurai's accent was so thick that he had to focus on what he was saying to decipher it if he talked too quickly.

Despite his own personal knowledge of the ease of using chakra, and the slow, methodical nature of Fuhen's method of building a fire, Aimi couldn't deny that the Frog did know what he was doing. He'd watched him enough times on this journey that he felt confident that if he needed to, he could build up a fire in the same way that his taller travelling companion did. The ninja stood next to the small fire and enjoyed its warmth... but he felt like he needed to make a point. A demonstration was in order! And what better way to demonstrate just what he knew about fire than by making an even bigger, better fire?

Stepping back a good four steps away from the fire, Aimi uncrossed his arms from his chest and began to channel katon chakra into his right hand. He had just the thing in mind to demonstrate the superior nature that was ninjutsu over using flint and steel, and the puttering, still-trying-to-catch open flame would be a perfect test subject. "See, this is what you fail to understand; once you know how to manipulate our own chakra, simple tasks like starting a camp fire become so much easier..." He trailed off, holding his right hand up and placing his left on his hip. The faint blue glow of chakra was plain to see over his entire hand, a clear sign that he was channeling... not that Fuhen would know, anyways. "Why, with just a snap of my fingers, I could start up a fire in no time!" he declared, moving his right hand into position to snap.

Then, he snapped. And the effect was immediate.

The fire that Fuhen had carefully built up erupted in a large fireball that flared up from the fire itself and spread out over a meter in all directions. It was sudden and violent and brief, over in a flash as the fire plumed upwards and vanished, leaving behind it a now very well lit campfire with fire that was roaring well and true. Aimi couldn't help but smile at the result, placing his right hand over his hip, now devoid of the blue glow of chakra. "See?" he asked, trying not to be as smug as he wanted to be. Difficult as that was.

SpoilerShow
Katon • Flash-bang
D-Ranked Ninjutsu
The user channels their katon chakra into their finger tips. Then, with a snap of their fingers, the user ignites an area up to 1x1x1 meter in size in flame, causing a small explosion within this area with 5 Strength. The user is able to perform this jutsu at a range of 10 meters.
400/400

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Re: [JFCMHT] On the Road Again

Post by Nick » Tue Sep 18, 2018 2:49 pm

Only halfway paying attention to his white haired companion, he was taken aback when the man suddenly launched a ball of fire at his carefully built log construction. Of course it would light on fire, though with the rather excited nature, Fuhen would become flabbergasted.

"Gah! Ye flamin' idiot!" He complained, staring in dismay at the fiery display. "Ye've made the fire burn too fast! Now the fuel's gonna be burned up in no time!" He stood up, his hands to his head as he yelled. "Ye're gettin the next batch o' logs, bucko. Better do et by yer own hands, too, ye lazy git!"

After calming down a bit, the excitement waking him up more than he normally would be at this stage of camping out, he decided to go over and talk to a more sane member of their party, Mo. "Oh eh girlie, how ye holdin' together? I know traveling 'aint real easy..." But aMo shook her head, smiling weakly, and trying to pay off strong. "No, it's fine. On our pilgrimage, I travelled almost every day, with..." She trailed off, but it was obvious she meant with her sister.

Thinking quickly, and attempting to pull her mind off the situation, the Frog spoke up. "Ehh... About this City o' Shiny Towers of yers... Is it the same one from that play about the ehh... Warrior blessed by his good? Whatsit... The Glorious Spear o' Heaven! I loved that one." Fuhen finished with excitement. He was a huge fan of theatre, and caught shows whenever he had a chance. Of course, he especially loved stories about traveling samurai who defeated some kind of great evil. Mo nodded her head and smiled at his enthusiasm, clearly somewhat familiar with the play. "Many of our people learn to use the spear as well as, or better than, most people learn the sword. Myself and my sister included."

The Frog's eyes seemed to light up at the prospect, and he reached over to the side where his basket of weapons rested, pulling out the wooden spear that had seemingly come from nowhere. "D'ye think you Could show me a thing or two? Ah've got this now, but nae much of an idea how t'use it except stickin' them with the pointy end." Mo reached out slowly and took the odd wooden short spear, testing its weight and balance, before assuming a few different battle stances with it, and giving a few test thrusts, before handing it back to him, stepping up close to him and showing him how to hold it properly.

"It's different from the spears we use at home, but the size of it makes it an interesting weapon." She helped him adjust his stance some more, and directed him on how to thrust a few times, before showing him how to swing it like a sword, too. "For now, probably the best thing I can teach you is how to swing it like the weapons you already know.
jutsu trainedShow
[498/400]


* Kushou・Folding the Fan
C-Ranked Taijutsu Stance
Prerequisite: [Sword Weapons] concentration
A supplementary stance of the Kushou style, Folding the fan involves pulling back the user’s polarm and using only a portion of its length in order to engage briefly in shorter range with opponents. This sacrifices the user’s range advantage, but also allows them to more properly deal with those who get inside their range. This allows the use of a polearm weapon like a sword weapon.
"It's so sad!" the reader said to the writer with a frown. "The character in my book just died!" The author turned to her and burst out into tears, "I know!" he said, "So did mine!"
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Re: [JFCMHT] On the Road Again

Post by Golnax » Tue Sep 18, 2018 2:49 pm

At first, Aimi had a good chuckle at Fuhen's reaction as the lanky frog jumped up and seemed instantly more awake than he had been a moment before his fire had been unceremoniously cremated by the Yamai. That enjoyment was fairly quickly cut off, though, by the realization that in his demonstration he had indeed made the fire too strong and now it was going to burn out quickly. An unintended consequence to be sure, but not one he dwelt on for very long as Fuhen told him to go get more firewood as if he hadn't done it the first time. He slightly resented the implication that he had somehow taken a short cut to getting the wood the first time around, as if Fuhen expected him to have used some sort of ninjutsu to poof it into existence when he clearly saw him carry it back into camp! As the raven haired samurai went over to talk with Mo, Aimi placed his right hand on his hip and looked down at the raging fire, already beginning to die down since it didn't have a sufficient food supply to keep up it's size. He decided that if Fuhen wanted him to get some more firewood, fine. He would. What's more, he'd show him what taking a shortcut to getting that wood actually was.

All around their little camp were trees, some fresh and young while others were old and tall. He'd gone foraging through the trees the first time around, but this time? This time he wasn't going to be leaving the campsite. Aimi turned his head from side to side, carefully examining each of the trees around them and trying to find a set that was just right for what he had in mind. It took a bit of doing, the Yamai taking a step here or a step there to adjust his perception while Mo and Fuhen were talking to each other in the background, but after a minute of looking he found what he was searching for; a set of trees that were set up one after the other in more or less a straight line; 5 in total.

Aimi rolled his shoulders and once more took a couple of steps away from the fire in order to get his positioning just right. He stopped once it looked like the tree in front had eclipsed all the ones behind it. From there, he spread his legs wide and planted his feet firmly against the ground. He brought his left hand down and grabbed onto the scabbard of his hip-bound sword, his right moving over his body and taking a hold of the hilt. He tightened his grip on both and tensed up his body. What he was about to do wasn't new to him by any means. Performing a Dragon Strike was practically second nature to him at this point. What was going to set this one apart from all of the others he'd performed in his life was how much power he was going to put into it. It wouldn't have been an exaggeration to say that he was aiming for this particular Dragon Strike to be the second most powerful projectile that he was able to create... for the moment, anyways.

The jounin took in a deep breath and looked straight ahead at the tree that he was about to cut down. He turned his body sideways, his left foot sliding over the ground as he widened his stance even further, the ninja's leg's bowing out as he bent his knees. His focus tightened and his knuckles grew white from hot tight his grip was. With a final deep breath drawn in through his nose and held in his lungs, he took a single step forward with his right leg, planting his foot firmly on the ground before drawing the sword from it's sheath and swiping it horizontally in the air in front of him, releasing all of that built up tension into a single cut that sent a wave of air forward towards the trees. So quick was the draw that neither Mo nor Fuhen would have been able to see it happen, if they were even paying attention to him in the first place.

All in all, there wouldn't have been much to see anyways even if they had been paying attention - and not just because they wouldn't have been able to see him draw his sword. When one got down to it, Iaido was not all that flashy of a style. It wasn't loud, it wasn't designed for the clashing of blades and it certainly wasn't meant to be readily observed by the layman. His Dragon Strikes were a perfect example of this style of swordplay in action. As the wave of cutting air would rush forward, there would be 5 loud popping sounds, almost hollow in nature and accompanied by the sudden faint rustle of leaves as tree after tree collapsed on itself as less than an inch of it's being had been removed by the cut. The rustling was nothing unusual to hear save for the fact that no wind was blowing, but the popping sounds might grab his companion's attention. Which Aimi not so secretly hoped it did. What was the point of giving a display if there was no one to watch?

However, whether it did or didn't gain the audience of his two travelling companions, his job wouldn't be completed so easily. His technique had cut through the trees without issue as planned, but none had fallen over as a result of the cleave as he'd originally intended. The cut, it seemed, was simply too quick and clean. Letting out his held breath, Aimi would straighten up and bright his sword back to it's sheath slowly, keeping his grip tight on his blade and it's scabbard. The instant that guard met sheath, he would take another step forward, turning his body in the opposite direction as he did, and draw his blade once more, this time in a crescent shaped vertical slash that he once again gave his all to push his limits. The result was similar, though much more pronounced.

As the strip of air carved its way through the trees there came a series of five loud, thunderous cracking sounds as they were split in twain. Leaves rustled and fell in droves as they too were cut through, and yet as before the trees remained standing. Letting out a loud huff, Aimi once more re-sheathed his sword before taking another step forward and unleashing it again and again, creating a series of cuts that had him taking steps forward, sheathing his blade and drawing it again to send wave after wave of cutting air forward to further dice the trees up. His right arm was a blur of motion as he lashed out from different angles, creating now very visible and frankly loud  cuts into the trees he was butchering for firewood... or was he trying to prove a point? If so, what point?

It was just this question that finally got him to stop his attacks on the innocent trees. He brought his right arm down to his side and panted heavily, drawing in great gusts of air through his mouth. Aimi was shaking all over from the effort of so many strenuous cuts in such rapid succession of one another. He suddenly felt drained and would say without any shadow of doubt that he was now suddenly more tired than he had been on this entire trip thus far. He sucked it up, though, closing his mouth and taking another deep breath through his nose before placing his blade into it's sheath once more and turning his back on the trees, a very dramatic action it turned out as only then did the trees decide to fall over, collapsing over themselves almost simultaneously, creating a large gap in the forest, a pile of wood, a tremendously loud cacophony of noise that would have given their position away for at least a mile or two (which made it most fortunate that they weren't being followed by anyone... probably) and even causing the jounin to flinch a little at how unexpectedly loud it all was.

When the crashing had ceased and the birds from all other surrounding trees had flown off, Aimi turned his head to look back at the unorderly pile of wood he'd created and took a moment to reflect on his actions, asking himself if that had all really been necessary? Aimi asked himself if the reason why he'd gone through so much effort was to prove a point to Fuhen, that what, he could get his own firewood through sheer physical effort alone? What would Mo think about all of this sudden loud noise? He hadn't been very considerate to his travelling partners just now. In fact, he hadn't really been thinking of anything except... well, 'I'll show you!' His pride had gotten in the way of his humility for not the first time, and it left him with an awful, heavy, wet feeling in his stomach. 'You fucking idiot,' he criticized inwardly before turning to look back at Fuhen and Mo, the latter of which was staring at him once more with that hard 'are you fucking serious' sort of expression that she always seemed to don anytime that he did something similar to this.

"... Firewood's taken care of," he said simply in explanation, raising his right hand up and jutting his thumb over his shoulder to indicate that the pile of wood was indeed his handiwork and not some random act of the universe. At least he was owning up for his stupid actions. "For the... rest... of... the trip. Probably."

SpoilerShow
[Iaido • Dragon Strike]
S-Ranked Kenjutsu Maneuver
Prerequisite: A-Ranked [Iaido • Dragon Strike]
The user steps forward with the front leg while unsheathing the blade in a horizontal attacking motion across the body. So swift is this technique that it is akin to a "flash", being impossible to see unless the opponents' Instinct is greater than or equal to the user's Speed. This slash creates a thin wave of nearly invisible air which cuts whatever it comes into contact with with 4/5 the user's Strength and travels up to a distance equal to the user's Strength in meters.
1627/1320

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Re: [JFCMHT] On the Road Again

Post by Nick » Tue Sep 18, 2018 2:50 pm

The 'folding the fan' technique that Mo had taught him came fairly easily. Unlike long spears, it didn't require tucking to effectively use like a blade, and thus the training was more about distancing, as you didn't have a blade running the entire length of the weapon with a spear, you had to focus more on jabs, and keeping opponents on the outside of your range to make somewhat shallow cuts. "Those who leave the city often learn this technique so they can learn other styles more effectively, without carrying around... well, as many weapons as you do." She said with a bit of a smile. "But in terms of actually learning to use your spear like a spear..." She trailed off, once more taking the wooden weapon away from him, and entering a rather odd stance.

From that stance she made lots of twisting motions, spinning the spear around, and knowing just how to swing and change directions at the last second as though it were nothing. "This is the foundation of Kushou-Ryu. It was developed this way to allow warriors to advance on archers without taking serious damage from their projectiles." She handed the spear back to him, and made a gesture for him to repeat the process she had demonstrated. He set his feet like she had set hers, holding the spear firmly, and twisting it about. It wasn't unusual for Fuhen to have flair and spins to his attacks, and so this was really nothing new, but learning to do it with a new style of weapon was what made it unique and interesting. Regardless, he flowed across his pretend battlefield, getting a raised brow from Mo, who clearly didn't expect the Frog to pick up on it so quickly.

Though before Fuhen could finish his practice, the pops and cracks of trees being felled would pull the Frogs attention away, worried momentarily that they might be under attack by bandits. Instead he was entreated to the sight of his white haired friend standing before trees that slowly fell over from their positions. His eyes went wide, and when Aimi came over to brag of his accomplishments, the Frog could only admonish  him once more. "You bloody idiot. Even one tree would have been too much! The cart can't support that much wood to take with us! You've just... destroyed those trees... for no reason! Feckin' ninja, and their stupid ninja tricks, ruinin' the environment..."
Jutsu TrainedShow
[409/400]

* Kushou・Low Wind Rising
D-Ranked Taijutsu Stance
The foundational stance of the Kushou style, Low Wind Rising involves the spinning of the user’s spear or polearm around their body constantly whilst remaining in motion. While in this stance, the user will be able to deflect projectiles with less strength than their own, while also making unpredictable movements of their spear.
"It's so sad!" the reader said to the writer with a frown. "The character in my book just died!" The author turned to her and burst out into tears, "I know!" he said, "So did mine!"
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Re: [JFCMHT] On the Road Again

Post by Golnax » Tue Sep 18, 2018 2:50 pm

Aimi felt his face grow red and hot as Fuhen berated him, and rightfully so as well. All the shinobi could do was bring his raised hand up to the back of his head and rub at it for a moment or two while the frog spoke. "I mean... it's not like we have to take it all with us or anything..." he mumbled, trying to halfheartedly defend himself and his actions.

Suddenly, though, all of that changed as the Kaguya snapped his head up and froze in place a moment. It was strange, as if there was some sort of fundamental, universal change that had taken place and he had only just now become aware of it. "Kaguya," he said suddenly and out loud, his hand lowering down to his side. "Kaguya. That's my name. Aimi Kaguya, Kaguya Aimi. That's me." The words came out like a stream of thought, his lips flapping seemingly beyond his control and in a very uncharacteristic fashion for the Kaguya. As he spoke, he was still and rigid, as if he couldn't be moved until the words had left him. When they had, he visibly relaxed and blinked, furrowing his brow and looking around the campsite for a moment. "I uh... I don't know... why I said that. I just... felt... compelled to. Uh... never mind."

With that Aimi turned his back on Fuhen and Mo once more, facing the pile of trees he'd created. Looking at them he realized that they needed to be chopped up further in order to be actually usable for a camp fire. Cutting them into smaller pieces wouldn't be a problem, but the real problem was that with how much there was, he doubted Fuhen would help him carry the wood, not to mention how the wood had come to be in the first place. More than that, though, he himself was still breathing heavily from his extensive use of Dragon Strikes, so he didn't feel like putting a lot of effort into moving them either.

Once again a bout of universal inspiration hit him, though! Raising his left hand up, Aimi began to channel his chakra and ossified the bones in his hand and arm. Out from his palm he pushed newly created bones, first a set of fingers that were pushed out one segment at a time, then a duplicate of his entire hand, wrist and all. From there, he continued to push bones from out of his arm, creating radius bones, ulna bones and elbow joints again and again to increase the reach of his created hand. The multijointed limb reached out through the air and over towards the pile of segmented trees, grabbing onto one of the rather hefty pieces of wood and lifting it up into the air, the finger bones simply digging into the wood as if it were soft clay.

With a slightly disturbing curve the extended skeletal arm twisted around in the air and brought the hunk of wood over to Aimi's feet and dropped it in front of him, where the Kaguya drew his sword from it's sheath and brought it chopping down through the wood, cutting it into two smaller pieces that he proceeded to cut again. The skeletal arm, meanwhile, curved back around and shot over towards the pile of wood in order to grab another piece. By the time that it returned to Aimi he had cut the initial piece of wood down to size and had nudged the pieces closer to the fire with his foot. If either Mo or Fuhen were to look his way, they would undoubtedly think it quite strange to see what almost appeared to be a long, white snake at a glance extending from Aimi's hand and bringing him hunk after hunk of tree to be cut into firewood. Once again, Aimi was entirely oblivious to how this would look to anyone who wasn't a ninja. Anyone from Kirigakure would take one look at what he was doing and realize that he was utilizing his kekkei genkai to make a menial task easier for himself. To anyone else? This was just a weird way to complete a chore.

SpoilerShow
Death Bone Pulse • Reach
B-Ranked Ninjutsu
The user will channel to ossify bone in their arm, holding their arm out and extending from their palm a skeletal hand an arm, segmented by many joints which allow it to bend, turn and curve. This skeletal arm moves at a Speed of 20 and grabs onto objects with a Strength of 20. The distance that this arm can travel is equal to the User's Control stat in meters.
420/420

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Re: [JFCMHT] On the Road Again

Post by Nick » Tue Sep 18, 2018 2:50 pm

As Aimi was admonished by Fuhen, probably something the Yamai wasn't used to from anyone, let alone a weaker peer, Mo tried to calm the Frog down, pulling him away from his angry grumbling and instead forcing him to focus on the spear techniques she was teaching him. As far as she was concerned, she needed both of them to make it back to the city of towers, and having them kill each-other would put a solid wrench in that plan. The woman found the interactions between the two of them somewhat cute, though, clearly two friends having a solid disagreement about some basic philosophies. Most minor country folk were at least somewhat distrustful of ninjutsu and those who practiced it, though considering it was being used to help her, Mo wasn't too concerned.

"Now now, leave him be, the trees will grow back, they usually do..." She chided the lanky man, making tutting noises with her mouth and grabbing onto the spear, pushing the butt of it against his stomach gently. Fuhen let out a sigh and nodded, once more entering the spear stance she had demonstrated, clearly picking up on it very fast, and making a full rotation of the kata that she had shown off. Somewhat impressed, she gave a somewhat condescending clap, before once more moving to take the spear from his hands. This time, she entered her stance and made a run down the road a ways, before advancing on Fuhen rather quickly, making the same sweeping motions as she advanced. Unsure of where she was going with this, he watched intently as she swung the spear down, using it to vault herself into the air suddenly, and swinging it back around to make a mighty swipe in the air. It was very acrobatic, and definitely something Fuhen saw value in.

Once again taking the spear back, Fuhen would run over to where she had started as well, attempting to impersonate her actions. He would take off at the same running start, taking it slow at first, building momentum, and as he swung the spear around to jab it into the ground, it seemed to... extend? Suddenly it became longer, jabbing itself into the ground to aid him in the manuever. As he took flight, it would shorten once more, making it easier to move around to arc back into the swing, before once more extending again as he came crashing down with it. Staring confused at the spear, he would inspect it all over, before his mind was taken off of it by his... Kaguya? Companion once more. Kaguya. That was right. Wasn't it? Whatever. The point was, he was doing something dumb again, and the Frog didn't like it. He opted to ignore his companion this time, though, instead going back over to Mo for further instruction.
Jutsu TrainedShow
[IDK but it was at least 400/400]

*Kushou・The Swallow Takes Flight
D-Ranked Taijutsu Maneuver
The user will vault themselves into the air using their polearm and then unleash a powerful blow from above. This technique is used to disorient and surprise foes as well as overpower them as it strikes with all of the user’s body weight and momentum from the spin they perform in the air in order to strike with the spear that was touching the ground moments before.
"It's so sad!" the reader said to the writer with a frown. "The character in my book just died!" The author turned to her and burst out into tears, "I know!" he said, "So did mine!"
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Grand Shogun of River
Suzuko
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Golnax
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[JFCMHT] On the Road Again

Post by Golnax » Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:39 am

The heavy double thunk of wood made a decent tempo for the Kaguya to not so sneakily peek over at what his two companions were doing. The task at hand wasn't exactly demanding of him and he could spare the brain power to observe while his left arm went up, came down, his sword make the hunk of wood go thunk and his extended skeletal arm fetched him another piece of wood. Frankly he was a bit impressed with Mo as she took a hold of the spear that Fuhen had used to make a man explode, somehow, and worked it as if she'd owned it her entire life. Her skill in taijutsu was impressive for someone who probably didn't know what taijutsu was. He thought for a moment about what she might call it, martial arts? Spear play? He could only guess, but it was evident from her movements and maneuvers that she was no stranger to spears. In fact, hadn't she mentioned that their destination was famous for spear users?

The frog, of course, was almost equally impressive, picking up on what she was teaching him and mimicking it with fairly admirable accuracy. It didn't look especially difficult, in fact he was confident that he could do what they both had just done with his eyes closed... but it did get him to think about his own taijutsu styles. The two that he practiced were Strong Fist for close quarters combat and Iaido for any and all of his sword needs - oh! And Mugen as well, something which he had picked up from the frog fairly recently. Disregarding the latter, the former two were, he came to realize, fairly direct styles that put very little flare into what they were doing and focused much more instead on how to do it. With Iaido, he could blind a person, gut them and de-limb them all quite easily, and with Strong Fist he was able to break down the walls of a fortress without issue! Neither of those required him to flip through the air, though, or be fluid with his movements... Aimi wondered if he'd just discovered that his taijutsu was starting to stagnate a bit, if he wasn't doing all that he could to improve himself.

While he thought, his attention on cutting firewood became less and less of a focus, to the point where he'd nudged quite the pile over towards the fire with his foot and was still just automatically chopping away. He almost sounded like a shishi odoshi for how little noise he was making aside from the loud bonks of his blade cutting through the wooden blocks, so focused was he on his two companions and lost within his own thoughts. It wasn't until his head started to drift downwards slightly that he noticed the rather sizable pile he'd made - too large for a single night's camping trip! "Ah, damn it," he mumbled to himself, retracting the skeletal arm back into his own fleshy arm and sheathing his blade with one hand. Once the last finger tip had vanished into the palm of his hand and become little more than floating calcium within his body once more, the Kaguya walked around the large wood pile he'd made and bent over to grab onto a couple of pieces of wood, tossing them into the already dying fire to feed it and make it grow before taking a seat on the ground roughly 10 feet away from it. "You're pretty good with a spear, Mo," Aimi complimented her. "Had much practice?"

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Nick
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[JFCMHT] On the Road Again

Post by Nick » Sun Oct 14, 2018 9:55 am

Mo truly was an interesting force to watch. The way her muscles visibly tensed with each movement, the way her hair flowed, her head moving in such a way that it wouldn't get in her eyes, and of course, the soft parts of her body were also interesting to watch in motion... The Frog hadn't really realized it before, but watching the woman work was... informative. He'd never really paid attention to things like muscles tightening and loosening before, as it was often something done entirely on instinct, but as his eyes shifted from her work of the polearm to her arms, back, and neck, the very existence of each muscle made itself known.

"This next one is generally considered more of a self defensive move, used before running or the like." She said, taking her stance along with taking his spear once more. Her moves were like water, flowing, gentle, and as abrasive as one might expect. Her spear dropped back, the butt of it digging into the ground, before with a single twisting motion she brought it forward, dragging it along the ground, and kicking up a rather impressive cloud of dirt and debris, before stabbing directly into it several times. Had there been an opponent there, it's likely they would have been skewered , finding themselves unable to dodge in the midst of the blinding blow.

It was a simple enough move, but the exact execution of it was what was beautiful, making the dirt cloud very difficult to dodge, and he could see in his minds eye that even if someone managed to dodge it, using that to predict where they would go to in order to strike after them would make the blow incredibly difficult to defend against. As she handed the spear back, he took on the stance once more, and the look on Mo's face seemed to indicate a bit of confusion. It was hard to comprehend how and outsider, one who'd never used a spear before in their life, was managing to pick up these techniques nearly perfectly on only the first or second try. This move was no exception, and with the same level of precision as Mo, he instead used the blade of the spear to kick up the dirt, making a tight sweeping motion into the cloud of dirt instead, a blow that likely would have knocked someone out, or at least cracked their skull, in a real fight.

As the dust settled, both Fuhen and Mo's attention was grabbed by Mr. Skeltal Spookybones IV. "My sister and I were both warriors of the Holy City..." She started, looking off towards the cart momentarily, before steeling herself and continuing. "I've been practicing since I was old enough to hold a spear. Ro was always the better of us, but..." She trailed off momentarily, and Fuhen decided to speak up, trying to spare her the still fresh painful memory. "Well that's the trick with fightin', 'aint it." He started, somberly. "Disnae matter how goodly ye are, if'n ye've got too much on yer plate, yer bound to drop it. She fought bravely and to save others, is nae a burden anyone can strongarm forever." He smiled gently at the woman, giving her a light pat on the shoulder, which seemed to reassure her.

"I'm far from the best." She admitted. "But spear work is something our entire country is proud of."
Jutsu TrainedShow
[575/400]

* Kushou・Watered Silk
B-Ranked Taijutsu Maneuver
The user of this technique will strike the ground with one end of their weapon hard, dragging it in a line. This will fling a cloud of dirt, rock and dust up into their opponent’s eyes as if the user had thrown it. The use of one end of their weapon in this enables the immediate return of the opposite end for a follow up strike at either a blinded opponent or an opponent that is quite predictably dodging the debris.
"It's so sad!" the reader said to the writer with a frown. "The character in my book just died!" The author turned to her and burst out into tears, "I know!" he said, "So did mine!"
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Grand Shogun of River
Suzuko
Just another girl

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Golnax
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Joined: Fri Dec 30, 2016 7:00 pm

[JFCMHT] On the Road Again

Post by Golnax » Mon Oct 22, 2018 9:15 am

The experienced movements of the woman spear-man were not lost on the jounin either. He simply found them less impressive, and less beautiful, than what his froggy companion did. Her movements were graceful, sure, and energy efficient, yeah, but she was far from his own skill he estimated from what he'd seen thus far. In his own twisted estimation, he was the most beautiful practitioner of taijutsu that he knew of, so really comparing the beauty of another's movements to his own was just unfair. He obviously had some confirmation bias. The fact that she was, in his eyes, a peasant, more or less, who could use a weapon at all was impressive enough. There was no need to compare her skill to his own - or her body for that matter.

He nodded his head at what she and Fuhen both said, although he didn't take what the amphibious samurai said to heart all that much since it didn't really apply to him. Mo's sister had been a civilian caught up on a ship, malnourished (probably, based on how the others he vaguely remembered on the boat were) and outnumbered using borrowed weapons and fighting for her life. Of course she'd had too much on her plate. Him? He could have taken a sword to the back and still kept going easily. That was his gift, after all, not Ro's. Getting up from where he sat on the ground, Aimi made his way over towards the pair. "May I?" he asked, holding his left arm out towards Fuhen though his eyes were on Mo, as if asking her permission to take the spear from him.

Mo looked between Aimi and Fuhen for a moment before awkwardly half nodding her head, unsure of where the Kaguya was going with this redundant display of atrocious social etiquette. Only when the raven haired samurai placed the abnormally short spear in his hand did the white haired shinobi turn to look at him, and even then it was only for long enough to confirm that, yes, Fuhen was giving it to him, before looking down at the spear itself. He half turned away from the pair and held the spear out at arms length, twisting his wrist back and forth to test it's weight, to examine it, to try and figure out how it worked. As he held his arm out to his side, spear head pointed skyward, the handle of the weapon slowly grew as if reluctant until the butt made contact with the ground.

"Interesting..." Aimi mused, looking the spear up and down before glancing back at the two of them. A smile crept over the edges of his round lips and then he began.

What followed was a display of his own prowess with taijutsu and more or less rudimentary practice for himself, with the only exception that he was wielding a weapon he was unfamiliar with, as Ro had done on the boat. Stepping back away from the two in order to give them plenty of space, Aimi twirled around and spun the spear back and forth over his body, trading hands as he rotated the head back and forth over him. The soft pat of his hands against the wooden shaft was like the percussion to a dance that he was doing all his own - and dance he did! Had Mo been graceful? Had the expressions of her body in motion been something to admire? They were as an amateur trying to imitate a master in comparison to the grave and skill that Aimi displayed in overwhelming abundance. The irony was, of course, that he was the amateur and she the master. As he twirled, he didn't even kick up any dust!

That was until he started to mimic the things that Fuhen had been practicing while he chopped firewood. The spinning of the spear around his body while twirling had been indication enough that he had been paying at least some attention, but the sudden stop he made, his stance wide, right arm held out in front of him with an open palm and his left opening up in order to let the spear fall from his hand for the merest of moments followed immediately after by his left hand shooting up to just under the head of the spear, only for him to swing his left arm wide, his head turning with the movement of the spear head, and thrust the entire length of the three meter long spear forward, stopped just short of becoming a projectile by the clench of his hand around the butt of the weapon, showed just how much he'd been watching them out of the corner of his eyes.

Bringing his right arm around, the Kaguya grabbed a hold of the shaft of the spear and brought the head up and around, stabbing it into the ground and using his own momentum to fling himself up into the air in a short range pole vault, dragging the spear out of the ground with him as he went. He spun once, twice, thrice in the air, the spear extended outwards the entire time in a perfect, if not even improved, display of the technique that the two of them had practiced before. As his feet made contact with the ground again, his hands shifted up the length of the pole and dragged the butt of it through the dirt in a line, kicking up a cloud of debris in front of him only for the Kaguya to twirl the spear around and thrust it forward with a grunt into the cloud of dirt with such force that it created a hole in the air - once again, a nearly perfect mimicry of what they had done just moments before.

Standing up straight, Aimi looked down at the spear in his hand, tossed it up int he air, caught it, tested it's balance on his wrist, then watched as it rapidly shrunk back to a more manageable size. "Hm." He grunted it tartly, as if the spear put a sour taste in his mouth. With a simple flick of his wrist, he tossed it back over towards Fuhen and turned to face the two of them once more, placing his hands on his hips and saying, "I'm sure your country has every right to be proud of their skill with a spear. Me personally? It's just not my weapon."

Mo stared at him flabbergasted. She could hardly believe what she'd just witnessed, let alone process the growing feeling of inadequacy towards what was literally a super human in physicality that she was only barely beginning to understand. "I... take it you've had practice with a spear as well, then," she said after taking a moment to collect herself and swallow the bittersweet nostalgia at seeing someone excel at the spear in such a way as her sister Ro had. Only for that nostalgia to be replaced by illogical rage as Aimi shook his head, replying, "Nah, I haven't touched a spear since I was a child."

"WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCK!?!" came the angered, disheartened cry of Mo, throwing her arms down to her side and glaring at Aimi with an anger he could hardly fathom. Goodness! When had she started talking like that?


Taijutsu Stat trained: 1000/1000

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Nick
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[JFCMHT] On the Road Again

Post by Nick » Sun Oct 28, 2018 2:47 pm

The Frog was more than happy to hand his companion the spear, eager to see what he could do with it. Aimi was one of the only people in the world that Fuhen had met that could more than outmatch him, but dominate him with hardly trying. Their initial meeting in Fur country many moons ago really spurred Fuhen on to better himself in his strength, where before he had started to relax, finding that while some fights were challenging, it was as though nothing could compare. Seeing how fast the white haired man could move, and how much force he could put into every movement as well was... awe inspiring, to say the least.

Fuhen felt his improvements in... odd ways, though. He wasn't much faster or stronger than when he had originally met the Kaguya, but his battle acuity had grown to a ridiculous degree. He had earned the power to move his swords about on their own, as though wielded by phantom fighters, and he had grown his wit to a degree that when in battle it seemed like everything was flowing in slow motion. Even Aimi, who he couldn't move as fast as, seemed to move in inches rather than feet. Just as well his own bodily control had expanded greatly. When previously he was somewhat clumsy, tripping over his own feet, now he only did so... out of habit. His actions and movements may have seemed goofy, but that just felt like it was a part of who he was, and while he wasn't necessarily doing them on purpose, they were more controlled, never did he fall over any more, only rolled and moved with the momentum. He was changing, he knew.

And so he watched with great interest as Aimi picked up on the spear as though it were second nature to him, having never known the man to carry or use one. Though, his eyes were focused less on the spear itself, and instead examined every movement his friends' body made, from the smallest twitch of muscle to the grandest sweep of his arms, and he felt his interest lie elsewhere. Thinking back to their first meeting, Aimi really didn't seem much faster than when the pair had met, and that had been his most bragged about feature. Could it be that he was improving in a similar fashion to Fuhen? Or had he not been training as the Frog had? It was something to think about, but not something he would admit to the bone man.

But, as soon as it started, the demonstration was over, and rather than being impressed, delighted, angry, or any other usual emotion, the River Country native looked perplexed. The look stayed on his face until Mo shouted out angrily, and he had to shake his head to make sure he'd heard that right, his expression becoming that of shock instead. Unsure of how exactly to take the situation, he looked from Mo to Aimi, and back again, before shrugging. "Dinnae listen to him, every time we pass by a brothel he's thinking about touching spears again."
"It's so sad!" the reader said to the writer with a frown. "The character in my book just died!" The author turned to her and burst out into tears, "I know!" he said, "So did mine!"
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Grand Shogun of River
Suzuko
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